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Ecclesiastes
Chapter Four
Ecclesiastes 4
Chapter Contents
Miseries from oppression. (1-3) troubles from envy. (4-6)
The folly of covetousness. (7,8) The advantages of mutual assistance. (9-12)
the changes of royalty. (13-16)
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:1-3)
It grieved Solomon to see might prevail against right.
Wherever we turn, we see melancholy proofs of the wickedness and misery of
mankind, who try to create trouble to themselves and to each other. Being thus
hardly used, men are tempted to hate and despise life. But a good man, though
badly off while in this world, cannot have cause to wish he had never been
born, since he is glorifying the Lord, even in the fires, and will be happy at
last, for ever happy. Ungodly men have most cause to wish the continuance of
life with all its vexations, as a far more miserable condition awaits them if
they die in their sins. If human and worldly things were our chief good, not to
exist would be preferable to life, considering the various oppressions here
below.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:4-6
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:4-6)
Solomon notices the sources of trouble peculiar to
well-doers, and includes all who labour with diligence, and whose efforts are
crowned with success. They often become great and prosperous, but this excites
envy and opposition. Others, seeing the vexations of an active course,
foolishly expect more satisfaction in sloth and idleness. But idleness is a sin
that is its own punishment. Let us by honest industry lay hold on the handful,
that we may not want necessaries, but not grasp at both hands full, which would
only create vexation of spirit. Moderate pains and gains do best.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:7,8
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:7,8)
Frequently, the more men have, the more they would have;
and on this they are so intent, that they get no enjoyment from what they have.
Selfishness is the cause of this evil. A selfish man cares for nobody; there is
none to take care of but himself, yet he will scarcely allow necessary rest to
himself, and the people he employs. He never thinks he has enough. He has
enough for his calling, for his family, but he has not enough for his eyes.
Many are so set upon the world, that in pursuit of it they bereave themselves,
not only of the favour of God and eternal life, but of the pleasures of this
life. The distant relations or strangers who inherit such a man's wealth, never
thank him. Covetousness gathers strength by time and habit; men tottering on
the brink of the grave, grow more grasping and griping. Alas, and how often do
we see men professing to be followers of Him, who, "though he was rich,
for our sakes became poor," anxiously scraping money together and holding
it fast, excusing themselves by common-place talking about the necessity of
care, and the danger of extravagance!
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
(Read Ecclesiastes 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.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:13-16
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:13-16)
People are never long easy and satisfied; they are fond
of changes. This is no new thing. Princes see themselves slighted by those they
have studied to oblige; this is vanity and vexation of spirit. But the willing
servants of the Lord Jesus, our King, rejoice in him alone, and they will love
Him more and more to all eternity.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes》
Ecclesiastes 4
Verse 1
[1] So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that
are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and
they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but
they had no comforter.
I returned — I considered again.
Oppressions — Whether by princes, magistrates,
or other potent persons.
No comforter — None afforded them pity or
succour.
But they, … — No comfort therein.
Verse 2
[2] Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more
than the living which are yet alive.
I praised — I judged them less miserable. For
this is certain, that setting aside the future life, which Solomon doth not
meddle with in the present debate; and considering the uncertainty, and vanity,
and manifold calamities of the present life, a wise man would not account it
worth his while to live.
Verse 3
[3] Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet
been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
Better is he — Who was never born.
Not seen — Not felt: for as seeing good is put for enjoying it,
so seeing evil is put for suffering it.
Verse 4
[4] 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.
Right work — All the worthy designs of
virtuous men.
Envied — Instead of honour, he meets with envy and obloquy.
Verse 5
[5] The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own
flesh.
The fool — Is careless and idle: perceiving that diligence is
attended with envy, he runs into the other extreme.
Eateth — Wastes his substance, and brings himself to poverty,
whereby his very flesh pines away for want of bread.
Verse 6
[6] Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands
full with travail and vexation of spirit.
Better — These are the words of the sluggard, making this
apology for his idleness, That his little with ease, is better than great
riches got with much trouble.
Verse 8
[8] There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he
hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither
is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and
bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
Alone — Who has none but himself to care for.
Brother — To whom he may leave his vast estate.
Yet — He lives in perpetual restlessness and toil.
For whom — Having no kindred to enjoy it.
And bereave — Deny myself those comforts and
conveniences which God hath allowed me? A sore travel - A dreadful judgment, as
well as a great sin.
Verse 9
[9] Two are better than one; because they have a good reward
for their labour.
Two — Who live together in any kind of society.
Because — Both have great benefit by such conjunction, whereby
they support, encourage, and strengthen one another.
Verse 10
[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.
They — One of them.
Fall — Into any mistake, or sin, or danger.
Verse 12
[12] And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him;
and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Prevail — Against either of them.
Verse 13
[13] Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and
foolish king, who will no more be admonished.
Better — More happy. Now he proceeds to another vanity, That of
honour and power.
Than a king — Who hath neither wisdom to govern
himself, nor to receive the counsels of wiser men.
Verse 14
[14] For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he
that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.
For he — The poor and wise child is often advanced to the
highest dignity.
Whereas — That old king is deprived of his kingdom.
Verse 15
[15] I considered all the living which walk under the sun,
with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.
I considered — The general disposition of common
people, in all kingdoms, that they are fickle and inconstant.
With the second child — This may be
understood of the king's child, or son and heir, called second, in respect of
his father, whose successor he is.
Stand up — Arise to reign.
Verse 16
[16] There is no end of all the people, even of all that have
been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely
this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
No end — This humour of the common people hath no end, but
passes from one generation to another.
Before them — Before the present generation.
And so here are three generations of people noted, the authors of the present
change, and their parents, and their children; and all are observed to have the
same inclinations.
In him — They shall be as weary of the successor, though a wise
and worthy prince, as their parents were of his foolish predecessor.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ecclesiastes》
04 Chapter 4
Verses 1-3
Verses 1-16
Verse 1
So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done
under the sun.
The nature and wickedness of oppression
There is scarce any sin against which more is said in the Word of
God, or which is more reproachful to a man and to a Christian, or more
mischievous to society, than oppression. Yet I fear it is a sin which more
persons are guilty of, and more suffer by, than is generally known.
I. Consider what
oppression is, and the most striking instances in which men are guilty of it.
1. It is dealing unjustly or unkindly by a person over whose time,
goods, trade, or business the oppressor hath power. It is principally the vice
of rich men and superiors, who have power over their workmen, servants,
tenants, and other inferiors. But it is not confined to them. The poor often
meet with very bad, if not the worst, treatment from those who in station and
fortune are very little above them. It is oppression, when men impose what
terms they please upon others in commerce and dealings, without regarding what
is just and right; when they oblige others to sell their goods under their real
value, because they are in necessity; or to give more for a commodity than it
is worth, because they cannot do without it. Selling bad and damaged goods to
persons who dare not refuse to take them, and yet must lose by them, or not
sell them again for a reasonable profit, is another instance of this vice. If a
person makes a relation, a neighbour, or dependant, pay dearer for what he buys
than his other customers, because he is under particular obligations to buy of
him, he is an oppressor. Taking exorbitant interest for money lent, or exchange
of bills and cash, on account of men’s necessities, is extortion and
oppression. Where a person, or a combination of persons, engross the whole of
any commodity which is to be sold, in order to make an excessive gain of it, or
to injure other tradesmen in the same way of business, this is oppression.
