Ecclesiastes 8
Section 5 – vs. 1-9 - There is no use in repining or
rebelling; true
wisdom counsels obedience to the powers that be, and submission to the
dispensations of
retribution awaits him. (I have as an entry in my commentary that Fidel
Castro was in decline – that being August 1, 2006 – CY – 2013)
1 “Who is as the wise
man?” - i.e. Who is
like, equal to, the wise
man? The somewhat sudden question occurs naturally after
the results of
the search for wisdom mentioned at the end of the last
chapter. The
thought is not, as in Hosea
14:9 and Jeremiah
9:12, “Who is wise?”
but — No one canl be compared
with a wise man; he has no compeer – “and
who [like him] knoweth the interpretation of a thing?” Who, so well as
the wise man, understands the proper relation of
circumstances, sees into
human affairs and God’s dispensations in the case of
nations and
individuals? Such a one takes the right view of life. The word pesher,
“interpretation,” occurs (peshar)
continually in Daniel, and nowhere else
and is Chaldaic. The Vulgate,
which connects these two clauses with
Ecclesiastes 7, renders, Quis
cognovit solutionem verbi? So the
Septuagint. The “word” or “saying” may be the question
proposed above
concerning the happy life, or the proverb that immediately
follows. But
dabar is better rendered “thing,” as ch.1:8; 7:8 – “a man’s
wisdom maketh
his face to shine,” - Septuagint, φωτιεῖ, - photiei - will enlighten,
illuminate. The serene light within
makes itself visible in the outward
expression;
the man is contented and cheerful, and shows this
in his look
and bearing. This is an additional praise of wisdom. Thus Ecclesiasticus 13:25-26,
“The heart of man changeth his countenance, whether it be for good or
evil. A cheerful
countenance is a token of a heart that is in prosperity” –
“and the boldness of his face shall be changed.” The word translated
“boldness” is עֹז, which means properly “strength,”
and is best taken of
the coarseness and impudence engendered by ignorance and want of
culture. Wisdom, when it fills the heart, changes the countenance
to an open genial look, which wins confidence and love.
A Wise Man’s Superiority (v. 1)
but the interpretation thereof.
A wise man — using the term in its widest
sense — has clearer insight than
ordinary mortals into the essences of
things.
Ø
The secrets of nature. He is qualified to understand and explain
phenomena which to ordinary
minds are mysterious and inscrutable.
Ø
The events of history. He is able frequently to trace the under-
currents moving society,
and bringing about occurrences which
to common minds are
inexplicable.
Ø
The wonders of revelation. He can discover in sacred Scripture
truths veiled to
unenlightened eyes.
Ø
The mysteries of grace. Possessed of an
unction from the
Holy One, he can
understand all things (I John 2:20,
27).
face to shine.” “It
scarcely needs a proof that the countenance
or front of
the head is
regarded in Scripture as THE MIRROR OF DIVINE
INFLUENCES upon the man —
of all affections, and of the entire life
of soul and spirit.” Many a poet, and seer, and martyr, and reformer,
and woman of the
finest fiber has at times had a face that has
looked like
porcelain with a light behind it”
(Joseph Cook -
‘Boston Noonday Lectures,’ 2nd series, p. 149).). The wise man’s
face
shines because of three things:
Ø
The light of truth in his understanding. The wise man is
essentially a child of
light. A luminous intellect makes A
RADIANT
COUNTENANCE!
Ø
The light of purity in his heart. There are faces which glow
and beam with a soft silver
sheen, as if they had shed off all that
was gross and material,
animal and brutish, and were spiritualized
into a fine ethereal
essence; because they reflect
upon their
surface the
pure, sweet, chaste, and holy emotions that stir
the clear depths
of their bosoms within.
Ø
The light of life in his conscience. In the wise man the
moral
faculty is not dead,
torpid, dull, and besotted; but alive, bright,
sensitive, and vigorous; and what Cook calls the solar look in
a face “arises from the activity of
the higher nature when
conscience is supreme” (Ibid.)
a wise man’s face is changed.”
“The coarse ferocity of ignorance” is in him
“transformed by culture” (Plumptre). What Ovid says of human learning —
it:
“Makes
manners gentle, rescues men from strife” —
is true of heavenly wisdom,
which is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
and easy to be
entreated,” (James 3:17). “Wisdom gives to a man
bright eyes, a
gentle countenance, a noble expression; it refines and
dignifies his
external appearance and his demeanor;
the hitherto rude
external, and the rude regardless, selfish, and bold deportment, are
changed into their contraries” (Delitzsch). The change may be:
Ø
Gradual, as all moral
transformations are slow, “from stage to stage,”
“first the blade and then the ear, and after that the full
corn in
the ear” (Mark 4:28) – but it must be:
Ø
Actual, otherwise there is no reason to suppose the individual has
become possessed of wisdom;
and it will eventually be:
Ø
Visible to all, so that all beholding him shall recognize in him the
gentleness of one who has
studied in wisdom’s school. Christ,
in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge
(Colossians 2:2-3), was the
highest impersonation the world ever
witnessed of true gentleness and
refinement.
The Tokens of Wisdom (v. 1)
This book, and those
which have affinity with it, both canonical and
apocryphal, are in nothing more remarkable than in the stress they lay upon
wisdom. This is the quality of the spirit which in its highest
manifestation is
godliness and piety, which in
its ordinary manifestations distinguishes the
ruler from the subject, the sage from the fool. The reader
of Ecclesiastes
cannot fail to admire the independence of the author of
common human
standards of well-being, such as wealth, prosperity, and
pleasure; wisdom
is with him “the principal thing.” The signs of true wisdom are graphically
portrayed in this verse.
observant; but
there are men who are observant of what
strikes the
senses, of the
phenomena of nature, of external life, but who
go no further.
Now, it is characteristic of the wise that they are not
satisfied to know what
lies upon the surface.
Ø
The first stage of
wisdom is science; the scientific man notes
resemblances and
differences, antecedents and sequences; he
arranges phenomena into classes and
species and genera upon the
one principle, and into physical
causes and effects upon the other.
He recognizes similarities and
uniformities in nature, and terms these
arrangements laws.
Ø
The second stage of
wisdom is philosophy, whose province it is
not only to proceed to
higher generalizations, but to discover
in all the processes of nature
and in all the activities of mind the
presence and operation of
reason.
Ø
The third stage of
wisdom is theology, or religion, i.e. the discernment
of the ubiquitous presence
in the universe of the Eternal Spirit, from
whom all individual minds
proceed, and whose language, by which
He holds communion with
those minds, is nature. The scientist,
the philosopher,
the theologian, are all men who possess
wisdom, who are dissatisfied
with superficial knowledge, who “know
the
interpretation of a thing.” Their wisdom is
limited indeed if
they disparage one another’s work and service, for THE WORLD
HAS NEED OF THEM ALL! And there is no
occasion why,
in a measure, one man should not partake all
three characters.
Take an athletic man, the most perfect
specimen of athletic training,
bone flesh and sinew, if that is all,
he is but one-third of a man and useless to society!
Send him to the schools and cram his
mind full,
He is but two-thirds of man
and now
he is dangerous as well as useless!
Put Christ in his heart to control and
urge his purpose
an ideal man – all three-thirds – A
COMPLETE MAN!
themselves by an expression of
stolidity. The cunning and crafty often
display their characteristic
quality by a keen, designing, “underhand,”
and
sinister glance. But the wise
are bright; clearness of perception, width of
judgment, decisiveness of
purpose, seem written upon the brow, seem to
gleam from the steady eye of the
wise man. The entrance of a wise man
into the council-chamber is like
the rising of the sun upon a landscape, —
when the mists are cleared away
and the dark places are illumined.
The wise man is prepared for
difficulties and dangers, and because he is
prepared he is not alarmed. He
measures circumstances, and sees how they
may be bent to his will, how
their threats may be turned into favor. He
measures his
fellowmen, discerns the strength of the strong, the depth
of the
thoughtful, the trustworthiness of the firm, the incompetency of
the pretender, and the
worthlessness of the shifty. He measures himself,
and neither
exaggerates or underestimates his abilities and his
resources. Hence the boldness, the hardness of his face (like Christ when he
steadfastly set
His face towards
CY – 2013), when he turns to
survey his task, to encounter his adversary,
to endure his test. His heart is not dismayed, for HIS TRUST IS
EVER IN HIS GOD
AND SAVIOUR!
Sweetness and Light (v. 1)
The wisdom which is here spoken of as conferring upon its
possessor an
incomparable superiority is not mere wealth of intellectual knowledge,
or a
wide and accurate acquaintance with any department of science or
philosophy. It is rather a moral
condition, a state of heart and mind with an
outward life consonant with it, a temperament and disposition
attained by
long and careful endeavor. In our modern use of the word, wisdom is
equivalent to knowledge, and generally indicates mental endowments
and
equipment which may or may not enable its possessor to act sensibly
in the
ordinary affairs of life. We are familiar enough with the phenomena
of men
of
science who in practical matters are as helpless as children, who betray a
gross and astounding ignorance of things which lie outside the
department
of
knowledge which they have cultivated, or who make it manifest to all
that their knowledge has not had a refining influence upon them, and
delivered them from the evil of being biased
by the disturbing influence of
prejudices and passions.
Such wisdom which we admire and respect, in
spite of its unpractical character, is not of the same order
with that which
the
Preacher eulogizes. The wisdom which is so
often spoken of in the
Hebrew Scriptures, especially in the Proverbs, in this Book
of Ecclesiastes,
and
in Job, is a Divine faculty by which a man is
enabled to live a well-ordered
life. Its source is
in God, but it is not confined to the one nation
which He chose, or synonymous with the exceptional revelations
made to
it.
Thus the wisdom of Solomon is declared to have been
higher in degree
than that attained by any in the neighboring peoples, but not different in
kind (1 Kings 4:29-31). Then, too, its range is very wide. Nothing is too
high, nothing is too low, for wisdom “fitly” to “order.” Law and
government (Proverbs 8:15-16), and even the precepts of husbandry
(Isaiah 28:23-29), are equally her productions with those
moral
observations which constitute in the main the three books of Scripture
to
which I have referred. She is the source of skill of every kind,
the mistress
of
the arts, the guardian of the vast and inexhaustible stores garnered by
experience, from which men may equip themselves for meeting every
emergency of life. The wise man is God-fearing, free from
superstition and
fanaticism, prudent, shrewd, a good counselor, a safe guide (vide Cheyne,’
Job and Solomon,’ pp. 117, et seq.). The enthusiastic manner in which the
influence of wisdom upon a character is described reminds us of the
somewhat similar sentiment expressed by Ovid:
“Adde quod ingenuas
didicisse fideliter artes,
Emollit mores nec sinit esse
feros.”
(‘Epp. ex Ponto,’
2:9, 47.)
“A man’s wisdom maketh his face
to shine, and the boldness of his face
shall be changed.” The
words depict very vividly and beautifully the
almost
transfiguring effect of serene wisdom upon the countenance — how it
lights up the face, and gives to even homely features an
exquisite charm.
The coarse, sullen, vacant stare of ignorance is
transformed by the
“sweetness and light” with which the soul is permeated. There is a reference
probably to the literal shining of Moses’ countenance when he came
down
from the mount on which he had seen God face to face (Exodus 34:29).
We must all of us have known cases in which true piety and
wisdom, such as is learned from Christ, have had this refining
and
transforming influence; persons of little ordinary education or
culture, to
whom religion has given really new intellectual power, and whose
tranquility and peace of spirit has given an air of heavenly serenity
to their
whole bearing and manner. And, indeed, in every case a holy
disposition of
mind has a refining effect upon those who cherish it. The face is an
index to
the character, and if the emotions that are expressed upon it are pure
and
worthy, they cannot fail in time to transform it in some measure
— to tone
down what may have been its natural harshness, and to banish from it
all
traces of coarse and sensual passions. An example of religion
giving
intellectual power, or rather of drawing out the faculties which but
for it
would have remained unexercised, we may see in the life of John Bunyan.
The genius which is so marvelously displayed in his works,
and which gives
him
a high place in the literature of his country, would never have shown
itself but for the wonderful change in his life, when, from being
a profane,
careless, godless fellow, he became a true-hearted servant of
Christ.
The abruptness with which this chapter opens may, it has
been supposed,
have been intended to call the attention of the reader to the hidden
significance of the words that are about to be spoken, as our Lord
often
emphasized his utterances by the saying, “He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear.” Something there
is in what he is about to add to be read between the
lines. And the probable explanation of the suggestive question,
and the
allusion to a wise man’s understanding “the interpretation of a thing,”
is in
the
fact that the writer veils a protest against despotism in the garb of the
maxims of servility (Plumptre).
