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Ecclesiastes
Chapter Four
Ecclesiastes 4
Chapter Contents
Miseries from oppression. (1-3) troubles from envy. (4-6)
The folly of covetousness. (7
8) The advantages of mutual assistance. (9-12)
the changes of royalty. (13-16)
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:1-3)
It grieved Solomon to see might prevail against right.
Wherever we turn
we see melancholy proofs of the wickedness and misery of
mankind
who try to create trouble to themselves and to each other. Being thus
hardly used
men are tempted to hate and despise life. But a good man
though
badly off while in this world
cannot have cause to wish he had never been
born
since he is glorifying the Lord
even in the fires
and will be happy at
last
for ever happy. Ungodly men have most cause to wish the continuance of
life with all its vexations
as a far more miserable condition awaits them if
they die in their sins. If human and worldly things were our chief good
not to
exist would be preferable to life
considering the various oppressions here
below.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:4-6
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:4-6)
Solomon notices the sources of trouble peculiar to
well-doers
and includes all who labour with diligence
and whose efforts are
crowned with success. They often become great and prosperous
but this excites
envy and opposition. Others
seeing the vexations of an active course
foolishly expect more satisfaction in sloth and idleness. But idleness is a sin
that is its own punishment. Let us by honest industry lay hold on the handful
that we may not want necessaries
but not grasp at both hands full
which would
only create vexation of spirit. Moderate pains and gains do best.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:7
8
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:7
8)
Frequently
the more men have
the more they would have;
and on this they are so intent
that they get no enjoyment from what they have.
Selfishness is the cause of this evil. A selfish man cares for nobody; there is
none to take care of but himself
yet he will scarcely allow necessary rest to
himself
and the people he employs. He never thinks he has enough. He has
enough for his calling
for his family
but he has not enough for his eyes.
Many are so set upon the world
that in pursuit of it they bereave themselves
not only of the favour of God and eternal life
but of the pleasures of this
life. The distant relations or strangers who inherit such a man's wealth
never
thank him. Covetousness gathers strength by time and habit; men tottering on
the brink of the grave
grow more grasping and griping. Alas
and how often do
we see men professing to be followers of Him
who
"though he was rich
for our sakes became poor
" anxiously scraping money together and holding
it fast
excusing themselves by common-place talking about the necessity of
care
and the danger of extravagance!
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
Surely he has more satisfaction in life
who labours hard
to maintain those he loves
than the miser has in his toil. In all things union
tends to success and safety
but above all
the union of Christians. They
assist each other by encouragement
or friendly reproof. They warm each other's
hearts while they converse together of the love of Christ
or join in singing
his praises. Then let us improve our opportunities of Christian fellowship. In
these things all is not vanity
though there will be some alloy as long as we
are under the sun. Where two are closely joined in holy love and fellowship
Christ will by his Spirit come to them; then there is a threefold cord.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:13-16
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:13-16)
People are never long easy and satisfied; they are fond
of changes. This is no new thing. Princes see themselves slighted by those they
have studied to oblige; this is vanity and vexation of spirit. But the willing
servants of the Lord Jesus
our King
rejoice in him alone
and they will love
Him more and more to all eternity.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes》
Ecclesiastes 4
Verse 1
[1] So I returned
and considered 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.
I returned — I considered again.
Oppressions — Whether by princes
magistrates
or other potent persons.
No comforter — None afforded them pity or
succour.
But they
… — No comfort therein.
Verse 2
[2] Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more
than the living which are yet alive.
I praised — I judged them less miserable. For
this is certain
that setting aside the future life
which Solomon doth not
meddle with in the present debate; and considering the uncertainty
and vanity
and manifold calamities of the present life
a wise man would not account it
worth his while to live.
Verse 3
[3] Yea
better is he than both they
which hath not yet
been
who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
Better is he — Who was never born.
Not seen — Not felt: for as seeing good is put for enjoying it
so seeing evil is put for suffering it.
Verse 4
[4] Again
I considered all travail
and every right work
that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and
vexation of spirit.
Right work — All the worthy designs of
virtuous men.
Envied — Instead of honour
he meets with envy and obloquy.
Verse 5
[5] The fool foldeth his hands together
and eateth his own
flesh.
The fool — Is careless and idle: perceiving that diligence is
attended with envy
he runs into the other extreme.
Eateth — Wastes his substance
and brings himself to poverty
whereby his very flesh pines away for want of bread.
Verse 6
[6] Better is an handful with quietness
than both the hands
full with travail and vexation of spirit.
Better — These are the words of the sluggard
making this
apology for his idleness
That his little with ease
is better than great
riches got with much trouble.
Verse 8
[8] There is one alone
and there is not a second; yea
he
hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither
is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he
For whom do I labour
and
bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity
yea
it is a sore travail.
Alone — Who has none but himself to care for.
Brother — To whom he may leave his vast estate.
Yet — He lives in perpetual restlessness and toil.
For whom — Having no kindred to enjoy it.
And bereave — Deny myself those comforts and
conveniences which God hath allowed me? A sore travel - A dreadful judgment
as
well as a great sin.
Verse 9
[9] Two are better than one; because they have a good reward
for their labour.
Two — Who live together in any kind of society.
Because — Both have great benefit by such conjunction
whereby
they support
encourage
and strengthen one another.
Verse 10
[10] For if they fall
the one will lift up his fellow: but
woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him
up.
They — One of them.
Fall — Into any mistake
or sin
or danger.
Verse 12
[12] And if one prevail against him
two shall withstand him;
and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Prevail — Against either of them.
Verse 13
[13] Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and
foolish king
who will no more be admonished.
Better — More happy. Now he proceeds to another vanity
That of
honour and power.
Than a king — Who hath neither wisdom to govern
himself
nor to receive the counsels of wiser men.
Verse 14
[14] For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he
that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.
For he — The poor and wise child is often advanced to the
highest dignity.
Whereas — That old king is deprived of his kingdom.
Verse 15
[15] I considered all the living which walk under the sun
with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.
I considered — The general disposition of common
people
in all kingdoms
that they are fickle and inconstant.
With the second child — This may be
understood of the king's child
or son and heir
called second
in respect of
his father
whose successor he is.
Stand up — Arise to reign.
Verse 16
[16] There is no end of all the people
even of all that have
been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely
this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
No end — This humour of the common people hath no end
but
passes from one generation to another.
Before them — Before the present generation.
And so here are three generations of people noted
the authors of the present
change
and their parents
and their children; and all are observed to have the
same inclinations.
In him — They shall be as weary of the successor
though a wise
and worthy prince
as their parents were of his foolish predecessor.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ecclesiastes》
04 Chapter 4
Verses 1-3
Verses 1-16
Verse 1
So I returned
and considered all the oppressions that are done
under the sun.
The nature and wickedness of oppression
There is scarce any sin against which more is said in the Word of
God
or which is more reproachful to a man and to a Christian
or more
mischievous to society
than oppression. Yet I fear it is a sin which more
persons are guilty of
and more suffer by
than is generally known.
I. Consider what
oppression is
and the most striking instances in which men are guilty of it.
