Chapter commentary
Ecclesiastes Chapter 4
1
Ec 4:1-16.
English original
Ec 4:1-16.
1. returned--namely, to the thought set forth
(Ec 3:16; Job 35:9).
power--MAURER, not so well, "violence."
no comforter--twice said to express continued suffering without any to give comfort
(Isa 53:7).
2
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2. 這句話若脫離上下文便是褻瀆之語；但就所羅門的主旨而言卻恰如其分。若不將宗教納入考量
(Ec 3:17, 19)，
則儘早死去爲妙，免得受苦或目睹「欺壓」；更妙的是根本未曾出生
(Ec 7:1)。
約伯
(Job 3:12；21:7)、
大衛
(Ps 73:3
等）、耶利米
(Jer 12:1)、
哈巴谷
(Hab 1:13)
都曾經歷同樣的困惑，直到他們進入聖所，越過眼前看見將來的「審判」
(Ps 73:17； Hab 2:20；3:17, 18)。
那時他們才明白，在徹底刑罰惡人之前需要有所遲延，或爲留悔改的餘地，或爲積蓄忿怒
(Ro 2:15)；
在徹底賞賜敬虔人之前也需要留出餘地，好讓信心在患難中得以試煉並堅忍
(Ps 92:7-12)。
然而，神即使現今也常以未來審判的部分預兆作爲憑據，使我們雖然面對種種難處，仍確知神治理這地。
English original
2. A profane sentiment if severed from its connection; but just in its bearing on Solomon's scope. If religion were not taken into account
(Ec 3:17, 19),
to die as soon as possible would be desirable, so as not to suffer or witness "oppressions"; and still more so, not to be born at all
(Ec 7:1).
Job
(Job 3:12; 21:7),
David
(Ps 73:3,
&c.), Jeremiah
(Jer 12:1),
Habakkuk
(Hab 1:13),
all passed through the same perplexity, until they went into the sanctuary, and looked beyond the present to the "judgment"
(Ps 73:17; Hab 2:20; 3:17, 18).
Then they saw the need of delay, before completely punishing the wicked, to give space for repentance, or else for accumulation of wrath
(Ro 2:15);
and before completely rewarding the godly, to give room for faith and perseverance in tribulation
(Ps 92:7-12).
Earnests, however, are often even now given, by partial judgments of the future, to assure us, in spite of difficulties, that God governs the earth.
3
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3. 沒有見過*——即未曾經歷*。
English original
3. not seen--nor experienced.
4
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*4. 災*——宜譯作「通達」（參閱
Ec 2:21)。
人所貪求的通達，正是惹起欺壓
(Ec 4:1)
與「嫉妒」的根源，遠不能構成至善。
English original
4. right--rather, "prosperous" (see on
Ec 2:21).
Prosperity, which men so much covet, is the very source of provoking oppression
(Ec 4:1)
and "envy," so far is it from constituting the chief good.
5
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5. 然而，
愚昧人（即* wicked*的欺壓者）即使在今世也不足羨慕；他「抱着手」閒懶無爲
(Pr 6:10；24:33)，
靠着不正當奪取他人之物過活；因爲這樣的人
*喫自己的肉*——即是個自我折磨者，永不滿足，他的心靈自我吞噬
(Isa 9:20；49:26)。
English original
5. Still the
fool (the wicked oppressor) is not to be envied even in this life, who "folds his hands together" in idleness
(Pr 6:10; 24:33),
living on the means he wrongfully wrests from others; for such a one
eateth his own flesh--that is, is a self-tormentor, never satisfied, his spirit preying on itself
(Isa 9:20; 49:26).
6
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6. 希伯來文作：「一滿掌的安靜，勝過雙拳滿握的勞碌。」「安靜」（來自誠實勞碌的心理安寧），與「喫自己的肉」
(Ec 4:5)
相反，也與爲得利而焦慮勞碌相反
(Ec 4:8； Pr 15:16, 17；16:8)。
English original
6. Hebrew; "One open hand (palm) full of quietness, than both closed hands full of travail." "Quietness" (mental tranquillity flowing from honest labor), opposed to "eating one's own flesh"
(Ec 4:5),
also opposed to anxious labor to gain
(Ec 4:8; Pr 15:16, 17; 16:8).
7
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7. 一項虛空描述於
Ec 4:8。
English original
7. A vanity described in
Ec 4:8.
8
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*8. 無二*——沒有同伴。
*子*——「子或弟兄」泛指任何繼承人
(De 25:5-10)。
*眼目*——
(Ec 1:8)。
吝嗇者也無法解釋自己的癡迷。
English original
8. not a second--no partner.
child--"son or brother," put for any heir
(De 25:5-10).
eye--
(Ec 1:8).
The miser would not be able to give an account of his infatuation.
9
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*9. 兩個人*——與「一個人」
(Ec 4:8)
相對。聯合的紐帶——婚姻、友誼、宗教的相交——勝過吝嗇者自私的孤獨
(Ge 2:18)。
*賞賜*——因他們同工而有益處。
《他勒目》說：「沒有同伴的人，如同左手沒有右手。」
English original
9. Two--opposed to "one"
(Ec 4:8).
Ties of union, marriage, friendship, religious communion, are better than the selfish solitariness of the miser
(Ge 2:18).
reward--Advantage accrues from their efforts being conjoined. The Talmud says, "A man without a companion is like a left hand without the right.
10
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10. 若是跌倒*——若這人或那人跌倒，正如兩人*都可能發生的那樣，即跌入身體、心思或靈魂的任何困境中。
English original
10. if they fall--if the one or other fall, as may happen to both, namely, into any distress of body, mind, or soul.
