Ecclesiastes 8:1-17
1 Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldnessa of his face shall be changed.
2 I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no dischargeb in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
16 When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)
17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
Ecclesiastes 8:1. Who is as the wise man; and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? In the Vulgate these two questions end the seventh chapter, to which they evidently belong. Placing them at the head of a new chapter, confuses the sense. A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine. It is surprising how strikingly the intellectual powers, and the moral qualities of the soul are seen through the countenance. Art and courtly graces are all hypocrisy here. We must be as innocent as the children, to look as innocently. A mind improved by wisdom, a heart inspired with the love of God, and delighting in piety and holiness, will change and hallow the aspects of a carnal man; while, as the LXX read, he that has an impudent look shall be hated. Wisdom has an intelligent aspect, and virtue an open countenance.
Ecclesiastes 8:2. Keep the king's commandment, as all his servants have sworn to do. He is a monarch, who knows nothing in those about him but obedience: his anger is a storm that must not be resisted. If this be the law of earthly courts, what then is due to the supreme Being? By him kings reign, and princes decree justice.
Ecclesiastes 8:6. To every purpose there is time and judgment. This whole passage seems to be a caution against sedition, revolt, and rebellion, by which the misery of man is great in the earth. He knows not what shall be the event of war, nor when the day of death shall come. Neither has any man power to retain his spirit, when the body shall cease to breathe. In our warfare with death, and all its train of evils, there is no discharge; no hiring of a substitute; money is of no value in that exchange. The emperor Adrian addresses his soul, as flying into every avenue, and hiding in every retreat of the body, to shun the arrest of death, as a bird flutters in the cage to avoid the invading foe. So HORACE, book 2. ode 13.
What though, where thundering lightnings play, The coward sculks from death?
In vain for death, a subtle foe, Pursues where'er he flies; And where he least expects the blow, Even there the dastard dies.
Ecclesiastes 8:10. I saw the wicked buried, characters distinguished by their nobility, and more so by their errors and sins. The readings vary here. The LXX, “I have seen the wicked buried, and carried (in splendid processions) from the holy place; and they returned, and were eulogized in the city, [by a venal orator] for what they had done.” Funeral orations had this character. The orators sent all their heroes to the field of Elysian delight; but Solomon had his silent doubts. The gospel respecting the Sadducee, destitute of charity, has no doubt. In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments. Luke 16:23.
Ecclesiastes 8:11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. See Proverbs 29:1, where similar words occur, and Psalms 10:11.
Ecclesiastes 8:12. Though a sinner do evil a hundred times. Though he enjoy long life and prosperity, it only proves that providence in this world is beclouded; but putting all cases of the righteous and the wicked in the balances, it will very clearly demonstrate that there is a God who judges in the earth. The righteous suffer in excellence of temper; they are armed with patience and are joyful in hope, while the wicked are far otherwise. The afflictions of the one work for good, but the sorrows of the other tend to death.
Ecclesiastes 8:14. There is a vanity which is done upon the earth. The substance of all these verses is repeated from the preseding Chapter s, to place the facts in a fuller and clearer view. The word “vanity” is repeated here to show that the good things, alike enjoyed by the virtuous and the profane, are not the best things; and by reversion, the evils which they both suffer are not the final sufferings for sin. The abstruse ways of providence, notwithstanding the nuances attendant on diversity of character, are to be studied, and studied with a view to improve the moral condition of man.
REFLECTIONS.
In recreations for health there is nothing unreasonable; the mind requires relaxation from office, from labour, and study: a bow always bent, loses its power. But all our pleasures should be of a hallowed character, and associated with delight in God. Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say rejoice. “When Solomon commends mirth, and says, he had valued pleasure above all things, he speaks of reasonable pleasures, which proceed from a lawful and moderate use of the goods that God has given us, which have nothing in them irregular and contrary to piety.”