Ecclesiastes 4

Ecclesiastes 4:1

Ambrose of Milan: We desire each day to know what is new, and what is knowledge itself but our daily sorrow and abasement? All things that are have already been, and “nothing is new under the sun,” but “all is vanity. Therefore I hated the whole of this life,” said Ecclesiastes. He who hated his life certainly commended death. And so he praised the dead rather than the living and judged him happy that did not come into this life nor take up this vain toil. “My heart took a circuit to know the joy of the impious man and to examine carefully and to seek wisdom and a mode of calculating and to know joy through the impious man and trouble and disquietude, and I find that it is bitterer than death”—not because death is bitter, but because it is bitter for the impious one. And yet life is bitterer than death. For it is a greater burden to live for sin than to die in sin, because the impious person increases his sin as long as he lives, but if he dies, he ceases to sin. — DEATH AS A GOOD 7:28

Bede: He praised the innocent dead rather than the living because the latter were still engaged in the struggle but the former had been given their reward of everlasting happiness. He complained that he had seen deceit beneath the sun because he knew that above the sun there is a just judge “who dwells on high and looks down upon humble things.” Above the sun there are dwelling places in which the righteous receive due rewards for their righteousness. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, 2 Peter 3:13

Gregory of Neocaesarea: And leaving all these reflections, I considered and turned in aversion from all the forms of oppression which are done among men; whence some receiving injury weep and lament, who are struck down by violence in utter default of those who protect them, or who should by all means comfort them in their trouble. And the men who make might their right are exalted to an eminence, from which, however, they shall also fall. Yea, of the unrighteous and audacious, those who are dead fare better than those who are still alive. And better than both these is he who, being destined to be like them, has not yet come into being, since he has not yet touched the wickedness which prevails among men. And it became clear to me also how great is the envy which follows a man from his neighbours, like the sting of a wicked spirit; and I saw that he who receives it, and takes it as it were into his breast, has nothing else but to eat his own heart, and tear it, and consume both soul and body, finding inconsolable vexation in the good fortune of others. And a wise man would choose to have one of his hands full, if it were with ease and quietness, rather than both of them with travail and with the villany of a treacherous spirit. Moreover, there is yet another thing which I know to happen contrary to what is fitting, by reason of the evil will of man. He who is left entirely alone, having neither brother nor son, but prospered with large possessions, lives on in the spirit of insatiable avarice, and refuses l to give himself in any way whatever to goodness. Gladly, therefore, would I ask such an one for what reason he labours thus, fleeing with headlong speed from the doing of anything good, and distracted by the many various passions for making gain Far better than such are those who have taken up an order of life in common, from which they may reap the best blessings. For when two men devote themselves in the right spirit to the same objects, though some mischance befalls the one, he has still at least no slight alleviation in having his companion by him. And the greatest of all calamities to a man in evil fortune is the want of a friend to help and cheer him. And those who live together both double the good fortune that befalls them, and lessen the pressure of the storm of disagreeable events; so that in the day they are distinguished for their frank confidence in each other, and in the night they appear notable for their cheerfulness. But he who leads a solitary life passes a species of existence full of terror to himself; not perceiving that if one should fall upon men welded closely together, he adopts a rash and perilous course, and that it is not easy to snap the threefold cord. Moreover, I put a poor youth, if he be wise, before an aged prince devoid of wisdom, to whose thoughts it has never occured that it is possible that a man may be raised from the prison to the throne, and that the very man who has exercised his power unrighteously shall at a later period be righteously cast out. For it may happen that those who are subject to a youth, who is at the same time sensible, shall be free from trouble—those, I mean, who are his elders. Moreover, they who are born later cannot praise another, of whom they have had no experience, and are led by an unreasoning judgment, and by the impulse of a contrary spirit. But in exercising the preacher’s office, keep this before your eyes, that your own life be rightly directed, and that you pray in behalf of the foolish, that they may get understanding, and know how to shun the doings of the wicked.