1. It is dealing unjustly or unkindly by a person over whose time
goods
trade
or business the oppressor hath power. It is principally the vice
of rich men and superiors
who have power over their workmen
servants
tenants
and other inferiors. But it is not confined to them. The poor often
meet with very bad
if not the worst
treatment from those who in station and
fortune are very little above them. It is oppression
when men impose what
terms they please upon others in commerce and dealings
without regarding what
is just and right; when they oblige others to sell their goods under their real
value
because they are in necessity; or to give more for a commodity than it
is worth
because they cannot do without it. Selling bad and damaged goods to
persons who dare not refuse to take them
and yet must lose by them
or not
sell them again for a reasonable profit
is another instance of this vice. If a
person makes a relation
a neighbour
or dependant
pay dearer for what he buys
than his other customers
because he is under particular obligations to buy of
him
he is an oppressor. Taking exorbitant interest for money lent
or exchange
of bills and cash
on account of men’s necessities
is extortion and
oppression. Where a person
or a combination of persons
engross the whole of
any commodity which is to be sold
in order to make an excessive gain of it
or
to injure other tradesmen in the same way of business
this is oppression.
Again
to be rigorous in exacting debts or other rights to the very utmost
farthing
where poverty
sickness
losses
dear seasons
or a large family
render men incapable of paying what they owe; to allow them no time to satisfy
their creditors; or to strip them of their all; this is cruelly oppressive.
Obliging persons
over whom men have power
to vote or act against their
consciences; persecuting
reviling
or even bantering
men for their religious
sentiments and worship
is dreadful oppression. In the black list of oppressors
must likewise be ranged parents
masters and mistresses of families and
schools
who behave cruelly and severely to their children
servants
and
scholars. There is likewise great oppression in a haughty
insolent
overbearing way of speaking to inferiors
which is very grating and hurtful to
any sensible mind.
II. The great evil
and wickedness of it.
1. It proceeds from a very bad disposition of mind. The principal
source of it is covetousness; an inordinate love of the world (Jeremiah 22:17). In some persons the
practice of this sin proceeds from pride; to show their authority over others
and to keep them in awe. Hence they treat their inferiors as if they were of a
lower species
and not worthy of common justice. This chows a base
ignoble
mind (Psalms 63:6-8). In some
it is owing to
luxury and extravagance. They are dressed with the spoils of the poor; and
their fine houses
equipages
and entertainments are supported by the
properties and comforts of others. It is sometimes owing to sloth; because
like drones in the hive
they will not work
they prey upon the labours of the
industrious. It is very often owing to resentment
malice
and ill-nature.
2. Oppression is a high ingratitude and affront to the righteous God.
It is ingratitude to Him
because He giveth men all their wealth and power over
others
and He doth this
not that they may oppress
but protect
relieve
and
serve others
and be a blessing to them. It must
therefore
be horrid
ingratitude to abuse and pervert these favours to their injury. But what
renders it worse is
that He hath bestowed upon men spiritual blessings and
Christian privileges
and
therefore
to oppress and injure them must be
proportionably wicked. Further
He hath placed men in different circumstances in
life; “made both the rich and the poor.” He hath allotted to men such
conditions here that they need one another’s assistance. The rich want the
labour of the poor
as the poor want the money of the rich; and God expects
that they should help one another
and so contribute to the general happiness.
To oppress the poor
then
is defeating the wise and kind design of God’s
providence.
3. It is detestable inhumanity and cruelty to the oppressed. “A
righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.” What then must we think of
those who are oppressive and cruel to their fellow-men
but that they are
utterly void of justice
goodness
and humanity
that they are monsters and not
men?
4. It is directly contrary to the design of the Gospel; which is to
promote righteousness
love
peace
and happiness upon earth
as well as to
secure the eternal salvation of mankind.
5. It will sink men into everlasting ruin. God is a just and
righteous Being
and at the judgment-day “He will render to every one according
to his works.” The Lord seeth and remembereth all the oppression that is done
under the sun
and He will at length reckon with those who have done it.
application.
1. I shall address oppressors; those whose consciences tell them
as
in the sight of God
that they have been guilty of this sin in the instances
above mentioned or any other. I exhort you
sirs
to hearken to the voice of
conscience as the voice of God; to submit to its reproofs; and to be humbled
deeply before God for your injustice and cruelty to men.
2. Let me address the oppressed. It may perhaps be the ease of some
of you
and I would endeavour to be your comforter. Acknowledge the justice of
the Lord in what you suffer from the hand of men. Though they are unrighteous
He is righteous
for you have sinned; and He may choose this method of
afflicting you
to lead you to repentance
to exercise your virtues
and make
your hearts better. Let me exhort you to guard against a spirit of malice and
revenge. Remember that their oppressing you will be no excuse for injustice to
them. That “it is no harm to bite the biter” is a very wicked maxim. It is
better to suffer many wrongs than to do one. Yea
it is our duty to render good
for evil.
3. I would address those who can appeal to a heart-searching God that
they are guiltless of this sin. I would exhort you to guard against the love of
money
which is the chief root of this evil. To prevent your becoming
oppressors
go not to the utmost bounds of things lawful. Keep on the safe
side. Be not only just
but honourable
generous
and charitable
and “abstain
from the very appearance of evil.” Let me exhort you
likewise
to be
comforters of the oppressed. (Job Orton
D. D.)
Woman’s work and overwork
It was considered honourable for women to toil in olden times.
Alexander the Great stood in his palace showing garments made by his own
mother. The finest tapestries at Bayeux were made by the queen of William the
Conqueror. Augustus
the Emperor
would not wear any garments except those that
were fashioned by some member of his royal family. So let the toilers
everywhere be respected! The greatest blessing that could have happened to our
first parents was being turned out of Eden after they had done wrong. Ashbel
Green
at fourscore years
when asked why he kept on working
said: “I do so to
keep out of mischief.” We see that a man who has a large amount of money to
start with has no chance. Of the thousand prosperous and honourable men that
you know
nine hundred and ninety-nine had to work vigorously at the beginning.
But I am now to tell you that industry is just as important for a woman’s
safety and happiness. The little girls of our families must be started with
that idea. The curse of our American society is that our young women are taught
that the first
second
third
fourth
fifth
sixth
seventh
tenth
fiftieth
thousandth thing in their life is to get somebody to take care of them. Instead
of that
the first lesson should be how under God they may take care of
themselves. Madame do Stael said: “It is not these writings that I am proud of
but the fact that I have facility in ten occupations
in any one of which I
could make a livelihood.” Though you live in an elegant residence and fare
sumptuously every day
let your daughters feel it is a disgrace to them not to know
how to work. I denounce the idea prevalent in society that though our young
women may embroider slippers and crochet and make mats for lamps to stand on
without disgrace
the idea of doing anything for a livelihood is dishonourable.
It is a shame for a young woman belonging to a large family to be inefficient
when the father toils his life away for her support. It is a shame for a
daughter to be idle while her mother toils at the wash-tub. No woman
any more
than a man
has a right to occupy a place in this world unless she pays a rent
for it. Society is to be reconstructed on the subject of woman’s toil. A vast
majority of those who would have woman industrious shut her up to a few kinds
of work. My judgment in this matter is that a woman has a right to do anything
she can do well. There should be no department of merchandise
mechanism
art
or science barred against her. If Miss Hosmer has genius for sculpture
give
her a chisel. If
Rosa Bonheur has a fondness for delineating animals
let her make “The Horse
Fair.” If Miss Mitchell will study astronomy
let her mount the starry ladder.
