Podcast 89 Ecclesiastes, “Pt 4, Ch 4”

When we consider the range of King Solomon’s meditations, we find a man of compassion. He is a king, the wisest in the world. He has wealth, power, position, fame, luxury, and all the things the world can provide, yet he considers the plight of the least.

Ecclesiastes 4:1

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

Consider the following bleak statement from the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his work Leviathan.

“Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of warre, where every man is enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continual feare, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.”

Are the following words of King Solomon less bleak?

Ecclesiastes 4:2-3

Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

What does a man born in a palace raised from his birth to be a king, highly favored of the Lord, surrounded by servants, know about the suffering of the poor? Yet Solomon considers the plight of all.

Ecclesiastes 4:4-5

Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.

Envy is considered one of the seven deadly sins. Consider the words of Paul.

Galatians 5:19-21

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like…

Solomon prefers the meditative life.

Ecclesiastes 4:6

Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

One could easily answer the king of wealth— ‘That is all well and good but how am I going to feed my family?’ But that isn’t what Solomon is saying. He isn’t asking us to ignore our responsibilities. He is asking us never to lose perspective. In his position of responsibility, he would be pulled in a thousand directions daily and the distractions of his time manifold. Still he advices “Better is an handful of quietness, than both the hands full of travail and vexation of spirit.” He appears to be saying that the greater the responsibility the greater the necessity for moments of quietness. He is asking us to separate that which is temporary from that which is eternal. Bodily labor is temporary. The soul is eternal.

Ecclesiastes 4:7-8

Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun. There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.