The Need for a Comforter
Ecclesiastes 4:1-16

The LORD executes justice for the oppressed; he gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free.
Psalm 146:7

  1. The Misery of Oppression (and the Need for an Advocate) (1-3)
    1. Oppression is Universal
      1. The Preacher has considered the universality of death (3:18-22)
        1. He knows that he cannot see what will come after him (3:22)
        2. So he turns to consider life under the sun to see what comfort may be had here (4:1)
      2. He considers all the oppression done under the sun
        1. The "oppression" spoken of is the way in which the powerful exploit the weak to their own advantage.
        2. In the context of what follows, The Preacher seems primarily to be considering political and probably social power. (Cf. 4:13-16 and 5:8).
      3. Those who are oppressed shed tears, but they lack a "comforter" (4:1)
      4. The meaning of the word translated "comforter"
        1. Psalm 69:20 - Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.
        2. Lamentations 1:16,17 - For these things I weep; My eye, my eye overflows with water; Because the comforter, who should restore my life, Is far from me. My children are desolate because the enemy prevailed.17Zion spreads out her hands, But no one comforts her; The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob That those around him become his adversaries; Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
        3. See also Isaiah 51:12, Job 16:2, Psalm 23:4.
        4. Clearly the word involves sympathy and compassion, as in Psalm 69:20, but it involves more.
        5. Lamentations makes it clear that a comforter is the one with power to "restore...life," to take one's part against one's enemies, to give the victory.
        6. The Greek word used to translate this is a word that the New Testament applies to Christ and to the Holy Spirit.
          1. 1 John 2:1 - "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins...."
            1. I.e. we have someone who takes our part with God and who intercedes on our behalf.
            2. This is exactly what The Preacher says the oppressed are lacking - someone to advocate their side against the oppressors
          2. John 14:16 also speaks of the Holy Spirit as such an advocate, helper, or comforter.
      5. So the oppressed remain oppressed and there is no one on earth to take up their cause.
      6. The oppressors have power but the oppressed have none.
      7. And no one who has power exercises it on their behalf.
    2. Non-Being is Preferable
      1. Thus, as miserable as death is, (3:18ff.) The Preacher at this point prefers it to life.
        1. He will later reverse this statement in 9:4 and say that life is preferable to death.
        2. Neither judgment is absolute; each is true in its own context.
        3. You must picture The Preacher as a caged animal, pacing about, desperately seeking for some profit somewhere and finding none. He is miserable. He despairs of life and therefore embraces the only alternative. Yet he hates the alternative as well.
      2. But best of all is not being born at all
      3. Very similar sentiments are expressed in Job 3 and Jeremiah 20:14-18.
  2. The Futility of Toil and Laziness (4-6)
    1. All Toil Springs from Envy (4)
      1. Don't follow KJV or NKJV here. The preferred translation is found in NASB, NIV, RSV, NRSV - "And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor" (NIV)
      2. So even that which is positive exists only because of that which is negative.
      3. This is the ugly underbelly of common grace
        1. God allows many to toil and to enjoy the fruit of that toil for a time.
        2. But he doesn't do this by infusing into them righteous motivations.
        3. Rather he channels their unrighteous motives to less than destructive purposes.
      4. Men work hard and exercise their skill because they are envious of each other.
      5. This too is futility and chasing after the wind.
    2. Laziness Produces its own Misery
      1. Two possible translations:
        1. The fool folds his hands and eats his food anyway
        2. The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.
      2. There is support for both possibilities
        1. "his flesh" = "his food" in Job 31:31 et. al. This meaning is quite usual.
        2. "their flesh" = "their own flesh" in Isaiah 49:26 where the enemies of Israel will be made to consume their own flesh.
      3. Either translation is possible within the context of the book
        1. If the fool is lazy and eats anyway, that's like the futility of it happening to the wicked according to the ways of the just.
        2. If the fool is lazy too his own hurt, that's like the futility of the fool walking in darkness (2:14)
      4. "The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh" is the more probable meaning
        1. It sounds like a standard wisdom saying, like Proverbs 24:33,34.
        2. The Preacher is citing a standard saying as the setup for what he's about to say in the next verse.
    3. Better than Both is Desirable but Unattainable
      1. The fool may consume his own flesh, but it's better to have a handful with rest than two handfuls of the sort of striving mentioned in 4:4.
      2. Of course, ultimately, the fool doesn't have a handful at all. So neither the lazy man nor the laborer has any benefit.
      3. This search for rest, a removal of the toilsomeness of work, is one of the major themes of the book.
      4. See Genesis 5:29 for a combination of all the themes we've been discussing.
  3. The Misery of Loneliness (and the Need for a Companion) (7-12)
    1. Labor without a Companion is Futile (8)
      1. A man strives and labors and yet he has no one to leave his riches to.
      2. This is even worse than in 2:18ff. where The Preacher worries about leaving his work to a fool.
      3. He can't stick around to enjoy these things himself.
      4. So if he's not working for someone else, why is he bothering at all?
    2. Having a Companion Reduces Futility
      1. The Preacher gets almost optimistic for a moment.
      2. When two work together, the odds of success improve dramatically
        1. They have a good reward for their labor
        2. They can lift each other up
        3. They can keep each other warm
        4. They can act as each other's advocates against oppression.
        5. They are like a cord of three strands.
      3. This is as giddily excited as you will see The Preacher get about the potential of this life.
  4. The Futility of Power (13-16)
    1. A Poor Wise Youth Rises to Power
      1. There is a limited use to wisdom as well
      2. The poor wise youth rises to power because the old king is foolish and does not receive instruction.
    2. But is Lost in Following Years and Forgotten
      1. But that youth is soon replaced by a second youth (according to the correct translation of v. 15)
      2. And that second youth will in turn be replaced by a third.

Go on to Week 6b (5:1-9)

Go back to Week 5 (3:1-22)

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