Ecclesiastes Chapter Four cont... Remain on the vine or the result is despair.

2 “Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive”.

Having the wrong perspective on life causes one to make queer statements. Here is one example; Solomon who is looking at things from a strictly humanistic perspective (which ignores Gods part in the whole equation) concludes that ones who are already dead are better off! A million times over NO!! Those who are dead have no more breath to labor, no more opportunity to lighten others loads, no more opportunity to have His holiness worked out in their life. This statement does not even consider where their eternal abode is. This statement is reckless and disparaging, it bespeaks of Solomon’s backslidden condition.

Solomon is the one who said: Proverbs 18:21 "Life and death are in the power of the tongue" and Proverbs 4:23 "Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life!” and yet he did not practice what he preached. Solomon did not make sure he walked in his own counsel. This causes shipwreck and makes one lose the victory through a cloud that overshadows their minds.

3    “Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun”.

He carries this erroneous statement farther by saying "Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been..." In other words: "better yet is he that was never born". This is the statement of one who has completely lost his perspective of the eternal bliss that awaits the righteous. Other men, who were godly, came to a place of discouragement (e.g. Job; Elijah; Jeremiah) albeit, they do not adopt Solomon’s gloomy assessment of all humanity, they simply say, in a momentary lapse of discouragement, it would have been better had they not been born. They recover from their discouragement and are restored to a more positive outlook whilst Solomon’s outlook never seems to change. One who no longer serves the Lord, one who has forfeited their access to the Lord will often adapt this attitude, once they know the Lord has departed. To keep a joyful and triumphant attitude on life we must remain on the True Vine and in communion with the Lord.