All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
Parallel Translations
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All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
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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.
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All this have I seen, even applied my heart thereto, whatever the work that is done under the sun; what time one man had power over another to his hurt.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 8:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter, for one official is eyed by a higher one, and there are officials over them.
- Ecclesiastes 4:7-8 Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun. There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. “For whom then, do I labor and deprive my soul of enjoyment?” This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.
- Ecclesiastes 5:13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.
- Exodus 14:5-9 The king of Egypt was told that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” He prepared his chariot, and took his army with him; and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, with captains over all of them. Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; for the children of Israel went out with a high hand. The Egyptians pursued them. All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen, and his army overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baal Zephon.
- Exodus 14:28 The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh’s army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them.
- Deuteronomy 2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as it is today.
- 2 Kings 14:10-12 You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?’ ” But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. Judah was defeated by Israel; and each man fled to his tent.
- Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- Ecclesiastes 3:10 I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
- Ecclesiastes 7:25 I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
- 2 Kings 25:7 They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (19 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain As cometh ofttimes to tyrants and wicked rulers.
As cometh ofttimes to tyrants and wicked rulers.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 8:9 All this have I seen, and applied…
Ecc 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.
Ver. 9. One man ruleth over another to his own hurt.] Not only to the hurt of his subjects, but to his own utter ruin, though after a long run haply. {Ecc 8:12-13} Ad generum Cercris, &c. What untimely ends came the kings of Israel to, and the Roman Caesars all, almost, till Constantine? Vespasianus unus accepto imperio melior factus est, Vespasian was the only one among them that became better by the office. While they were private persons there seemed to be some goodness in them, but no sooner advanced to the empire than they ran riot in wickedness; listening to flatterers, and hating reproofs, they ran headlong to hell, and drew a great number with them, by the instigation of the devil, that old man slayer, whose work it was to act and agitate them for a common mischief.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain All this; all these things before mentioned.
All this; all these things before mentioned.
Applied my heart unto every work; I have been a diligent observer of all actions and events.
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There is a time wherein one man ruleth over another; there are some kings who use their power tyrannically and wickedly, whereby they do not only oppress their people, but hurt themselves, by bringing the vengeance of God and men upon their own heads; which is here noted, partly for the terror of tyrants, and partly for the caution and comfort of subjects groaning under those heavy pressures which they are not able to remove, that they may forbear unlawful or rebellious courses, and quietly commit themselves and their cause to God, who judgeth righteously, and who both can and will call the greatest monarchs to a sad account for all their impious and unrighteous courses.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Solomon, in the beginning of the chapter, had warned…
Solomon, in the beginning of the chapter, had warned us against having any thing to do with seditious subjects; here, in these verses, he encourages us, in reference to the mischief of tyrannical and oppressive rulers, such as he had complained of before, Ecc 3:16; Ecc 4:1.
1. He had observed many such rulers, Ecc 8:9. In the serious views and reviews he had taken of the children of men and their state he had observed that many a time one man rules over another to his hurt; that is, (1.) To the hurt of the ruled (many understand it so); whereas they ought to be God's ministers unto their subjects for their good (Rom 13:14), to administer justice, and to preserve the public peace and order, they use their power for their hurt, to invade their property, encroach upon their liberty, and patronise the acts of injustice. It is sad with a people when those that should protect their religion and rights aim at the destruction of both. (2.) To the hurt of the rulers (so we render it), to their own hurt, to the feeling of their pride and covetousness, the gratifying of their passion and revenge, and so to the filling up of the measure of their sins and the hastening and aggravating of their ruin. Agens agendo repatitur - What hurt men do to others will return, in the end, to their own hurt.
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2. He had observed them to prosper and flourish in the abuse of their power (Ecc 8:10): I saw those wicked rulers come and go from the place of the holy, go in state to and return in pomp from the place of judicature (which is called the place of the Holy One because the judgment is the Lord's, Deu 1:17, and he judges among the gods, Psa 82:1, and is with them in the judgment, Ch2 19:6), and they continued all their days in office, were never reckoned with for their mal-administration, but died in honour and were buried magnificently; their commissions were durante vit - during life, and not quamdiu se bene gesserint - during good behaviour. And they were forgotten in the city where they had so done; their wicked practices were not remembered against them to their reproach and infamy when they were gone. Or, rather, it denotes the vanity of their dignity and power, for that is his remark upon it in the close of the verse: This is also vanity. They are proud of their wealth, and power, and honour, because they sit in the place of the holy; but all this cannot secure, (1.) Their bodies from being buried in the dust; I saw them laid in the grave; and their pomp, though it attended them thither, could not descend after them, Psa 49:17. (2.) Nor their names from being buried in oblivion; for they were forgotten, as if they had never been.
