Ecclesiastes 11:5 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Of the spirit; of the spirit or soul of man, how it first comes into the body of the child in the womb, whether from God by creation, or from the parents by propagation; nor how it is united with and so fixed in the body, that it cannot get out of it when it would; nor how and whither it goes out of the body; all which things are great mysteries. Others translate it, of the wind, whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, as is observed 1 Thessalonians 3:8, or how violently it will blow, or how long it will last. But the former translation seems to agree better with the following clause. The bones, i.e. the whole body, which is elsewhere signified by the bones, as Psalms 34:20, Psalms 35:10, because they are a principal part, and the very foundation and support, of the body. Grow in the womb; how it comes to pass that one and the same small quantity of seed should diversify itself into skin, and flesh, and sinews, and veins, and bones, and entrails, or how it receiveth nourishment and growth. The works of God; what God is doing, and will do with thee and others; the counsels and methods of God's providence in the future time of thy life, what evil God will send upon the earth, Ecclesiastes 11:2, or what weather he will send, of which Ecclesiastes 11:4, how long or how little a while God will continue thy life or estate, and how soon God will call thee to an account. These and many other future events thou canst not foresee, and therefore thy wisdom and duty is to cast off all distracting cares and distrustful fears about them, and cheerfully to commit thyself, and all thy affairs, into the hand of God in well doing.