2 “I
counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment. The pronoun I stands in
the Hebrew without a verb and some take it as the answer to
the question in v. 1,
“Who is like the
wise man?” I, who am now teaching you. But
it is better to regard
the pronoun as emphasizing the following rule, supplying
some verb (which may
possibly have dropped out of the text), as, “Say, advise — I,
for my part, whatever
others may do or advise, I counsel thee;” the injunction
being given in the imperative
mood. The Septuagint and Syriac
omit the pronoun altogether. The
warning implies that the writer was living under kingly,
and indeed
despotic, government, and it was the part of a wise man to
exhibit cheerful
obedience. Ben-Sira observes that
wise men teach us how to serve great
men (Ecclesiasticus. 8:8). Such conduct is
not only prudent, but really a religious
duty, even as
the prophets counsel submission to Assyrian and Chaldean
rulers (see Jeremiah 27:12; 29:7; Ezekiel 17:15). The liege
lord,
being God’s vicegerent, must be reverenced and obeyed. Paul, though
he does not quote Ecclesiastes, may have had this passage
in mind when he
wrote (Romans 13:1-5), “Let
every soul be subject unto the higher
powers. For there
is no power but of God: the powers that be are
ordained of
God,…………..Ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath,
but also for
conscience’ sake.” The “king” in the text is understood by
some to mean God, but the following clause renders this
improbable, and it
is wisdom in its political aspect that is here regarded – “and
that in regard
of the oath of God.” The
ray is explicative; “in regard
of,” or “because of,”
as ch.3:18. “The oath
of God” is the oath of allegiance to the
king, taken in the
name of God, under his invocation (compare
Exodus
22:11; I Kings 2:43). So we read (II Kings 11:17) of a
covenant
between king and people, and people and king, in the time
of Jehoiada;
Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah swear by God to be his vassal
(II Chronicles 36:13); and Josephus (‘
Ptolemy Soter, son of Lagus (following herein the example of Darius),
exacted an oath from the Jews in
successors. We know that both Babylonian and Persian
monarchs exacted
an oath of fealty from conquered nations, making them swear
by the gods
whom they worshipped, the selection of deities being left
to them.
Further advice concerning political behavior.
3“Be not hasty to go out
of his (the king’s) sight:” Do not, from some hasty
impulse, or induced by harsh treatment, cast off
your allegiance to your liege lord.
We have the phrase, “go away,” in the sense of quitting of service or desertion
of a duty, in Genesis 4:16; Hosea 11:2. So Peter urges
servants to be subject unto
their masters, “not
only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward”
(I Peter 2:18). Solomon might have given this advice to the Israelites who were
ready to follow Jeroboam’s lead; though they could have remained loyal to
Rehoboam only from high religious motives. But
it is better to bear even a
heavy yoke than to rebel. The Septuagint has, “Be
not hasty; thou shalt go from
his presence” — which seems to mean, “Be not impatient, and all will
be well.”
But the authorized rendering is correct (compare ch. 10:4). We
may quote
Mendelssohn’s comment cited by Chance on Job 34:16, “This is a great rule
in politics, that the people must have no power to pronounce judgment
upon
the conduct of a king, whether it be good or bad; for the king
judges the
people, and not the reverse; and if it were not for this
rule, the country
would never be quiet, and without rebels against the king and
his law” -
“stand not in an evil thing;” - Vulgate, Neque
permaneas in opere malo,
“Persist not in an evil affair.” But the verb here implies
rather the engaging
in a matter than continuing an undertaking already begun.
The “affair” is
conspiracy, insurrection; and Koheleth warns against
entering upon and
taking part in any such attempt. This seems to be the
correct explanation of
the clause. The Septuagint gives, “Stand not in an evil
word” (λόγῳ
| - logo –
perhaps “matter”). (Compare “Thou shalt not
follow a multitude to
do evil” – Exodus
23:2). The reason for the injunction
follows – “for he
doeth whatsoever pleaseth
him.” The irresponsible power of a despotic
monarch is here signified, though the terms are applicable
(as some, indeed,
take them as alone appertaining) to God Himself (but see
Proverbs 20:2).
The Septuagint combines with this clause the commencement
of the following
verse, “For he will
do whatsover he pleases, even as a king using
authority
(ἐξουσιάζων – exousiazon – exercise
authority).”
Some manuscripts add
λαλεῖ - lalei - he
speaks.
4 “Where the word of a
king is, there is power:” - A further
confirmation of the last thought. More accurately,
“Inasmuch as the word
of a king is powerful” (shilton,
v. 8). This last word is used in Daniel (3:2)
for “a lord,” or “ruler.” The king does as he thinks fit
because his
mandate is all-powerful, and must be obeyed – “and who
may say unto
him, What doest thou?:
The same expression is found
applied to God
(Job 9:12; Isaiah 45:9). The absolute authority of a despot
is spoken of in
the same terms as the irresistible power of Almighty God. Αἰκὼν δὲ βασιλεύς
ἐστιν ἔμψυχος
Θεοῦ. – Eikon de basileus estin empsuchos Theou - God’s living
image is an earthly
king.
5 “Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing:” -
This is an encouragement
to obedience to royal authority
(compare
Proverbs 24:21-22; Romans
13:3). The context plainly shows that
it is not God’s commandment that is spoken of (though, of
course, the
maxim would be very true in this case), but the king’s. Nor is it
necessarily
a servile and
unreasoning obedience that is enjoined. Koheleth is dealing
with generalities.
Such cases as that of Daniel and the three children, where
obedience would have been sinful, are not here taken into
consideration.
“Shall feel,” literally, “shall know,” i.e. experience no
physical evil. Quiet
submission to the powers that be guarantees a peaceful and
happy life.
Ginsburg and others translate, “knoweth
not an evil word,” i.e. is saved
from abuse and reproach, which seems somewhat meager,
though the
Septuagint gives, Οὐ γνώσεται
ῤῆμα πονηρόν – Ou gnosetai hraema
ponaeron – shall
not come to harm. The Vulgate is better,
Non experietur quidquam
(knoweth) both time and
judgment.” The verb is the same in
both clauses,
and ought to have been so translated. The “heart” includes the moral as
well as the intellectual faculties; and the maxim says that
the
wise man
bears oppression
and remains unexcited even in evil days, because he is
convinced that THERE IS A
TIME OF JUDGMENT COMING when
all will be righted (ch.12:14). The certainty of
retributive justice is so strong in
his mind that he does not resort to rebellion in order to
rectify matters, but
possesses his soul in patience (Luke 21:19; Hebrews
10:35-36), leaving the
correction of abuses in God’s hands. Septuagint, “The wise man’s heart
knoweth the time of judgment,” making a hendiadys of the two terms. The
Vulgate has tempus et responsionem,
“time and answer.”
The Ruler and the
Subject (vs. 2-5)
It is possible that some persons, living under a form of
government very
different from that presumed in the admonitions of this passage —
under a
limited monarchy or a republic instead of under an absolute
monarchy of a
special theocratic kind — may fancy that these verses have no
special
significance for them, no applicability to the practical conduct of
their
actual life. But reflection may show us that this is not so, that
there are
valuable principles of interest and import for the civil life
of all men.
·
CIVIL AUTHORITY IS IN ITSELF OF DIVINE ORIGIN, AND
POSSESSES DIVINE
SANCTIONS. The king, the king’s word,
commandment, and pleasure, are all significant of order in society, of
that
great reality and power in human affairs — the state. “Order is
Heaven’s
first law.”
Right does not, indeed, grow out of civil authority, but it is its
Divine basis. That kingship has often become tyranny, and democracy
mob-rule, that every form of government may be abused, is known to
every student of history, to every reader of the newspapers. But law in
itself is good, and its maintenance is the only security
for public liberty.
One of the first duties of a
religious teacher is to impress upon the people
the sacredness of civil authority, to inculcate reverence for
law, to
encourage to good citizenship. He
is not called upon to flatter the great
and powerful, to repress discussion, to enjoin servility. But that freedom
which is the condition of the true development of national life,
and which
can only be preserved by reverence for rightful authority, for
constitutional
government, should be dear to every Christian, and should be held in
honor
by every Christian teacher and preacher. “The powers that be are ordained
of God.” (Romans
13:1)
·
WISE PATRIOTISM LEADS TO CHEERFUL OBEDIENCE AND
SUBMISSION TO AUTHORITY. Law for the most part is designed to
repress crime, to maintain peace and tranquility, to afford
protection to the
honest, industrious, and law-abiding. Therefore to commit wrong
of any
kind, whether theft, or slander, or violence, is both evil in
itself and is
transgression of the law. A man who simply contents himself with
breaking
no civil law may indeed be a villain, for civil law is not
all; there is a Divine
Law which the civil ruler is not
bound to enforce. But the bad citizen
cannot be a good Christian; to
break the laws of the state is not
likely to
lead to obedience to the commandments of the King of
kings. It is, indeed,
not to be expected that a man should approve of every command
of the
king, of every law which is enforced in his country. But if
every man were
to refuse to obey every statute of which he disapproved, how
could
government be carried on? The wonderful word of Christ is decisive,
“Render unto
Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”
(Mark 12:17) Where no
Divine ordinance is violated by
conforming to civil law, the duty of the
subject, the citizen, is plain; he should obey. He is, of course,
at liberty under
a constitutional government to use means of an honorable
kind to secure a
change of law. It is a grand word of the Preacher, “Whoso
keepeth the
commandment shall know no evil thing.”
·
LOYALTY TO EARTHLY, HUMAN AUTHORITY IS
SUGGESTIVE OF LOYALTY TO GOD. When submission is enjoined, it
is supported by a religious motive — “and that in regard of
the oath of
God.” It is evident that the authority of a parent or a ruler,
the subjection
of a child or a citizen, are intended to symbolize the even
higher facts of
the spiritual kingdom — the empire of the “King, eternal, immortal, and
invisible” (I Timothy
1:17), and the loyalty of those who by the new birth
have entered “the kingdom of heaven.”
6 “Because” -
This and the three following clauses all begin with ki,
“since,” “for,” and the conjunction ought to have been
similarly rendered in
all the places. Thus here, for “to every purpose there
is time and
judgment,” - Here commences a chain of argument to prove the wisdom
of
keeping quiet
under oppression or evil rulers.
Everything has its appointed
time of duration, and in due
course will be brought to judgment
(see ch.3:1,17;
12:14) – “therefore (for) the misery of man is
great upon him.” This is a
further reason, but its exact signification is disputed.
Literally, the evil of the man
is heavy upon him (compare ch. 6:1). This may mean,
as in the Authorized Version,
that the affliction which
subjects suffer at the hand of a tyrant becomes
insupportable, and calls for and receives GOD’S INTERPOSITION! Or
“the evil” may be the wickedness of the despot, which
presses heavily upon him,
And under retributive justice will ere long bring him to
the ground, and so the
oppression will come to an end. This seems to be the most
natural
interpretation of the passage. The Septuagint, reading
differently, has, “For
the knowledge of a man is great upon him.” Though what this
means it is
difficult to say.
Allegiance
of Subjects (vs. 2-5)
It is scarcely to be denied that the wisdom which the
Preacher exhorts his
readers to exemplify in their relations as subjects with their
kings, has
something very like a servile tone about it. “There is not a
trace of the
enthusiastic loyalty of a Hebrew to a native sovereign, ‘ whose power
loveth righteousness, who judgeth God’s
people with righteousness; “in
whose days the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so
long as the
moon endureth” (Psalm 72:7). Nor do we find the freeman’s boldness,
with which an Elijah could confront an apostate or a tyrant king. That fire
is
spent! The counsels here, as where he recurs to the same subject in the
last five verses of chapter 10, are those of submission, forbearance,
self-control, prudence in dealing with a power irresistible,
overbearing,
often oppressive, yet which carries within itself the seeds of
decay. Such
advice may well have been needed by a generation of Jews, proud,
intractable, detesting foreign rule, and groaning under the tyranny of
an
alien monarch” (Bradley). Loyal obedience to a duly constituted
authority
is
declared to be:
Ø
a matter of
conscience (v. 2);
Ø
a prudent course (vs. 3-5a);
because by it we escape the punishment incurred by rebellion, and
enjoy
some tranquility even under the worst rule. And as a consolation to those
who
are indignant at a tyrannous use of power, the reminder is given (5b)
that punishment for evil deeds will be meted out in
due time BY A HAND
HIGHER THAN OURS.
