Ecclesiastes 4
People who waste their lives
When powerful people abuse
1I’ve seen powerful people abuse those who couldn’t defend themselves. I’ve seen tears of the oppressed when no one came to their rescue. 2So, I’ve decided the dead are better off than the living.3Luckiest of all are those who haven’t been born. They haven’t seen how evil it can get down here on earth, under the sun.
Envy drives hard workers
4I studied why people work so hard. I found that the driving force was usually envy. People want what others have. How vain, to chase the wind someone else is chasing.5Fools sit on their hands
And starve to death.
6It’s better to eat a sandwich
Relaxed and in peace,
Than a steak on the run,
While you’re chasing the wind.
Rich who want more
7There’s another scene I’ve noticed that makes no sense. 8It’s a rich man with no family—no wife, sons, or brothers. But he works like crazy though he’s insanely rich. What’s the point? Why keep working to get richer when he can enjoy the benefits of his wealth? What a pitiful scene—and a waste of what remains of his life.Two heads better than one
9Two people working together benefit [1] more than one person working alone. 10When you have a partner, if you fall, you’ve got someone to help you back on your feet. But if you’re all you’ve got, that’s a shame. Who’re you going to call? 11When it gets cold, two people can stay warm longer than one person can.12In a head-to-head competition, one person can beat another. But it’s a lot harder for one person to beat a team of two. Add a third person and that makes the team even stronger. It’s like adding one more string to a braided rope. It’s hard to break that rope.
Young and wise trumps old and foolish
13It’s better to be a poor and young person who makes wise decisions than a foolish old king who won’t take advice. 14You may have been born into poverty or sent to debtor’s prison, but a wise youngster can rise above that to become king.15I’ve seen it happen when a young man like that replaced a foolish king. Massive and enthusiastic crowds joined him and became part of the movement. 16He created a huge kingdom. But it won’t last. The next generation won’t want him. How vainly ignorant. They have a good king, but they’d rather chase the
Footnotes
The Hebrew word is sakar. It can mean money, value, or reward. The point is that two people help each other. One person’s weakness can benefit from the strength of a partner. When one needs recovery time, the other can temporarily pick up the slack. Then, of course, in negotiations there’s the good cop, bad cop, though it might be hard to imagine Jesus encouraging that strategy. Instead, perhaps, good cop, good cop. Perhaps not much money in it, but you know Jesus. It’s not about the money.
There is no mention of names, but the storyline tracks a bit with King David’s rise to power. He started out as a shepherd in the little burg of Bethlehem—the least important shepherd in his family, by his father’s gauge. He rose to replace King Saul, who foolishly spent his resources trying to capture David instead of preparing for the coming war against the Philistines. Saul and most of his sons died in that fight with the Philistines. King David, as an old man, grew unpopular enough that his son Absalom was able to launch a coup that initially drove David out of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 15). Absalom died in the fighting.
