Ecclesiastes 8:6 - Meaning and Application

Solomon had just said that a wise person’s heart can discern time and judgment, meaning that, with God’s blessing, human wisdom can go a long way in judging what may happen. But here he shows that few people really have that wisdom. Even the wisest can be caught by a disaster they did not see coming, so our wisdom is to expect sudden changes and prepare for them.

First, every event that concerns us, and the exact time it will happen, is settled in God’s counsel and foreknowledge. Everything is ordered wisely. There is a time set for every purpose, and it is the best time, because it is time and judgment, a time arranged in wisdom and righteousness. God’s ordering of events is never foolish or unjust.

Second, we are very much in the dark about future events and the time when they will happen. Man does not know what will happen to him, and no one can tell him when or how it will come (Ecclesiastes 8:7). Neither the stars nor any form of divination can truly predict it. In wisdom, God has hidden future things from us so that we will always be ready for change.

Third, this is part of our misery: since we cannot see danger ahead, we do not know how to avoid it or guard against it. And because we do not know the right time for action, we often miss our chance and lose our way. Since there is only one proper way and one fitting moment for each purpose, the trouble of man is great, because it is so hard to hit that right moment, and often he misses it. Many sorrows would have been avoided if people could have seen them coming and known the right time to act. People are miserable because they are not wise and alert enough.

Fourth, whatever other troubles we may avoid, we are all under the certain need to die (Ecclesiastes 8:8). When God calls for the soul, it must be given up, and there is no use arguing against it, whether by force or by pleading, either for ourselves or through a friend. No one has power over his own spirit to keep it from returning to God who gave it. The soul cannot flee beyond the reach of death, and it cannot hide where death cannot find it. A person has no power to delay the day of death, and prayers or bribes cannot win a reprieve.

We do not have power over a friend’s spirit either. A ruler cannot lengthen the life of even his best subject. A doctor cannot stop death with medicine, a soldier cannot stop it with force, an orator cannot talk it away, and even the most faithful saint cannot keep it from coming by prayer. When God’s appointed hour arrives, death cannot be turned aside.

Death is also an enemy we must all face, sooner or later. There is no discharge in that war, no release from it, whether a man is busy or weak-hearted, as was sometimes allowed among the Jews (Deuteronomy 20:5, Deuteronomy 20:8). While we live, we are still struggling with death. We will not be free from that struggle until we leave this body. No one gets a discharge until death has won. The youngest is not released as a new recruit, and the oldest is not let go as a veteran whose service is complete. Death is a battle each person must fight. There is no sending another to fight in our place, no substitute can stand for us. We must enter that conflict ourselves, so we should prepare for it as for a battle.

A person’s wickedness cannot protect him from death. Men often use evil to escape justice from a ruler or to scare off punishment, but death cannot be stopped that way. The most stubborn sinner cannot harden his heart enough to face death without fear. Even if he grows stronger in evil (Psalm 52:7), death will be stronger. Clever wickedness cannot outsmart death, and bold wickedness cannot outface it. In fact, the very wickedness people cling to will not save them from death, but hand them over to it.