4I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
5The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
6Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
7Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, "For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
9Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Adam Smith and other die-hard capitalists might have been happy with Qoheleth, who maintains that we are locked in competition with our neighbor. Envy, greed for what we do not have, is the perverse ethical choice that motivates and moves us humans forward. There are but two exceptions. There are those who profess to have no ambitions: "The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh" (4:5). Inactivity and laziness leads to poverty—self-cannibalism.
There is also a positive, but rare alternative, namely, contentment. "Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind" (4:6). More turns out to be less. What this proverb advocates is a happy middle way, modesty in consumption and modesty in economic drive. Such a person will be able to enjoy whatever good things life offers and be content with it. A New Testament perspective is outlined in 1 Timothy 6:6-10: "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing let us be content therewith … For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some who coveted it have strayed from the faith, and pierced themselves with many sorrows."
Such is the fate of the man in the delightful vignette about the lonely, childless Scrooge, who pursues riches for the sake of riches to the limit without ever gaining peace and satisfaction. What is the point of it?
All this underscores the fact that you need to be part of something bigger than yourself and your own agenda. 4:9-12 hints at this truth by commenting on friendship, companionship, and fellowship. We humans were never meant to be individualists, each one striving for his personal ends, and thereby destroying one’s own life. God expressed this when at the beginning he said, "It is not good that man should be alone" (Gen. 2:18). Not even the family is enough for the Christian to have the fullness of life that Christ intends for his people. We need the body of Christ, and our relationship to the local church is crucial in our walk of faith, even though many think they can go alone. God does not think so, and spirituality that is not grounded in the fellowship of the saints is sure to remain fruitless.
But even human fellowship is incapable of affording rest for our souls. We need an even bigger cause. We need intimacy with God, in whose image we were created, and "image" implies—among other things—fellowship. Without this fellowship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we cannot be what we were meant to be, nor can we have true fellowship with each other.
Cultivate this intimacy with God today and every day of your life. In closing this reflection, let me draw your attention to Col. 3:9-17. Read this passage. Can you hear, can you see the vision of the true communal life? It is not Paul's utopia; it is God's vision. Do we allow him to bring it about? If you want to have a part in it, then you must also accept God's definition of power and contentment, embodied in Christ.
The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.
© 2025 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
