Ecclesiastes 8
ECFEcclesiastes 8:1
Didymus the Blind: As it is impossible to recognize a white thing if one does not know the color white, and as it is impossible to recognize science if one does not know what science is, so it is also impossible to recognize a wise person by someone who does not know wisdom according to which the wise person is formed and called. — COMMENTARY ON Ecclesiastes 233:5
Didymus the Blind: Here he means that the wisdom of a person makes the face shine, but not the face of the body, not a part of the flesh, but the face of the inner person.… The face of the inner person is illuminated by wisdom. But wisdom, light, Logos, truth and the other conceptions are identical when applied to Christ. — COMMENTARY ON Ecclesiastes 233:16
Gregory of Neocaesarea: Moreover, wisdom, when it is found in a man, shows itself also in its possessor’s face, and makes his countenance to shine; as, on the other hand, effrontery convicts the man in whom it has taken up its abode, so soon as he is seen, as one worthy of hatred. And it is on every account right to give careful heed to the words of the king, and by all manner of means to avoid an oath, especially one taken in the name of God. It may be fit at the same time to notice an evil word, but then it is necessary to guard against any blasphemy against God. For it will not be possible to find fault with Him when He inflicts any penalty, nor to gainsay the decrees of the Only Lord and King. But it will be better and more profitable for a man to abide by the holy commandments, and to keep himself apart from the words of the wicked. For the wise man knows and discerns beforehand the judgment, which shall come at the right time, and sees that it shall be just. For all things in the life of men await the retribution from above; but the wicked man does not seem to know verily that as there is a mighty providence over him, nothing in the future shall be hid. He knows not indeed the things which shall be; for no man shall be able to announce any one of them to him duly: for no one shall be found so strong as to be able to prevent the angel who spoils him of his life; neither shall any means be devised for cancelling in any way the appointed time of death. But even as the man who is captured in the midst of the battle can only see flight cut off on every side, so all the impiety of man perishes utterly together. And I am astonished, as often as I contemplate what and how great things men have studied to do for the hurt of their neighbours. But this I know, that the impious are snatched prematurely from this life, and put out of the way because they have given themselves to vanity. For whereas the providential judgment of God does not overtake all speedily, by reason of His great long-suffering, and the wicked is not punished immediately on the commission of his offenses,— for this reason he thinks that he may sin the more, as though he were to get off with impunity, not understanding that the transgressor shall not escape the knowledge of God even after a long interval. This, moreover, is the chief good, to reverence God; for if once the impious man fall away from Him, he shall not be suffered long to misuse his own folly. But a most vicious and false opinion often prevails among men concerning both the righteous and the unrighteous. For they form a judgment contrary to truth regarding each of them; and the man who is really righteous does not get the credit of being so, while, on the other hand, the impious man is deemed prudent and upright. And this I judge to be among the most grievous of errors. Once, indeed, I thought that the chief good consisted in eating and drinking, and that he was most highly favoured of God who should enjoy these things to the utmost in his life; and I fancied that this kind of enjoyment was the only comfort in life. And, accordingly, I gave heed to nothing but to this conceit, so that neither by night nor by day did I withdraw myself from all those things which have ever been discovered to minister luxurious delights to men. And this much I learned thereby, that the man who mingles in these things shall by no means be able, however sorely he may labour with them, to find the real good.
Ecclesiastes 8:2
Jerome: “I counsel you: Obey the king’s command, and that in the manner of an oath of God. Do not hasten to leave his presence, do not persist in an evil thing; for he can do whatever he pleases. Since a king’s word is law, who dare say to him, ‘what are you doing?’ “Here he seems to teach the same as the apostle - that we should obey kings and rulers, which is set out in the Septuagint as a command: “guard the command of the king”; but personally I think he is now talking about that king about whom David says, “Lord, the king will be happy in your virtue” [Ps. 20, 1.]. And in another passage, where it means the one reign of the Father and of the Son, the text reads, “God, give your judgement to the king, and your righteousness to the son of the king”. [Tob. 12,7.] For the Father does not judge each one, but gives each judgement to the Son. Moreover, that king who is the Son of God, is the son of the Father who is the King. Therefore His precepts should be kept, His will done. And this is exactly what is written in the book of Tobit: “it is good to hide the secret of the king” [Tob. 12,7]. He warns in particular why we should not ask why God has taught every single thing, but see that teaching as a commandment, and this is what an impious man hastens to fulfil. Then let his will be the same as that of God’s law. But because the Septuagint translates this differently, saying, “do not hasten to run away from God’s presence”, nor his judgement or his word, you must know that God’s judgement is written in the divine will. Therefore we ought not to recount to anyone or make public this judgement, which is taken to be sacred and secret from the word of God, nor should we form rash opinions from it. We should not, too, hasten like Moses, to see the face of God, but rather wait a while until He Himself passes by and then we will only see Him passing. Nor too should we do what follows: do not persist in an evil thing, and so on, especially as we understand, like one who has already come into the madness of heresy, or as he, who although having faith in the Church, is still overcome by sins, so that he is unfaithful. Do not persevere in what is wrong, or in swearing, indulgence, greed, or lust. For if you do the king of vices and devil of sins will fashion in you your end, and he will be able to do whatever he wants with you. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 8:5