Again, to be rigorous in exacting debts or other rights to the very utmost
farthing, where poverty, sickness, losses, dear seasons, or a large family
render men incapable of paying what they owe; to allow them no time to satisfy
their creditors; or to strip them of their all; this is cruelly oppressive.
Obliging persons, over whom men have power, to vote or act against their
consciences; persecuting, reviling, or even bantering, men for their religious
sentiments and worship, is dreadful oppression. In the black list of oppressors
must likewise be ranged parents, masters and mistresses of families and
schools, who behave cruelly and severely to their children, servants, and
scholars. There is likewise great oppression in a haughty, insolent,
overbearing way of speaking to inferiors, which is very grating and hurtful to
any sensible mind.
II. The great evil
and wickedness of it.
1. It proceeds from a very bad disposition of mind. The principal
source of it is covetousness; an inordinate love of the world (Jeremiah 22:17). In some persons the
practice of this sin proceeds from pride; to show their authority over others,
and to keep them in awe. Hence they treat their inferiors as if they were of a
lower species, and not worthy of common justice. This chows a base, ignoble
mind (Psalms 63:6-8). In some, it is owing to
luxury and extravagance. They are dressed with the spoils of the poor; and
their fine houses, equipages, and entertainments are supported by the
properties and comforts of others. It is sometimes owing to sloth; because,
like drones in the hive, they will not work, they prey upon the labours of the
industrious. It is very often owing to resentment, malice, and ill-nature.
2. Oppression is a high ingratitude and affront to the righteous God.
It is ingratitude to Him, because He giveth men all their wealth and power over
others, and He doth this, not that they may oppress, but protect, relieve, and
serve others, and be a blessing to them. It must, therefore, be horrid
ingratitude to abuse and pervert these favours to their injury. But what
renders it worse is, that He hath bestowed upon men spiritual blessings and
Christian privileges, and, therefore, to oppress and injure them must be
proportionably wicked. Further, He hath placed men in different circumstances in
life; “made both the rich and the poor.” He hath allotted to men such
conditions here that they need one another’s assistance. The rich want the
labour of the poor, as the poor want the money of the rich; and God expects
that they should help one another, and so contribute to the general happiness.
To oppress the poor, then, is defeating the wise and kind design of God’s
providence.
3. It is detestable inhumanity and cruelty to the oppressed. “A
righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.” What then must we think of
those who are oppressive and cruel to their fellow-men, but that they are
utterly void of justice, goodness, and humanity, that they are monsters and not
men?
4. It is directly contrary to the design of the Gospel; which is to
promote righteousness, love, peace, and happiness upon earth, as well as to
secure the eternal salvation of mankind.
5. It will sink men into everlasting ruin. God is a just and
righteous Being, and at the judgment-day “He will render to every one according
to his works.” The Lord seeth and remembereth all the oppression that is done
under the sun, and He will at length reckon with those who have done it.
application.
1. I shall address oppressors; those whose consciences tell them, as
in the sight of God, that they have been guilty of this sin in the instances
above mentioned or any other. I exhort you, sirs, to hearken to the voice of
conscience as the voice of God; to submit to its reproofs; and to be humbled
deeply before God for your injustice and cruelty to men.
2. Let me address the oppressed. It may perhaps be the ease of some
of you, and I would endeavour to be your comforter. Acknowledge the justice of
the Lord in what you suffer from the hand of men. Though they are unrighteous,
He is righteous, for you have sinned; and He may choose this method of
afflicting you, to lead you to repentance, to exercise your virtues, and make
your hearts better. Let me exhort you to guard against a spirit of malice and
revenge. Remember that their oppressing you will be no excuse for injustice to
them. That “it is no harm to bite the biter” is a very wicked maxim. It is
better to suffer many wrongs than to do one. Yea, it is our duty to render good
for evil.
3. I would address those who can appeal to a heart-searching God that
they are guiltless of this sin. I would exhort you to guard against the love of
money, which is the chief root of this evil. To prevent your becoming
oppressors, go not to the utmost bounds of things lawful. Keep on the safe
side. Be not only just, but honourable, generous, and charitable, and “abstain
from the very appearance of evil.” Let me exhort you, likewise, to be
comforters of the oppressed. (Job Orton, D. D.)
Woman’s work and overwork
It was considered honourable for women to toil in olden times.
Alexander the Great stood in his palace showing garments made by his own
mother. The finest tapestries at Bayeux were made by the queen of William the
Conqueror. Augustus, the Emperor, would not wear any garments except those that
were fashioned by some member of his royal family. So let the toilers
everywhere be respected! The greatest blessing that could have happened to our
first parents was being turned out of Eden after they had done wrong. Ashbel
Green, at fourscore years, when asked why he kept on working, said: “I do so to
keep out of mischief.” We see that a man who has a large amount of money to
start with has no chance. Of the thousand prosperous and honourable men that
you know, nine hundred and ninety-nine had to work vigorously at the beginning.
But I am now to tell you that industry is just as important for a woman’s
safety and happiness. The little girls of our families must be started with
that idea. The curse of our American society is that our young women are taught
that the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, tenth, fiftieth,
thousandth thing in their life is to get somebody to take care of them. Instead
of that, the first lesson should be how under God they may take care of
themselves. Madame do Stael said: “It is not these writings that I am proud of,
but the fact that I have facility in ten occupations, in any one of which I
could make a livelihood.” Though you live in an elegant residence and fare
sumptuously every day, let your daughters feel it is a disgrace to them not to know
how to work. I denounce the idea prevalent in society that though our young
women may embroider slippers and crochet and make mats for lamps to stand on
without disgrace, the idea of doing anything for a livelihood is dishonourable.
It is a shame for a young woman belonging to a large family to be inefficient
when the father toils his life away for her support. It is a shame for a
daughter to be idle while her mother toils at the wash-tub. No woman, any more
than a man, has a right to occupy a place in this world unless she pays a rent
for it. Society is to be reconstructed on the subject of woman’s toil. A vast
majority of those who would have woman industrious shut her up to a few kinds
of work. My judgment in this matter is that a woman has a right to do anything
she can do well. There should be no department of merchandise, mechanism, art,
or science barred against her. If Miss Hosmer has genius for sculpture, give
her a chisel. If
Rosa Bonheur has a fondness for delineating animals, let her make “The Horse
Fair.” If Miss Mitchell will study astronomy, let her mount the starry ladder.
