Ecclesiastes 4

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:15

I considered all the living which walk under the sun ,.... All men that were then alive, who were capable of walking upon the earth; even all of them that were under the heavens, in every land and nation, under whatsoever dominion or government: these, and their manners, Solomon had particularly observed, and made his remarks upon, by which it appeared how fickle the minds of the populace were under every government, and how precarious and uncertain were the honour and dignity of princes; ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:16

There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them ,.... Before the present generation, the living that walked under the sun; a vast number they were that lived before them, and they were of the same restless temper and disposition; changeable in their affection and behaviour towards their governors; no end of their number, nor any stable affection for, nor settled satisfaction in, their rulers; but this itch of novelty, of having new princes over them, went from... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4

The vanity of life is increased by oppression, Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 ; by envy, Ecclesiastes 4:4 ; by idleness, Ecclesiastes 4:5 . The misery of a solitary life, and the advantages of society, Ecclesiastes 4:6-12 . A poor and wise child; better than an old and foolish king, Ecclesiastes 4:13 . The uncertainty of popular favor, Ecclesiastes 4:14-16 . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:1

Considered all the oppressions - עשקים ashukim signifies any kind of injury which a man can receive in his person, his property, or his good fame. On the side of their oppressors there was power - And, therefore, neither protection nor comfort for the oppressed. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:2

Wherefore I praised the dead - I considered those happy who had escaped from the pilgrimage of life to the place where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:3

Which hath not yet been - Better never to have been born into the world, than to have seen and suffered so many miseries. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:4

For this a man is envied - It is not by injustice and wrong only that men suffer, but through envy also. For if a man act uprightly and properly in the world, he soon becomes the object of his neighbor's envy and calumny too. Therefore the encouragement to do good, to act an upright part, is very little. This constitutes a part of the vain and empty system of human life. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:5

The fool foldeth his hands - After all, without labor and industry no man can get any comfort in life; and he who gives way to idleness is the veriest of fools. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:6

Better is a handful with quietness - These may be the words of the slothful man, and spoken in vindication of his idleness; as if he had said, "Every man who labors and amasses property is the object of envy, and is marked by the oppressor as a subject for spoil; better, therefore, to act as I do; gain little, and have little, and enjoy my handful with quietness." Or the words may contain Solomon's reflection on the subject. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:8

There is one alone, and there is not a second - Here covetousness and avarice are characterized. The man who is the center of his own existence; has neither wife, child, nor legal heir; and yet is as intent on getting money as if he had the largest family to provide for; nor does he only labor with intense application, but he even refuses himself the comforts of life out of his own gains! This is not only vanity, the excess of foolishness, but it is also sore travail. read more

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