Better Unborn?

Start here: http://biblehub.com/nasb/ecclesiastes/4.htm

Could it be that it is better to be dead than alive? If that is the case, could it be even better if you had never been born? Solomon seems to think so. There is corruption in the courthouse, and in the church house, and in the school house, and as such, the cry of the oppressed is faintly heard if at all, and often ignored. 

For us who have to go about the business of living, it is going to be difficult. We’re going to work, and it going to be hard. Some people are going to do nothing, but they will reap the consequences of that (eventually). Then there is the wisdom that being poor, and living a quiet life might not be so bad. Many wealthy people wish their life was as simple one. I think about Johnny Cash’s song, “Country Boy”.

There is also this single guy, and he works harder than anyone, and for what reason? In the end, who is he going to leave it to?

It is better to work hand in hand with someone else; you will stay warmer, and if you ever get in a fight, you will win.

And in the end, a young wise man is better than an old fool, but still, whatever he does he will be forgotten eventually. (I find this amusing because Solomon may well have been talking about himself.) 

Now, go get em…

Or maybe that is not all.

Who will cry out for the poor? And who is it that will lead wisely? And who will be the faithful friend?

Remember that the message of Ecclesiastes in part is that what we see around us is futile. Because of this, we hanker for Heaven. We have a sense of homelessness that leads us to home.

From this hopelessness can spring hope. Sometimes it is only in seeing the impermanence of what we desire that we can finally long for God. 

Maybe Solomon was not saying any the above, but I suspect that he was.