3. He had observed that their prosperity hardened them in their wickedness, Ecc 8:11. It is true of all sinners in general, and particularly of wicked rulers, that, because sentence against their evil works is not executed speedily, they think it will never be executed, and therefore they set the law at defiance and their hearts are full in them to do evil; they venture to do so much the more mischief, fetch a greater compass in their wicked designs, and are secure and fearless in it, and commit iniquity with a high hand. Observe, (1.) Sentence is passed against evil works and evil workers by the righteous Judge of heaven and earth, even against the evil works of princes and great men, as well as of inferior persons. (2.) The execution of this sentence is often delayed a great while, and the sinner goes on, not only unpunished, but prosperous and successful. (3.) Impunity hardens sinners in impiety, and the patience of God is shamefully abused by many who, instead of being led by it to repentance, are confirmed by it in their impenitence. (4.) Sinners herein deceive themselves, for, though the sentence be not executed speedily, it will be executed the more severely at last. Vengeance comes slowly, but it comes surely, and wrath is in the mean time treasured up against the day of wrath.
4. He foresaw such an end of all these things as would be sufficient to keep us from quarrelling with the divine Providence upon account of them. He supposes a wicked ruler to do an unjust thing a hundred times, and that yet his punishment is deferred, and God's patience towards him is prolonged, much beyond what was expected, and the days of his power are lengthened out, so that he continues to oppress; yet he intimates that we should not be discouraged. (1.) God's people are certainly a happy people, though they be oppressed: "It shall be well with those that fear God, I say with all those, and those only, who fear before him." Note, [1.] It is the character of God's people that they fear God, have an awe of him upon their hearts and make conscience of their duty to him, and this because they see his eye always upon them and they know it is their concern to approve themselves to him. When they lie at the mercy of proud oppressors they fear God more then they fear them. They do not quarrel with the providence of God, but submit to it. [2.] It is the happiness of all that fear God, that in the worst of times it shall be well with them; their happiness in God's favour cannot be prejudiced, nor their communion with God interrupted, by their troubles; they are in a good case, for they are kept in a good frame under their troubles, and in the end they shall have a blessed deliverance from and an abundant recompence for their troubles. And therefore "surely I know, I know it by the promise of God, and the experience of all the saints, that, however it goes with others, it shall go well with them." All is well that ends well. (2.) Wicked people are certainly a miserable people; though they prosper, and prevail, for a time, the curse is as sure to them as the blessing is to the righteous: It shall not be well with the wicked, as others think it is, who judge by outward appearance, and as they themselves expect it will be; nay, woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with them (Isa 3:10, Isa 3:11); they shall be reckoned with for all the ill they have done; nothing that befals them shall be really well for them. Nihil potest ad malos pervenire quod prosit, imo nihil quod non noceat - No event can occur to the wicked which will do them good, rather no event which will not do them harm. Seneca. Note, [1.] The wicked man's days are as a shadow, not only uncertain and declining, as all men's days are, but altogether unprofitable. A good man's days have some substance in them; he lives to a good purpose. A wicked man's days are all as a shadow, empty and worthless. [2.] These days shall not be prolonged to what he promised himself; he shall not live out half his days, Psa 55:23. Though they may be prolonged (Ecc 8:12) beyond what others expected, yet his day shall come to fall. He shall fall short of everlasting life, and then his long life on earth will be worth little. [3.] God's great quarrel with wicked people is for their not fearing before him; that is at the bottom of their wickedness, and cuts them off from all happiness.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain All this have I seen,.... Observed, taken notice of,…
All this have I seen,.... Observed, taken notice of, and thoroughly considered; all that is said above, concerning the scarcity of good men and women, the fall of our first parents, the excellency of wisdom, the necessity and advantage of keeping the king's commandment, the time and manner of doing it, the evil consequences that follow an inattention to these things, ignorance of what is to come, and the unavoidableness of death;
and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun; not so much to mechanic works and manual operations performed by men, as to moral or immoral works, and chiefly the work of Providence with respect to good and bad men, the consequence of which were the following observations;
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there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt; or "the man ruleth over men" (h); for this is not to be understood of private rule in families, of the parent over his children, or master over his servant, but of a king over his subjects; who is the man, the principal man in the kingdom; and such a man ruling in an arbitrary and tyrannical way is to his own detriment in the issue. So Rehoboam; by his oppressive government, lost ten tribes out of twelve. Some have lost their whole kingdoms, and come to an untimely end; as well as ruined their immortal souls. Some render it "to his hurt" (i); to the hurt of those that are ruled, when it should be for their good, the protection of their persons and properties; but instead of that they lay heavy burdens upon them, take away their property, and injure and insult their persons. So the Targum,
"to do ill to him.''
But Jarchi interprets it of the king himself. Some take it in both senses; and so it is usually in fact, that wicked princes rule to their own hurt, and the hurt of their subjects.
