UBF Daily Bread

WHO IS LIKE THE WISE?

Passage: Ecclesiastes 8:1~17

Key verse: 1

8 Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.

Obey the King

²Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. ³Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.^(A) Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. ⁴Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?^(B)”

⁵Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
⁶For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,^(C)
though a person may be weighed down by misery.

⁷Since no one knows the future,
    who can tell someone else what is to come?
⁸As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
    so^[a] no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
    so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

⁹All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own^[b] hurt. ¹⁰Then too, I saw the wicked buried^(D)—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise^[c] in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

¹¹When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. ¹²Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better^(E) with those who fear God,^(F) who are reverent before him.^(G) ¹³Yet because the wicked do not fear God,^(H) it will not go well with them, and their days^(I) will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹⁴There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.^(J) This too, I say, is meaningless.^(K) ¹⁵So I commend the enjoyment of life^(L), because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink^(M) and be glad.^(N) Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom^(O) and to observe the labor that is done on earth^(P)—people getting no sleep day or night— ¹⁷then I saw all that God has done.^(Q) No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.^(R)

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their
Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten

1. Obey the king's command (1-8)

The Teacher first asks two rhetorical questions about wisdom. Both imply an answer of "no". No one is like the wise person and no one really understands the nature of things. But wisdom leads us to the decision to obey our leaders. This is true both because all authority comes from God and because of fear of retribution.

2. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun (9-17)

The Teacher turned his mind to the wickedness of the world. He saw that, even though the wicked deserve punishment and the righteous deserve prosperity, sometimes the opposite happens. The righteous perish, and the wicked prosper. This too is meaningless. The Teacher concluded from this that we should enjoy our lives. We should eat, drink and be glad. God will give us joy all the days of our lives. We may not be able to comprehend all that God has done under the sun, but He has allowed us to enjoy it.

Prayer: Lord, help me to seek you wholeheartedly and enjoy the life you have given me.

One Word: Enjoy this God-given life