Jerome: “And I returned and contemplated all the acts of oppression that are committed beneath the sun: Behold! Tears of the oppressed with none to comfort them, and their oppressors have the power - with none to comfort them. “After considering this I turned my eyes and attention to this, so that I saw the slanderers and those sustaining chicanery. And look on those who, oppressed unjustly by more powerful men, are not able to find a comforter for their tears. For this is only permitted in disasters and in protest at the ill will of the matter. And wherever there is more distress and inconsolable suffering they see the slanderers as stronger in their difficulties. And this is the cause: because they are not worthy of consolation. He describes this idea more fully in the seventy-second psalm of David, and Jeremiah in his own book. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 4:2

Jerome: “So I consider more fortunate the dead, who have already died, than the living, who are still alive. But better than either of them is he who has not yet been, and has never witnessed the evil that is committed under the sun.” In comparison with the difficulties, which trouble mortal men in this world, I had judged the dead to be happier than the living according to that which Job says in his argument regarding the dead: " there they rested with tired bodies, with those who had been in chains, now without cares, not hearing the voice of the expeller.” [Iob. 3, 17, 18.] But it is better for these two, for the living it seems and for the deceased, who has not yet been born. For one man will suffer ill, another unclothed will escape it as if from a shipwreck. Moreover he who has not yet been born is happier in that, becausehe has not yet experienced the ill of the world. But he says this, not because he who has not yet been born, exists before he has been born, and he is happier in this, since he has not yet been weighed down by his body; but better to be sure is not existing, or not having a sense of wealth, than either being unhappy or living unhappily. Just as the Lord speaks to Judas, referring to his coming anguish: “it was better for that man never to have been born” [Matth. 26, 24.], since it would have been better for sure for him not to have existed, than to suffer eternal torture. Some people in fact understand this passage in this way: they say they are better, who have died, than those who are living, it is permitted to them before they were sinners [Cfr. Origines peri Archon I. 5,5 ; Hier. Epist 124, 3. sqq]. For until now the living were in battle and were held back as if closed in by the prison of the body; but those who have opposed death are already without cares and have stopped sinning. Just like John, in which he was not greater in respect to the sons of women, he is less than him, who is the lowest in the realm of heaven and is freed from the burden of the body. He does not know how to say like the apostle: “I am a wretched man, who will free me from the body of this death?” [Rom. 7, 14.]. But he says he is better than those two, who has not yet been born, nor does not see the wickedness, by which men are oppressed in the world. For our souls mingle among the gods, before descending to these bodies and are blessed so long as the heavenly ones are held in Jerusalem and in the choir of angels. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Basil of Caesarea: Wise, therefore, was he who forbids us even to dine in company with an envious person, and in mentioning this companionship at table, he implies a reference to all other social contacts as well. Just as we are careful to keep material which is easily inflammable as far away as possible from fire, so we must refrain insofar as we can from contracting friendships in circles of which envious persons are members. By so doing, we place ourselves beyond the range of their shafts. We can be caught in the toils of envy only by establishing intimacy with it. In the words of Solomon, “A man is exposed to envy from his neighbor.” And so it is. The Scythian is not envious of the Egyptian, but each of them envies a fellow countryman. Among members of the same nation, the closest acquaintances and not strangers are objects of envy. Among acquaintances, neighbors and fellow workmen, or those who are otherwise brought into close contact, are envied, and among these again, those of the same age and kinsmen and brothers. In short, as the red blight is a common pest to corn, so envy is the plague of friendship. — HOMILY CONCERNING ENVY

Evagrius Ponticus: I have seen, he says, every sort of wickedness and boldness in the one who is evil. For, such a one [as Satan] thinks he is brave even when in [his] ungodliness he oppresses the poor or again, sees himself as a “creature” who was “made to be mocked by the angels” of God. Also I have seen all the jealousy that he has acquired towards human beings, which is vain and governs his heart, since God certainly “will become all in all.” And when God does so, this will fulfill the prayer of Christ, which said, “Grant that they also may be one in us, as you and I are one, Father.” — SCHOLIA ON Ecclesiastes 25:4.4

Ecclesiastes 4:5

Ambrose of Milan: Let one who still doubts hear the testimony of the Gospel, for the Son of God said, “We have played for you, and you have not danced.” The Jews who did not dance and knew not how to clap their hands were abandoned, but the Gentiles were called and applauded God in spirit. “The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh,” that is, he becomes involved in the concerns of the body and eats his own flesh, just as does all-powerful death. And such a one will not find eternal life. But the wise person who lifts up his works that they may shine before his Father who is in heaven has not consumed his flesh; instead, he has raised it to the grace of the resurrection. This is the wise person’s honorable dance which David danced, mounting by the loftiness of his spiritual dance to the throne of Christ that he may see and hear the Lord saying to his Lord, “Sit at my right hand.” — Letters 51-60 (Letter to Bishop Sabinus)

Apostolic Constitutions: But if any one is in want by gluttony, drunkenness or idleness, he does not deserve any assistance or to be esteemed a member of the church of God. For the Scripture, speaking of such persons, says, “The slothful hides his hand in his bosom and is not able to bring it to his mouth again.” And again, “The sluggard folds up his hands, and eats his own flesh.” “For every drunkard and whoremonger shall come to poverty, and every drowsy person shall be clothed with tatters and rags.” And in another passage [we read], “If you give your eyes to drinking and cups, you shall afterwards walk more naked than a pestle.” For certainly idleness is the mother of famine. . — CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

