Respecting Authority
Study note
The Teacher praises wisdom because it makes a person's face shine with understanding. He advises people to obey the king, because the king has great power. A wise person knows the right time and way to respond to authority. Those who obey will avoid trouble.
1 Who truly qualifies as wise? Who has the ability to explain the meaning of things? Wisdom lights up a person's face and transforms a harsh expression into something soft. Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
2 My advice is to respect the king's authority. Do this because of the promise you made before God. I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
3 Do not be hasty about walking away from the king. And do not dig in on a losing position, because the king will do whatever he decides to do. Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
4 A king's word carries supreme authority. Nobody is in a position to ask him, "What do you think you are doing?" Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
5 Anyone who follows the king's orders will stay out of trouble. A wise person knows the right time and the right way to handle every situation. Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.
No One Can Control the Future
Study note
The Teacher observes that no one knows the future, and no one has power over the day of their death. There is no escape from that battle. He has seen rulers misuse their power, and wicked people receive honorable burials while being quickly forgotten. This too is temporary.
6 There truly is a right time and a right way for everything, even though people carry a heavy load of problems. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
7 Nobody knows what the future holds. Not a single person can tell anyone else what is going to happen. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
8 No one has the power to trap the wind, and no one has the power to stop the day they die from coming. There is no getting out of that fight. And wickedness will not save the people who practice it. There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
9 I observed all of this and thought hard about everything that goes on in this world. There are times when one person uses their power to hurt another person. 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.
10 I even saw wicked people get honored at their own funerals. These were the same people who used to walk in and out of the temple and get praised in the very city where they did terrible things. That is completely meaningless. And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
Trust God Despite Injustice
Study note
When punishment for wrongdoing is delayed, people feel encouraged to keep doing evil. Yet the Teacher is confident that things will go well for those who respect God, even though wicked people sometimes seem to get what righteous people deserve. His advice is to enjoy eating, drinking, and being happy, because this joy will carry you through your days of hard work.
11 When bad behavior is not punished quickly, it gives everyone else the confidence to do wrong too. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 A person who does wrong might commit a hundred crimes and still live a long life. But I still believe deep down that things will go better for people who respect God and live in awe of him. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
13 Things will not go well for the wicked in the end. Their days will fade like a shadow, because they refuse to honor God. But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
14 But something puzzling also happens on this earth: there are good people who suffer as if they were wicked, and there are wicked people who coast along as if they were good. This too seems completely meaningless. There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, 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: I said that this also is vanity.
15 So I landed on this: enjoy life! The best option people have under the sun is to eat well, drink well, and be happy. Such joy will stick with them through every hard day of work that God assigns them. Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
God's Work Cannot Be Fully Understood
Study note
The Teacher tried hard to understand all of God's work in the world. He concluded that no matter how hard a person searches, they cannot fully understand what God is doing. Even the wisest person who claims to understand it all is mistaken.
16 I set my mind to understand wisdom. I watched all the activity going on in this world. I saw how some people are so busy they never sleep. When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)
17 I realized that no one can fully understand everything God does. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you search, you will not figure it all out. Even the wisest person who claims to have it all figured out truly does not. Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.