# Ecclesiastes 4:4-12 & 5:10-6:9: What gain has the worker from his toil? ## Introduction The book of Ecclesiastes opens: *The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.* The question “what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun” is set just after a cry of “all is vanity” and a string of observations that make a person’s life seem like a small and fleeting thing. The question is one that the writer clearly intends his readers to ponder on because it is reiterated twice more in the early chapters of the book. In chapter 2 we read: *What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?* This time instead of showing us how small we are, Solomon reminds us of the frustrations, sorrows and difficulties in life. He makes a connection between a man’s vexation and the work he has to do. He then asks another question that points our attention away from ourselves and makes us think about our need for God “apart from him, who can eat or have enjoyment?”. The next time the question is reiterated is in chapter 3 where it says: *What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.* This time around the beauty in life is mentioned. Again Solomon talks about God, giving him credit for the beautiful things in life, also telling us that the ability to “take pleasure in our toil” is a gift from God to man. I think we are meant to have the question “what gain has the worker from his toil” in the back of our minds as we read through the book of Ecclesiastes. We are being encouraged to put aside all the things that may be on our minds and think about why we work at all, and to think about what we are hoping to get from it. The question is a personal one to each and every person. We are all destined to spend all our time here on earth doing something, whether it’s our work, tending the garden, watching TV, reading books, talking to people, going to sleep, eating or a million other things. To the unbeliever the message is that you cannot gain the things that you most desperately need. The things we might desire may not provide the fulfilment we expect. Jesus makes the same point when he said: *“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”* The message of the scriptures is that no amount of toil can earn us the approval of God. We are powerless to save ourselves and we need God. To believers the text is an important prompt because even though we are not saved by our works, God has given us important work to do. The question to believers is * are we doing it? * do we take pleasure in it? * and have the cares of the world choked us and made us unfruitful? ## Envy Ecclesiastes spends a good deal of time looking at vanity in our work in order to get us to think about what we are working for. In chapter 4 it says *All toil and skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbour. This also is vanity and a striving after the wind.* Ecclesiastes 4:4 This like a number of other verses in Ecclesiastes is not meant to be taken absolutely literally. Not all toil and skill come from a man’s envy of his neighbour. What it is saying is that a great many people are motivated to succeed in work from envy of their neighbour. Many people applaud ambitious people who are driven as the army adverts used to say to “be the best” ie better than the rest. But Solomon calls this drive to prove yourself better “vanity and a striving after the wind”. What is wrong with envy if it drives “toil and skill”? I think the scriptures point to several dangers. ## Frustration It’s not uncommon to hear people in films say things like “if you work hard, you can do anything”. However that is not what Solomon has to say on the matter. Later in Ecclesiastes he says: *I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all. Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.* Ecc 9:11-12 Time and chance overtake them all. No matter how strong you get you may not win the battle, no matter how hard you train you may not win the race, no matter how wise you are you may not be able to put bread on your table and no matter how discerning you are you may not make your fortune. So all your ambition to be the best may be thwarted by blind chance leaving you bitterly frustrated. However, even someone who succeeds in achieving the thing they set their heart on may not find the fulfilment they expected having got it. Feeling better than one person may feel good for a short time but then there may be another more successful person with which to compare yourself, and so the cycle continues. What if you reach the top? Sadly we read that even King Saul, the highest in the land was capable of being envious of his faithful servant David. *A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones* Ps 14:30 ## Distorted priorities More serious than the frustration the envious person feels is the distortion in their mind of a person’s worth. Envy can lead to people being cruel and dishonest. James gives the following warning to the early christians about envy *Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.* James 3:13-16 Paul gets right to the heart of the matter when he said to the Philippians: *Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.* Phil 2:3 Being humble and considering others as better than ourselves is surely a better way to live than in frustration and resentment at not being as good as someone else in your own eyes or the eyes of others. ## Laziness *The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.* Ecclesiastes 4:5 My wife told me that this is the verse in the Bible that tells you not to bite your fingernails. It may be about that but I think it is primarily talking about laziness. We’ve just had a passage which people might mistakenly think encourages us not to work hard. However, that’s not what Solomon is saying and in this verse he shows laziness to be just as vain as hard work motivated by envy. God - in part - made man to “work the ground”. In working we follow God’s example who “is working until now”. Some people can be envious of others in their laziness but lack the motivation to try and surpass them. This can lead to an endless resentment of the successful person, and of the people who admire them. Perhaps that is what is meant by the man eating his own flesh. Laziness is self destructive in other ways too. Physically we know that part of keeping our bodies healthy means making them do physical work. If we don’t do the work, our muscles waste away. Mentally it seems that if we do not exercise our minds, our mental capacity dims too. The alarming imagery in the verse is meant to warn us of the foolishness of laziness. In the metaphor the man succumbs to a twisted appetite by which he destroys himself, and laziness is just the same. *He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.