Ecclesiastes 3:19

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts,.... Aben Ezra says this verse is according to the thoughts of the children of men that are not wise; but rather the wise man says what he

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

Befalleth beasts; they are subject to the same diseases, pains, and casualties. So dieth the other; as certainly, and no less painfully. One breath; one breath of life, which is in their nostrils; one and the same living soul, by which the beasts perform the same vital and animal operations. For he speaks not here of man’ s rational and immortal spirit, nor of the future life. A man hath no pre-eminence above a beast, in respect of the present life and sensible things. Nay, the beasts have quicker senses than men, and therefore enjoy more pleasure in those things, and that with less dangers and mischief, than men do.

Ecclesiastes 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all [is] vanity.Ver. 19. For that which befalleth the sons of men.] As hunger, thirst, heat, cold, diseases, aches, and other ill accidents. As the one dieth.] They are sure to die, both of them. Yea, they have all one breath.] They breathe in the same air, and expire alike, in respect of the body. So that a man hath no pre-eminence.] Unless it be in reason and speech, which he frequently abuseth to his own utter destruction. But otherwise - “ Nos aper auditu praecellit, aranea tactu, Vultur odoratu, lynx visu, simia gustu. ” Nec te tua plurima Pentheu, Labentem texit pietas.

(19) That which befalleth.—The word translated “event” in Ecclesiastes 2:13 (where see Note). Breath.—The same word as “spirit” (Ecclesiastes 3:21; Genesis 7:15; Psalms 104:30).

Verse 19. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts] From the present comparison of great men to beasts, the author takes occasion to enforce the subject by mentioning the state of mankind in general, with respect to the mortality of their bodies; and then, by an easy transition, touches in the next verse on the point which is of such infinite consequence to religion. As the one dieth, so dieth the other] Animal life is the same both in the man and in the beast. They have all one breath] They respire in the same way; and when they cease to respire, animal life becomes extinct. Befalleth beasts - This is wanting in six of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS.

19. that which befalleth the sons of men] More accurately, chance are the sons of men; chance is the beast; one chance is to both of them. The thought is emphasized by the threefold iteration of the depressing word. As so often throughout the book, we have an echo, almost a verbal translation, of a Greek saying. So Solon had said to Cr�sus in a discourse which breathes the very spirit of Ecclesiastes (Herod. i. 32), πᾶνἐστιἄνθρωποςσυμφορή (“man is altogether a chance”). as the one dieth, so dieth the other] The words are not without a partial parallel in the more devotional literature of Israel. The writer of Psalms 49 had given utterance to the thought “man that is in honour … is like the beasts that perish.” With him, however, this was affirmed only of those that “trust in their wealth,” the triumphant, self-indulgent evildoers, and it was balanced by the belief that “God would redeem” his soul “from the power of the grave.” Here the same thought is generalised in the tones of a half cynical despair, all the more striking if we assume that the belief in immortality, as afterwards developed in the creed of Pharisaism, was at the time gaining a more definite form among the writer’s countrymen. It may be traceable either to the reaction against the germs of Pharisaism which was afterwards represented by the Sadducees, or, as seems more probable from the general tone and character of the book, to the influence of the Greek thought, such as was embodied in the teaching of Epicurus and Pyrrho, with which the writer had come in contact. yea, they have all one breath] The word is the same as the “spirit” of verse Ecclesiastes 3:19, and seems deliberately chosen with reference to the record of Gen 2:7. The writer asks, What after all was that “breath of life?” Was there not a like “breath of life” in every beast of the field? It is significant that this is the only passage in the Old Testament in which the word is used definitely for the living principle of brutes, though we find it in Genesis 6:17; Genesis 7:15; Genesis 7:22; Psalms 104:30 for the life which is common both to them and man. Commonly, as in Job 12:10; Job 32:8, it is contrasted with the “soul” which represents their lower life. a man hath no preeminence above a beast] This then was the conclusion to which the thinker was led by the materialism which he had imbibed from his Greek or Sadducean teachers. Put aside the belief in the prolongation of existence after death, that what has been begun here may be completed, and what has gone wrong here may be set right, and man is but a more highly organised animal, the “cunningest of Nature’s clocks” (to use Huxley’s phrase), and the high words which men speak as to his greatness are found hollow.

19. That which befalleth… men befalleth beasts — Hebrew, very forcibly, Man is a chance, and a beast is a chance, and the same chance is upon them both. Both have a perishable body and a flickering breath.