The Solomon Project-Ecclesiastes 4:4-8

I am sorry about last week. No blog: Income tax weekend. We pick up again this week at Ecclesiastes 4:4 and go through verse 8. Read the previous blogs to get the viewpoint and purpose behind this blog.

And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Ecc 4:4 NIV) This section deals with the person consumed with work. the author presents two opposite extremes here. The workaholic and the fool. The workaholic is one that has his entire sense of worth tied up in success. This means even at the expense of relationships. The author has even up to this point made a case for enjoying work and relationships and a relationship with God. But with this excess Solomon says that it is futile. Empty wind.

The other extreme is the fool. The fool folds his hands and ruins himself. (Ecc 4:5 NIV) The NET Bible (Bible.org) translates this literally and presents the true figure of speech that is there. The fool folds his hands and does no work, so he has nothing to eat but his own flesh. (Ecc 4:5 NET) This is the opposite of the workaholic. This person folds his hands together and ruins himself. The figure of speech suggests that this person is as self absorbed as the first but does nothing to keep himself alive. The cannibalistic nature of the fool here suggests that the fool is consumed with himself psychologically and emotionally. So consumed that he refuses to do anything to maintain his life or his lifestyle. Both the workaholic and the fool represent excess in living life.

Addicts live in extremes. Workaholics falls prey to the culture we live in. 70 and 80 hour work weeks, perfectionism and obsessive devotion to the profession are all lauded in our society. The author says that we are chasing after wind. It is very easy to become sober in one area only to act out in another. You may be sexually sober and in recovery but just as sick in the area of work. The fool sees nothing in life to which to give himself and wastes away desiring it. Both are polar opposites that characterize addiction: Excess and deprivation.

Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. (Ecc 4:6 NIV) Sometimes no one says it better than Solomon and that is true here. He presents the middle of the road. The way of serenity. Be content with tranquility rather than struggling and having emptiness. Jay Leno gives a good perspective on healthy competition. He states: Bill Maher and I are on against each other, and we're friends. He can do my show any time he wants, and I've done Politically Incorrect several times. There's no reason to think competition has to be adversarial. This is such a good statement. I have found that if you are good at what you do you will always have work.


Again I saw something meaningless under the sun: (Ecc 4:7 NIV) The author introduces the next observation with this phrase. It is as if he turns around and sees something else that has no meaning in life. It is an introductory phrase that is called a Pleonasm. He uses several words that could be summed up in one.


The next verse has to do with the relationships or lack thereof. A man who is all alone with no companion, he has no children nor siblings; yet there is no end to all his toil, and he is never satisfied with riches. He laments, "For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is futile and a burdensome task! (Ecc 4:8 NET) This person is a workaholic. The point is that he has accomplished much but has no one to share it with. Children and siblings are used to stand for the whole group. It is called a synecdoche a part stand for the whole. So he has no one in his family of origin or his nuclear family. His relationship is with wealth and the striving to attain it. He asks the empty question: "Who am I working for?" Addicted and compulsive people many times have alienated loved ones. Even in recovery they may lead a lonely existence. Recovery has to do with the honest and straightforward acceptance of the trail of hurt and anger that one has left behind. Then one begins to work at repairing those relationships. The relationship of mankind with his creator, work and each other can take on various shades of compulsive activity. Addiction covers emotions, shame grief and loss. It is easy to get lost in any of these things to avoid the pain.

Today ask God what you can do to change how you relate to these three things. An openness to the Creator will allow him to show you what needs to be changed. Ask Him to clear the wreckage of addictive and compulsive behavior from you mind and He will do that. Willingness to change is the beginning. Our time is up for today. So until next time: "Keep coming back it works if you work it and you're worth it."