If Lydia will be a merchant
let her sell purple. It is said
if woman is given
such opportunities she will occupy places that might be taken by men. I say
if
she have more skill and adaptedness for any position than a man has
let her
have ill She has as much right to her bread
to her apparel
and to her home as
men have. But it is said that her nature is so delicate that she is unfitted
for exhausting toil. I ask in the name of all past history what toil on earth
is more severe
exhausting
and tremendous than that toil of the needle to
which for ages she has been subjected? Oh
the meanness
the despicability
of
men who begrudge a woman the right of work anywhere in any honourable calling!
I go still further and say that women should have equal compensation with men.
By what principle of justice is it that women in many of our cities get only
two-thirds as much pay as men and in many cases only half? Here is the gigantic
injustice--that for work equally well
if not better
done
women receive far
less compensation than men. Years ago one Sabbath night
in the vestibule of
this church
after service
a woman fell in convulsions. The doctor said she
needed medicine not so much as something to eat. As she began to revive
in her
delirium she said
gaspingly: “Eight cents! Eight cents! Eight cents! I wish I
could get it done
I am so tired. I wish I could get some sleep
but I must get
it done. Eight cents! Eight cents! Eight cents!” We found afterwards that she
was making garments for eight cents apiece
and she could make but three of
them in a day. Hear it! Three times eight are twenty-four. Hear it
men and
women who have comfortable homes. How are these evils to be eradicated? Some
say: “Give women the ballot.” What effect such ballot might have on other
questions I am not here to discuss; but what would be the effect of female
suffrage on women’s wages? I do not believe that women will ever get justice by
woman’s ballot. Indeed
women oppress women as much as men do. Do not women
as
much as men
beat down to the lowest figure the woman who sews for them? Woman
will never get justice done her
from woman’s ballot. Neither will she get it from man’s ballot.
How then? God will rise up for her. God has more resources than we know of. The
flaming sword that hung at Eden’s gate when woman was driven out will cleave
with its terrible edge her oppressors. But there is something for women to do.
Let young people prepare to excel in spheres of work
and they will be able
after a while to get larger wages. If it be shown that a woman can
in a store
sell more goods in a year than a man
she will soon be able not only to ask
but to demand more wages
and to demand them successfully. Unskilled and
incompetent labour must take what is given; skilled and competent labour will
eventually make its own standard. (T. DeWilt Talmage.)
They had no comforter.
No comforter
It is the glory of the Gospel that it is not only a religion of
conversion
but a religion of consolation. It ministers peace
and makes even
the human side of life capable of deep and abiding joy. The promise has been
fulfilled
and the soul bears witness that He is true who says
“I will not
leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
I. The latent
pain. This pain does not leap forth at once. It is a kind of hidden fire: a
sort of slumbering force. Students of life should think deeply on this
that
pain lies hidden in pleasure. The strangest fact in life is that the measure of
joy is often the measure of sorrow. The height of gain is the length of the
shadow of loss. The keener our affection
the more bitter our anguish when
bereavement comes. The more ardent our pursuit
the more depressing the
disappointment in missing the goal. In Jesus Christ our Lord He has offered us
a renewed nature and a restful heart. He has given us a Saviour and a
Comforter. We need no more. If the latent pain leaps forth
we have an anodyne
for sorrow
a perfect absolution for sin
a balm for broken hearts
a brother
born for adversity
and beyond the present the glories of immortal life. At our
peril we put Christ away. Out in the wide fields of human search we come upon
no footprints of another Saviour.
II. The charlatan
comforters. Yes! there are comforters. We find that men will put the poppy in
the pillow when there is
no peace in the heart. They seek comfort. Sometimes in quiet retreats
where
the scenes of the city life do not haunt them
Nature’s floral groves and
woodland shadows constitute a veil to hide the weird forms of guilt and shame
and sorrow to be met with in crowded centres of life. But past life will there
come back to memory
and unforgiven sin will there send its sharp dagger to the heart. Or it may be
that freedom from necessity brings comfort
and that superfluity has made the
old days of care and struggle only a memory! Now at all events there are no
sleepless nights
no battles amid daily anxiety for daily bread
and we sit
under the restful shadow of trees planted long ago! Then
too
much looks like
comfort
which comes from ease of circumstance
when the couch is of down
and
no spectre of anxiety crosses the earthly threshold. But even then there are
deep necessities of the soul
if we are dead to things divine.
III. The fulness of
Christ. I do not mean merely Divine perfectness in the quantity of sympathy
but
if I may say so
in the quality of it. Nothing is more wonderful than the
way in which the weary soul finds sympathy in the Saviour. There is a
revelation of grace in Christ which makes Him the complement of each man’s
nature. Sorrows differ; doubts differ; needs differ; tastes differ; and even
the wounds inflicted by bereavement differ. But Christ searches us
and knows
us all. And what sweet response comes from hearts that have trusted in Him
as
they unite in testifying
“His grace is sufficient for us!” How patiently
Christians suffer! How trustfully they rest! How cheerfully they live! How
hopefully they die!
IV. The missing
good. No comforter! Then who will show us any good? For we cannot unmake
ourselves. There is the connection of comfort with conscience. Divine
redemption still
as of old
is a necessity of the human heart. Then there is the connection of
comfort with character. We are made new creatures in Christ Jesus. We have new
motives
new aims
new desires
new sympathies
new relationship to God. Our
life is hid with Christ in God--the blessed God: and then peace flows like a
river through the heart. This is life eternal. Then there is the connection of
comfort with influence. That man has no comforter who realizes that the
influence of his life is an infection of evil
an impulse to the lower life.
Even if he possess genius
it may be but an added force for harm. But the
Christian has this comfort
though no minstrel sings the story of his chivalry
though no sculptured marble tells the tale of his renown--yet he liveth to the
Lord
he dieth to the Lord. The world of holy influence will be the richer for
his being! (W. M. Statham.)
Verse 2
Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the
living which are yet alive.
The applause of the dead regulated
vindicated and improved
Scripture itself sets us an example of applauding the virtues of
the departed; but I think that in our funeral sermons
in our obituaries and on
our sepulchres
there is much which needs to be regulated.
I. It must be
qualified.
1. We are not to praise the dead with indiscriminate eulogy; for
there is such a thing as confounding moral distinctions
as smiling alike on
vice and virtue.
2. We are not to praise the dead with exaggerated panegyric. For it
should never be forgotten
that however the grace of God has formed the subject
of it to excellence
he was still the possessor of remaining moral infirmities.
3. We are not to praise the dead in a spirit of discontent with life.
4. We are not to praise the dead in the exercise of gratified envy.
5. We ought not to praise the dead in the spirit of relative pride.
6. In one word--we should not praise the dead without a humble and
grateful recollection that all their gifts and virtues proceeded from God. Let
the survivor not glory in the erudition
in the riches
in the wealth or virtue
of the deceased
but let him glory only in the Lord.
