seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ecclesiastes 8:1 Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
2 Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
7 Since no one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
8 As 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.
who can tell someone else what is to come?
8 As 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.
9 All 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. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried—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.
11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God,it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14 There 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.This too, I say, is meaningless. 15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night— 17 then I saw all that God has done. 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.
a. Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
b. Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their
c. Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten
I think what Solomon is still saying... is this.... life is unfair.... the wicked seem to live forever while the good die young. I think what Solomon is saying... is this... the king is our best shot as a nation.... if he messes it all up... it's on him not us. Who knows.... no matter how good or bad things appear today.... that could all change on a dime.... so hang in there.... do as I'm told.... throw another ox on the grill.... I'm in for a bumpy ride.
These outtakes are from the easy English site.
People made a serious promise to obey their king. All King David’s important officials and David’s other sons promised to be loyal to his son, Solomon (1 Chronicles 29:24). They asked God to be a witness to their promise. They made a serious promise to God. So they had to do what they had promised. If not, they had agreed that God should punish them.
To act against the king would be foolish. The king had absolute authority. So it was better to remain loyal to him. The king could punish people in whatever way that he chose. Nobody should ask him to explain his actions. Before the Israelites had a king, God’s servant, Samuel, warned them. If they have a king, then they will have problems and difficulties (1 Samuel 8:10-18).
Wise people will choose the right time and the right way to approach the king. They will do right things and they will do them in the right way. Esther is one example. She chose the best way to speak to the king on behalf of the Jews. She invited the king to eat some wonderful meals with her. So he became very curious (Esther 5:1-8). In every difficult situation, you must be wise and you must think carefully. You must consider the most suitable time and the most sensible way to act in that situation.
People cannot choose how long they will live. But they do have the power to affect other people’s lives. They can cause trouble and pain for other people. And sometimes they can control other people. The Hebrew words do not make it clear which person has the pain. It may refer to the person who is causing the pain. Or it may refer to the person who is receiving the pain. Both meanings are true. Those people who cause pain to other people damage their own character.
The Teacher saw many wicked people. They would visit the place where people worshipped God. Perhaps this was in the city called Jerusalem. But they did not worship God sincerely. They would act in evil ways. And the Teacher could not understand why other people respected those wicked people. He thought about why people gave honour to wicked people at their funerals. Perhaps people believed that they were worshipping God in the right way. Or perhaps a person’s wicked deeds had gained wealth and success for him. Then people might praise him because they wanted to benefit in some way.
It is not good to delay the punishment that people get for their crimes. It encourages bad people to do more bad things. Because everything seems normal, sometimes other people start to do bad things too.
Wicked people think that God does not care about their actions. They forget that he is patient. God’s time is different from our time. And God wants everybody to have the opportunity to change their behaviour. Finally, God will punish wicked people. They may live for a long time, but one day they will die. A shadow becomes long in the afternoon, but it disappears quickly at night. God will bless those people who are afraid to make him angry.
Hubby has CNN on this morning.... President Trump is at one of his campaign rallies.... it's odd listening to that while trying to post this. My dad told me that the hierarchy goes.... God, Country, Family. My dad was Navy. I have adjusted his hierarchy to be God, Family, Country. I don't like some of the stuff Trump and his buddies have done. I despise Trump's sunshine clause in his marriage agreement. But he is president and I know I don't have all the story from both sides as he, Congress and the Senate do. I know they are making decisions as best they can.
I'd like to say "the King I will obey is Christ". I think I am on the right track. I've been reading and studying and applying ever since I found a Bible that I could read. Then again..... I live here.... on earth with a human government. While there are indeed child molesters hobnobbing with rich people willing to look the other way.... and government officials afraid to call chester a molester because they might not prevail in court and tarnish their own conviction rate.... it's kind of hard to obey.
The world is a hard place right now. Fifty years ago.... I found out things were going to poop.... and it's still sliding. I keep telling hubby we are in end times... and he thinks I've been reading my online Bible too much. Then again.... fifty years ago.... we were in Vietnam and the people were rioting then too.
Jesus is King.... that is what I'm hanging my hat on..... Solomon didn't have Jesus.... so God was harder to fathom.
