1 And I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors was power, and they had no comforter.
And moreover I saw under the sun, that in the place of judgment, wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there.
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for a higher than the high is watching, and there are higher than they.
She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she hath no comforter; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah the plant of his delight: and he looked for justice, and behold, blood-shedding; for righteousness, and behold, a cry.
Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure:
Look on the right hand and see; there is no man that knoweth me: refuge hath failed me; no man careth for my soul.
A poor man who oppresseth the helpless is a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.
A roaring lion, and a ranging bear, is a wicked ruler over a poor people. The prince void of intelligence is also a great oppressor: he that hateth covetousness shall prolong [his] days.
and I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; who have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over.
Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths;
in transgressing and lying against Jehovah, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth stumbleth in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. And truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And Jehovah saw [it], and it was evil in his sight that there was no judgment.
And further ye do this: ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he regardeth not the oblation any more, nor receiveth [it] with satisfaction at your hand.
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hired servant in [his] wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.
But all this is come to pass that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled.
At my first defence no man stood with me, but all deserted me. May it not be imputed to them. But the Lord stood with [me], and gave me power, that through me the proclamation might be fully made, and all [those of] the nations should hear; and I was delivered out of the lion's mouth.
Return, I pray you, let there be no wrong; yea, return again, my righteousness shall be in it.
and he said, When ye help the Hebrew women in bearing, and see [them] on the stool, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if a daughter, then she shall live.
And it came to pass during those many days, that the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and cried; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage; and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob;
There is no straw given to thy bondmen, and they say to us, Make brick; and behold, thy bondmen are beaten, but it is the fault of thy people. And he said, Ye are idle, idle! therefore ye say, Let us go and sacrifice to Jehovah. And now go -- work! and straw shall not be given you, and ye shall deliver the measure of bricks. And the officers of the children of Israel saw [that] it stood ill with them, because it was said, Ye shall not diminish anything from your bricks, the daily work.
thou shalt serve thine enemies whom Jehovah will send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of everything; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
Then the people of Israel cried to the LORD for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.
And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, and they crushed and oppressed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. And there were that said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many, and we must procure corn that we may eat and live. And there were that said, We have had to pledge our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, that we might procure corn in the dearth. And there were that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute upon our fields and vineyards; yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and behold, we must bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage [already]; neither is it in the power of our hand [to redeem them], for other men have our fields and our vineyards.
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with harshness; and they embittered their life with hard labour in clay and bricks, and in all manner of labour in the field: all their labour with which they made them serve was with harshness.
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye my friends; for the hand of +God hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as ùGod, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
They pass the night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold; They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock ... They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor: These go naked without clothing, and, hungry, they bear the sheaf; They press out oil within their walls, they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; and +God imputeth not the impiety.
He lieth in wait secretly, like a lion in his thicket; he lieth in wait to catch the afflicted: he doth catch the afflicted, drawing him into his net. He croucheth, he boweth down, that the wretched may fall by his strong ones.
Because of the oppression of the afflicted, because of the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith Jehovah, I will set [him] in safety, at whom they puff.
I will say unto ùGod my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
Solomon, having shown the vanity of this world in the temptation which those in power feel to oppress and trample upon their subjects, here further shows,
It is not the prerogative even of kings themselves to be exempted from the vanity and vexation that attend these things; let none else then expect it.
Ecc 4:1-3
Solomon had a large soul (1 Ki. 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 (ch. 3:16, 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,
Ecc 4:4-6
Here Solomon returns to the observation and consideration of the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend the business of this world, which he had spoken of before, ch. 2:11.
Ecc 4:7-12
Here Solomon fastens upon another instance of the vanity of this world, that frequently the more men have of it the more they would have; and on this they are so intent that they have no enjoyment of what they have. Now Solomon here shows,
Ecc 4:13-16
Solomon was himself a king, and therefore may be allowed to speak more freely than another concerning the vanity of kingly state and dignity, which he shows here to be an uncertain thing; he had before said so (Prov. 27:24, The crown doth not endure to every generation), and his son found it so. Nothing is more slippery than the highest post of honour without wisdom and the people's love.