(h) "homo", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, &c. (i) "in ipsus perniciem", Tigurine version; "in noxam ipsi", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain To his hurt - There are some kings, who…
To his hurt - There are some kings, who use their power tyrannically, whereby they not only oppress their people, but hurt themselves, bringing the vengeance of God upon their own heads.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. One man ruleth over another to his…
Verse 9. One man ruleth over another to his own hurt.] This may be spoken of rulers generally, who, instead of feeding, fleece the flock; tyrants and oppressors, who come to an untimely end by their mismanagement of the offices of the state. All these things relate to Asiatic despots, and have ever been more applicable to them than to any other sovereigns in the world. They were despotic; they still are so.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Ecc 8:9-10. All this I have seen — All…
Ecc 8:9-10. All this I have seen — All these things before mentioned; and applied my heart unto every work — I have been a diligent observer of all actions and events. There is a time when one man ruleth, &c. — There are some kings, who use their power tyrannically, whereby they not only oppress their people, but hurt themselves, bringing the vengeance of God upon their own heads. And so I saw — In like manner; the wicked — Wicked princes or rulers, buried — With state or pomp; who had come and gone — Had administered public justice, which is frequently signified by the phrase of coming in and going out before the people; from the place of the holy — The seat of majesty and judgment, which may well be termed, the place, or seat, of the holy — That is, of God, often called the holy one; who is in a special manner present in, and presides over those places where justice is administered: and for whom, and in whose name and stead, magistrates act, who, therefore, are called gods. And the tribunal seems to be so called here, to aggravate their sin, who, being advanced by God into so high and sacred a place, betrayed so great a trust, and both practised and encouraged that wickedness which, by their office, they were obliged to suppress and punish. And they were forgotten — Although they designed to perpetuate their names and memories to succeeding ages; in the city where they had so done — Where they had lived in great splendour, and were buried with great magnificence, which one might have thought would have kept up their remembrance, at least, in that place. This is also vanity — That men should so earnestly thirst after, and please themselves with worldly glory, which is so soon extinct, and the very memory of which is so quickly worn out of the minds of men.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain To his own hurt - Or, “to the hurt…
To his own hurt - Or, “to the hurt of the subject.” The case is still that of an unwise king whose command is obeyed Ecc 8:2 even to the hurt of the wise man who obeys him.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Hurt. Those who are despised in elevated situations, might…
Hurt. Those who are despised in elevated situations, might have been happy in obscurity.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain his own hurt--The tyrannical ruler "hurts" not merely his…
his own hurt--The tyrannical ruler "hurts" not merely his subjects, but himself; so Rehoboam (1Ki. 12:1-33); but the "time" of "hurt" chiefly refers to eternal ruin, incurred by "wickedness," at "the day of death" (Ecc 8:8), and the "time" of "judgment" (Ecc 8:6; Pro 8:36).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. Ruleth… to his… hurt — But such retribution,…
9. Ruleth… to his… hurt — But such retribution, though sometimes seen, does not always appear. Koheleth admits that in his observations he has seen men sometimes ruling others to their damage: not the damage of the ruler, but of the subject. Own is not found in the Hebrew, and its insertion breaks the sense. For this is the admission of the opposite of what has just been remarked, namely, that retribution comes to tyrants. Here is a case where it does not come.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. All this have I seen] The formula which…
9. All this have I seen] The formula which had been used before (chs. Ecc_5:18, Ecc_7:23) to enforce the results of the Debater’s experience of life in general, is now employed to emphasize the wide range of the political induction on which the conclusions of the previous verses rested.
there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt] The Hebrew is, as in so many other instances, ambiguous. The English reflexive pronoun, in which our Version follows the Vulgate, misrepresents the purport of the sentence. What is described is, as before, the misrule of the tyrant-king who rules over others (the indefinite “another” standing for the plural) to their hurt. The wide induction had not been uniform in its results. The law of Nemesis was traversed by the law of apparent impunity. We have the “two voices” once again, and the writer passes, like Abelard in his Sic et Non, from affirmation to denial. The English version seems to have originated in the wish to make this verse also repeat the affirmation of the preceding. The immediate context that follows shews however that this is not now the writer’s thought, and that he is troubled by the apparent exceptions to it.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) Own hurt.—The Hebrew is ambiguous. We might omit…
(9) Own hurt.—The Hebrew is ambiguous. We might omit “own,” and understand the verse of the misery inflicted by a tyrant on his subject, not on himself. But the context speaks of the small gain from his oppressions to the tyrant himself.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain All this have I seen; (Ecc_5:18 Ecc_7:23) i.e. all…
All this have I seen; (Ecc_5:18 Ecc_7:23) i.e. all that has been mentioned in the preceding eight verses, especially the conviction of retributive justice. He gained this experience by giving his mind to the consideration of men"s actions. There is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt. This version is certainly incorrect. A new sentence is not commenced here, but the clause is closely connected with what precedes; and "his own hurt" should he "his equivocally hurt." Thus Wright and Volck: "All this have I seen, even by applying my heart to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when man ruleth over man to his hurt." Most modern commentators consider that the hurt is that of the oppressed subject; but it is possible that the sense is intentionally ambiguous, and the injury may be that which the despot inflicts, and that which he has to suffer. Both these have been signified above. There is no valid reason for making, as Cox does, this last clause commence ver. 10, and rendering, "But there is a time when a man ruleth over men to their hurt.