* Ecc 11:4 & 6 Besides being self destructive the lazy person does not produce anything. In the verse I just read the uncertainty of the outcome of our labour should urge us to work harder so there is a better chance of some of the things we work at coming to fruition. Living in community as we do we all depend on the work of each other. There is an issue of fairness when you consider laziness. It is good that the strong look after the weak, and that those who cannot work are looked after by those who can, but it is bad when those who can work do not and take away from those who are in real need. Paul said to the Thessalonians *It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.* 2 Thessalonians 3:9-11 This may sound like a harsh saying, but when you consider the injustice of someone who is not in need taking from one who is, it makes perfect sense. Laziness robs us of physical health, it prevents us from learning and becoming wise and it creates poverty. ## Rest It seems like a deliberate thing that 4:5, a verse about laziness is followed by 4:6 a verse about rest which says: *Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after the wind.* Often wisdom consists of not being pulled to extremes. We have just considered the folly of not working enough. We are also called to consider the danger of running ourselves into the ground. Athletes have to be on guard against over training. It is known that the body does not grow strong without exercise, but it is principally during the periods of rest between exercising that the growth and the strengthening happens. An athlete who wants to be as strong as they can, can end up working too much, with too little time to rest in between working out and the result is that instead of the body becoming stronger, it becomes weaker. The body eats muscle as well as fat, injuries happen more easily, fatigue, physical and mental set in. It is not just in a physical way that we must be on guard against over work. *Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.* Ecclesiastes 12:12 In our academic learning we must also be on guard against the the tendency to over work. I remember how much I benefited from taking my Dad’s advice to do what the scriptures say and take a day of rest even when I was studying at my hardest and there were deadlines and lots still to learn. God knows that we need rest so from the beginning he has instituted one day in seven as a day for us to rest in. Working tirelessly may appear to be the thing that will allow us to achieve the things we want. It may also be a tactic to block from our minds the things which trouble us, but ultimately it becomes “a striving after the wind”. ## Companionship in our toil Next Solomon turns to consider the importance of companionship. Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 *Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one 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. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For 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! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.* Solomon considers it vanity to be alone. In the Proverbs he also says Proverbs 18:1 *Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire and breaks out against all sound judgement.* What is the man who has no other working for? There is a strong suggestion that his work is a distraction “so that he never asks, ‘For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?’”. Is this distraction intentional? It quite possibly is an intentional distraction from thinking gloomy thoughts but is it wise to distract oneself in this way? In chapter 2 Solomon points out that all the things he himself has acquired in his life will be given away after his death. All his toil is distracting the isolated man from asking “what is this all for?”. And it is a vain distraction because he doesn’t benefit himself from any of it, neither does he know if his goods will benefit anyone after him or be squandered. Contrasting this image of the isolated man we are encouraged to think about the benefits of companionship. The passage is commonly read out at weddings, it certainly applies to marriage but it applies more broadly than that to all our endeavours. Solomon points out several advantages to toiling together. * A good reward for their toil. We can’t all be good at everything, working together we can be more productive. * In my company we do construction work and one of our golden rules is “no lone working”. The reason for it is precisely the reason given in the passage, so that if the person falls, has an accident, is in danger of having accident, there’s someone to look out for them. * Warmth. If two lie together they keep warm. This almost certainly refers to the companionship of the marriage bed. It may well refer to emotional as well as physical warmth and closeness. * Protection from enemies. As well as looking out for one another to be safe from accidents, together we are safer from our enemies. * The passage ends by saying a threefold cord is not quickly broken. I’ve read various suggestions that two is husband and wife, three is God too. Or that two is husband and wife and that three is the addition of a child. I tend to think that it's not to be thought of so specifically. I think it’s meant to say “the more the merrier”. For those of us who believe in Jesus for forgiveness and eternal life we are looking forward to joining the heavenly multitude that no-one can count. Before creating Eve God said of Adam “it is not good for the man to be alone”. It is not just something that was true of Adam, it has been true of everyone ever since. It is not something that is true only for married people. We are encouraged by these passages to foster true community in our workplaces, families, neighborhoods and church. We should not walk by a lonely person, and we must not allow ourselves to become an isolated person. ## Greed Solomon now turns to consider greed. Ecclesiastes 5:10-17 *10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. 13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.