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| Photo credit: Gretchen Shaw |
1 Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:
I saw the tears of the oppressed—
and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
and they have no comforter.
2 And I declared that the dead,
who had already died,
are happier than the living,
who are still alive.
3 But better than both
is the one who has never been born,
who has not seen the evil
that is done under the sun.
(Ecclesiastes 4:1-3, NIV)
This passage speaks to the utter despair and loneliness that many poor and oppressed persons experience.
In verse 1, we are confronted with the fact that those who undergo the deepest forms of suffering and experience it the most frequently are also those who have the least support to cope with it. Their miseries are severe yet no one seems to notice, no one sees their hurt. We also learn that while the poor are the most common victims of injustice, they have no comforter because those who have the power to help are the ones benefiting the most from the broken systems that keep the poor in oppressive circumstances. History affirms this truth: the dominant culture in society has always been naive to the way things work against the lower classes.
As unsettling as the description of verse 1 is, the author makes a more shocking statement in verse 2. Here he states that those in the grave are better off than those who continue to exist with oppressive burdens. On the surface, this seems like an awful thing to say. Doesn't the Bible teach the sanctity of every human life, no matter how lowly one may appear to be? However we interpret this verse, we cannot dismiss these words as being flippant (12:10); they are the result of seeing the anguish that is common to the poor.
The wise Teacher draws our attention to the fact that oppression and heartache are simply the facts of life for the poor. However, I don't think that this is the main point in the passage. The real evil that this passage draws our attention to is the unawareness and/or apathy of society’s mainstream toward the despair of the poor. In other words, it’s bad enough that the poor are made to suffer so often, but it is far worse that they are suffering alone with no one to comfort them. The writer states this truth in a matter-of-fact tone; we as believers should be scandalized by this reality.
We have a High Priest who is able to sympathize with us because he sacrificed his comfort to identify with us in our struggles (Heb 4:15). In addition to dying for our sins (something we cannot imitate) he also became “familiar with suffering (Is 53:3) and “carried our sorrows” (Is 53:4).
- How are we doing at demonstrating the empathy of Christ?
- Are we aware of all the heartache of our neighbors?
- Do we mourn with those who mourn?
- Or have we segregated ourselves and our families, pursuing comfort and safety to the extent that we have isolated ourselves with the poor out of sight and out of mind?
“You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them,
and you listen to their cry” (Psalm 10:17).
Andrew Vincent
avincent@advancememphis.org
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