If Lydia will be a merchant, let her sell purple. It is said, if woman is given
such opportunities she will occupy places that might be taken by men. I say, if
she have more skill and adaptedness for any position than a man has, let her
have ill She has as much right to her bread, to her apparel, and to her home as
men have. But it is said that her nature is so delicate that she is unfitted
for exhausting toil. I ask in the name of all past history what toil on earth
is more severe, exhausting, and tremendous than that toil of the needle to
which for ages she has been subjected? Oh, the meanness, the despicability, of
men who begrudge a woman the right of work anywhere in any honourable calling!
I go still further and say that women should have equal compensation with men.
By what principle of justice is it that women in many of our cities get only
two-thirds as much pay as men and in many cases only half? Here is the gigantic
injustice--that for work equally well, if not better, done, women receive far
less compensation than men. Years ago one Sabbath night, in the vestibule of
this church, after service, a woman fell in convulsions. The doctor said she
needed medicine not so much as something to eat. As she began to revive, in her
delirium she said, gaspingly: “Eight cents! Eight cents! Eight cents! I wish I
could get it done, I am so tired. I wish I could get some sleep, but I must get
it done. Eight cents! Eight cents! Eight cents!” We found afterwards that she
was making garments for eight cents apiece, and she could make but three of
them in a day. Hear it! Three times eight are twenty-four. Hear it, men and
women who have comfortable homes. How are these evils to be eradicated? Some
say: “Give women the ballot.” What effect such ballot might have on other
questions I am not here to discuss; but what would be the effect of female
suffrage on women’s wages? I do not believe that women will ever get justice by
woman’s ballot. Indeed, women oppress women as much as men do. Do not women, as
much as men, beat down to the lowest figure the woman who sews for them? Woman
will never get justice done her
from woman’s ballot. Neither will she get it from man’s ballot.
How then? God will rise up for her. God has more resources than we know of. The
flaming sword that hung at Eden’s gate when woman was driven out will cleave
with its terrible edge her oppressors. But there is something for women to do.
Let young people prepare to excel in spheres of work, and they will be able
after a while to get larger wages. If it be shown that a woman can, in a store,
sell more goods in a year than a man, she will soon be able not only to ask,
but to demand more wages, and to demand them successfully. Unskilled and
incompetent labour must take what is given; skilled and competent labour will
eventually make its own standard. (T. DeWilt Talmage.)
They had no comforter.
No comforter
It is the glory of the Gospel that it is not only a religion of
conversion, but a religion of consolation. It ministers peace, and makes even
the human side of life capable of deep and abiding joy. The promise has been
fulfilled, and the soul bears witness that He is true who says, “I will not
leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
I. The latent
pain. This pain does not leap forth at once. It is a kind of hidden fire: a
sort of slumbering force. Students of life should think deeply on this, that
pain lies hidden in pleasure. The strangest fact in life is that the measure of
joy is often the measure of sorrow. The height of gain is the length of the
shadow of loss. The keener our affection, the more bitter our anguish when
bereavement comes. The more ardent our pursuit, the more depressing the
disappointment in missing the goal. In Jesus Christ our Lord He has offered us
a renewed nature and a restful heart. He has given us a Saviour and a
Comforter. We need no more. If the latent pain leaps forth, we have an anodyne
for sorrow, a perfect absolution for sin, a balm for broken hearts, a brother
born for adversity, and beyond the present the glories of immortal life. At our
peril we put Christ away. Out in the wide fields of human search we come upon
no footprints of another Saviour.
II. The charlatan
comforters. Yes! there are comforters. We find that men will put the poppy in
the pillow when there is
no peace in the heart. They seek comfort. Sometimes in quiet retreats, where
the scenes of the city life do not haunt them, Nature’s floral groves and
woodland shadows constitute a veil to hide the weird forms of guilt and shame
and sorrow to be met with in crowded centres of life. But past life will there
come back to memory, and unforgiven sin will there send its sharp dagger to the heart. Or it may be
that freedom from necessity brings comfort, and that superfluity has made the
old days of care and struggle only a memory! Now at all events there are no
sleepless nights, no battles amid daily anxiety for daily bread, and we sit
under the restful shadow of trees planted long ago! Then, too, much looks like
comfort, which comes from ease of circumstance, when the couch is of down, and
no spectre of anxiety crosses the earthly threshold. But even then there are
deep necessities of the soul, if we are dead to things divine.
III. The fulness of
Christ. I do not mean merely Divine perfectness in the quantity of sympathy,
but, if I may say so, in the quality of it. Nothing is more wonderful than the
way in which the weary soul finds sympathy in the Saviour. There is a
revelation of grace in Christ which makes Him the complement of each man’s
nature. Sorrows differ; doubts differ; needs differ; tastes differ; and even
the wounds inflicted by bereavement differ. But Christ searches us, and knows
us all. And what sweet response comes from hearts that have trusted in Him, as
they unite in testifying, “His grace is sufficient for us!” How patiently
Christians suffer! How trustfully they rest! How cheerfully they live! How
hopefully they die!
IV. The missing
good. No comforter! Then who will show us any good? For we cannot unmake
ourselves. There is the connection of comfort with conscience. Divine
redemption still, as of old, is a necessity of the human heart. Then there is the connection of
comfort with character. We are made new creatures in Christ Jesus. We have new
motives, new aims, new desires, new sympathies, new relationship to God. Our
life is hid with Christ in God--the blessed God: and then peace flows like a
river through the heart. This is life eternal. Then there is the connection of
comfort with influence. That man has no comforter who realizes that the
influence of his life is an infection of evil, an impulse to the lower life.
Even if he possess genius, it may be but an added force for harm. But the
Christian has this comfort, though no minstrel sings the story of his chivalry,
though no sculptured marble tells the tale of his renown--yet he liveth to the
Lord, he dieth to the Lord. The world of holy influence will be the richer for
his being! (W. M. Statham.)
Verse 2
Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the
living which are yet alive.
The applause of the dead regulated, vindicated and improved
Scripture itself sets us an example of applauding the virtues of
the departed; but I think that in our funeral sermons, in our obituaries and on
our sepulchres, there is much which needs to be regulated.
I. It must be
qualified.
1. We are not to praise the dead with indiscriminate eulogy; for
there is such a thing as confounding moral distinctions, as smiling alike on
vice and virtue.
2. We are not to praise the dead with exaggerated panegyric. For it
should never be forgotten, that however the grace of God has formed the subject
of it to excellence, he was still the possessor of remaining moral infirmities.
3. We are not to praise the dead in a spirit of discontent with life.
4. We are not to praise the dead in the exercise of gratified envy.
5. We ought not to praise the dead in the spirit of relative pride.
6. In one word--we should not praise the dead without a humble and
grateful recollection that all their gifts and virtues proceeded from God. Let
the survivor not glory in the erudition, in the riches, in the wealth or virtue
of the deceased, but let him glory only in the Lord.
II. This eulogy is
to be justified. It may be so by a variety of reasons.
1. There is that of Scripture precedent. It speaks, in high terms, of
the distinguished faith of Abraham, the patience of Job, the meekness of Moses,
the devotion of the man
after God’s own heart, the wisdom of a Solomon, the magnanimity of a Daniel,
the fortitude of a Stephen, the humanity of a Dorcas.
