Charles Ellicott Commentary Ecclesiastes 4

Having dwelt on the instability of human happiness, the Preacher now turns to contemplate the actual misery of which the world is full.

Oppressions.—Job 35:9; Amos 3:9.

No comforter. — If Solomon were the writer, one asks, What was the king doing? Could he do nothing but express helpless despair?

I praised the dead.—Job 3:11; Exodus 32:32; 1 Kings 19:4; Jeremiah 20:14; Jonah 4:3. The word which is translated “yet” in this verse belongs to later Hebrew, and does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament.

Right work.— Rather, skilful. (See Note on Ecclesiastes 2:21.)

Eats his own flesh.— Interpreters have usually taken these words metaphorically, as in Psalms 27:2, Isaiah 49:26, and Micah 3:3, understanding them as a condemnation of the sluggard’s conduct as suicidal.

However, it has also been proposed, considering the verse in connection with the preceding and following verses, to understand them literally as “eats his meat.” The sense would then be that, given the emulation and envy involved in all successful exertion, one might be tempted to say that the sluggard who eats his meat in quiet does better.

There is, however, no exact parallel to the phrase “eats his flesh;” and I think that if the latter were the meaning intended, it would have been formally introduced in some such way as, “Therefore I praised the sluggard.” Adopting, then, the ancient interpretation, we understand the course of conduct recommended to be the golden mean between the ruinous sloth of the fool and the vexatious toil of the ambitious man.

Then I returned.— The vanity of toil is especially apparent in the case of a solitary man. It is possible, as has been suggested , that this may have been the writer’s own case. The following verses, which speak of the advantages of friendship and unity, are of a more cheerful tone than the rest of the book.