II. This eulogy is
to be justified. It may be so by a variety of reasons.
1. There is that of Scripture precedent. It speaks
in high terms
of
the distinguished faith of Abraham
the patience of Job
the meekness of Moses
the devotion of the man
after God’s own heart
the wisdom of a Solomon
the magnanimity of a Daniel
the fortitude of a Stephen
the humanity of a Dorcas.
2. This procedure may also be sanctioned on the ground of utility.
How often does the perusal of the
memoirs of eminent persons excite desires in the hearts of
survivors to imbibe their sentiments
to catch their spirit
and to imitate
their example.
3. The principal grounds on which we are justified in praising the
pious dead are connected with themselves
as--
For much of this as may have been apparent while they were yet
alive
much more is very often discerned after their decease. Then are
discerned in their diaries and records what were the sacred principles on which
they acted
and how they were constrained by the love of Christ to live not
unto themselves
but to Him who died for them and rose again. Not till the
crisis of death
too
has much of the usefulness of the Christian minister been
made apparent.
III. The sentiment
in the text is to be improved. If the question be asked--in what way shall I
praise departed ministers? I answer--
1. By repenting of the treatment you often showed them while they
were alive.
2. By recalling to serious reflection the important subjects of their
ministry.
3. By an imitation of the excellencies with which they were clothed.
4. By meditating on your
joint responsibility with them at the bar of God.
5. By a devout application to the great Head of the Church to raise
up men of similar and surpassing qualifications to carry on the interests of
religion in the Church and in the world. (J. Clayton.)
Praising the dead more than the living
I. It is common.
We see it in the political
ecclesiastical
and domestic sphere. So it has
become a proverb
that the best men must die ever to have their virtues
recognized. Why is this?
1. The dead are no longer competitors.
2. Social love buries their defects. In all
the great Father of Love
has put a deep fountain of sympathy. Death unseals it
melts it
and causes it
to flow forth in such copious streams as drown all the imperfections of the
departed.
II. It is immoral.
1. It is not right. Virtue should be recognized and honoured wherever
seen; and more so in the duties and struggles of life than in the reminiscenees
of departed worth.
2. It is not generous. That husband is mean and despicable who
ignores the virtues of a noble wife while living.
3. It is unreal. To praise virtues in a man when dead
which were
ever unnoticed when living
is hypocritical. (Homilist.)
Verse 4
Verses 4-8
Again
I considered all travail
and every right work
that for
this a man is envied of his neighbour.
An old portrait of modern men
Here is a portrait
drawn by a man who lived thousands of years
ago
of three distinct types of character that you find everywhere about you.
I. Here is a man
working for the good of society (Ecclesiastes 4:4). Thank God! there have
ever been such men--generous
disinterested
broad-hearted
God-inspired
men--men who are doing the “right work.” They are the “salt” of the State;
remove them
and all is putrescence. How are these men treated by society? Here
is the answer. “For this a man is envied of his neighbour.” It has ever been
so. Cain envied Abel
Korah envied Moses
Saul envied David
the Sanhedrim
envied Christ
the Judaic teachers envied Paul. To see society envying such men
is a sore “vexation” to all true hearts. What do the existence and treatment of
these men show?
1. The great kindness of Heaven in sending such men into every age.
What would become of an age without such men in it? The ignorant would have no
schools
the afflicted no hospitals
the indigent no poor-laws and charities
the people no righteous laws and no temples for worship.
2. The rightful acknowledgments of most useful services are not to be
expected on earth. How did the world treat Moses
Jeremiah
the apostles
and
the Holy Christ? Yonder
not here
is the reward for truly right labour.
3. The moral state of society is both unwise and unrighteous. How
unwise to treat men who do the “right work” amongst them with envy I For its
own good it should cheer them on in their philanthropic efforts. How
unrighteous too! These men have a claim to its gratitude
sympathy
and
co-operation.
II. Here is a man
utterly worthless in society (verses 5
6).
1. He exhausts his own property. The indolent man evermore “eats his
own flesh”: that is
exhausts his own personal strength
mental
moral
physical
for the want of proper exertion.
2. He wrongly estimates his own happiness. “Better is an handful with
quietness than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.” In one
sense this is true (Proverbs 15:16). But this is not the
sense in which the lazy man regards it. By quietness he meant quiescence
non-exertion
lounging
folding the hands
and sleeping life away. Now
this
character abounds in our age and land. These characters are not only a curse to
themselves
dying with ennui
but a curse to society; they are clogs upon the wheel of
industry; they are social thieves; they eat what others have produced.
III. Here is a man
avariciously making use of society (verse 8).
1. The man he sketches worked entirely for himself.
Selfgratification
self-aggrandizement
self the centre and circumference of
all his activities.
2. The man he sketches worked unremittingly for himself. “Yet is
there no end of all his labour.” Always at it--morning
noon
and night; it was
the one thing he did.
3. The man he sketches worked insatiably for himself. “Neither is his
eye satisfied with riches.” The passion of avarice has been called the great
sepulchre of all the passions. Unlike other tombs
however
it is enlarged by
repletion and strengthened by age. An avaricious man is like Tantalus
up to
the chin in water
yet always thirsty. Avarice seems to me to be the ruling passion
of the age. (Homilist.)
Envy
Here Solomon discloses to us one of the most remarkable among the
many sources of human misery; remarkable
because it springs not out of
failure
but out of success; and so it is one which lies deeper than any of the
ills wrought by the uncertainty of life
or by the caprice of fortune. It is a
true and striking instance of the vanity of human affairs
when a man spends a
lifetime in the pursuit of wealth
and meets only with poverty and ruin; or
dies as soon as he has obtained it
and “leaves his riches to other.” The same
reflection is forced upon us when the student
who has denied himself
everything for years in the pursuit of science
is struck down by death just as
he is about to reap the reward of his labours
and all his knowledge rendered
useless. But there is one deep aggravation of human misery which does not lie
thus upon the surface. With all these failures
a few do succeed
and for these
there is a special burden which they must inevitably bear; there is one adversity
born of their prosperity; one calamity to which their very happiness subjects
them: and that is--Envy. Not only the envy of the world
but the envy of their
neighbours
and the alienation of their friends
is often the portion of the
successful; and isolation of soul is the doom of the great. This Solomon
declares to be the lot of all travail
and justly adds: “This is also vanity
and vexation of
spirit.” But not only does this venomous principle
one of the blackest traits
in our fallen nature
come in to poison the enjoyment of every fortune made
and every position gained among men: there is a more truly Satanic development
of the passion than even this: viz. envy at the success of goodness; a
malicious displeasure when one who has shown long
unwearied industry in an
honourable calling
and lived a life of devotion to the glory of God
and the
good of man
obtains the just fruit of his labours; the promise of godliness in
the life that now is. “Again
I considered all travail
and every ‘right work
’
that for this a man is envied of his neighbour.” And yet this is what we see in
every department of life. We see it
for example
in the venomed spite with
which low natures regard a good man
just because he is better than themselves;
disliking him because
whenever they are in his presence
they feel their own
vileness and worthlessness as they never feel it at any other time. The life of
the true Christian is one unflagging reproach to the world. His ingenuous
truthfulness and sincerity witnesses against the world’s falsehood and hollowness; the
Christian’s noble self-devotedness against its self-love; his steadfast
adherence to the cause of righteousness
against the cowardly looseness of the
world’s principles; the Christian’s high hopes and lofty aspirations against
the worldling’s low desires and grovelling aims. “For every right work
” he is
“envied of his neighbour.” No age
nor position
nor character
is exempt from
the poisoned shafts of envy. Is there a godly school-boy? Such a one will generally
