Ecclesiastes 7:15

All [things] have I seen in the days of my vanity,.... Or, "all these things" (u).

All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

All things; all sorts of events, both such as have been already mentioned, and such as I am about to declare. In the days my vanity; since I have come into this vain and transitory life. In his righteousness; either, 1. Notwithstanding his righteousness; whom his righteousness doth not deliver in common calamities, ,4 33:12. Or, 2. For his righteousness, which exposeth him to the envy, and hatred, and rage of persecutors or wicked men. In is sometimes used for for; but it is not so taken in the next clause, which answers to this, and therefore the former seems to be the truer interpretation. In his wickedness; notwithstanding all his wickedness, whereby he provokes and deserves the justice both of God and men, who yet, for many wise and just reasons, is permitted to live long unpunished and secure.

Ecclesiastes 7:15 All [things] have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just [man] that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked [man] that prolongeth [his life] in his wickedness.Ver. 15. All things have I seen in the days of my vanity,] i.e., Of my life, which is so very a vanity that no man can perfectly describe it, or directly tell what it is. He came somewhat near the matter that said it was a spot of time between two eternities. There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness.] The first man that died, died for religion. How early did martyrdom come into the world! How valiant for the truth and violent for the kingdom have God’ s suffering saints been ever since, preferring affliction before sin, and choosing rather to perish in their righteousness than to part with it! Ignatius triumphed in his voyage to Rome to suffer, to think that his blood should be found among the mighty worthies, and that when the Lord makes inquisition for blood, he will recount from the blood of righteous Abel, not only to the blood of Zaccharias, son of Barachias, but also to the blood of mean Ignatius. "Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake," And there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life.] This, as the former event likewise, proves a great stumblingblock to many; to see good men perish, bad men flourish and live long in sin, with impunity, credit, and countenance, as Manasseh, that monster of men, who reigned longest of any king of Judah. Jeroboam lived to see three successions in the throne of Judah. Thus the ivy lives when the oak is dead. David George, that odious heretic, lived to a great age, and died in peace and plenty. Ann Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset, wife of the Protector, Edward Seymour, after she had raised such tragedies about precedence with Queen Catherine, and caused the ruin of her husband and his brother the admiral, died A.D. 1587, being ninety-nine years of age. Length of days is no sure rule of God’ s favour. As plants last longer than sensitive creatures, and brute creatures outlive the reasonable, so among the reasonable it is no news, neither should it trouble us, that the wickedly great do inherit these worldly glories longer than the best; it is all they are like to have, let them make them merry with it. Some wicked men live long that they may aggravate their judgment, others die sooner that they may hasten it. Camden’ s Elisabeth, fol. 356. Ut victimae ad supplicium saginantur, ut hostiae ad poenam coronantur. - Min. Faelix.

(15) Days of my vanity.—Ecclesiastes 6:12.

Verse 15. There is a just man that perisheth] This is another objection as if he had said, "l also have had considerable experience; and I have not discovered any marked approbation of the conduct of the righteous, or disapprobation of that of the wicked. On the contrary, I have seen a righteous man perish, while employed in the work of righteousness; and a wicked man prosperous, and even exalted, while living wickedly. The former is indeed a victim to his righteousness, while the life and prosperity of the latter were preserved: hence I conclude, it is not prudent, whatever good there may be in religion, and whatever excellence in wisdom, that men should be overmuch righteous, or over-wise: for why should they by austerity and hard study destroy themselves?" So far the objector.

15. there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness] The writer looks back on what he calls “the days of his vanity,” his fleeting and profitless life, and notes, as before in ch. Ecclesiastes 2:14; Ecclesiastes 2:16, the disorders and anomalies of the world. The righteous are “of all men most miserable;” (1 Corinthians 15:19) the ungodly “prosper in the world” and “come in no peril of death, but are lusty and strong,” Psalms 73:4 (P. B. version). Here indeed those disorders present themselves in their most aggravated form. It is not only, as in ch. Ecclesiastes 3:19, that there is one event to the righteous and the wicked, but that there is an apparent inversion of the right apportionment of good and evil. The thought is the same as that of Psalms 73, and the Debater has not as yet entered, as the Psalmist did, into the sanctuary of God, and so learnt to “understand the end of these men” (Psalms 73:17). The same problem in the moral order of the Universe furnishes a theme for the discussions of the Book of Job.

The days of my vanity - This does not imply that those days of vanity were ended (see Ecclesiastes 1:12 note). The meaning may be best explained by a paraphrase.

15. All — Should be rendered both, that is, the two cases hereinafter stated. Koheleth had previously called his former life “days of vanity.” This verse is the basis of the two following verses.