Ecclesiastes 4:6

Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit. BETTER (IS) AN HANDFUL (WITH) QUIETNESS, THAN BOTH THE HANDS FULL (WITH) TRAVAIL. Hebrew, 'one open hand (palm) full of quietness, than both closed hands (fists) full of (what seems wealth, but which is really) travail.' "Quietness" (tranquillity flowing from moderate labour) is the happy mean between ruinous indolence on the one hand (), and laborious acquisition of wealth, and with it envy, on the other (; Proverbs 15:16; )....

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 this excites envy and opposition. Others, seeing the vexations of an active course, foolishly expect more satisfaction in sloth and idleness. But idleness is a sin that is its own punishment. Let us by honest industry lay hold on the handful, that we may not want necessaries, but not grasp at both hands full, which would only create vexation of spirit. Moderate pains and gains do best....

Verse Ecclesiastes 4:6. _BETTER_ IS _A HANDFUL_ WITH _QUIETNESS_] These may be the words of the _slothful_ man, and spoken in vindication of his idleness; as if he had said, "Every man who labours and amasses property is the object of _envy_, and is marked by the oppressor as a subject for spoil; better, therefore, to act as I do; gain little, and have little, and enjoy my handful with quietness." Or the words may contain Solomon's _reflection_ on the subject....

Either the fool’s sarcasm on his successful but restless neighbor; or the comment of Solomon recommending contentment with a moderate competence. The former meaning seems preferable....

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

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 for himself and conduct, from the use and profitableness of his sloth; that little had with ease, and without toil and labour, is much better THAN BOTH THE HANDS FULL [WITH] TRAVAIL AND VEXATION OF SPIRIT; than large possessions gotten with a great deal of trouble, and enjoyed with much vexation and uneasiness; in which he mistakes slothful ease for true quietness; calls honest labour and industry travail and vexation; and supposes that true contentment lies in the enjoyment of little, and cannot be had where there is much; whereas it is to be found in a good man in every

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....

_Better is a handful with quietness_ The preposition is in both clauses an interpolation, and we should read "A HANDFUL OF REPOSE, … TWO HANDFULS OF TRAVAIL AND FEEDING ON WIND." In form the saying presents a parallel to Proverbs 15:17, "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith;" but the thought is obviously of a less ethical character. The feeling expressed in Ecclesiastes 4:5-6 (the latter confirming the interpretation just given of the former) is such as we may think of as rising in the mind of an ambitious statesman or artist striving after fame, as he looks on the _dolce far niente_of a _lazzarone_at Naples, half-naked, basking in the sun, and revelling in the enjoyment of his water-melon. The one would at such a time, almost chang

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 goes with the wind._ Desvoeux; who observes, that metaphors derived from images which are not familiar to us, and which on that account may at first appear almost unintelligible, are sometimes easily understood, when you compare therewith the context: thus the expression, _eating his own flesh,_ does not immediately raise in the mind the distinct idea of any particular passion; but when you see envy mentioned just before, and consider the thread of the argument, there can scarcely remain any doubt but that Solomon intended to describe an envious and idle man. So Iliad, i. ver. 243. Agamemnon is represented as _tearing_ his own heart on account of a fault in which he is still resolved to perse...