Ecclesiastes 4
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Chapter 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.
A news crew, complete with a cameraman and interviewer,
crowded the room of an old man on his bed. He said repeatedly, “Go away, get
away!” Yet he was cordial and kind to his visitors, prompting the interviewer
to ask, “Who do you want to go away?” It is clear to me that he was accosting
unseen beings, who had accompanied him for decades and were now claiming his
soul. Charles Templeton was the mentor of a young preacher by the name of Billy
Graham.
After two indescribably horrible world wars, and a plague
of influenza between the two that killed, world-wide, between 30 and 50 million
people, this famous pastor was overcome by war’s injustice and the plight of suffering
children. These dilemmas twisted his heart, confused his mind, and turned him
away from God. Hell’s expert fiends of spiritual destruction added doubts and
questions, concerning Bible miracles and the deity of Christ. He concluded that
men wrote the Bible, in an attempt to answer the great questions of life, but
it was not divinely inspired. He announced to his church in Toronto that he no
longer accepted many biblical tenets, resigned his pastorate and went to teach
at Princeton University.
Billy Graham was shaken to the core of his being. He went
alone into the woods, and there cried out, “Where are you God? If You didn’t
call me to preach the gospel, why did you cause me to believe in the first
place? Let me hear your voice! Do something God! Anything!” Then, he remembered the promise of the
evangelist Mordecai Ham on the night of Billy’s conversion, “If you follow Him,
He will never leave you, nor forsake you!” Other words, spoken to him in the
past, flooded his mind, until he confessed, “I hear You, Lord, I hear You
again. By faith, I accept your Book as Your infallible Word!” The one word of
authority that he preached to hundreds of thousands around the world was, “The
Bible says!”
The Bible is not the word of men. When we receive an
official letter, we do not look down at the bottom to the name of the
secretary, who typed it, and think that the letter is her word. The word was
dictated by her boss and are his words, not hers. The Bible is from God, laced
with hundreds of fulfilled prophecies. “For
no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as
they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 P.1:21). It was given
supernaturally. I was impressed the other day by John Wesley’s words, concerning
David in the 22nd Psalm: “No
circumstance of David’s life bore any resemblance to this. So that in this
scripture, the prophet seems to have been thrown into a preternatural ecstasy,
wherein, personating the Messiah, he spoke barely (nothing besides) what the Spirit dictated, without any
regard to himself.”
As Charles Templeton, Solomon battled oppression under
the sun. He was profoundly moved by the tears of the oppressed and the fact
that there was no comfort for them. They seemed abandoned, indefensibly, to
powers far stronger than themselves (v.1). It plagued the king to the extent
that he thought that the dead were better than the living (v.2). Beyond that,
he considered those, who had never lived, better than both, since they had
never seen and experienced the evil under the sun (v.3). He saw something even of
less worth than vanity, something worse than nothing. We need to be deeply
moved by the conditions in the world, but need to be careful not to lose trust
in the sovereign Lord over all.
Behind the oppressors, the motivation was envy. Not only
was this true among the oppressors, but it was a general rule among his
subjects, as the king observed them from his throne. Envy was the driving force
that pushed them to acquire skills and to work hard. I haven’t heard the
expression for some time, ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, but that accurately
describes society’s ambitions. There is nothing commendable or virtuous in
envy, so Solomon includes it in his theme… vanity. Study this truth closely and
I think you will be able to see that another term for envy is competition (v.4).
Some discern this motivation and refuse to be part of it,
so they lean back in idleness. However the preacher sees no wisdom in them,
either. He calls them fools, who eat their own flesh. They are
self-destructive, winding up penniless and poverty-stricken (v.5). In verse 6, Solomon
may be describing the sarcastic philosophy of the fool, which seems more probable,
or it may be one of his proverbs, recommending contentment with little, rather
than striving after much. Both are worth considering.
The term workaholic
did not exist in the vocabulary of the king, but that is who he describes in
verse 8. This kind is not driven to provide for a family heir, or any near
relative, and he doesn’t have any particular monetary goal. He never bothers to
think about purpose or even bring up the question. He doesn’t need pleasure or
free time. Obviously, the preacher sees no happiness in this lifestyle, which
is little better than that of a beast of burden. He is addicted to work and he
lives to work. He might become suicidal after retirement, when he can work no
more.
Next, we have a short lesson in the vanity of loneliness
under the sun, and the strength that comes with numbers, expressed in several
ways. 1) A reward is better appreciated when shared with another, rather than
storing it away only for personal enjoyment. 2) Team effort provides security,
even in the simple event of an accident. There are others, who are observing
and can lend a hand. There are many stories about those, who fell, fainted or
became ill, while alone, and they were not discovered until after death. 3) Numbers
also provide warmth and comfort. 4) An assault is less likely to take place,
when we are in a company, than when we walk alone. 5) There is multiplied
strength in standing together, like a three-stranded rope. I don’t recall the
author of the famous saying, “We must hang together, or we will all hang
(literally) separately” (v.7-12).
I cannot improve on A. W. Tozer’s treatise on the old,
foolish king of verses 13-16. He wrote: “It
is not hard to understand why an old king, especially if he were a foolish one,
would feel that he was beyond admonition. After he had for years given orders
he might easily build a self-confident psychology that simply could not
entertain the notion that he should take advice from others. His word had long
been law, and to him right had become synonymous with his will, and wrong had
come to mean anything that ran contrary to his wishes. Soon the idea that there
was anyone wise enough or good enough to reprove him would not so much as enter
his mind… God had left him to his fatal conceit. And soon he would die
physically too, and he would die as a fool dies…
Success itself
becomes the cause of later failure. The leaders come to accept themselves as
the very chosen of God. They are special objects of the divine favor; their
success is proof enough that this is so. They must therefore be right, and
anyone who tries to call them to account is instantly written off as an
unauthorized meddler who should be ashamed to dare to reprove his betters.
If anyone imagines
that we are merely playing with words, let him approach at random any religious
leader and call attention to the weaknesses and sins in his organization. Such a
one will be sure to get the quick brush-off, and if he dares to persist, he
will be confronted with reports and statistics to prove that he is dead wrong
and completely out of order.”
A subject in the kingdom was a poor, but wise, youth. He
was born poor and somehow came to be thrown into prison. One example of such a
youth was Joseph and another was Daniel. Not so well known, is the story of
Shebna and Eliakim in Isaiah 22:15-25. Though we would leave the literal
youthfulness and poverty of the man in Solomon’s example, we might consider the
wise Jew, Mordecai, in the Persian capital, who was despised by foolish,
arrogant Haman. I suppose, we could mention many other good examples of people
in unlikely situations, who God raised to replace the foolish ones, who were in
power.
However, we are still learning the lessons of the people,
who move about in life under the sun. The kingdom that the youth led, it
appears, was a great kingdom, but his success was short-lived. A new generation
arose and his generation came to an end, and promptly his success was
forgotten. The following population became concerned with the affairs of life
in their day, and so, Solomon raises the question… What was the value of this
man’s success? All the effort and sacrifice is only chasing the wind. What is
the meaning of wisdom and success, if it all ends in a generation cycle? All is
vanity… that is the sad lesson of life under the sun. Only the grace of God
gives us entrance into a world of significance and true joy.
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