* We’ve already considered how toil and skill in work can be motivated by a desire for reputation and for distraction from gloomy thoughts. We now consider how we can be motivated by a desire for things. Wealth is not a bad thing in and of itself. In fact it’s quite the opposite. God himself promises material prosperity to numerous people in the scriptures including Solomon. However as an end in itself it is futile. Solomon speaks out of personal experience as a man who amassed incredible wealth yet when in chapter two he considered all the things he gained he called it “vanity and a striving after the wind”. Here Solomon says that he who loves money will not be satisfied with money. It is looking for satisfaction in the wrong place. We’ve just considered the importance of companionship to all of us. Wealth doesn’t necessarily bring us the kind of companionship we desire and it is a sorry substitute for it. Solomon deliberately points out the ironies of a greedy person’s life: * They want to hold on to their money but they also want the luxurious things in life. Luxuries are often sold at a considerable mark up. When talking about the quality of a product you want to buy people often talk of the “law of diminishing returns” meaning that if you spend as little as possible you’ll get the lowest quality, spend a bit more and there’ll be a reasonable improvement, but for each little step up in quality, the step up in price gets bigger and bigger. When Solomon says “as goods increase they increase who eat them”, I take the phrase to mean something similar to “a fool and his money are quickly parted” * It is also ironic that the overindulgent greedy person will not get a good night’s sleep on his over full stomach, the labourer’s sleep is sweet whether he eats little or much. In my previous sermon I talked about how greed can lead to oppression. Greed is shown to have other bad consequences. It is hard to know what exactly is meant by “riches were kept by their owner to his hurt”. My thought is that instead of the greedy person enjoying the fruit of their labour, they become fearful of losing what they have, and the thought of people thieving their precious belongings from them plays on their mind and makes them suspicious of even their friends. Or perhaps the greedy person is so keen to hang on to the wealth they have that they deprive themselves of the basic necessities like Charles Dickens’ Scrooge who despite having mountains of cash shivers in a cold house, eating bad food to avoid spending his money. What is clearer is the evil this person is said to be drawn into by their greed. It says *“those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.”* Despite the fact that the greedy man wants to hold his wealth tightly, his desire for more leads him to recklessly stake his whole fortune in a bad venture. We are told he is the father of a son, his greed has led him to forget his responsibilities. The picture is a sorry one. This person prized their possessions so much that afterwards “all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger”. In the Proverbs we read this comparison between greed and generosity. Proverbs 11:24-28 *24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. 25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. 26 The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. 27 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it. 28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.* Jesus points out another irony in greed. *No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.* The greedy person may think that they are the master of their wealth. What Jesus is saying is that to the greedy person, just the opposite is true, the greedy are mastered by their money, they serve it, and it does not serve them. ## Dissatisfaction In the previous story we are told about a man who in his greed wagered everything to gain more and lost it. But Solomon goes on to relate another story where a man who does not lose everything still cannot find satisfaction. Ecclesiastes 6:1-6 *6 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place? 7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.* This shows us that even if the man who lost everything had not lost everything, he would not be much better off. The toil of acquiring wealth only to lose it is vanity but keeping it, only to be dissatisfied with it is also vanity. Speaking on the same subjects of greed and generosity, Jesus has this to say in the Gospel of Luke: *15 ... “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” 22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.* ## Conclusion Solomon looks at answers to the question *“what gain has the worker from his toil”?* From a number of different angles. He challenges us all to think about what we are working for and ask ourselves: is it worth it? We are encouraged to consider the vanity in: * Working to be better than those around us * Not working enough, being lazy * Working too hard and never taking time to rest * Working by ourselves, for ourselves without companionship * Working for the acquisition of money and goods for ourselves and the vanity this can lead to We should not be surprised to read of all the vanity and frustration we find in our work. After the fall in Genesis, God says to Adam *cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.* The curse is one that has carried through for all people, ever since. This vanity and frustration in our toil is a reminder to us of our sinful nature and the consequences of it. It is a reminder to us of out fragility, we can see that we do not have the power to save ourselves. Yet there is another side to work. God himself is a worker, after God had finished with his work of creation he looked at it and called it very good. God has made us in his image. Work itself is not a result of the fall, Adam worked before it just as God did. Even now there is satisfaction to be found in work. Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 *18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and see good in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.* Apart from God our toils and our struggles can seem vain, they can provide us with distraction, reputation, possessions, a sense of achievement, but they cannot stave off death, they cannot win us approval from God, we cannot know all the things we might be curious to know, they may not bear the fruit we hope. We cannot win God’s approval, but Jesus’ work, coming to earth, living the perfect life, taking the punishment we deserve can turn away God’s wrath from us and make us his adopted children. Without God we might find all our endeavors empty and futile. With God they become a way of understanding him better. When we find satisfaction in completing a job well, we understand a satisfaction that is somewhat similar to what God felt when he looked and he saw that his creation was good. It’s a good feeling to cook a meal that turns out tasty, to hang a door that doesn’t catch, to get a good mark in an exam, to do a good job for your boss. We can reflect on how in God’s eyes we ourselves are a work that he looks at and calls “very good”. We have nothing to prove in our work. Our eternal fate is not dependant on our work. Yet our work is an important thing. It is our God given task. I’ll close with the words of Paul Colossians 3:23 *23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ*