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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Ecclesiastes 8:9 - 8:17
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Over Against Tyranny and Injustice
v. 9. All this have I seen and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun, in seeking proper explanations of all the various circumstances in life, the question of tyranny also engaged his attention; there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt, for in exercising oppression the tyrant damages his own cause, 1 Kings 12.
v. 10. And so I saw the wicked buried, in an honorable burial, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, where they sat as God's representatives, and they, the godly people, were forgotten in the city where they had so done, namely, in living an honorable and upright life; this is also vanity, namely, the unequal distribution of destinies in human life.
v. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, many flagrant offenses going unpunished on account of the slowness or the miscarriage of justice, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil, for in such circumstances criminals will feel safe in assuming that punishment will not strike them.
v. 12. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, so that, to all intents, he is safe in his sinning, yet surely I know, in spite of the apparent evidence to the contrary, that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him, the godly finally receiving the recognition which God intends for them;
v. 13. but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, the punishment of God is bound finally to strike him; because he feareth not before God, Psa_73:18-20.
v. 14. There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, a circumstance which shows the emptiness of the present life, that there be just men, true children of God, 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, this strange commingling and interchange of fortunes being one of the riddles of the universe; I said that this also is vanity, it seemed to emphasize the futility of this world.
v. 15. Then I commended mirth, a proper and godly cheerfulness, because a man hath no better thing under the sun than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry, in the right use of God's gifts and blessings; for that shall abide with him of his labor the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun, it is the one sure thing to be enjoyed from earthly work.
v. 16. When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth, the travail and trouble caused by his anxious search for the grounds and aims of human action, fate, and life; (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes, in his anxiety knowing no rest;)
v. 17. then I beheld all the work of God, he made this observation with regard to all the works of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun, he is unable to solve all the mysteries which present themselves to him; because, though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it, the mystery being beyond human understanding; yea, farther: though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it, and all human speculations regarding the motives of God in the government of the world are futile. Full and absolute trust is required on the part of God's children.