This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
This is Wisdom's summons to the whole world on the emptiness of riches, setting the end of the wicked over against the end of the righteous. Their way is madness and guilt, a self-confident trust in their own course and in wealth, honor and prosperity, yet their children after them approve and repeat their sayings and vain confidence, imagining that their houses, names and works will endure forever. Death lays bare the folly, for wise and foolish alike die and leave their riches to others, honor does not abide, and wealth can buy a tomb but cannot go beyond the grave. The soul may be cut off and go down into the grave, and no living creature is deathless in itself, for continued life depends on the breath God gives. To make gain the aim of life is empty, for a life spent only on getting never learns to give and at last wastes in death what it guarded all its days, while lasting worth comes from living with God and using what one has to bless others. Letting fashion, custom and the multitude shape morals is this same folly, setting the voice of the people against the voice of God, so instead of trusting in a false promise of peace in the last days, one should trust in God and fear Him and keep His commandments.
Meaning of Their Folly
This is Wisdom's address to the whole world on the vanity of riches, spoken by Christ as Wisdom to show that riches are insufficient to redeem a soul. It sets the end of the wicked against the end of the righteous.
Their way is folly, madness and guilt, consisting in wickedness, self-confidence and vain glory. It is expressed in trusting their own way, their own wealth and honor, and their own prosperity. Those who so trust are numbered among the dead who perish.
That folly continues incurably from generation to generation. Their posterity approve, accept and repeat their sayings and their mistaken confidence. In this way each succeeding generation takes up the same words and the same trust.
They foolishly imagine that their homes, names, works and achievements will endure. Each generation therefore assumes its own greatness will last forever.
Death exposes the folly, for wise and foolish alike die and leave their wealth to others and to heirs. Honor does not endure, but the honored go like sheep laid in the grave. Riches and earthly glory cannot accompany anyone beyond death. Wealth spent a lifetime in wanting more ends in gain cut off at death, able to buy a tomb but little more.
Doctrine and Moral Application
The surrounding context shows that the soul can be cut off, die, and go into the grave, and therefore is not immortal. The same context shows that living creatures are not immortal or deathless, for their continued existence depends on the breath of life that God gives. To let fashion, custom, precedent, and the multitude rule life and shape the code of morals for churches and people is the folly described here, even though later generations approve and repeat the sayings and practices handed down to them.
That folly sets the voice of the people against the voice of God, and against being led by the multitude to do evil the right course is to fear God and keep His commandments. The verse teaches the necessity of trust in God, warning that there will be no time of peace in the last days even though people will say peace is coming, and that message will be false. To make earthly wealth and possessions the aim and purpose of life is folly, for even one who works hard and accumulates great riches must die and leave them behind, and may be forgotten.
A life devoted to gain without God, love, or concern for others is empty and unsatisfactory, while lasting value comes from living with God and using what one has to bless others. Death ends the lifelong desire for more and leaves riches to heirs, so that wealth can buy a tomb but little more. A life bent on acquiring wealth never learns to impart to others, being unceasingly occupied with how to accumulate.
Such a miser cannot even make a will that carries out his own intentions, for to give away even on paper is beyond his power and the attempt becomes a ridiculous failure. He wastes in death the wealth he guarded all his days, leaving its distribution to others like a pond drained and dug out by spade and shovel.
This is Wisdom's summons to the whole world on the emptiness of riches, setting the end of the wicked over against the end of the righteous. Their way is madness and guilt, a self-confident trust in their own course and in wealth, honor and prosperity, yet their children after them approve and repeat their sayings and vain confidence, imagining that their houses, names and works will endure forever. Death lays bare the folly, for wise and foolish alike die and leave their riches to others, honor does not abide, and wealth can buy a tomb but cannot go beyond the grave. The soul may be cut off and go down into the grave, and no living creature is deathless in itself, for continued life depends on the breath God gives. To make gain the aim of life is empty, for a life spent only on getting never learns to give and at last wastes in death what it guarded all its days, while lasting worth comes from living with God and using what one has to bless others. Letting fashion, custom and the multitude shape morals is this same folly, setting the voice of the people against the voice of God, so instead of trusting in a false promise of peace in the last days, one should trust in God and fear Him and keep His commandments.
Meaning of Their Folly
This is Wisdom's address to the whole world on the vanity of riches, spoken by Christ as Wisdom to show that riches are insufficient to redeem a soul. It sets the end of the wicked against the end of the righteous.
Their way is folly, madness and guilt, consisting in wickedness, self-confidence and vain glory. It is expressed in trusting their own way, their own wealth and honor, and their own prosperity. Those who so trust are numbered among the dead who perish.
That folly continues incurably from generation to generation. Their posterity approve, accept and repeat their sayings and their mistaken confidence. In this way each succeeding generation takes up the same words and the same trust.
They foolishly imagine that their homes, names, works and achievements will endure. Each generation therefore assumes its own greatness will last forever.
Death exposes the folly, for wise and foolish alike die and leave their wealth to others and to heirs. Honor does not endure, but the honored go like sheep laid in the grave. Riches and earthly glory cannot accompany anyone beyond death. Wealth spent a lifetime in wanting more ends in gain cut off at death, able to buy a tomb but little more.
Doctrine and Moral Application
The surrounding context shows that the soul can be cut off, die, and go into the grave, and therefore is not immortal. The same context shows that living creatures are not immortal or deathless, for their continued existence depends on the breath of life that God gives. To let fashion, custom, precedent, and the multitude rule life and shape the code of morals for churches and people is the folly described here, even though later generations approve and repeat the sayings and practices handed down to them.
That folly sets the voice of the people against the voice of God, and against being led by the multitude to do evil the right course is to fear God and keep His commandments. The verse teaches the necessity of trust in God, warning that there will be no time of peace in the last days even though people will say peace is coming, and that message will be false. To make earthly wealth and possessions the aim and purpose of life is folly, for even one who works hard and accumulates great riches must die and leave them behind, and may be forgotten.
A life devoted to gain without God, love, or concern for others is empty and unsatisfactory, while lasting value comes from living with God and using what one has to bless others. Death ends the lifelong desire for more and leaves riches to heirs, so that wealth can buy a tomb but little more. A life bent on acquiring wealth never learns to impart to others, being unceasingly occupied with how to accumulate.
Such a miser cannot even make a will that carries out his own intentions, for to give away even on paper is beyond his power and the attempt becomes a ridiculous failure. He wastes in death the wealth he guarded all his days, leaving its distribution to others like a pond drained and dug out by spade and shovel.