Scripture Daily

Context No. 4192 of 4322 · Ecclesiastes

Context · Reflection

Ecclesiastes 4:1-6: in context

1Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. 2Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive. 3Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. 4Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. 5The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself. 6Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind.

The Preacher looks at the restless striving that drives so much human labor, and he traces it to an unexpected root: envy. All toil and all skill in work, he observes, come from a man's envy of his neighbor. Much of our striving is not for genuine need but to keep up with, or outdo, others. And this, he says, is vanity, a chasing after wind.

Against this restless, envious striving he sets a quiet alternative: better is a handful with quietness than two handfuls with toil and a chasing after wind. Better to have less and be at peace than to have more and be consumed by the endless striving that envy drives. The person with a handful and a tranquil heart is richer than the one with two fists full who has no rest.

So much of our striving for more is driven, if we are honest, by measuring ourselves against others, by wanting what they have or more than they have. And it never satisfies; it is a chasing after wind. The Preacher calls us to a different contentment: the handful held with quietness, the peace of a heart not enslaved to envy and endless getting.

Is my striving for more driven, if I am honest, by envy and comparison with others, and would I be richer to hold a handful with quietness than two handfuls gained by restless toil and chasing after wind?

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