11
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11.（參閱
1Ki 1:1)。
此意象取自夫妻，但普世適用於從社交紐帶而來的溫暖同情。基督徒的連結也是如此
(Lu 24:32； Ac 28:15)。
English original
11. (See on
1Ki 1:1).
The image is taken from man and wife, but applies universally to the warm sympathy derived from social ties. So Christian ties
(Lu 24:32; Ac 28:15).
12
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*12. 一人*——指仇敵。
*三股合成的繩子*——諺語，喻指多人的聯合——例如夫、妻、兒女
(Pr 11:14)；
基督徒也是如此
(Lu 10:1； Col 2:2, 19)。
將繩散開，各股便容易「折斷」。
English original
12. one--enemy.
threefold cord--proverbial for a combination of many--for example, husband, wife, and children
(Pr 11:14);
so Christians
(Lu 10:1; Col 2:2, 19).
Untwist the cord, and the separate threads are easily "broken."
13
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13. 「三股合成的繩子」
[Ec 4:12]
所論的社交紐帶，引出政治的題目。即在此事上，他也斷言王權並不能賜人持久的幸福。那「智慧」的孩童，雖是假設的所羅門之例，在聖靈所預見的事上，正應驗於耶羅波安；他當時是個貧窮卻勇敢的少年，曾是所羅門的「僕人」，並
(1Ki 11:26-40)
蒙神借先知亞希雅指定爲將要從羅波安分裂出去的十支派之王國的繼承人。那「年老愚昧的王」正應驗於所羅門自己，他不顧神兩次的警告
(1Ki 3:14；9:2-9)，
離棄了神，便喪失了他的智慧。
*不肯納諫*——還不知道如何受警戒（參邊注）。神已借亞希雅暗示將臨到所羅門的審判
(1Ki 11:11-13)。
English original
13. The "threefold cord"
[Ec 4:12]
of social ties suggests the subject of civil government. In this case too, he concludes that kingly power confers no lasting happiness. The "wise" child, though a supposed case of Solomon, answers, in the event foreseen by the Holy Ghost, to Jeroboam, then a poor but valiant youth, once a "servant" of Solomon, and
(1Ki 11:26-40)
appointed by God through the prophet Ahijah to be heir of the kingdom of the ten tribes about to be rent from Rehoboam. The "old and foolish king" answers to Solomon himself, who had lost his wisdom, when, in defiance of two warnings of God
(1Ki 3:14; 9:2-9),
he forsook God.
will no more be admonished--knows not yet how to take warning (see Margin) God had by Ahijah already intimated the judgment coming on Solomon
(1Ki 11:11-13).
14
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*14. 出監牢*——所羅門用此語指一假設之例；例如約瑟從坑中升至埃及的宰相。同時，他的話也被聖靈如此安排，實際上應驗於耶羅波安；他曾逃往埃及的示撒，以躲避所羅門所加的「監牢」與死亡
(1Ki 11:40)。
這種對自己與羅波安命運的無意預示，正構成其中的反諷。大衛在掃羅手下從貧窮流亡中被升高（這可能是所羅門心中所想的），與耶羅波安的高升在某種程度上恰好相應。
*至於……貧窮*——宜譯作「雖然他（那少年）在他國中（在他將來要治理的地上）生來貧窮」。
English original
14. out of prison--Solomon uses this phrase of a supposed case; for example, Joseph raised from a dungeon to be lord of Egypt. His words are at the same time so framed by the Holy Ghost that they answer virtually to Jeroboam, who fled to escape a "prison" and death from Solomon, to Shishak of Egypt
(1Ki 11:40).
This unconscious presaging of his own doom, and that of Rehoboam, constitutes the irony. David's elevation from poverty and exile, under Saul (which may have been before Solomon's mind), had so far their counterpart in that of Jeroboam.
whereas . . . becometh poor--rather, "though he (the youth) was born poor in his kingdom" (in the land where afterwards he was to reign).
15
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15. 「我見活着的」一切人，即現今這一代，與那「第二少年」（即「老王」的「合法繼承人」，與那要從貧窮升至王位的首先論及的「貧窮少年」相對），即羅波安的關係。
*代替他*——指老王的位。
English original
15. "I considered all the living," the present generation, in relation to ("with") the "second youth" (the "legitimate successor" of the "old king," as opposed to the "poor youth," the one first spoken of, about to be raised from poverty to a throne), that is, Rehoboam.
in his stead--the old king's.
16
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16. 儘管他們如今敬拜那如日方升的儲君，我卻思想到「在他們以前的所有人」——即過去的一代——的愛慕新奇之心，「無節制、不穩定
(2Sa 15:6；20:1)、
無止境」；
*後來的人*——即下一代——
*不喜歡他*——即不喜歡羅波安。平行句的「不喜歡」確定了「無節制」之意——即沒有恆久的歸順，雖然如今人都歡喜他。
English original
16. Notwithstanding their now worshipping the rising sun, the heir-apparent, I reflected that "there were no bounds, no stability
(2Sa 15:6; 20:1),
no check on the love of innovation, of all that have been before them," that is, the past generation; so
also they that come after--that is, the next generation,
shall not rejoice in him--namely, Rehoboam. The parallel, "shall not rejoice," fixes the sense of "no bounds," no permanent adherence, though now men rejoice in him.
Ec 4:1-16。
1. 我又轉念——即回到先前所提的思想
(Ec 3:16； Job 35:9)。
*勢力*——MAURER 譯作「強暴」，並不甚妥。
*無人安慰*——重複兩次，以表達持續不斷的受苦卻無人給予安慰
(Isa 53:7)。