Ecclesiastes 4:1-6To: Ecclesiastes Main MenuTo: Grace Notes Home Page In chapter four Solomon goes back into the secular world and considers how man can find meaning to life in the midst of struggle. As he did at the end of chapter four, he looks at life and makes observations and conclusions. Previously he has looked at the futility of secular efforts in any attempt to find significance. Here, in chapter four, he looks at life's struggles and the things of life that plague us all. And all this, he concludes in empty and like chasing after the wind. The conclusion of chapter four is rather dismal a part from a relationship with God. But that is where Solomon was for many years, dismal, depressed, unable to find meaning to life or significance for self. Lacking security, lacking joy. But we already know from chapter three that this need not be the experience of the child of God who knows God and walks with God. In this chapter he observes OPPRESSION, SUCCESS, MATERIALISM, AND POSITION. Ecclesiastes 4:1-3Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.Oppression is one of the dark facts of life under the sun. We can see it politically, corporately, individually. We cannot escape it. We turn on the news, read the paper, and find story after story of the suffering of the innocent. Solomon observes two parties in oppression, the oppressed and the oppressors. 1. The oppressed shed tears The tears shed are actually weeping. The oppressed weep in order to find someone to comfort them. This is a crying for attention. They are oppressed, no one seems to care. They weep trying to attract the attention of someone who will care and correct the oppression. But Solomon says there is no one to give comfort. COMFORT is NA-HAM like the name of the O.T. Prophet. It was used for the comfort and encouragement that could be given that would encourage one to press on. Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. But for the oppressed there is no one to comfort. Man may feel sorry for the oppressed, they may even be able to eliminate temporally some oppression, but then it crops up someplace else. So on the secular plain, there is no true comforter. Now the parallel is drawn next to the oppressors. They grasp for power and do so through oppression. The reason they grasp for power is the same reason the oppressed weep, they seek comfort. This may surprise us at first but as we examine those who grasp for power by oppressing others we will begin to see there is a reason they do what they do. And it is not merely to see the innocent suffer. They seek meaning to their miserable existence, they seek significance...in their terms, at any cost. The reality and horror of their oppression is never really considered, only what it will accomplish. Adolph Eichmann described his role in the murder of six million Jews in German death camps a part of his job description, he was just doing his job and being commended for it...he was significant, he was comforted knowing that others thought he was doing well. but he was doing evil. Eccl. 5:8 If you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight, for one official watches over another official, and there are higher officials over them. But Solomon says there is no comfort in this. So a cycle of oppression is developed. More power is sought, more and more innocent suffer. More power corrupts. BUT NOTICE THAT SOLOMON does not dwell on this at length. He observes it as a fact of life in a fallen world. v 2-3 Solomon now looks at this cycle of oppression and sees the lack of answers the secular world has for this continuing problem. So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun. Solomon is speaking of oppression in its most evil and cruel forms and he employs a hyperbole to shock us into facing the fact that man cannot come up with a solution to oppression. There are no answers under the sun . . . BUT GOD DOES HAVE AN ANSWER: His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, our Saviour, our example, our precedent, suffered the brutal realities of oppression. Isaiah 53:7-8 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? AND YET IN THE FACE OF THIS OPPRESSION, Jesus held to the joy that was before Him, enduring the Cross while at all times anticipated the Crown. Does this mean that we are to ignore oppression, just let it go on without any recourse. That was not Jesus' policy. In the sermon on the mount he challenged his disciples to be peacemakers. We are to feed the hungry, help those who are truly poor, visit widows and orphans, perform acts of mercy. We are to, as did Jesus, take a stand that oppressed oppression. But that stand is one taken with TRUTH. Even during His trials we see Jesus armed with truth and giving out that truth to any who would listen. AND THAT IS WHAT WE ARE TO do, take a stand with Christ and in Truth. Sometimes evil will be corrected, injustice and oppression may be banished, but when it is not we must realize that these evils will continue in some intensity until God intervenes in history and His kingdom is established. In the meantime we live in the tension of the harsh realities of a fallen world but the even greater reality of the kingdom and eternal glory of God. Ecclesiastes 4:4-6And I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind. The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.When I first meet Jim I was impressed with his Christian testimony and his focus in business. Here was a young man who had some great ideas. His motive, however, was success and to Jim success was spelled M-O-N-E-Y. It did not take long for his life to fall a part. He lost his business, his home, even his wife and children and ended up bankrupt. His desire for success destroyed every thing of value in his life. Solomon saw some people just like Jim. v 4 can have, in the Hebrew, two interpretations. We can see it referring to a person who pursue success because they are envious of those who have succeeded. Or we can see it referring to a person who felt he had succeeded because he is envied by others. Either getting ahead of others or trying to keep ahead of others. Both are true. Both serve as motives for the person who is driven to succeed in order to stand above others. NOW SOLOMON USES a wide brush when he pens the word ALL. So as Solomon looks at the secular world where he had spent so much time he says that he sees people working themselves to death because they want to out shine their neighbors. They want more than others, they are envious or jealous. Or they are fearful that someone will have more than they. Now Solomon is not saying that we should not work hard when called upon to do so. We are to work, we are to provide for others, we are to do whatever we do as unto the Lord. The error of the secular world would be to go to the extreme of being lazy. The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. The folding of the hands is the not doing of any work and the consuming of one's own flesh means to eat what is in store without adding to it. Luke 12:19 The rich farmer who decided to live off what he had ion store: And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry. But eventually time runs out and there is no longer anything in store. SO SOLOMON HAS CONSIDERED EACH: The workaholic who strives after success and the lazy fool who lives off what is in store. His conclusion is that neither are adequate models for life. v 6 One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind. Solomon concluded that it is better to have less and enjoy it more. Our problem today is not so much the high cost of living but the cost of high living. We want more and more and more and soon more becomes too much. We need to keep our lives in balance. One hand full of tranquillity is far better than two fists full of dollars. In Proverbs Solomon put it another way: Proverbs 15:16-17 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it. Better is a dish of vegetables where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it. There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. 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