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Ecclesiastes
Chapter Four
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 4
In
this chapter the wise man reassumes the consideration of the case of the abuse
of power, to show that there is no happiness in this world, in grandeur and
authority enjoyed; since, as he had observed before, on the one hand, the
oppressor shall be judged and condemned at the great day of account; so, on the
other hand, the oppressed have their lives made so uncomfortable, that the dead
are preferred unto them, and unborn persons to them both, Ecclesiastes 4:1;
Another vanity he observes, that whereas men expect to be happy by their diligence
and industry, this brings upon them the envy of others, Ecclesiastes 4:4;
hence some, on the other hand, place their happiness in sloth and ease, which
is another vanity, Ecclesiastes 4:5;
and others again in covetousness; who are described by their unsocial life,
toilsome labour, unsatisfied desires, and withholding good things from
themselves, Ecclesiastes 4:7;
upon which some things are said, to show the benefits of a social life, Ecclesiastes 4:9.
And the chapter is concluded with exposing the vanity of the highest instance
of worldly power and grandeur, royal dignity, through the folly of a king; the
effects of which are mentioned, Ecclesiastes 4:13;
and through the fickleness of the people, who are soon weary of a prince on the
throne, and court his successor, Ecclesiastes 4:15
Ecclesiastes 4:1 Then I returned
and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun: And look! The
tears of the oppressed, But they have no comforter— On the side of their
oppressors there is power, But they have no comforter.
YLT 1And I have turned, and I
see all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and lo, the tear of the
oppressed, and they have no comforter; and at the hand of their oppressors [is]
power, and they have no comforter.
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"F24העשקים
"oppressos", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Drusius, Schmidt,
Rambachius, so Broughton; "fraudatos", Cocceius. 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; servants and
labourers by their masters; and the like. Moreover, he saw by the Holy Ghost,
as Jarchi paraphrases it, all oppressions by a spirit of prophecy; he foresaw
all the oppressions that would be done under the sun; as all the injuries done
to the people of Israel in their several captivities; so to the church of
Christ in Gospel times; all the persecutions of Rome Pagan, and also of Rome
Papal; all that has or will be done by antichrist, the man of the earth, who
before long will oppress no more, Psalm 10:18; the
Targum restrains these oppressions to those which are done to the righteous in
this world: and it is well observed by the wise man, that they are such as are
under the sun, for there are none above it, nor any beyond the grave, Job 3:17;
and behold the tears of such as were oppressed; which their
eyes poured out, and which ran down their cheeks, and were all they could do,
having no power to help themselves: it is in the singular number, "and
behold the tear"F25דמעת
"lachryma", Montanus, Tigurine version, Cocceius, Rambachius. ; as if
it was one continued stream of tears, which, like a torrent, flowed from them;
or as if they had so exhausted the source of nature by weeping, that the
fountain of tears was dried up, and scarce another could drop; or it was as
much as could be, that another should drop from them: and this the wise man
could not well behold, without weeping himself; it being the property of a good
man to weep with them that weep, especially with good men oppressed;
and they had no comforter; to speak a comfortable
word to them; not so much as to do that which would be some alleviation of
their sorrow, much less to help them, no human comforter; and this is a very
deplorable condition, Lamentations 1:2;
indeed, when this is the case, good men under their oppressions have a divine
Comforter; God comforts them under all their tribulations; one of the names of
the Messiah is "the Consolation of Israel", Luke 2:25; and the
Spirit of God is "another Comforter", John 14:16; and
such are well off, when all other comforters are miserable ones, or other men
have none;
and on the side of their oppressors there was power; to crush them
and keep them under, or to hinder others from helping or comforting them: or
there was no "power to deliver them out of the hand of their
oppressors"F26ומיד עשקיהם כח "et quia deest
facultas se vindicandi e manu opprimentium ipsos", Tigurine version;
"aut evadendi e manu opprimentium se virtus", Junius &
Tremellius; "nec vires ad evadendum a manu opprimentium ipsos",
Piscator. ; so some render and supply the words; with which sense agrees the
Targum,
"and
there is none to redeem them out of the hand of their oppressors, by strength
of hand and by power.'
