Ecclesiastes 8
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Chapter 8
Things that we have no power to control
1. Who is like the
wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his
face shine and the hardness of his face is changed.
2. I say: Keep the
king’s command, because of God’s oath to him.
3. Be not hasty to
go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does
whatever he pleases.
4. For the word of
the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
5. Whoever keeps a
command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time
and the just way.
6. For there is a
time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him.
7. For he does not
know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?
8. No man has power
to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge
from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.
9. All this I
observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man
had power over man to his hurt.
The apostle Paul was not setting a precedent, when he
counselled the Romans to be subject to the civil authorities. The precedent was
set in the Old Testament and it was not determined by the word of a powerful
king, but it was a divine injunction. It is wisdom to abide by this rule for,
as much as possible, there should be order on earth. Roman rule had its flaws
and injustices, but in the center of its government, Paul commands the church
to be orderly and submissive citizens.
Wisdom is necessary in order to deal in government
matters and it will find the correct way to interpret a given situation and
have understanding of it. Especially upon receiving wisdom from God, with the answer
comes conformity and even a softening of facial expression; even beyond that,
it will shine with contentment and satisfaction. This is the beauty of wisdom
and its effect upon the whole personality (v.1).
A preacher cannot speak with his own advantage in view,
but must advocate God’s case. Therefore Solomon is not promoting his own
position as king, who might demand obedience, but as a messenger for God and
for the good of the people. We quote again the great principle, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom”. The person who fears God will wisely respect the one, whom He has
appointed. We return to Paul’s teaching in the book of Romans: “There is no authority except from God, and
those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the
authorities resist what God has appointed” (Ro.13:1,2). We note the
consistency of Scripture, as Solomon instructs the reader to obey the ruler’s
command, because he holds God’s seal upon his appointment (v.2).
Be careful of your
attitude towards the ruling authority, because it is not in your interest to be
rebellious. You are not in a position to question his decision. Don’t leave his
presence in anger, but take his word into serious consideration, because there
is not a higher earthly court to appeal to. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Mt.22:21). Be
willing and ready to admit the possibility of being wrong, always keeping in
mind the old adage, “to err is human” (v.3, 4). The heart that trusts God will
react properly, leaving the matter in His hands, looking for another time and a
better way to handle the matter that he needs to bring before the authority
(v.5). It may weigh heavily upon him and he may feel desperate, still timing
and manner must be taken into account. Wisdom teaches us to wait upon God,
understanding that His ways are not our ways (v.6). Hope in God’s word: “The king’s heart is a stream of water in
the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will” (Pr.21:1).
We stand helpless, often fearing the unknown, before the
predetermined will of God. “My times are
in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and my persecutors” (Ps.31:15).
What treasures lie in these books of wisdom, from Job to Song of Solomon! The
soul of man is privileged in every way to be able to turn to God’s word. He
learns from a history that goes back to creation. He learns of the essence of
God, by turning to His law. He has the prophets, major and minor, to see the
faithfulness of God in fulfilling His word, as well as giving him insight into
the future. Above all, he has the Gospels to give him hope in Christ and the
teachings of the apostles, to show him how to walk before God. The book of
Revelation takes him to the end times and shows him the Millennium, followed by
the eternal state of a new heaven and earth.
Yet God has kept many things from us that lie in the
realm of the unknown. It is in these areas, where the only answer is to trust
our Lord. Wisdom teaches us not to look elsewhere for answers. Particularly, we
must avoid all the supernatural traps of Satan. What God has hidden, who can uncover?
(v.7) The Father sent His Son to redeem us and give us new life and sent His
Spirit to be in us. He is the Spirit of power and truth, but the power of life
and death still lies in God’s hand and we have nothing to say or do to change
His sovereign will. We have no more control over the day of our death, than we
had over the day of birth (v.8).
We are not volunteers in the struggles of life and death,
we are drafted, and there is no discharge. Those who go AWOL, do not
escape. Likewise there is no escape from
death; it claims 100% of its victims. It is in this matter that money fails
those, who put their trust in it. “Riches
do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death” (Pr.11:4).
The love of money, does not only refer to the miser, but to the lover of
security. He looks to money for protection from calamity and old age; this also
is the “root of all kinds of evil” (1
Ti.6:10).
Solomon has also observed this avenue of life under the
sun and he argues from its perspective. He sees the imperfection of human
authorities, as well as the imperfection of the one who is subject to it. There
is no guarantee that suffering will be relieved or that a judge’s decision can
solve a problem. In fact, it may well add to the pain (v.9).
Fearing consequences or fearing God
10. Then I saw the
wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in
the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.
11. Because the
sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the
children of man is fully set to do evil.
12. Though a
sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will
be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.
13. But it will
not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow,
because he does not fear before God.
Long before the Pharisees existed, there have been
religious hypocrites. They date back to Cain, who offered to God that, which he
had grown in his garden. God refused it. There have always been hypocrites, but
we should not conclude that they are all insincere. There are many who are
deceived to the extent that they walk sincerely down the path of religion,
hoping that it will lead them to the right destiny. They go in and out of the
holy place; they walk in and among the righteous. Whether they are sincere or
not, they are all wicked before God, although there standing before men may be
praiseworthy. They may accomplish humanitarian goals that are honorable. The
history of the church has taught us this lesson of vanity well (v.10).
Self-righteousness is the epitome of vanity!
