The Treacherous Trio: Envy, Laziness, and Quiet Desperation
Introduction: The Grind Under the Sun
The book of Ecclesiastes is a divine diagnosis of the human condition "under the sun." Solomon, the Preacher, holds up a mirror to our frantic, sweaty, and often meaningless activity. He is not a nihilist telling us that nothing matters. He is a realist, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, showing us that nothing "under the sun" can bear the weight of our ultimate hopes. If you try to make this world your final resting place, you will find it to be a bed of thorns. If you try to find ultimate meaning in your work, your success, or your leisure, you will find that you are striving after wind.
The Preacher is not trying to drive us to despair, but rather to drive us out of our false shelters. He wants to show us the futility of a life lived apart from God, so that we might learn to live a life wholly dependent upon God. He wants us to see that the world is smoke, hebel, vanity, so that we will stop trying to grab it and instead learn to receive every good thing in it as a gift from the Father's hand. This is the great paradox of Ecclesiastes: only by acknowledging the futility of it all can we begin to truly enjoy it all.
In our text today, Solomon examines three common responses to the daily grind of life. He looks at the ambitious workaholic, the lazy fool, and the man who tries to find a quiet middle ground. What he reveals is that without a God-centered perspective, every path leads to its own particular brand of vanity. The world offers us a series of dead-end streets, and the Preacher, like a good pastor, is putting up warning signs on each of them.
The Text
I have seen that every labor and every success of the work is the result of jealousy between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind. The fool folds his hands in embrace and consumes his own flesh. One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.
(Ecclesiastes 4:4-6 LSB)
The Engine of Envy (v. 4)
We begin with the Preacher's sharp diagnosis of our ambition.
"I have seen that every labor and every success of the work is the result of jealousy between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind." (Ecclesiastes 4:4)
This is a staggering observation. Solomon looks at the world of commerce, of innovation, of craftsmanship, of all the things that make the world go round, and he identifies the fuel in the engine. It is jealousy. The Hebrew word here is `qin'ah`, which can mean jealousy or envy. It is the burning desire not just to have what your neighbor has, but often to be what your neighbor is. It is the engine of a comparative life.
The man sees his neighbor's new chariot, and so he works nights to afford a better one. He sees his neighbor get a promotion, so he schemes and toils to climb higher. He sees the respect his neighbor receives, and it gnaws at him until he can outdo him. This is the spirit of our age, is it not? We call it keeping up with the Joneses. The Bible calls it sin. This kind of jealousy is a teeter-totter sin. For you to go up, in your own mind, the other person must come down. It is inherently relational and competitive.
Now, we must be careful. Scripture elsewhere commends diligence and hard work. Ambition itself is not necessarily sinful; Paul tells us to seek for glory, honor, and immortality (Rom. 2:7). The issue is the motive. Why are you laboring? Why do you want to succeed? Is it for the glory of God, for the good of your family, for the blessing of your community? Or is it because you cannot stand the thought of Bill down the street having a nicer lawn than you?
Solomon's point is that from the horizontal, "under the sun" perspective, the vast majority of human enterprise is driven by this sinful rivalry. And what is the result? Even when you succeed, even when you "win" the competition and get the promotion, the bigger house, the faster car, the Preacher's verdict is blunt: "This too is vanity and striving after wind." You have worked yourself to the bone, not out of love for God or neighbor, but out of a bitter rivalry with your neighbor. You have grasped the prize, and your hand is full of air. You have not found satisfaction, you have only set the stage for the next round of envy, either yours or someone else's.
The Folly of Inaction (v. 5)
From the striving workaholic, Solomon turns his attention to the opposite extreme: the fool.
"The fool folds his hands in embrace and consumes his own flesh." (Ecclesiastes 4:5)
Reacting against the madness of the rat race, the fool decides to opt out entirely. He sees the striving, the envy, the sweat, and he says, "Not for me." He folds his hands, a classic biblical posture of laziness and inactivity (Prov. 6:10). He is the sluggard, the man who refuses to labor. He thinks he has found a clever way to avoid the vanity of work.
But his solution is far worse than the problem. The Preacher's imagery is stark and grotesque: he "consumes his own flesh." This is not literal cannibalism, but rather a vivid metaphor for self-destruction. Through his idleness, the fool brings about his own ruin. His field grows over with thorns, his walls fall down, and his pantry becomes bare. He is eating himself out of house and home. By refusing to work, he is devouring his own substance, his own future, his own life. Laziness is not a neutral state of rest; it is an active state of decay.
This is a necessary corrective. Some might read verse 4 and conclude that if ambition is driven by envy, then all ambition is evil, and the best course is to do nothing. But this is the fool's logic. The Bible does not pit work against rest in this way. It pits godly labor against both envious toil and idle sloth. The fool's refusal to work is not a pious rejection of worldly vanity; it is a rebellion against God's creation mandate to be fruitful and take dominion.
The Wisdom of Contentment (v. 6)
Having shown us the two ditches on either side of the road, Solomon now points us to the road itself.
"One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind." (Ecclesiastes 4:6)
Here is the wisdom. It is not found in the frantic, two-fisted grasping of the envious man, nor in the empty, folded hands of the fool. It is found in a quiet contentment, a grateful receiving of God's provision. "One hand full of rest" is a picture of sufficiency. It is having enough, and knowing that it is enough.
This is not the "rest" of the sluggard, which is the rest of decay. This is the rest of a man who has done his work for the day and can now enjoy the fruit of it without anxiety. It is the rest of faith. The "two fists full of labor" describes the man in verse 4. He is grasping, clenching, striving. His hands are full, but his soul is empty. He has much, but he enjoys none of it because he is constantly agitated by his rivalry with others. His life is characterized by "striving after wind."
The wise man, by contrast, works with an open hand. He labors diligently before God, and then he opens his hand to receive whatever God is pleased to give him. And when he receives it, he enjoys it. He eats his bread with joy and drinks his wine with a merry heart, because he knows that God has already accepted his works (Eccl. 9:7). He is not defined by what his neighbor has, but by what his God has given. This is the secret that unlocks the whole book. The ability to enjoy the simple things, the "one hand full," is not something you can achieve by striving. It is a gift from God, given to those who fear Him.
Conclusion: From Striving to Sabbath
So we are presented with three men. The first man is driven by envy, working with two clenched fists, and finds only vanity. The second is the fool, who folds his hands and eats his own flesh. The third is the wise man, who has one hand full of rest. How do we become that third man?
The answer is not found "under the sun." The answer is found in the Son. The gospel frees us from all three of these follies. It frees us from the envious striving of the workaholic because in Christ, we are already fully accepted by the Father. We have nothing to prove. Our identity is not wrapped up in our performance or how we measure up against our neighbor. Our identity is "in Christ." He has already won the only prize that matters, and He has given it to us freely. We are co-heirs with Him. What could our neighbor possibly have that could make us jealous?
The gospel also frees us from the destructive laziness of the fool. We are not saved by our works, but we are saved unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10). We are given the Holy Spirit, who energizes us for fruitful labor. We work now not to earn our salvation, but out of gratitude for our salvation. We work hard, not to build our own little kingdom, but as faithful stewards in the kingdom of our God.
And finally, the gospel brings us into the true rest depicted in verse 6. Jesus says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). This is the ultimate "one hand full of rest." It is the Sabbath rest of the soul that comes from ceasing from our own works, our own striving, our own attempts at self-justification, and resting completely in the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is only when we have entered that great Sabbath that we are truly free to work with all our might, and to rest with all our might, receiving both our labor and our leisure as gifts from a gracious Father's hand.