If a man beget— Though a man should beget an hundred children, and live many years; nay, though he should be a senator, on account of the days of his years; if should not enjoy his prosperity, nor even get a burying-place for himself, I concluded an abortive is better than he. Solomon's meaning, probably, is, that the man he speaks of, though not only a long-liver, but likewise a man of eminence on account of his age; a chief, a judge, or a senator, shall nevertheless be accounted miserable, if that be all the advantage that he gets from his long stay in this world. The word קבורה, keburah, which we render burial, occurs in thirteen places of Scripture beside the present, and in every one of them means a burying-place, and not the action of burying; nor does the notion of burial agree with the context: For Solomon speaks of a man who is alive yet; since he shall depart in darkness, (see the next verse;) and whose misfortune, of consequence, cannot be aggravated by his not being buried. To what purpose then is a burying-place mentioned? I answer, that it was customary for people in easy circumstances to provide a burying-place for themselves and their family: Therefore, as the Arabic and Chaldee have well expressed it, it must be a proof of a man's dying in narrow circumstances, and not having enjoyed his fortune long, if ever he had any, that he has not provided such a place, a house of burial. See Exodus 23:6 and Desvoeux.
Related Commentaries of Ecclesiastes 6:3
Ecclesiastes 6:3
3 If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.