Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ec 8:1 and following. Indeed, “For all things there is a time and a judgment” (v. 6). When a candidate takes an exam, two days are important: that of the tests and then that of the results. The “time” that God allocates to everyone on earth corresponds to the first of these days; but that of judgment will inevitably follow. The sinner in his unconsciousness takes advantage of the fact that “the sentence against evil works is not immediately executed” (because of God’s patience) to abound in evil (v. 11)… and in misery (v. 7). As with Paul, the thought of Christ’s tribunal gives him fear. Realizing the seriousness of the present time, the Solemnity of Judgment (v. 5), he ardently strives to be pleasing to the Lord (2 Co 5:6-11).
For the preacher has no revelation about the future like us. Nevertheless, he knows the importance of this fear of God and affirms that “all will be well for those who fear God.” They may encounter persecution, but no one has the power to imprison their spirits (vs. 8:9). Nothing can separate them from the love of Christ (Rom 8:31-39). The experience of which the Preacher has just spoken, such a humiliating experience for him, in no way diminishes the value of wisdom: “Who is like the wise? and who knows the explanation of things? The wisdom of a man illuminates his face, and the arrogance of his face is changed.” It is of immense benefit to man; he has through it the explanation of the things that take place under the sun. It gives it an outward appearance that attracts and inspires confidence, because wisdom makes you humble and humility is read on the facial features.
So, it was with Solomon. His authority was made lovable by his wisdom, but it was all the more necessary to submit to it and obey him. The king is the representative of God’s authority to punish evil and reward good. It is good to stay in habitual contact with him to be prevented from persevering in evil and to be kept in good. God has entrusted him with power, so that he does what pleases him and is not accountable to anyone. This submission to the orders of authority protects man from all evil. This is about god’s government entrusted to authority and considered in principle as in Rom. 13:1-5. The wise man goes further. He knows “time and judgment; for all things there is a time and a judgment.” He knows that if he is to obey and if there is a time for the exercise of authority, he who exercises it is responsible to God and that everything will come to judgment (3:16, 17). In the meantime, man, as a result of the misery of his state of sin, is kept in ignorance of what will happen and how it will happen. The afterlife, as we have noticed so often, is hidden from him.
However, if power is entrusted to the king, there is an area, that of the spirit, over which he has no power. This is as true of the spirit of man as it is of the Spirit of God. The Spirit is free. Nor is there any power in man against the life of the body. It is God who alone determines the day of death, despite all appearances to the contrary, and he who believes he has the upper hand through wickedness will suffer a fate where there will be no deliverance for him. There are times when authority is exercised over men for their evil, in contradiction with what we have seen at the beginning of this chapter. For this Book always brings out the contrast between what God has established and what man has done with it. In the same way we see the wicked leaving with the honors of the funeral, while those who had done good and stood before God in the holy place left both this presence and the memory of their fellow citizens. Notice that here, as everywhere in this Book, God’s presence is limited to the earth, and that a veil is established between death and what comes after. Oblivion hangs over the dead and the Preacher can cry out: This too is vanity! He links his thoughts to his initial thesis, so to speak: “Everything is vanity.”
And to be indifferent to the publicwrongs: The world, we can be sure, does not blame it any worse. Once again, he has proven to be a man whose eye is resolutely turned to “the main chance”, and who knows how to seize the opportunities that arise. But he, who has thus desecrated the inner sanctuary of his own soul, is not likely to be sensitive to the great demands of public duty. If he sees oppression, if the tyranny of a man or class reaches a peak that calls for rebuke and opposition, he is not likely to sacrifice comfort and risk property or popularity to attack iniquity in his strongholds. It is not men like him who, when times are at odds, feel born to straighten them out.
“But men are very slow to believe that they have wasted their time and their strength, that they have completely gone the wrong way; they are reluctant to believe that a little more of what they have already acquired so much, and which they have always considered the best, will not give them the satisfaction they seek. That is why the wise Preacher, instead of telling us right away where the true Good is, tries to convince us that it is not where we used to look for it. He places before us a man of the greatest wisdom, whose pleasures were deliciously varied and combined, a man whose devotion to business was the most perfect and successful, a man of imperial nature and wealth, and whose heart had radiated with all the fervors of love: and this man himself under a thin disguise – so rarely gifted and of such great conditions, confesses that he could not find the Great Good in any of the directions in which we commonly seek it, although he traveled further in every direction we can hope to go.