2. This procedure may also be sanctioned on the ground of utility.
How often does the perusal of the
memoirs of eminent persons excite desires in the hearts of
survivors to imbibe their sentiments, to catch their spirit, and to imitate
their example.
3. The principal grounds on which we are justified in praising the
pious dead are connected with themselves, as--
For much of this as may have been apparent while they were yet
alive, much more is very often discerned after their decease. Then are
discerned in their diaries and records what were the sacred principles on which
they acted, and how they were constrained by the love of Christ to live not
unto themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again. Not till the
crisis of death, too, has much of the usefulness of the Christian minister been
made apparent.
III. The sentiment
in the text is to be improved. If the question be asked--in what way shall I
praise departed ministers? I answer--
1. By repenting of the treatment you often showed them while they
were alive.
2. By recalling to serious reflection the important subjects of their
ministry.
3. By an imitation of the excellencies with which they were clothed.
4. By meditating on your
joint responsibility with them at the bar of God.
5. By a devout application to the great Head of the Church to raise
up men of similar and surpassing qualifications to carry on the interests of
religion in the Church and in the world. (J. Clayton.)
Praising the dead more than the living
I. It is common.
We see it in the political, ecclesiastical, and domestic sphere. So it has
become a proverb, that the best men must die ever to have their virtues
recognized. Why is this?
1. The dead are no longer competitors.
2. Social love buries their defects. In all, the great Father of Love
has put a deep fountain of sympathy. Death unseals it, melts it, and causes it
to flow forth in such copious streams as drown all the imperfections of the
departed.
II. It is immoral.
1. It is not right. Virtue should be recognized and honoured wherever
seen; and more so in the duties and struggles of life than in the reminiscenees
of departed worth.
2. It is not generous. That husband is mean and despicable who
ignores the virtues of a noble wife while living.
3. It is unreal. To praise virtues in a man when dead, which were
ever unnoticed when living, is hypocritical. (Homilist.)
Verse 4
Verses 4-8
Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for
this a man is envied of his neighbour.
An old portrait of modern men
Here is a portrait, drawn by a man who lived thousands of years
ago, of three distinct types of character that you find everywhere about you.
I. Here is a man
working for the good of society (Ecclesiastes 4:4). Thank God! there have
ever been such men--generous, disinterested, broad-hearted, God-inspired
men--men who are doing the “right work.” They are the “salt” of the State;
remove them, and all is putrescence. How are these men treated by society? Here
is the answer. “For this a man is envied of his neighbour.” It has ever been
so. Cain envied Abel, Korah envied Moses, Saul envied David, the Sanhedrim
envied Christ, the Judaic teachers envied Paul. To see society envying such men
is a sore “vexation” to all true hearts. What do the existence and treatment of
these men show?
1. The great kindness of Heaven in sending such men into every age.
What would become of an age without such men in it? The ignorant would have no
schools, the afflicted no hospitals, the indigent no poor-laws and charities,
the people no righteous laws and no temples for worship.
2. The rightful acknowledgments of most useful services are not to be
expected on earth. How did the world treat Moses, Jeremiah, the apostles, and
the Holy Christ? Yonder, not here, is the reward for truly right labour.
3. The moral state of society is both unwise and unrighteous. How
unwise to treat men who do the “right work” amongst them with envy I For its
own good it should cheer them on in their philanthropic efforts. How
unrighteous too! These men have a claim to its gratitude, sympathy, and
co-operation.
II. Here is a man
utterly worthless in society (verses 5, 6).
1. He exhausts his own property. The indolent man evermore “eats his
own flesh”: that is, exhausts his own personal strength, mental, moral,
physical, for the want of proper exertion.
2. He wrongly estimates his own happiness. “Better is an handful with
quietness than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.” In one
sense this is true (Proverbs 15:16). But this is not the
sense in which the lazy man regards it. By quietness he meant quiescence,
non-exertion, lounging, folding the hands, and sleeping life away. Now, this
character abounds in our age and land. These characters are not only a curse to
themselves, dying with ennui, but a curse to society; they are clogs upon the wheel of
industry; they are social thieves; they eat what others have produced.
III. Here is a man
avariciously making use of society (verse 8).
1. The man he sketches worked entirely for himself.
Selfgratification, self-aggrandizement, self the centre and circumference of
all his activities.
2. The man he sketches worked unremittingly for himself. “Yet is
there no end of all his labour.” Always at it--morning, noon, and night; it was
the one thing he did.
3. The man he sketches worked insatiably for himself. “Neither is his
eye satisfied with riches.” The passion of avarice has been called the great
sepulchre of all the passions. Unlike other tombs, however, it is enlarged by
repletion and strengthened by age. An avaricious man is like Tantalus, up to
the chin in water, yet always thirsty. Avarice seems to me to be the ruling passion
of the age. (Homilist.)
Envy
Here Solomon discloses to us one of the most remarkable among the
many sources of human misery; remarkable, because it springs not out of
failure, but out of success; and so it is one which lies deeper than any of the
ills wrought by the uncertainty of life, or by the caprice of fortune. It is a
true and striking instance of the vanity of human affairs, when a man spends a
lifetime in the pursuit of wealth, and meets only with poverty and ruin; or
dies as soon as he has obtained it, and “leaves his riches to other.” The same
reflection is forced upon us when the student, who has denied himself
everything for years in the pursuit of science, is struck down by death just as
he is about to reap the reward of his labours, and all his knowledge rendered
useless. But there is one deep aggravation of human misery which does not lie
thus upon the surface. With all these failures, a few do succeed, and for these
there is a special burden which they must inevitably bear; there is one adversity
born of their prosperity; one calamity to which their very happiness subjects
them: and that is--Envy. Not only the envy of the world, but the envy of their
neighbours, and the alienation of their friends, is often the portion of the
successful; and isolation of soul is the doom of the great. This Solomon
declares to be the lot of all travail, and justly adds: “This is also vanity
and vexation of
spirit.” But not only does this venomous principle, one of the blackest traits
in our fallen nature, come in to poison the enjoyment of every fortune made,
and every position gained among men: there is a more truly Satanic development
of the passion than even this: viz. envy at the success of goodness; a
malicious displeasure when one who has shown long, unwearied industry in an
honourable calling, and lived a life of devotion to the glory of God, and the
good of man, obtains the just fruit of his labours; the promise of godliness in
the life that now is. “Again, I considered all travail, and every ‘right work,’
that for this a man is envied of his neighbour.” And yet this is what we see in
every department of life. We see it, for example, in the venomed spite with
which low natures regard a good man, just because he is better than themselves;
disliking him because, whenever they are in his presence, they feel their own
vileness and worthlessness as they never feel it at any other time. The life of
the true Christian is one unflagging reproach to the world. His ingenuous
truthfulness and sincerity witnesses against the world’s falsehood and hollowness; the
Christian’s noble self-devotedness against its self-love; his steadfast
adherence to the cause of righteousness, against the cowardly looseness of the
world’s principles; the Christian’s high hopes and lofty aspirations against
the worldling’s low desires and grovelling aims. “For every right work,” he is
“envied of his neighbour.” No age, nor position, nor character, is exempt from
the poisoned shafts of envy. Is there a godly school-boy? Such a one will generally
be a mark for the ridicule, and the petty persecution, of the lower-minded of
his playmates. They will watch him, as Satan observed Job, for some little
fault which they may exaggerate and rejoice over. They will place temptations
in his path, and strive, in every way, to bring him down to the same level with
themselves. And that is but the prophecy of what awaits him in after life. The
godly servant or workman, who regards the interest of his employer as his own,
and serves “not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but with singleness of
heart, fearing God,” will always be exposed to the envy, the detraction, and
the slander of his idle and unprincipled fellows, whose sole aim is, by mutual
agreement, to do the smallest possible amount of work for the largest possible
amount of pay. And the same evil principle besets the Christian everywhere,
extending upwards through all the strata of society. (H. E. Nolloth, B. D.)
