Ecclesiastes 4:1-16

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 4:1-3

v1 Again I thought about the powerful people all over this world. Sometimes they caused people to suffer in many ways.

I saw those people who were suffering.

And they were crying.

People with power can control other people in the wrong way.

But nobody offers comfort to those people who are suffering.

v2 And I thought about those people who have died.

It is better for them than for those people who are still alive.

v3 But it is better for those people who have not yet been born.

It is better for them than for the dead people.

It is better for them than for those people who are still alive.

That is because they have not seen the wicked things on the earth.

And people do very wicked things on this earth.

Verse 1 Powerful people can cause other people to suffer and to have troubles. A bad ruler encourages bad officials. And they cause his people to suffer (Proverbs 29:12). Judges can lie. They might say that wicked rich people are innocent. And they might say that innocent poor people are guilty. The Teacher saw that poor people were suffering. Merchants cheated them. The merchants would not weigh things properly. And then they charged too much money for things of poor quality (Amos 8:5-6). People were afraid of those men with power. So nobody was willing to help the poor people who had these troubles.

Verses 2-3 The people who have died do not suffer. And the people who are not yet born cannot see all the wicked things. People do terrible things on the earth. So it is better for those who are not yet born. That is what the Teacher thinks, anyway. The people who are alive will suffer. And the people who have died also suffered. They all had troubles while they lived on this earth.

2. Attitudes to work – Ecclesiastes 4:4-8

v4 And I saw that people are skilful in their work. And they achieve great things because they are jealous of other people. This too is hard to understand. It is like someone who is chasing the wind.

v5 The fool refuses to work,

so he ruins himself.

v6 It is better to have only a little food in one hand, if your life is quiet and calm.

Some people work too much.

They want to gain twice as much.

They are like someone who is trying to catch the wind.

Verse 4 People often see all the things that other people have. They look at other people and they become jealous. So perhaps they spend much time and effort as they try to be successful. However, they may not always produce a good result. They may neglect their family and they may lose their friends. They may lose their own good health too.

Verse 5 The lazy man is different from the man who works too hard. The *Hebrew text says that the fool ‘folds his hands’. This means, ‘he has decided not to work’. The result is that he ruins himself. He becomes so poor that he has nothing to eat. Then he dies. Or he becomes so selfish that other people do not respect him. In the end, he does not respect himself.

Verse 6 If you have enough, it seems better to live without too much effort. Then your life will be quiet and calm. It is better to be content than to be jealous. To gain a lot, you must work too much. And if you work too hard you do not achieve anything really worthwhile. This behaviour is like someone who is trying to catch the wind.

3. Companions are valuable – Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

The lonely man – Ecclesiastes 4:7-8

v7 Again I saw something on the earth that had no purpose.

v8 A man lived completely alone, without any companion.

He did not even have a son or a brother.

But he was always working hard

because he was not content with his wealth.

He must ask himself, ‘Who am I helping when I work so hard?

And why am I not having pleasure?’

His life will have meant nothing. This is another unhappy situation.

Verses 7-8 These verses describe a man who has no family. He works hard and he becomes rich. But he is not happy with the results. He has no pleasure in anything. He does not know who will benefit from all his work. The man who wrote Psalms 39:6 wrote something similar: ‘A person gains wealth. But he does not know who will get it.’

Two people are better than one person – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

v9 Two people are better than one person.

They can help each other in everything that they do.

v10 Suppose that one person falls down.

The other person can lift him up.

But we should pity the man who falls alone.

He has nobody who can help him!

v11 Also, if two people lie down together,

they will keep warm.

But one person cannot keep warm alone!

v12 In a fight, a man can defeat someone who is alone.

But he cannot defeat two men who oppose him.

People may make a *rope from three strings.

Then it is very hard to break that *rope.

Verses 9-11 The Teacher has thought about the lonely man. Now he realises the advantages if someone has a companion. The companion may be a friend, a husband or a wife. They benefit each other.

If a person fell, especially at night, it might be dangerous. There might be nobody available to help. But to ‘fall’ does not always refer to a physical accident. It may refer to any difficulty, perhaps in business. It may be the result when we do something wrong. A friend can advise us, and a friend can give practical help to us. Two people who sleep together may be a husband and a wife. But in the country called Israel the nights can be cold. And travellers sometimes slept close to each other.

Verse 12 This is another example that shows a friend’s value. Someone may attack a man who is travelling alone. Jesus told a story about a man who was travelling. He was walking to the town called Jericho. Somebody attacked the man as he walked along the road (Luke 10:30). This man was travelling alone. But if someone is travelling with a friend, they can protect each other.

A rope is a thick string that is very strong. A person winds several strings together to make rope. In this verse, the strings refer to people. One string is not very strong. In a similar way, just one person is not very strong. But there seems to be something special about 3 people who work together. King David had 3 very special soldiers (2 Samuel 23:18). In the *New Testament Jesus had Peter, James and John who were his closest friends. Some writers think that the 3 strings refer to a husband, a wife and a child. When people have married, the birth of a child will make their love stronger. Other writers think that one string refers to God. God is the partner that makes a husband and wife or a friendship much stronger.

4. The Teacher thinks about political power – Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

v13 A poor young man who is wise is better than an old and foolish king. A king who is like this will not receive advice. v14 Perhaps the young man was in prison before he became king. Or perhaps he was born into a poor family in that country. v15 I once saw that everyone in the country was obeying a new young king. v16 At first there was no limit to all the people who served him. But those people who came later were not happy with him as king. This also has no purpose. It is like someone who is chasing the wind.

Verses 13-14 Usually the *Israelites thought that old people were wise. The Teacher does not mention anyone’s name. But when King David was old, he was like the foolish king. He had ruled for a long time. He had forgotten what his people needed. He did not appoint a king to follow him. Finally, his friend, Nathan, and his wife, Bathsheba, told him what his young son, Adonijah, was trying to do. (See 1 Kings 1:1 – 27.) Old King David still thought that he was wise (Proverbs 26:12). In, Job 32:4-11, Elihu said, ‘It is not only old people who can be wise.’ The *Israelites thought that ‘young’ meant under 30 years old. Many years ago, young Joseph was in prison. But he became an important ruler in the country called Egypt (Genesis 41:14; Genesis 41:41-43).

Verses 15-16 At first the new young king was popular with many people. But later he was not popular with many other people. Perhaps it was not his fault. Perhaps he became so familiar to them that the people wanted a change. People can be loyal for a time. Then their children become adults and those new adults want someone different as their leader. All this has no purpose. It is like someone who is trying to catch the wind.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Israelites spoke.
Israelite ~ a person that belonged to the nation called Israel.
Israel ~ the nation that God chose to be his special people or their country.
rope ~ a thick string.'New Testament ~ the part of the Bible that is about Jesus and the first Christians.
Israelite ~ a person that belonged to the nation called Israel.
Israel ~ the nation that God chose to be his special people or their country.