It
may be rendered, "out of the hand of their oppressors comes
power", or violence; such as the oppressed are not able to withstand; so
the Arabic version;
but they had no comforter: which is repeated, not
so much for confirmation, as to excite attention and pity, and to express the
affliction of the oppressed, and the cruelty of others; and this following on
the other clause, leads to observe, that the power of the oppressor is what
hinders and deters others from comforting. Jarchi interprets this whole verse
of the damned in hell, punished for their evil works, weeping for their souls
oppressed by the destroying angels; and so, he says, it is, explained in an
ancient book of theirs, called Siphri.
Ecclesiastes 4:2 2 Therefore
I praised the dead who were already dead, More than the living who are still
alive.
YLT 2And I am praising the dead
who have already died above the living who are yet alive.
Wherefore I praised the dead, which are already dead,.... Truly and
properly so; not in a figurative sense, as dead sinners, men dead in trespasses
and sins; nor carnal professors, that have a name to live, and are dead; nor in
a civil sense, such as are in calamity and distress, as the Jews in captivity,
or in any affliction, which is sometimes called death: but such who are dead in
a literal and natural sense, really and thoroughly dead; not who may and will
certainly die, but who are dead already and in their graves, and not all these;
not the wicked dead, who are in hell, in everlasting torments; but the
righteous dead, who are taken away from the evil to come, and are free from all
the oppressions of their enemies, sin, Satan, and the world. The Targum is,
"I
praised those that lie down or are asleep, who, behold, are now dead;'
a
figure by which death is often expressed, both in the Old and New Testament;
sleep being, as the poetF1"Stulte, quid est semnus gelidae nisi
mortis imago?" Ovid. Plato in Ciceron. Tuscul. Quaest. l. 1. c. 58. says,
the image of death; and a great likeness there is between them; HomerF2Iliad.
16. v. 672, 682. Vid. Pausan. Laconica, sive l. 3. p. 195. calls sleep and
death twins. The same paraphrase adds,
"and
see not the vengeance which comes upon the world after their death;'
see
Isaiah 57:1. The
wise man did not make panegyrics or encomiums on those persons, but he
pronounced them happy; he judged them in his own mind to be so; and to be much
more happy
than the living which are yet alive: that live under the
oppression of others; that live in this world in trouble until now, as the Targum;
of whom it is as much as it can be said that they are alive; they are just
alive, and that is all; they are as it were between life and death. This is
generally understood as spoken according to human sense, and the judgment of
the flesh, without any regard to the glory and happiness of the future state;
that the dead must be preferred to the living, when the quiet of the one, and
the misery of the other, are observed; and which sense receives confirmation
from Ecclesiastes 4:3,
otherwise it is a great truth, that the righteous dead, who die in Christ and
are with him, are much more happy than living saints; since they are freed from
sin; are out of the reach of Satan's temptations; are no more liable to
darkness and desertions; are freed from all doubts and fears; cease from all
their labours, toil, and trouble; and are delivered from all afflictions,
persecutions, and oppressions; which is not the case of living saints: and
besides, the joys which they possess, the company they are always in, and the
work they are employed about, give them infinitely the preference to all on
earth; see Revelation 14:13.
Ecclesiastes 4:3 3 Yet,
better than both is he who has never existed, Who has not seen the evil
work that is done under the sun.
YLT 3And better than both of
them [is] he who hath not yet been, in that he hath not seen the evil work that
hath been done under the sun.
Yea, better is he than both they which hath not yet been,.... That is,
an unborn person; who is preferred both to the dead that have seen oppression,
and to the living that are under it; see Job 3:10. This
supposes a person to be that never was, a mere nonentity; and the judgment made
is according to sense, and regards the dead purely as such, and so as free from
evils and sorrows, without any respect to their future state and condition; for
otherwise an unborn person is not happier than the dead that die in Christ, and
live with him: and it can only be true of those that perish, of whom indeed it
might be said, that it would have been better for them if they had never been
born, according to those words of Christ, Matthew 26:24; and
is opposed to the maxim of some philosophers, that a miserable being is better
than none at all. The Jews, from this passage, endeavour to prove the
pre-existence of human souls, and suppose that such an one is here meant,
which, though created, was not yet sent into this world in a body, and so had
never seen evil and sorrow; and this way some Christian writers have gone. It
has been interpreted also of the Messiah, who in Solomon's time had not yet
been a man, and never known sorrow, which he was to do, and has, and so more
happy than the dead or living. But these are senses that will not bear; the
first is best; and the design is to show the great unhappiness of mortals, that
even a nonentity is preferred to them;
who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun? the evil
works of oppressors, and the sorrows of the oppressed.