How the success of others should affect us
Instead of the success of others being a matter of envy, it should
be used as an example of promise to us, inducing us to go and do likewise. The
life of the great man teaches us that we also, being brother to him, may
become, in a measure, great. There is wealth, too, to be had, without robbing any man
of what he has. It is always to be found in economy and work. For long enough
this doctrine was hid, even from the wise and prudent. Even yet we try to find
it anywhere but in honest labour--in gold mines, or in speculation, or in
gambling--and we may chance to find it laid up in some of these; but it has all
come from industry originally, and, in most places, it can be got there in a
fair measure still. At any rate, it cannot be got in idleness. We may cherish
envy of him who has succeeded, and fold our hands till it eats into the very
marrow of our bones, but we shall be no nearer the attainment of fortune than when
we commenced the operation. (J. Bonnet.)
Verses 4-8
Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for
this a man is envied of his neighbour.
An old portrait of modern men
Here is a portrait, drawn by a man who lived thousands of years
ago, of three distinct types of character that you find everywhere about you.
I. Here is a man
working for the good of society (Ecclesiastes 4:4). Thank God! there have
ever been such men--generous, disinterested, broad-hearted, God-inspired
men--men who are doing the “right work.” They are the “salt” of the State;
remove them, and all is putrescence. How are these men treated by society? Here
is the answer. “For this a man is envied of his neighbour.” It has ever been
so. Cain envied Abel, Korah envied Moses, Saul envied David, the Sanhedrim
envied Christ, the Judaic teachers envied Paul. To see society envying such men
is a sore “vexation” to all true hearts. What do the existence and treatment of
these men show?
1. The great kindness of Heaven in sending such men into every age.
What would become of an age without such men in it? The ignorant would have no
schools, the afflicted no hospitals, the indigent no poor-laws and charities,
the people no righteous laws and no temples for worship.
2. The rightful acknowledgments of most useful services are not to be
expected on earth. How did the world treat Moses, Jeremiah, the apostles, and
the Holy Christ? Yonder, not here, is the reward for truly right labour.
3. The moral state of society is both unwise and unrighteous. How
unwise to treat men who do the “right work” amongst them with envy I For its
own good it should cheer them on in their philanthropic efforts. How
unrighteous too! These men have a claim to its gratitude, sympathy, and co-operation.
II. Here is a man
utterly worthless in society (verses 5, 6).
1. He exhausts his own property. The indolent man evermore “eats his
own flesh”: that is, exhausts his own personal strength, mental, moral,
physical, for the want of proper exertion.
2. He wrongly estimates his own happiness. “Better is an handful with
quietness than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.” In one
sense this is true (Proverbs 15:16). But this is not the
sense in which the lazy man regards it. By quietness he meant quiescence,
non-exertion, lounging, folding the hands, and sleeping life away. Now, this
character abounds in our age and land. These characters are not only a curse to
themselves, dying with ennui, but a curse to society; they are clogs upon the wheel of
industry; they are social thieves; they eat what others have produced.
III. Here is a man
avariciously making use of society (verse 8).
1. The man he sketches worked entirely for himself.
Selfgratification, self-aggrandizement, self the centre and circumference of
all his activities.
2. The man he sketches worked unremittingly for himself. “Yet is
there no end of all his labour.” Always at it--morning, noon, and night; it was
the one thing he did.
3. The man he sketches worked insatiably for himself. “Neither is his
eye satisfied with riches.” The passion of avarice has been called the great
sepulchre of all the passions. Unlike other tombs, however, it is enlarged by
repletion and strengthened by age. An avaricious man is like Tantalus, up to
the chin in water, yet always thirsty. Avarice seems to me to be the ruling
passion of the age. (Homilist.)
Envy
Here Solomon discloses to us one of the most remarkable among the
many sources of human misery; remarkable, because it springs not out of
failure, but out of success; and so it is one which lies deeper than any of the
ills wrought by the uncertainty of life, or by the caprice of fortune. It is a
true and striking instance of the vanity of human affairs, when a man spends a
lifetime in the pursuit of wealth, and meets only with poverty and ruin; or
dies as soon as he has obtained it, and “leaves his riches to other.” The same
reflection is forced upon us when the student, who has denied himself
everything for years in the pursuit of science, is struck down by death just as
he is about to reap the reward of his labours, and all his knowledge rendered
useless. But there is one deep aggravation of human misery which does not lie
thus upon the surface. With all these failures, a few do succeed, and for these
there is a special burden which they must inevitably bear; there is one
adversity born of their prosperity; one calamity to which their very happiness
subjects them: and that is--Envy. Not only the envy of the world, but the envy
of their neighbours, and the alienation of their friends, is often the portion
of the successful; and isolation of soul is the doom of the great. This Solomon
declares to be the lot of all travail, and justly adds: “This is also vanity
and vexation of
spirit.” But not only does this venomous principle, one of the blackest traits
in our fallen nature, come in to poison the enjoyment of every fortune made,
and every position gained among men: there is a more truly Satanic development
of the passion than even this: viz. envy at the success of goodness; a
malicious displeasure when one who has shown long, unwearied industry in an
honourable calling, and lived a life of devotion to the glory of God, and the
good of man, obtains the just fruit of his labours; the promise of godliness in
the life that now is. “Again, I considered all travail, and every ‘right work,’
that for this a man is envied of his neighbour.” And yet this is what we see in
every department of life. We see it, for example, in the venomed spite with
which low natures regard a good man, just because he is better than themselves;
disliking him because, whenever they are in his presence, they feel their own
vileness and worthlessness as they never feel it at any other time. The life of
the true Christian is one unflagging reproach to the world. His ingenuous
truthfulness and sincerity witnesses against the world’s falsehood and hollowness; the
Christian’s noble self-devotedness against its self-love; his steadfast
adherence to the cause of righteousness, against the cowardly looseness of the
world’s principles; the Christian’s high hopes and lofty aspirations against
the worldling’s low desires and grovelling aims. “For every right work,” he is
“envied of his neighbour.” No age, nor position, nor character, is exempt from
the poisoned shafts of envy. Is there a godly school-boy? Such a one will
generally be a mark for the ridicule, and the petty persecution, of the
lower-minded of his playmates. They will watch him, as Satan observed Job, for
some little fault which they may exaggerate and rejoice over. They will place
temptations in his path, and strive, in every way, to bring him down to the
same level with themselves. And that is but the prophecy of what awaits him in
after life. The godly servant or workman, who regards the interest of his
employer as his own, and serves “not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but
with singleness of heart, fearing God,” will always be exposed to the envy, the
detraction, and the slander of his idle and unprincipled fellows, whose sole
aim is, by mutual agreement, to do the smallest possible amount of work for the
largest possible amount of pay. And the same evil principle besets the
Christian everywhere, extending upwards through all the strata of society. (H.
