Ecclesiastes 4:1-6 says,...and Bible reading, week 2, day 1

Today's verses are Ecclesiastes 4:1-6, which read,

v.1-3 - Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun.  And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.  So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.  But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

Solomon is looking for meaning in this world.  He has found things that are helpful and beneficial and also things that cause great harm.  Both have the same physical end even though one group's quality of life and the benefit to others around them may be greater than the other group who only thinks of self and takes advantage of others.  Today's focus of Solomon is the action of oppression.  There are those being oppressed and those who are oppressing them.  

Those oppressed show it through their tears and Solomon laments that there is no one there to comfort them.  Have you seen this?  Someone standing alone and maybe even visibly crying tears down their cheeks and others just pass them by, in a hurry, making that next appointment.  It is the picture of the man robbed along the road and the priest and Levi crossing over to the other side of the road in the parable of the Good Samaritan told by Jesus.  

But Solomon bring up his focus on the oppressors.  He sees that their immediate reward is a sense of power over others.  They have exalted themselves by bringing others down.  Solomon sees that they also don't have anyone to comfort them.  Now that comfort would look different that the comfort toward those being oppressed but it is comfort all the same to be righted when doing the wrong thing.  These oppressors needed the comfort of someone saying and standing up to the truth of what was being done.  Have you seen this?  Someone is oppressing another and no one steps in to correct the oppressor and so he or she goes on to the next victim and not suffering the consequence of corrected sin?  The point here is that even the oppressed and the oppressors are the same in their need for comfort.

Solomon tops it with his despairing comments of congratulated those who are dead who don't have to deal with this anymore and not wishing others to enter this fray.  A way to handle this oppression is to die or to never have been born.  Again, Solomon is looking at this from a human perspective and trying to figure out what is going on with a world where oppression is allowed to exist.

v.4-6 - I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor.  This too is vanity and striving after wind.  The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.  One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.

The grass is always greener in your neighbor's yard and therefore the game is on to have the greener lawn on the block.  Much labor and skill will go into this task.  The internet will be exhausted for ideas and tips.  Pinterest will be consulted many times.  It is vanity and striving after wind to compare oneself to others and what others have.  We are commanded to not covet and to love our neighbor not try to be one up on him or her.

A fool who fold his hands is an idle man.  He is the opposite of the one who is trying desperately to outdo his neighbor.  This one to will be consumed with something and it is the consumption of not lending a hand to the neighbor.  He too will have harm come to him as he creates no relationships that could be beneficial and especially in times of need.  He ends up consuming himself.  That is a gross picture when it could have been that in his time of need his neighbor is providing for him because he was a good neighbor who didn't covet but loved with word and deed.  

Solomon again compares the one who is all out work to outdo the other guy and the one who is sitting on his hands.  Both result in vanity and he ends it with a picture of someone having one hand of rest so therefore the other hand must have been at work.  The most beneficial was to have rest and to also have work.  Solomon is finding helpful principles but his quest for ultimate meaning is still coming up with the conclusion that all is vanity.  Let us pray.

"Lord, may we see that we are to have times of rest and times to work.  We are to look at our neighbor with eyes of service and love rather than covet and greed.  May we be those who stop and give comfort to the oppressed and also comfort to the oppressor.  Amen."

Pastor Adam