Ecclesiastes Chapter Four, Falling Alone

Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. [10] For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.

The Tanakh renders verse 9, “Two are better off than one, in that they have greater benefit from their earnings.” The NASB translates it, “they have a good return for their labor.” The HCSB reads, “They have a good reward for their efforts.” The idea here is one of professional companionship, or a business partner. A business partner must be like-minded, since their venture will make or break their prospects and fortune. We read in Amos, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” Amos 3:3.

The Apostle Paul also cautions on being yoked together with an unbeliever if one is a saint. The notion is simple: like oxen yoked together, they pull with the same capacity and power because they are alike. A believer and unbeliever are, from a spiritual view and hence worldview, opposite. They would be unequally yoked, entering into a partnership that is imbalanced, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. For the saint, a business venture of any magnitude would be to the glory of God, since it is our Lord that enables us and gifts us with the skills we need to succeed. The natural man, or unsaved man, does not have this worldview, and thus would found his venture on opposing ideals, creating conflict at the very outset or core of the partnership. 

Another concept that the preacher details here is that no man is an island. Humanity is not individually autonomous; we are all accountable to one another in our dealings. There is the saying, “many hands make light work.” Solomon wrote, “Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed,” Proverbs 15:22. A man alone is an easy target; a man with companions has strength in numbers, not only quantity, but diversity of thought, insight, perspective and expertise.

Further, if one man hits a slump, his companion is there to rouse him and help him back to his feet, as it were. The preacher warns that the man alone could fall prey to falling without recovery, since, like the man that wasted his life working to work in verse 8, he has no one to strengthen or support him. Oftentimes in Scripture we find men working together toward a mutual goal, since doing so alone would have been ludicrous. In Nehemiah, for instance, when the Jewish refugees returned from captivity, they built the city of Jerusalem with a sword in one hand, while others stood vigil in case their enemies assaulted them, Nehemiah 4:17, 18. Numbers prevailed and the city was built, by God’s providential care as He gave Nehemiah wisdom on how to manage the business effectively. Mind you, even Nehemiah was not alone, but had Ezra, Zerubbabel, and Joshua the High Priest, among the remnant of the Jews that returned with him. 

Perhaps the ultimate expression of this is the church. We read, “For the body is not one member, but many…If they were all one member, where would the body be?” 1 Corinthians 12:14, 19, NASB. This business is family owned with a singular goal and mindset to bring Christ’s message of reconciliation with God via the gospel to a lost world. “For we are God’s fellow workers,” 1 Corinthians 3:9, NASB. The worker earns wages, and the workers employed work toward the same goal. The church expresses this idea with a heavenly symmetry. Of course the Christian’s ultimate partner in this life is God the Holy Spirit, who will always pick us back up and direct us in the right way.