Ambrose of Milan: And you find in another passage, “For he that keeps the commandment does not know the wicked word” when it is altogether clear that knowledge of wickedness is not culpable, but association with it is. — Interrogation of Job and David 2.7.27
Didymus the Blind: Whoever knows what is good also knows at the same time what is bad. “To know” here does not mean “to do” but simply “to know about something.” Because when the commandment is given to turn away from evil and do good, we must also know evil in order to be able to turn away from it and to choose good. About these things the apostle writes with the following words: “But test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.” One sees here that whoever tests everything, knows that the good is to be chosen and obeyed and that the evil is to be avoided.… Ecclesiastes means that he who obeys the command does not know an evil word, that is, he does not say that he does not “understand” it, but that he does not “use” it. — COMMENTARY ON Ecclesiastes 236:2
Jerome: “He who obeys the commandment will know no evil; and a wise man will know time and justice. “Notice here in particular that ‘he will know no evil’ has been written instead of ‘he will not suffer’ or even ’evil will not be in him’. Likewise it has also been written about the Saviour, “for he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” [II Cor. 5, 21.] Instead of ’evil’ too Symmachus interprets this phrase as saying, “he who keeps the commandment will experience no wickedness”. But he teaches that we should keep the command of a king, and know why and when he orders. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 8:8
Didymus the Blind: In the direct and literal sense, there is no person who has power over the spirit so as to understand the movement of air, that is, the wind as breath. The human being has no great power as long as he does not have power over the wind. He can do nothing to cause it and nothing to prevent it when it wants to harm him. Sailors have no power to direct the wind in accordance to their direction, and they cannot stop it when it is fierce and dangerous, even if they are excellent sailors. Thus we have to understand it in this sense in the literal meaning. Since, however, the soul of human beings often is called breath, we also can say: There is no one who has the power to cause the soul to remain within him or who has the power to take it from other living beings. This depends on providence. — COMMENTARY ON Ecclesiastes 240:20
Jerome: “Man is powerless over the spirit-to restrain the spirit; nor is there authority over the day of death; nor discharge in war; and wickedness cannot save the wrong-doer. “Our mind does not have the power to prevent the spirit from being taken from us, and when the spirit leaves to the realm of God, it helps nothing to shut out mouth and hold in our fleeting life. And when we are dead, the enemy of our life will come and we are not able to take any rest. Note too the kings in one age, which destroying all our things irreligiously led us by the hands to our death, but we were taken into the ashes and the earth. Therefore we must not mourn if we cannot know the future and we are often oppressed by more powerful and wicked men, for all things end in death: for the proud and the powerful the same end; he who has devastated all things does not deserve to keep his life when it is taken away. Another meaning could be that the spirit that is the source of life cannot be prevented from leaving any man, this is the rule of mortality. Above too he also spoke of this: “turning, turning goes the wind” [Eccl. 1,6.]. We have no power in the day of our death, but when we are alive our enemy is easily avoided. Similarly he who is in time of war and does not have the peace of God, which overpowers all feeling, he will not have any discharge therefrom, about which it is said to a bride, “your discharge is paradise with the fruit of apples” [Cant. 4, 13.]. And because piety will not save him who has it, piety will save the opposite, and impiety can be called the Devil and piety our Lord Jesus Christ. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 8:9
Jerome: “All this have I seen; and I applied my mind to see every deed that is done under the sun: there is a time when one man rules over another to his detriment. And then I saw the wicked buried and newly come while those who had done right were gone from the Holy place and were forgotten in the city. This too is vanity! Because the sentence for wrong-doing is not executed quickly- that is why men are encouraged to do evil. “I have dedicated my heart, he says, that I should see all that is done under the sun, and this too, that man takes up arms against man, so that he afflicts and condemns those whom he wants. And so when I began to look upon those things I saw that the impious were dead by such belief and buried, and were deemed holy in the earth, but those who were living were thought to be worthy of the Church, and the temple of God, the bombastic walking above were praised for their wickedness. “For the sinner is praised for the laxity of his soul, and he who is wicked is blessed” [Ps. 9,24.]. But this happens moreover because no one dares to confront sinners and God does not immediately give punishment for crimes, but rather postpones, so that we must await our repentance. But since those who sin are not immediately arrested and accused, they think with little regard that their judgement will be in the future, and continue in their crime. We can see how this evidence pertains to certain bishops, who come to power in the Church, and speak ill of those, which had taught and had urged them to follow better pursuits. These men are very often praised after death in the Church, and blessed for those things, which they in all likelihood did not even do, or openly are warned by their successors or the congregation. And even this is vanity, since while they live they do not heed advice and are not immediately visited for their sins, (since none dares accuse his superior), besides they act as if holy and blessed, and as if they are walking in the precepts of the Lord, and they increase their sins one on top of another. Such an accusation of a bishop is difficult. For you see, if he has sinned, it is not believed, and if he is accused, he is not punished. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 8:11
