Ecclesiastes Bible Study BS13
Dr. Tim Nelson
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Life’s not fair, but God is Good
>>>>FAIR LIFE OR FAITHFUL GOD?
Ecclesiastes 8:8–17
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. 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.
What is Solomon saying here?
The Message: 8 “No one can control the wind or lock it in a box.
No one has any say-so regarding the day of death.
No one can stop a battle in its tracks.
No one who does evil can be saved by evil.”
“9 Solomon continued to say, “All this I observed as I tried my best to understand all that’s going on in this world. As long as men and women have the power to hurt each other, this is the way it is.
>>>>Solomon’s discoveries, experiences, and conclusion about life is - life is not fair!
Would you agree?
It is obvious as an observer of life that some people seem to sail through life untroubled—yet for others, one problem or tragedy seems to follow another.
These are the facts of life, life ‘under the sun’. Life under the sun is not fair.
>>>>This is one reason Solomon’s conclusion about life was: VANITY of VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY!
>>>>The Apostle Paul said it this way in his first letter to the Corinthians:
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
If all we have is life under the sun - a life of 60, 70, 80, or 90 years of living - even in Christ - if this life is all there is, if there is not a resurrection, if Jesus did not resurrect from the dead, then we are of all men most miserable.
But thankfully Christ did rise again and in Christ we have the hope of resurrection and a new body. So even when life is not fair, we are assured that God is faithful.
>>>>Solomon goes on to say Ecclesiastes 8:10 …
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.
Solomon had witnessed wicked men given a “solemn burial” and these wicked men were given flowery eulogies in the very place where they had done their wicked deeds. How can this be fair?
So Solomon continues to struggle with the matter of injustice in this world.
He is asking, why does the wicked seem to even prosper in death?
Yet the reality is: Death is the great equalizer between the wicked and the righteous (2:14–16).
If that is the case, Solomon observed and struggles - why then were the wicked honored with a proper burial (cf. Job 21:32–33).
He had witnessed the wicked go in and out of the holy place, that is, the synagogue; and now they are honored with a funeral procession that begins at the synagogue.
To top it off, these men who were wicked in life, are praised in the city where they did their wicked deeds.
Solomon says: “This also is vanity.”
From a life under the S-U-N perspective, this doesn’t make sense; it is absurd. It almost seems that it pays to be wicked.
The wicked can attend the synagogue during their lifetime and at the end of their life be honored with a splendid funeral and the praise of the people.
But let us not forget - that this is as good as it gets for the wicked.
One might ask, “Why should the wicked get a dignified burial?”
Well, God had decreed that all men should have a dignified and honorable burial. Even criminals and enemies were afforded this right
22 “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.
It may appear the wicked are getting an advantage in life and even in death, but let us remember that things are not always as they appear to be.
Verses 11 and 12 remind us there is a certain unpredictability about life.
11 Because the 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. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.
Surely we can relate to the problem of injustice in North America. Many crimes are never prosecuted. Other crimes are prosecuted but smart lawyers can get their clients off the hook over technicalities. Other sentences are delayed time after time, again often on a technicality. This delay in punishing crime, Solomon contends, encourages people to do more evil.
In fact, in verse 12 he states that “sinners do evil a hundred times and prolong their lives.”
Solomon here faces the same problem he related in chapter 7:15, “There are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evil-doing.”
How can God allow wicked people to prolong their life in evil-doing? It just doesn’t make sense.
Human wisdom cannot comprehend this inconsistency.
“Yet,” Solomon continues in verse 12, “I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him, but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.”
At this point Solomon falls back on the teaching of traditional wisdom.
He wrote in:
27 The fear of the Lord prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
(cf. Prov 3:2; 9:10–11).
Living a life that honors God leads to a long life in many situations. And in a perfect world, it will be well with the righteous and it will not be well with the wicked.
IN A PERFECT WORLD? - yet it is quite obvious that we do not live in a perfect world.
13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
The wicked, says verse 13, will not “prolong their days like a shadow;” WHY? …because he (the wicked) does not fear the Lord.
So here is Solomon’s conclusion: the wicked will eventually be judged and the righteous will be rewarded (vv. 12–13), so it is better to fear the Lord and live a godly life.
The evil man may live longer than the godly man. He may appear to get away with sin after sin, but the day of judgment will come and the wicked man will not escape.
Listen to Jesus in...
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
The day of vindication is coming.
>>>>No matter how long or full the wicked man’s life may seem to be, it is only prolonged like a shadow and has no substance (v. 13). In fact, the shadows get longer as the sun is setting.
Solomon may be suggesting that the long life of the wicked man is but a prelude to eternal darkness.
What good is a long life if it is only a shadow going into the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 13)?
