So Frustrating: Ecclesiastes 4

Eve was a Yugoslavian Jew whose once prosperous family lost all during the Nazi persecution of Jews.  Her family all had to separate and hide in various ways but eventually she and her sister were caught and sent to Auschwitz, the concentration camp.  They escaped when the Russians overran the German army, but then had an arduous trek back home to find the rest of their family.  Not all of them survived.

The oppression of the Jews is not the only oppression our world has witnessed.  Countless peoples have been oppressed, enslaved, beaten down to nothing.  This is not how God intended it to be.  And this is one of the examples the Preacher finds so frustrating about life under the sun.

Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 4, ESV)

Oppression is frustrating because all that a person could accomplish or do to improve their lot is suppressed by a ruling power.  There is capability in the person but no freedom.  This is an “evil deed” and too bitter to endure.

Also frustrating is the reason so many people work and exercise their capabilities but without joy.  Many work out of envy, wanting more so they can compete with those they see who have so much.  There is a middle way between total laziness and workaholism, the extremes the proverbs warn against.

Loneliness is another frustration.  To work even with joy but to have no one to share it with and no one to support them during hard times, that is a rewardless toil.  And akin to that is the one who has accolades from good leadership but whose popularity wanes as his abilities do and the people seek another to take his place.  No companionship and no honor.  Two great frustrations.

The Preacher is reminding us of the way life doesn’t meet up to the expectations of those in whose hearts God has placed eternity (3:11).  Does he really need to tell us this?  Yes, because we will sweep it under the carpet.  He is going to have to point out over and over the frustrating aspects of life.  He is like the Lord Jesus with the woman at the well (John 4).  What she has put her hope in in this life, a man to take care of her, must be seen for what it is, a vain hope.  Jesus has to expose her hopelessness before she will look for hope in him.  This is what the Preacher is doing for us, taking the roof off our shelter so we will see how desperately we must shift our hope to God alone.