“Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, ‘For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?’ This also is vanity and an unhappy business. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

There are a tragic number of people who claim to disbelieve what the Bible says. They will claim that the age of the text, the culture in which it was written, or the things that have been done in the name of wrong interpretations somehow invalidate the Word as a whole. People will hyper fixate on one part, one section – a war, a miracle, a historical event, it almost doesn’t matter, they’ll find one part – maybe they take it out of context, maybe they leave the context alone, but strawman the entire situation. They then claim that as the fatal chink in the armor that justifies tearing down the entire thing. Part of the problem though is so often what we’re seeing isn’t a simple matter of disbelief so much as it is dislike. Imagine for a moment that all you eat, all day, every day, are cheeseburgers. This being your literal only food source, you probably don’t feel great most of the time, you’re probably overweight, and your heart probably isn’t super happy with you. But when you go to the doctor, and the doctor tells you that you’re lethargic, fat, and in poor cardiovascular condition because you’re eating a dozen cheeseburgers every day, you don’t believe him. You don’t disbelieve because the data the doctor is presenting is false, or because it’s not a logical conclusion – you don’t believe him because you don’t like what he’s saying. In this position, where you’re operating off of feelings alone and there’s actually no logical basis for believing what you do, you’ll latch onto anything that supports the view that the doctor was somehow unqualified, or that his take on you and your cheeseburger consumption was mistaken or invalid, because that will make you feel justified in your disbelief. But the truth remains the truth, regardless of whether or not you believe it – you liking it, or it fitting with your desires or lifestyle is inconsequential, it remains. Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:24,

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

While most translations have this as “money,” the word has broader ties to treasure and riches. You can’t honor God above all else, your relationship with Him can’t be what’s held highest in your heart and mind, eternity worshiping Him can’t be the core desire of your very being, if you also treasure and covet the things of the world. And so for the many who go far beyond an enjoyment or appreciation for God’s creation and truly love the world there is no excuse too small, no passage that can’t be twisted, no heretical fiction not worth endorsing if it means they can deny the authority of Scripture and continue on in their sin. What we see illustrated as we continue on in the book of Ecclesiastes is that what these human creations foster is nothing but wickedness – not only wickedness, but weakness, frailty, and a complete inability to endure. There is evil nested in the hearts of men, oppression and greed, a covetousness for power that ultimately fades from memory as dynasties fall and rulers are forgotten. But in all this, as with all the dark reflections that Solomon has while observing the condition of man, the solution lies in the Truth. Man is weak, spiteful, and full of evil, but the Lord is strong, gracious, and filled with righteousness. Man is not the solution to our problems – we who are blind could never give ourselves sight. But God who offers salvation offers deliverance from our slavery, and eternal calling that is found in Him alone.

Evil in the Hearts of Men

1. The Weakness of Evil

“Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.”

The point that Solomon makes here is a disturbing one, but that doesn’t make it untrue. For the man of flesh who lives out his days upon the earth as both partaker and victim of the atrocities that human beings afflict upon one another, it is arguably better to have never been born than to know the self-awareness, the consciousness of existence. To know your own vulnerability, to look with wide eyes and know all the evil, vindictive, malicious things you could do to your fellow man, and to realize that each of those things could be done back to you in turn is a horrible position to find oneself in. The fallen world brings tragedy – loved ones die, our bodies fail us, the food or shelter that we’ve depended on run out or break down – but there is a significant difference between tragedy and malice. We discussed last week that humans are self-aware in a way that no animal is. Genesis 3:7 says that after Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil,

“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

One of the most compelling explanations for what it might encompass to have your eyes open and to know that you’re naked is to understand your own vulnerability. You understand all the things that could hurt you, that could torture you, that could bring about, not just death, but seemingly endless suffering. And because you understand that these things could be done to you, you possess the knowledge to do them to others – and the reality that you could both be the enactor or the recipient of the most vile, malicious, sadistic of human behaviors is a terrifying prospect. The Nazi concentration camps, Soviet Gulags, and Cambodian killing fields aren’t just made up stories to frighten and disturb – these things really happened, these events really took place, carried out by the hands of men. It’s not illogical that Solomon reasons that it’s better to have died rather than come face to face with the suffering that takes place under the sun – that it’s better to have never existed at all than to suffer in the malicious grasp of man. But again, as with all that Solomon has so wisely recorded concerning the deeds and nature of man, we must look up, we must consider the work of the Lord. In Matthew 2:16–18 we see an example of tears without consolation,

“Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.’”

