Ecclesiastes 4:12

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. IF ONE PREVAIL AGAINST HIM. One = the enemy. Rather, join "one" with "him." 'If (an enemy) prevail against him, the one'-him in his isolation-because of his standing alone. So the Vulgate. But the Syriac and Septuagint, favour the English version. A THREEFOLD CORD - proverbial for a combination of many, e.g., husband, wife, and children (); so Christians (; ). Christ sent forth the seventy by pairs, not singly (), and promised, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" ...

9-12 Surely he has more satisfaction in life, who labours hard to maintain those he loves, than the miser has in his toil. In all things union tends to success and safety, but above all, the union of Christians. They assist each other by encouragement, or friendly reproof. They warm each other's hearts while they converse together of the love of Christ, or join in singing his praises. Then let us improve our opportunities of Christian fellowship. In these things all is not vanity, though there will be some alloy as long as we are under the sun. Where two are closely joined in holy love and fellowship, Christ will by his Spirit come to them; then there is a threefold cord....

The spectacle of a prosperous man whose condition is rendered vain by his brotherless, childless isolation. Ecclesiastes 4:8 A SECOND - Any one associated or connected with him. Ecclesiastes 4:9 Compare a saying from the Talmud: “A man without companions is like the left hand without the right.”...

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

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 the mischief he designed; see 2 Samuel 10:11; Thus, when Satan attacks a single believer, which he chooses to do when alone; so he tempted Eve in the garden, and Christ in the wilderness; and one or more fellow Christians know of it, they are capable of helping their tempted friend, by their advice and counsel, they not being ignorant of Satan's devices; and by striving together in their prayers to God for him: so when false teachers make their efforts, as they usually do, Satan like, upon the weaker sex, and, when alone, they too often succeed; but when saints stand fast in one sp

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....

PREVAIL AGAINST. overpower. Hebrew. _takaph,_ supposed to belong to later Hebrew, but it is found in Job 14:20 with Job 15:24 (the only three occurrences). See App-76. A THREEFOLD CORD. Compare Numbers 6:24; Micah 6:8; Titus 2:12; Titus 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:3 with 1 Thessalonians 1:9;

_if one prevail against him_ Better, IF A MAN OVERPOWERS HIM THAT IS ALONE, YET TWO SHALL WITHSTAND. Another incident of travel is brought before us. The robber may lie in ambush. Against one his attack would be successful; the two friends defend each other and are saved. _a threefold cord is not quickly broken_ Perhaps no words in Ecclesiastes are better known than this as a proverbial expression for the strength of unity. It differs from the previous illustration in suggesting the thought of a friendship in which more than two persons are joined. "Threefold" is chosen as an epithet, partly as carrying on the thought from two to three, as in Proverbs 30:15; Proverbs 30:18; Proverbs 30:21, from

AND IF ONE PREVAIL AGAINST HIM, &C.— _And though one should be strong, the two will make a stand against him; for a three-stringed cord shall not quickly be broken._ Desvoeux. Houbigant renders it, _But if one should be circumvented, and they two be present_ [to assist him] _then the three-fold cord will not easily be broken._...