Jerome: “The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.” This is the man that is described as slow to comprehend in Proverbs [Cfr Prov. 19, 24.], holding his chest in his hands. For poverty, although he is a fast runner, catches up with him and he eats his own flesh because of the extent of his hunger, but this is said in exaggeration. He is the sort of man who thinks that having one fist of corn and living idly and in a stupor is better than filling each hand by working. But he sows everything so that he can show that he that both works and acquires possessions leaves himself open in the world to envy. Conversely he that desires to live a simple life is oppressed by poverty and because of this both of these two is poor: while the one runs a risk on account of his wealth, the other is consumed by want because of his poverty. Or indeed perhaps it is to be understood in this way: he who envies the happiness of another man is seized as if by the fury of the spirit, and takes envy into his lap, and nourishes it in his heart: thus it is he eats his soul and his flesh. For as much as he sees that man whom he envies as happier, he himself more so wastes away and perishes, and little by little becomes more full of envy and jealousy. Another way of reading this is: his hands are taken on many occasions to lead him to work, just as the passage which states, “the act of the Lord which is done in the hand of Haggai” [Hagg. 1, 1.], or of Ecclesiastes, or of his prophet, because he has done such work, that he appears to be worthy, in whose work is the speech of the Lord. And the man, who corresponds to this man is David, “who leads my hands in battle” [Ps. 143, 1.]. Therefore the fool embraces his hands, that is he draws them together and doesn’t want to open them, and so does not eat the toil of his hands, which he does not have, but his flesh, living by the wisdom of his flesh and eating the toil of his flesh. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes

Nilus of Sinai: But if any one is in want by gluttony, drunkenness or idleness, he does not deserve any assistance or to be esteemed a member of the church of God. For the Scripture, speaking of such persons, says, “The slothful hides his hand in his bosom and is not able to bring it to his mouth again.” And again, “The sluggard folds up his hands, and eats his own flesh.” “For every drunkard and whoremonger shall come to poverty, and every drowsy person shall be clothed with tatters and rags.” And in another passage [we read], “If you give your eyes to drinking and cups, you shall afterwards walk more naked than a pestle.” For certainly idleness is the mother of famine. — CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2:2.4

Ecclesiastes 4:6

Evagrius Ponticus: The “chasing after wind,” I believe, refers to the will of the soul caught up with passions. That is why a handful of virtue is better than two handfuls of wickedness, ignorance and “chasing after wind.” … It is as if someone said it is better to learn contemplation of one spiritual thing than to have numerous visions of foolish wisdom. — SCHOLIA ON Ecclesiastes 27:4.6

Jerome: “Better is one handful of pleasantness than two fistfuls of labour and vexation of the spirit.” It is better to have modest power, than great riches of sins. And in Proverbs it says, “To receive a little through righteousness is better than gaining much by injustice.” [Prov. 16, 8.] Justice rightly has rest, injustice toil. And since a single number is always seen in a good context and a dual seen as wickedness, therefore one fist has rest, and two hands are full of toil. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes

John Cassian: According to the words of Solomon, “A single handful with repose is better than two handfuls with toil and presumption of spirit.” All those who are very weak are inevitably entangled in these illusions and losses. Even though their own salvation is in doubt and they still stand in need of others’ teaching and instruction, they are prompted by diabolical illusions to convert and to govern others. And even if they have been able to acquire some gain and to make some conversions, they will lose whatever they got because of their impatience and their immoderate behavior. .

John Cassian: As Solomon says, “Better is a single handful with rest than both hands full with labor and vexation of mind.” And in these allusions and inconveniences all that are in the least weak are sure to be entangled. Even as they doubt their own salvation and stand in need of the teaching and instruction of others, they are incited by the devil’s tricks to convert and guide others. And even if they succeed in gaining any advantage from the conversion of some, they waste whatever they have gained by their impatience and rude manners. — CONFERENCE 24:13