But if we look at the context of the full passage in Jeremiah 31:15–17, we see that comfort does exist in the Lord, a hope beyond the pain and disquiet of the tears,

“Thus says the LORD: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children,            because they are no more.’ Thus says the LORD: ‘Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country.’”

The world is a dark and terrible place, but we are not alone or forsaken. We are given hope, promise, and comfort in the provision of God. In Psalm 3:3–6 David writes,

“But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.”

This was written at a time when David’s own son, Absalom, was seeking to kill him and take the kingdom for himself. Fleeing for his life, David was face-to-face with the kind of malice that Saul had once brought against him, only now from his own flesh and blood. And yet David’s testimony is not to the darkness of his plight, but rather the absolute provision of the Lord. Jesus says to the disciples, just before going to Gethsemane where He will be arrested, in John 16:33,

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

In the world there is immeasurable pain and suffering – but what God offers by His mighty hand is a comfort that overcomes the world, that delivers us from darkness. A hope for the oppressed, a Life that overcomes the tears and oppression, an eternity where the scales are forever balanced, and all that takes place under the glory of His Light is righteous and true.

“Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.”

James 1:19–21 tells us,

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Now you may read this and think, “but that’s clearly pertaining to anger.” True, James is directly addressing anger, but it would be foolish not to recognize that the work of man in a general sense carries with it a profound fruitlessness. Galatians 5:19–21 lists the works of the flesh, saying,

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Some of these jump out at us – there’s a clear distinction between the life of someone who fosters jealousy or anger, and someone who is practicing sorcery or partaking in orgies. Yet all these things are listed together for a reason. They’re all hollow, weak, sinful behaviors, they’re all striving after wind. There is far greater value in the still silence than in the foolish and fruitless grind of rivalry and jealousy against your fellow man. It is the fool who folds his hands as though all his needs are met, as though there is no more work to do, and devours his own flesh in the process – and it is the fool who thinks himself prosperous for all the work and toil he carries out under the sun, failing to realize that his presumed abundance is nothing but empty wind, and his striving has gained him no more than the lazy who sits with folded hands, for both have been taken in by the evil of the world, both have turned from the face of the Lord to their own ends.

2. The Weakness of Isolation

“Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, ‘For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?’ This also is vanity and an unhappy business. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

In the beginning, as God spoke each piece of creation into being we see that the work of each day is declared good. It’s in Genesis 2:18, before the fall ever occurs that we see the first pronouncement that something is not good,

“Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’”

This is the first negative statement in all of Scripture, an acknowledgement that even in the paradise of Eden, there was a possibility for some kind of discord in the pain and unease of loneliness and isolation. The fact that it was not good that man should be alone was of course what led God to create woman, and to give the covenant of marriage – but even outside of this great and profound union, there is a great practicality and utility to not being alone. The selfish man, the one whose eye is fixed upon the thing of the world thinks only of himself. The people around him are, at best, tools and commodities to be used as he chases personal gain and amasses riches that are the center of his world, yet will fade and crumble with time. When Solomon writes here and speaks of having neither “son or brother,” this isn’t just limited to biological sons and brothers. Consider that Paul calls Timothy his son, saying in 1 Timothy 1:2,

“To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And in Proverbs 18:24 Solomon writes,

