Ecclesiastes 4.7, 8

⁷Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun:
⁸There is one alone, without companion:
He has neither son nor brother.
Yet there is no end to all his labors,
Nor is his eye satisfied with riches.
But he never asks,
“For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?”
This also is vanity and a grave misfortune.

The Story: Here is a man who has missed a fundamental component of human experience. He has no one whom he needs to support by his work, and yet he works like a dog, so that he can satisfy all his lusts; yet his work isn’t pleasurable. He “can’t get no satisfaction,” we might say. He is a slave to his passions, and works to satisfy them, but he can never find in material success what he is missing in human relationships. He’s so busy trying to satisfy his lusts that he doesn’t even stop to consider that perhaps he’s looking for meaning and purpose in life in the wrong place. He doesn’t have to work so hard, having no one else to support. And working like he does doesn’t satisfy what he really needs – which he might find in meaningful relationships, if he were so inclined. He’s trapped in the getting-and-spending lifestyle and the bumper sticker on his chariot asks, “Are we having fun yet?” Under the sun men’s inner needs drive them, but their limited perception hijacks their needs into one dead-end after another.

The Structure: These two verses bridge to the next part of this sub-section on relationships. He’s been talking about man alone, but he is moving to a section on relationships. So he sets it up by showing this man who’s so busy working to satisfy his cravings that he can’t even think about relating to others. These days we hear complaints that the world is becoming an increasingly impersonal place. Everyone has a number; phones are answered digitally; politicians troll for votes with recorded messages; neighbors cocoon in their homes; no one seems to know my name. Our modern/postmodern world can seem too busy for meaningful relationships, and, as Solomon asserts, this too is vanity and an unhappy business.

Do you see any of this in your own circle of friends – people too busy with making money to take the time for meaningful relationships? Is this the way God intends us to live?

Each week’s studies in our Scriptorium column are available in a free PDF form, suitable for personal or group use. For this week’s study, “Frauds, Follies, and Fleeting Joys: Ecclesiastes 4,” simply click here.

T. M. Moore

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.