61 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men - 2 a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires ; yet God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction . 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years , however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial , then I say , "Better the miscarriage than he, 4 for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity ; and its name is covered in obscurity . 5 "It never sees the sun and it never knows anything; it is better off than he. 6 "Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not enjoy good things - do not all go to one place ?"
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6:1-6
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6:1-6
(Read Ecclesiastes 6:1-6)
A man often has all he needs for outward enjoyment; yet the Lord leaves him so to covetousness or evil dispositions, that he makes no good or comfortable use of what he has. By one means or other his possessions come to strangers; this is vanity, and an evil disease. A numerous family was a matter of fond desire and of high honour among the Hebrews; and long life is the desire of mankind in general. Even with these additions a man may not be able to enjoy his riches, family, and life. Such a man, in his passage through life, seems to have been born for no end or use. And he who has entered on life only for one moment, to quit it the next, has a preferable lot to him who has lived long, but only to suffer.