Ecc. 4:2

[Quantrill]

I find this verse very intriguing. "Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive."

I believe the author is saying more than 'I praised the dead more than the living'. Else he would have just said that.

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[B-A-C]

Evil Under the Sun
Ecc 4:1; Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.
Ecc 4:2; So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.
Ecc 4:3; But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

It seems to be saying to it's better to be dead than to go through great oppression.

 

[Quantrill]

Evil Under the Sun
Ecc 4:1; Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.
Ecc 4:2; So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.
Ecc 4:3; But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

It seems to be saying to it's better to be dead than to go through great oppression.

Then he could have just said, 'I praised the dead more than the living', Correct?

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[Quantrill]

I believe (Matt. 8:21-22) provides some explanation here. "And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury the their dead."

In other words, here the 'dead' are physically alive yet are identified as 'dead'.

So, when (Ecc. 4:2) says, "I praised the dead which are already dead", he is speaking of the dead who have died as opposed to the dead who are still alive. And when it says "more than the living which are yet alive", he speaking of the living which are alive now as opposed to the living not yet alive.

I believe (Ecc. 4:3) supports this when it says, "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."

Why would this matter? My opinion at this time is because it identifies the people as the living and the dead even prior to their being born.

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