Vers. 9, 10.
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Sin in power.
Amid the obscurities and uncertainties in which the precise meaning of this verse is lost, we may allow it to speak to us of the truth that when sin is in power it is in all respects an unsatisfactory thing. It is
I INJURIOUS TO THE PEOPLE. "A man ruleth over men to their hurt" (Cox). The evils of misrule are obvious, for they have been only too often illustrated; they are these: the infliction of grave injustice; the encouragement of iniquity and discouragement of righteousness; disturbance and unsettlement, and consequent reduction in various spheres of useful industry; decline of activity, morality, worship.
II HURTFUL TO THE HOLDER HIMSELF. "One man hath power over another to his own hurt" (Revised Version marginal reading). It is certainly and most profoundly true, whether here stated or not, that the holding of power by a bad man is hurtful to himself. It elevates him in his own eyes when he needs to be humbled therein; it gives him the opportunity of indulgence, and indulgence is certain to feed an evil inclination, or to foster an unholy habit; it makes injurious flattery the probable, and a beneficial remonstrance the unlikely, thing in his experience.
III OF BRIEF DURATION. If we only wait awhile we shall "see the wicked buried." It is probable enough that sin in power will be guilty of serious excesses, and will therefore bring down upon itself those human resentments or those Divine judgments which end in death. But, apart from this, an evil course must end at death. God has put a limit to our human lives which, though it sometimes takes from the field a brave and powerful champion, on the other hand relieves society of the impure and the unjust. Sin in power is bound fast by the tether which it is quite unable to snap. (Psa_37:35, Psa_37:36)
IV CONTRACTING GUILT. They "had come and gone from the place of the holy." They had either
(1) been professing to administer justice, and had done injustice; or
(2) attended the place of privilege, and had despised their opportunity. Either way, they bad been "laying up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath.
V GOING DOWN INTO OBLIVION. The sense may be that this happens too often to the righteous; but it is certainly appropriate to the wicked. And is it not more applicable to them? For no man tries to remember them. No one proposes to erect monuments or institute memorials of them. There is a tacit understanding, if nothing more, that their name shall be dropped, that their memory shall perish. The only kind thing that can be done concerning them is to leave their name unspoken.
1. Be content with the exercise of a holy and benignant influence. It is well to be powerful if God wills it. But most men have to live without it, and a human life may be destitute of it, and yet be truly happy, and be of real service to a great many souls.
2. Resolve to leave a holy influence and a fragrant memory behind. We may have to content ourselves with a very simple memorial stone, but if we leave kindly memories and good influences in many hearts, so that in our case" the memory of the just is blessed," we shall not have lived in vain. C.
Vers. 9, 10.
Unequal lots.
The enunciation in the preceding verses of a firm conviction in the moral government of the world by God might have been expected to have silenced for ever doubts excited by the inequalities and irregularities so often apparent in human society. The possession of a master key might have been expected to deliver the wanderer from the mazes of the labyrinth. But so great is the power of the actual, so varying is the strength of faith, that at times belief in a God of infinite wisdom and power and love seems a fallacious theory, contradicted and disproved by the facts of everyday life. And so our author, after bidding his readers to wait patiently for the manifestation of God"s justice against evil-doers, gives utterance to the perplexity and distress occasioned by his long delay. He thinks of the successful oppressor, prosperous in life and honored in burial, and contrasts with him the righteous driven into exile, and dying in obscurity and forgotten by all his fellows. Such seems to be the meaning of these verses, according to the translation given in the Revised Version, "All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work under the sun: there is a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt. And withal I saw the wicked buried, and they came to the grave; and they that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city: this also is vanity." It is just the state of matters described in the first part of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the one enjoying in this life good things, the other evil and because the Preacher is not able to draw aside the veil that divides the temporal from the eternal, he cannot be sure that the inequality of the lots of the wicked and the righteous is ever remedied. He describes
(1) the prosperity of the wicked; and
(2) the adversity of the righteous.
I THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED. It is still the despot whom he has in his mind"s eye. He sees him ruling over others to their hurt, and at last receiving honorable burial, and finding rest in the grave. No insurrection of oppressed and pillaged subjects cuts short his tyrannous rule; he is undisturbed by enemies from without; he escapes the dagger of the assassin, and dies peacefully in his bed. And even then, when the fear he inspired in his lifetime is relaxed, no outbreak of popular indignation interferes with the stately ceremonial with which he is laid in the tomb. "There is not wanting the long procession of the funeral solemnities through the streets of Jerusalem, the crowd of hired mourners, the spices and ointment very precious, wrapping the body; nor yet the costly sepulcher, with its adulatory inscription." He might have been the greatest benefactor his subjects had known, the holiest of his generation, so completely has he received the portion of those who have lived prosperous and honored lives (cf. 2Ch_16:14 2Ch_26:23 2Ch_28:27) The punishment merited by an evil life has not fallen upon him; the Divine Judge has delayed his coming until it is too late, as far as this life is concerned, for justice to be done, and therefore the faith of those who wait patiently upon God is subjected to a severe strain.
II THE ADVERSITY OF THE RIGHTEOUS. While the wicked flourish in undisturbed peace, the righteous have often to endure hardships. The decree of banishment goes out against them; with slow and lingering steps they are compelled against their will to depart from the place which they love. They must go forth, and only too soon are they forgotten in the city, i.e. the holy city; a younger generation knows nothing more of them, and not even a gravestone brings them back to the memory of their people. This also is vanity, like the many others already registered this, viz., that the wicked while living, and also in their death, possess the sacred soil; while, on the contrary, the upright are constrained to depart from it and are soon forgotten (Delitzsch). It seems a stain upon the Divine righteousness that this should be so; that so long an interval should elapse between the commission of the offence and the dawning of the day of retribution, and that in so many cases it would appear as if retribution never came. This is calculated to try our faith, and happy are we if the trial strengthens our faith. But one thing must not be left out of account the Preacher dwells upon it in a subsequent verse and that is that external circumstances of prosperity or adversity are not of supreme importance; that righteousness even with misfortunes is infinitely preferable to wickedness, whatever measure of external prosperity it may enjoy. Whether happiness or misery in this life be their outward lot, in the end "it shall be well with them that fear God" (ver. 12). J.W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain All this have I seen, and applied my heart…
Ecc_8:9
All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun.
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The contemplation of human life
The writer means, by applying his heart, the exercise of his attention and his judgment. He observed, thought, and formed opinions on the works of men spread over the earth. We are placed in a very busy world, full of works, transactions, events, varieties of human character and action. We witness them--hear of them--think of them--talk of them. Now, it is a matter of great importance that we should do this wisely, so as be turn these things to a profitable account. In the first place, if this attention to the actions and events of the world be employed merely in the way of amusement, there will be little good. It is so with many. They have no fixed, serious interest and purpose to occupy their minds; no grand home-business within their own spirits. Yet they must have something to keep their faculties in a pleasant activity, or cull it play. The mind, therefore, flies out as naturally and eagerly as a bird would from an opened cage. The attention rambles hither and thither, with light momentary notices of things; great and small;--here, there or yonder; it is all one; welcome! and begone! to each in turn. Now, how useless is such a manner of applying the heart! But there may be another manner much worse than useless. For attention may be exercised on the actions, characters and events among mankind in the direct service of the evil passions; in the disposition of a savage beast, or an evil spirit; in a keen watchfulness to descry weakness, in order to make a prey of it:--in an attentive observation of mistake, ignorance, carelessness, or untoward accidents,-in order to seize, with remorseless selfishness, unjust advantages;--in a penetrating inquisition into mens conduct and character in order to blast them; or (in a lighter mood) to turn them indiscriminately to ridicule. Or there may be such an exercise in the temper of envy, jealousy or revenge; or (somewhat more excusably, but still mischievously) for the purpose of exalting the observer in his own estimation. But there would be no end of describing the useless and pernicious modes of doing that which our text expresses. Let us try to form some notion of what would be the right one. In doing so there is one most important consideration to be kept in mind; that is, the necessity of having just principles or rules to be applied in our observation of the world. With the aid of these we are to look on this busy mingled scene of all kinds of actions and events. And we might specify two or three chief points of view in which we should exercise this attention and judgment. And the grand primary reference with which we survey the world of human action should be to God; we should not be in this respect without God in the world. We are exercising our little faculty on the scene; let us recollect One whose intelligence pervades it all, and is perfect in every point of it! Let us think, again, while we are judging He is judging! There is at this instant a perfected estimate in an unseen mind of this that I am thinking how to estimate!