“A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

We also read in Proverbs 27:17,

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

The simple fact is that it’s not good to be alone, we weren’t designed for it. This is something that even gets recognized for its utility in secular teachings – so many of the fundamental building blocks we’re given in childhood of sharing and common courtesy serve the purpose of teaching us cooperation as we grow so that we’re not left alone. But then we arrive at the problem of acting a certain way, versus actually believing and living out that way. If my camaraderie with others is only for personal gain, if my work and toil is my greatest aim so that those around me are treated as dispensable tools, then despite appearances, no true relationships have been formed and I’m actually very alone. In Matthew 16:26 Jesus puts forth the question,

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

There is no gain in isolation, no benefit in denying the company of others, in mistreating or disregarding those who are also made in the image of God. We are not called to toil to the exclusion of all else – we should love our neighbors, and care for our families. We should take wives, be fruitful and multiply, as God has designed and instructed us. There is no strength in the grind of isolation, no gain in standing alone, pushing all others aside for the supposed gain of the world. In Psalm 23:4 David writes,

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

The only comfort we have in the darkness, the only strength that drives back fear is that we are not alone, that the Lord is our shepherd. But if we insist on standing apart, if we pride ourselves and delight in our supposed self-sufficiency, then we’ve gained nothing but more wind, more empty vapor that ends in the darkness and isolation of the grave.

3. The Weakness of the Power of Man

“Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

We do not know the specific king that Solomon is speaking of, whether he was a real figure who Solomon has seen rise and fall, or a symbolic representation that is being used to illustrate the point. However, there is a Biblical figure that we can look at, to expand on some of these ideas. Joseph was not born poor, nor did he rise to the position of king, at least in a formal, titular sense. But he was sold into slavery, laid low in prison, and through the blessing of God, delivered into a position of great power and influence in Egypt. Genesis 41:39–43 tells us,

“Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.’ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.’ Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, ‘Bow the knee!’ Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.”

Unlike the figure that Solomon speaks of, Joseph didn’t abandon wisdom once he was in his position of authority, but remained obedient before God and largely governed with a careful and discerning hand. But consider Joseph for a moment, and what Solomon has written – what if Joseph had forsaken wisdom? What if he had looked at his lavish surroundings and said to himself, “Look how hard I’ve worked and how well I’ve done for myself,” forgetting or ignoring that it was only by God’s provision that he was placed there to begin with? He would have been better off to have remained in prison, but wise with the Lord than to be elevated to a position of authority and adopt foolishness. Setting aside Joseph for a moment, let’s consider Solomon – he too was not born poor, he was never imprisoned, but he was raised up from a young man to be king over Israel. Because of his humility and devotion to the Lord he was blessed, and as king he watched his nation prosper. But in his power he took many foreign wives, he set aside his obedience before God and his heart turned, and he followed other gods. He built high places of pagan worship that would be a stumbling block for his people for generations to come, he laid the groundwork for them to court their own destruction. It would have been far better to remain lowly and aware of his own vulnerability and reliance upon the Lord, than to grow in power and forget his very foundation. Psalm 84:10–12 tells us,

“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!”

There is no position, however lofty, that is worth losing wisdom – the thing which has its foundation set in the fear of the Lord. There’s also no position of power or authority among men that can endure. Solomon is a prime example, having ruled over a vast and lavish kingdom that would, in less than a few centuries, be torn down into nothing and scattered to the wind. The grandeur of his rule didn’t matter, the works of man could not stand over time. Returning to the example of Joseph, a wise and God-fearing ruler, we read in Exodus 1:8–10,

“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’”

It was Joseph with the wisdom and counsel that God provided through him, who preserved the nation of Egypt, and saved the people from famine. And yet now we read that his name has not been remembered among the Egyptians – the Pharaoh doesn’t know him, nor does he have any regard for his people. The security of Egypt was not built on the rulers or the nation itself, but on the blessing of God. The memory of man is too short to properly regard those who came before, or to appreciate the potential insight or wisdom of a legacy left. These things are vapor, they’re mist that proves to be nothing over the course of time. But the blessings of the Lord never fail, what He has established will never fall, and while the world in its wickedness may rot and crumble away beneath our feet, His foundation and His kingdom are eternal, and there is a never ending provision of comfort and strength in our God.