·
OBEDIENCE A MATTER OF
CONSCIENCE. (v. 2.) “I counsel
thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of
God.” Though the words “counsel thee” are not in the Hebrew
text, no
better have been suggested to fill up the gap. But the emphasis
which is
laid upon the I by the omission of the verb may be interpreted
to mean that
the writer is giving a personal opinion, and not speaking
authoritatively on
a matter concerning which different men might form very
diverse
judgments. And we may compare with it
“But to the rest
say, not the Lord” (1 Corinthians
7:12, Revised
Version), as contrasted with “I
command, yet not I, but the
Lord”
(ibid. v.10). If we interpret the words in this way, a considerable
measure of what I have called the servility of their tone is taken
away. The
writer is giving us prudential counsels, but of course the
question still
remains open whether there are not in certain emergencies higher
considerations than those of prudence. He tells how tranquility may be
preserved even under the rule of a tyrant; but it is for us to
decide whether
higher blessings than that of tranquility are not to be striven
for. The great
cautiousness with which he speaks is not unreasonable
when we remember
how ready men are to make use of passages of Scripture to
justify even
questionable conduct, and how many errors have sprung from an
ignorant
and self-willed misinterpretation of isolated texts. The advice, then, given is
“to keep the king’s commandment” out of regard to the oath of allegiance
taken to him or imposed by him. No hasty or ill-advised breach
of such an
oath is justifiable. It would seem that this passage was in
though he does not directly quote from it, when he says, “Wherefore
ye
must needs be subject,
not only for wrath, but also
for conscience’ sake”
(Romans 13:5). As is well known,
both the words of the Preacher, and
the teaching of
taken as laying down the rule of passive obedience for all
subjects in all
circumstances. However cruel the despot, the duty of subjects to obey
him
implicitly, and to make no attempt to deprive him of his power, has
been
held by many to be clearly laid down by the Word of God. And great
stress
has been laid upon the fact that the ruler of the civilized
world, when St.
Paul wrote the Epistle to the
Romans, was Nero, one of the most infamous
and cruel tyrants who ever wore the purple. In our own country
during the
seventeenth century, when the question of the prerogative of the
sovereign
and the rights and duties of subjects engaged the attention of
all, these
portions of Scripture were often interpreted to teach that the
king’s will
was by right, and by the authority of God’s Word, above all
charters and
statutes and acts of parliament, and that no misuse of his power
could
justify rebellion against him. But those who took up this ground
forgot or
ignored the fact that kings gave duties towards their subjects,
that
coronation oaths bind them to keep the laws; and that
same place in which he commands subjects to obey, describes the
kind of
rule which has an absolute claim upon their allegiance. “For
rulers are not
a terror to good works, but to evil.... Do that which is
good, and thou shalt
have praise of the same: for he is the minister of God to thee
for good… a
revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” (Romans 13:3-4). It
must surely be evident to all whose minds have not been blinded
by a grotesque
and monstrous theory, that a ruler who is a terror to good
works, who rewards
vice and punishes virtue, and uses the sword of justice to enforce
his own
selfish and cruel purposes, cannot claim from subjects the
obedience which
the apostle commands them to render to one of the very
opposite
character. But though passive obedience to tyrannical government
cannot
be commended on any higher ground than that of prudence,
there can be
no doubt that in ordinary circumstances the faithfulness of
subjects to their
rulers is a religious duty. And so we find in many passages of
Scripture
blame attached to those who thought that rebellion against the
authority
even of heathen kings, to whom the chosen people might be in
subjection,
was justifiable (Isaiah 28:15; 30:1; Ezekiel 17:15; Jeremiah 27:12;
Matthew 22:21).
·
A PRUDENT COURSE. (vs. 3-5a.) In these verses the Preacher
“seeks
to dissuade his readers from casting off their allegiance to the king,
or taking part with the enemies of the monarch under any
hasty impulse
whatever.” “Do not lightly
forsake the post of duty, join in no conspiracy
against the king’s throne or life,” the words might be paraphrased. His
power is absolute; he is above courts of law, and therefore any
action
against him must be attended with great risk. Of course, as I have
said, the
course recommended is a prudential one, and there are
circumstances in
which many will think that the oppressiveness of a
tyrannical government
has reached a pitch justifying rebellion against it. But those
who seek
tranquility will bear a great deal, and not be eager to enter on any
such
undertaking. In ordinary
circumstances, those
who obey the king’s
commandment will experience no evil thing (5a), cases being left out of
view in which the king requires obedience to decrees contrary
to the
Divine laws (Daniel chapters 3 and 6.);
while the risk of failure in attempts to
overthrow his power, and the anarchy and crime that generally attend
insurrection against constituted authority, are calculated to make the wise
man pause before he resolves to become a rebel. The advice given by the
Preacher is so carefully stated, and based on such reasonable
grounds, that
perhaps one should not term it servile. And this impression is
strengthened
by a consideration of what is implied rather than expressed
in the latter part
of v. 5. There is hope of a beneficial change even for those
who submit in
silence to the worst evils of despotism. It is to be found in the conviction of
there being a power higher than that of earthly
sovereigns, which will in its
own time mete out punishment to all transgressors. The wise
man’s heart
“discerneth both time and
judgment;” he will wait patiently for
the “time
and season of judgment which God hath put in his own power”
(ch. 3:1, 11, 17; Lamentations 3:26;). Evil doing
cannot
escape punishment; however exalted in station the offender may
be, the
time will come round when his deeds will be weighed in an
unerring
balance, and receive the chastisement they deserve. His
high-handed
disregard of equity and mercy may prevail up to a certain point, but
retribution will come when the measure of his iniquity has been filled
up.
And the knowledge that this is so will help to console
and strengthen the
wise in the dark and evil day.
“Honor
the King” (vs. 2-6)
·
THE SUBJECT’S DUTY TOWARDS THE KING.
Ø
To keep the king’s command. Unless conscience
interposes with a clear
and distinct veto, as in the cases of Moses’ parents (Hebrews
11:23),
Daniel and his companions
in
the apostles before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:19-20), it is the
duty of all to render obedience to the civil power, kingly or
magisterial,
even though the doing of this should entail suffering and
hardship
(Romans 13:1-7; Titus 3:1;
1 Peter 2:13-15).
Ø
To abide in the king’s service. The subject should
not be hasty “to go
out of the king’s presence,” in the sense of either renouncing allegiance
to the king’s throne, or deserting the post of duty he has
received from the
king. The obligation to preserve one’s loyalty, however, is not
absolute.
Times may come when
insurrection is a duty, as in the revolution which
overthrew Athaliah (II Chronicles 23:15;
II Kings 11:16). Nor can it be
maintained that statesmen should never desert their sovereigns. When
these embark on projects the consciences of their ministers
cannot
approve, it is incumbent on these ministers to leave them. Only
nations
should not resort to revolutionary practices without due
consideration,
and statesmen should not resign their positions in a fit of
haste.
Ø
To preserve the king’s favor. This the subject
will usually do, if he
“persist not in an evil thing,” i.e. if he take no part in conspiracies
against the king’s power or person; as he certainly will lose the
king’s favor by acting otherwise.
* THE GROUNDS ON
WHICH THE SUBJECT’S DUTY RESTS,
Ø
The sanctions of religion. These as much bind
the subject as if the
subject had individually sworn an oath in God’s presence. The
relationship existing between king and people being of Divine
appointment, the subject is practically bound as by a solemn covenant
in God’s sight to render obedience and loyalty to his
sovereign (compare
II Chronicles 23:16;
36:13). Nor does religion exempt the
subject from
such obligation even when the king is unworthy and his rule
oppressive
(Jeremiah 29:7; Matthew
22:21).
Ø
The power of the king. This also a reason why the subject should not
raise the standard of rebellion without just cause, or offer
unreasonable
resistance to the carrying out of royal commands, that the king, as
representative of the supreme power of the state, is usually able to
enforce
obedience and loyalty at least of an external kind. “The
king doeth
whatsoever pleaseth him,” etc. (vs. 3-4). The language applies to
Oriental
despots more than to constitutional monarchs.
Ø
The safety of the subject. Under arbitrary rule such as the
Preacher
alluded to, the way of submission was the way of safety. It might
not,
indeed, promise much good to the individual quietly to submit to
a power
he could not resist; but at least it would largely protect
him against evil.
Ideal rulers should be a
fountain of blessing to their loyal as well as a
force of repression to their disloyal subjects (Romans 13:3).
Ø
The dictates of wisdom. The subject who might feel impelled to rebellion
and disobedience perceives that, as “to every purpose there is a time
and
judgment” (i.e.
a boundary beyond which it cannot pass, and a judicial
decision upon its character which it cannot evade), since otherwise
man’s misery beneath the whips and scorns of time would
become
intolerable, so the oppression under which he groans will one day
exhaust itself, come to an end, and be called up for judgment
AT THE BAR OF THE
SUPREME, if not in time and on earth,
at least at the world’s close, and in the unseen; and,
perceiving this,
the wise subject deems it better to keep the king’s
commandment,
and maintain allegiance to the king’s throne, than to enter
on the dubious paths of insurrection and revolt.
*
LEARN:
1. The superior
honor due from man to Him who is the King of kings.
2. The loftier grounds on which the Christian soul’s
allegiance to God and
Jesus Christ is claimed.
3. The blessedness
of those who are faithful subjects of the heavenly King.
4. The folly of attempting to elude God’s presence, and the
danger of
persisting in an
evil thing.
5. The high argument for patience supplied by the certain
prospect of a
future judgment
7 “For he knoweth not that which shall be:” - The subject may be
man in general, or more probably the evil tyrant. The
clause contains a
third reason for patience. The
despot cannot foresee the future, and goes
on
blindly filling up the measure of his iniquity, being unable to take any
precautions against his inevitable fate (Proverbs 24:22) - “for who can tell him
\when it shall be?” Rather,
how it shall be. The fourth portion of the argument.
The infatuated man knows not:
·
the time when the blow will fall, nor,
·
the manner in which the retribution will come, or,
·
the form which it will take.
The next verse gives the conclusion of the line of argument
which confirms the
last clause of v. 5.
8 “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain
the spirit;” –
If we take “spirit” in
the sense of “the breath of life,”
explaining the clause to
mean that the mightiest despot has no power to retain life
when his call comes,
we have the same thought repeated virtually in the next
clause. It is therefore better
to take ruach in
the sense of “wind” (Genesis 8:1). No
one can control the course
of the wind or know its way (compare ch.11:5, where the
same ambiguity exists;
Proverbs 30:4). Koheleth gives
here four impossibilities which point to the conclusion
already given:
1.
The first is man’s
inability to check the viewless wind or to know whence
it comes or whither it goes
(John 3:8). Equally impotent is the tyrant to
influence the drift of
events that is bearing him on to his end. God’s
judgments are often likened
to a wind (see Isaiah 41:16) – “neither
hath he power in the day of
death:” - rather, over the day of death.
2.
The second impossibility
concerns the averting the hour of death.
Whether it comes by
sickness, or accident, or design, the despot must
succumb; he can neither foresee nor ward it off (I Samuel 26:10,
“The Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or
he shall
go down into battle,
and perish.
3. “and
there is no discharge in that war;” - This is the third impossibility.
The word rendered “discharge” (mishlachath)
is found elsewhere only
in Psalm 78:49, where it is
translated “sending,” “mission,” or “band.” The
Septuagint here has ἀποατολή - apostolae – commission. The
Authorized
Version is doubtless
correct, though there is no need to insert the pronoun
“that.” The severity
of the law of military service is considered analogously
with the inexorable law of
death. The Hebrew enactment (Deuteronomy 20:5-8)
allowed exemption in
certain cases; but the Persian rule was
inflexibly rigid,
permitting no furlough or
evasion during an expedition. Thus we read that
when (Eobazus,
the father of three sons, petitioned Darius to leave him one
at home, the tyrant
replied that he would leave him all three, and had them
put to death. Again, Pythius, a Lydian, asking Xerxes to exempt his eldest
son from accompanying the
army to
unmeasured terms, and was
punished for his presumption by seeing his son
slain before his eyes, the
body divided into two pieces, and placed on either
side of the road by which
the army passed, that all might be warned of the
fate awaiting any attempt
to evade military service (Heroditus
4:84; 7:35).
The passage in the text has
a bearing on the authorship and date of our book,
is as seems most probable,
the reference is
to the cruel discipline of
4.
“neither shall
wickedness deliver those that are given to it.” - its
lord and master - Septuagint, τὸν παρ
αὐτῆς – ton par autaes – who
practice it - its votary. The fact
is, no evil despot, however reckless and
imperious, can go long
unpunished. He may say in his heart, “There is no
God,” or, “God hideth his face, and sees him not,” but CERTAIN
RETRIBUTION awaits
him, and may not be avoided. Says the gnome:
o
Ἄγει τὸ θεῖον τοὺς
κακοὺς πρὸς τὴν
δίκνη.
Agei to theion tous
kakous pros taen diknae.