be a mark for the ridicule
and the petty persecution
of the lower-minded of
his playmates. They will watch him
as Satan observed Job
for some little
fault which they may exaggerate and rejoice over. They will place temptations
in his path
and strive
in every way
to bring him down to the same level with
themselves. And that is but the prophecy of what awaits him in after life. The
godly servant or workman
who regards the interest of his employer as his own
and serves “not with eye-service
as men-pleasers
but with singleness of
heart
fearing God
” will always be exposed to the envy
the detraction
and
the slander of his idle and unprincipled fellows
whose sole aim is
by mutual
agreement
to do the smallest possible amount of work for the largest possible
amount of pay. And the same evil principle besets the Christian everywhere
extending upwards through all the strata of society. (H. E. Nolloth
B. D.)
How the success of others should affect us
Instead of the success of others being a matter of envy
it should
be used as an example of promise to us
inducing us to go and do likewise. The
life of the great man teaches us that we also
being brother to him
may
become
in a measure
great. There is wealth
too
to be had
without robbing any man
of what he has. It is always to be found in economy and work. For long enough
this doctrine was hid
even from the wise and prudent. Even yet we try to find
it anywhere but in honest labour--in gold mines
or in speculation
or in
gambling--and we may chance to find it laid up in some of these; but it has all
come from industry originally
and
in most places
it can be got there in a
fair measure still. At any rate
it cannot be got in idleness. We may cherish
envy of him who has succeeded
and fold our hands till it eats into the very
marrow of our bones
but we shall be no nearer the attainment of fortune than when
we commenced the operation. (J. Bonnet.)
Verses 4-8
Again
I considered all travail
and every right work
that for
this a man is envied of his neighbour.
An old portrait of modern men
Here is a portrait
drawn by a man who lived thousands of years
ago
of three distinct types of character that you find everywhere about you.
I. Here is a man
working for the good of society (Ecclesiastes 4:4). Thank God! there have
ever been such men--generous
disinterested
broad-hearted
God-inspired
men--men who are doing the “right work.” They are the “salt” of the State;
remove them
and all is putrescence. How are these men treated by society? Here
is the answer. “For this a man is envied of his neighbour.” It has ever been
so. Cain envied Abel
Korah envied Moses
Saul envied David
the Sanhedrim
envied Christ
the Judaic teachers envied Paul. To see society envying such men
is a sore “vexation” to all true hearts. What do the existence and treatment of
these men show?
1. The great kindness of Heaven in sending such men into every age.
What would become of an age without such men in it? The ignorant would have no
schools
the afflicted no hospitals
the indigent no poor-laws and charities
the people no righteous laws and no temples for worship.
2. The rightful acknowledgments of most useful services are not to be
expected on earth. How did the world treat Moses
Jeremiah
the apostles
and
the Holy Christ? Yonder
not here
is the reward for truly right labour.
3. The moral state of society is both unwise and unrighteous. How
unwise to treat men who do the “right work” amongst them with envy I For its
own good it should cheer them on in their philanthropic efforts. How
unrighteous too! These men have a claim to its gratitude
sympathy
and co-operation.
II. Here is a man
utterly worthless in society (verses 5
6).
1. He exhausts his own property. The indolent man evermore “eats his
own flesh”: that is
exhausts his own personal strength
mental
moral
physical
for the want of proper exertion.
2. He wrongly estimates his own happiness. “Better is an handful with
quietness than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.” In one
sense this is true (Proverbs 15:16). But this is not the
sense in which the lazy man regards it. By quietness he meant quiescence
non-exertion
lounging
folding the hands
and sleeping life away. Now
this
character abounds in our age and land. These characters are not only a curse to
themselves
dying with ennui
but a curse to society; they are clogs upon the wheel of
industry; they are social thieves; they eat what others have produced.
III. Here is a man
avariciously making use of society (verse 8).
1. The man he sketches worked entirely for himself.
Selfgratification
self-aggrandizement
self the centre and circumference of
all his activities.
2. The man he sketches worked unremittingly for himself. “Yet is
there no end of all his labour.” Always at it--morning
noon
and night; it was
the one thing he did.
3. The man he sketches worked insatiably for himself. “Neither is his
eye satisfied with riches.” The passion of avarice has been called the great
sepulchre of all the passions. Unlike other tombs
however
it is enlarged by
repletion and strengthened by age. An avaricious man is like Tantalus
up to
the chin in water
yet always thirsty. Avarice seems to me to be the ruling
passion of the age. (Homilist.)
Envy
Here Solomon discloses to us one of the most remarkable among the
many sources of human misery; remarkable
because it springs not out of
failure
but out of success; and so it is one which lies deeper than any of the
ills wrought by the uncertainty of life
or by the caprice of fortune. It is a
true and striking instance of the vanity of human affairs
when a man spends a
lifetime in the pursuit of wealth
and meets only with poverty and ruin; or
dies as soon as he has obtained it
and “leaves his riches to other.” The same
reflection is forced upon us when the student
who has denied himself
everything for years in the pursuit of science
is struck down by death just as
he is about to reap the reward of his labours
and all his knowledge rendered
useless. But there is one deep aggravation of human misery which does not lie
thus upon the surface. With all these failures
a few do succeed
and for these
there is a special burden which they must inevitably bear; there is one
adversity born of their prosperity; one calamity to which their very happiness
subjects them: and that is--Envy. Not only the envy of the world
but the envy
of their neighbours
and the alienation of their friends
is often the portion
of the successful; and isolation of soul is the doom of the great. This Solomon
declares to be the lot of all travail
and justly adds: “This is also vanity
and vexation of
spirit.” But not only does this venomous principle
one of the blackest traits
in our fallen nature
come in to poison the enjoyment of every fortune made
and every position gained among men: there is a more truly Satanic development
of the passion than even this: viz. envy at the success of goodness; a
malicious displeasure when one who has shown long
unwearied industry in an
honourable calling
and lived a life of devotion to the glory of God
and the
good of man
obtains the just fruit of his labours; the promise of godliness in
the life that now is. “Again
I considered all travail
and every ‘right work
’
that for this a man is envied of his neighbour.” And yet this is what we see in
every department of life. We see it
for example
in the venomed spite with
which low natures regard a good man
just because he is better than themselves;
disliking him because
whenever they are in his presence
they feel their own
vileness and worthlessness as they never feel it at any other time. The life of
the true Christian is one unflagging reproach to the world. His ingenuous
truthfulness and sincerity witnesses against the world’s falsehood and hollowness; the
Christian’s noble self-devotedness against its self-love; his steadfast
adherence to the cause of righteousness
against the cowardly looseness of the
world’s principles; the Christian’s high hopes and lofty aspirations against
the worldling’s low desires and grovelling aims. “For every right work
” he is
“envied of his neighbour.” No age
nor position
nor character
is exempt from
the poisoned shafts of envy. Is there a godly school-boy? Such a one will
generally be a mark for the ridicule
and the petty persecution
of the
lower-minded of his playmates. They will watch him
as Satan observed Job
for
some little fault which they may exaggerate and rejoice over. They will place
temptations in his path
and strive
in every way
to bring him down to the
same level with themselves. And that is but the prophecy of what awaits him in
after life. The godly servant or workman
who regards the interest of his
employer as his own
and serves “not with eye-service
as men-pleasers
but
with singleness of heart
fearing God
” will always be exposed to the envy
the
detraction
and the slander of his idle and unprincipled fellows
whose sole
aim is
by mutual agreement
to do the smallest possible amount of work for the
largest possible amount of pay. And the same evil principle besets the
Christian everywhere
extending upwards through all the strata of society. (H.
