Ecclesiastes 7:2

“[It is] better to go to the house of mourning, etc.] For deceased relations or friends, who either lie unburied, or have been lately inferred; for the Jews kept their mourning for their dead several days afterwards, when their friends visited them in order to comfort them, as the Jews did Martha and Mary, (<431131>John 11:31). So the Targum here, “it is better to go to a mourning man to comfort him;” for at such times and places the conversation was serious and interesting, and turned upon the subjects of mortality and a future state, and preparation for it; from whence useful and instructive lessons are learned; and so it was much better to be there than to go to the house of feasting: the…”

“Proving that it is not a sensual enjoyment of earthly goods which is meant in Ecc 3:13; Ecc 5:18. A thankful use of these is right, but frequent feasting Solomon had found dangerous to piety in his own case. So Job's fear (Ecc 1:4-5). The house of feasting often shuts out thoughts of God and eternity. The sight of the dead in the "house of mourning" causes "the living" to think of their own "end."”

“That - Namely, what is seen in the house of mourning. Lay it to his heart - Consider it attentively. return to 'Top of Page'”

“The house - Where mourners meet to celebrate the funeral of a deceased friend. That - Death. The living - Will be seriously affected with it, whereas feasting is commonly attended with levity, and manifold temptations. Ecclesiastes 7:4”

“7:2-6 Frivolous merry-making is foolish when wisdom demands sobriety about death (see also 2:12-13).”

“better: Gen. 48:1-22, 49:2-33, Gen 50:15-17; Job 1:4, Job 1:5; Isa 5:11, Isa 5:12, Isa 22:12-14; Amo 6:3-6; Mat 5:4, Mat 14:6-12; Pe1 4:3, Pe1 4:4 that: Num 23:10; Deu 32:29; Rom 6:21, Rom 6:22; Phi 3:19; Heb 9:27 living: Deu 32:46; Isa 47:7; Hag 1:5 \*marg. Mal 2:2 Ecclesiastes 7:3”

“Still more in the spirit of the N.T. (cf. e.g., Luk 6:25) are these words of this singular book which stands on the border of both Testaments: "It is better to go into a house of mourning than to go into a house of carousal (drinking): for that is the end of every man; and the living layeth it to heart." A house is meant in which there is sorrow on account of a death; the lamentation continued for seven days (Sirach 22:10), and extended sometimes, as in the case of the death of Aaron and Moses, to thirty days; the later practice distinguished the lamentations (אנינוּת) for the dead till the time of burial, and the mournings for the dead (אבלוּת), which were divided into seven and…”