Why does Java7 installation fail with the error "`GLIBC_2.4' not found" in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4?

Issue

• The Java7 installation process in RHEL4 fails with the following error:

[root@test ~]# rpm -ivh jdk-7u25-linux-x64.rpm 
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:jdk                    ########################################### [100%]
Unpacking JAR files...
    rt.jar...
/usr/java/jdk1.7.0_25/bin/unpack200: /lib64/tls/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.4' not found (required by /usr/java/jdk1.7.0_25/bin/unpack200)
Error: unpack could not create JAR file:

    /usr/java/jdk1.7.0_25/jre/lib/rt.jar

Please refer to the Troubleshooting section of the Installation Instructions
on the download page.
.
.
.
    localedata.jar...
/usr/java/jdk1.7.0_25/bin/unpack200: /lib64/tls/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.4' not found (required by /usr/java/jdk1.7.0_25/bin/unpack200)
Error: unpack could not create JAR file:

    /usr/java/jdk1.7.0_25/jre/lib/ext/localedata.jar

Please refer to the Troubleshooting section of the Installation Instructions
on the download page.
[root@test ~]# 

• And running the command java results in the following error:

[user@test ~]$ java
Error: dl failure on line 864
Error: failed /usr/java/jdk1.7.0_25/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so, because /lib64/tls/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.4' not found (required by /usr/java/jdk1.7.0_25/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so)
[user@test ~]$