E. Nolloth
B. D.)
How the success of others should affect us
Instead of the success of others being a matter of envy
it should
be used as an example of promise to us
inducing us to go and do likewise. The
life of the great man teaches us that we also
being brother to him
may
become
in a measure
great. There is wealth
too
to be had
without robbing any
man of what he has. It is always to be found in economy and work. For long
enough this doctrine was hid
even from the wise and prudent. Even yet we try
to find it anywhere but in honest labour--in gold mines
or in speculation
or
in gambling--and we may chance to find it laid up in some of these; but it has
all come from industry originally
and
in most places
it can be got there in
a fair measure still. At any rate
it cannot be got in idleness. We may cherish
envy of him who has succeeded
and fold our hands till it eats into the very
marrow of our bones
but we shall be no nearer the attainment of fortune than when
we commenced the operation. (J. Bonnet.)
Verse 6
Better is an handful with quietness
than both the hands full with
travail and vexation of spirit.
Quality better than quantity
The “quietness” here spoken of is not the inactivity of sloth
but
that restfulness of spirit which an industrious man may enjoy when his industry
is pervaded by a cheerful contentment. Now
here is one of those maxims with
which Ecclesiastes sought to comfort the hearts and to direct the conduct of
his countrymen. Many of them might be disposed to murmur because the times were
adverse to their acquisition of wealth. But he wishes them to remember that
even if the times had been more prosperous
they themselves would not
necessarily have been more happy. He directs their attention away from quantity
to quality of possession. One man may get more real satisfaction out of a
little than another man gets out of much. Two handfuls are not necessarily
better than one. It depends on what is in the hands. One handful of grain is
better than two handfuls of chaff. It depends also on what kind of man has the
handful or handfuls. Happiness
in its degree and quality
varies with the man
who enjoys
as welt as with the means of enjoyment. Yea
and even the same man
may possibly get more satisfaction out of one handful than out of two handfuls
of the same thing. It depends on whether the additional handful does not bring
with it something else as well. In human life it often happens that a plus
involves a minus; a gain in one direction means a loss in another. This
indeed
is no argument for “folding the hands” in sloth or indifference; for
there is no weariness like the weariness of idleness
and there is no more
prolific source of cares than carelessness. But it is an argument against that
spirit of envious rivalry and selfish
restless ambition
which lessens the capacity
in the very
act of increasing the means
of enjoyment. This maxim of Ecclesiastes is well
worth pondering. It is pitched in the same key as the maxim of the Apostle
Paul: “Godliness with contentment is great gain”: and it reminds us of the
still more inclusive maxim of our Lord Himself: “A man’s life consisteth not in
the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (T. C. Finlayson.)
Verse 8
Verses 9-16
Verses 9-12
Two are better than one
because they have a good reward for their
labour.
The necessity and benefits of religious society
I. Prove the truth
of the wise man’s assertion
that
“two are better than one
and that in
reference to society in general
and religious societies in particular.” And
how can this be done better than by showing that it is absolutely necessary for
the welfare both of the bodies and souls of men? Indeed
if we look upon man as
he came out of the hands of his Maker
we imagine him to be perfect
entire
lacking nothing. But God
whose thoughts are not as our thoughts
saw something
still wanting to make Adam happy. And what was that? Why
an help meet for him.
And if this were the case of man before the fall; if a help was meet for him in
a state of perfection; surely since the fall
when we come naked and helpless
out of our mother’s womb
when our wants increase with our years
and we can
scarcely subsist a day without the mutual assistance of each other
well may we
say
“It is not good for man to be alone.” Society
then
we see
is absolutely
necessary in respect to our bodily and personal wants. If we carry our view
farther
and consider mankind as divided into different cities
countries
and
nations
the necessity of it will appear yet more evident. For how can
communities be kept up
or commerce carried on
with our society? Many other
instances might be given of the necessity of society in reference to our
bodily
personal
and national wants. But what are all these when weighed in
the balance of the sanctuary
in comparison of the infinite greater need of it
with respect to the soul? Let us suppose ourselves in some degree to have
tasted the good word of life
and to have felt the powers of the world to come
influencing and moulding our souls into a religious frame; to be fully and
heartily convinced that we are soldiers listed under the banner of Christ
and
to have proclaimed open war
at our baptism
against the world
the flesh
and
the devil; and have
perhaps
frequently renewed our obligations so to do by
partaking of the Lord’s Supper; that we are surrounded with millions of foes
without
and infested with a legion of enemies within; that we are commanded to
shine as lights in the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation;
that we are travelling to a long eternity
and need all imaginable helps to
show
and encourage us in
our way thither. Let us
I say
reflect on all this
and then how shall each of us cry out
“Brethren
what a necessary thing it is
to meet together in religious societies!” The primitive Christians were fully
sensible of this
and therefore we find them continually keeping up communion
with each other (Acts 2:42; Acts 4:23; Acts 9:19; Acts 12:12). And it is reported of the
Christians in after ages that they used to assemble together before daylight to
sing a psalm to Christ as God. So precious was the communion of saints in those
days.
II. Some reasons
why “two are better than one
” especially in religious society.
1. As man in his present condition cannot always stand upright
but
by reason of the frailty of his nature cannot but fall; one eminent reason why
two are better than one
or
in other words
one great advantage of religious
society is
“that when they fall
the one will lift up his fellow.”
