Eclesiastés 4:6-8 Nvi

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 4:1-12

The reason I have turned your attention for the moment from Proverbs and focused it on the book of Ecclesiastes (another book in the library of Wisdom Literature) is because today's passage shows us better than any other in the Bible the reason why friendship is so important. This passage is saying: it's a good...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

Some people are lonely because of the oppression of others; some because their own competitiveness separates them from friends. In today's passage, however, we come face to face with a man who was lonely because he had no family connections. How does he handle it? He throws himself into an endless round of activity...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 4:1-6

As we said yesterday, Solomon seems fine when his gaze is focused "above the sun," but he becomes filled with cynicism when he looks around at what is "under the sun." Today we see his gaze focused once again in the horizontal direction. He "looks around," as he puts it, sees people caught in the grip of oppression,...