Ecclesiastes 4:1-4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

Solomon had a large soul (1 Kgs. 4:29) and it appeared by this, among other things, that he had a very tender concern for the miserable part of mankind and took cognizance of the afflictions of the afflicted. He had taken the oppressors to task (Eccl. 3:16, 17) and put them in mind of the judgment to come, to be a curb to their insolence; now here he observes the oppressed. This he did, no doubt, as a prince, to do them justice and avenge them of their adversaries, for he both feared God and... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:4-6

Here Solomon returns to the observation and consideration of the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend the business of this world, which he had spoken of before, Eccl. 2:11. I. If a man be acute, and dexterous, and successful in his business, he gets the ill-will of his neighbours, Eccl. 4:4. Though he takes a great deal of pains, and goes through all travail, does not get his estate easily, but it costs him a great deal of hard labour, nor does he get it dishonestly, he wrongs no man,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:1

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun ,.... The wise man, according to Aben Ezra, returned from the thought, which he had expressed in the latter part of the preceding chapter, that it was good for a man to rejoice in his works, and called it in; since he could not rejoice, when he considered the oppression and violence that were in the world; but it does not appear that he did call it in, for he afterwards repeats it: or rather he returns to his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:2

Wherefore I praised the dead, which are already dead ,.... Truly and properly so; not in a figurative sense, as dead sinners, men dead in trespasses and sins; nor carnal professors, that have a name to live, and are dead; nor in a civil sense, such as are in calamity and distress, as the Jews in captivity, or in any affliction, which is sometimes called death: but such who are dead in a literal and natural sense, really and thoroughly dead; not who may and will certainly die, but who are... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:3

Yea, better is he than both they which hath not yet been ,.... That is, an unborn person; who is preferred both to the dead that have seen oppression, and to the living that are under it; see Job 3:10 . This supposes a person to be that never was, a mere nonentity; and the judgment made is according to sense, and regards the dead purely as such, and so as free from evils and sorrows, without any respect to their future state and condition; for otherwise an unborn person is not happier... read more

John Gill

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

Again I considered all travail, and every right work ,.... The pains that men take to do right works. Some apply themselves, with great diligence and industry, to the study of the liberal arts and sciences; and to attain the knowledge of languages; and to writing books, for the improvement of those things, and the good of mankind: and others employ themselves in mechanic arts, and excel in them, and bring their works to great perfection and accuracy; when they might expect to be praised and... 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

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