E. Nolloth, B. D.)
How the success of others should affect us
Instead of the success of others being a matter of envy, it should
be used as an example of promise to us, inducing us to go and do likewise. The
life of the great man teaches us that we also, being brother to him, may
become, in a measure, great. There is wealth, too, to be had, without robbing any
man of what he has. It is always to be found in economy and work. For long
enough this doctrine was hid, even from the wise and prudent. Even yet we try
to find it anywhere but in honest labour--in gold mines, or in speculation, or
in gambling--and we may chance to find it laid up in some of these; but it has
all come from industry originally, and, in most places, it can be got there in
a fair measure still. At any rate, it cannot be got in idleness. We may cherish
envy of him who has succeeded, and fold our hands till it eats into the very
marrow of our bones, but we shall be no nearer the attainment of fortune than when
we commenced the operation. (J. Bonnet.)
Verse 6
Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with
travail and vexation of spirit.
Quality better than quantity
The “quietness” here spoken of is not the inactivity of sloth, but
that restfulness of spirit which an industrious man may enjoy when his industry
is pervaded by a cheerful contentment. Now, here is one of those maxims with
which Ecclesiastes sought to comfort the hearts and to direct the conduct of
his countrymen. Many of them might be disposed to murmur because the times were
adverse to their acquisition of wealth. But he wishes them to remember that,
even if the times had been more prosperous, they themselves would not
necessarily have been more happy. He directs their attention away from quantity
to quality of possession. One man may get more real satisfaction out of a
little than another man gets out of much. Two handfuls are not necessarily
better than one. It depends on what is in the hands. One handful of grain is
better than two handfuls of chaff. It depends also on what kind of man has the
handful or handfuls. Happiness, in its degree and quality, varies with the man
who enjoys, as welt as with the means of enjoyment. Yea, and even the same man
may possibly get more satisfaction out of one handful than out of two handfuls
of the same thing. It depends on whether the additional handful does not bring
with it something else as well. In human life it often happens that a plus
involves a minus; a gain in one direction means a loss in another. This,
indeed, is no argument for “folding the hands” in sloth or indifference; for
there is no weariness like the weariness of idleness, and there is no more
prolific source of cares than carelessness. But it is an argument against that
spirit of envious rivalry and selfish, restless ambition, which lessens the capacity, in the very
act of increasing the means, of enjoyment. This maxim of Ecclesiastes is well
worth pondering. It is pitched in the same key as the maxim of the Apostle
Paul: “Godliness with contentment is great gain”: and it reminds us of the
still more inclusive maxim of our Lord Himself: “A man’s life consisteth not in
the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (T. C. Finlayson.)
Verse 8
Verses 9-16
Verses 9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their
labour.
The necessity and benefits of religious society
I. Prove the truth
of the wise man’s assertion, that, “two are better than one, and that in
reference to society in general, and religious societies in particular.” And
how can this be done better than by showing that it is absolutely necessary for
the welfare both of the bodies and souls of men? Indeed, if we look upon man as
he came out of the hands of his Maker, we imagine him to be perfect, entire,
lacking nothing. But God, whose thoughts are not as our thoughts, saw something
still wanting to make Adam happy. And what was that? Why, an help meet for him.
And if this were the case of man before the fall; if a help was meet for him in
a state of perfection; surely since the fall, when we come naked and helpless
out of our mother’s womb, when our wants increase with our years, and we can
scarcely subsist a day without the mutual assistance of each other, well may we
say, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Society, then, we see, is absolutely
necessary in respect to our bodily and personal wants. If we carry our view
farther, and consider mankind as divided into different cities, countries, and
nations, the necessity of it will appear yet more evident. For how can
communities be kept up, or commerce carried on, with our society? Many other
instances might be given of the necessity of society in reference to our
bodily, personal, and national wants. But what are all these when weighed in
the balance of the sanctuary, in comparison of the infinite greater need of it
with respect to the soul? Let us suppose ourselves in some degree to have
tasted the good word of life, and to have felt the powers of the world to come,
influencing and moulding our souls into a religious frame; to be fully and
heartily convinced that we are soldiers listed under the banner of Christ, and
to have proclaimed open war, at our baptism, against the world, the flesh, and
the devil; and have, perhaps, frequently renewed our obligations so to do by
partaking of the Lord’s Supper; that we are surrounded with millions of foes
without, and infested with a legion of enemies within; that we are commanded to
shine as lights in the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation;
that we are travelling to a long eternity, and need all imaginable helps to
show, and encourage us in, our way thither. Let us, I say, reflect on all this,
and then how shall each of us cry out, “Brethren, what a necessary thing it is
to meet together in religious societies!” The primitive Christians were fully
sensible of this, and therefore we find them continually keeping up communion
with each other (Acts 2:42; Acts 4:23; Acts 9:19; Acts 12:12). And it is reported of the
Christians in after ages that they used to assemble together before daylight to
sing a psalm to Christ as God. So precious was the communion of saints in those
days.
II. Some reasons
why “two are better than one,” especially in religious society.
1. As man in his present condition cannot always stand upright, but
by reason of the frailty of his nature cannot but fall; one eminent reason why
two are better than one, or, in other words, one great advantage of religious
society is, “that when they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.”
2. It is an observation no less true than common, that kindled coals
if placed asunder soon go out, but if heaped together quicken and enliven each
other, and afford a lasting heat. The same will hold good in the case now
before us. If Christians kindled by the grace of God unite, they will quicken
and enliven each other; but if they separate and keep asunder, no marvel if
they soon grow cool or tepid. If two or three meet together in Christ’s name,
they will have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
3. Hitherto we have considered the advantages of religious societies
as a great preservative against falling into sin and lukewarmness, and that too
from our own corruptions. But what says the wise son of Sirach? “My son, when
thou goest to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation;” and that not
only from inward, but outward foes; particularly from those two grand
adversaries, the world and the devil: for no sooner will thine eye be bent heavenward, but the
former will be immediately diverting it another way, telling thee thou needest
not be singular in order to be religious; that you may be a Christian without
going so much out of the common road. But see here the advantage of religious
company; for supposing thou findest thyself thus surrounded on every side, and
unable to withstand such horrid (though seemingly friendly) counsels, haste
away to thy companions, and they will teach thee a truer and better lesson;
they will tell thee that thou must be singular if thou wilt be religious; and
that it is as impossible for a Christian, as for a city set upon a hill, to be
hidden: that if thou wilt be an almost Christian (and as good be none at all)
thou mayest live in the same idle, indifferent manner as thou seest most other
people do; but if thou wilt be not only almost, but altogether a Christian,
they will inform thee thou
must go a great deal farther: that thou must not only faintly seek, but
“earnestly strive to enter in at the strait gate”: that there is but one way
now to heaven, as formerly, even through the narrow passage of a sound
conversion: and that in order to bring about this mighty work, thou must
undergo a constant but necessary discipline of fasting, watching, and prayer.
