Solomon became a modern-day playboy. This has to be one of the most disappointing, and defeating things that he attempted to find pleasure in. A reading of 1 Kings 11:1-8, tells of this low point in his life. His foolish actions sound almost unbelievable considering how wise he was in his early life. Solomon had a complicated personality. He is difficult to understand.
It would seem in his latter days his wives occupied much of his time. There were seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. As he grew older, he obviously spent more and more of his time with his harem. There he could tease, flirt and seduce his women.
Can you imagine trying to please and entertain one thousand women? What about his first wife, the one he was willing to build a beautiful palace for? The daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh would naturally resent all this attention Solomon gave to his women. Even among the thousand women that he had there had to be a tremendous resentment and jealousy between them. Solomon’s conduct is nothing more than that of a foolish doting old man whose actions are ridiculous.
Notice that his heart is turned away from God to honour pagan gods just as God had predicted. Solomon had to know how God felt about marrying pagan women and how God detested their pagan gods. God told Solomon ‘Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates,’ 1 Kings 11:11.
As the end of Solomon’s life approached it must have been very disappointing to him as it all ended in vanity. I am concerned about how fast Britain is drifting away from the moral principles it has lived by since for centuries. Those of old would be horrified to see such immoral practices. Homosexuality was something you rarely heard about but is now being looked upon as acceptable, even flaunted. Those who oppose are persecuted for taking a stand against it.
Young people getting drunk not wearing seat belts are dying in car wrecks every week. Almost every day we read of people being shot and killed. Gang war is found in both small and large cities. Theft is on a rampage. Like Solomon, much of Britain seems to have ‘forgotten God’ and His moral law. We now find ourselves surrounded by a new and evil culture which is spinning out of control. This isn’t the nation or culture we had sixty years ago. How long will the Lord allow this age to spin out of control? The Gospel is our only hope!
Solomon appears to be continuing with his thoughts from Ecclesiastes 3:16, in reference to judgment and wickedness. Some people are all too familiar with the word ‘oppression’ these days, where a ruling government takes over their country and they lose their freedom.
Solomon saw the tears of the oppressed and says they have no comforter because power was on the side of their oppressors and they have no comforter, Ecclesiastes 4:1. Solomon says those who are already dead don’t have to live under such oppression, Ecclesiastes 4:2. In other words, it would be better not to have been born in the first place than to live under such an evil dictatorship, Ecclesiastes 4:3.
The world we live in today was much the same as Solomon’s world, where we have people who are envious of other people’s talents and abilities, Ecclesiastes 4:4. We see this, especially in many talent shows where people are envious of each other. People never learn to be satisfied which their lot and as result, they never have peace of mind. They never think they are good enough because they measure themselves against others around them.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It is not by injustice and wrong only that men suffer, but through envy also. For if a man act uprightly and properly in the world, he soon becomes the object of his neighbour’s envy and calumny too. Therefore the encouragement to do good, to act an upright part, is very little. This constitutes a part of the vain and empty system of human life.’
Solomon says everyone has to work because if they don’t, they will end up in poverty and end up relying on their friend and family to get by, Ecclesiastes 4:5-6. In other words, people are better off being content with what they have than having lots of wealth which lead them to be in competition with those around them.
Kidner, in his commentary, says the following.
‘ He (the drop-out) is the picture of complacency and unwitting self-destruction, for this comment on him points out a deeper damage than the wasting of his capital. His idleness eats away not only what he has but what he is, eroding his self-control, his grasp of reality, his capacity for care and, in the end, his self-respect.’
Loneliness can be a terrible feeling, but there are times people bring it about by their own selfish actions, Ecclesiastes 4:7-8. One of those times is when they are working for themselves without a care for others. Working with others creates friendships and companionship and therefore brings about satisfaction, Acts 20:34.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The man who is the centre of his own existence; has neither wife, child, nor legal heir; and yet is as intent on getting money as if he had the largest family to provide for; nor does he only labour with intense application, but he even refuses himself the comforts of life out of his own gains! This is not only vanity, the excess of foolishness, but it is also sore travail.’
The opposite of working on our own is working together with others, Ecclesiastes 4:9. This gives us more power as a team but we must be willing to make the effort to seek those we want to work with. Working with others not only helps us but it helps those we are working with, Ecclesiastes 4:10. Some of the most selfish people in the world are those who are the loneliest people in the world.
If you go out for a hike and twist your ankle, it makes such a difference if someone else is there to support you and help you back home, Ecclesiastes 4:10. At the moment your life may be great with no clouds upon the horizon, but if your life is going to be like that of most of us, then you’ll also have your fair share of difficulties along the way.
The time may come, especially with married couples when one or other finds difficulty in getting or keeping a job. Or the health of one or other may break down, or some other crisis may develop. And what then? At those times you’ll be glad you have one another, because you will be able to help one another, Ecclesiastes 4:10.
Two people together, especially married couples don’t need hot-water bottles because they have one another, Ecclesiastes 4:11. When life is hard and tough and when perhaps hopes do not materialise, couples can encourage one another, they can also warm one another’s spirits.
By and large muggers don’t attack people when they are together, they attack people on their own. But if they do, then a couple are more likely to ward off the attacker than if they were on their own, Ecclesiastes 4:12. There is strength in togetherness. And this is true of life in general. When difficulties press in, a couple are able to stand where individuals might fall.
There are times however, when a twosome is not enough. The writer of Ecclesiastes refers to the fact that a piece of wool by itself has little strength. Two strands of wool, however, have more strength, and three-ply wool is much stronger still, Ecclesiastes 4:12. And what is true of wool is true of other materials too. Ropes which have to take a heavy strain normally have at least three strands.
But what else has the writer in mind? Some have suggested that he is saying, ‘Have a baby and make it a threesome’! I prefer to see a reference to God. God is the third strand in the relationship. God is saying to married people ‘include me in’. A marriage is so much stronger when God is included. Amidst the storms of life such a marriage can hold.
Solomon here, maybe referring to Jeroboam, who if you remember fled into Egyptian exile but later became the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, 1 Kings 11:26-43 / 1 Kings 12:1-33. Jeroboam wasn’t born of royal blood but was given the position of king over the ten northern tribes of Israel.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The Jewish Targum applies Ecclesiastes 4:13-14, to Abraham and says the following. ‘Abraham was a poor child of only three years of age, but he had the spirit of prophecy, and he refused to worship the idols which the old foolish king, Nimrod, had set up; therefore Nimrod cast him into a furnace of fire. But the Lord worked a miracle and delivered him. Yet here was no knowledge in Nimrod, and he would not be admonished. Then Abraham left the country of the idolaters, where he had been imprisoned, and came and reigned over the land of Canaan and Nimrod became poor in this world. This is the fact to which the ancient rabbis supposed Solomon to allude.’
Josephus, in his writing says the following, concerning Ecclesiastes 4:16.
‘The Targum applies this to the case of Jeroboam and Rehoboam. History affords many instances of mean persons raised to sovereign authority and of kings being reduced to the meanest offices and to a morsel of bread. Agrippa himself ascended the throne of Israel after having been long in prison.’
Not many people think of the youth in our society as being wise, Ecclesiastes 4:13, but Solomon here says that many may admire and envy the power and position a king has, Ecclesiastes 4:14-15, but in reality, it’s better to be as wise as the youth, simply because the youth are more likely to listen to and take advice from others.
Solomon says there was no end to all the people who were before them but those who came later were not pleased with the successor, Ecclesiastes 4:16. He says this too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind, Ecclesiastes 4:16.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He has reached a pinnacle of human glory, only to be stranded there.’