Ecclesiastes 4:4 4 Again,
I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his
neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
YLT 4And I have seen all the
labour, and all the benefit of the work, because for it a man is the envy of
his neighbour. Even this [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
Again I considered all travail, and every right work,.... The pains
that men take to do right works. Some apply themselves, with great diligence
and industry, to the study of the liberal arts and sciences; and to attain the
knowledge of languages; and to writing books, for the improvement of those
things, and the good of mankind: and others employ themselves in mechanic arts,
and excel in them, and bring their works to great perfection and accuracy; when
they might expect to be praised and commended, and have thanks given them by
men. But instead thereof, so it is,
that for this a man is envied of his neighbour; who will be
sure to find fault with what he has done, speak contemptibly of him and his
work, and traduce him among men. This is also true of moral works; which are
right, when done from a right principle, from love to God, in faith, and with a
view to the glory of God; and which when done, and ever so well done, draw upon
a man the envy of the wicked, as may be observed in the case of Cain and Abel, 1 John 3:12; though
some understand this, not passively, of the envy which is brought upon a man,
and he endures, for the sake of the good he excels in; but actively, of the
spirit of emulation with which he does it; though the work he does, as to the
matter of it, is right; yet the manner of doing it, and the spirit with which
he does it, are wrong; he does not do it with any good affection to the thing
itself, nor with any good design, only from a spirit of emulation to outdo his
neighbour: so the Targum paraphrases it,
"this
is the emulation that a man emulates his neighbour, to do as he; if he emulates
him to do good, the heavenly Word does good to him; but if he emulates him to
do evil, the heavenly Word does evil to him;'
and
to this sense Jarchi; compare with this, Philemon 1:15.
This is also vanity, and vexation of spirit; whether it be
understood in the one sense or the other; how dissatisfying and vexatious is
it, when a man has taken a great deal of pains to do right works for public
good, instead of having thanks and praise, is reproached and calumniated for
it? and if he does a right thing, and yet has not right ends and views in it,
it stands for nothing; it has only the appearance of good, but is not truly so,
and yields no solid peace and comfort.
Ecclesiastes 4:5 5 The
fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh.
YLT 5The fool is clasping his
hands, and eating his own flesh:
The fool foldeth his hands together,.... In order to get more
sleep, or as unwilling to work; so the Targum adds,
"he
folds his hands in summer, and will not labour;'
see
Proverbs 6:10. Some
persons, to escape the envy which diligence and industry bring on men, will not
work at all, or do any right work, and think to sleep in a whole skin; this is
great folly and madness indeed:
and eateth his own flesh; such a man is starved
and famished for want of food, so that his flesh is wasted away; or he is so
hungry bitten, that he is ready to eat his own flesh; or he hereby brings to
ruin his family, his wife, and children, which are his own flesh, Isaiah 58:7. The
Targum is,
"in
winter he eats all he has, even the covering of the skin of his flesh.'
Some
understand this of the envious man, who is a fool, traduces the diligent and
industrious, and will not work himself; and not only whose idleness brings want
and poverty on him as an armed man, but whose envy eats up his spirit, and is
rottenness in his bones, Proverbs 6:11. Jarchi,
out of a book of theirs called Siphri, interprets this of a wicked man in hell,
when he sees the righteous in glory, and he himself judged and condemned.
Ecclesiastes 4:6 6 Better
a handful with quietness Than both hands full, together with toil
and grasping for the wind.
YLT 6`Better [is] a handful
[with] quietness, than two handfuls [with] labour and vexation of spirit.'
