Ecclesiastes 3 (chapter 4)

Introduction

There once was a man who rushed into the emergency room of a hospital and said, “I need help right away. I need to see a doctor who is an expert in eye problems and ear problems immediately.” The nurse explained that doctors specialize in either ear problems or eye problems, but no doctor specializes in both. Growing more upset, the man said, “I have to find someone who deals with both.” “Why is that so important?” asks the nurse. The man replied, “Because the things I see with my eyes are so different from the things I keep hearing with my ears, I know there must be something seriously wrong with me.”

As we live in the light of truth that God has revealed about himself yet also experience the realities of life in a fallen world, what we see with our eyes will sometimes be very different from what we hear regarding the promises of God and Scripture. Often such tensions and struggles are at the center of the life of faith.

Recap

A coupe of weeks ago we began a study a series of reflections in the Book of Ecclesiates asking the question - Is life meaningful, How do we go about knowing and finding truth and lasting meaning in a world that is often so perplexing?

Ecclessiastes 4

and come to chapter 4 one of the things the teacher finds so perplexing about life is the the apparent discrency between what he knows to be true about God and the experiences of life around him. The teacher claims in 3:17 that

“God will bring into judgment

both the righteous and the wicked,

for there will be a time for every activity,

a time to judge every deed.”

Yet He is having a particulaly hard time reconciling Gods justice with the injustice and opression and seeming unfairness of everything he witnesses around him as he ponders life under the sun

The teacher is playing the role of a Cynic and being deliberatly provocotive for a reason, he was certainly not alone when it came to the incogruence he expreciced. Job was perplexed by his experiences of suffering, The psalmist was often perplexed when he saw the seeming prosperity of the wicked. How many of you have been perplexed by the injustice, opression and suffering you have observed in this world? You say “God I believe you are Good and Just, but because I am not you, I just dont see the sense or the logic in this suffering, I know you work all things together but I am still struggling to make sense of the world as I experience it.”

So Two Questions.... what are the things he observes? and secondly what advice does he give to us the readers about how we ought to work and live in this sin sick broken world that is full of suffering and oprresion.

1) What does he observe

Rampant injustice, Mans inhumanity to fellow man. He is outraged by it. The longing for justice dwells deep in our hearts and often begins in the playground. For myself it was when wayne morton stuck bluetack to his potatoe in the egg and spoon race causing me to get second place. “Thats not Fair” “thats not right” Unfortunately, unfairness does not stop at the playground but goes all the way through life.

Yet the very place where Justice ought to be found, he observes also turns out to be a place of Injustice. How many times have we heard of someone who was meant to be tried on in the courts only to be given an tap on the wrists. Only the other day I was wathing a netflix documentary on the Jeffry Epstien Scandel, he was meant to be convicted years ago because on multiple charges of sex trafficking but it appears he had some very powerful friends in high places which meant he got less than a year in a county jail and was allowed out of the prison regularly to go to his office at his luxury apartment. There was no justice for his victims, the courts were clearly corrupted.

The Preacher’s frustration is not simply that injustice is done, but that it goes unpunished. According to Martin Luther, he is “not complaining because there is wickedness in the place of justice but because the wickedness in the place of justice cannot be corrected.” When the halls of justice become corridors of corruption, where can righteousness be found?

In Chapter 4:1 he says Ecc 4:1

Ecclesiastes 4:1 NIV

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.

When the teacher saw the tears of the oppressed, he longed for someone to comfort them but it was not possible for power was with their oppressors and so he laments that knowone was able to wipe their tears away, no one was able to offer any comfort.

He witnesses oppression through competition (Ecc 4:4)

Ecclesiastes 4:4 NIV

And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Oppression through Rivaly and competition.

People wil claim to toil for all kinds of good motives—love of their family, concern for their community, service to their God. Rationalizations, At the bottom of the matter, the reason we work so hard is to keep up with or get ahead of our neighbors. That is why there is so much oppression and exploitation in the world.

Oppression through greediness

8 There was a man all alone;

he had neither son nor brother.

There was no end to his toil,

yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.

“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,

“and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”

Notice he doesnt bother to answer the question. The KJV clarifies this point by adding ‘but he never asks’

Oppression through politics and transitory leadership.

13 Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning.

How many times has a ploical figure risen up to save the day only to be a big let down. Prime ministers are almost always very popular in their first weeks in office, but the longer they weild power they become unteachable and it is the little people those without power that suffer most.

Added to all this unfairness the teacher observes that the same fate ultimately awaits man and animals, in that they both return to the dust. The Preacher’s point is that people die, just like the animals. For all the differences between us, we do share this one thing in common: whether man or beast, we will all meet the same fate, at least with regard to our physical bodies. Nothing is certain save death and taxes.

The world we live in under the sun is a mean and oppessive one driven by envy, competition, desire, and power. But the fact is, work is given by God. We have to live and work in this world. How then does he advise us to go about our work in this dog eat dog sin sick world?

Three options

Verse 5 Folded Hands - This is an expression in wisdom literature of idlenss and lazyness. That means you can not bother working at all, you can say, ‘whats the point’ but thats not really an optioin in this world if you want to have any enjoyment at all. For proverbs says, A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber

Verse 6 - Two handful of toil. In other words, get stuck in, everyone else is, But again this is foolish, and you will only become an oppressor yourself.

5:8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. 9 The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

10 Whoever loves money never has enough;

whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.

This too is meaningless.

11 As goods increase,

so do those who consume them.

And what benefit are they to the owners

except to feast their eyes on them?

But there is a third option, One handfull with tranquility, Verse 6 And he explains and expands on this in Chapter 5:18

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. 20 They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.

Enjoying our work with quietness will enable us to experience again a little bit of the tranquility of Paradise. We can work with quietness, with peace of mind, trusting that our heavenly Father will provide us our food, drink, clothing, and housing. In a desert of wickedness—ruthless competition, a rat race, a dog-eat-dog world—we can experience an oasis of joy and tranquility when we don’t follow the crowd in working to pile up possessions. Enjoy your work with quietness, and your heavenly Father will provide your every need.1

Now we turn to Jesus.

The teacher of course did not have all the ansers but there is one person who does and that is Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus when he walked the earth hated oppression greed and injustice under the sun. He chased the money lenders out the temple, he wept at the brutality of death when lazurus died. If anyone had the right to complain about injustice it was Jesus. When it comes to injustice and opression, he suffered both, he never sinned but went around loving and healing people yet wicked men crucified him.

The Teacher was right about one thing he said “ “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.” God has promised a day when his Son will judge the righteous and the wicked (Acts 17:30–31). The time for his work of divine retribution is the Day of Judgment, when he will render his final verdict on all mankind. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25). Indeed, the wicked will be punished forever (Matthew 25:41–46), and the righteous will be comforted by the Spirit of God, who will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 21:4).

Jesus also warns against the desire to acquire two handfuls. He says, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15). Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool who thought he could lay up “ample goods” for many years. The man was rich, but God called him a fool. “So it is,” says Jesus, “with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). Jesus wants us to focus our lives not on gathering possessions but on God, on promoting the kingdom of God and his righteousness. What then about food and drink and clothing? “Do not worry” about these, Jesus says, “for it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:31–33).

Preaching the Word: Ecclesiastes—Why Everything Matters A Time for Justice

We live in the sure hope and certain expectation of that great day. Whenever we see injustice—especially acts of oppression that we are powerless to prevent—we can still pray for justice

And as christians we should oppose injustice wherever we encounter it but that is for another sermon.