1Dále jsem viděl všechen útlak, který je pod sluncem, a hle - utlačení pláčou, a není pro ně utěšitel - od utlačovatelů trpí násilí, ale utěšitel žádný. 2A řekl jsem: Šťastní mrtví, kteří už zemřeli, jsou šťastnější než živí, kteří ještě žijí. 3A nad obojí je šťastnější ten, kdo ještě nežil, neboť nevidí nepravost, která se děje pod sluncem. 4A poznal jsem, že všechna snaha a všechna pečlivost při práci je jen vzájemná závist - a i to je marnost a chytání větru. 5Hlupák skládá ruce do klína a sám se vrhá do záhuby. 6Lepší je mít plnou hrst s pokojem než obě hrsti s trápením a chytáním větru. 7A dále jsem viděl jinou marnost pod sluncem: 8Někdo je sám, nikoho nemá, ani syna, ani bratra, a přece se nepřestává namáhat, jeho oči se nemohou nabažit bohatství. „Pro koho se tedy namáhám a zbavuji všeho potěšení?“ I to je marnost a obtížné zaměstnání. 9Lepší je žít ve dvou než v osamocení, protože tak se práce vyplácí. 10Když padnou, jeden zvedá druhého. Běda samotnému! Když padne, pak není druhý, který by ho zvedl. 11A dále: Když dva leží spolu, zahřejí se. Jak se zahřeje ten, kdo je sám? 12Když někdo jednoho napadne, budou mu dva odporovat. Nesnadno se přetrhne provaz trojpramenný. 13Lepší je chlapec chudý, ale moudrý, než král starý, ale hloupý, který se už nedá poučit. 14Neboť chlapec se dovede dostat i z vězení, aby vstoupil na trůn, ačkoli za vlády krále se narodil jako chudák. 15Tehdy jsem viděl všechny živé, kdo chodí pod sluncem, že drží s tím druhým, chlapcem, který zaujal jeho místo. 16Bez konce bylo lidí, všech těch, jimž stál v čele, nebudou se však z něho radovat ti, kteří nakonec přijdou. I to je marnost a chytání větru. 17Dej pozor na své kroky, když jdeš do Božího domu. Přicházet v poslušnosti je lepší než oběť darovaná hlupáky, kteří ani nevědí, že jednají zle.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Ecc. 4:1-16)
returned--namely, to the thought set forth (
Eccl 3:16;
Job 35:9).
power--MAURER, not so well, "violence."
no comforter--twice said to express continued suffering without any to give comfort (
Isa 53:7).
2 A profane sentiment if severed from its connection; but just in its bearing on Solomon's scope. If religion were not taken into account (
Eccl 3:17,
Eccl 3:19), to die as soon as possible would be desirable, so as not to suffer or witness "oppressions"; and still more so, not to be born at all (
Eccl 7:1). Job (
Job 3:12;
Job 21:7), David (
Ps 73:3, &c.), Jeremiah (
Jer 12:1), Habakkuk (
Hab 1:13), all passed through the same perplexity, until they went into the sanctuary, and looked beyond the present to the "judgment" (
Ps 73:17;
Hab 2:20;
Hab 3:17-
Hab 3:18). Then they saw the need of delay, before completely punishing the wicked, to give space for repentance, or else for accumulation of wrath (
Rom 2:15); and before completely rewarding the godly, to give room for faith and perseverance in tribulation (
Ps 92:7-
Ps 92:12). Earnests, however, are often even now given, by partial judgments of the future, to assure us, in spite of difficulties, that God governs the earth.
3 not seen--nor experienced.
4 right--rather, "prosperous" (see on
Eccl 2:21). Prosperity, which men so much covet, is the very source of provoking oppression (
Eccl 4:1) and "envy," so far is it from constituting the chief good.
5 Still the
fool (the wicked oppressor) is not to be envied even in this life, who "folds his hands together" in idleness (
Pro 6:10;
Pro 24:33), living on the means he wrongfully wrests from others; for such a one
eateth his own flesh--that is, is a self-tormentor, never satisfied, his spirit preying on itself (
Isa 9:20;
Isa 49:26).
6 Hebrew; "One open hand (palm) full of quietness, than both closed hands full of travail." "Quietness" (mental tranquillity flowing from honest labor), opposed to "eating one's own flesh" (
Eccl 4:5), also opposed to anxious labor to gain (
Eccl 4:8;
Pro 15:16-
Pro 15:17;
Pro 16:8).
7 A vanity described in
Eccl 4:8.
8 not a second--no partner.
child--"son or brother," put for any heir (
Deut 25:5-
Deut 25:10).
eye-- (
Eccl 1:8). The miser would not be able to give an account of his infatuation.
9 Two--opposed to "one" (
Eccl 4:8). Ties of union, marriage, friendship, religious communion, are better than the selfish solitariness of the miser (
Gen 2:18).
reward--Advantage accrues from their efforts being conjoined. The Talmud says, "A man without a companion is like a left hand without the right.
10 if they fall--if the one or other fall, as may happen to both, namely, into any distress of body, mind, or soul.
11 (See on
1Kgs 1:1). The image is taken from man and wife, but applies universally to the warm sympathy derived from social ties. So Christian ties (
Luke 24:32;
Acts 28:15).
12 one--enemy.
threefold cord--proverbial for a combination of many--for example, husband, wife, and children (
Pro 11:14); so Christians (
Luke 10:1;
Col 2:2,
Col 2:19). Untwist the cord, and the separate threads are easily "broken."
13 The "threefold cord" [
Eccl 4:12] of social ties suggests the subject of civil government. In this case too, he concludes that kingly power confers no lasting happiness. The "wise" child, though a supposed case of Solomon, answers, in the event foreseen by the Holy Ghost, to Jeroboam, then a poor but valiant youth, once a "servant" of Solomon, and (
1Kgs 11:26-40) appointed by God through the prophet Ahijah to be heir of the kingdom of the ten tribes about to be rent from Rehoboam. The "old and foolish king" answers to Solomon himself, who had lost his wisdom, when, in defiance of two warnings of God (
1Kgs 3:14;
1Kgs 9:2-9), he forsook God.
will no more be admonished--knows not yet how to take warning (see Margin) God had by Ahijah already intimated the judgment coming on Solomon (
1Kgs 11:11-13).
14 out of prison--Solomon uses this phrase of a supposed case; for example, Joseph raised from a dungeon to be lord of Egypt. His words are at the same time so framed by the Holy Ghost that they answer virtually to Jeroboam, who fled to escape a "prison" and death from Solomon, to Shishak of Egypt (
1Kgs 11:40). This unconscious presaging of his own doom, and that of Rehoboam, constitutes the irony. David's elevation from poverty and exile, under Saul (which may have been before Solomon's mind), had so far their counterpart in that of Jeroboam.
whereas . . . becometh poor--rather, "though he (the youth) was born poor in his kingdom" (in the land where afterwards he was to reign).
15 "I considered all the living," the present generation, in relation to ("with") the "second youth" (the "legitimate successor" of the "old king," as opposed to the "poor youth," the one first spoken of, about to be raised from poverty to a throne), that is, Rehoboam.
in his stead--the old king's.
16 Notwithstanding their now worshipping the rising sun, the heir-apparent, I reflected that "there were no bounds, no stability (
2Sam 15:6;
2Sam 20:1), no check on the love of innovation, of all that have been before them," that is, the past generation; so
also they that come after--that is, the next generation,
shall not rejoice in him--namely, Rehoboam. The parallel, "shall not rejoice," fixes the sense of "no bounds," no permanent adherence, though now men rejoice in him.