2. It is an observation no less true than common
that kindled coals
if placed asunder soon go out
but if heaped together quicken and enliven each
other
and afford a lasting heat. The same will hold good in the case now
before us. If Christians kindled by the grace of God unite
they will quicken
and enliven each other; but if they separate and keep asunder
no marvel if
they soon grow cool or tepid. If two or three meet together in Christ’s name
they will have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
3. Hitherto we have considered the advantages of religious societies
as a great preservative against falling into sin and lukewarmness
and that too
from our own corruptions. But what says the wise son of Sirach? “My son
when
thou goest to serve the Lord
prepare thy soul for temptation;” and that not
only from inward
but outward foes; particularly from those two grand
adversaries
the world and the devil: for no sooner will thine eye be bent heavenward
but the
former will be immediately diverting it another way
telling thee thou needest
not be singular in order to be religious; that you may be a Christian without
going so much out of the common road. But see here the advantage of religious
company; for supposing thou findest thyself thus surrounded on every side
and
unable to withstand such horrid (though seemingly friendly) counsels
haste
away to thy companions
and they will teach thee a truer and better lesson;
they will tell thee that thou must be singular if thou wilt be religious; and
that it is as impossible for a Christian
as for a city set upon a hill
to be
hidden: that if thou wilt be an almost Christian (and as good be none at all)
thou mayest live in the same idle
indifferent manner as thou seest most other
people do; but if thou wilt be not only almost
but altogether a Christian
they will inform thee thou
must go a great deal farther: that thou must not only faintly seek
but
“earnestly strive to enter in at the strait gate”: that there is but one way
now to heaven
as formerly
even through the narrow passage of a sound
conversion: and that in order to bring about this mighty work
thou must
undergo a constant but necessary discipline of fasting
watching
and prayer.
And
therefore
the only reason why those friends give thee such advice is
because they are not willing
to take so much pains themselves; or
as our Saviour told Peter on a like
occasion
because they savour not the things that be of God
but the things
that be of men.
III. The several
duties incumbent on every member of a religious society as such.
1. Mutual reproof.
2. Mutual exhortation.
3. Mutual assisting and defending each other. (G. Whitefield
M.
A.)
Two better than one
An axiom like this needs no discussion. No man is at his best
alone. Some powers are dormant and practically useless to the individual.
Competition is one form
of stimulus. It may act through our selfishness. We desire to surpass another
to do better or acquire more and so meet oppositions and antagonisms with
resoluteness. As iron sharpeneth iron
so intellects may be whetted and made
keener by mental attrition. The axe does not sharpen itself on itself
but by a
stone. So are human minds improved by these emulative endeavours. But love is a
better discipline than competition. It is akin to the regenerative power of
God. Two friends walk in loving unity and fellowship. They aim to enlarge their
faculties of observation. The two see more objects than one pair of eyes could
possibly see
perhaps threefold or tenfold
for in the friendly effort
each to
excel
their individual faculties are more vigilant than if each were alone. In
church life these principles of development constantly obtain. Some come to the
place of worship and instruction with the true hunger of the soul. They not
only help the preacher
who may represent the original unit by their added
sympathy
but enlarge their own spiritual appreciation of truth. Failure to
co-operate in church work is crippling. It is like putting the minus sign
before a quantity. You cripple not only a finger by removing a joint
but
embarrass the whole hand. The entire grip is gone for ever. Paralyze the little
muscles that play over a pulley moving the eyelid and the lid drops over the
eye. So the weakest member
of a church may help or hinder the integrity and efficiency of the whole body
of Christ. As indifference is deadening and disheartening
whether in religious
or political enterprise
when people are slack
dubious and apathetic
so
co-operation stimulates and the heart of the toiler rises with courage and
hope. It may be objected that one loses his individuality. But no one is
strictly independent. Material forces are adjusted to each other
as the
centripetal and centrifugal
day and night
attraction and repulsion
muscular
flexion and extension. Souls have their orbits as well as planets. These may be
contracted or enlarged according to the influences exerted. No man liveth to
himself or is independent of shrinking or quickening influences. If you come
statedly and devoutedly to the sanctuary
you secure a blessing to yourself and
you help God to convert men. So
too
in the last place
in Christian
companionship
two are better than one. For if one fall by the way the other may
lift him to his feet. Thus the crosses and losses of life become more
tolerable
and the unity and harmony of earthly fellowship become prophetic of
the unbroken and perfected felicities of heaven. (C. R. Barnes.)
Verse 12
A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
A threefold cord
I have read somewhere that the ancient Thebans had in their army a
band of men who were pledged to friendship and fellowship with each other. They
were therefore almost irresistible; they held together by a union caused by a
living principle that suffused and inspired them all
therefore when the enemy
came upon them it was like the sea breaking on the unmovable strand. If we as
church members and fellow-Christians are thus one in heart
we shall be
irresistible. A common Saviour claims
our common love. We have been cleansed in the same precious fountain
we have
all eaten of the Bread that came down from heaven
and drunk of the Spiritual
Rock that follows us. Let us hold more closely together than ever--pastors
officers
people
for “a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” “A threefold
cord is not quickly broken.” Do we not know this from sad experience?
I. It was by such
cords as these that we were originally held in bondage. I do not know how many threads
were in them
how many strands they contained. Not three
perhaps
but thirty
nay
thirty thousand evil influences were dragging us down and holding us fast.
All I do know is that they were not quickly broken. It took God’s dear Son to
break them
the Father’s
love
and the Spirit’s power
and our own faith and repentance
begotten in our
hearts from above. Satan knows the power of unity if we do not. “The world
the
flesh
and the devil
” a terrible trio
were in league against us. It was the
cords of this triple enemy that held us fast. They were threefold cords
and
they were not easily broken. Sin is of various shapes and sorts. There are
three words in God’s Book descriptive of sin
and I think I may apply them to
the threefold cord. There is iniquity
that which is out of plumb
or off the
line
or out of
the level. There is sin
the missing of the mark
the going beyond by the
arrow
or the falling short of the target. There is also transgression
breaking through God’s settled rules
passing beyond the bounds that He has
fixed
making landmarks of our own instead of regarding God’s. Each of these
may be regarded as a strand in the cord of sin
and all of us were held
thereby. “A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” It took years of straining
and tugging
and pulling by a hand Omnipotent to break these cords in pieces.
Thank God! it is done
and that they can never be spliced again
nor ever cast
about us as they were originally.
II. It was by such
cords as these--cords that are not quickly broken
threefold cords
that we
were delivered from the power of sin. The form of the metaphor changes a little
as we use it now. We were in a horrible pit by reason of sin. Sin always sinks
us
and we were dropping deeper and deeper into it
and into the mire that was
at the bottom of it. How have we got up? There was no ladder placed for us to
climb; we did not cut notches in the pit-side by our own unaided strength
and
so help ourselves up to light and liberty. No; God had pity on us. He
in the
person of His Son
came to the pit’s
mouth and looked down with the eyes of love upon us. Christ’s love
Christ’s
death
resurrection and ascension into heaven--these are as another threefold
cord. As soon as our eyes were opened and we saw this rope swinging
as it
were
in front of us
God gave us strength to leap to it
and He did the rest;
nay
He did that
for we had not believed unless the Spirit had prompted faith.
He drew us with the cords of love
and with the bands of a man.
III. It is by such
cords as these
threefold cords
cords that are not quickly broken
that we are
now held captive. By creation
the claim of which we understand better than
ever now; by regeneration
into the mystery of which they and we are being
daily further led; by consecration
both on God’s part and our own
we are His
and His for ever. These cords bind us to the horns of the altar. “And now
abideth faith
hope
love
these three
but the greatest of these is love.” I
think this is another threefold cord by which we are bound; bound to one
another
bound to the cross of Christ
bound to this blessed book
and bound to
heaven. (T. Spurgeon.)
