May 8
Reading: Ecclesiastes 4
1 Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. 5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. 6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him– a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Ecclesiastes 4 continues the look at life “under the sun.” This chapter is a reflection on the vanity of politics, broadly defined, great and small. Politics is everything from how nations are run down to the human interactions that happen every day.
These verses take an honest look at the world and its deficiencies. (vss. 1-3) In this world are the oppressors who have the power and the oppressed who have no one to help them. You might recoil at such a view of this world, but many see it just that way. For lots of people, this is their experience.
Then we look at the hard work that is done in the world by people who want to get rich and keep up with their neighbors. This view of the world might repulse us as well, but so many people live it. It is never enough. It is indeed “vanity and an unhappy business.” (vs. 8)
Verses 9-12 are often used in weddings. While these verses could apply to marriage, they really are a commentary on how it is better to have someone else with you when you are in trouble.
There is the “poor and wise youth” who makes it from the prison to the throne, but even he ends up dying and those who come later “will not rejoice in him.” (vss. 13-16) It is hard to read this and not think of Joseph and then, generations later, all of his descendants in slavery.
There is a futility to life where we work so hard and seek to help others and make the world a better place, or so we imagine. And then as we grow old it seems like everything has gone in the wrong direction, and then we are alone. What was it all for? What do we really accomplish? You begin to see what Solomon is seeing. If what we can see is all that there is, then it truly is “vanity and striving after wind.” (vs. 16)