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
state: or else these words express the true sentiments of Solomon's mind,
steering between the two extremes of slothfulness, and too toilsome labour to
be rich; that it is much more eligible to have a competency, though it is but
small, with a good conscience, with tranquillity of mind, with the love and
fear of God, and a contented heart, than to have a large estate, with great
trouble and fatigue in getting and keeping it, especially with discontent and
uneasiness; and this agrees with what the wise man says elsewhere, Proverbs 15:16. The
Targum is,
"better
to a man is a handful of food with quietness of soul, and without robbery and
rapine, than two handfuls of food with robbery and rapine;'
or
with what is gotten in an ill way.
Ecclesiastes 4:7 7 Then
I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun:
YLT 7And I have turned, and I
see a vain thing under the sun:
Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun. Another vanity
besides what he had taken notice of, and is as follows. Aben Ezra's note is,
"I
turned from considering the words of this fool, and I saw another fool, the reverse
of the former.'
Ecclesiastes 4:8 8 There
is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Yet there
is no end to all his labors, Nor is his eye satisfied with riches.
But he never asks, “For whom do I toil and deprive
myself of good?” This also is vanity and a grave misfortune.
YLT 8There is one, and there is
not a second; even son or brother he hath not, and there is no end to all his
labour! His eye also is not satisfied with riches, and [he saith not], `For
whom am I labouring and bereaving my soul of good?' This also is vanity, it is
a sad travail.
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 get riches, he forms another; and having finished one work,
he enters upon another; he rises early and sits up late, and works and toils
night and day, as if he was not worth a dollar, and had a large and numerous
family to provide for; or there is no end of what he labours for, or gets by
his labour; there is no end of his treasures, Isaiah 2:7; he is
immensely rich, so Aben Ezra interprets it;
neither is his eye satisfied with riches: with seeing
his bags of gold and silver, though he takes a great deal of sure in looking
upon them too, without making use of them; yet he is not satisfied with what he
has, he wants more, he enlarges his desire as hell, and like the grave never
has enough; see Ecclesiastes 5:10;
neither saith he, for whom do I labour? having
neither wife nor child, nor relation, nor friend, and yet so wretchedly stupid
and thoughtless as never once to put this question to himself, Who am I toiling
for? I am heaping up riches, and know not who shall gather them; it is a
vexation to a worldly man to leave his substance behind him, and even to a man
that has an heir to inherit it, when he knows not whether he will be a wise man
or a fool; but for a man that has no heir at all, and yet to be toiling and
labouring for the world, is gross stupidity, downright madness, and especially
when he deprives himself of the comfort of what he is possessed of;
and bereave my soul of good? instead of richly
enjoying what is given him, he withholds it from himself, starves his back and
belly, lives in pinching want amidst the greatest plenty; has not power to eat
of what he has, and his soul desireth; see Ecclesiastes 6:2.
This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail; a very vain
and wicked thing; "an evil business", as it may be rendered; a very
great sin and folly indeed; it is thought by some divines to be the worst
species of covetousness, most cruel and unnatural.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 9 Two
are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.
YLT 9The two [are] better than
the one, in that they have a good reward by their labour.
Two are better than one,.... The wise man takes
occasion, from the solitariness Of the covetous man before described, to show
in this and some following verses the preferableness and advantages of social
life; which, as it holds true in things natural and civil, so in things
spiritual and religious; man is a sociable creature, was made to be so; and it
was the judgment of God, which is according to truth, and who can never err,
that it was not good for man to be alone, Genesis 2:18. It is
best to take a wife, or at least to have a friend or companion, more or less to
converse with. Society is preferable to solitariness; conversation with a friend
is better than to be always alone; the Targum is,
"two
righteous men in a generation are better than one;'
such
may be helpful to each other in their counsels and comforts, and mutual aids
and assistances in things temporal and spiritual. The Midrash interprets this
of the study in the law together, and of two that trade together, which is
better than studying or trading separately;
because they have a good reward for their labour; the pleasure
and profit they have in each other's company and conversation; in religious
societies, though there is a labour in attendance on public worship, in praying
and conferring together, in serving one another in love, and bearing one
another's burdens, yet they have a good reward in it all; they have the presence
of Christ with them, for, where two or three are met together in his name, he
is with them; and whatsoever two of them agree to ask in his name they have it;
and if two of them converse together about spiritual things, it is much if he
does not make a third with them; besides they have a great deal of pleasure in
each other's company, and much profit in their mutual instructions, advices,
and reproofs; they sharpen each other's countenances, quicken and comfort each
other's souls, establish one another in divine truth, and strengthen each
other's hands and hearts.
