Ecclesiastes 6:7 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ecclesiastes 6:7

Comments

The soul and the mouth are two different things. Which one is man trying to fill? All his attention is given to his mouth, yet his soul is the enduring part of him and the part that it is more important to satisfy. The body that he has now will pass away for – ‘Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them’ (1 Corinthians 6:13). The appetites spoken of here are not hunger and thirst, but appetites for possessions, sexual satisfaction, entertainment, power, fame, the praise of men – all these things have no end. The Christian looks forward to receiving a resurrection body not corrupted by sin and fit for the eternal realm, but his soul, the conscious part of him, hungers for truth, for meaning, security and this can only come through the gospel of salvation. Yet man concentrates on the body and all his effort goes towards satisfying its needs. But this, as Matthew Henry says, can only be a maintenance operation. The next day the body will be hungry and thirsty again and will have more cravings that need to be satisfied. Where has any real advance been made?

Application

Covetousness is an insatiable appetite. Constantly it makes false promises to us, telling us that the next possession will bring peace, rest, satisfaction, setting us free from the treadmill of constantly obtaining more.

Man thinks he understands himself; he thinks that he knows what it takes to satisfy himself, and yet he never reaches the point where he is content. His soul does not benefit from all his labour. Why does he give so little attention to it? Why does he leave the soul to starve while filling the stomach? Why does he make such great mistakes about his needs? Because having rebelled against God and having come under condemnation and lost spiritual life, he knows that he cannot satisfy his soul without returning to God, humbling himself and coming in repentance and asking for forgiveness, and that he is unwilling to do.

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Ecclesiastes 6:7 Commentary and Bible Study