Tafsiran Pengkhotbah 9:4: Rashi & Tze'enah Ure'enah

For to him that is joined to all the living, there is hope. For as long as he lives, even if he is wicked and he associates with the wicked, as it is stated, “to all the living,” [including] even the wicked, there is hope that he will repent before his death.¹³See II Melochim 25:7. ¹⁴For the lowliest person, as long as he is alive, can grow spiritually, whereas the wisest and most righteous who are dead cannot. (Metsudas Dovid)

For a live dog is better than a dead lion. And they are both wicked. It was better for Nevuzaradan, who was a wicked slave and became a proselyte, that death did not overtake him sooner than Nevuchadnetzar, his master, who is called a “lion,” as it is stated, “A lion has come up from his thicket,”¹⁵The written text is יבחר [=will choose], to indicate that only those having the ability to choose have hope, but for the dead, being that they are unable to choose, all hope is lost. (Ibn Ezra) and who died in his wickedness, in Gehinnom, while his slave [Nevuzaradan] is in the Garden of Eden. Our Rabbis expounded upon this, that we may butcher a carcass for dogs on Shabbos, but a human corpse, lying in the sun, may not be moved unless one places a child or a loaf on it.

“Since who” [9:4]. Since when a person is still alive, if he is an evildoer, it is still possible that he will reconsider and will repent. There is still hope for him. It is better to be a live dog than a dead lion. Though they were both evildoers, Nebuzaradan was the servant of Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the Temple. He converted before he died and went to paradise. His master, Nebuchadnezzar, went to Gehenna.¹²⁶Rashi, Ecclesiastes, 9:4.