“Heaven
drives the evil always unto judgment”
The Doom of
Tyrants (vs. 6-8)
In words which are purposely dark the writer speaks of the
fall of
unrighteous tyrants. It is with bated breath that he whispers to those
who
are
writhing helplessly under the oppressive rule of cruel despots, that the
evil under which they suffer works its own cure in time, and that those who
have their own way at
present will sooner or later have to succumb to a
power greater than their
own. it is with
considerable difficulty that the drift
of
the passage is to be made out, but with this clue in our hands it becomes
intelligible. In the sixth and seventh verses there are four
statements, each
introduced by the same conjunction, כִּי, “for,” or “because,” and by
retaining it in each case, instead of varying it as is done in our
English
versions, the sequence of thought becomes clearer. The sense of the
verses
is
as follows: “The heart of the wise man will know the time and judgment,
and
will keep quiet; for:
(1) there is a time and a judgment appointed by God in which the
wicked
ruler will be duly punished (compare ch.
3:17);
(2) the wickedness of man is heavy upon him, and will entail its
own
punishment, — the misery caused by a tyrant is a weight which will
bring
him
down at last;
(3) no man knows the future, or that which will take place, and
therefore
no
despot is able absolutely to guard himself against the stroke of
vengeance; for
(4) who can tell him how the vengeance wilt be brought about? He
may
look in this direction and in that for the longed-for information, but in
vain
(compare Isaiah 47:13, etc.). One
thing, however, is certain, that whilst the
wicked “are drowned in their carousing, they shall
be consumed like
stubble fully dry” (Nahum
1:10). The inexorable nature of the doom
which will fall upon the cruel despot is described in highly
vivid language.
There are four things which are impossible for him to do.
Life can be shortened or cut off
at any moment, but can by no art be
prolonged beyond the fixed term. The despot cannot by his power
escape
the (doom of death, any more than can the meanest of his subjects.
Or
understanding by רוַּה not “the spirit of man,” but “the wind,” to which
Divine judgments are often
likened (Isaiah 41:16; 57:13; Jeremiah
4:11-13; 22:22), it is as
fruitless to try to keep back the Divine judgments
as to prevent the wind from bursting forth.
the arrival of that “king
of terrors” (Job 18:14); the pestilence walketh
forth in darkness, and the sickness wasteth
at noonday (Psalm 91:6).
the vigorous law of
equal certainty all hope of escape from the guilty transgressor;
and lastly:
vengeance strikes, the sinner shall receive the meet reward of his
actions.
“The wages of sin
is death” (Romans 6:23). By no lavish
bribes, by no use of power, by no arts or endeavors, can the
evil-doer,
however high his rank may be, avert the day of judgment, which may
precede, but which, if it does not precede, will certainly coincide
with the
day of death. And in that time, when he will have to stand
before the
tribunal of the King of kings, none of his deeds of cruelty and
oppression
will be passed over. Such is the
teaching half concealed beneath the words
of the Preacher; but not so veiled as to be hidden from the
discernment of a
reader made sensitive by the righteous indignation which
oppression
excites in a healthy mind. His words pass from an apparent
servility of tone
into a generous anger, and there is a triumphant ring in his
voice as he
speaks of THE IMMUTABILITY OF THE LAW OR OF THE WILL,
UPON WHICH THE MORAL GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD IS
BASED. But though horror of injustice and hardness of heart is
manifest
in his words, they are not instinct with any less worthy
feeling. He does not
justify revenge, or hint at the advisability of subjects taking
the law into
their own hands when their patience has been long tried. But he raises
the
matter to a higher level, and makes FAITH IN GOD the source of
consolation; and
in his very words of counsel to subjects adduces
considerations which are calculated to weigh with their rulers, and make
those of them who are still amenable to reason, pause in a course
of
oppression and cruelty.
Death — Our Power and Our
Powerlessness
(v. 8)
The Preacher brings before us the familiar fact of:
·
OUR POWERLESSNESS IN THE PRESENCE OF DEATH. There
are evils from which large resources, or high rank, or
exceptional abilities
may secure us; but in these death is not included. No man may
escape it.
Some men have lived so long that
“death has seemed to have forgotten
them;” but their hour has come at last. Death is a campaign in
which there
is “no furlough” given. Therefore:
Ø
Let every man be in
readiness for it; let us live “as those who today
indeed are on the earth, but who tomorrow may be in heaven.” Let
not
death surprise us with some urgent duty undone, the neglect of
which
will leave our nearest relatives or dearest friends in
difficulty or distress.
Ø
Let us all measure the
limit of our life; and let us feel that since so much
is to be done by us if we can, for narrower and for wider
circles, and
since
there is but a brief period in which to do it, let us address
ourselves
seriously, energetically, patiently, devoutly, to the
work which the
Divine Husbandman has given us to do. Jesus said, “I must work
the works of Him that sent me, while
it is day; the night cometh
when no man can work.” (John 9:4) .But
the statement of the Preacher,
reminding us of this familiar truth, may suggest to us, by contrast
—
·
OUR PROVINCE AND OUR POWER IN THE PROSPECT OF
DEATH. Although
it is utterly hopeless that we can avert the stroke of
the “last enemy,” we may do much in
regard to it.
Ø
We can often defer its
coming by the wise regulation of our life; we
cannot “retain our spirit” when our hour is
come, but we may put that
hour much further on by prudence and virtue. Folly will
ante-date, but
wisdom will post-date it. We cannot, indeed, measure Divine favor
by the number of our years — there is a Christian reading of
the
heathen adage, “Whom the gods love die young” — but it is very
often true that “with long life” God will “satisfy”
the man who
“sets his love upon him” (Psalm 91:14-16).
Ø
We can gain a
spiritual victory over it; we can
“…so live,
that we may dread
The grave as little as our bed.”
We may so abide in Jesus Christ,
and so live in the light of His holy truth,
that the idea of death, instead of being a terror or even a
dark shadow
at its close, will be positively welcome to our spirit.
Ø
We may find a friend
in it when it comes; the friend whose kind hand
opens for us the door of immortality, and ushers into the life which
is free and full and endless.
9 “All this have I seen,
and applied my heart unto every work that is
done under the sun:” -
(ch.5:18; 7:23); i.e. all
that has been mentioned in
the preceding eight verses, especially the conviction of
retributive justice. He gained
this experience by giving his mind to the consideration of
men’s actions – “there is
a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.” This version is
certainly incorrect. A new sentence is not commenced here,
but the clause is closely
connected with what precedes; and “his own hurt” should be “his [equivocally] hurt.”
Most modern commentators consider that the hurt is that of
the oppressed subject;
but it is possible that the sense is intentionally
ambiguous, and the injury may be that
which the despot
inflicts, and that which he has to
suffer. Both these have been
signified above.
The Sorrowful Tale of
Man’s Misery upon the Earth
(vs. 7-9)
·
NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE. Neither himself can foresee,
nor can any one inform
him, either what shall be or how it
shall be. Man’s
acquaintance with the future amounts at best to a “perhaps.”
·
NO EXEMPTION FROM DEATH.
This great truth stated in a
threefold form.
Ø
No man can retain his spirit, or hold it back, when the hour strikes for it
to be breathed forth, any more than he can hold back the
winds of heaven
when the moment has arrived for them to blow.
Ø
No man has power over the day of his death, to defer it, to remove
it to
a dim and distant future, or to hasten it to bring it near,
any more than he
has power over the day of his birth. His times both of
coming into and of
going out from the world ARE IN GOD’S HAND!
Ø No man can
procure a discharge from the war with the king of terrors,
either for himself or another, any more than a conscript could
escape the
battle when drawn for service by an Oriental despot. All without
exception must go forth to the final conflict (Hebrews 9:27).
·
NO ESCAPE FROM RETRIBUTION. The wicked may hope that in
some way or other it may be possible for them to evade the due
reward of
their transgressions; but such hope is taken from them by the
fact that God
will one day bring every secret thing INTO
JUDGMENT, whether it has
been good, or whether it has been evil (ch
12:14).
·
NO IMMUNITY FROM OPPRESSION. Though it cannot be
affirmed that all are oppressed — else where were the oppressors? —
yet it
cannot be guaranteed beforehand that any one will not be
oppressed, since
“there is a time wherein one man hath power over another to
his hurt”
(v. 9).
·
LESSONS.
1. Leave the future
with God, and
live in the present.
2. Prepare for that day which will come on all like a thief in
the night.
(Matthew 24;13; I
Thessalonians 5:2; II Peter 3:10;
Revelation 3:3; 16:15)
3. So live that the recompense of the future will be that
which belongs to
righteousness.
4. Avoid being an oppressor, and rather be oppressed.
Section 6. Koheleth is troubled by apparent
anomalies in God’s moral government.
He notes the prosperity of the godless and the misery
of the righteous, God’s
abstention and the seeming impunity of sinners make men
incredulous of
but God is just in
reward and punishment, AS THE END WILL PROVE!
Meantime, returning to his old maxim, he advises men
patiently to acquiesce in things
as they are, and to make the best of life.
10 “And so” - (וּבְכֵן); then, in like manner, under the same
circumstances (Esther 4:16). The writer notes some apparent
exceptions to the law of retribution of which he has just
been speaking, the
double particle at the beginning of the verse implying the
connection with
the preceding statement – “I saw the wicked buried,” - “The wicked” are
especially the despots (v. 9). These are carried to their
graves with every
outward honor and respect, like the rich man in the
parable, who “died, and
was buried” (Luke 16:22). Such men, if they had received their due
reward, far from having a pompous and magnificent funeral
(which would
befit only a good and honored life), would have been buried
with the burial
of an ass (compare Isaiah 14:19; Jeremiah 22:19). So far
the
Authorized Version is undeniably correct. What follows is
as certainly
inaccurate as it is unintelligible – “who had come and gone
from the place
of the holy,” - literally, and they came, and from the
place of the holy they
went. The first verb
seems to mean, “they came to their rest,” they died a
natural death. The words, in themselves ambiguous, are
explained by the
connection in which they stand (compare Isaiah 57:2). The verse admits and
has received a dozen explanations differing more or less
from one another.
A good deal depends upon the manner in which the succeeding
clause is translated –
“and they were forgotten in the city where they
had so done:” - As the particle
rendered “so” (ken) may also mean “well,” “rightly,” we get the rendering,
“even such as acted justly,” and thus introduce a contrast
between the fate
of the wicked
man who is honored with a sumptuous
funeral, and that of
the righteous whose name is cast out as pollution and
soon forgotten. So
Cheyne (‘Job and Solomon’) gives, “And in accordance with this I
have
seen ungodly men honored, and that too in the holy place
(the temple,
Isaiah 18:7), but those who had acted rightly had to
depart, and were
forgotten in the city.” Against this interpretation, which
has been adopted
by many, it may reasonably be urged that in the same verse ken
would
hardly be used in two different senses, and that there is
nothing in the text
to indicate a change of subject. It seems to me that the whole
verse applies
to the wicked man.
He
dies in peace, he leaves the holy place; the evil that
he has done is
forgotten in the very city where he had so done, i.e. done
wickedly. “The place of the holy” is
or the temple (Matthew 24:15). He is removed by death from
that spot,
the very name of which ought to have cried shame on his
crimes
and impiety. The expression seems to picture a great
procession
of priests and Levites accompanying the corpse of the
deceased tyrant to
the place of burial, while the final clause implies that no
long lamentation
was made over him, no monument erected to his memory (see
the opposite
of this in the treatment of Josiah, II Chronicles
35:24-25). They who
consider “the righteous “ to be the subject of the last
clauses see in the
words, “from the holy place they departed,” an intimation
that these were
excommunicated from the synagogue or temple, or banished
from the
promised land, on account of their opinions. I would
translate the passage
thus: In like manner have I seen the wicked buried, and
they came to their
rest, and they went from the holy place, and were forgotten
in the city
where they had so (wickedly)
acted. The versions have followed various
readings. Thus the Septuagint: “And then I saw the impious
brought unto
graves, and from the holy place; and they departed and were
praised in the
city, because they had so done;” Vulgate, “I have seen the
impious buried,
who also, while they still lived, were in the holy place,
and were praised in
the city as if men of just doings.” Commenting oh this
version, St. Gregory
writes, “The very tranquility of the peace of
the Church conceals many
under the Christian name who are beset with THE PLAGUE OF
THEIR OWN WICKEDNESS! But if a light
breath of persecution
strikes them, it sweeps them away at once as chaff from the
threshing-floor.
But some persons wish to bear the mark of Christian calling,
because, since
the name of Christ has been exalted on high, nearly all
persons now look to
appear faithful, and from seeing others called thus, they are ashamed not to seem
faithful themselves; but
they neglect to be that which they boast of being
called. For they assume the reality of inward excellence, to adorn their
outward appearance; and they who stand before the heavenly
Judge, naked
from the
unbelief of their heart, are clothed, in the sight of men, with a holy
profession, AT LEAST IN WORDS. (‘Moral.,’ 25:26) – “this
is also vanity.”
