Ecclesiastes 8:14 - Meaning and Application

Wise and good people have long struggled with this question: how can the success of the wicked and the troubles of the righteous fit with the holiness and goodness of God, who rules the world? In this verse, Solomon gives advice about that problem.

He says we should not act as if this were something strange. He saw it in his own day. He saw righteous people who were treated as though they had done the works of the wicked, and they suffered very harsh things for a long time, as if they were being punished for great evil. He also saw wicked people who were treated as though they had done the works of the righteous, and they prospered so clearly that it looked like a reward for good deeds.

We still see the same thing. The godly are often troubled and upset in their own hearts, while the wicked seem calm, fearless, and secure. The godly are sometimes crossed and afflicted by God’s providence, which means his wise and governing care, while the wicked are successful and favored. The godly are also often blamed, mocked, and pushed down by those in power, while the wicked are praised and promoted.

From this, Solomon wants us to blame the world’s emptiness, not God’s justice. There is no fault in God. The world itself is vain, empty, and unable to give lasting satisfaction. If this world were meant to be our full happiness, God would not allow so much of its wealth to go to his worst enemies, or so much of its trouble to fall on his best friends. So there must be another life after this, where joy and sorrow are real and lasting, and where people are truly made happy or truly miserable. This world does neither fully.

We should also not let this trouble make us bitter or restless. Instead, we should gladly enjoy what God gives us here, be content with it, and make the best of it, even if others have more and seem far less deserving (Ecclesiastes 8:15). Solomon says, “I commended joy,” meaning a calm and holy peace of mind that comes from trust in God, his power, his rule, and his promise. A person has no better thing under the sun, though a good person has much better things above the sun, than to eat and drink soberly and thankfully, and to use the good things of this life according to his station.

That is the fruit a person gets from all his hard work in this world. So he should receive it and be thankful for it. He should not refuse to enjoy it because he is upset that the world does not go as he wants. This is the portion that stays with him through the days of his life that God gives him under the sun. Our present life is a life under the sun, but we look for the life to come, which will begin and continue when the sun grows dark and shines no more. This life is measured by days, and God himself appoints those days. So while it lasts, we must submit to God’s will and live in a way that answers the purpose of life.

Solomon also warns us not to try to explain everything God does. God’s ways are like a path in the sea and in great waters, beyond our finding out. So we must accept, with humility and reverence, that we do not understand the meaning of God’s rule over the world (Ecclesiastes 8:16, Ecclesiastes 8:17). Solomon says he and others studied this question very closely. He had given his heart to understand this wisdom and to see what is done on the earth by divine providence, hoping to find a steady pattern in how the lower world is governed.

He wanted to discover whether there was some fixed order, as sure and regular as the course of nature, so that by what happens now we might know what will happen next. Others pressed into this search so hard that they could not sleep day or night, so anxious were they about these matters. Some think Solomon is speaking of himself, saying that he was so eager in this inquiry that he could not sleep because he kept thinking about it.

But all this effort came to nothing (Ecclesiastes 8:17). When we compare all of God’s works and his providence, we cannot find any fixed rule by which the work done under the sun is directed. We cannot discover the key that unlocks it. We cannot consult past cases and know how this court will act, or what its judgment will be. Even if a person works very hard to find it out, even if he is skilled and wise in many things, even if he can understand the plans of kings, and even if he is fully confident that he will succeed, still he cannot find it out. God’s ways are above ours, and he is not bound to keep acting only in the ways he has used before. His judgments are a great deep.