John Cassian: It is clear, then, that no one can be deceived by the devil except one who has chosen to yield to him the consent of his own will. As Ecclesiastes clearly puts it in these words: “For since there is no speedy opposition to those who do evil, therefore the heart of the children of men is fully set to do evil.” It is therefore clear that each person goes wrong from this; namely, that when evil thoughts assault him he does not immediately meet them with refusal and contradiction. — CONFERENCE 7:8
John Cassian: Until now, never confuting him with your own answer or that of another, you allowed him to lord it over you, according to that saying of Solomon’s: “Because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the heart of the children of men is full within them to do evil.” Therefore after his exposure that evil spirit will no longer be able to disturb you, nor will that foul serpent ever again make his lurking place in you, since he has been dragged out into light from the darkness by your life-giving confession.” — CONFERENCE 2:11
Origen of Alexandria: Let them rest assured that punishment shall be inflicted on the wicked, and rewards shall be bestowed upon the righteous, by him who deals with everyone as each deserves, and who will proportion his rewards to the good that each has done, and to the account of himself that he is able to give. And let all know that the good shall be advanced to a higher state, and that the wicked shall be delivered over to sufferings and torments, in punishment of their licentiousness and depravity, their cowardice, timidity, and all their follies. — AGAINST CELSUS 8:52
Ecclesiastes 8:12
Jerome: “Because a sinner does what is wrong an hundred times and He is patient with him, yet nevertheless I am aware that it will be well with those who fear God that they may fear Him. “Because a sinner has done many wicked deeds, this is what is meant by, ‘an hundred times’: God gives a time for repentance, and does not punish him immediately for his crime, but he waits so that he is converted by his wickedness. I understand how good-willing and forgiving God will be to those who fear Him and tremble at His word. Symmachus translated this passage as, “For a sinner dies wicked, long-life is granted him”. More precisely I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear His face, but it will not be well for the wicked, and he will not live long, for he does not fear God. And because what Symmachus translated is clear, we can say that the Hebrew word “maath “is what the Septuagint has translated as ‘from then on’, which we have here as ‘an hundred times’. Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have interpreted ‘he has died’ as “he has sinned and done evil, and is dead”, because for that which he sinned, he immediately dies. But according to the interpretation of the Septuagint, instead of ‘he is dead’ we read ‘from then on’, and according to that interpretation, the meaning is, ‘a sinner does not sin at first when he seems to sin, but already even before he has sinned’: “Sinners are estranged from the womb, they have erred since they were in the stomach” [Ps. 57, 4.]. And they ask this that follows- “they have spoken falsity”, just as he explains for a simple understanding, there seems to be no reason that child sinners speak lies as soon as they come out of the womb. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 8:13
Jerome: “And it will not be well with the wicked, and he will not live long-like a shadow-because he does not fear God. “He invokes wickedness upon those who do not fear God, and desires that they do not wait long for their punishment, but rather are crucified and immediately put to death, this punishment is for those who merit such a death. This is similar to what the apostle says: “I would that those who annoy us were put to death.” [Gal. 5,12.] And in another place “Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil, may the Lord reward him according to his works.” [II Tim. 4, 14.] We must ask though how these things are said so mildly. This is very true to the Hebrew meaning of this verse. But we can follow the Septuagint’s interpretation, which seems to take another meaning, and says, “and I know, since those who fear God will be well, that they fear his face, and the wicked will not be well, and his day will not be long in shadows, who does not fear God.” He could have said this: ’let there also be those things which I considered a little earlier’, but I know clearly that those fearing God will be well; “for the face of God is above those who do wickedness” [Ps. 33, 17.]. And the wicked will not be well, for he does not fear God and his days will not be longer in shadows. This is the day of his life, which is like a shadow for the living. Not by this do those who live for a long time lengthen their days, but they make them great with the number of their good deeds. As if confessing himself to be a sinner, Jacob says about this: “few and wicked are these days of mine” [Gen. 47, 9.]. And confessing in the Psalm he says, “my days are inclined like shadows, and I am like the hay of the field” [Ps. 101, 12.]. Not because he has sought a long life in the present world, in which all that we live is brief and looks lie shadow: “for man walks in His likeness” [Ps. 38, 7.], but because he fears the future, lest the length of his life, if it is indeed life, should be short. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 8:14
