Today in God's Word—July 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
July 16, Ecclesiastes 4
Better a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and striving after the wind.
- Ecclesiastes 4:6
Solomon's experimentation and observation about life continued to discourage him about the human experience. He found all the situations he examined to be nothing more than vanity and a striving after the wind. In Chapter 4, Solomon reported on some matters he had not personally experienced in his search for meaning and fulfillment. He talked about some things he had observed in the world around him that only reinforced his findings. He concluded that all of life under the sun was empty and as pointless as trying to catch the wind.
Remember that Solomon was rich and powerful. The woes he saw other people experience didn't impact his life very much at all. I suppose the ugliest example of this is probably his observations about the oppressed people around him who had no one to comfort them or relieve the oppression they suffered. The fact of Solomon's life that makes this observation so disgusting is that King Solomon himself enslaved hundreds of thousands of workers in his building projects. There is no record or evidence that he did anything to relieve the oppression of his own forced labor people. He had wealth and he had power. But as far as we know, he did nothing to relieve their plight.
Then he saw all the hard work and overtime people put in on the job, and saw that their labor was propelled by envy. They wanted to catch up, keep up with or get ahead of the neighbors. Solomon knew that their relentless labor was vain and empty. To be fair, he came to the same conclusion back in Chapter 2 about his own obsession of finding meaning and significance through labor. His motive as king could hardly have been envy. No one in the kingdom could compete with his wealth and power. But he still found no joy or meaning in his effort to establish himself apart from God.
Solomon also saw the other end of the work spectrum — those who were not willing to work to support and feed themselves. Solomon called the lazy man who wouldn't work a fool.
Solomon came to one very good conclusion from his research about work and acquiring things. He said, "Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind."
Solomon thought about all the stuff he was going to leave behind, and the very real possibility that a foolish son would get it all. That was exactly what happened to Solomon's kingdom. But here in Chapter 4, he also branded as unhappy business and vanity working to accumulate without ever slowing down to enjoy any of it.
The paragraph about two being better than one emphasized the value of companionship. A pair working together enjoys the work more, and provides the protection that company affords against accidents and thieves. Life is better shared. God said from the beginning of the human family that it was not good for man to be alone. Solomon gave the practical example of shared body heat on a cold winter night keeping both parties warmer.
Solomon was depressed to think that even a success story like a poor youth who grew up to be king would be forgotten soon after the next king came along. People striving for significance do not like to think they will be forgotten, a theme Solomon addressed in other passages. He also wrote about work, laziness, the blessing of contentment and and the curse of envy in Proverbs.
Solomon had a lot of God-given wisdom. He knew some very impressive things. But during his ungodly “under the sun" phase, there was little evidence that he was guided by that wisdom, although he claimed his wisdom never left him. Unheeded wisdom is of no value even to a rich and powerful king. Was he admitting that he was that king who rejected advice?
These matters are still sobering and perplexing today. We should recall Solomon's words when we see examples of his counsel being followed or ignored. We need discernment of our own to know the difference between what is helpful and what is flawed in Solomon’s book. There's plenty of both kinds of information here.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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