Ecclesiastes 8 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Ecclesiastes 8

Keep the King’s Command

8:1   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:¹ Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him.² 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.³ 6 For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble⁴ 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.

Those Who Fear God Will Do Well

10 Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised⁵ in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.⁶ 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.

Man Cannot Know God’s Ways

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 God 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.

Footnotes

[1] 8:2 Hebrew lacks say
[2] 8:2 Or because of your oath to God
[3] 8:5 Or and judgment
[4] 8:6 Or evil
[5] 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts forgotten
[6] 8:10 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also twice in verse 14 (see note on 1:2)

Commentary

v1: The wise man understands, for he has wisdom from God. His life is different through God's wisdom, and he has real joy.

v2-4: Proper respect for earthly authorities, as in Rom 13.1-7. The king is supposed to uphold good, and punish bad. Whilst he also may fall short of that standard, we must recognise his "supreme" authority. The power of an earthly king is pale before the Lord of Glory; He will do whatever He pleases, and His word is truly supreme.

v5-6: In light of the king's authority, we are commended to obedience and patience.

v7-8: The wise man recognises his own weakness, and that death will come to him, and this cannot be avoided. The wicked live as if death will never come; they have no sense of accountability.

v9: The preacher has addressed the issue of kings, and their authority. But here he sees that even having such authority is meaningless.

v10-13: The wicked enjoy prosperity, but they are forgotten, especially from the place of holiness. We should recall those who lived good lives; there is a concern that wrong doers are increasingly regarded as heroes.

Misdeeds are not punished, for the ruling authority often fails to execute judgment speedily. God however is patient, not inflicting judgment immediately upon sins. The carnal man, thinking that no punishment indicates divine approval, continues in his sins.

There is a test, whether a person fears God or not. There is a judgment to come, and the wicked will suffer loss. Even in this life, length of days and apparent comfort are not the full picture. The wicked man's life is a 'shadow,' being unreal.

v14: The appearance of injustice, when the righteous suffer, and the wicked prosper. Yet the appearance is not the full reality. We must not let our observations shake our faith in God. Solomon moves towards his conclusion that time and chance happen to all (9.11). With the observation recorded here, one can understand that conclusion.

v15: The response is enjoyment, an understandable response, given the injustice of this life. If we eat and drink and are glad, then will joy truly accompany us?

v16-17: We do not understand everything, for we do not see the whole picture; the work of God, in particular, is beyond our understanding. Human speculation cannot obtain the full picture. Only God sees all.