--if that judgment could lighten on me, and on its subject! Our minds, also, should be habituated, in looking at this world of actions, to recognize the Divine government over it all; to reflect that there is one sovereign, comprehensive scheme, proceeding on, to which they are all in subordination. Again, our exercise of observation and judgment on mens actions should have a reference to the object of forming a true estimate of human nature. How idle to be indulging in speculative and visionary theories about this in the midst of a world of facts! In connection with this, we may add that the observant judgment of the actions of mankind should have some reference to the illustration and confirmation of religious truths. These truths may thus be embodied, as it were, in a substantial form of evidence and importance. We may just name, for instance, the doctrine of the fall and the depravity of man. Look, and impartially judge, whether the works done under the sun afford any evidence on that subject! The necessity of the conversion of the soul. For whence does all the evil in action come from? Is the heart becoming drained into purity by so much evil having come from it? Alas! there is a perennial fountain, unless a Divine hand close it. We may name the doctrine of a great intermediate appointment for the pardon of sin--its pardon through a propitiation, an atonement. We look at the life of a sinner, a numerous train of sins. Think intently on the malignant nature of sin; and, if there be truth in God, it is inexpressibly odious to Him; then if, nevertheless, such sinners are to be pardoned, does it not eminently comport with the Divine holiness--is it not due to it--that in the very medium of their pardon, there should be some signal and awful fact of a judicial and penal kind to record and render memorable for ever a righteous Gods judgment, estimate, of that which He pardons? The necessity of the operating influence of a Divine Spirit is also illustrated. A faithful corrective reference to ourselves in our observation of others is a point of duty almost too plain to need mentioning. The observation should constantly turn into reflection, which yet it is very unapt to do, except when self-complacency can be gratified. Might we suggest one other point of reference in our looking on the actions of men, namely the comparison and the difference between what men are doing under the sun, and what they will all, ere long, be doing somewhere else? Think of all that have done all the works under the sun, ever since that luminary began to shine on this world,--now in action in some other regions! Think of all those whose actions we have beheld and judged--those recently departed--our own personal friends! Have not they a scene of amazing novelty and change; while yet there is a relation, a connecting quality between their actions before and now. Lastly, our exercise of attention and judgment on every work that is done under the sun should be under the habitual recollection that soon we shall cease to look on them; and that, instead, we shall be witnessing their consequences; and in a mighty experience also, ourselves, of consequences. This thought will enforce upon us incessantly, that all our observation should be most diligently turned to the account of true wisdom and our own highest improvement. (J. Foster.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Ecc_8:9. There is a time when one man ruleth…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Ecc_8:9. There is a time when one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.] This was the definite direction of the Preacher’s observations. He tried to discover what were the prevailing disorders of the time, and he beheld a whole epoch filled with examples of tyranny.
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Ecc_8:10. The place of the holy.] Some understand the place of judgment. Others, the place of honourable burial, where men came and went in funeral procession. But it is more in accordance with the sense of the passage to understand it of the sanctuary, or the community of the righteous. These wicked men concealed their true character beneath the outward forms and proprieties of religion.
Ecc_8:12. And his days be prolonged]—i.e., in sinning.
Ecc_8:13. Neither shall he prolong his days.] Vice being unfavourable to long life; though, as in Ecc_8:12, the time spent in sin, undisturbed by any seeming interference of Providence, may be considerable.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Ecc_8:9-13
THE DELAY OF DIVINE JUSTICE
The Royal Preacher often insists upon the truth that God rules over man with an inflexible justice. Yet that justice does not act swiftly, but seems, for a time, to be suspended. We have here three facts regarding this delay of the Divine Justice.
I. That it Continues, though the Worst Forms of Iniquity Prevail. In every age there are prevailing sins whose enormity is so great that they may be said to provoke the Divine Justice. They cry to heaven for vengeance and retribution, yet that cry seems to be unheeded. Some of these sins are mentioned here.
1. Tyranny and oppression. (Ecc_8:9.) Man is enslaved to man. Those who have the power rule with a rod of iron, oppressing the poor and the defenceless. Cruelty, in some form, exists under every condition of society. The wrongs that men inflict upon one another are amongst the most terrible forms of human suffering. The permission of such evils in the moral government of God is a source of perplexity. It would seem as if heaven heeded not the groanings of the innocent, yet unavenged.
2. Hypocrisy. (Ecc_8:10.) These tyrants disguised their wickedness under the cloak of religion. They went continually to the “place of the holy”—the Sanctuary of God—the assembly of the righteous. They dared to insult God in His own house. And yet this hypocrisy was suffered to continue, justice not interfering to cast forth these audacious men from the place which they had profaned. And not only during life, but even in death itself, did men attempt to hide these hollow pretences beneath the outward signs of reverence due to real worth. These wicked men were “buried” with all the pomp and circumstance of woe. Yet, with all the advantage of these external appearances, carried on even to the grave, they failed to deceive either God or man. “They were forgotten in the city where they had so done.” Men soon recovered from any infatuation which their outward splendour might have produced. No deeds of love and kindness made them dear to memory, and the world soon consented to let their names die. The wickedness of those men was so manifest that they were hypocrites without deceiving. Posterity covered them with shame and disgrace.
