111 Cast your bread on the waters;
for you shall find it after many days. 2 Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight;
for you don’t know what evil will be on the earth. 3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth;
and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be. 4 He who observes the wind won’t sow;
and he who regards the clouds won’t reap. 5 As you don’t know what is the way of the wind,
nor how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child;
even so you don’t know the work of God who does all. 6 In the morning sow your seed,
and in the evening don’t withhold your hand;
for you don’t know which will prosper, whether this or that,
or whether they both will be equally good.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ecclesiastes 11:1-6
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 11:1-6
(Read Ecclesiastes 11:1-6)
Solomon presses the rich to do good to others. Give freely, though it may seem thrown away and lost. Give to many. Excuse not thyself with the good thou hast done, from the good thou hast further to do. It is not lost, but well laid out. We have reason to expect evil, for we are born to trouble; it is wisdom to do good in the day of prosperity. Riches cannot profit us, if we do not benefit others. Every man must labour to be a blessing to that place where the providence of God casts him. Wherever we are, we may find good work to do, if we have but hearts to do it. If we magnify every little difficulty, start objections, and fancy hardships, we shall never go on, much less go through with our work. Winds and clouds of tribulation are, in God's hands, designed to try us. God's work shall agree with his word, whether we see it or not. And we may well trust God to provide for us, without our anxious, disquieting cares. Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season, in God's time, you shall reap, Galatians 6:9.