Ecclesiastes Part 16
We continue the expository on Ecclesiastes in Chapter 8, and Solomon considers death. He recognizes that death comes to all and considers the outcomes relative to the lives individuals had lived. Only God knows His reason for delaying judgment.
After observing the terrible things that man does to one another, in Ecclesiastes 8:10 Solomon notes seeing the wicked buried, having and come and gone from the “place of holiness.” He likely observed people coming and going from the temple to worship, and they did not always lead righteous lives, and even the most righteous are still sinners. He sees that at the end of their lives, they die and are forgotten. Solomon wrote in Proverbs,
“The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.”
Perhaps the frustration in Ecclesiastes 8:10 is simply that the wicked were able to die and receive a proper burial after a long life without having to face up to what they had done, all the while having been permitted in life to be regularly in God’s temple. Verse 12 theorizes that while the punishment for wickedness is reserved for judgement, it will be better to be righteous in this life and the next, even if the temporal appearance is that the sinner’s days are peaceful and prolonged.
Verse 11 explains that evil continually grows worse, because justice is not swift. Human nature interprets delayed judgment as permission to continue sinning. People mistake God’s patience for indifference. Ultimately, it is God allowing delayed judgment. He is merciful and patient and allows time for repentance:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
Paul makes the same point:
"Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4).
God's patience gives people time to repent, but many misuse that patience. Instead of repenting, they become more confident in their wrongdoing.
Verses 12–13 show that beyond the prolonged days of the wicked today, it will be well with those who fear God, but not for the wicked who do not. This comes straight from other Scripture, God stating that it would be well for those who feared and obeyed Him, with their days prolonged (Deuteronomy 5:29; 6:2; 6:24). Solomon wrote elsewhere,
“The fear of the LORD prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened” (Proverbs 10:27).
The Preaching the Word commentary goes on to state that “those who fear God are said to ‘fear before him’ (Ecclesiastes 8:12), meaning that they know they are in his presence. Most people, including many Christians, go through life hardly realizing that they are constantly in the presence of God. The person who fears God knows that God is always near and to live a God-fearing life is to live in constant awareness of the presence of God, who is even closer than a prayer away” (pp. 196–197).
Besides the perspective we need to have and the righteous life we are to persist in, we are again given the prescription of the book’s refrain that the enjoyment of life that God blesses us with: “to eat, drink, and be merry” (Ecclesiastes 8:15).
The Preaching the Word commentary states, “The Preacher is growing more and more confident about this joy, ‘I commend joy,’ he says (Ecclesiastes 8:15), and the word he uses for ‘commend’ is a Hebrew word for praise (shabach). Yes, there is vanity under the sun. Yes, we see injustice that is hard to accept or understand. Yes, we have a lot of hard work to do. Nevertheless, there is joy for us in the ordinary things of life like eating, drinking, and sharing fellowship with the people of God” (p. 198). Let us be thankful for the days we’ve been given, and let us truly rejoice in what we have been given.
Ecclesiastes 8:16–17 reminds us that the full scope of God’s plan on earth is beyond us, no matter how much we may know or understand. Solomon said this earlier in the book, when he stated that “no one can find out the work God does from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Here in chapter 8, it says that given “all the work of God…a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 8:17).
The phrase “even though one sees no sleep day or night,” in verse 16 is hyperbolic. Even if someone were able to go without sleep and devote all his time and energies to trying to grasp what God is doing, he still could not figure it out. No one can know God’s purposes in everything that happens.
As the apostle Paul wrote:
“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! ‘For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?’” (Romans 11:33–34).
Yet God reveals what we need to know:
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Wisdom Literature is a course taught at ABC by Dr. Urwiller. Recordings from the 2018–2019 class year are available to listen to on the ABC website.
UYA Team | uya@ucg.org
United Young Adults (UYA) primarily serves the 18–32-year age group for the United Church of God. There are three main areas of contribution to the lives of the young adults: Promoting Spiritual Growth, Developing Meaningful Relationships, and Making the Most of Your Talents. The Know Your Sword series is a daily expository message introducing God’s Word from a trusted perspective.
