8:1. “Who is
the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom
maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.”
The question is
rhetorical, for the truly wise man has no equal. He knows the true meaning
of things because he is able to analyze them, and understand their
significance. His wisdom makes his face pleasant, refined, bright, for it
is easy for him to be at peace with himself and with others. On the other
hand, the man who lacks wisdom frequently tries to hide his deficiency under
a stern, proud, arrogant, defiant look.
8:2. “I
counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard to the oath
of God.”
In those early days it was
customary to have subjects swear allegiance (the oath of God) to the king,
and to obey him; nor has time changed anything, for in the NT we are also
commanded to be obedient to all government officials, “Submit yourselves to
every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as
supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him ... for so is
the will of God,” 1 Peter 2:13-14. (It is scarcely necessary to add that
this applies only to laws that don’t require us to do what God has
forbidden, see Acts 5:29, “We ought to obey God rather than men”).
We are commanded also to
pray for rulers, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, suplications,
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for
kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness, and honesty. For all this is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,” 1 Timothy 2:1-3.
8:3. “Be not
hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth
whatsoever pleaseth him.”
The first clause is a
command not to be in a hurry to become disloyal to the king, or to join with
those who plot rebellion against him.
The second part, “...he
doeth whatsoever pleaseth him,” may certainly be construed in the context of
his being a tyrant, but in the context of the sentence the words may also
mean that as king it is his prerogative to do what he thinks is right.
8:4. “Where
the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest
thou?”
In that day the word of
the king was law. He held the power of life and death over his subjects,
and was accountable to no one.
Nor should we ever forget
that that same power resides in Him Who is King of kings, and Lord of
lords. We do well to be governed by reverential fear in all our dealings
with Him.
8:5. “Who
keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart
discerneth both time and judgment.”
This might be paraphrased,
“He who is obedient to the king will suffer no harm; and a wise man
intuitively knows not only the right time for yielding obedience, but also
the right way in which to carry out the king’s commands.”
Some understand the
reference to “time and judgment” as meaning that the wise man is also aware
that a time of judgment awaits every man; that of the believer being at the
Bema (the judgment seat of Christ, and that of the unbeliever at the great
white throne.
8:6. “Because
to every purpose there is a time and judgment, therefore the misery of man
is great upon him.”
This is generally taken to
mean that there is a time in which every man is free to follow his own
inclination, but there is also a time in which God will judge each man’s
doings.
The “misery of man” is
better translated “the evil or wickedness” of man is very great, and because
it is, his eternal misery will be correspondingly great if he dies without
having trusted in Christ as his Savior.
8:7. “For he
knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?”
Man can’t fortell the
future. He knows not what a day may bring forth; nor can anyone tell him
when he will be called to stand before God for judgment, or what the nature
of that judgment will be.
This applies only to the
unbeliever, for the believer is informed by Scripture that the judgment
awaiting him will be at the Bema to give him an eternal reward commensurate
with the faithfulness of his service to Christ during his Christian life,
the judgment due to all his sins having been borne by the Lord at Calvary.
8:8. “There is
no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he
power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither
shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.”
Some translations render
“spirit” as “wind,” for the wind is a symbol of the spirit of life in man,
and also of the Holy Spirit, see John 3:8, Man has no control over the
spirit of life within him: God imparts it at birth, and takes it back at
death. Nor has he any control over the Holy Spirit, though he may both
quench and grieve the Holy Spirit, see 1 Thessalonians 5:19 and Ephesians
4:30.
The war in which there is
no discharge is that in which man is engaged from birth to death, for
inherent in man is the sense of right and wrong, so that believer and
unbeliever alike are constantly confronted with the need to choose between
right and wrong. Some however, take the war to be between death and
humanity; man wants to live: death wants to slay him.
The last part of the verse
is generally taken to mean that the unbeliever is under the control of
wickedness, nor will he ever know release from that evil power until he
becomes a new creature by trusting in Christ as his Savior.
8:9. “All this
have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the
sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.”
He had devoted his
attention to the study of everything that is done on earth, to all the
things that occupy man’s attention in the course of his life, and he had
observed the tendency of each man to try to control others, that attempt
resulting only in harm to the man himself, for every such effort simply
arouses the opposition of the one over whom control is sought. It is to be
noted, however, that some translations render the latter part of this verse
“to their own hurt,” i.e., the hurt of the subjects, not of the ruler.
