Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ecclesiastes 4:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Ecclesiastes 4:2. Wherefore I praised the dead — I considered those happy who had escaped from the pilgrimage of life to the place where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Injustice in the world (3:16-4:3)

Having acknowledged God’s order in human events, the writer now observes that the ‘order’ is, at times, not very orderly. For example, injustice abounds (16). Maybe, thinks the writer, God will put everything right in a judgment day in the afterlife (17). On the other hand, thinks he, there may not be an afterlife. He observes that people die the same as animals, as if God is trying to show that they are no different from the beasts. Also, he asks, can it be proved that people have life after death? The best they can do, concludes the writer, is to enjoy life while they can (18-22).
Although the enjoyment of life is a desirable goal, the world has so much cruelty and oppression that many people have no way of finding any sort of enjoyment. It would be better for these sufferers if they were dead; better still if they had never been born (4:1-3).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

OPPRESSION AND THE OPPRESSED

“Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and, behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive; yea, better than them both did I esteem him that hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.”

“On the side of the oppressors there was power” “The point here is not merely that there is power, but that power corrupts.”J. A. Loader, Ecclesiastes, p. 47. On the basis of what is said here, we may conclude that there was at least some degree of sympathy on Solomon’s part for the oppressed; yet he himself had oppressed hundreds of thousands of the residual Canaanites, making slaves of them. Here he views all the suffering; and, “Although he might have had some feeling for them, he did not move a muscle to change their lot.”Ibid. He just stood by, a picture of indifference and unconcern. How different is this attitude from that of the great prophets who so vigorously and effectively shouted the anathemas of God against the oppressors; and indeed what a contrast there is here with the Christ who had compassion on the multitudes, fed them when they were hungry, healed all their diseases and thundered the message, “Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven” (Luke 6:20). “Behold a Greater than Solomon”! (Matthew 12:42); and incredibly pathetic is the blind folly of Israel who rejected Christ because he was not another Solomon!

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 4

So I returned, and I considered all of the oppressions that are done under the sun: and the tears of those that are oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter ( Ecclesiastes 4:1 ).

The philosophy, Might is right.

Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, more than the living which were yet alive ( Ecclesiastes 4:2 ).

I looked at life and, man, you're better off dead than you are alive. Those that have already died, oh, they've got it made. You still alive, you got the headaches.

Yea, better is he both they, which have not been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. Again, I considered all of the travail, and every right work, and for this man is envied of his neighbor. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit. The fool folds his hands together, and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful with quietness, than both of your hands full with travail and vexation of spirit ( Ecclesiastes 4:3-6 ).

There is a scripture says, "A little that a righteous man has is more than the riches of many wicked" ( Psalms 37:16 ). Now you're better off with just a little and the Lord, the comfort, than having both hands full and being frustrated.

Then I returned, and I saw the vanity [or the emptiness] under the sun. There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet there is no end of his labor ( Ecclesiastes 4:7-8 );

Even the man who doesn't have any children, he can't settle down and just enjoy what he has. He's got to keep on it. Keep laboring. No matter how rich he is, he can't be satisfied. He can't relax and enjoy it. Here's one man alone, he has no child, no brother, no one to inherit his wealth. And yet, he can't get away from the grindstone. There's no end of all of his labor.

neither is his eye satisfied with his riches; neither says he ( Ecclesiastes 4:8 ),

He doesn't consider, "What am I saving all this money for? Who am I saving it for? Why am I saving it? Who am I going to leave it to when I die?" And yet, he's bound to it. He's digging for more and more and more. Striving, struggling. Can't stop working. Pushing, grinding, in order to gain more and yet he doesn't have anybody to leave it to.

This also is vanity, it's a sore travail. Two are better than one; because [at least] they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for there's no one to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they can have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevails against him, two will be able to withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king ( Ecclesiastes 4:8-13 ),

Look to those little kids. They're better off than I am. Poor wise child than this old foolish king.

who will no more be admonished ( Ecclesiastes 4:13 ).

I won't listen to anything anymore. No one can tell me anything.

For out of prison he comes to reign; whereas also he that is born of his kingdom becomes poor. I consider all of the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead. And there is no end of all of the people, even of all that have been before them: and of all that shall come after they shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit ( Ecclesiastes 4:14-16 ).

It seems that life just goes on. There's, you know, multitudes before me. There's going to be multitudes after me. I'm just in the line here, but it's all so empty. "

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Wherefore I praised the dead, which are already dead,.... Truly and properly so; not in a figurative sense, as dead sinners, men dead in trespasses and sins; nor carnal professors, that have a name to live, and are dead; nor in a civil sense, such as are in calamity and distress, as the Jews in captivity, or in any affliction, which is sometimes called death: but such who are dead in a literal and natural sense, really and thoroughly dead; not who may and will certainly die, but who are dead already and in their graves, and not all these; not the wicked dead, who are in hell, in everlasting torments; but the righteous dead, who are taken away from the evil to come, and are free from all the oppressions of their enemies, sin, Satan, and the world. The Targum is,

"I praised those that lie down or are asleep, who, behold, are now dead;''

a figure by which death is often expressed, both in the Old and New Testament; sleep being, as the poet a says, the image of death; and a great likeness there is between them; Homer b calls sleep and death twins. The same paraphrase adds,