II. That it Continues, though Some thereby are Emboldened to Sin. (Ecc_8:11.) In the moral government of God, as it is carried on in the present world, punishment does not fall upon the sinner speedily. Even that penalty with which some sins are visited in this life is often long delayed. It would seem as if sin was not interfered with—that there are in the world no sufficient tokens that the Divine Justice is likely to be exact and rigorous. This long-suffering of God, the design of which is to lead men to penitence, is perverted by some into a privilege to sin. The reason of this perversion is not hard to find.
1. There is a feeling that God is indifferent to human conduct. While justice delays, and the course of life seems to run smoothly, the sinner begins to imagine that the moral government of God is, after all, but an empty phrase. The weakness of our moral nature will take advantage of the most slender excuses to continue in a course of sin. Even good men are staggered by the delay of Divine justice to inflict penalty for the crying sins of mankind. In this painful perplexity, they can only find relief in faith, and present comfort in the patience of hope. The long-suffering of God is their salvation (2Pe_3:15); but with the sinner, it only serves to wear down all moral distinctions, and to blunt the feeling of retribution.
2. There is the excitement of success. The schemes of those “wicked” men had prospered. They gained the object of their ambition. There is a powerful excitement in success. The world worships it, and few men have strength enough to withstand the infatuation. In the intoxication of success, the distinct colours of good and evil fade. Men become the slaves of the unreal. They heed not the solemn and sober facts of human destiny.
III. That it will have an End in Just Retribution. (Ecc_8:12-13.) The penalty which God’s law attaches to sin is not an empty threat, a vain terror held over the human race. A just retribution will come to all at last.
“The mill of God grinds slowly,
But it grinds exceedingly small.”
There will be just retribution.
1. For the sinner. The most successful course of sin will have an end, when reckoning will have to be made with Divine justice. “It shall not be well with the wicked.” He cannot have any final success. Sin must lead to unhappiness. God will banish it from His sight, and all what is banished from Him is bereft of peace and joy.
2. For the righteous. “It shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him.” To “fear God” is the O.T. expression for the state and character of piety. He who is righteous before God does not pervert His kindness, in delaying to inflict the penalties of sin, into license for iniquity. Divine justice may be long delayed; in the meantime, the foulest sins grow rank; and even the good have painful moments of darkness, when faith is difficult; still, in the end, it must be well with the righteous, for God will honour and reward all who have meekly toiled that they might be partakers of the Divine nature.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecc_8:9. He who studies the moral condition of man in the world will find many stumbling blocks to his faith.
Power is a dangerous possession unless it is regulated by goodness.
Of this fact the system of slavery is still a conspicuous and terrible proof. That system involves, indeed, many and most formidable evils to its unhappy victims; and yet, enormous and intolerable as these evils are, they are exceeded by those which the system entails upon the men by whom it is administered and maintained. They, most emphatically, rule over others to their own hurt. Their moral sense is blunted, and all the better feelings of their nature depraved by the sights which the system compels them to witness, and by the deeds which it requires, or at least tempts them to do [Buchanan].
As the Lord doth for wise ends permit wicked men to come to authority over others in the world, so hath He the time when they shall come to it fixed, and how long they shall have it. For it is clear by the consequence of this ruling, to the person who hath it, that he speaks of wicked men, and the word time signifies a set and fixed season, wherein “one man rules over another” [Nisbet].
Ecc_8:10. Death often solves the perplexities of the distressed. The oppressors of mankind are made to yield to the resistless stroke of fate, and so they “cease from troubling.”
There is a form of hypocrisy which springs from ignorance. Men deceive themselves. But there is an hypocrisy which hides great depravity of soul beneath the appearance of goodness.
“I saw the wicked who had come and gone from the place of the holy”—who had attended the sanctuary, joined in the worship of God, and cloaked their unrighteousness and oppression under the garb of external piety—who had “come and gone,” continuing their hypocritical career in safety, no marks of Divine vengeance visiting them for their awful profanation and odious dissembling. I saw them buried,—the victims of mortality equally with others, having no power more than they in the day of death. I saw them buried, carried in affecting humiliation and impotence, to “the house appointed for all living.” … They had sought after, and expected perpetual fame; but men had no pleasure in remembering them; when out of sight, they were out of mind; their name and memory rotted with their carcases in the dust [Wardlaw].
It has often happened that when the grave has closed upon great oppressors, that men have hasted to abolish their laws, and to sweep away all traces of their ambition and pride. In the better state of things which has succeeded, men have been glad to forget the tyrant’s name.
“This also is vanity;” this, to make the inward substance of virtue a shadow of outward beauty. This, to have an opinion of holiness, and to be praised for it, but not to deserve it. This, to be flattered or feared being alive, to be hated being dead. This, being present to be remembered, being absent to be forgotten. This, to be Church Christians, the guests of hell in life and conversation. This, for a while to rule in pride and oppression, and for ever to be slaves to misery and torments [Jermin].
