INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 4 In this chapter the wise man reassumes the consideration of the case of the abuse of power, to show that there is no happiness in this world, in grandeur and authority enjoyed; since, as he had observed before, on the one hand, the oppressor shall be judged and condem... [ Continue Reading ]
SO I RETURNED, AND CONSIDERED ALL THE OPPRESSIONS THAT ARE DONE UNDER THE SUN,.... The wise man, according to Aben Ezra, returned from the thought, which he had expressed in the latter part of the preceding chapter, that it was good for a man to rejoice in his works, and called it in; since he could... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE I PRAISED THE DEAD, WHICH ARE ALREADY DEAD,.... Truly and properly so; not in a figurative sense, as dead sinners, men dead in trespasses and sins; nor carnal professors, that have a name to live, and are dead; nor in a civil sense, such as are in calamity and distress, as the Jews in capt... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, BETTER [IS HE] THAN BOTH THEY WHICH HATH NOT YET BEEN,.... That is, an unborn person; who is preferred both to the dead that have seen oppression, and to the living that are under it; see Job 3:10. This supposes a person to be that never was, a mere nonentity; and the judgment made is according... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAIN I CONSIDERED ALL TRAVAIL, AND EVERY RIGHT WORK,.... The pains that men take to do right works. Some apply themselves, with great diligence and industry, to the study of the liberal arts and sciences; and to attain the knowledge of languages; and to writing books, for the improvement of those t... [ Continue Reading ]
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 persons, to escape the envy which diligence and industry bring on men, will not work at all, or do any rig... [ Continue Reading ]
BETTER [IS] A HANDFUL [WITH] QUIETNESS,.... These are the words of the fool, according to Aben Ezra; and which is the sense of other interpreters, particularly Mr. Broughton, who connects this verse with Ecclesiastes 4:5 by adding at the end of that the word "saying"; making an excuse or an apology... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN I RETURNED, AND I SAW VANITY UNDER THE SUN. Another vanity besides what he had taken notice of, and is as follows. Aben Ezra's note is, "I turned from considering the words of this fool, and I saw another fool, the reverse of the former.''... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS ONE [ALONE], AND [THERE IS] NOT A SECOND,.... According to Aben Ezra, either no friend or companion, or no servant, or no wife, which last sense he prefers; no friend or companion he chooses, because friendship and fellowship lead to expenses; and no servant who would be chargeable to him;... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO [ARE] BETTER THAN ONE,.... The wise man takes occasion, from the solitariness Of the covetous man before described, to show in this and some following verses the preferableness and advantages of social life; which, as it holds true in things natural and civil, so in things spiritual and religiou... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF THEY FALL, THE ONE WILL LIFT UP HIS FELLOW,.... That is, if anyone of them fall, the other will lift him up, as they are travelling together, in whatsoever manner; if one falls from his horse, or out of his carriage, or into a ditch, the other will endeavour to raise him up again: this, as it... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAIN, IF TWO LIE TOGETHER, THEN THEY HAVE HEAT,.... The Targum adds, in the winter; when it is a cold season, they warm one another by lying together. The Targum interprets it of a man and his wife; it is true of others; see 1 Kings 1:1; BUT HOW CAN ONE BE WARM [ALONE]? not soon, nor easily, in ti... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF ONE PREVAIL AGAINST HIM, TWO SHALL WITHSTAND HIM,.... If an enemy, or a thief, or a robber, attack anyone of them, in friendship and fellowship together, and is more than a match for him; both joined together will be able to resist him; so that he shall not succeed in his enterprise, and do t... [ Continue Reading ]
BETTER [IS] A POOR AND A WISE CHILD THAN AN OLD AND FOOLISH KING,.... The wise man proceeds to show the vanity of worldly power and dignity, in the highest instance of it, which is kingly; and, in order to illustrate and exemplify this, he supposes, on the one hand, a person possessed of royal honou... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OUT OF PRISON HE COMETH TO REIGN,.... That is, this is sometimes the case of a poor and wise child; he rises out of a low, mean, abject, obscure state and condition, to the highest dignity; from a prison house, or a place where servants are, to sit among princes, and even to have the supreme aut... [ Continue Reading ]
I CONSIDERED ALL THE LIVING WHICH WALK UNDER THE SUN,.... All men that were then alive, who were capable of walking upon the earth; even all of them that were under the heavens, in every land and nation, under whatsoever dominion or government: these, and their manners, Solomon had particularly obse... [ Continue Reading ]
[THERE IS] NO END OF ALL THE PEOPLE, [EVEN] OF ALL THAT HAVE BEEN BEFORE THEM,.... Before the present generation, the living that walked under the sun; a vast number they were that lived before them, and they were of the same restless temper and disposition; changeable in their affection and behavio... [ Continue Reading ]