George Haydock's Catholic Commentary
Ecclesiastes 4:5
Flesh, which he will not labour to sustain; (Haydock) or he repines at his own past misconduct, and at the affluence of others.
Flesh, which he will not labour to sustain; (Haydock) or he repines at his own past misconduct, and at the affluence of others.
Verse Ecclesiastes 4:5. _THE FOOL FOLDETH HIS HANDS_] After all, without _labour_ and _industry_ no man can get any comfort in life; and he who gives way to idleness is the veriest of fools....
FOLDETH HIS HANDS - The envious man is here exhibited in the attitude of the sluggard (marginal references). EATETH HIS OWN FLESH - i. e., “Destroys himself:” compare a similar expression in Isaiah 49...
CHAPTER 4 OBSERVATIONS OF DIFFERENT WRONGS _ 1. Concerning oppressions (Ecclesiastes 4:1)_ 2. Concerning envy of fools and the rich (Ecclesiastes 4:4) 3. Concerning the miser (Ecclesiast
ECCLESIASTES 4. A GLOOMY SURVEY. The chapter falls into four parts, which treat respectively of oppression (Ecclesiastes 4:1), rivalry (Ecclesiastes 4:4), isolation amounting to self-torture (Ecclesia...
FOOL. Hebrew. _kesil,_ fat, inert. See note on Proverbs 1:7....
_The fool foldeth his hands together_ Simple as the words seem they have received very different interpretations: (1) The fool (the word is the same as in ch. Ecclesiastes 2:14-16, and is that, the pr...
THE FOOL FOLDETH HIS HANDS, &C.— _The fool, folding his hands together, and eating his own flesh, saith, Better is the palm of one hand full of rest, than both the hands full of work, and that which g...
2. Keep your motive for work pure. Ecclesiastes 4:4-6 TEXT 4:4-6 4 And 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 i...
The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh. Still the indolence which 'folds the fool's hands together' is to be reprobated, because such a one ruins himself - "eateth his own fl...
VICISSITUDES OF LIFE. 'OH, THE PITY OF IT!' 1-3. The mass of human suffering and the absence of pity are such that better off are the dead and still more the unborn. It is not only through God's ord...
Even the fool who idly runs through his substance is for the time better off, for he is at peace....
THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 4 This chapter contains several subjects. 1. PEOPLE WHO SUFFER – ECCLESIASTES 4:1-...
EATETH HIS OWN FLESH. — Interpreters have usually taken these words metaphorically, as in Psalms 27:2; Isaiah 49:26; Micah 3:3, and understood them as a condemnation of the sluggard’s conduct as suici...
הַ כְּסִיל֙ חֹבֵ֣ק אֶת ־יָדָ֔יו וְ אֹכֵ֖ל
SECOND SECTION The Quest Of The Chief Good In Devotion To The Affairs Of Business Ecclesiastes 3:1 - Ecclesiastes 5:20 I. IF the true Good is not to be found in the School where Wisdom utters her vo...
AND BY HUMAN INJUSTICE AND PERVERSITY. Ecclesiastes 3:16; Ecclesiastes 4:1 But not only are our endeavours to find the "good" of our labours thwarted by the gracious, inflexible laws of the just God...
IT IS RENDERED HOPELESS BY THE BASE ORIGIN OF HUMAN INDUSTRIES. Ecclesiastes 4:4 This stinging sense of the miserable estate of his race has, however, diverted the Preacher from the conduct of the ma...
From this general survey the preacher returned to examine the condition of the beings whom he had described as being no better than the beasts. He looked out upon them, and saw them in suffering, and...
The fool foldeth his hands together, and (e) eateth his own flesh. (e) For idleness he is compelled to destroy himself....
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. (4) Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is...
THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 1 THROUGH 12. The Book of Ecclesiastes is, up to a certain point, the converse of the Book of Proverbs. (see NOTE TO PROVERBS below) It is the experience of a...
THE FOOL FOLDETH HIS HANDS TOGETHER,.... In order to get more sleep, or as unwilling to work; so the Targum adds, "he folds his hands in summer, and will not labour;'' see Proverbs 6:10. Some person...
The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh. Ver. 5. _The fool foldeth his hands together._] A graphical and lively description of a sluggard, fitly called a fool (φαυλος), a naught...
_The fool foldeth his hands_, &c. Is careless and idle: perceiving that diligence is attended with envy, he runs into the other extreme. _And eateth his own flesh_ Wastes his substance, and brings him...
PERSONAL MISFORTUNES...
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 misfortun...
"THE FOOL FOLDS HIS HANDS AND CONSUMES HIS OWN FLESH." If hard work and diligence bring success, but with negative side effects, then should we sink into apathy and let things slide? "folds his hands...
4-6 Solomon notices the sources of trouble peculiar to well-doers, and includes all who labour with diligence, and whose efforts are crowned with success. They often become great and prosperous, but...
FOLDETH HIS HANDS TOGETHER; is careless and idle, which is the signification of this gesture, PROVERBS 6:10, PROVERBS 19:24 26:15. Perceiving that diligence is attended with envy, ECCLESIASTES 4:4, he...
Ecclesiastes 4:5 fool H3684 folds H2263 (H8802) hands H3027 consumes H398 (H8802) flesh H1320 fool -...
CHAPTER 4 THE DREADFULNESS OF OPPRESSION. GUIDANCE ON LIVING. This chapter begins with considering the dreadfulness of oppression and then continues with thoughts on living, giving both good and bad...
SUNDRY OBSERVATIONS ON LIFE (ECCLESIASTES 4:4). Having all to briefly considered the oppression that was in the world, which has left him feeling that it was better if they had never been born, he no...
Ecclesiastes 3:1 A profound gloom rests on the second act or section of this drama. It teaches us that we are helpless in the iron grip of laws which we had no voice in making; that we often lie at th...
CONTENTS: Discontent and impatience because of the oppressions and iniquities of life. CHARACTERS: Solomon. CONCLUSION: The world is full of trouble. By reason of man's perversity, he is ever distur...
Ecclesiastes 4:2. _Wherefore I praised the dead more than the living,_ who are robbed, fleeced, and exposed to incessant afflictions, from oppression and war. Solomon alludes to extreme cases, such as...
_Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour._ AN OLD PORTRAIT OF MODERN MEN Here is a portrait, drawn by a man who lived thousands of years...
ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 4:4 Much of what is achieved by human ability stems FROM A MAN’S ENVY OF HIS NEIGHBOR. Here the Preacher focuses on the VANITY that comes to those who make such...
CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 4:5. EATETH HIS OWN FLESH.] Accomplishes his own ruin by indolence, exhausts his fortune, preys upon himself like one mad with hunger. _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH...
EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 4:1 Section 5. Koheleth proceeds to give further illustrations of _man_'_s inability to be the architect of his own happiness_._ _There are many things which interrupt or des...
So I returned, and I considered all of the oppressions that are done under the sun: and the tears of those that are oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was...
Isaiah 9:20; Job 13:14; Proverbs 11:17; Proverbs 12:27; Proverbs 13:4
The fool — Is careless and idle: perceiving that diligence is attended with envy, he runs into the other extreme. Eateth — Wastes his substance, and brings himself to poverty, whereby his very flesh p...