Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:1 - 4:6

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:1 - 4:6


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Personal Misfortunes

v. 1. So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun, turning his reflections from the vanity of human life to the violence practiced by many men; and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter, no one to dry their tears by healing their injuries; and on the side of their oppressors there was power, that being the way of tyrants everywhere, but they had no comforter, the repetition of this phrase emphasizing the desperate and hopeless condition of the poor and downtrodden.

v. 2. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead,
and thus beyond the reach of tyranny and oppression, more than the living which are yet alive, and therefore always in danger of becoming victims of violence.

v. 3. 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,
for, not having been born, he has been spared the pain of witnessing the many evidences of oppression and tyranny which are always found in the world. This is not an expression of unbelieving pessimism, but a statement of fact which will cause the believers to turn all the more eagerly to the comforts of the Christian religion.

v. 4. Again, I considered all travail and every right work,
the prosperity coveted by men, the source and motive of so much of the oppression found in the world, that for this, namely, for his apparent success, a man is envied of his neighbor, this also resulting in a condition of misfortune. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit, for such emulation and striving is bound to result in misfortune to men.

v. 5. The fool foldeth his hands together,
too lazy to exert himself, and eateth his own flesh, using up his fortune and ruining himself by his idleness, having no one but himself to blame for his misfortune.

v. 6. Better is an handful,
a small amount of this world's goods, with quietness, to be enjoyed in peace, than both the hands full, a large measure of riches, with travail and vexation of spirit, for riches, if obtained only by anxious labor and retained only with care and sorrow, are a misfortune and cannot be conducive to happiness.