Ecc_8:11. Whatever lies remote from us, in time, fails to affect the mind, or at best affects it but languidly. The delay of the inflictions of Divine justice thus becomes an occasion of indulging in a false security.
That which men wish to be true, they are naturally prone to believe. They are fond of thinking that sin will not expose them to such irremediable vengeance as the Bible threatens. They are willing to be persuaded of this; and they flatter themselves into the persuasion by the wiles of a thousand sophistries. At first, it may be, they commit sin with a timid heart and a trembling hand. They hesitate long. But at length, though with irresolute tremor, it is done. No harm comes to them. No indications of the anger of heaven follow the deed. They feel themselves safe. And having tasted of the sin, it is sweet; and they desire it again [Wardlaw].
It is the proper mark of an unregenerate man, void of saving knowledge and grace, to have his heart fully set in him, without reluctancy or remorse, to do evil. The regenerate have another principle within them, opposing their sinful motions (Gal_5:17), checking and wounding them, and bringing them to remorse for sin (Rom_7:24) [Nisbet].
Ecc_8:12. Sin becomes easier the more it is indulged. Fixed and intensified by the power of habit, it comes at length to be almost as strong as fate.
The sinner, in the long security which is permitted to him, may even seem to have Providence on his side.
The frequent success of the ungodly, and their apparent immunity from evil, may be a sore perplexity to the weak who suffer. Yet, if these look to the end, they will see that the good alone triumph.
There are great fundamental truths—moral axioms, which cannot be set aside by any difficulties of speculation. In the midst of mystery and apparent confusion they shine out clearly.
It is not a bare conjecture, or mere probability, that the godly have of their future happiness, but it is a certainty, and a firm persuasion wrought in their hearts by the Spirit of God, making them to rest confidently upon His faithful word, and helping them to believe by giving them the first-fruits thereof in hand [Nisbet].
Ecc_8:13. “But it shall not be well with the wicked.” Not while he lives, for even when he prospers it is ill with him: the curse of heaven is upon his tabernacle, and it secretly mingles itself with all his enjoyments. Not when he dies, for he has then nothing before him but “a fearful looking for of judgment.” Not when he appears before the Judgment Seat, for “the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” [Wardlaw].
God’s judgments come suddenly. Men who have not faith see no signs of their approach. The prosperity and security of the wicked are but that strange and unnatural calm before a storm.
The triumphing of the wicked, at best, is but short. Their prosperity has in it no element of solid worth—nothing that will abide through the untried scenes and changes which await them. Their glory passes away as a shadow, completely dispersed by the light of eternity.
When God enters into judgment with the sinner, the vain show of his worldly life disappears.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Over Against Tyranny and Injustice
Over Against Tyranny and Injustice
v. 9. All this have I seen and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun, in seeking proper explanations of all the various circumstances in life, the question of tyranny also engaged his attention; there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt, for in exercising oppression the tyrant damages his own cause, 1 Kings 12.
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v. 10. And so I saw the wicked buried, in an honorable burial, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, where they sat as God’s representatives, and they, the godly people, were forgotten in the city where they had so done, namely, in living an honorable and upright life; this is also vanity, namely, the unequal distribution of destinies in human life.
v. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, many flagrant offenses going unpunished on account of the slowness or the miscarriage of justice, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil, for in such circumstances criminals will feel safe in assuming that punishment will not strike them.
v. 12. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, so that, to all intents, he is safe in his sinning, yet surely I know, in spite of the apparent evidence to the contrary, that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him, the godly finally receiving the recognition which God intends for them;
v. 13. but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, the punishment of God is bound finally to strike him; because he feareth not before God, Psa 73:18-20.
v. 14. There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, a circumstance which shows the emptiness of the present life, that there be just men, true children of God, 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, this strange commingling and interchange of fortunes being one of the riddles of the universe; I said that this also is vanity, it seemed to emphasize the futility of this world.
v. 15. Then I commended mirth, a proper and godly cheerfulness, because a man hath no better thing under the sun than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry, in the right use of God’s gifts and blessings; for that shall abide with him of his labor the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun, it is the one sure thing to be enjoyed from earthly work.
v. 16. When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth, the travail and trouble caused by his anxious search for the grounds and aims of human action, fate, and life; (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes, in his anxiety knowing no rest;)
v. 17. then I beheld all the work of God, he made this observation with regard to all the works of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun, he is unable to solve all the mysteries which present themselves to him; because, though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it, the mystery being beyond human understanding; yea, farther: though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it, and all human speculations regarding the motives of God in the government of the world are futile. Full and absolute trust is required on the part of God’s children.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:9-11 In this world, injustice often prevails. The apparent…
8:9-11 In this world, injustice often prevails. The apparent success of the wicked can be frustrating.
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