Ecclesiastes 4:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He recounted: “I built myself houses, I planted myself vineyards, I made myself gardens and groves, I made myself reservoirs, I got myself servants and maids, and I had households; I also had property of cattle and small livestock, I gathered to myself silver and gold like sand; I made myself singers and singers, cupbearers and cupbearers” (Eccl. 2:4-8). Now, given such a wealth of possessions, pleasures, and delights, what is his own conclusion? “And I have pleased the dead,” he states, “more than the living; and more blessed than both of them is he that hath not yet existed.” The assessment of pleasures by one who has tasted them is truly remarkable. If someone who has endured poverty and suffering voiced such criticism of pleasures, it could be perceived as condemnation born not from fairness but from ignorance. However, when the critique comes from one who has experienced all these pleasures and scrutinized each aspect of them, the judgment becomes indisputable.

This notion does not indicate that those yet to be born exist prior to their birth and enjoy a state free from the burdens of a physical form; rather, it suggests that nonexistence is preferable to a life filled with sorrow. Concerning Judas, the Lord remarking on his impending sufferings stated: ‘It was better for that man not to be born’ (Matthew 26:24), meaning it was more favorable for him to have never existed than to endure eternal anguish. Some interpret this to mean that the dead are in a better condition than the living, even those who were once sinners, since the living continue to confront struggles, metaphorically imprisoned by their physical bodies, while the dead are free from danger and have ceased from wrongdoing. Similarly, John, who was not greater than those born of women, is considered lesser than even the least in the kingdom of heaven. Once liberated from the weight of the body, he no longer has to echo the sentiment of the Apostle, ‘I am a penitent man, who shall deliver me from the body of this death’ (Romans 7:14). Both the living and the dead stand in a more advantageous position than one who is not yet born and has not encountered the adversities that afflict humankind in this world. Before descending into these earthly bodies, our souls reside in elevated realms, finding blessing as long as they dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem and in the presence of the angels.

Shifting from personal endeavors, the preacher considers the collective actions of humanity, beginning with the advantages found in the close fellowship of two or three individuals (8-12), and later addressing the union of many into a single society under the reign of rulers (13-16). He observes a fool, lacking reverence, accruing debts to God; another who, devoid of true devotion, offers sacrifices; and yet another who, in a state akin to dreaming—motivated by a fleeting impulse of the heart—makes a vow to God but fails to fulfill it, thus provoking divine anger (4: 17-5: 1-6).