Ecc 7:1 | JFB | STEP | . 1. (See on ). name-- character; a godly mind and life; not mere reputation with man, but what a man is in the eyes of God, with whom the name and reality are one thing ( ). This alone is "good," while all else is "vanity" when made the chief end. ointment-- used lavishly at costly banquets and peculiarly refreshing in the sultry East. The Hebrew for "name" and for "ointment," have a happy paronomasia, Sheem and Shemen. "Ointment" is fragrant only in the place where the person is whose head and garment are scented, and only for a time. The "name" given by God to His child ( ) is for ever and in all lands. So in the case of the woman who received an everlasting name from Jesus Christ, in reward for her precious ointment ( ; ). Jesus Christ Himself hath such a name, as the Messiah, equivalent to Anointed ( ). and the day of [his] death, &c.-- not a general censure upon God for creating man; but, connected with the previous clause, death is to him, who hath a godly name, "better" than the day of his birth; "far better," as has it.

‏ Ecclesiastes 7:1

CHAPTER 7

1. (See on Ec 6:12).

name--character; a godly mind and life; not mere reputation with man, but what a man is in the eyes of God, with whom the name and reality are one thing (Is 9:6). This alone is "good," while all else is "vanity" when made the chief end.

ointment--used lavishly at costly banquets and peculiarly refreshing in the sultry East. The Hebrew for "name" and for "ointment," have a happy paronomasia, Sheem and Shemen. "Ointment" is fragrant only in the place where the person is whose head and garment are scented, and only for a time. The "name" given by God to His child (Re 3:12) is for ever and in all lands. So in the case of the woman who received an everlasting name from Jesus Christ, in reward for her precious ointment (Is 56:5; Mr 14:3-9). Jesus Christ Himself hath such a name, as the Messiah, equivalent to Anointed (So 1:3).

and the day of [his] death, &c.--not a general censure upon God for creating man; but, connected with the previous clause, death is to him, who hath a godly name, "better" than the day of his birth; "far better," as Php 1:23 has it.