19 I will tell my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry."'
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Take thine ease, eat, drink, enjoy thyself. When he exhorts himself to eat and drink, he no longer remembers that he is a man, but swells into pride by relying on his abundance. We daily perceive striking instances of this disdainful conduct [1] in irreligious men, who hold up the mass of their riches, as if it were nothing less than a brazen rampart against death. When he says, Eat, my soul, and enjoy thyself, there is an emphatic meaning in this Hebrew idiom; [2] for he addresses himself in such a manner as to imply, that he has all that is necessary for gratifying all his senses and all his desires.
1 - "D'une telle mecognoissance et fierte;" -- "of such ingratitude and pride."
2 - "En ceste locution Hebraique il y a une vehemence et proprie plus que les mots n'emportent de prime face;" -- "in that Hebrew form of expression there is greater force and propriety than the words at first sight bear."
Much goods - Much property. Enough to last a long while, so that there is no need of anxiety or labor.
Take thine ease - Be free from care about the future. Have no anxiety about coming to want.
Eat, drink, and be merry - This was just the doctrine of the ancient Epicureans and atheists, and it is, alas! too often the doctrine of those who are rich. They think that all that is valuable in life is to eat, and drink, and be cheerful or merry. Hence, their chief anxiety is to obtain the "delicacies of the season " - the luxuries of the world; to secure the productions of every clime at any expense, and to be distinguished for splendid repasts and a magnificent style of living. What a portion is this for an immortal soul! What folly to think that "all" that a man lives for is to satisfy his sensual appetites; to forget that he has an intellect to be cultivated, a heart to be purified, a soul to be saved!
Soul, thou hast much goods - Great possessions are generally accompanied with pride, idleness, and luxury; and these are the greatest enemies to salvation. Moderate poverty, as one justly observes, is a great talent in order to salvation; but it is one which nobody desires.
Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry - This was exactly the creed of the ancient Atheists and Epicureans. Ede, bibe, lude; post mortem nulla voluptas. What a wretched portion for an immortal spirit! and yet those who know not God have no other, and many of them not even this.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, [and] (g) be merry.
(g) Be merry and make good cheer.
And I will say to my soul,.... Himself, see Psalm 49:18 or to his sensual appetite, which he sought to indulge and gratify, for he was wholly a sensual and carnal man:
soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years: he foolishly promises himself a long life, when no man can boast of tomorrow, or knows what a day will bring forth; or can assure himself he shall live a day, an hour, or moment longer: and he also depended upon the safety of his goods, thus laid up; whereas his barns might be consumed by fire at once, or his goods be devoured by vermin, or plundered by thieves, and by various ways taken out of his hands; for riches are uncertain things, and make themselves wings and fly away:
take thine case, eat, drink, and be merry; spend thy life in ease, luxury, and mirth; put away the evil day far from thee: never trouble thyself about a future state, tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundantly; and thou hast enough to make thyself happy, and let nothing disturb thee, and give a loose to all sensual pleasures, and carnal joys. This is the language of epicure among the Jews, and is forbidden to be used, especially on fast days; for so it is said, (i).
"let not a man say I will go to my house, "and I will eat and drink", (and say) , "peace to thee, O my soul"; if he does so, of him the Scripture says, Isaiah 22:13 "Behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die---surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you, till ye die, &c."''
(i) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 11. 1.
*More commentary available at chapter level.