Ecclesiastes 4:10 10 For
if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is
alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.
YLT 10For if they fall, the one
raiseth up his companion, but wo to the one who falleth and there is not a
second to raise him up!
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow,.... That is,
if anyone of them fall, the other will lift him up, as they are travelling
together, in whatsoever manner; if one falls from his horse, or out of his
carriage, or into a ditch, the other will endeavour to raise him up again:
this, as it is true in a natural, so in a figurative and metaphorical sense,
with religious persons especially;
"if
one of them falls upon the bed, and lies sick,'
as
the Targum paraphrases it, his friend and brother in a religions community will
visit him, and sympathize with him, and speak a word of comfort to him, and
pray with him, which may issue in his restoration. So the Targum,
"the
other will cause his friend to rise by his prayer;'
or
if he fall into outward distress, poverty, and want, his spiritual friend or
friends will distribute to his necessity; if he falls into errors, as a good
man may, such as are of the same religious society with him will take some
pains to convince him of the error of his way, and to convert him from it, and
to save a soul from death, and cover a multitude of sins; and if he falls into
sin, to which the best of men are liable, such as are spiritual will endeavour
to restore him in a spirit of meekness;
but woe to him that is alone when he falleth! for he
hath not another to help him up; no companion to raise
him up when fallen; no Christian friend to visit and comfort him when sick, to
relieve him under his necessities, when poor and afflicted, or to recover him
from errors in judgment, or immoralities in practice; and especially if he has
not Christ with him to raise him up, keep, and uphold him.
Ecclesiastes 4:11 11 Again,
if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone?
YLT 11Also, if two lie down, then
they have heat, but how hath one heat?
Again, if two lie together, then they have heat,.... The
Targum adds, in the winter; when it is a cold season, they warm one another by
lying together. The Targum interprets it of a man and his wife; it is true of
others; see 1 Kings 1:1;
but how can one be warm alone? not soon, nor
easily, in time of cold weather. This is true in a spiritual sense of persons
in a Christian communion and religious society; when they are grown cold in
their love, lukewarm in their affections, and backward and indifferent to
spiritual exercises, yet by Christian conversation may be stirred up to love
and good works: so two cold flints struck against each other, fire comes out of
them; and even two cold Christians, when they come to talk with each other
about spiritual things, and feel one another's spirits, they presently glow in
their affections to each other, and to divine things; and especially if Christ
joins them with his presence, as he did the two disciples going to Emmaus, then
their hearts burn within them.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 12 Though
one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord
is not quickly broken.
YLT 12And if the one strengthen
himself, the two stand against him; and the threefold cord is not hastily
broken.
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 spirit, and
strive together for the faith of the Gospel, they stand their ground, withstand
the enemy, and maintain truth;
and a threefold cord is not quickly broken; or "in
haste"F3במהרה "in
festinatia", Montanus; "in celeritate", Vatablus; "in
festinatione", Rambachius. ; as two are better than one, so three or more
united together, it is the better still; they are able to make head against an
enemy; and to conquer him, "vis unita fortior est": if a family,
community, city, or kingdom, are divided against themselves, they cannot stand;
but, if united, in all probability nothing can hurt them. This doctrine is
taught in the fable of the bundle of sticks the old man gave to his sons to
break; which, while fastened together, could not be done; but, when art bound,
and took out singly, were easily snapped asunder; teaching them thereby unity among
themselves, as their greatest security against their common enemy. The same
instruction is given by this threefold cord; while it remains twisted together,
it is not easily broke, but if the threads are untwisted and unloosed, they are
soon snapped asunder: so persons in religious fellowship, be they more or
fewer, while they keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, they are
terrible, as an army with banners, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against
them. And if this is true of the united love and affections of saints, it must
be much more so of the love of Father, Son, and Spirit; that threefold cord,
with which the saints are drawn and held; and of which it may be said, that it
not only is not quickly broken, but that it cannot be broken at all; and
therefore those who are held by it are in the utmost safety. Some apply this to
the three principal graces, faith, hope, and love, which are abiding ones; and,
though they may sometimes be weak and low in their acts and exercise, can never
be lost.
