Ecclesiastes 4:10

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Woe.—The word occurs only here and in Ecclesiastes 10:16, but is common in post-Biblical Hebrew.

Benson Commentary

Ecclesiastes 4:10-12. For, if they fall — If one or more of them fall in any way; as into any mistakes, and errors, or sins, dangers, or distresses. The one will lift up his fellow — Will hold him up, if he be falling, or raise him up, if he be fallen. If two lie together, then they have heat — They will be sooner warm in a cold bed and a cold season. So virtuous and gracious affections are excited by good society; and Christians warm one another, by provoking one another to love and good works. But how can one be warm alone? — How can the warmth and fervency of true Christian love and zeal be retained by him who stands aloof from, and has no intercourse with, his fellow-Christians? If one prevail against him — If an enemy, visible or invisible, might easily prevail against either or any of them, if not associated with others, two or more, uniting their counsels and efforts, will be able to withstand him; and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken — If a man have not only one, but two or more friends to assist him, he is so much the more secure against all assaults, and therefore the more happy. Thus, in our spiritual warfare, we may be helpful to each other as well as in our spiritual work. And next to the comfort of communion with God, is that of the communion of saints. For they that dwell in love dwell in God, and God in them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:9-12 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare a saying from the Talmud: "A man without companions is like the left hand without the right."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. if they fall—if the one or other fall, as may happen to both, namely, into any distress of body, mind, or soul.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They; one of them, the plural being put for the singular, as Jonah 1:5 Matthew 21:7 1 Timothy 2:15. Or both of them successively.

Fall, in any kind, into any mistakes and errors, or sins, or dangers and distresses.

Will lift up his fellow; hold him up if he be falling, or raise him up if he be fallen.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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.

Geneva Study Bible

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Koheleth illustrates the benefit of association by certain familiar examples. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. If one or the other fall, the companion will aid him. The idea is that two travelers are making their way over a rough road - an experience that every one must have had in Palestine. Vulgate, Si unus ceciderit. Of course, if both fell at the same time, one could not help the other. Commentators quote Homer, 'Iliad,' 10:220-226, thus rendered by Lord Derby -

"Nestor, that heart is mine;
I dare alone Enter the hostile camp, so close at hand;
Yet were one comrade giv'n me, I should go
With more of comfort, more of confidence.
Where two combine, one before other sees
The better course; and ev'n though one alone
The readiest way discover, yet would be
His judgment slower, his decision less." Woe to him that is alone. The same interjection of sorrow, אִי, occurs in Ecclesiastes 10:16, but elsewhere only in late Hebrew. The verse may be applied to moral falls as well as to stumbling at natural obstacles. Brother helps brother to resist temptation, while many have failed when tried by isolation who would have manfully withstood if they had had the countenance and support of others.

"Clear before us through the darkness
Gleams and burns the guiding light;
Brother clasps the hand of brother,
Stepping fearless through the night." Ecclesiastes 4:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"For if they fall, the one can raise up his fellow: but woe to the one who falleth, and there is not a second there to lift him up." Only the Targ., which Grtz follows, confounds אילו

(Note: With Munach and Rebia in one word, which, according to the masora, occurs in only four other places. Vid., Mas. magna under this passage, and Mishpete hateamin 26a.)

with אילוּ; it is equivalent to אוי לו, Isaiah 3:9, or הוי לו, Ezekiel 13:18. Haehhad is appos. connecting itself to the pronominal suff., as, e.g., in a far more inappropriate manner, Psalm 86:2; the prep. is not in appos. usually repeated, Genesis 2:19; Genesis 9:4 (exceptions: Psalm 18:51; Psalm 74:14). Whether we translate שׁיּפּל by qui ceciderit (Ecclesiastes 11:3), or by quum ceciderit (Jerome), is all one. יקים is potential: it is possible and probable that it will be done, provided he is a טוב חבר, i.e., a true friend (Pirke aboth, ii. 13).