Ecclesiastes 8
v.1
Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things? Wisdom brightens a man’s face and changes its hard appearance.
v.3
Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
v.5
Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
v.6
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
When you know his will, you will be wise to do it at the right time and in the right wayk, even though you cannot see his full purpose.
v.11
When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.
v.12
Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God.
v.14
There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.
This entire section should be compared with Mal 3:13-4:3.
In fact, Solomon gives over the entire book of Ecclesiastes to suggesting, with such fullness as he judged adequate, the emptiness of this life, with the ultimate objective, to be sure, of making us yearn for another kind of life which is no unsubstantial shadow under the sun but substantial reality under the sun’s Creator. For a person becomes as insubstantial as the insubstantiality that surrounds him, and it is by God’s righteous decree that he, too, must pass away like a shadow.
v.15
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
As in 2:24-25, the gifts that God has given can be properly enjoyed only if they are accepted as God’s gifts for use, not misuse. Both passages speak of the toil, or work, that God has given us to do to provide for our food and drink (cf. Ge 3:19; Ps 104:23). The verses say much the same as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. Do not let your life be burdened with anxiety; relaxed enjoyment comes through seeking first the kingdom of God and taking food, drink, and clothing from the hands of your Father (Mt. 6:25-24). So the Teacher refers to God-given work, God-given food and drink, and God-given joy. It is the realization of this that he commends.
v.17
then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.
The Teacher recognizes the tendency toward worry of people who want to know what lies ahead (cf. Mt 6:34). To some this worry is more acute than it is to others. The more capacity one has for thinking things out, the more one is puzzled by the apparent meaninglessness of life. So we must be content to take the pieces one by one, without being able to fit them into the plan that we know must be there (3:11).