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.
Ver. 1. So I returned, and considered.] Here is a second instance of corruption in civil state, added to that of Ecclesiastes 3:16, to fill up the nest of vanities.
And behold the tears of such, &c.] Heb., Tear; as if they had wept their utmost, et vix unicam lachrymulam extorquere possent, and could hardly squeeze out one poor tear more for their own ease. For as "hinds by calving," so men by weeping "cast out their sorrows." Job 39:3 a Now tears are of many sorts: Lachrymas angustiae exprimit crux; lachrymas poenitentiae, peccatum; lachrymas sympathiae, affectus; lachrymas letitiae, excellentia gaudii; denique lachrymas nequitiae, vel hypocrisis, vel vindictae, cupiditas. b Oppression draws tears of grief; sin, tears of repentance; affection, tears of compassion; good success, tears of joy; hypocrisy or spite, tears of wickedness.
And they had no comforter.] This was Job's doleful case, and David's, Psa 69:21 and the Church's in the Lamentations. Lam 1:2 Affert solarium lugentibus suspiriorum societas, saith Basil Pity allays misery; but incompassionateness of others increaseth it. This was one of Sodom's sins, Eze 16:49 and of those epicures in Amos. Amo 6:6 The king and Haman sat drinking in the gate; but the whole city of Shushan was in heaviness. Est 3:15
And on the side of their oppressors, &c.] The oppressed Romans sighed out to Pompey, Nostra miseria tu es magnus. You, our misery, is great. The world hath almost as many wild beasts and monsters as it hath landlords in various places. It is a woeful thing, surely, to see how great ones quaff the tears of the oppressed, and to hear them make music of shrieks.
a Expletur lachrymis egeriturque dolor. - Ovid.
b Alsted.