"7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken."
Ecclesiastes 4:7-12
Next, the Preacher observes a man who is alone; but it is loneliness in a particular context, for he is speaking about a man who makes money his sole aim in life. That is what makes for his loneliness and isolation. Two New Testament illustrations come readily to mind - the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10, and the parable of the Rich Farmer in Luke 12:16-21. Zacchaeus was isolated from his fellows by virtue of his tax gathering activities, and cordially hated by them, and remained so until Christ encountered him and broke into his isolation. The rich farmer in the parable lived in an isolation of his own making - there are more 'I's and personal pronouns in that little parable of a few verses than almost anywhere else in the New Testament. He was absolutely alone, and no one was ever allowed to break into that forlorn and miserable existence of his until it was too late. Here then, is someone who contracts out of society, out of communication with his fellows, in his sad preoccupation. He is a lone wolf, going it alone. There are those who think that 'going it alone' is a sign of strength, but the Bible would be inclined to say that it is a kind of sickness. And the antidote it prescribes is: two are better than one. As the Psalmist puts it, 'God sets the solitary in families'. It is worthy of notice that the Apostle Paul always seemed to be supplied with some companionship in his arduous missionary journeyings. There was always somebody there, God saw to that. Apart from his last spell of imprisonment, when he said 'No man stood with me', he had the comfort and encouragement of companionship in his labours. How heartily would he have endorsed the Preacher's statement in 9!