"and see not the vengeance which comes upon the world after their death;''

see Isaiah 57:1. The wise man did not make panegyrics or encomiums on those persons, but he pronounced them happy; he judged them in his own mind to be so; and to be much

more happy

than the living which are yet alive: that live under the oppression of others; that live in this world in trouble until now, as the Targum; of whom it is as much as it can be said that they are alive; they are just alive, and that is all; they are as it were between life and death. This is generally understood as spoken according to human sense, and the judgment of the flesh, without any regard to the glory and happiness of the future state; that the dead must be preferred to the living, when the quiet of the one, and the misery of the other, are observed; and which sense receives confirmation from Ecclesiastes 4:3: otherwise it is a great truth, that the righteous dead, who die in Christ and are with him, are much more happy than living saints; since they are freed from sin; are out of the reach of Satan's temptations; are no more liable to darkness and desertions; are freed from all doubts and fears; cease from all their labours, toil, and trouble; and are delivered from all afflictions, persecutions, and oppressions; which is not the case of living saints: and besides, the joys which they possess, the company they are always in, and the work they are employed about, give them infinitely the preference to all on earth; see Revelation 14:13.

a "Stulte, quid est semnus gelidae nisi mortis imago?" Ovid. Plato in Ciceron. Tuscul. Quaest. l. 1. c. 58. b Iliad. 16. v. 672, 682. Vid. Pausan. Laconica, sive l. 3. p. 195.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.   2 Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.   3 Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

      Solomon had a large soul (1 Kings 4:29) and it appeared by this, among other things, that he had a very tender concern for the miserable part of mankind and took cognizance of the afflictions of the afflicted. He had taken the oppressors to task (Ecclesiastes 3:16; Ecclesiastes 3:17) and put them in mind of the judgment to come, to be a curb to their insolence; now here he observes the oppressed. This he did, no doubt, as a prince, to do them justice and avenge them of their adversaries, for he both feared God and regarded men; but here he does it as a preacher, and shows,

      I. The troubles of their condition (Ecclesiastes 4:1; Ecclesiastes 4:1); of these he speaks very feelingly and with compassion. It grieved him, 1. To see might prevailing against right, to see so much oppression done under the sun, to see servants, and labourers, and poor workmen, oppressed by their masters, who take advantage of their necessity to impose what terms they please upon them, debtors oppressed by cruel creditors and creditors too by fraudulent debtors, tenants oppressed by hard landlords and orphans by treacherous guardians, and, worst of all, subjects oppressed by arbitrary princes and unjust judges. Such oppressions are done under the sun; above the sun righteousness reigns for ever. Wise men will consider these oppressions, and contrive to do something for the relief of those that are oppressed. Blessed is he that considers the poor. 2. To see how those that were wronged laid to heart the wrongs that were done them. He beheld the tears of such as were oppressed, and perhaps could not forbear weeping with them. The world is a place of weepers; look which way we will, we have a melancholy scene presented to us, the tears of those that are oppressed with one trouble or other. They find it is to no purpose to complain, and therefore mourn in secret (as Job, Job 16:20; Job 30:28); but Blessed are those that mourn. 3. To see how unable they were to help themselves: On the side of their oppressors there was power, when they had done wrong, to stand to it and make good what they had done, so that the poor were borne down with a strong hand and had no way to obtain redress. It is sad to see power misplaced, and that which was given men to enable them to do good perverted to support them in doing wrong. 4. To see how they and their calamities were slighted by all about them. They wept and needed comfort, but there was none to do that friendly office: They had no comforter; their oppressors were powerful and threatening, and therefore they had no comforter; those that should have comforted them durst not, for fear of displeasing the oppressors and being made their companions for offering to be their comforters. It is sad to see so little humanity among men.

      II. The temptations of their condition. Being thus hardly used, they are tempted to hate and despise life, and to envy those that are dead and in their graves, and to wish they had never been born (Ecclesiastes 4:2; Ecclesiastes 4:3); and Solomon is ready to agree with them, for it serves to prove that all is vanity and vexation, since life itself is often so; and if we disregard it, in comparison with the favour and fruition of God (as St. Paul, Acts 20:24; Philippians 1:23), it is our praise, but, if (as here) only for the sake of the miseries that attend it, it is our infirmity, and we judge therein after the flesh, as Job and Elijah did. 1. He here thinks those happy who have ended this miserable life, have done their part and quitted the stage; "I praised the dead that are already dead, slain outright, or that had a speedy passage through the world, made a short cut over the ocean of life, dead already, before they had well begun to live; I was pleased with their lot, and, had it been in their own choice, should have praised their wisdom for but looking into the world and then retiring, as not liking it. I concluded that it is better with them than with the living that are yet alive and that is all, dragging the long and heavy chain of life, and wearing out its tedious minutes." This may be compared not with Job 3:20; Job 3:21, but with Revelation 14:13, where, in times of persecution (and such Solomon is here describing), it is not the passion of man, but the Spirit of God, that says, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Note, The condition of the saints that are dead, and gone to rest with God, is upon many accounts better and more desirable than the condition of living saints that are yet continued in their work and warfare. 2. He thinks those happy who never began this miserable life; nay, they are happiest of all: He that has not been is happier than both they. Better never to have been born than be born to see the evil work that is done under the sun, to see so much wickedness committed, so much wrong done, and not only to be in no capacity to mend the matter, but to suffer ill for doing well. A good man, how calamitous a condition soever he is in in this world, cannot have cause to wish he had never been born, since he is glorifying the Lord even in the fires, and will be happy at last, for ever happy. Nor ought any to wish so while they are alive, for while there is life there is hope; a man is never undone till he is in hell.