Solomon’s reflections in Ecclesiastes 4:1–8 read like a tour through the darker corners of human relationships. He begins with oppression, describing a world where the powerful crush the powerless and neither side finds comfort. His despair is so deep that he remarks it might be better never to have been born than to witness such cruelty. That is not exactly the sort of verse anyone stitches on a decorative pillow, yet the point is clear: people are not objects to be used for pleasure, privilege, or position. Albert Speer’s description of Hitler in Inside the Third Reich reinforces this sobering reality. He wrote that Hitler “could fascinate, but he could not respond to friendship… At the core of the place where his heart should be, Hitler was a hollow man.” Where love is absent, both oppressor and oppressed remain comfortless. Comfort is a gift that grows only where genuine care exists, and it withers when people are treated like tools rather than treasured lives.
Solomon then shifts from seeing people as objects to seeing them as rivals. He observes that much human effort springs from envy: “A man’s skill in his work comes from his envy of his neighbor.” The ancient world apparently had its own version of keeping up with the Joneses. Solomon calls this relentless striving “chasing after the wind,” a poetic phrase that gently suggests the futility of trying to grab what cannot be held. John Bunyan pictured this in Pilgrim’s Progress when Pilgrim met the man with the rake who stared only at the ground, searching for treasure in the dirt while a celestial crown hovered above him. He never looked up and missed the glory entirely. Many of us understand that posture. We study schedules, emails, and anxieties with great concentration while overlooking the people standing beside us. The finest gifts often arrive in ordinary relationships, yet they can be missed while we chase something that promises satisfaction but never delivers.
Finally, Solomon addresses the illusion of isolation. He describes the person who decides, “I do not need anyone.” C. S. Lewis warned that a heart locked away from others may become “unbreakable, impenetrable, and irredeemable.” The New Testament offers a different vision through Jesus Christ. He declared, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Paul added, “We are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25). Jesus did not live as a rock or an island. He entered human loneliness, shared meals, wept with friends, and gave Himself for others. In Him, relationships find healing and purpose, and the hollow places of the human heart discover fullness.