Verse 1
OPPRESSION AND THE OPPRESSED
"Then I returned and saw 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. Wherefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive; yea, better than them both did I esteem him that hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun."
"On the side of the oppressors there was power" (Ecclesiastes 4:1). "The point here is not merely that there is power, but that power corrupts."[1] On the basis of what is said here, we may conclude that there was at least some degree of sympathy on Solomon's part for the oppressed; yet he himself had oppressed hundreds of thousands of the residual Canaanites, making slaves of them. Here he views all the suffering; and, "Although he might have had some feeling for them, he did not move a muscle to change their lot."[2] He just stood by, a picture of indifference and unconcern. How different is this attitude from that of the great prophets who so vigorously and effectively shouted the anathemas of God against the oppressors; and indeed what a contrast there is here with the Christ who had compassion on the multitudes, fed them when they were hungry, healed all their diseases and thundered the message, "Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven" (Luke 6:20). "Behold a Greater than Solomon"! (Matthew 12:42); and incredibly pathetic is the blind folly of Israel who rejected Christ because he was not another Solomon!
Be the first to react on this!
