The Tears of the Oppressed
1 Then 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. 2 Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive. 3 Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. 4 Then 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. 5 The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself. 6 Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind. 7 Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun. 8 There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. “For whom then do I labor and deprive my soul of enjoyment?” This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.
The absence of a comforter is stated twice in one verse, and the passage that follows prefers non-existence to what it has seen.
Verse 1 is built around a repetition that is not accidental: they had no comforter, and then, after naming where the power sat, they had no comforter. The clause returns because the fact does. Oppression is bad; oppression with nobody on the other side of it is what the verse is about.
And the diagnosis of power is exact — on the side of their oppressors there was power. Not cruelty but leverage, held by the wrong party, which is how the book keeps describing public life Ecclesiastes 5:8.
Verses 2 and 3 then say something the rest of Scripture does not say often. The dead are praised above the living, and better than either is him who has not yet been. Non-existence ranked first, on one stated ground: he has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
The book will contradict this in six chapters, and the contradiction is deliberate — a living dog is better than a dead lion Ecclesiastes 9:4. What changes between them is not the evidence but the vantage: chapter 4 is looking at the tears, chapter 9 at the hope available to anyone still breathing.
Verse 4 finds the engine under the achievement: all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man's neighbor. Comparison is what drives it.
Verse 5 refuses the obvious escape — the fool folds his hands together and ruins himself — so idleness is not the alternative. Verse 6 gives the alternative instead, and it is a measured portion: better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind.
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