How should the wise person respond to the inequities and injustices in this world?
Certainly we should do all we can to encourage the passing of good laws and the enforcement of them by capable people, but even this will not completely solve the problem.
Until Jesus Christ sets up His righteous kingdom, there will always be injustices in our world. It is one of the “vanities” of life, and we must accept it without becoming pessimistic or cynical.
14 There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.
Solomon forces us to face the real world. In an ideal world, as verse 13 put it, “It will not be well with the wicked, neither will they prolong their days.” Yet in the real world, according to verse 14, “There are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked,” that is, they will not prolong their days, they die young. “And there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous,” that is, they live to a ripe, old age.
Faced with and wrestling with this perplexity, Solomon in verse 15 repeats his earlier advice:
Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes: 216.
15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
In spite of the injustice they see in this world, in spite of the troubling questions they cannot answer, wise people will seek to enjoy themselves in the life God gives them.
Remember, this admonition is not the foolish “eat, drink, and be merry” philosophy of the unbelieving hedonist. Rather, it is the positive “faith outlook” of God’s children who accept life as God’s special gift and know that He gives us “all things richly to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17).
Instead of complaining about what we don’t have, we give thanks for what we do have and enjoy it.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.
The person who has to know everything, or who thinks he knows everything, is destined for disappointment in this world.
Through many difficult days and sleepless nights, Solomon applied himself diligently to the mysteries of life. >>>>He came to the conclusion that “man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun” (v. 17; see 3:11; 7:14, 24, 27–28).
Perhaps we (humankind) can solve a puzzle here and there, but no man or woman can comprehend the totality of things or explain all that God is doing.
>>>>In the multivolume Story of Civiliation, historian Will Durant surveyed human history and came to the conclusion that “our knowledge is a receding mirage in an expanding desert of ignorance.”
Of course, this fact must not be used as an excuse for ignorance. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; YES! but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29).
God doesn’t expect us to know the unknowable, but He does expect us to learn all that we can and obey what He teaches us.
In fact, the more we obey, the more He will teach us
17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.
A confession of ignorance or lack of knowledge is the first step toward true knowledge.
2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
The person who wants to learn God’s truth must possess honesty and humility and have the willingness to say “I do not know,” but I want to know.”
>>>>Harvard philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, “Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.”
Look back at verse 15. Here for the fourth time, Solomon told his congregation to enjoy life and delight in the fruit of their labors (v. 15)
This ends Solomon’s re-examination of “the vanity of wisdom” (1:12–18). Instead of rejecting wisdom, the king concluded that wisdom is important to the person who wants to get the most out of life.
In the New Testament Jesus offers some answers that were not available to Solomon in the Old Testament.
Jesus teaches us that life does not end with death but that there is life beyond death.
>>>>At the final judgment both the righteous and the wicked will have to give an account of their deeds. Jesus proclaims,
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Justice will be served—if not in this life, then in the next.
Jesus teaches this message also in some of his parables.
For example, Jesus explains that:
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
In the final analysis, it is true that “it will be well with those who fear God [those who revere God] …, but it will not be well with the wicked …, because they do not stand in fear before God” (8:12–13).
>>>>In spite of these answers, we still have our questions. WHY? Why do bad things happen in this life to good people? And why do good things happen in this life to bad people?
Solomon tried very hard to find answers to these questions. He determined to fill himself with wisdom and more wisdom. And he determined to examine everything taking place on earth.
But he concluded that if he or anyone else kept their eyes open day and night without even blinking, he nor anyone else would never figure out the meaning of what God is doing on this earth.
Search as hard as you like regarding life under the sun - life on the temporal level, and you will not be able to make sense of it all - maybe some parts of life, but not all of life.
Solomon was saying that no matter how smart one might be, you will not get to the bottom of the meaning of life.
>>>>So in this final verse he stresses three times:
“no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.”
Not even the wise, the best-equipped human beings, can find out all the work of God.
There are limitations to human wisdom. We cannot find out all of God’s doings and why God allows these “injustices.”
As God says in:
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
In the New Testament Paul echoes this sentiment when he exclaims:
33 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!
The Old Testament Teacher has shown us that although we should use wisdom to survive in a dangerous, unjust world, wisdom does not enable us to know all the work of God.
We have to learn to live with our limitations. We simply cannot comprehend “all the work of God.”
Although we must use our God-given wisdom in life, we must also accept the fact that life on earth presents us with mysteries we cannot fathom and often with more questions than answers.
>>>>In 1774, William Cowper, wrote the lyrics to the song: “God Moves in a Mysterious Way:”
God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines of never-failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will.…
Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.
LIFE’S answers are not within man! Life’s answers are found in Christ.