The old refrain recurs to the writer as he thinks on the
prosperity of the wicked,
and the conclusions
which infidels draw therefrom. Here is another
example of the vanity that prevails in all earthly
circumstances.
Unequal Lots
(vs. 9-10)
The enunciation in the preceding verses of a firm
conviction in the moral
government of the world by God might have been expected to have
silenced for ever doubts excited by the inequalities and
irregularities so
often apparent in human society. The possession of a master key
might
have been expected to deliver the wanderer from the mazes of the
labyrinth. But so great is the power of the actual, so varying is
the strength
of
faith, that at times belief in a God of infinite wisdom and power and love
seems a fallacious theory, contradicted and disproved by the
facts of
everyday life. And so our author, after bidding his readers to wait
patiently
for the
manifestation of God’s justice against evil-doers, gives utterance to
the
perplexity and distress occasioned by His long delay. He thinks of the
successful oppressor, prosperous in life and honored in burial, and
contrasts with him the righteous driven into exile, and dying in
obscurity
and
forgotten by all his fellows. Such seems to be the meaning of these
verses, according to the translation given in the Revised
Version, “All this
have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work under the
sun: there is a
time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt. And
withal I
saw the
wicked buried, and they came to the
grave; and they that had done
right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the
city: this
also is vanity.” It is
just the state of matters described in the first part of the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) the one
enjoying in this
life good things, the other evil — and because the Preacher is not able to
draw
aside the veil that divides the temporal from the eternal, he
cannot be sure that
the
inequality of the lots of the wicked and the righteous is ever remedied.
He describes:
(1) the prosperity
of the wicked; and
(2) the adversity of
the righteous.
·
THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED. It is still the despot whom he
has in his mind’s eye. He sees him ruling over others to their
hurt, and at
last receiving honorable burial, and finding rest in the grave.
No
insurrection of oppressed and pillaged subjects cuts short his
tyrannous
rule; he is undisturbed by enemies from without; he escapes the
dagger of
the assassin, and dies peacefully in his bed. And even then,
when the fear
he inspired in his lifetime is relaxed, no outbreak of
popular indignation
interferes with the stately ceremonial with which he is laid in the
tomb.
“There is not wanting the long
procession of the funeral solemnities
through the streets of
and ointment very precious, wrapping the body; nor yet the
costly
sepulcher, with its adulatory inscription.” He might have been the greatest
benefactor his subjects had known, the holiest of his generation, so
completely has he received the portion of those who have lived
prosperous
and honored lives (compare II Chronicles 16:14; 26:23; 28:27).
The
punishment merited by an evil life has not fallen upon him; the
Divine
Judge has delayed His coming
until it is too late, as far as this life is
concerned, for justice to be done, and therefore the faith of those
who wait
patiently upon God is subjected to a severe strain.
·
THE ADVERSITY OF THE RIGHTEOUS. While the wicked flourish
in undisturbed peace, the righteous have often to endure
hardships. The
decree of banishment goes out against them; with slow and lingering
steps
they are compelled against their will to depart from the place
which they
love. They must go forth, and only too soon are they forgotten
in the city,
i.e. the holy city; a
younger generation knows nothing more of them, and
not even a gravestone brings them back to the memory of their
people.
This also is vanity, like the
many others already registered — this, viz., that
the wicked while living, and also in their death, possess the
sacred soil;
while, on the contrary, the upright are constrained to depart
from it and are
soon forgotten (Delitzsch). It seems
a stain upon the Divine righteousness
that this should be so; that so long an interval should elapse
between the
commission of the offence and the dawning of the day of retribution,
and
that in so many cases it
would appear as if retribution never came. This is
calculated to try our faith, and
happy are we if the trial strengthens our
faith. But one thing must not be left out of account — the Preacher
dwells
upon it in a subsequent verse — and that is that external
circumstances of
prosperity or adversity are not of supreme importance; that righteousness
even with misfortunes is infinitely preferable
to wickedness, whatever
measure of external prosperity it may enjoy. Whether happiness or
misery
in this life be their outward lot, in the end “it
shall be well with them that
fear God” (v. 12).
A Contrast of the Wicked and Good (v. 10)
accordance with his character of
soul.
Ø
The wicked acts wickedly. Spends his days
o
without
religion, having no fear of God before his eyes
(Psalm 36:1; Romans 3:18);
o
without
morality, taking pleasure in
disobedience to God’s
Law (Romans 1:32; Ephesians
2:2; 5:6) and;
o
without hope (Ibid. ch.2:12), having no happy outlook
beyond the grave.
Ø
The righteous acts rightly.
o
Worshipping in the
temple of the holy;
o
Learning in the school
of the holy;
o
Walking in the ways of
the holy; and
o
Cherishing the hopes
of the holy.
These different characteristics
belong to the wicked and the righteous
in all ranks and classes of
society.
house appointed for all the
living (Job 30:23), like Dives and Lazarus
(Luke 16:22); perhaps after
having lived respectively as these did —
the wicked clothing themselves
in fine linen and faring sumptuously every
day; the good lying in rags and
sores at the rich man’s gate, and feeding on
the crumbs from the rich man’s
table. But from this point their paths and
experiences diverge.
Ø
The wicked have a burial. They are borne to the place of sepulture
with pomp and pageantry,
and in presence of assembled crowds are
committed to the dust.
Wealth and honor wait upon them to their last
resting-places, and do the
utmost to provide quiet and peaceful
couches for their lifeless
corpses. Oftentimes, if not always, is this the
fortune of the ungodly who
have:
o
defied the
Almighty,
o
despised religion,
o
insulted morality,
and yet increased
in riches and grown great in power.
Ø
The good simply go away. They vanish from the scene of
their
sufferings and labors, no
one knows when or how. Whether they
have a funeral no one
cares. Certainly their departure is not marked
by long trains of mourners
going about the streets. Their obsequies,
conducted by angels, are
not observed by the passing crowds of
busy men on earth. This
also is a frequent lot of good men at death,
though it must not be
assumed that good men are never carried to
their graves amid
lamentations and tears (II Chronicles 24:16; Acts 8:2).
the unseen, and have no more
knowledge of what transpires on this side
the veil. But their lots upon
the other side are frequently as different from
each other as before.
Ø
The wicked are remembered. Forgotten, it may be, and
forsaken by
God, but not by men who admired
their splendor, and perhaps envied
or feared their greatness when
living.
Ø
The good are forgotten. Remembered indeed by God, but not by
men, who suffer their names
to pass into oblivion; as saith the poet:
“The evil
that men do lives after them;
The good
is oft interred with their bones.”
(‘Julius Caesar,’ act 3. sc. 2.)
danger of
persisting in an evil thing. Study to live well by acting well.
Seek a lodging for thy soul when
it must leave thy body. Commit the care
of thy memory to God and good
men. Envy neither the present nor the
future lot of the wicked.
Sin in Power (vs. 9-10)
Amid the obscurities and uncertainties in which the precise
meaning of these
verse is lost, we may allow it to speak to us of the truth
that when
sin is in
power it is in all respects AN
UNSATISFACTORY THING! It is:
The evils of misrule are
obvious, for they have been only too often
illustrated; they are these:
Ø
the infliction of
grave injustice;
Ø
the
encouragement of iniquity and discouragement of
righteousness;
Ø
the disturbance and
unsettlement, and consequent reduction in
various spheres of useful
industry; and
Ø
the decline of
activity, morality, worship.
(Is this not what is going on in
Ø
promotion of abortion
and gay life styles
Ø
all out war against Christianity
and Fundamentalists in general
Ø
prevalence of welfare
which is anti-Genesis 3:17-19
Ø
liberalness in
contemporary Christianity – CY – 2013)
·
HURTFUL TO THE HOLDER HIMSELF. “One man hath power
over another to his own hurt” (Revised Version marginal reading). It is
certainly and most profoundly
true, whether here stated or not, that the
holding of power by
a bad man is hurtful to himself. It elevates him
in his own eyes when he needs to be humbled therein; it gives him the
opportunity of indulgence, and indulgence
is CERTAIN TO FIND AN
EVIL INCLINATION or to foster an unholy habit; it makes injurious
flattery the probable, and a
beneficial remonstrance the unlikely (“faithful
are the wounds of
a friend – Proverbs 27:6)- thing in
his
experience.
wicked buried.” It is probable enough that sin in power will be guilty of
serious excesses, and will
therefore bring down upon itself those human
resentments or those Divine
judgments which end in death. But, apart from
this, AN EVIL COURSE MUST END IN
DEATH! God has put
A LIMIT TO OUR HUMAN
LIVES which, though it sometimes takes
from the field a brave and
powerful champion, on the other hand relieves
society of the
impure and the unjust. Sin in power is bound fast by
the tether
which it is quite unable to snap (see
Psalm 37:35-36).
of the holy.” They had either:
Ø
been professing to
administer justice, and had done injustice; or
Ø
attended the place of
privilege, and had despised their opportunity.
Either way, they had been “laying
up for themselves wrath against the
day of wrath” (Romans 2:5)
happens too often to the
righteous; but it is certainly appropriate to the
wicked. And is it not more
applicable to them? For no man tries to
remember them. No one proposes
to erect monuments or institute
memorials of them. There is a
tacit understanding, if nothing more, that
their name shall be dropped,
that their memory shall perish. The only kind
thing that can be done
concerning them is to leave their name unspoken.
Ø
Be content with
the exercise of a holy and benignant influence.
It is well to be powerful
if God wills it. But most men have to live
without it, and a human life may be destitute of it, and yet be truly
happy, and be of
real service to a great many souls.
Ø
Resolve to leave
a holy influence and a fragrant memory behind.
We may have to content ourselves
with a very simple memorial stone,
but if we leave kindly memories and good influences in many
hearts,
so that in our case “the
memory of the just is blessed,” WE
SHALL NOT HAVE
LIVED IN VAIN!
11 “Because sentence
against an evil work is not executed speedily,” –
The verse states one
of the results of God’s forbearance in punishing the evil.
The verse begins with asher, “because,”
as in ch.4:3; 6:12, which connects the
sentence with the allegation of vanity just preceding, as
well as with what follows.
Pithgam, “sentence,” “edict,”
is a foreign word of Persian origin, found in
Esther 1:20 and in Chaldee portions of Ezra (Ezra 4:17) and Daniel (Daniel
4:14,
etc.). God seems to us to
delay in punishing the guilty because we behold
only one little portion of the course of His providence; could we take a
more comprehensive view, ANOMALIES
WOULD DISAPPEAR and we
should see the end of these men
(Psalm 73:17). But a contracted,
skeptical view
leads to two evils:
and saps his
energy.
Of the former of these results Koheleth
here treats – “therefore the heart of
the sons of men” - The heart is named as the seat of thought and the prime
mover of action (compare ch.9:3; Esther 7:5; Matthew
15:18-19) - “is fully set
in them to do
evil.” - Literally, is full in them; i.e. their heart becomes
filled with
thoughts which are
directed to evil, or full of courage, hence EMBOLDENED!
(Revised Version margin) to do evil. THE LONGSUFFERING
OF GOD,
instead of leading such men to repentance, HARDENS THEM IN THEIR
INFIDELITY! (Psalm 73:11). Primarily,
the reference is still to tyrannical despots,
who, in their seeming impunity, are emboldened
to pursue their evil course. But
the statement is true GENERALLY!
A Hasty and Foolish
Inference (v. 11)
In the case of some this conclusion may be reached
deliberately, but in that
of
others the process may be unconscious, or at all events without attentive
consideration and reasoned purpose.
·
THE DATA. There. is delay in retribution When we perceive immediate
punishment follow upon flagrant sin, we are surprised and startled.
We
often remark that the course of the wrongdoer who avoids
collision with
the civil government is a course of uninterrupted prosperity.
We see
families advanced to honor and wealth who are lacking in moral
character.
We read of nations persevering for
years, and even for centuries, in paths
of injustice, rapacity, and violence, and yet growing in
power and acquiring
renown. And we cannot doubt that many evil deeds wrought in
secret
remain unpunished. The facts must be admitted. But they are
explicable,
and may be reconciled with a firm belief in the righteous
retribution, the
perfect moral government, of God. Stress is to be laid upon the word
“speedily.” It must
be remembered that with God “one day is as a thousand
years, and a thousand years are as one day.” (II Peter 3;8)
“Though
the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though
with patience He stands waiting, He exactly judgeth
all.”
(Longfellow)
Judgment deferred is not judgment abandoned.