Ecclesiastes 4:7

Jerome: “Then I returned and contemplated futility beneath the sun: a lone and solitary man who has neither son nor brother, yet there is no end to his toil, nor is his eye ever sated with riches, nor does he ask himself, ‘For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of goodness.’ This too is futility, indeed, it is a sorry task.” I turned to other people and I saw that they work more than is necessary and amass wealth by good and bad means and do not use it once accumulated; they have all things, brood over their riches, keep it for another, and do not enjoy their work. Then at the end of their life they have neither son nor brother, nor close friend so that the pious work seems reserved for necessities only. And so I discovered nothing more vain than that man, who collects riches, or to whom an ignorant man bequeaths them. We are even able to understand this in a religious interpretation, and understand it as those, who write books and leave them to fastidious readers. Some say that this passage from where it says “there is one, but there is not a second” is about the Saviour, because he came down to save the world alone and without any companion. And although there are many sons of God, they are called his brothers by adoption, though not one remains worthy, who should be joined to him in this work. There is no end to this work, for those carrying our faults and sins and suffering for us; and his eye will not be filled by riches, but always with those desiring our safety, and the more you see his sins, the more he encourages him to repent. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 4:9

Jerome: “Two are better than one, for they get a greater return for their labour. For should they fall, one can raise the other; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and there is no one to raise him! Also, if two sleep together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? Where one can be overpowered, two can resist attack; A three-ply cord is not easily severed!” After the misfortunes of loneliness in which he has been seized, and he who torments himself in acquiring wealth without a definite heir, now the subject of companionship is treated. And it asks what good ther is in a tent of friends and what comfort there is in company, since one man’s distress or domestic strife is lifted by another’s help, (any man who has a faithful friend will sleep better all that night, than he who sleeps only with his wealth which he has amassed. And if a stronger enemy rises up against one man, the weakness of one is sustained by the comfort of friends. And just as two differ from one if they are joined in love, so the tent of three is stronger. For even true charity, which has been violated by no envy increases as much in number as it grows in strength. And this idea is conveyed in relatively few words. But since previously we have placed the discussion of the intelligence of certain men before Christ, those things which are still left must be discussed by the same order. It is better for two to be equal, than one. For it is better for a man who lives alone to have Christ, than alone to leave himself vulnerable to ill-intentioned plots. Since the reward of the tent is shown at once in the very usefulness of society. For if one man fell, Christ would raise up his partner. Woe indeed to him who collapses, he will not have Christ rising up in him. For if one sleeps, that is, if he had been dissolved by death and had Christ with him, he will revive more quickly having been made warm and given life once again. And if the devil, being stronger in his attack, should attack a man, the man will stand, and Christ will stand in place of this man, in place of his companion. Not because virtue is weak (the virtue of Christ alone) against the devil, but because the decision of man is left free and for us, who are dependent, but virtue itself will become stronger through fighting. And even if the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit should come, that friendship is not broken easily. But although it is not broken easily, it will be broken nonetheless at some point. And the cord from the apostle to Judas was threefold: but after the breaking of the bread Satan entered him and that cord was broken. More precisely what he says above is, “and even if two are sleeping, then they will be warm: and how will one keep warm on his own?” We can take an example from Elisha, because he is in a pact with a lad, and slept with him and warmed his body, and in this way revived the recovering boy. [Cfr IV Reg. 4, 32-36.] Unless therefore Christ sleeps with us and rests in death, we are not able to receive the heart of eternal life. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 4:10

Ambrose of Milan: Fittingly does Ecclesiastes say, “For if one falls, he raises up his companion.” He himself is not raised up, for Christ was not raised up by another’s help and power, but he himself raised himself. Indeed, he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. This he said of the temple of his body.” It is well that he who did not fall should not be raised by another, for one who is raised by another has fallen, and one who falls needs help to be raised up. Additional words also teach this when Scripture says, “Woe to him that is alone: for when he falls, he has none to lift him up. And if two lie together, they shall warm one another.” We have died with Christ, and we live together with him. Christ died with us to warm us, and he said, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth.” — Letters 81-91 (Letter LXXXI)

Basil of Caesarea: In the solitary life, what is at hand becomes useless to us and what is wanting cannot be provided, since God the Creator decreed that we should require the help of one another, as it is written, so that we might associate with one another. Again, apart from this consideration, the doctrine of the charity of Christ does not permit the individual to be concerned solely with his own private interests. “Charity,” says the apostle, “seeks not her own.” But a life passed in solitude is concerned only with the private service of individual needs. This is openly opposed to the law of love, which the apostle fulfilled, who sought not what was profitable to himself but to many that they might be saved. Furthermore, a person living in solitary retirement will not readily discern his own defects, since he has no one to admonish and correct him with mildness and compassion. In fact, admonition even from an enemy often produces in a prudent person the desire for amendment. But the cure of sin is wrought with understanding by him who loves sincerely. Holy Scripture says, “for he that loves, at times corrects.” Such a one it is very difficult to find in solitude, if in one’s prior state of life one had not been associated with such a person. The solitary, consequently, experiences the truth of the saying, “Woe to him that is alone, for when he falls he has none to lift him up.” Moreover, the majority of the commandments are easily observed by several persons living together, but not so in the case of one living alone, for while he is obeying one commandment, the practice of another is being interfered with. For example, when he is visiting the sick, he cannot show hospitality to the stranger, and in the imparting and sharing of necessities (especially when the ministrations are prolonged), he is prevented from giving zealous attention to [other] tasks. As a result, the greatest commandment and the one especially conducive to salvation is not observed, since the hungry are not fed nor the naked clothed. Who, then, would choose this ineffectual and unprofitable life in preference to that which is both fruitful and in accordance with the Lord’s command? — THE LONG RULES 7