8:10. “And so
I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy,
and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also
vanity.”
This verse has been
variously translated, but it seems that what Solomon is declaring is that he
had witnessed the burial of wicked men who had pretended to be righteous by
punctilious observance of outward religious forms, “the place of the holy”
being the Temple into which they entered to “worship.” Death however, had
ended the charade, and they were soon forgotten by those they had sought to
impress.
The same pretext is
continued still, and with the same results. The hypocrites are soon
forgotten.
8:11. “Because
sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart
of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
Because God doesn’t
immediately punish wrong, men make the mistake of thinking that He never
will, and so continue to sin with impunity. They mistake His gracious
patience for indifference, failing to understand that his forbearance is
designed to give them opportunity to repent; but once that period of grace
ends, and they cross the invisible line that separates His mercy from His
wrath, they are doomed irrevocably to eternal judgment.
Some understand the
reference to be to the failure of the magistrates to punish wrongdoers, and
thus encourage others to sin with impunity.
8:12. “Though
a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I
know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:”
While it may seem that
sinners prosper while the righteous are impoverished, Solomon had the wisdom
to realize that that was a state of affairs limited to life “under the sun,”
i.e., here on earth. It will be very different in eternity. There each
will inherit everlasting blessing or punishment according to whether his
deeds were good or evil.
This may not be construed
as teaching salvation by works, but rather that a man’s works furnish
evidence of his spiritual state, as it is written, “Ye shall know them by
their fruits ... a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit,” Matthew 7:16-18.
Relative to “the fear of
God,” the word “fear” in this context means reverential awe, not slavish
terror. It is the obedient believer’s reverential love for God that impels
his obedience.
8:13. “But it
shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which
are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.”
Whatever pleasure the
wicked, the unbeliever, may have here on earth, will be more than cancelled
out by the eternal misery awaiting him, first in hell, and then in the awful
lake of fire. However long his earthly life may be prolonged, it will be as
a shadow compared to the eternity of suffering and darkness to which each
passing day is carrying him, because of his contempt for God. The
reverential awe that unbelievers refuse to accord God here on earth will be
replaced by dreadful eternal terror.
8:14. “There
is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom
it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked
men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said
that this also is vanity.”
In the context of this
verse “vanity” means frustration, futility, emptiness, and it consists in
the fact that here on earth it happens not infrequently that the upright or
just man experiences circumstances that we would think should rightly befall
the wicked, and vice versa. We should remember however, that earthly life
is merely the prelude to an eternal existence of bliss or woe, depending on
whether the individual died as a believer or an unbeliever. In eternity God
will adjust each man’s state according to His own perfect knowledge and
wisdom. The preacher however, seeing things only from the earthly
perspective, concluded that the seeming injustice was proof of the emptiness
or worthlessness of all earthly existence.
8:15. “Then I
commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to
eat, and to drink, and to be merry; for that shall abide with him of his
labor the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.”
Continuing to view man’s
life as a mere earthly phenomenon with nothing beyond death, he concluded
that man should enjoy himself by eating and drinking, and making merry
during all the time of his earthly existence. And his advice might have
merit were it not for the fact that earthly life is but the prelude to an
eternal existence in the bliss of heaven or the torment of hell and the lake
of fire.
8:16. “When I
applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon
the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with
his eyes:).”
In the course of his
search for wisdom he was led to take note of man’s preoccupation with
business, i.e., money-making; and he saw that there were men, who in that
pursuit, voluntarily busied themselves to such an extent that they could
rest neither day nor night. What he doesn’t say is that the consequence of
their failure to seek after God, would be that throughout eternity they
would be unable to find rest, no matter how desperately they might seek it.
8:17. “Then I
beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done
under the sun: because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not
find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not
be able to find it.”
Having devoted himself to
a thorough study of man’s busy activity here on earth, and having concluded
that it was all vanity, i.e., empty and worthless, he then devoted himself
to the study of God’s work, only to find that it was so great as to be
beyond human comprehension, it being impossible that the finite should be
able to grasp the infinite. And though he didn’t say so, he might have
concluded that what affords most satisfaction to the mind, and comfort to
the heart, is not the contemplation of God’s creative power, but rather of
His love displayed at Calvary.
Some scholars understand
this verse to be saying also that it is impossible for man to understand
God’s work of judgment.