From the time of Job the
facts here referred to have been a perplexity to the observer of
human
society.
·
THE ERRONEOUS INFERENCE.
“The
heart of the sons of men is
fully set in them [is
emboldened] to do evil.” The supposition
is that sin
may be committed with impunity, and the conclusion is that
those sins
which yield pleasure should be committed, since they will
entail upon the
sinner no evil consequences.
Of course, an upright, conscientious, and
godly man does not reason thus. He does what is right from a
conviction of
the nobility and beauty of goodness, and from a desire to act in conformity
with the will of God, and to enjoy the approval of God; he abstains from
evil because his conscience condemns it, because it is contrary
to the
universal order, because it is a grief to his Savior’s heart. But
the self-seeking,
pleasure-loving, base mind looks only to the consequences of
actions, and does what affords pleasure, and evades painful duty.
It is such
a man who is referred
to in ‘this passage, whose heart is emboldened
to sin
by the foolish persuasion that no penalty will follow.
·
THE PRACTICAL LESSONS.
Ø
The sinner should
reflect upon the facts of the Divine
government, and
upon the express statements of the revealed Word of God. He may thence
learn the certainty of
retribution.
o
“The wicked shall
not go unpunished;” (Proverbs 11:21)
o
“The way of
transgressors is hard;” (ibid. ch. 13:15)
o
“The wages of sin
is death.” (Romans 6:23)
The sentence may not be executed
speedily; but it is passed, and
IT WILL IN GOD’S TIME BE
CARRIED OUT!
Ø
The godly man should
rest assured that, however he may be perplexed
by the mysteries of Divine providence, however he may be
unable to
reconcile what he sees in society with his religious convictions,
nevertheless the Lord reigneth, and it shall be
well with those who fear,
obey, and love Him.
And he may well think less of the consequences of
conduct, and more of those principles by which conduct is
governed, of
those motives by which action is inspired. Loyalty and gratitude,
devotion and sympathetic admiration, may well lead to such a life as
shall be its own reward. However it may fare with a man in this life,
he chooses the good part who hates that which is evil and loves that
which is good, whose convictions are just, and whose
life is in
harmony with his convictions. For such a man all things work
together for good. (Romans
8:28)
12 “Though a sinner do
evil a hundred times,” - The sentence
begins again, as v. 11, with asher,
followed by a participle; and the
conjunction ought to be rendered “because,” the statement made in the
former verse being resumed and strengthened. The Vulgate
has attamen,
which our version follows. The sinner is here supposed to
have transgressed
continually without check or punishment. (Compare the
background of Trayvon
Martin, who has so recently been in the news – perhaps his
life could have
been spared had he responded differently to discipline in
his high school in
are contemplating going down that road, Proverbs 1:10-33 could save your life -
JESUS CAN AND WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL – I recommend How to Be
Saved – # 5 – this web site - CY –
2013) The
expression, “a hundred times,”
is used indefinitely, as Proverbs 17:10; Isaiah 65:20 – “and
his days be prolonged,” –
better, prolongeth his
days for it; i.e. in the practice of evil, with a kind of
contentment and satisfaction, the pronoun being the ethic
dative. Contrary
to the usual course of temporal retribution, the sinner
often lives to old age
The Vulgate has, Et per patientiam
sustentatur, which signifies that he is
kept in life by God’s
long-suffering - “yet
surely I know” - rather,
though I for my part know. He has seen sinners prosper; this experience
has been forced upon him; yet he
holds an inward conviction that God’s moral
government will vindicate itself at some time and in some
signal manner –
“it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him.” This is not
eally tautological; it is compared to Paul’s expression (I Timothy 5:3), “widows that
are widows indeed” (o]ntwv –
ontos – certainly; indeed), implying that they are,
in fact and life, what they profess to be. Delitzsch and Plumptre suggest that
in
Koheleth’s time “God-fearers” had become the name of a religious class, as the
Chasidim, or “Assideaus,” in I Maccabees. 2:42;
7:13, etc. Certainly a trace of
this so-named party is seen in Psalm 118:4; Malachi 3:16. When this
adjustment
of anomalies shall take place, whether in this life or in
another, the writer
says not here. In spite of all contrary appearances, he
holds firm to his faith
that it will be welt
with the righteous in the long run (compare
Isaiah 3:10).
The comfort and peace of a conscience at rest, and the
inward feeling that
his life was
ordered after God’s will, would compensate a good man FOR
MUCH
OUTWARD TROUBLE and if to this was
added THE ASSURED
HOPE OF ANOTHER LIFE
it might indeed
be said that it was well with him.
The Septuagint has, “that they may fear before him,” which implies that the mercy
and loving-kindness of God, manifested in His care of the
righteous, LEAD
TO PIETY AND TRUE RELIGION!
13 “But it shall not be
well with the wicked,” – (this thought is echoed in
Isaiah 3:11) - If experience seemed
often to militate against this assertion, Koheleth’s
faith prevailed against apparent contradictions – “neither
shall he prolong his days,
which are as a
shadow;” - Above we read of a wicked man enjoying a
long,
untroubled life; here the
contrary is stated. Such contradictions are
seen
every day. There are inscrutable reasons for the delay of
judgment; but on
the whole moral government is vindicated, and even the long life of a
sinner is no blessing. The author of the Book of Wisdom writes (4:8),
“Honorable age is not that which standeth
in length of time, nor that is
measured by number of years;” and Isaiah (Isaiah 65:20), “The
sinner
being an hundred
years old shall be accursed.” Man’s life
is compared to
a shadow because it passes away with the setting sun (see on ch. 6:12) -
“because he feareth not before
God.” This is the reason, looking to temporal
retribution, why the wicked shall not live out half their
days (ch.7:17; Proverbs
10:27; Psalm 55:23).
Koheleth cleaves to the doctrine received from old
time,
although facts seem often to contradict it.
Retribution Certain (vs. 11-13)
The prosperity of the wicked is not only an evil in itself,
but it
leads the
way to a more deliberate and unrestrained course of sin. The fact that the
Divine sentence that condemns evil is not executed
speedily, leads many to
think that they can get away with iniquity and sin with
impunity.
They do not see that the
slowness with which the messenger of vengeance
often travels gives opportunity
for REPENTANCE AND AMENDMENT
before the stroke of punishment falls. Men think they are
secure, and give
themselves fearlessly to the practice of evil. Yet the Preacher could not give up
his conviction that punishment of evil was but delayed, NOT AVERTED!
Though he saw the sinner do evil a hundred times
and prolong his days, he knew
that the righteousness
of God, which in the present world
seems so often
obscured and thwarted, would IN THE END, ASSERT ITSELF!
(v. 12).
Though the sinner enjoyed prosperity, it was a deceitful
calm before the storm;
but the righteous who truly feared God had a peace of
spirit which no outward
misfortunes or persecutions could disturb. Appearances, the
Preacher saw clearly
enough, were against him, yet his faith was strong even
under all such
difficulties, and through it he was victorious! (compare I John 5:4). The prosperity
of the wicked is, after all, ONLY
APPARENT! It has no sure foundation
and can anticipate NO LONG DURATION! His
days may be many in
number, but they soon pass
away “as a shadow;” and when the last comes,
every wish for prolonged life will be in vain. He may be at
the very height
of enjoyment (“They were not estranged from their
lust. But while their
meat was yet in their mouths, The wrath of God came upon
them” -
Psalm 78:30-31) when the hour strikes for his enforced
departure from the
world in which he has
abused the long-suffering of God; and
no prayers or
entreaties or struggles will avail to prolong his days. The
shadow on the
dial cannot be forced to retrace its course, or to journey
more slowly. “His
breath goeth forth, he returneth to his dust; in that very day his thoughts
perish.” (Psalm 146:4)
Solemn Thoughts for
Serious Moments (vs. 11-13)
·
A GREAT DISTINCTION IN THE CHARACTERS OF MEN.
Between the righteous and the
wicked (Malachi 3:18), the sinner and
the saint, the man that fears God and the soul that fears him
not. This
distinction eclipses all others. Other distinctions affect the
externals, this
the essentials of man’s being. The
fear of God is the root of all goodness in
the soul (Psalm
111:10).
·
A GREAT FACT IN THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION. That
sentence is already pronounced (Ezekiel 18:4), and will eventually
be
executed (unless intercepted by grace) on every evil work (Psalm
11:6;
34:21; Romans 1:18; 5:12; 6:21,
23; James 1:15). A sermon on the
certainty of future judgment. The principle of the Divine government
is one
of moral retribution. To each man according as his work shall
be — evil to
the evil, good to the good.
·
A GREAT DISPLAY OF DIVINE CLEMENCY. Though
pronounced, yet is sentence not executed against every evil work.
Sometimes in God’s providence
retribution follows swiftly upon the heels
of crime. For the most part, however, the infliction of the
sentence is
deferred:
Ø
to give the sinner
space to repent,
Ø
to reveal to him the
greatness of his guilt, and
Ø
to melt him by a personal experience of undeserved kindness.
“Account the
long-suffering of our God salvation” (II
Peter 3:15).
·
A GREAT
INSTANCE OF HUMAN IMPIETY. “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.” The abuse of clemency is a sadder
sign of depravity than the violation of commandment; to trample on God’s
mercy a greater
wickedness than to break His Law.
·
A GREAT DIVERGENCE IN INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE.
Between that of the long-lived
and deeply-dyed sinner who defies the
Divine Law and despises the
Divine mercy, and that of the good man and
humble who fears God and walks in his commandments and
ordinances.
The former, in spite of all
his shameless audacity and boundless impiety,
attains not to real happiness — “it shall not be well with the wicked,”
either here or hereafter (Isaiah 3:11). The former,
notwithstanding his
depressed condition, and perhaps brief life, is
possessed of the secret of
inward happiness — “it shall be well with them that fear God,” both
in this
world and the next (ibid. v.
10; 1 Timothy 4:8).
The Perversion of God’s
Patience (vs. 11-13)
No obscurity hangs over this passage; the evil to which the
Preacher refers
is
clear enough and common enough, while his condemnation of it is
distinct and decisive.
·
A NOTICEABLE FACT IN THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. The fact is
that God often lets sin go unpunished, or, as we should rather
say, partly
unpunished. The tyrant is not dethroned; the fraudulent dealer is not
convicted and sentenced; the murderer is not apprehended; the
drunkard
and the debauchee are not driven from the society which they
disgrace; the
hypocrite is not exposed and expelled; the men who fill their purses
or
satisfy their cravings at the expense of the property or even the
character of
their neighbors are sometimes allowed to remain in positions of
comfort
and of honor. And it may be that even their health and their
spirits appear
untouched by their sins, and even by their vices.
·
ITS MISINTERPRETATION BY MANY. What does it mean that
God allows this to happen? The
guilty are not slow to convince themselves
that it means safety to themselves. It is, they think,
that God does not
concern Himself with the small particulars of human life, and will
not
therefore visit them with His penalties; or it is that God is too “good,” too
kind, to punish His
children for following the bent of their own nature; or it
is that the world is not under the government of any
righteous Ruler at all,
but only subject to certain laws of which they may prudently
make use for
their ultimate immunity. It is that they may safely go on in
their evil course
without fear of consequences.
·
THEIR COMPLETE MISTAKE. They
argue that because we always
make penalty follow crime as soon as we can, and because our
non-infliction
of it argues our intention to condone it altogether, it is
the same
with God, and that His forbearance to punish is proof that He
does not
intend to do so. Thus they think that “God is altogether such a one as
ourselves.” But they are
wrong; he “will reprove us and set [our sins] in
order before our eyes” (Psalm
50:21). We always make penalty
pursue wrongdoing without any interval, because
Ø
we are afraid the
criminal will escape us, or
we fear that we ourselves may be taken from the scene. But
God is not
hurried by such considerations as these. The guilty can never get
beyond
His reach,
and He is ever present. Time does not enter into the account of
Him who is “from everlasting to everlasting.” God’s long forbearance is,
therefore, no proof of Divine indifference or of the absence of a
ruling
hand from the affairs of men.
·
ITS TRUE SIGNIFICANCE.
What the Divine long-suffering really
means is that God is patient with us in the hope that we shall
repent and
live (see Ezekiel 33:11; Romans 2:4; 1 Timothy 2:4; and especially
II Peter 3:9). The truth is
that:
Ø
while men do often
seem to escape the retribution that is due to them,
and while they do in fact enjoy a large measure of Divine
forbearance;
Ø
sin is always suffering, and is on its way to doom.
o
If
outward and visible evils are not attending it, inward and spiritual
evils are.
o
Sin always tends toward misery and
shame, and is working it
out, as
the event
will show. Even if it should escape the hundredth time,
there is
a number that will prove fatal.
