Ecclesiastes 4:4-6 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbor… The Preacher turns from the great, and to him insoluble, problems connected with the misery and suffering in which so many of the children of men are sunk. "His mood is still bitter; but it is no longer on the oppressions and cruelty of life that he fixes his eye, but on its littleness, its mutual jealousies, its greed, its strange reverses, its shams and hollowness. He puts on the garb of the satirist, and lashes the pettiness and the follies and the vain hurry of mankind" (Bradley). As it were, he turns from the evils which no foresight or effort could ward off, to those which spring from preventable causes. I. RESTLESS AMBITION. (Ver. 4.) Revised Version, "Then I saw all labor and every skilful work, that it cometh of a man's rivalry with his neighbor" (margin). The Preacher does not deny that labor and toil may be crowned with some measure of success, but he notices that the inspiring motive is in most cases an envious desire on the part of the worker to surpass his fellows. Hence he asserts that in general no lasting good is secured by the individual worker (Wright). The general community may benefit largely by the results achieved, the progress of civilization may be advanced by the competition of artist with artist, but without a moral gain being attained by those who have put forth all their strength and exerted to the utmost all their skill. They may still feel that their ideal is higher than their achievements; they may see with jealous resentment that their best work is surpassed by others. The poet Hesiod, in his 'Works and Days,' distinguishes between two kinds of rivalry - the one beneficent and provocative of honest enterprise, the other pernicious and provocative of discord. The former is like that alluded to here by the Preacher, and is the parent of healthy competition. "Beneficent this better envy burns - Thus emulous his wheel the potter turns, The smith his anvil beats, the beggar throng Industrious ply, the bards contend in song." But our author, looking at the motive rather than the result of the work, brands as injurious the selfish ambition from which it may have sprung. II. INDOLENCE. (Ver. 5.) "The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh;' While there are some who fret and wear themselves out in endeavors to surpass their neighbors, others rust out in ignoble sloth. The hands of the busy artist are deftly used to shape and fashion the materials in which he works, and to embody the ideas or fancies conceived in his mind; the indolent fold their hands together, and make no attempt either to excel others or to provide a living for themselves. The one may, after all his toil, be doomed to failure and disappointment; the other most certainly dooms himself to want and misery. "He feeds upon his own flesh," and destroys himself. The sinfulness of indolence, and the punishment which it brings down upon itself, are plainly indicated in many parts of Holy Scripture (Proverbs 6:10, 11; Proverbs 13:4; Proverbs 20:4; Matthew 25:26; 2 Thessalonians 3:10). But the special point of the reference to the vice here seems to be the contrast which it affords to that of feverish ambition. The two dispositions depicted are opposed to each other; both are blameworthy. It is foolish to seek to escape the evils of the one by incurring: those of the other. A middle way between them is the path of wisdom. This is taught us in ver. 6. Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit." The rivalry that consumes the strength, and leads almost inevitably to disappointment and vexation of spirit, is deprecated; so also, by implication, is the inactivity of the indolent. The "quietness "which refreshes the soul, and gives it contentment with a moderate competence, is not idleness, or the rest of sloth. It is rest after labor, which the ambitious will not allow themselves to take. The indolent do not enjoy it, their strength wastes away from want of exercise while those of moderate, chastened desires can both be diligent in business and mindful of their higher interests; they can labor assiduously without losing that tranquility of spirit and peace of mind which are essential to happiness in life. - J.W. Parallel Verses KJV: Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. |
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