Part 2 of 3
In the last article, on Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:3, we saw how the problem of injustice in the law courts led the preacher to despair and uncertainty when he viewed life from a godless perspective. In this article, we’ll consider another problem which he observes, namely, the problem of oppression.
The Problem of Oppression (4:1-3)
Chapter 4 verse 1, “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.”
From the problem of injustice in the law courts and the problem of uncertainty about the afterlife and thus about ultimate justice, the preacher raises the issue of oppression in the world, particularly the exploitation of the powerless by the powerful.
Injustice in the court is only one aspect of oppression. When he steps out of court, the preacher observes that the weak and powerless are oppressed in many other ways as well.
For example, throughout history, there have been tyrants or tyrannical forms of government ruling and oppressing the people. Kings and those in authority who do not really care about the general populace but simply use them to accomplish their own purposes and ends.
Then after some time, a group of revolutionaries come along who stir up the people to rebel against the king or government, and they promise them freedom and liberty.
So the people, fed up with the oppression, rally behind these revolutionaries in rebellion and they succeed in overthrowing the oppressive authorities often at great cost and loss of lives. However, the problem is that these revolutionaries who take over often turn out to be just as oppressive if not worse than the previous regime.
You can read about this in allegorical form in George Orwell’s classic work entitled “Animal Farm.” It’s worth reading, if you haven’t read it before. Orwell, who was writing in the 1940s, was thinking about the rising Communism in Russia at that time.
But there are other forms of exploitation and oppression besides oppressive governments. Slavery, both past and present, employers taking advantage of employees, abuse of domestic helpers, wife abuse, child abuse, ill treatment of refugees, discrimination of minority groups, and other forms of socio-economic and political oppression and so on.
But coming back to our text, the preacher’s focus in this section is not just the oppression of the weak and powerless but it is the absence of any comfort and hope for those who are oppressed.
He says, “behold the tears of the oppressed! There is no one to comfort them.” And again, he repeats the phrase “there is no one to comfort them.” This repetition expresses his great sadness and despair about the situation.
He stands helplessly by and is not able to do anything about it. He sees the oppressed cry out for help but there is no one to come to their aid. He sees their tears flow down but there is no one to comfort them. Oh the misery of the oppressed! What shall be done for them? How shall they escape their misery?
And so in utter despair, he gives us his conclusion in verse 2, “Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.”
In other words, one is better off dead than to continue living in such a world. Why? Because those who are alive must continue to be aware of oppression and sometimes even be subject to it, whereas the dead are totally unaware of and free from it. Death is viewed here as a kind of relief or anesthesia against the harsh realities of life. So it’s better to be dead than alive in such a world.
But the preacher goes beyond that in verse 3, when he says, “Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.” In other words, it’s better to be dead but it is even better to have never lived than to have lived and died.
Non-existence is better than being dead. Why? Because the dead, after all, had to experience the world of oppression for a season whereas those who have not been born are spared of all that misery.
A similar thought is expressed by the prophet Jeremiah when his soul was deeply sorrowful. He says in Jeremiah 20:18, “Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame.”
Job too had that feeling when he lamented, “Let the day perish wherein I was born and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived…Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? Or why the breasts that I should suck? For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest.” (Job 3)
The point of Jeremiah, Job and the preacher in our text is the same: it is better not to have lived at all than to live and experience all this suffering and oppression and injustice. Happy is the man who is dead but even happier is the man who has never been born! What a sad and miserable conclusion.
Now take note that it is very possible for a true believer, who is experiencing great trials and discouragements in life, to think and feel that way too. The difference, however, is that the true believer does not remain in such a state forever whereas the unbeliever has nowhere to go, and no one to turn to for real help and hope.
Now before we move on to talk about the solution to the problems which the preacher has observed, let’s summarize what he has been saying.
He begins by observing the lack of justice in the very place that ought to be synonymous with the word justice, namely, the courts of law. That leads him to think that God shall someday judge the righteous and the wicked. But then a very different thought quickly comes to his mind – maybe God has allowed all this injustice to happen because He wants to show human beings that they are really no different from the beasts in the sense that both men and beasts die and return to the dust.
And not only that, but the preacher expresses uncertainty and even skepticism about the afterlife. Who knows for sure what happens to the spirits of men and beasts after death? And so he recommends simply enjoying the present and the things that you have now.
Next, the preacher observes that there is much oppression in the world and that the oppressed ones cry out for deliverance but there is none to console or comfort them, and none to deliver then from the power of the oppressor.
The situation is so miserable that the preacher concludes that it is better to die than to continue living. In fact, it is better never to have been born in the first place!
In the next article, we will consider the solution to these problems…