Gregory of Nyssa: Since the majority of persons who intend to lead a life of virginity are still young and immature, they must concern themselves with this before all: the finding of a good guide and teacher on this path, lest, on account of their ignorance, they enter upon trackless places and wander away from the straight road. For, as Ecclesiastes says, “Two are better than one.” The one is easily overcome by the enemy lying in ambush on the divine road, and truly, “woe to the solitary man, for if he should fall he has no one to lift him up.” In the past, certain people have made an auspicious beginning in their desire for this life, but, although they have attained perfection in their intention, they have been tripped up because of their vanity. They deceived themselves, through some craziness, into thinking that that was fair toward which their own thought inclined. Among these, there are those called “the slothful” in the Book of Wisdom, who strew their path with thorns, who consider harmful to the soul a zeal for deeds in keeping with the commandments of God, the demurrers against the apostolic injunctions, who do not eat their own bread with dignity but, fawning on others, make idleness the art of life. Then there are the dreamers who consider the deceits of dreams more trustworthy than the teachings of the Gospels, calling fantasies revelations. Apart from these, there are those who stay in their own houses, and still others who consider being unsociable and brutish a virtue without recognizing the command to love and without knowing the fruit of long-sufferinility. — ON VIRGINITY 23

Peter Chrysologus: “And he began to send them forth two by two.” He sent them two by two that no one of them, being abandoned and alone, might fall into a denial, like Peter, or flee, like John. Human frailty quickly falls if it proudly relies on itself, despises companions and is unwilling to have a colleague. As Scripture says, “Woe to him that is alone, for when he falls, he has none to lift him up.” The same Scripture testifies how much one is strengthened by another’s aid, when it states, “A brother that is helped by his brother is like a strong city.” — SERMON 170

Symeon the New Theologian: Do not follow the wolf instead of the shepherd, or enter into a flock that is diseased. Do not be alone by yourself, lest you be seen carried off by the wolf who destroys souls or succumb to one disease after the other and so die spiritually, or, as you succumb, you attain to that woe. He who gives himself in the hand of a good teacher will have no such worries but will live without anxiety and be saved in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen. — DISCOURSE 20:7

Ecclesiastes 4:12

Ambrose of Milan: Paul fled too, that he might pass out through a window and be lowered in a basket. Yes, he knew that the triple-stranded rope could not break, but he fled so that he might preach the gospel of the Lord in the entire world, and consequently he was taken up into paradise. Let us also flee through the window while heeding the Lord’s precepts and keeping them with steady vision and chaste eyes. — FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 9:54

Gregory the Dialogist: By a “cord,” faith is expressed, as Solomon witnesses, who says, “A threefold cord is not easily broken” because the faith in truth that is woven by the mouth of preachers from the knowledge of the Trinity remains firm in the elect. It is broken only in the heart of the reprobate. — Morals on the Book of Job, Book 33, Section 18

Ecclesiastes 4:17

Jerome: “Guard your foot when you go to the House of God; better to draw near and hearken than to offer the sacrifices of fools, for they do not consider that they do evil.” He gives some general precepts for life, and does not want to offend us, who go to church. Since it is praiseworthy in his view, not just to enter the House of God, but to enter without offence. And if it was intended for all who are in the church of God to hear this passage, he would never have added, “and approach so that you might hear”. But then it was only Moses who approached near to God to hear [Cfr Ex. 24, 2.], the other men were not allowed. For the foolish commit sins, not knowing that there is a remedy; they think that they can satisfy God with the offering of gifts, and do not know that this is also evil and a sin; for they want to make correction for what they have done, not with obedience and good work, but with gifts and sacrifice. What others have said elsewhere agrees with this too: “obedience above sacrifice” [I Reg. 15, 21.]. And “I want pity and not sacrifice”. [Os. 6, 6.]

CHAPTER 5 — Commentary on Ecclesiastes