If we are of a rational disposition, if we are open to argumentation and persuasion, if we are not resolved to buy our own experience at a high or even ruinous price, how can we not accept the counsel of the Hebrew sage and stop seeking the satisfying Good in neighborhoods where he assures us that it is not found? We have already considered his argument as it concerned the men of his time; we must now apply it to our time. As is his habit, the preacher does not develop his argument in an open logical sequence; he does not write a moral essay, but paints us a dramatic picture.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
The wise man in the face of the king’s power, the mystery of God’s work:
- Resplendent Lives of Saints
Ps 34:6 When one looks to him, one is radiant with joy, and the face is not covered with shame. Ec 8.1 Who is like the wise man, and who knows the explanation of things? The wisdom of a man makes his face shine, and the severity of his face is changed. John 5:35 Was the lamp that burns and shines, and you wanted to rejoice for an hour in its light. 2 Co 3:18 All of us who, with our faces uncovered, contemplate as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Lord, the Spirit.
- The Great Value of Wisdom
Pr 3.14 For the gain it brings is preferable to that of silver, and the profit one derives from it is better than gold; Pr 8:11 For wisdom is better than pearls, It is more valuable than all priced objects. Ec 2:13 And I have seen that wisdom has an advantage over foolishness, just as light has an advantage over darkness; Ec 7:19 Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten leaders who are in a city.
- Unfathomable God, His Ways and Works
Jb 11:7 Do you claim to probe God’s thoughts, to come to the perfect knowledge of the Almighty? Ec 3:11 He does all good things in his time; even he has put in their hearts the thought of eternity, although man cannot grasp the work that God does, from beginning to end. Esa 40:28 Don’t you know? didn’t you learn it? It is the God of eternity, Jehovah, Who created the ends of the earth; He does not get tired, he does not tire; One cannot probe his intelligence. 1 Co 2:16 For Who knew the lord’s mind, to teach him? But we have the thought of Christ.
- Secret things, knowledge denied to man
Dt 29:29 The hidden things are to Jehovah, our God; the revealed things are ours and our children, in perpetuity, so that we may put into practice all the words of this law. Dn 12:9 He answered: Go, Daniel, for these words will be kept secret and sealed until the end time. Mk 13:32 As for the day or the hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Rev 10:4 And when the seven thunders had made their voices heard, I was going to write; and I heard from heaven a voice that said: Seal what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it.
From all the above, we note thatthere is no immediate judgment on the wicked (the truth of judgment is always maintained in Ecclesiastes) so they take advantage of this impunity to think of evil and do it; counting on it, they prolong their days (cf. 7:15), but all is well in the end, for those who fear God (cf. 7:18), while the misfortune of the wicked and his final ruin come from the absence of this fear: “He will not prolong his days”. This seems to contradict v. 12, but God never contradicts Himself: In the first case, it is about appearance, judgment not being exercised immediately on the wicked; in the second case, it is God who ends the life of the wicked when the hour of his judgment has come. He did not fear the face of God. As we move forward in the study of this Book, we see that the fear of God is the only bright spot in the midst of the questions that wisdom, grappling with the enigma of the world, as it exists, seeks in vain to solve. Vanity here consists in “that there are righteous people to whom he arrives according to the work of the wicked, and… of the wicked to whom he arrives according to the work of the righteous.” Left to its own devices, wisdom cannot discover the cause, because it is limited to the sphere of visible things. “This too is vanity.” So there remains “nothing good for man, under the sun, but to eat and drink and to rejoice” (See 2:24; 3:12, 13, 22; 5:18; 6:7). A sad conclusion, because where does this end up? This is all that remains of man’s work. And man is unable, despite all his work, to find the work that is done under the sun. It is therefore necessary to hand over to God his work; man cannot understand it, and the wise man himself is obliged to acknowledge his ignorance! For “Man knows not his time” (Ec 9:11-12; Jer 8:5-7), nor “what will happen,” while the wise man, taught by God, discerns all things (vs. 1; 1 Co 2:11-16). Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” The wise man cannot understand God’s ways and is content to enjoy the goods that God grants him (Ec 9).
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.