Ecclesiastes 4:13 13 Better
a poor and wise youth Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no
more.
YLT 13Better is a poor and wise
youth than an old and foolish king, who hath not known to be warned any more.
Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish
king,.... The wise man proceeds to show the vanity of worldly power
and dignity, in the highest instance of it, which is kingly; and, in order to
illustrate and exemplify this, he supposes, on the one hand, a person possessed
of royal honour; who has long enjoyed it, is settled in his kingdom, and
advanced in years; and who otherwise, for his gravity and dignity, would be
venerable; but that he is foolish, a person of a mean genius and small
capacity; has but little knowledge of government, or but little versed in the
arts of it, though he has held the reins of it long in his hand; and, which is
worst of all, is vicious and wicked: on the other hand, he supposes one that is
in his tender years, not yet arrived to manhood; and so may be thought to be
giddy and inexperienced, and therefore taken but little notice of; and
especially being poor, becomes contemptible, as well as labours under the
disadvantage of a poor education; his parents poor, and he not able to get
books and masters to teach him knowledge; nor to travel abroad to see the
world, and make his observations on men and things; and yet being wise, having
a good genius, which he improves in the best manner he can, to his own profit,
and to make himself useful in the world; and especially if he is wise and
knowing in the best things, and fears God, and serves him; he is more happy, in
his present state and circumstances, than the king before described is in his,
and is fitter to take his place, and be a king, than he is; for though he is
young, yet wise, and improving in knowledge, and willing to be advised and
counselled by others, older and wiser than himself; he is much to be preferred
to one that is old and foolish;
who will no more be admonished; or, "knows not to
be admonished any more"F4לא ידע להזהר עוד
"non novit moneri adhuc", Montanus; "nescit admoneri
amplius", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Rambachius. : he
neither knows how to give nor take advice; he is impatient of all counsel;
cannot bear any admonition; is stubborn and self-willed, and resolved to take
his own way. The Jews, in their Midrash, Jarchi, and others, interpret it,
allegorically, of the good and evil imagination in men, the principle of grace,
and the corruption of nature; the one is the new man, the other the old man;
the new man is better than old Adam: the Targum applies it to Abraham and
Nimrod; the former is the poor and wise child, that feared God, and worshipped
him early; the latter, the old and foolish king, who was an idolater, and
refused to be admonished of his idolatry; and so the Midrash.
Ecclesiastes 4:14 14 For
he comes out of prison to be king, Although he was born poor in his kingdom.
YLT 14For from a house of
prisoners he hath come out to reign, for even in his own kingdom he hath been
poor.
For out of prison he cometh to reign,.... That is,
this is sometimes the case of a poor and wise child; he rises out of a low,
mean, abject, obscure state and condition, to the highest dignity; from a
prison house, or a place where servants are, to sit among princes, and even to
have the supreme authority: so Joseph, to whose case Solomon is thought to have
respect, and which is mentioned in the Midrash; who was but a young man, and
poor and friendless, but wise; and was even laid in prison, though innocent and
guiltless, from whence he was fetched, and became the second man in the kingdom
of Egypt; so David, the youngest of Jesse's sons, was taken from the sheepfold,
and set upon the throne of Israel: though GussetiusF5Ebr. Comment.
p. 553. interprets this of the old and foolish king, who comes out of the house
or family, הסודים, of degenerate persons, as he
translates the word, with a degenerate genius to rule; the allusion being to a
degenerate vine; which sense agrees with Ecclesiastes 4:13,
and with what follows;
whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor; who is born
of royal parents, born to a kingdom; is by birth heir to one, has it by
inheritance, and has long possessed it; and yet, by his own misconduct, or by
the rebellion of his subjects, he is dethroned and banished; or by a foreign
power is taken and carried captive, and reduced to the utmost poverty, as
Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar, and others: or if born poor, so Gussetius; with a
poor genius, not capable of ruling, and so loses his kingdom, and comes to
poverty. Or it may be rendered, "although in his kingdom he is born
poor"F6כי גם
"quamvis etiam", Gejerus. ; that is, though the poor and wise child
is born poor in the kingdom of the old and foolish king; yet, out of this low
estate, in which he is by birth, he comes and enjoys the kingdom in his room to
such a strange turn of affairs are the highest honours subject: or, "for
in his kingdom he is born poor"F7"Nam etiam",
Tigurine version, Cocceius; "quia etiam", Pagninus, Montanus,
Schmidt, Rambachius, so Aben Ezra. ; even the person that is born heir to a
crown is born a poor man; he comes as naked out of his mother's womb as the
poorest man does; the conditions of both are equal as to birth; and therefore
it need not seem strange that one out of prison should come to a kingdom. But
the first sense seems best.