Ø
The righteous man has
a distinct and immeasurable advantage. It is
“well with them that fear God.”
o
Piety and virtue have the promise of the life that now is.
(I
Timothy 4:8) Sobriety, chastity, uprightness, diligence,
prudence, courtesy, kindness, —
these are all making for
health and for prosperity, and for the best friendship which
earth can offer.
o
They lead up to the gates of the heavenly city.
14 “There is a vanity
which is done upon the earth,” - The vanity
is named in what follows, viz. the seeming injustice it,
the distribution of
good and evil – “there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according
to the work of the wicked men,” (compare v. 10; ch.3:16). The
melancholy fact is noted that the righteous often
experience that fate with
which the wicked ,are threatened, which their conduct might
be expected
to bring upon them. The verb translated “happeneth” (nags),
with el, “to
come to,” “strike against,” is thus used only in later
Hebrew, e.g.
Esther 9:26 – “again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth
according to the work of the righteous:” The wicked meet with that
outward prosperity and success which were thought to be
the special reward of those who served God. The Vulgate is
explanatory,
“There are just men whom evils befall as if they did the
works of the
wicked; and there are wicked men who are as free from care
as if they had
the deeds of the just.” Commenting on Job 34:10-11, St.
Gregory
writes, “It is by no means always the case in this life
that God renders to
each man according to his work and according to his own
ways. For both
many who commit unlawful and wicked deeds He prevents of
His free
grace, and converts to works of holiness; and some who are
devoted to
good deeds He reproves by means of the scourge, and so
afflicts those who
please Him, as though they were displeasing to Him.... God
doubtless so
ordains it of His inestimable
mercy, that both scourges should
torture the
just, lest their doings should elate them, and that the
unjust should pass this
life at least without punishment, because by
their evil doings they are
hastening onwards to those torments which are WITHOUT
END!
For that the just are sometimes scourged in no way
according to their deserts
is shown by this history of Job. Elihu,
therefore, would speak more truly if he
had said that there is not unmercifulness
and iniquity in God, even when He
seems not to render to men according to their ways. For
even that which
we do not understand is brought forth from the righteous
balance of secret
judgment” (‘Moral.,’ 24:44). Koheleth
ends by repeating his melancholy
refrain, “I said that this also (indeed) is
vanity.” This conclusion, however,
does not lead to despair or infidelity.
The Certainty of Retribution (vs.
12-14)
Again and again the writer of this remarkable book reverts
to the same
mysterious and perplexing facts of human society. As soon as men
began
to
observe carefully and to think seriously, they were distressed by the
inequality of the human lot, and by the apparent absence of a just
arrangement of human affairs. If a family is wisely and righteously
ordered,
the
obedient children are rewarded; whilst the selfish, willful, rebellious
children are chastised. In a well-administered government the
law-abiding
citizens are regarded and treated with favor, whilst the strong arm
of the
law
is brought down heavily upon the idle and the criminal. Now, if God be
the
Father and the King of humanity, how is it that the affairs of the world
are
not so administered that the good are recompensed, and the wicked
duly, swiftly, and effectively punished? Can there be a just Ruler who is
also omniscient
to observe and almighty
to carry out his purposes of
righteous government? Such are the thoughts which have passed
through
the
minds of reflecting men in every age, and which passed through the
mind of the writer of this Book of Ecclesiastes, and which are expressed in
this passage.
·
THE PERPLEXING FACTS OF OBSERVATION. These are recorded
in the fourteenth verse, and are described as “a
vanity which is done upon
the earth.”
Ø
The just suffer the
inflictions which seem appropriate to the wicked.
Ø
The wicked reap the prosperity
which might be expected to recompense
the righteous. These are facts of human life which belong to
no age, to no
state of society more than to another. Taken by themselves, they
do not
satisfy the intellect, the conscience, of the inquirer.
·
THE ASSURED CONVICTION OF FAITH. The Preacher, regarding
the admitted facts with the eye of faith, comes to a
conclusion which is not
supported by mere reasoning upon observed facts. For him, and indeed
for
every truly religious man, there is a test of character which
determines the
destiny of spiritual beings; the discrimination is made between:
Ø
those who fear
God and
Ø
those who fear him not.
Time and earth may not witness
the award;
but it is the award of the
Almighty Judge
and Lord.
Ø
It will not be well with the wicked, even though he may be
permitted to continue and to repeat his offences.
Ø
On the other hand, it shall be
well with them that fear God. Such
convictions are implanted by God Himself; the righteous Lord has
implanted them in the mind of His righteous people, and nothing
can shake them, deep-seated as they are in the moral nature,
which is the most abiding work of the Creator-Spirit.
·
THE ATTITUDE OF GODLY WISDOM. Those who, in the face of
the facts described, nevertheless cherish the convictions
approved, may
reasonably apply such convictions to the practical control of the
moral life.
Ø
Patience should be
cultivated in the presence of perplexing and often
distressing anomalies. We must wait in order that we may see the end,
which is not yet.
Ø
Quiet confidence is
ever the strength of God’s people. They do not
lean
upon circumstances; they lean upon God:
o
WHO NEVER CHANGES and
o
who will not fail those who place their trust in Him.
Ø
Expectation of deliverance and acceptance. God may tarry; but He will
surely appear, and will vindicate and save His own. Our salvation
is
nearer than when we first believed. ( Romans 13:11) Much has
happened
to test our faith, our endurance; but when the trial has been
sufficiently
prolonged and severe to answer the purpose of our all-wise Father,
it will be brought to an end.
o
“Unto the upright
light ariseth out of darkness;”
o
“The Lord is
mindful of His own.”
15 “Then (and) I commended mirth,” - In face of the
anomalies
which meet us in our view of life, Koheleth
recommends the calm
enjoyment of such blessings and comforts as we possess, in
exact
accordance with what has already been said (see ch.2:24;
3:12, 22; 5:18),
though the road by which he arrives at the conclusion is not
identical in both cases. In the earlier chapters the
injunction is based on
man’s inability to be the master of his own fate; in the
present passage the
inscrutable nature of the law that directs God’s moral
government leads to
the advice to make the best of circumstances. In neither instance need we
trace veiled Epicureanism. The result obtained is reached
by acute
observation supplemented by faith in God “because a man hath no better
thing under the sun,” - The
phrase occurs twice in this verse and again in
v. 17, and implies that the view taken was limited
to man’s earthly existence –
“than to eat, and to drink and to be merry: This is not a commendation of
a greedy, voluptuous life, but an injunction thankfully
to enjoy the good provided
by God without disquieting one’s self with the
mysteries of
every
creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received
with
thanksgiving.” - I Timothy 4:4).
So it was said of
days (I Kings 4:20), “
by the sea in
multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.” – “for that
shall abide with him of his labor the days of his life,” - rather, and that this
should accompany him in his labor. The Greek Version regards the verb as
indicative, not subjunctive, nor, as others, as
jussive: “This shall attend
(sumprose>stai –
sumprosestai ) him in his work.”
But it seems better to
consider Koheleth as saying that
the happiest thing for a man is to make
the best of what he has, and to take with him in all his work a cheerful
and
contented heart.
A Misunderstood
(vs. 14-15)
·
THE MISUNDERSTOOD
Ø
The providence is undeniable. “There
be righteous men, unto whom it
happeneth according to the work of the wicked;” and “there be wicked
men, to whom it happeneth according
to the work of the righteous.”
Of the former, Joseph, David,
Job, Asaph, and Jeremiah were examples;
as also the apostles and early Christians, the martyrs and
confessors of
the New
themselves righteous, were saved in the ark; Pharaoh’s butler, who,
though guilty of having conspired against the king’s life, was
nevertheless spared; Haman, who for a time at
least flourished,
though he was essentially a bad man — besides others — may be
cited as examples.
Ø
The providence is inevitable. The constitution of
the world being what it
is, and the human family interlaced and interdependent as it
is, it is
impossible but that calamities should sometimes fall upon the
righteous,
and blessings descend upon the heads of the wicked, and that
occasionally
even wicked men should be deliberately treated as if they were
righteous,
and righteous men rewarded as if they were wicked. Good men
often
suffer the consequences of other people’s evil deeds, and vice
versa bad
men reap the benefits of other people’s good works.
Ø
The providence is mysterious. That such things
should occur in a world
presided over by an all-wise and all-powerful as well as holy and
just
God, who loves righteousness
and. hates iniquity, is undoubtedly
“hard to be understood,” and for the full solution of the enigma it is
more than likely the clearer light of the future must be
awaited.
Ø
The providence is symbolic. At least it has its
counterpart in the spiritual
world — in the experience of Christ the Righteous One, who was
numbered with transgressors (Mark 15:28), and made sin for us,
though he knew no sin (II Corinthians 5:21); and in that of
believers,
who, though personally sinful and unrighteous, are yet
accepted as
righteous in God’s sight, and treated as such on account of the
righteousness of Christ (Romans
3:25-26; 1 Corinthians 1:30;
II Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians
1:6). May this not in part explain the
occurrence of such phenomena in actual life? Nevertheless, it often
happens that:
Ø
The providence is misunderstood. Men because of it
rush to conclusions
that cannot be sustained — as e.g. that there is
no such thing as a
providential government of the world, that the Supreme Being is
indifferent to moral distinctions, that there is no profit in piety,
and
that no disadvantage follows on the practice of wickedness, and
the like.
·
THE MISTAKEN JUDGMENT.
Ø
The judgment is wrong. It may not be wrong to affirm that a man, more
especially if good and wise, should eat, drink, and be merry
(Ecclesiastes 9:7), though such
as do so are not always either good or
wise (Luke 12:19); but it certainly is not right to say that a
man has
nothing better to do under the sun than to eat, drink, and be
merry. He
who thinks so must have a low conception of both the nature
and the
destiny of man.
Ø
The reason is doubtful. That mirth will abide with a man in his labor all
the days of his life. One fears this cannot be sustained as in
perfect
accord with experience. Inward happiness or joy in God may abide
with
a soul through every varying phase of external
circumstances; it is not
clear that so outward a thing as mirth, hilarity, satisfaction
in creature-
comforts, will abide with any to the close of life.
·
LEARN:
1. To trust God even in the darkest and most mysterious
providences.
2. To rejoice in God rather than in any of His creatures
One Way Out
of Perplexity (vs. 14-15)
The Preacher has just attained for a moment to higher ground,
from which
he
may get a wider view of life with all its changes and anomalies (vs. 12-13).
His hope revives, his faith comes back. “For a moment he
has pierced
through the ring which has confined him to the interests of common
life,
and
risen also above his own dark misgivings; and there has flashed across
his
soul for a moment the certainty that there is a power in the world that
‘makes for righteousness,’ a Divine and supreme law behind all the puzzles
and anomalies of
life, which will solve them all. He lays
his hand on this,
but
he cannot grasp it” (Bradley.). The inequalities in human lot, the just
suffering as though they had been wicked, the wicked prospering as
though
they had been righteous, afflict his heart once more (v. 13). His
recurrence so often to this perplexing phenomenon is almost painful;
it
reveals a distress so deep that no arguments can diminish it, no
exercise of
faith can charm it away. Nothing
but fresh light upon the mysteries of life
and death can give
relief, and this is denied him. He is one of those of
whom the
Savior spoke (Luke 10:24) who desired
to see and hear the
things seen and heard by those
who were privileged to receive a revelation
of God in Christ, but whose longings were doomed never to be satisfied on
earth. In the mean time to what conclusion did the Preacher
come? To that
which he has already expressed four times over (ch. 2:24; 3:12, 22; 5:18) —
that it is better to enjoy the good things of life than to pine after an
impossible
ideal; to eat the fruit of one’s toil in spite of all that is
calculated to sadden
and
perplex (v. 14). Yet we must be fair to him. He does not recommend riot
and
excess, or a life of mere epicurean enjoyment. There is work to be done
in life before
enjoyment is won; there is a God from whom the blessings
come as a gift, and the remembrance of this fact will prevent mere brutish
self, indulgence. The fear of God
gives a dignity to his counsel which is
wanting in the somewhat similar words of heathen poets, in which
we have
Epicureanism pure and simple — in the songs of Anacreon and Horace
and
Omar Khayyam. It would indeed be a mistake to imagine
that the advice
he
gives, however often it is repeated, is the best that can be given, or even
the
best that he has to give. It prescribes but a temporary relief from sorrow
and
care and perplexity. And even when he makes the most of the satisfaction
gained by “eating and drinking and being merry,”
we remember his own
words, that “it is better to go to the house of mourning
than to the house of
feasting” (ch. 7:2).