Verse 11 gives us a deep philosophical problem. If
judgment were executed immediately, upon the commitment of an evil deed, it
would be easy to see that “crime doesn’t pay”. Upon the very small child, it is
wise to catch him in the act of wrongdoing, disobedience or rebellion, so that
his infant brain can understand the cause of his punishment. During the course
of life, the reason for punishment will not be so clear to him. Years go by,
before the consequences of his deeds, fall upon the sinner. Because he feels no
immediate pain, he continues in his evil practices. Sometimes by the time he
falls victim to them, years have passed and he has forgotten the wicked cause.
The Bible gives stern warning: “You have
sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out” (Nu.32:23).
Some will not know until the flames of hell torment their souls.
God, in His wisdom, has purposed that it should be so. He
has given a conscience, as part of His image in a human being, and it is towards
his own well-being that a person be obedient to it. It is for this reason that
preaching is needed. Solomon declares that although the consequences of sin are
not so easily discerned and the habitually-practicing sinner lives a long life,
still it pays to fear God. This knowledge is instilled deep in the heart of the
one, who knows God. The wise man is not taught to fear consequences; he is
taught to fear God. This is the reason behind the slow turning of the wheels of justice. Hypothetically speaking,
if there were no penalty for sin, the righteous, that is, those who fear God,
still would not practice sin. Solomon simply states a self-evident truth: They
fear God because they fear God! (v.12)
The story of the ones who fear God always has a good ending.
It is not the story of the wicked, who has not begun the walk of wisdom through
the fear of God. Therefore, though he prolongs his earthly life, he will meet
justice after death. Whatever he has experienced in this life is like a
deceptive shadow and he has never known the true reality and purpose in living.
Always keep the setting of the book in mind: Life under the sun. The sun does not reveal the final destiny of
the soul, therefore you cannot trust your eyes or ears. This is what Solomon
knows and preaches: You must trust the word of God and fear! (v.13)
Inconclusive evidence under the sun
14. There is a
vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it
happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to
whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also
is vanity.
15. And I commend
joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be
joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that
has given him under the sun.
16. When I applied
my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how
neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep,
17. then I saw all
the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun.
However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a
wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.
When Paul’s ship was destroyed off the isle of Malta, he
was busy gathering kindling for a fire to warm the crew, when a viper fastened
to his hand. “When the native people saw
the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, ‘No doubt this
man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed
him to live’” (Ac.28:4). This was the superstitious conclusion of people,
who judged according to the inconclusive evidence that they saw under the sun.
When they saw he suffered no harm, “They
changed their minds and said that he was a god” (Ac.28:6). This also was
untrue.
Solomon learned in God’s wisdom that this is vanity. He
has said it before, but he repeats it for emphasis, because repetition is a
great teacher (2 P.1:12-15; 3:1; Jude 1:5). Under the sun, bad things happen to
good people, and good things happen to bad people (v.14). Many times the righteous are not rewarded in
this life, nor do the wicked receive their worthy recompense. We need to see
that there is no conclusive evidence for judgment under the sun. Jesus taught, “Do not judge by appearance, but judge with
right judgment” (Jn.7:24). Isaiah said concerning the coming Messiah: “He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear” (Is.11:3).
Let us briefly follow Matthew Henry’s comments on this
verse: “He saw wicked men to whom it
happened according to the work of the righteous, who prospered as remarkably as
if they had been rewarded for some good deed, and that from themselves, from
God, from men. We see the just troubled and perplexed in their own minds, the
wicked easy, fearless, and secure… the just crossed and afflicted by the divine
Providence, the wicked prosperous, successful, and smiled upon… the just
censured, reproached, and run down, by the higher powers, the wicked applauded
and preferred. He would have us to take occasion hence, not to charge God with
iniquity, but to charge the world with vanity.”
Concerning verse 15, we also need to emphasize the
setting under the sun. The preacher is piercing with his two-edged sword into
the conscious soul of earth’s inhabitants, and twists it, in order that they
feel the deep impression of his claim that all else is vanity. Solomon
recommends the only thing this life has to offer, that is the legitimate joy of
a merry meal. It will give him some respite from the curse of Adam, the curse
of fallen man, which he has inherited: “Cursed
is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your
life; thorns and thistles it shall bring for you… By the sweat of your face you
shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Ge.3:17-19). He is to
enjoy the legitimate pleasures that
God has given, during his time on earth. Unless blessings from on high are
experienced, this is the maximum that this present life has to give.
In Solomon’s 24/7 quest for wisdom to understand life on
earth, he concludes that there is nothing to learn, but that all is vanity. I
tried, he said, but I failed, and the philosopher, who claims that he has found
out the meaning of earthly existence, is a liar. “He cannot find it out” (v.16, 17). There is nothing to be learned
from vanity. That being the case, Solomon has a single message: “All is vanity
!”
The only thing of value here is the work, which God is
carrying out, and He has declared, “My
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways… for as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways…” (Is.55:8,
9). The disciples prove to us that even followers of Christ are only in the
process of learning His ways, for they often misunderstood His actions. We
spend our entire lives learning those ways, and whereas we make progress, to be
sure, even eternity will not give us enough time to fully understand. It is
because, He is God and we are but weak humans.
The one way that we learn is through the Holy Spirit,
even as Moses: “He made known his ways
to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel” (Ps.103:7). His ways warm our
hearts, we yearn to know them and He is gracious to teach us, but we must rest
in confidence that He is sovereign and is working for eternal good. As the
preacher, we find nothing here to satisfy our redeemed souls.
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