A threefold cord
I. Have a
threefold cord in your religion. Religion for young folks as well as old. Is
yours twofold or threefold? Let us see. There is God--one. And you--two. Is
that all? Explain how some people have no more. This not a nice religion. Can’t
get near God. Can’t know Him. Bring in Christ
and you have the threefold cord.
Then this cord will stand the strain. That is a strong religion. When
temptations come down hard on you
it will hold and save you.
II. Have a
threefold cord in your difficulties and dangers. Story of youth at sea.
Ordered
during a storm
to go up and put the rigging right. Momentary
hesitation of boy
and then darted down to his cabin. Appeared again immediately
ascended mast
put rigging right
and came down. Asked by an officer
“What
made you run below? For prayer
sir: father always told me no time was ever
lost in prayer.” “And what is that under your jacket?. . . My Bible
sir. My
mother gave it to me when leaving home. I thought if I were drowned
I would
like to have it with me.” Now here was a nice threefold cord--Prayer
the
Bible
and Courage. I wish you had it. You may have
likely will have
many a
hard bit in your life. But if you weave these three together into a cord
and
hold on by it
you are safe.
III. Have a
threefold cord in your friendships. There is an old saying among folks
that
“Two are good company
but three are none.” And they expect us to believe that!
We want no friendship that is only twofold. Have you any friendship without
Jesus? He is the third strand of the cord. If there be anybody who wants you to
go roads where Jesus can’t go with you
give up that company at once. We should
want no friendship where our Saviour can’t; be one. (J. F. Dempster.)
Verses 13-16
Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king
who will no more be admonished.
On the advantages of Christian knowledge to the lower orders of
society
There is no topic on which the Bible maintains a more lucid and
entire consistency of sentiment than the superiority of moral over all physical
and all external distinctions. One very animating inference to be drawn from
our text is
how much may be made of humanity. Did a king come to take up his
residence amongst us--did he shed a grandeur over our city by the presence of
his court
and give the impulse of his expenditure to the trade of its
population--it were not easy to rate the value and the magnitude which such an
event would have on the estimation of a common understanding
or the degree of
personal importance which would attach to him who stood a lofty object in the
eye of admiring townsmen. And yet it is possible
out of the raw and ragged
materials of an obscurest lane
to rear an individual of more inherent worth
than him who thus draws the gaze of the world upon his person. By the act of
training in wisdom’s ways the most tattered and neglected boy who runs upon our
pavements do we present the community with that which
in wisdom’s estimation
is of greater price than this gorgeous inhabitant of a palace. Even without
looking beyond the confines of our present world
the virtue of humble life
will bear to be advantageously contrasted with all the pride and glory of an
elevated condition. The man who
though among the poorest of them all
has a
wisdom and a weight of character which makes him the oracle of his
neighbourhood--the man who
vested with no other authority than the meek
authority of worth
carries in his presence a power to shame and to overawe the
profligacy that is around him--the venerable father
from whoso lowly tenement
the voice of psalms is heard to ascend with the offering up of every evening
sacrifice--the Christian sage
who
exercised among life’s severest hardships
looks calmly onward to heaven
and trains the footsteps of his children in the
way that leads to it--the eldest of a well-ordered family
bearing their
duteous and honourable part in the contest with its difficulties and its
trials--all these offer to our notice such elements of moral respectability as
do exist among the lowest orders of human society
and elements
too
which
admit of being multiplied far beyond the reach of any present calculation. But
to attain a just estimate of the superiority of the poor man who has wisdom
over the rich man who has it not
we must enter into the calculation of
eternity--we must look to wisdom in its true essence
as consisting of
religion
as having the fear of God for its beginning
and the rule of God for
its way
and the favour of God for its full and satisfying termination--we must
compute how speedily it is
that
on the wings of time
the season of every
paltry distinction between them must at length pass away; how soon death will
strip the one of hie rags
and the other of his pageantry
and send them in
utter nakedness to the dust; how soon judgment will summon them from their
graves
and place them in outward equality before the Great Disposer of their
future lot
and their future place
through ages which never end; how in that
situation the accidental distinctions of life will be rendered void
and
personal distinctions will be all that shall avail them; how
when examined by
the secrets of the inner man
and the deeds done in their body
the treasure of
heaven shall be adjudged only to him whose heart was set upon it in this world;
and how tremendously the account between them will be turned
when it shall be
found of the one
that he must perish for lack of knowledge
and of the other
that he has the wisdom which is unto salvation. And let me just state that the
great instrument for thus elevating the poor is that Gospel of Jesus Christ
which may be preached unto the poor. It is the doctrine of His Cross finding an
easier admission into their hearts than it does through those barriers of human
pride and human resistance
which are often reared on the basis of literature.
Let the testimony of God be simply taken in
that on His own Son He has laid
the iniquities of us all--and from this point does the humble scholar of
Christianity pass into light
and enlargement
and progressive holiness. (T.
Chalmers
D. D.)
The old king and the youth
It has been thought that Ecclesiastes must here be referring to
some well-known event of his own times: but
if this be the case
the event has
not yet been identified. Perhaps he is simply presenting an imaginary but
possible case
for which there had been quite sufficient basis in many a
political revolution. In those old kingdoms and empires it was always possible
that even a beggar or prisoner might rise to the throne
whilst the monarch who
had been born to the crown might
in his old age
perhaps through his own
folly
become a poor man in his own kingdom. Such was the instability of the
most exalted of earthly positions. And Ecclesiastes sketches the picture of the
young upstart--a usurper wise and skilful enough to make himself the leader of
a successful revolution
and to place himself in the stead of the old monarch.
So great is the popularity of this usurper that he becomes the idol of the
hour: millions flock around his standard
and place him on the throne. But even
this popularity is
in turn
an evanescent thing; “those who come after him”
(the people of a younger generation) “shall not rejoice in him.” He
too
has
only his day. It may be that
even during his lifetime
he loses the popular
favour: and
at the best
he soon passes away in death
and is speedily
forgotten. Thus the glory and fame even of monarchy itself is also “vanity and
feeding on wind.” It would not be difficult to find many a “historical
parallel” to this picture. One of the most striking has occurred within the
memory of some of us. When Louis Philippe
the aged King of France
who would
not be admonished by the signs of the times
had at length to flee from his own
kingdom in 1848
Louis Napoleon
who
not long before
had been for five years
a prisoner in the fortress of Ham
appeared in Paris
and
throwing himself
into the midst of political affairs
gradually became more and more popular
until in due time he became President of the Republic
and ultimately Emperor
of France. We know how he was worshipped by the masses of the French people
how there was “no end
of all the people” who flocked around him in their enthusiasm. And we know how
after many years of royal splendour
the collapse came suddenly at last
and
how
after the defeat at Sedan
the nation
almost as one man
turned round and
kicked the idol they had worshipped. Even one of our own poets had hailed him
as “Emperor evermore!” But where is all his “glory” now? Surely “vanity of
vanities” might well be inscribed on the tomb of Napoleon
III. And
indeed
the career of many a man who has been borne along into high position on the
wave of popular enthusiasm furnishes a most salutary lesson as to the real
value of mere earthly fame and greatness. (T. C. Finlayson.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》