Section 7 – v. 16-ch. 9:10 - (the division in the theme caused by
the introduction
of a new chapter is misleading). Man’s wisdom is incapable of explaining the
course of
God’s providential government; death awaits all WITHOUT
ANY EXCEPTION, whatever be their condition or actions. These two
considerations conduce to the old conclusion, that man had best enjoy life,
only being careful to use it energetically and well.
Vs. 16-17. No mortal
wisdom, combined with the closest observation
and thought, can fathom the mysteries of God’s moral
government.
16 “When I
applied mine heart” – (ch.1:13). The answering
member of the
sentence is in v. 17, the last clause of the present verse
being parenthetical –
“to know wisdom,” - This was his
first study (see on ch.1:16). He endeavored
to acquire wisdom which might enable him to investigate
God’s doings. His second
study was
“and to see the business that is done upon the earth: - i.e. not
only to learn what men do in their several stations and
callings, but likewise to
understand what all this means, what it tends to, its
object and result. (For
“business,” inyan, see
on ch.1:13) - (for also there is
that neither day nor
night seeth sleep with his eyes:”) This is a
parenthetical clause expressing
either the restless, unrelieved labor that goes on in the
world, or the sleepless
meditation of one who tries to solve the problem of the
order and disorder in
men’s lives. In the latter case, Koheleth
may be giving his own experience.
To “see sleep” is to enjoy sleep. The phrase is not found
elsewhere in the Old
Testament. The
expression is hyperbolical. The same idea is found without
metaphor in such passages as Psalm 132:4; Proverbs 6:4.
Man’s Busy
Life (v. 16)
The Preacher was observant, not only of the phenomena and
processes of
nature, but also of the incidents and transactions of human life.
In fact, man
was
his chief interest and his chief study. He observed the diligence of the
laborious; the incessant activity of the scheming, the restless, the
acquisitive. How he would have been affected by the spectacle of
modern
commercial life — say in
only imagine; but as things were then, he was impressed by the marvelous
activity and untiring energy which were displayed by his fellow-men
in the
various avocations of life.
·
MAN’S OWN NATURE AND CONSTITUTION IS ACTIVE. It
would be an absurd misrepresentation of man’s being to consider
him as
capable only of feeling and of knowledge. Intellectual and
emotional he is;
but, possessed of will, he is enterprising, inquiring, and
active. Nature does
indeed act upon him; but he reacts upon nature, subdues it to his
purposes,
and impresses upon it his thoughts. (As directed by God to “subdue
the earth” which
means find out its secrets. Genesis
1:28)
·
MAN’S CIRCUMSTANCES ARE SUCH AS TO CALL FORTH HIS
ACTIVITY. Human
nature is endowed with wants, which prove, as a
matter of fact, to be the means to his most valuable possessions
and his
chief enjoyments. His bodily necessities urge him to toil; and
their supply
and satisfaction, in many cases, absorb almost all disposable
energy. His
intellectual aspirations constrain to much endeavor; curiosity and
inquiry
prompt to efforts considerable in themselves, and lasting all
through life.
The family and social relations
are the motive to many labors. Could one
enter a market, an exchange, a port, and could one not merely
witness the
movements of body and of features which strike every eye, but
penetrate
the motives and purposes, the hopes and fears, which dwell in
secret in the
breasts of the busy throng, something might be discerned which
would
furnish a key to the busy activity of life.
·
BUSINESS ACTIVITY IS ACCOMPANIED WITH MANY
PERILS. The laborer, the craftsman, the merchant, the lawyer, all have
their various employments and interests, which are in danger of becoming
engrossing. Perhaps the main
temptation of the very busy is towards
worldliness. The active and toiling are prone to lose sight of
everything
which does not contribute to their prosperity, and especially of the higher
relations of their being and their immortal prospects. Young men entering
upon professional and commercial life need especially to be
warned against
worldliness, to be reminded that it is possible to gain the whole world, and
yet to lose the, soul, the
higher and worthier life. A man may become
covetous, or at least avaricious; he may lose his sensibilities to
what is
noblest, purest, and best; he may adopt a lower standard of value,
may
move upon a lower plane of life.
·
YET THE LIFE OF CONSTANT ACTIVITY IS DESIGNED BY
DIVINE WISDOM TO BE THE MEANS OF SPIRITUAL PROFIT. Like
all the appointments of providence, this is disciplinary.
Business is not only
a temptation, it may be an occasion of progress, a means to
moral
improvement. A busy man may learn
to consecrate his powers to his
Creator’s service
and glory; in the discharge of active
duties he may grow
in wisdom, in patience, even in self-denial he may do with
his might that
which his hand findeth to do, he may
redeem the time, he may prepare for
the account to be rendered at last of the deeds done in the
body.
17 “Then I beheld all the
work of God,” - This is the apodosis to
the first clause of v. 16. “God’s
work” is the same as “that a man
cannot
find out the work that is done under the sun,” - and means men’s
actions
and the providential ordering thereof – “because though a man labor to
seek it out, yet
he shall not find it;” - This a man, with his finite
understanding,
cannot find out, cannot thoroughly comprehend or explain
(compare ch. 3:11;
7:23-24). Because
though a man labor to seek it out.
The Septuagint has,
Ὅσα αν μοχθή - hosa an mochthaesae - whatsoever things a man shall
labor to seek - “yea,
further: though a wise man think to know
it, yet shall
he not be able to find it.”
It is the part of wisdom to
determine to know all that
can be known; but the resolution is baffled here
(compare ch.7:23). The two verses,
with their repetitions and tautologous
expressions, seem to denote perturbation
of
mind in the
author and his sense of the gravity of his assertions. He is
overwhelmed with the thought of THE INSCRUTABILITY OF GOD’S
JUDGMENTS while he is FORCED
TO FACE THE FACTS! An exquisite
commentary on this passage is found in Hooker, ‘Eccl. Pol.,’
1:2. § 2, quoted by
Plumptre; and in Bishop Butler’s sermon ‘On the Ignorance of Man,’ where
we
read, “From it [the knowledge of our ignorance] we may learn with
what temper
of mind a man ought to inquire into the subject of
religion, namely, with
what expectation of finding difficulties, and with a
disposition to take up
and rest satisfied with any evidence whatever which is real. A man should
beforehand expect things mysterious, and such as he will not
be able
thoroughly to comprehend or go to the bottom of.... Our ignorance is the
proper answer to many things which are called objections
against religion,
particularly to those which arise from the appearance of
evil and
irregularity in the constitution of nature and the
government of the world
Since the constitution of nature and the methods and
designs of
in the government of the world are above our comprehension,
we should
acquiesce in and rest satisfied with our ignorance, turn
our thoughts from
that which is above and beyond us, and apply ourselves to
that which is
level to our capacities (which God
HAS REVEALED – CY – 2013),
and which is our real business
and concern .... Lastly, let us adore that
infinite wisdom and power and goodness which is above our
comprehension. The conclusion is that in all lowliness of mind we set
lightly
by ourselves; that we form our temper to an
implicit submission to THE
DIVINE MAJESTY beget
within ourselves an absolute resignation to all the
methods of His providence in His dealings with the children of men; that
in
the deepest humility of our souls we prostrate ourselves before Him,
and join
in that celestial song, ‘Great and
marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty;
just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall
not fear thee, O
Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy: for all nations
shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are
made manifest.”
(Revelation 15:3-4) (compare
Romans 11:33).
The Business that is Done Upon the Earth (vs. 16-17)
·
IN ITS RELATION TO GOD.
It is His work.
Ø
As to its plan.” He doeth
according to His will in the army of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth” (Daniel 4:35). “He worketh all
things after the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).
Ø
As to its execution. Not directly, but
indirectly — it being in Him that
men live and move and have their being (Acts 17:28). Not so
that He is
the Author of sin, or that in any way the freedom and
efficiency of second
causes are taken away; but so that while man freely acts and
carries out
his purposes, God also as freely acts in and through man and carries
out His.
Ø
As to its characteristics. It is unsearchable and past finding out. As
God’s thoughts are deep, His
works are vast and His ways inscrutable
(Psalm 77:19; Romans 11:33).
·
IN ITS RELATION TO MAN.
It is man’s work also, he being the
immediate agent engaged in its performance; and as such it is:
Ø
Incessant. It goes on day and night — work, work, work.
Ø
Laborious. So much so that multitudes are able to see sleep with
their
eyes neither day nor night.
Ø
Disappointing. Man labors on, and not only often makes little of his
toil,
but never comes to a clear perception of what the garment is
he and
others are weaving upon the loom of time.
·
LESSONS.
1. The duty of each man performing his appointed task with
fidelity,
leaving the
ultimate issue in the hands of God.
2. The wisdom of recognizing that the business done upon the
earth is after
all only a means
toward an end.
3. The greater propriety of laboring for that meat which endureth unto
everlasting life.
4. The limited extent of man’s knowledge as to God’s plan in
the
government of the
world
The
Impenetrable, Inscrutable Mystery (v. 17)
Plain people often think that a wise man is a man who
knows, if not all things,
yet all things to which he has directed his attention. It does not enter into
their mind that wisdom lies
largely in THE CONSCIOUSNESS
OF THE LIMITATION OF HUMAN POWERS! A great
thinker has
justly and beautifully said that the larger the circle of knowledge, the larger
the
external circumference which reveals itself to the apprehension. The
writer of
Ecclesiastes was a wise man, but he confesses himself to
have been baffled
in his endeavor to find out and master all the work of man,
and much more
the work of God. In this confession he was not singular.
The man who
knows a little may be vain of his knowledge; but the man
who knows much
knows full well how much there is which to him is unknown, and how
much more is
by him unknowable.
ENDEAVOR TO COMPREHEND GOD’S WAYS, AND TO
COMPREHEND HUMAN LIFE AND DESTINY.
CONSIDERATION OF:
Ø
man’s finite nature,
and
Ø
God’s infinite
wisdom.
Ø
It tends to raise our thought
of God to a juster elevation.
Ø
It calls forth:
o
humility,
o
submission, and
o
faith.
Ø
It makes the future
infinitely interesting and attractive. What we know
not here we shall know hereafter. Now we know as in a mirror,
dimly; then,
face to lace.
“Here it
is given only to survey
Dawnings of bliss and glimmerings of day;
Heaven’s
fuller affluence mocks our dazzled sight —
Too swift its radiance and too clear its light.”
Vanity of Philosophizing
(vs. 16-17)
The endeavor had been in vain to discover the principle
according to which
it
happens that the just sometimes receive the reward of the wicked, and
the
wicked that of the righteous (v. 14). Equal failure attends the endeavor to
understand the purpose and end of the toil and labor in which men are
ceaselessly
engaged. That all that was done was “a work of God,” the carrying out
of a
Divine
law. the accomplishment of a Divine
plan, he did not doubt (v. 17);
but
he was unable {o see the connection of the individual parts with the whole —
the
order and symmetry of events in their course he could not recognize. Two
things he had sought to attain:
(1) to know
wisdom, to understand the essence and causes and objects of
things; and
(2) to
bring this wisdom to bear upon the facts of life, to find in it a clue for
the interpretation of that which was perplexing and abnormal.
But success
in his endeavor was denied him. The toils and cares which
fill up laborious
days, and drive away sleep from the eyes of the weary, seemed
to him to be
in many cases utterly fruitless; to be imposed upon men for
no end; to have
no connection with any higher plan or purpose by which one
might
suppose the world to be governed. What, then, is his conclusion?
It is that
the finite cannot
comprehend THE INFINITE; that no effort is adequate
for the task; that the highest human wisdom is but as folly
when it is bent
upon forcing a solution of this great problem (v. 17). “Then
I beheld all the
work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done
under the
sun: because however much a man labor to seek it out, yet he
shall not find
it; yea, moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet he
shall not be
able to find it.” The
agnosticism of the writer does not tend to atheism. He
does not deny — on the contrary, he affirms — his faith in a great
Divine
plan to which all the labors of men are related, though what it is and how it
is being fulfilled he does not know. The tone in which he
records his failure
is not without a strain of bitterness; but one would wish to
believe that its
prevailing note is that of reverent
submission to the Almighty, whose ways
he could not comprehend, and that the writer’s thoughts would
find
adequate expression in the devout ejaculation of the apostle, “Oh
the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable
are His judgments, and His ways past finding out?” (Romans 11:33).
The pregnant words of Hooker
describe the attitude appropriate for
creatures in presence of their Creator: “Dangerous it were for the
feeble
brain of man to wade far into the doings of the Most High; whom
although
to know be life, and joy to make mention of His -Name; yet our
soundest
knowledge is to know that we know Him not as indeed He
is, neither can
know Him, and our safest eloquence concerning Him
is our
silence, when
we confess without confession that HIS GLORY IS
INEXPLICABLE;
HIS GREATNESS ABOVE our Capacity and reach. HE IS ABOVE, and
we upon the earth;
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