And, therefore, the only reason why those friends give thee such advice is,
because they are not willing
to take so much pains themselves; or, as our Saviour told Peter on a like
occasion, because they savour not the things that be of God, but the things
that be of men.
III. The several
duties incumbent on every member of a religious society as such.
1. Mutual reproof.
2. Mutual exhortation.
3. Mutual assisting and defending each other. (G. Whitefield, M.
A.)
Two better than one
An axiom like this needs no discussion. No man is at his best
alone. Some powers are dormant and practically useless to the individual.
Competition is one form
of stimulus. It may act through our selfishness. We desire to surpass another,
to do better or acquire more and so meet oppositions and antagonisms with
resoluteness. As iron sharpeneth iron, so intellects may be whetted and made
keener by mental attrition. The axe does not sharpen itself on itself, but by a
stone. So are human minds improved by these emulative endeavours. But love is a
better discipline than competition. It is akin to the regenerative power of
God. Two friends walk in loving unity and fellowship. They aim to enlarge their
faculties of observation. The two see more objects than one pair of eyes could
possibly see, perhaps threefold or tenfold, for in the friendly effort, each to
excel, their individual faculties are more vigilant than if each were alone. In
church life these principles of development constantly obtain. Some come to the
place of worship and instruction with the true hunger of the soul. They not
only help the preacher, who may represent the original unit by their added
sympathy, but enlarge their own spiritual appreciation of truth. Failure to
co-operate in church work is crippling. It is like putting the minus sign
before a quantity. You cripple not only a finger by removing a joint, but
embarrass the whole hand. The entire grip is gone for ever. Paralyze the little
muscles that play over a pulley moving the eyelid and the lid drops over the
eye. So the weakest member
of a church may help or hinder the integrity and efficiency of the whole body
of Christ. As indifference is deadening and disheartening, whether in religious
or political enterprise, when people are slack, dubious and apathetic, so
co-operation stimulates and the heart of the toiler rises with courage and
hope. It may be objected that one loses his individuality. But no one is
strictly independent. Material forces are adjusted to each other, as the
centripetal and centrifugal, day and night, attraction and repulsion, muscular
flexion and extension. Souls have their orbits as well as planets. These may be
contracted or enlarged according to the influences exerted. No man liveth to
himself or is independent of shrinking or quickening influences. If you come
statedly and devoutedly to the sanctuary, you secure a blessing to yourself and
you help God to convert men. So, too, in the last place, in Christian
companionship, two are better than one. For if one fall by the way the other may
lift him to his feet. Thus the crosses and losses of life become more
tolerable, and the unity and harmony of earthly fellowship become prophetic of
the unbroken and perfected felicities of heaven. (C. R. Barnes.)
Verse 12
A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
A threefold cord
I have read somewhere that the ancient Thebans had in their army a
band of men who were pledged to friendship and fellowship with each other. They
were therefore almost irresistible; they held together by a union caused by a
living principle that suffused and inspired them all, therefore when the enemy
came upon them it was like the sea breaking on the unmovable strand. If we as
church members and fellow-Christians are thus one in heart, we shall be
irresistible. A common Saviour claims
our common love. We have been cleansed in the same precious fountain, we have
all eaten of the Bread that came down from heaven, and drunk of the Spiritual
Rock that follows us. Let us hold more closely together than ever--pastors,
officers, people, for “a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” “A threefold
cord is not quickly broken.” Do we not know this from sad experience?
I. It was by such
cords as these that we were originally held in bondage. I do not know how many threads
were in them, how many strands they contained. Not three, perhaps, but thirty,
nay, thirty thousand evil influences were dragging us down and holding us fast.
All I do know is that they were not quickly broken. It took God’s dear Son to
break them, the Father’s
love, and the Spirit’s power, and our own faith and repentance, begotten in our
hearts from above. Satan knows the power of unity if we do not. “The world, the
flesh, and the devil,” a terrible trio, were in league against us. It was the
cords of this triple enemy that held us fast. They were threefold cords, and
they were not easily broken. Sin is of various shapes and sorts. There are
three words in God’s Book descriptive of sin, and I think I may apply them to
the threefold cord. There is iniquity, that which is out of plumb, or off the
line, or out of
the level. There is sin, the missing of the mark, the going beyond by the
arrow, or the falling short of the target. There is also transgression,
breaking through God’s settled rules, passing beyond the bounds that He has
fixed, making landmarks of our own instead of regarding God’s. Each of these
may be regarded as a strand in the cord of sin, and all of us were held
thereby. “A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” It took years of straining,
and tugging, and pulling by a hand Omnipotent to break these cords in pieces.
Thank God! it is done, and that they can never be spliced again, nor ever cast
about us as they were originally.
II. It was by such
cords as these--cords that are not quickly broken, threefold cords, that we
were delivered from the power of sin. The form of the metaphor changes a little
as we use it now. We were in a horrible pit by reason of sin. Sin always sinks
us, and we were dropping deeper and deeper into it, and into the mire that was
at the bottom of it. How have we got up? There was no ladder placed for us to
climb; we did not cut notches in the pit-side by our own unaided strength, and
so help ourselves up to light and liberty. No; God had pity on us. He, in the
person of His Son, came to the pit’s
mouth and looked down with the eyes of love upon us. Christ’s love, Christ’s
death, resurrection and ascension into heaven--these are as another threefold
cord. As soon as our eyes were opened and we saw this rope swinging, as it
were, in front of us, God gave us strength to leap to it, and He did the rest;
nay, He did that, for we had not believed unless the Spirit had prompted faith.
He drew us with the cords of love, and with the bands of a man.
III. It is by such
cords as these, threefold cords, cords that are not quickly broken, that we are
now held captive. By creation, the claim of which we understand better than
ever now; by regeneration, into the mystery of which they and we are being
daily further led; by consecration, both on God’s part and our own, we are His
and His for ever. These cords bind us to the horns of the altar. “And now
abideth faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” I
think this is another threefold cord by which we are bound; bound to one
another, bound to the cross of Christ, bound to this blessed book, and bound to
heaven. (T. Spurgeon.)
A threefold cord
I. Have a
threefold cord in your religion. Religion for young folks as well as old. Is
yours twofold or threefold? Let us see. There is God--one. And you--two. Is
that all? Explain how some people have no more. This not a nice religion. Can’t
get near God. Can’t know Him. Bring in Christ, and you have the threefold cord.
