Ecclesiastes 4:1

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. SO I RETURNED - namely, to the thought set forth in ; . ON THE SIDE OF THEIR OPPRESSORS (THERE WAS) POWER. Maurer, not so well, 'violence.' THEY HAD NO COMFORTER. Twice said, to express continued suffering without any to give comfort ()....

1-3 It grieved Solomon to see might prevail against right. Wherever we turn, we see melancholy proofs of the wickedness and misery of mankind, who try to create trouble to themselves and to each other. Being thus hardly used, men are tempted to hate and despise life. But a good man, though badly off while in this world, cannot have cause to wish he had never been born, since he is glorifying the Lord, even in the fires, and will be happy at last, for ever happy. Ungodly men have most cause to wish the continuance of life with all its vexations, as a far more miserable condition awaits them if they die in their sins. If human and worldly things were our chief good, not to exist would be preferable to life, considering the various oppressions here below....

CHAPTER IV _The vanity of life is increased by oppression_, 1-3; _by envy_, 4; _by idleness_, 5. _The misery of a solitary life, and the advantages of society_, 6-12. _A poor and wise child; better than an old and foolish king_, 13. _The uncertainty of popular favour_, 14-16. NOTES ON CHAP. IV Verse Ecclesiastes 4:1. _CONSIDERED ALL THE OPPRESSIONS_] עשקים _ashukim_ signifies any kind of _injury_ which a man can receive in his _person_, his _property_, or his _good fame_....

SO I RETURNED, AND CONSIDERED - Rather, And I returned and saw. He turns to look upon other phenomena, and to test his previous conclusion by them. OPPRESSED - See the introduction to Ecclesiastes....

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 destroy it. ECCLESIASTES 4:1 First of all, he adduces the oppression of man by his fellow-man. ECCLESIASTES 4:1 SO I RETURNED, AND CONSIDERED ALL THE OPPRESSIONS THAT ARE DONE UNDER THE SUN. This is equivalent to, "again I saw," as Ecclesiastes 4:7, with a reference to the wickedness i

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 not rejoice, when he considered the oppression and violence that were in the world; but it does not appear that he did call it in, for he afterwards repeats it: or rather he returns to his former subject, the abuse of power and authority, mentioned Ecclesiastes 3:16; and from whence he had digressed a little by the above observation; and takes a review of all kinds of oppressions which are done, and of all sorts of "oppressed" x ones, as some render it, which become so, under the sun; subjects by their prince; the stranger, widow, and fatherless, by unjust judges; the poor by the rich; s

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 (Ecclesiastes 4:8) 4. Concerning popularity (Ecclesiastes 4:13) Ecclesiastes 4:1. He observes that the world is filled with oppressions. This connects with the statement made in the previous chapter, (verse 16). Criticism declares in connection with this passage that it could not have been written by

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 (Ecclesiastes 4:7), and a paragraph on a young king's popularity (Ecclesiastes 4:13). ECCLESIASTES 4:1. Man's inhumanity to man awakens Qoheleth's compassion; THEY HAD NO COMFORTER must refer in both cases to the oppressed; the words are repeated for the sake of emphasis....

UNDER THE SUN. See note on Ecclesiastes 1:3. SIDE. Hebrew "hand": put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for the violence proceeding from it. THEY: i.e. the oppressed. The phrase repeated for emphasis. Figure of speech _Epistrophe._ App-6....

_So I returned, and considered_ The thought that follows is the same in substance as that of chap. Ecclesiastes 3:16, but, in the speaker's wanderings of thought he passes once again, after the manner of the ἐποχὴ, or "suspense" of Pyrrho, he looks at the same facts, the "oppressions" and disorders of the world as from another stand-point, and that standpoint is the negation of immortality, or, at least, the impossibility of being sure of it. It may be noted that the tone is that of a deeper compassion than before. He sees the tears of the oppressed and sighs at their hopelessness: "Oh, the pity of it! the pity of it!" We can see in this new element of despair, that which was the beginning of a better life. The man was passing, to use modern terms, from egoism to altruism, thinking more of the misery of others than of his own enjoyment. _they had no comforter_ The iteration