Augustine of Hippo: In fact, Solomon gives over the entire book of Ecclesiastes to suggesting, with such fullness as he judged adequate, the emptiness of this life, with the ultimate objective, to be sure, of making us yearn for another kind of life which is no unsubstantial shadow under the sun but substantial reality under the sun’s Creator. For a person becomes as insubstantial as the insubstantiality that surrounds him, and it is by God’s righteous decree that he, too, must pass away like a shadow. — City of God 20.3
Gregory the Dialogist: So Solomon bears witness, saying, “There are just men to whom many things happen, as though they had done the deeds of the wicked; and there are wicked, who are as secure as though they had the deeds of the just.” God no doubt so ordains it of his inestimable mercy, that scourges should torture the just, lest their doings should elate them, and that the unjust should pass this life at least without punishment, because, by their evil doings, they are hastening onward to those torments that are without end. For that the just are sometimes scourged in no way according to their deserving is shown by this very history that we are considering. — Morals on the Book of Job, Book 24, Section 44
Jerome: “There is a futility that takes place on earth: sometimes there are righteous men who are treated as if they had done according to the deeds of the wicked; and there are wicked men who are treated as if they had done the deeds of the righteous. I declared, this, too, is vanity. “Amongst other vanities, which are borne in the world by good and bad events, even this I have found to be vain, since those things often happen to the righteous which ought to happen to the wicked, and the wicked live happily in the world that you would think that they were the more righteous! He gives the example in the Gospel of the rich courtier and poor Lazarus. [Cfr. Luc. 16, 19-31.] The seventy-second Psalm also talks about the matter of why bad things happen to good men and vice-versa. But where we read, ’there is a futility that takes place on earth’, Symmachus translates this fully, saying, “it is difficult to understand what is done on earth”. The Hebrews interpret the righteous who suffer wickedness as the sons of Aaron, and Manasseh, because the former died while sacrificing, and the latter was restored to power after much wickedness and captivity. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 8:15
Augustine of Hippo: Now, to be made a sharer at the table is to begin to have life, as we see from a text in Ecclesiastes: “There is no good for a man except what he shall eat and drink.” How can we reasonably interpret these words save as an allusion to partaking at the table which the Mediator of the New Testament, priest according to the order of Melchizedek, provides with his own body and blood? This sacrifice, indeed, has taken the place of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament that foreshadowed it. — City of God 17.20
Jerome: “So I praised enjoyment, for man has no other aim under the sun but to eat, drink, and be joyful; and this will accompany him in his toil during the days of his life which God has given him beneath the sun. “I have interpreted this more fully above, and now I shall just speak cursorily. He is allowed to prefer to eat and drink, which is the enjoyment (and must be short and end quickly) in the dire-straits of his life, and in light of those things, which are seen to happen unfairly in the world, (since man seems to have only this in return for his toil), he enjoys only modest recompense. But if the interpretation is read in the way it has been written, it reproves the wretched, the fasting and the hungry, the thirsty and the mourners, whom the Lord calls blessed in the Gospel [Cfr. Matth. 5, 5.6.]. And we regard food and drink spiritually and above this happiness, which we are scarcely able to find in the toil of our life. But because these things are expressed in this way, as I have said, the following verse shows this too, which says, “I dedicated my heart to seeing wisdom and work”, since clearly men work on earth, and consider deeply the Scriptures day and night in this way so that sleep flees from their eyes, in return for their study. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes
Richard Challoner: No good for a man: Some commentators think the wise man here speaks in the person of the libertine: representing the objections of these men against divine providence, and the inferences they draw from thence, which he takes care afterwards to refute. But it may also be said, that his meaning is to commend the moderate use of the goods of this world, preferably to the cares and solicitudes of worldlings, their attachment to vanity and curiosity, and presumptuously diving into the unsearchable ways of divine providence.
Ecclesiastes 8:16
Jerome: “When I applied my heart to see wisdom and work which takes place on earth- for even day or night its eyes see no sleep. And I perceived all the work of God. Indeed man cannot fathom the events that occur under the sun, inasmuch as man tries strenuously to search, but cannot fathom it. And even though a wise man should presume to know, he cannot know it. “He searches for the causes and understanding of the world, why this or that is done, and for what reason the world is steered by good or bad turns of events; why one is born blind and frail, another born healthy and with sight; why one is poor, another rich; why one is of high birth, another inglorious. Nothing else is of use, unless he is tortured in his search, and has an argument instead of anguish, but he does not find what he is looking for. And when he says that he knows, then he has the beginning of ignorance in him, and starts to sink into deeper madness. But he shows later that justice is the cause of all things, why things happen the way they do, but that those causes hide in secret and are not able to be understood by men.
CHAPTER 9 — Commentary on Ecclesiastes