Then this cord will stand the strain. That is a strong religion. When
temptations come down hard on you, it will hold and save you.
II. Have a
threefold cord in your difficulties and dangers. Story of youth at sea.
Ordered, during a storm, to go up and put the rigging right. Momentary
hesitation of boy, and then darted down to his cabin. Appeared again immediately,
ascended mast, put rigging right, and came down. Asked by an officer, “What
made you run below? For prayer, sir: father always told me no time was ever
lost in prayer.” “And what is that under your jacket?. . . My Bible, sir. My
mother gave it to me when leaving home. I thought if I were drowned, I would
like to have it with me.” Now here was a nice threefold cord--Prayer, the
Bible, and Courage. I wish you had it. You may have, likely will have, many a
hard bit in your life. But if you weave these three together into a cord, and
hold on by it, you are safe.
III. Have a
threefold cord in your friendships. There is an old saying among folks, that
“Two are good company, but three are none.” And they expect us to believe that!
We want no friendship that is only twofold. Have you any friendship without
Jesus? He is the third strand of the cord. If there be anybody who wants you to
go roads where Jesus can’t go with you, give up that company at once. We should
want no friendship where our Saviour can’t; be one. (J. F. Dempster.)
Verses 13-16
Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king,
who will no more be admonished.
On the advantages of Christian knowledge to the lower orders of
society
There is no topic on which the Bible maintains a more lucid and
entire consistency of sentiment than the superiority of moral over all physical
and all external distinctions. One very animating inference to be drawn from
our text is, how much may be made of humanity. Did a king come to take up his
residence amongst us--did he shed a grandeur over our city by the presence of
his court, and give the impulse of his expenditure to the trade of its
population--it were not easy to rate the value and the magnitude which such an
event would have on the estimation of a common understanding, or the degree of
personal importance which would attach to him who stood a lofty object in the
eye of admiring townsmen. And yet it is possible, out of the raw and ragged
materials of an obscurest lane, to rear an individual of more inherent worth
than him who thus draws the gaze of the world upon his person. By the act of
training in wisdom’s ways the most tattered and neglected boy who runs upon our
pavements do we present the community with that which, in wisdom’s estimation,
is of greater price than this gorgeous inhabitant of a palace. Even without
looking beyond the confines of our present world, the virtue of humble life
will bear to be advantageously contrasted with all the pride and glory of an
elevated condition. The man who, though among the poorest of them all, has a
wisdom and a weight of character which makes him the oracle of his
neighbourhood--the man who, vested with no other authority than the meek
authority of worth, carries in his presence a power to shame and to overawe the
profligacy that is around him--the venerable father, from whoso lowly tenement
the voice of psalms is heard to ascend with the offering up of every evening
sacrifice--the Christian sage, who, exercised among life’s severest hardships,
looks calmly onward to heaven, and trains the footsteps of his children in the
way that leads to it--the eldest of a well-ordered family, bearing their
duteous and honourable part in the contest with its difficulties and its
trials--all these offer to our notice such elements of moral respectability as
do exist among the lowest orders of human society, and elements, too, which
admit of being multiplied far beyond the reach of any present calculation. But,
to attain a just estimate of the superiority of the poor man who has wisdom,
over the rich man who has it not, we must enter into the calculation of
eternity--we must look to wisdom in its true essence, as consisting of
religion, as having the fear of God for its beginning, and the rule of God for
its way, and the favour of God for its full and satisfying termination--we must
compute how speedily it is, that, on the wings of time, the season of every
paltry distinction between them must at length pass away; how soon death will
strip the one of hie rags, and the other of his pageantry, and send them in
utter nakedness to the dust; how soon judgment will summon them from their
graves, and place them in outward equality before the Great Disposer of their
future lot, and their future place, through ages which never end; how in that
situation the accidental distinctions of life will be rendered void, and
personal distinctions will be all that shall avail them; how, when examined by
the secrets of the inner man, and the deeds done in their body, the treasure of
heaven shall be adjudged only to him whose heart was set upon it in this world;
and how tremendously the account between them will be turned, when it shall be
found of the one, that he must perish for lack of knowledge, and of the other,
that he has the wisdom which is unto salvation. And let me just state that the
great instrument for thus elevating the poor is that Gospel of Jesus Christ,
which may be preached unto the poor. It is the doctrine of His Cross finding an
easier admission into their hearts than it does through those barriers of human
pride and human resistance, which are often reared on the basis of literature.
Let the testimony of God be simply taken in, that on His own Son He has laid
the iniquities of us all--and from this point does the humble scholar of
Christianity pass into light, and enlargement, and progressive holiness. (T.
Chalmers, D. D.)
The old king and the youth
It has been thought that Ecclesiastes must here be referring to
some well-known event of his own times: but, if this be the case, the event has
not yet been identified. Perhaps he is simply presenting an imaginary but
possible case, for which there had been quite sufficient basis in many a
political revolution. In those old kingdoms and empires it was always possible
that even a beggar or prisoner might rise to the throne, whilst the monarch who
had been born to the crown might, in his old age, perhaps through his own
folly, become a poor man in his own kingdom. Such was the instability of the
most exalted of earthly positions. And Ecclesiastes sketches the picture of the
young upstart--a usurper wise and skilful enough to make himself the leader of
a successful revolution, and to place himself in the stead of the old monarch.
So great is the popularity of this usurper that he becomes the idol of the
hour: millions flock around his standard, and place him on the throne. But even
this popularity is, in turn, an evanescent thing; “those who come after him”
(the people of a younger generation) “shall not rejoice in him.” He, too, has
only his day. It may be that, even during his lifetime, he loses the popular
favour: and, at the best, he soon passes away in death, and is speedily
forgotten. Thus the glory and fame even of monarchy itself is also “vanity and
feeding on wind.” It would not be difficult to find many a “historical
parallel” to this picture. One of the most striking has occurred within the
memory of some of us. When Louis Philippe, the aged King of France, who would
not be admonished by the signs of the times, had at length to flee from his own
kingdom in 1848, Louis Napoleon, who, not long before, had been for five years
a prisoner in the fortress of Ham, appeared in Paris, and, throwing himself
into the midst of political affairs, gradually became more and more popular,
until in due time he became President of the Republic, and ultimately Emperor
of France. We know how he was worshipped by the masses of the French people, how there was “no end
of all the people” who flocked around him in their enthusiasm. And we know how,
after many years of royal splendour, the collapse came suddenly at last, and
how, after the defeat at Sedan, the nation, almost as one man, turned round and
kicked the idol they had worshipped. Even one of our own poets had hailed him
as “Emperor evermore!” But where is all his “glory” now? Surely “vanity of
vanities” might well be inscribed on the tomb of Napoleon
III. And, indeed,
the career of many a man who has been borne along into high position on the
wave of popular enthusiasm furnishes a most salutary lesson as to the real
value of mere earthly fame and greatness. (T. C. Finlayson.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》