Ecclesiastes 4:10

Chapter 4 is the Preacher’s survey of life “under the sun”, and most of what he sees is grievous. He sees the tears of the oppressed, who had no comforter, and he counts the dead, and those not yet born, more fortunate than the living (Ecclesiastes 4:1–3). He sees that much hard work is driven by envy of a neighbour (Ecclesiastes 4:4), and that the fool who folds his hands ruins himself (Ecclesiastes 4:5). Then he comes to a lonely worker (Ecclesiastes 4:7–8): “There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour” (Ecclesiastes 4:8). The Preacher calls that life vanity and “a sore travail”.

Verse 9 answers that man directly: “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.” The word for better, ṭôwb, is the ordinary Hebrew word for good in its widest sense, covering what is pleasant, prosperous and right, so two are better off in every way that counts. The reward, sâkâr, is the word for wages, payment or fare, what a hired man is paid for his work. And labour, ʻâmâl, means toil and wearing effort of body or mind, often with trouble and grief in it. It is one of the Preacher’s favourite words for the weariness of work under the sun. He asks elsewhere, “For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 2:22–23). Here that same weary word has a good reward attached to it, because the toil is shared. The lonely man’s work was hebel, vanity, a passing breath. Done with a companion, the same work bears fruit.

The people who first heard this lived by their hands, in fields, among flocks and at the workbench, and much of that work was hard and dangerous for one person alone. A reward meant a harvest brought in, a trade completed or a day’s wages paid. Israel lived in families, clans and tribes, and a person’s place among them was part of who he was. The Preacher’s praise of companionship fits that whole way of life, and it stands out sharply against the isolation he has just described in the ambitious and the oppressed.

“For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.” The “they” are the two of verse 9. The verb to fall, nâphal, is used for a literal stumble or collapse and also, in other places, for failure, defeat and even death. To lift up is qûwm, “to rise” or “to stand up”, and in the form used for helping another it means to raise someone or set him up. One companion takes the other by the hand and gets him back on his feet. The word for fellow, châbêr, means an associate, companion or friend, and it comes from a root meaning to knit together. A fellow is someone joined to you, who cares what happens to you.

Then comes the other side: “but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” Woe, ʼîy, is a cry of lament and pity. The word for another, shênîy, means “second” or “other”. The man who falls alone has no second person, and so he stays where he fell.

For the people of that day this was a real danger. A man travelling alone was exposed to robbers, to accidents on the road and to sudden illness, with no one to send for help. The Preacher’s woe describes what actually happened to people who had no one.

“Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?” The word “Again” is gam, meaning “also”, “even” or “yea”, and it adds a second example to the first. To lie down, shâkab, is used for lying down to rest or sleep, and also for sexual union and for death. Here it means lying down for the night. The verb for heat, châmam, means to be hot or warm, and here it is the plain warmth of two bodies close together. The “one” of the question is ʼechâd, the ordinary number one, which can also mean “first”. Here it is a man by himself.

Nights in that land could be bitterly cold. Houses had little or no heating, and travellers and shepherds often slept outdoors or in rough shelters, so sharing warmth could matter to life and health. The Preacher’s question needs no answer, since everyone knew a man alone in the cold has no way to get warm. The warmth of this verse is also a fitting picture of what companions give each other: comfort, encouragement and the security of knowing someone is beside you.

“And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him.” The picture now is of an attack. A man alone can be overpowered by an enemy or by a hardship too great for him. To withstand is ʻâmad, the ordinary verb “to stand”, and two who stand together hold their ground where one would go down. The word for one is again ʼechâd.

Then the Preacher closes with a proverb: “and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Threefold is shâlash, which means to be threefold, to do a third time or to divide into three. Cord is chûwṭ, a string or thread. A single thread snaps easily, and threads twisted together make a rope. Rope was an everyday tool in Israel, used to draw water, bind sheaves, hold down tents and lift heavy loads, and anyone who had used it knew that several strands hold where one would break. The count climbs from one to two to three, and with each step the strength grows. The Preacher says “not quickly”, so the cord of three holds long under strain, though in this world even it has limits.

These verses rest on the first thing God called not good. When he had made the man, he said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18). God himself is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the people he made in his image are made for fellowship with each other. We grow stronger together, as the proverb says: “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17).

So the Preacher, who sees so much vanity under the sun, finds here a real good. Shared life has a reward, gives help in trouble, comforts in the cold and stands firm under attack. Companionship is part of the life God means his people to have, and the Bible later calls believers to “consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” and to keep meeting together (Hebrews 10:24–25).

Jesus lived out what these verses praise. He lived in constant communion with his Father: “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do” (John 5:19). He chose twelve to be with him and share his work (Luke 6:12–16), and when he sent them out he sent them “by two and two” (Mark 6:7). In Gethsemane he asked his disciples, “tarry ye here, and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38).

He is also the one who lifts us when we have fallen, and the fall he lifts us from is the fall into sin and death. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He promises his presence to every believer: “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). He calls us to “Abide in me, and I in you” (John 15:4), and he sends the Holy Spirit, “another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16).

Through his Spirit he makes his people one body (1 Corinthians 12:12–27): “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27). In that body no one falls alone. “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26). So we are told, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2), to comfort others with the comfort God gives us (2 Corinthians 1:4), to “exhort one another daily” (Hebrews 3:13), and to “love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Peter 1:22).

This fellowship also stands together against opposition, as the two of verse 12 do. Believers strive “together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27), with one mind and one mouth to glorify God (Romans 15:5–6), keeping “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). Jesus prayed for this very unity, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” (John 17:21). Of the church he built he said, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). And the labour we share has its good reward, for “of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23–24).

These verses ask two things of us. The first is to be the fellow who lifts. When someone near you falls, through trouble, grief or sin, the Preacher’s picture is of a companion who is there, reaches out a hand and helps him up. That means being present, giving practical help, listening, and meeting weakness with grace.

The second is to let ourselves be lifted. The lonely man of verse 8 had no one, and much of the world around us praises standing on our own. God made us to give help and to receive it, in marriage, in family, in friendship and in the church. Invest in the friendships and the fellowship he has given you, carry your burdens to people who will help bear them, and build your closest bonds on the Lord. A cord twisted together in him is not quickly broken.