Ecclesiastes 4:15 15 I
saw all the living who walk under the sun; They were with the second youth who
stands in his place.
YLT 15I have seen all the living,
who are walking under the sun, with the second youth who doth stand in his
place;
I considered all the living which walk under the sun,.... All men
that were then alive, who were capable of walking upon the earth; even all of
them that were under the heavens, in every land and nation, under whatsoever
dominion or government: these, and their manners, Solomon had particularly
observed, and made his remarks upon, by which it appeared how fickle the minds
of the populace were under every government, and how precarious and uncertain
were the honour and dignity of princes;
with the second child that shall stand up in his stead: the heir and
successor or every prince, that shall rise up and take the throne of his father
or predecessor, and reign in his stead. The wise man observed how the people
commonly behaved towards him; how that they generally stood best affected to
him, than to the reigning prince; worshipped the rising sun, courted his favour
and friendship, soothed and flattered him; expressing their wishes to see him
on the throne, and treated with neglect and contempt their lawful sovereign.
Some, contrary to the accents, connect this with the word "walk"F8So
the Tigurine version, Vatablus, Cocceius, Gejerus. ; that walk with the second
child, join themselves to him, converse with him, and show him great respect
and honour: and there are others that, by this second child, understand the
poor and wise child, that succeeds the old and foolish king, whom yet, in time,
the people grow weary of; such is the levity and inconstancy of people, that
they are not long pleased with princes, old or young, wise or foolish. The
Targum interprets this of the foresight Solomon had, by a spirit of prophecy,
of those that rebelled against his son Rehoboam, and of those that cleaved unto
him, who was his second, and reigned in his stead. NoldiusF9Concord.
Part. Ebr. No. 1023. thinks Solomon refers to the history of his friend Hiram,
king of Tyre, whose kingdom, in his and in his son's time, was very large,
flourishing, and opulent, but in a following reign not so; and he renders and
paraphrases the words thus,
""I
saw all the works under the sun; with Baleazarus, the son of a
friend" (Hiram, for שני, rendered
"second", is the same as חבר, "a
friend"), "who shall stand" or "reign after him: there is
no end of all the people",' &c.
the
kingdom in those two reigns being flourishing; yet posterity shall not rejoice
in him, in Abdastratus, the grandson of Hiram, destroyed by the four sons of
his nurseF11Meander apud Joseph. Contr. Apion. l. 1. s. 18. .
Ecclesiastes 4:16 16 There was no end of all the people
over whom he was made king; Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in
him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
YLT 16there is no end to all the
people, to all who were before them; also, the latter rejoice not in him.
Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
There is no end of all
the people, even of all that have been before them,.... Before
the present generation, the living that walked under the sun; a vast number
they were that lived before them, and they were of the same restless temper and
disposition; changeable in their affection and behaviour towards their
governors; no end of their number, nor any stable affection for, nor settled
satisfaction in, their rulers; but this itch of novelty, of having new princes
over them, went from age to age, from generation to generation. Some understand
this of the king and his son, the predecessor and successor, and of those that
went before them; and of their behaviour to the kings that reigned before them;
the people have not their end or satisfaction in their governors, but are restless:
which comes to the same sense;
they also that come after shall not rejoice in him; that come
after the present generation, and after both the reigning prince, and even
after his successor; they will not rejoice long in him that shall be upon the
throne after them, any more than the present subjects of the old king, or those
that now pay their court to the heir apparent; they will be so far from
rejoicing in him, that they will loath and despise him, and wish him dead or
dethroned, and another in his room.
Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit; to a king, to
see himself thus used by his subjects; for a short time extolled and praised,
and then despised and forsaken.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》