In our study of Ecclesiastes chapter four, we continue our search for the purpose of life by looking at the philosophy of living for self.
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But I turned away and thought about all the kinds of oppression being done under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them. The power was on the side of their oppressors, and they had no one to comfort them.
In chapter 3, Solomon showed us the futility of chasing earthly things and missing out on the spiritual things of God. Now, he looks at what happens when nations and their governments chase the physical. Here, we see that these nations and their leaders oppress the poor in their quest for money and power. We also see that, when the people look to the government for help, there is none. This reminds us that our comfort comes from God and not man or an earthly government. It is the job of the church to bring comfort to the people and to especially look out for the poor. Sadly, a big part of the church has attempted to turn that responsibility over to the government.
So I considered the dead happier, because they were already dead, than the living, who must still live their lives; but happier than either of them is the one who has not yet been born, because he has not yet seen the evil things that are done under the sun.
Solomon's conclusion about this state of oppression is that it is good to die and escape but it is better to have not been born. Does this not describe the feeling in our world today as there seems to be a bigger gap than ever between the rich and powerful and the poor? As bad as it appears to be now, it is going to get much worse. To prepare, the church must return to its roots of service just as the early church did in following Jesus. The second thing, is that God's people must tell people the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Solomon found, focusing on the temporary physical without the lasting spiritual is pointless.
Next I realized that all effort and achievement stem from one person's envy of another. This too is futility and feeding on wind.
Now, Solomon turns from looking at nations that are living for themselves to individual men. He reminds us of the fact that chasing after the riches of this world is a race that we cannot win because there is always a neighbor that has more than we do. Without a restored relationship with God, our hearts can never be satisfied with the things of this earth.
Fools fold their arms together and eat their own flesh away. Better an armload with tranquillity than both arms full of effort and feeding on wind.
Now, he contrasts the lazy with those that are chasing after the riches of the world. Solomon's conclusion is that it is better to work and have peace with what you have than to be lazy or to always be chasing for more. This is what the apostle Paul was talking about when he described his contentment (see Philippians 4).
Then I turned my attention to something else under the sun that is pointless: the situation in which a solitary individual without a companion, with neither son nor brother, keeps on working endlessly but never has enough wealth. "For whom" [he should ask], "am I working so hard and denying myself pleasure?"This too is truly pointless, a sorry business.
Now, he shows us that it is meaningless to acquire wealth and have nobody to share it with. As it was in the garden, man was not created to be alone like an island in the ocean.
Two are better than one, in that their cooperative efforts yield this advantage: if one of them falls, the other will help his partner up - woe to him who is alone when he falls and has no one to help him up. Again, if two people sleep together, they keep each other warm; but how can one person be warm by himself? Moreover, an attacker may defeat someone who is alone, but two can resist him; and a three-stranded cord is not easily broken.
Solomon gives us examples of how two are better than one but then ends the passage speaking of a three stranded cord. This makes us wonder what he is talking about and we find the answer in Genesis 2. There we see that a woman was created to be with a man and they were to work together. The third cord is God as they were designed to work together with God to fulfill His plan for their lives. A man and woman walking and working together for the glory of God is the only way that a life has lasting meaning.
Better a youth who is poor but wise than a king who is old but foolish, no longer willing to listen to advice.
You can almost feel the sorrow as Solomon looks back at his younger days and the wisdom that he was granted by God. He contrasts that to where he is now which was that he had disobeyed God and married women he was told that he could not.
True, he rose from prison to be king; yet, while ruling, he became poor.
Solomon recounts the fact that God chooses the king and often He does not choose the ones we would expect. His father David was the least of his brothers and yet God chose him to be the king.
I observed that all who live and walk under the sun took the side of the youth mentioned first who would rule in place of the king, and that no limit was set for the number of his subjects. Nevertheless, those who come afterwards will not regard him highly. This too is certainly pointless and feeding on wind.
Because of his disobedience, God had told Solomon that his kingdom would be divided and that is what he speaks of here. The king had tried to build up the kingdom to pass on to his son and yet it was destined to be divided. The same type of thing happens today in that many people work all the time and hope to build up a fortune to leave to their kids. Often the business or money that is left to them is wasted or thrown away. In the end, their hard work to build it up was no more than chasing after the wind.
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