Ecclesiastes 4:8

There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail. THERE IS ONE (ALONE) AND (THERE IS) NOT A SECOND - no partner. He might have one, but it is the nemesis of his greatness that he has not. He stands alone in the world, without object for his avarice, and without friend to break his dreary isolation. CHILD - `son or brother,' put for any heir (; ). NEITHER IS HIS EYE SATISFIED - (.) The miser would not be able to give an ac...

7,8 Frequently, the more men have, the more they would have; and on this they are so intent, that they get no enjoyment from what they have. Selfishness is the cause of this evil. A selfish man cares for nobody; there is none to take care of but himself, yet he will scarcely allow necessary rest to himself, and the people he employs. He never thinks he has enough. He has enough for his calling, for his family, but he has not enough for his eyes. Many are so set upon the world, that in pursuit of it they bereave themselves, not only of the favour of God and eternal life, but of the pleasures of this life. The distant relations or strangers who inherit such a man's wealth, never thank him. Covetousness gathers strength by time and habit; men tottering on the brink of the grave, grow more grasping and griping. Alas, and how often do we see men professing to be followers of Him, who, "thoug...

Verse Ecclesiastes 4:8. _THERE IS ONE_ ALONE, _AND_ THERE IS _NOT A SECOND_] Here _covetousness_ and _avarice_ are characterized. The man who is the centre of his own existence; has neither wife, child, nor legal heir; and yet is as intent on getting money as if he had the largest family to provide for; nor does he only labour with intense application, but he even refuses himself the comforts of life out of his own gains! This is not only _vanity_, the excess of foolishness, but it is also _sore travail_....

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

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; and no wife, which would be more expensive, and bring on a family of children; wherefore, to save charges, he chooses to have neither of these; for this is a covetous man who is here desert bed; YEA, HE HATH NEITHER CHILD NOR BROTHER; to inherit his substance, as the Targum adds; some worldly men, whose bellies are filled with hidden treasures, having enjoyed much, when they die, leave the rest of their substance to their babes; but the man here described has no children, nor any relations to leave his wealth unto; YET [IS THERE] NO END OF ALL HIS LABOUR; when he has executed one scheme to g...

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....

CHILD. son. LABOUR. toil. MY SOUL. myself. TRAVAIL. fatigue from toil. See note on Ecclesiastes 2:23; Ecclesiastes 2:26....

_There is one alone, and there is not a second_ The gaze of the seeker now falls on another picture. That which strikes him as another example of the vanity of human efforts is the frequent loneliness of the worshipper of wealth. He is one, and he has no companion, no partner or friend, often none bound to him by ties of blood, child or brother, yet he labours on, as though he meant to be the founder of a dynasty. "He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them" Psalms 39:6. _neither is his eye satisfied with riches_ The words paint vividly the special characteristic of the insatiability of avarice, "Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit." "So grows our love of wealth as grows the wealth itself." _neither saith he, For whom do I labour_ The words in italics "SAITH HE" express the meaning of the original but deprive it of its dramatic