Ecclesiastes 4:4

The Preacher has just looked at the oppression of the powerless, and concluded that the dead are better off than the living, and those not yet born better off still, because they have not seen the evil done under the sun (Ecclesiastes 4:1–3). “Again, I considered” turns his eye to a second sorrow. This time the trouble comes from within the human heart, and he finds it in the place we would least expect, in good work done well.

“Travail” is ʻâmâl, from the verb ʻâmal. It means toil and wearing effort, and also the worry and pain that come with hard work. “Every right work” translates kishrôwn maʻăseh, work that is skilful, successful and well done. So the Preacher takes the best case he can find: diligent labour that produces something excellent. Such work ought to earn satisfaction and respect, and what he sees instead is “that for this a man is envied of his neighbour.”

The word for envy, qinʼâh, means jealousy, envy or zeal, from a verb meaning to be zealous, jealous or envious. Elsewhere it can name a right zeal, but here it is the bitter kind, the resentment one person feels at another’s success. The “neighbour”, rêaʻ, is the person close by, someone we live and work beside, and that closeness is what makes envy sting. In Israel a man’s livelihood and standing rested on his labour, and success in the field, the workshop or the market was there for every neighbour to see.

This refrain runs through the whole book, from the opening cry, “Vanity of vanities” (Ecclesiastes 1:2), to the Preacher’s judgment on all the works done under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:14). The word for vanity, hebel, has the base sense of breath or vapour, and in use it means futility, something that slips away and cannot be held. Here it describes the emptiness a man is left with when his success is met with envy, so that his effort brings him no lasting reward.

“Vexation of spirit” is rᵉʻûwth rûwach. The first word means a grasping after, and the second is rûwach, from a verb meaning to blow or breathe, with the senses wind, breath and spirit. That is why many translations render the phrase “chasing after wind” or “striving after wind”. The KJV’s wording puts the weight on the frustration it leaves in a person, and the other rendering puts it on the futility of the effort itself. Both are in the phrase, because effort spent on grasping the wind leaves the one who grasps it frustrated.

“Under the sun” is the Preacher’s way of looking at life within this world alone. Seen that way, even diligence and skill end in vanity. Seen in the light of God’s purposes, the same work can be received as his gift, as the next verses and the rest of the book go on to show.

Verse 5 turns to the opposite road. If envy drives one man to wear himself out, the fool takes the other path and does nothing at all. The word kᵉçîyl means “fool”, which Strong’s explains figuratively as stupid or silly, from a root meaning to be fat. In the wisdom books the fool is a familiar figure who turns away from wisdom and instruction, and his folly shows in what he does.

What he does is fold his hands. The verb châbaq means to clasp, used of the hands or of an embrace, and folded hands are hands at rest when they ought to be working. It is a picture of idleness chosen on purpose. Proverbs uses the same picture: “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man” (Proverbs 6:9–11). It comes again at the end of the field of the slothful (Proverbs 24:33).

Verse 6 gives the Preacher’s answer to both of the men before it. “Better” is ṭôwb, the ordinary word for good, which covers what is pleasant, beautiful and right, and here it works as a comparison. The sentence takes the shape of a proverb, a wise judgment set down so that it can be remembered.

“An handful” is kaph, the hollow of the hand or the palm, the small amount that one hand can hold. It stands for enough. With it comes “quietness”, nachath, which means rest and ease, a settled mind free from agitation. On the other side are “both the hands full”. “Hands” there is chôphen, the closed fists, and “full” is mᵉlôʼ, fullness, so the picture is of a man with two fists clenched around as much as they can carry. His fullness comes “with travail and vexation of spirit”. “Travail” is the same word ʻâmâl as in verse 4, the wearing toil, and the refrain from verse 4 closes the line.

So the one hand is open and at rest, and the two hands are clenched and weary. The man of verse 4 ends with both hands full and no peace, and the fool of verse 5 ends with nothing. The handful with quietness lies between them: work done and its fruit received, with a heart at rest. Proverbs makes a like comparison when it sets a little with the fear of the LORD above great treasure gained with trouble (Proverbs 15:16). Paul says he had learned to be content in every state (Philippians 4:11–13), and he joins godliness with contentment (1 Timothy 6:6–8). In a world that keeps pressing us to acquire more and to measure success by what we own, this verse calls a quiet handful the better portion.

Jesus himself was handed over out of envy. Pilate knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy (Matthew 27:18, Mark 15:10). He who deserved all praise “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). He sought no earthly fame to stir anyone’s jealousy, and he bore the envy and hatred of others for our sake.

In him our work finds a new motive. We work heartily as to the Lord, who gives the reward (Colossians 3:23–24). We are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10), and our labour is “not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Jesus tells us to lay up treasure in heaven, “where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:19–21), to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33), and to remember that a man’s life lies elsewhere than in the abundance of what he owns (Luke 12:15).

The quietness the Preacher longs for is what Jesus offers: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He gives a peace the world cannot give (John 14:27). Against the fool who eats his own flesh, he says, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger” (John 6:35). And where envy is a work of the flesh, his Spirit bears love, joy, peace and goodness in his people (Galatians 5:22–23).

These verses tell the truth about work in a fallen world. Even our best labour can be soured by envy, whether it is envy we feel or envy we stir in others, and idleness offers no escape, because it eats up the idle. God gives us something better than both: honest work, a portion that is enough, and a quiet heart to enjoy it.

The God who shows us this is the God who provides. He gives the handful, and he gives the quietness with it. In Christ he has borne the envy of men, given his people bread that satisfies, and promised rest to all who labour and are heavy laden. A single open hand, held out to receive what he gives, is the better portion.