I. In the fourth chapter Koheleth comes to the conclusion that life is essentially and irretrievably wretched wretched not because (as he had formerly thought) it would so soon be over, but wretched because it lasted too long. All that pleasure did for him was thus to increase his gloom. There was one thing he had forgotten in making out his programme: he had forgotten the miseries of other people. The prosperity he secured for himself did not remove their adversity, but only brought it out into more startling relief. He was infected by their wretchedness, for in the midst of all his dissipation he had preserved a kindly heart. "I considered," he says, "the tears of those who are oppressed, and who have no comforter." The oppression of the poor by the rich was one of the most characteristic phases of Oriental society. To be poor was to be weak, and to be weak was to be reduced more or less into the condition of a slave.
II. In Ecclesiastes 5:4 Koheleth makes a new departure. He remarks that greed is at the bottom of a good deal of human misery. All work, he says, and all dexterity in work, is due to envy, to a jealous determination to outstrip our neighbours, to what Mallock calls the "desire for inequality." In contrast to the career of selfish isolation, Koheleth describes the advantages of sympathetic co-operation with one's fellow-men. We should not, he says, strive againstone another, each for his own good; we should strive withone another, each for the good of the whole. Co-operation is preferable to competition.
III. It now occurs to Koheleth that we may perhaps find some help in religious observances. He has already pointed out to us how we are hemmed in on all sides by limitations and restrictions. It must evidently be important what attitude we assume towards the Power which thus checks and thwarts us. Take care, he says, how you go into the house of God, how you perform your sacrifices, and prayers, and vows. He teaches us, as wise men have always taught, that obedience is better than sacrifice. Again, the value of prayer depends not on its length, but on its sincerity. Speak only out of the fulness of your heart. God is not to be trifled with. He cannot be deluded into mistaking for worship what is mere idle talk.
A. W. Momerie, Agnosticism,p. 204.
References: Ecclesiastes 4:1-3. J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King,p. 174; T. C. Finlayson, A Practical Exposition of Ecclesiastes,p. 101.Ecclesiastes 4:1-8. R. Buchanan, Ecclesiastes: its Meaning and Lessons,p. 136. Ecclesiastes 4:4-6. J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King,p. 196. Ecclesiastes 4:5; Ecclesiastes 4:6. J. H. Cooke, The Preacher's Pilgrimage,p. 54.Ecclesiastes 4:9; Ecclesiastes 4:10. R. D. B. Rawnsley, Sermons for the Christian Year,p. 512; C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays,p. 16. Ecclesiastes 4:9-16. R. Buchanan, Ecclesiastes: its Meaning and Lessons;p. 150. Ecclesiastes 4:12. J. Vaughan, Children's Sermons,1875, p. 9; J. Keble, Sermons from Ascension Day to Trinity Sunday,p. 395.Ecclesiastes 4:13. J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King,p. 234; New Manual of Sunday-school Addresses,p. 1. 4 C. Bridges, An Exposition of Ecclesiastes,p. 79. 4, 5 G. G. Bradley, Lectures on Ecclesiastes,p. 79.
A thoughtless resorting to the sanctuary, inattention and indevotion there, and precipitancy in religious vows and promises are still as common as in the days of Solomon. And for these evils the only remedy is that which he prescribes: a heartfelt and abiding reverence.
I. There is a preparation for the sanctuary. Not only should there be prayer beforehand for God's blessing there, but a studious effort to concentrate on its services all our faculties. In the spirit of that significant Oriental usage which drops its sandals at the palace door, the devout worshipper will put off his travel-tarnished shoes will try to divest himself of secular anxieties and worldly projects when the place where he stands is converted into holy ground by the words, "Let us worship God."
II. In devotional exercises be intent and deliberate (Ecclesiastes 5:2-3). Like a dream which is a medley from the waking day, which into its own warp of delirium weaves a shred from all the day's engagements, so, could a fool's prayer be exactly reproduced, it would be a tissue of trifles intermingled with vain repetitions. For such vain repetitions the remedy still is reverence.
III. Be not rash with vows and religious promises (Ecclesiastes 5:4-7). If Christians make voluntary vows at all, it should be with clear warrant from the word, for purposes obviously attainable, and for limited periods of time. Whilst every believer feels it his reasonable service to present himself to God a living sacrifice, those who wish to walk in the liberty of sonship will seek to make their dedication, as a child is devoted to its parents, not so much in the stringent precision of a legal document as in the daily forthgoings of a filial mind.
J. Hamilton, The Royal Preacher,Lecture X.
References: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7. J. H. Cooke, The Preacher's Pilgrimage,p. 66. Ecclesiastes 5:1-9. T. C. Finlayson, A Practical Exposition of Ecclesiastes,p. 125.Ecclesiastes 5:2. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 12; Plain Sermons by Contributors to" Tracts for the Times," vol. vii., p. 201.Ecclesiastes 5:2-6. J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King,p. 270. Ecclesiastes 5:4. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 100. Ecclesiastes 5:7-12. J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King,p. 217. Ecclesiastes 5:8-13. Ibid.,p. 280. Ecclesiastes 5:8-20. J. H. Cooke, The Preacher's Pilgrimage,p. 79.