Ecclesiastes 8 considers wisdom, authority and the delay of justice. “A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine.” No one has power “in the day of death.” Solomon watches the wicked buried with honour and forgotten, and names a danger every generation faces: “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.” Yet he holds on to a certainty: “surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God.” And he admits that no one, however wise, can fully “find out the work that is done under the sun.”
A study in Ecclesiastes 8 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 12 min read
A Man’s Wisdom Maketh His Face To Shine
“Who is as 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. I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God. Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou? Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.”
Ecclesiastes 8:1-5
“A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.” True wisdom shows in a person’s face. The hard, bold look of pride softens into something gentler and brighter. When Moses came down from the mount where he had been with God, his face shone (Exodus 34:29). Time spent with God changes us, and people can see it.
Then Solomon gives practical counsel about living under authority: “keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.” Believers are to be good citizens, respectful and law-abiding (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17), partly because of the oath of loyalty made before God. But notice the limit built into the same verse: “in regard of the oath of God.” Loyalty to God comes first. When a king commands what God forbids, “we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), as Daniel and his friends did in Babylon.
“A wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.” The wise person knows when to speak and when to wait, and trusts that there is a time when every wrong will be judged.
No Power In The Day Of Death
“Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? 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. 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. 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.”
Ecclesiastes 8:6-10
However powerful a king may be, there is one power no one has: “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death.” The word “spirit” here is again ruach, the breath of life. No one can hold on to his breath when God calls it back. And “there is no discharge in that war.” In ancient Israel certain men could be excused from military service (Deuteronomy 20:5-8). No one is excused from death.
Solomon had seen wicked men who went in and out of “the place of the holy,” religious in appearance, buried with honour and then “forgotten in the city where they had so done.” Their piety was a show, their honours were temporary, and their memory faded.
Because Sentence Is Not Executed Speedily
“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. Though a sinner do evil an 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: 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.”
Ecclesiastes 8:11-13
Here is one of the most penetrating observations in the book. “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.” When punishment does not follow sin immediately, people conclude that it never will. God’s patience, which is meant to lead to repentance (Romans 2:4), is taken as permission.
“The patience and long-suffering of God, which should soften and subdue the soul, has an altogether different influence upon the careless and sinful. It leads them to cast off restraint, and strengthens them in resistance. They think that the God who has borne so much from them will not heed their perversity. If we lived in a dispensation of immediate retribution, offenses against God would not occur so often. But though delayed, the punishment is none the less certain.”
Ellen G. White · The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 1166
Solomon knew this from the inside. For years he had sinned and seen no sudden judgment, and the delay had hardened him. But now, looking back, he writes with certainty: “Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God.” Appearances do not decide the outcome. The wicked man’s days “are as a shadow,” long in the evening light, and then gone.
Ellen White describes Solomon writing these very words as part of his repentance, lifting “the danger signal” so that others would not follow his path.
“The true penitent does not put his past sins from his remembrance. He does not, as soon as he has obtained peace, grow unconcerned in regard to the mistakes he has made. He thinks of those who have been led into evil by his course, and tries in every possible way to lead them back into the true path.”
Ellen G. White · Prophets and Kings, p. 78
The Work Of God
“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. 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 labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. 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:) 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 labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.”
Ecclesiastes 8:14-17
Solomon does not pretend the world is simple. Sometimes “just men” suffer what the wicked deserve, and “wicked men” enjoy what the righteous deserve. Job and his friends wrestled with the same puzzle. Asaph almost lost his faith over it, “until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end” (Psalm 73:17).
Solomon’s response is humility. “Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun.” Even the wisest man, working day and night without sleep, cannot fully trace God’s ways. “Though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.” That is not a counsel of despair. It is the proper place of a creature before his Creator: “How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33).
And in the meantime, “I commended mirth.” Not the empty laughter of chapter 2, but the simple joy of eating, drinking and working with thanks, “the days of his life, which God giveth him.” We do not need to understand all God’s work in order to trust Him and enjoy His gifts. It shall be well with them that fear God.
