Ecclesiastes 2:24

[There is] nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink,.... Not in an immoderate and voluptuous manner, like the epicure and the atheist, that disbelieve a future state and the

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

There is nothing better for a man; or, Is there any thing better for a man? which implies that there is nothing better, to wit, for man’ s present comfort and satisfaction; this is the chief, and indeed the only, considerable benefit of his labours. That he should make his soul enjoy good; that he should thankfully take, and freely and cheerfully enjoy, the comforts which God gives him. That it was from the hand of God; that this also is a singular gift of God, and not to be procured by a man’ s own wisdom or diligence.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 [There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.Ver. 24. There is nothing better for a man, &c.] This may seem to savour of epicurism, as may also some following passages of this book. For which cause some of the old Jewish doctors were once in a mind to hide this whole book out of the way, and not allow the common sort to see it any more. But this they needed never to have done, for the Preacher expressly calls carnal mirth "madness" in this very chapter, and shows that the happiness of a man stands in fearing God and keeping his commandments; all which is point blank against atheism and epicurism. And whereas here and elsewhere the liberal use of the creatures is commended and commanded; this is done in opposition to, and detestation of, such parsimonious penny fathers as deny themselves that necessary and honest affluence that God hath permitted and afforded them; living sordidly, that they may grow rich suddenly, although they know not how soon they may leave all, nor yet to whom. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.] It is he that "fills our hearts, as with food, so with gladness." He can curse our blessings, make our table a snare, sauce that we eat, spice that we drink, with his fierce wrath, as he did the quails to those Israelites. He can dissweeten our delicates either with sickness, or sorrow, or sudden terror. Adoniah’ s feast ended in horror; astonishment was served up for their last dish. Let God, therefore, be sought for a comfortable use of the creature, and then be merry at thy meat, and put sorrow from thy heart. "Eat the fat, and drink the sweet, &c., for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

(24) Nothing better.—“Not good” is the sense of the Hebrew as it stands, for it will be observed that the word “than” is in italics. But as this word might easily have dropped out by a transcriber’s error, interpreters, taking in connection Ecclesiastes 3:12; Ecclesiastes 3:22; Ecclesiastes 5:18; Ecclesiastes 8:15, generally agree to modify the text so as to give it the meaning of our version, according to which the sense is: “Seeing the uncertainty of the future, the only good a man can get from his labour is that present pleasure which he can make it yield to himself; and whether he can even enjoy so much as this depends on God.” If the text be not altered, the sense is: “It is not good for a man to eat, &c, seeing it depends on God whether or not that is possible.”

Verse 24. There is nothing better for a man] The sense of this passage is well expressed in the following lines: - "For these disorders wouldst thou find a cure, Such cure as human frailty would admit? Drive from thee anxious cares; let reason curb Thy passions; and with cheerful heart enjoy That little which the world affords; for here, Though vain the hopes of perfect happiness, Yet still the road of life, rugged at best, Is not without its comforts.--------- Wouldst thou their sweetness taste, look up to heaven, And praise the all-bounteous Donor, who bestows The power to use aright."

24. There is nothing better for a man] The Hebrew, as it stands, gives a meaning which is partly represented by the LXX., “There is no good for a man which he shall eat and drink,” as though the simplest form of bodily pleasure were condemned. Almost all interpreters however are agreed in adopting a conjectural emendation, which again in its turn has given rise to two different renderings: (1) “Is it not better (or “Is it not good”) for a man to eat and drink …?” or (2) “there is nothing good for a man but to eat and drink.…” The two last are of course substantially the same in their teaching, and both express what we may call the higher type of Epicureanism which forms one element of the book. The pursuit of riches, state, luxury, is abandoned for the simple joys that lie within every man’s reach, the “fallentis semita vitae” of one who has learnt the lesson of regulating his desires. The words “to eat and drink” are closely connected with “enjoying good in his labour.” What is praised is not the life of slothful self-indulgence or ζsthetic refinement, but that of a man who, though with higher culture, is content to live as simply as the ploughman, or the vinedresser, or artificer. Λάθεβιώσας, “live in the shade,” was the Epicurean rule of wisdom. Pleasure was not found in feasts and sensual excess but in sobriety of mind, and the conquest of prejudice and superstition (Diog. Laert. x. 1. 132). The real wants of such a life are few, and there is a joy in working for them. Here again the thought finds multiform echoes in the utterances of men who have found the cares and pleasures and pursuits of a more ambitious life unsatisfying. It is significant that the very words “eat and drink” had been used by Jeremiah in describing the pattern life of a righteous king (Jeremiah 22:15). The type of life described is altogether different from that of the lower Epicureans who said “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32). So we have one Epicurean poet singing “Si non aurea sunt iuvenum simulacra per aedesLampadas igniferas manibus retinentia dextris,Lumina nocturnis epulis ut suppeditentur,Nec domus argento fulget auroque renidetNec citharae reboant laqueata aurataque templa,Cum tamen inter se prostrati in gramine molliPropter aquae rivum sub ramis arboris altaeNon magnis opibus iucunde corpora curant,Praesertim cum tempestas adridet et anniTempora conspergunt viridantis floribus herbas.”“What though no golden statues of fair boysWith lamp in hand illumine all the houseAnd cast their lustre on the nightly feast;Nor does their home with silver or with goldDazzle the eye; nor through the ceilθd roof,Bedecked with gold, the harps re-echo loud.Yet, while reclining on the soft sweet grassThey lie in groups along the river’s bank,Beneath the branches of some lofty tree,And at small cost find sweet refreshment there,What time the season smiles, and spring-tide weeksRe-gem the herbage green with many a flower.”Lucret. De Rer. Nat. ii. 24–33.

24. Nothing better — We now have the inference drawn from the investigations here recorded, as a conclusion to the first section of the book.