Ecclesiastes 4:3 Kommentar

Solomon, having shown the vanity of this world in the temptation which those in power feel to oppress and trample upon their subjects, here further shows, I. The temptation which the oppressed feel to discontent and impatience (Ecc 4:1-3). II. The temptation which those that love their case feel to take their case and neglect business, for fear of being envied (Ecc 4:4-6). III. The folly of hoarding up abundance of worldly wealth (Ecc 4:7, Ecc 4:8). IV. A remedy against that folly, in being made sensible of the benefit of society and mutual assistance (Ecc 4:9-12). V. The mutability even of royal dignity, not only through the folly of the prince himself (Ecc 4:13, Ecc 4:14), but through the fickleness of the people, let the prince be ever so discreet (Ecc 4:15, Ecc 4:16). It is not the prerogative even of kings themselves to be exempted from the vanity and vexation that attend these things; let none else then expect it.

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, Ecc 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, Ecc 4:4; hence some, on the other hand, place their happiness in sloth and ease, which is another vanity, Ecc 4:5; and others again in covetousness; who are described by their unsocial life, toilsome labour, unsatisfied desires, and withholding good things from themselves, Ecc 4:7; upon which some things are said, to show the benefits of a social life, Ecc 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, Ecc 4:13; and through the fickleness of the people, who are soon weary of a prince on the throne, and court his successor, Ecc 4:15

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, Mat 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.

"So I consider more fortunate the dead, who have already died, than the living, who are still alive. But better than either of them is he who has not yet been, and has never witnessed the evil that is committed under the sun." In comparison with the difficulties, which trouble mortal men in this world, I had judged the dead to be happier than the living according to that which Job says in his argument regarding the dead: " there they rested with tired bodies, with those who had been in chains, now without cares, not hearing the voice of the expeller." [Iob. 3, 17, 18.] But it is better for these two, for the living it seems and for the deceased, who has not yet been born. For one man will suffer ill, another unclothed will escape it as if from a shipwreck. Moreover he who has not yet been born is happier in that, becausehe has not yet experienced the ill of the world. But he says this, not because he who has not yet been born, exists before he has been born, and he is happier in this, since he has not yet been weighed down by his body; but better to be sure is not existing, or not having a sense of wealth, than either being unhappy or living unhappily. Just as the Lord speaks to Judas, referring to his coming anguish: "it was better for that man never to have been born" [Matth. 26, 24.], since it would have been better for sure for him not to have existed, than to suffer eternal torture. Some people in fact understand this passage in this way: they say they are better, who have died, than those who are living, it is permitted to them before they were sinners [Cfr. Origines peri Archon I. 5,5 ; Hier. Epist 124, 3. sqq]. For until now the living were in battle and were held back as if closed in by the prison of the body; but those who have opposed death are already without cares and have stopped sinning. Just like John, in which he was not greater in respect to the sons of women, he is less than him, who is the lowest in the realm of heaven and is freed from the burden of the body. He does not know how to say like the apostle: "I am a wretched man, who will free me from the body of this death?" [Rom. 7, 14.]. But he says he is better than those two, who has not yet been born, nor does not see the wickedness, by which men are oppressed in the world. For our souls mingle among the gods, before descending to these bodies and are blessed so long as the heavenly ones are held in Jerusalem and in the choir of angels.

(Ecc. 4:1-16) returned--namely, to the thought set forth (Ecc 3:16; Job 35:9). power--MAURER, not so well, "violence." no comforter--twice said to express continued suffering without any to give comfort (Isa 53:7).

not seen--nor experienced.

"And again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold there the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and from the hand of their oppressors goeth forth violence; and they have no comforter." Incorrectly Hahn: And anew I saw, - the observation is different from that of Ecc 3:16, though cognate. Thus: And again I saw, - the expression follows the syntactic scheme of Gen 26:18; regarding the fut. consec. brought into view here and at Ecc 4:7. The second העשׁ is part. pass.; the first, as at Job 35:9, and also at Amo 3:9, is abstract (i.e., bringing the many separate instances under one general idea) pluraletantum (cf. פּדוּיי, redemti, Isa 35:10; and redemtio, pretium redemtionis, Num 3:46); the plur. נע אשׁר need not appear strange, since even חיּים is connected with the plur. of the pred., e.g., Psa 31:11; Psa 88:4. דּמעת has, as at Isa 25:8 (cf. Rev 21:4, πᾶν δάκρυον), a collective sense. The expression כּח ... וּמיּד is singular. According to the most natural impression, it seems to signify: "and from the hand of their oppressors no power of deliverance" (carrying forward אין); but the parallelism of the palindromically constructed verse (as at Ecc 1:6; Ecc 2:10; Ecc 3:16) excludes this meaning. Thus כּח is here once-nowhere else-used, like the Greek βία, in the sense of violence; Luzzatto prefers the reading וּביד, by which the expression would be in conformity with the linguistic usage; but also מיד is explained: the force which they have in their hands is, in going forth from their hands, thought of as abused, and, as taking the form of שׁד or חזקה. In view of this sorrow which men bring upon their fellow-men, life for Koheleth lost all its worth and attraction.