Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 8:10
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.
10. And so I saw the wicked buried ] The English version is scarcely intelligible, and as far as it is so, goes altogether astray. We must therefore begin with a new translation, And so I have seen the wicked buried and they went their way ( i. e. died a natural death and were carried to the grave); but from the holy place they departed ( i. e. were treated with shame and contumely, in some way counted unholy and put under a ban), and were forgotten in the city, even such as acted rightly.
The verse will require, however, some explanation in details. In the burial of the wicked we have a parallel to the pregnant significance of the word in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, where “the rich man died and was buried” (Luk 16:22). This, from the Jewish standpoint, was the fit close of a prosperous and honoured life (comp. 2Ch 16:14; 2Ch 26:23 ; 2Ch 28:27; Jer 22:18-19). It implied a public and stately ceremonial. The words “they are gone” are not, as some have thought, equivalent to “they have entered into rest” (Isa 57:2), but, as in ch. Ecc 1:4, are given as the way in which men speak respectfully of the dead as “gone” or “gathered to their fathers.” So the Latins said Abiit ad plures. So we speak, half-pityingly, of the dead, “Ah, he’s gone!”
The “holy place” may possibly mean the consecrated ground (I do not use the word in its modern technical sense) of sepulture, but there is no evidence that the term was ever so used among the Jews, and it is more natural to take it, as explained by the use of the same term in Mat 24:15, as referring to the Temple. The writer has in his mind those whose names had been cast out as evil, who had been, as it were, excommunicated, “put out of the synagogue” (as in Joh 9:22; Joh 12:42), compelled to leave the Temple they had loved and worshipped in, departing with slow and sorrowing tread (comp. Psa 38:6; Job 30:28). And soon their place knows them no more. A generation rises up that knows them not, and they are forgotten in the very city where they had once been honoured. The reflection was, perhaps, the result of a personal experience. The Debater himself may have been so treated. The hypocrites whom he condemned (ch. Ecc 5:1-7) may have passed their sentence upon him as heretical, as some did afterwards upon his writings (see Introduction, ch. iii). If he was suspected of being in any way a follower of Epicurus, that would seem to them a sufficient ground for their anathemas. Epicureanism was, as it were, to the later Rabbis the deadliest of all heresies, and when they wanted to brand the believers in Christ with the last stigma of opprobrium, they called them not Christians, or even Nazarenes, but Epicureans. Something of this feeling may be traced, as has been shewn in the Introduction, ch. v., even in the Wisdom of Solomon. The main thought, so far as it refers only to the perishableness of human fame, has been common to the observers of the mutability of human things in all ages, and the Debater had himself dwelt on it (chaps. Ecc 1:11, Ecc 6:4). It finds, perhaps, its most striking echo in a book which has much in common with one aspect of Ecclesiastes, the De Imitatione Christi of Kempis (B. i. 3). In substituting “such as acted rightly” for “where they had so done,” I follow the use of the word which the A. V. translates as “so” ( ken); in 2Ki 7:9 (“we do not well ”); Num 27:7 (“speak right ”); Exo 10:29 (“thou hast spoken well ”); Jos 2:4; Pro 15:7; Isa 16:6; Jer 8:6; Jer 23:10, and other passages.
I have given what seems to me (following wholly, or in part, on the lines of Ginsburg, Delitzsch, Knobel, and Bullock), the true meaning of this somewhat difficult verse, and it does not seem expedient, in a work of this nature, to enter at length into a discussion of the ten or twelve conflicting and complicated interpretations which seem to me, on various grounds, untenable. The chief points at issue are (1) whether the “departing from the place of the holy” belongs to “the wicked” of the first clause, or to those who are referred to in the second; (2) whether it describes that which was looked on as honourable or dishonourable, a stately funeral procession from temple or synagogue, or a penal and disgraceful expulsion; and (3) whether the latter are those who “act so,” i.e. as the wicked, or, as above, those who act rightly; and out of the varying combinations of the answers to these questions and of the various meanings attached to the phrases themselves, we get an almost indefinite number of theories as to the writer’s meaning.
this is also vanity ] The recurrence of the refrain of the book at this point is interesting. It is precisely the survey of the moral anomalies of the world that originates and sustains the feeling so expressed.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
i. e., I saw wicked (rulers) buried, who came into the world and went from the Holy place (the seat of authority and justice, Deu 19:17; 2Ch 19:6), and they were forgotten in the city where they had so ruled to the hurt of their subjects: this – their death and oblivion – shews their lot also to be vanity. Others interpret the verse: I have seen wicked men buried; and (others) came into the world, and from the Holy place they went out of the world, and were forgotten in the city where they had done rightly (compare 2Ki 7:9).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Ecc 8:10
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.
The wicked mans life, funeral and epitaph
I. In the first place, here is some good company for you; some with whom you may walk to the house of God, for it is said of them that they did come and go from the place of the holy. By this, I think we may understand the place where the righteous meet to worship God. Gods house may be called the place of the holy. Still, if we confine ourselves strictly to the Hebrew, and to the connection, it appears that by the place of the holy is intended the judgment-seat–the place where the magistrate dispenses justice; and, alas I there be some wicked who come and go even to the place of judgment to judge their fellow-sinners. And we may with equal propriety consider it in a third sense to represent the pulpit, which should be the place of the holy: but we have seen the wicked come and go even from the pulpit, though God has never commanded them to declare his statutes. Happy the day when all such persons shall be purged from the pulpit; then shall it stand forth clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners. I have seen the wicked come and go from the place of the holy.
II. And now we are going to his funeral. I shall want you to attend it. There is a man who has come and gone from the place of the holy. He has made a very blazing profession. He has been a county magistrate. Now, do you see what a stir is made about his poor bones? There is the hearse covered with plumes, and there follows a long string of carriages. The country people stare to see such a long train of carriages coming to follow one poor worm to its resting-place. What pomp! what grandeur! Will you just think of it, and who are they mourning for? A hypocrite! Who is all this pomp for? For one who was a wicked man; a man who made a pretension of religion; a man who judged others, and who ought to have been condemned himself. But possibly I may have seen the wicked man buried in a more quiet way. He is taken quietly to his tomb with as little pomp as possible, and he is with all decency and solemnity interred in the grave. And now listen to the minister. If he is a man of God, when he buries such a man as he ought to be buried, you do not hear a solitary word about the character of the deceased; you hear nothing at all about any hopes of everlasting life. He is put into his grave. As for the pompous funeral, that was ludicrous. A man might almost laugh to see the folly of honouring the man who deserved to be dishonoured, but as for the still and silent and truthful funeral, how sad it is! We ought to judge ourselves very much in the light of our funerals. That is the way we judge other things. Look at your fields to-morrow. There is the flaunting poppy, and there by the hedge-rows are many flowers that lift their heads to the sun. Judging them by their leaf, you might prefer them to the sober-coloured wheat. But wait until the funeral when the poppy shall be gathered and the weeds shall be bound up in a bundle to be burned–gathered into a heap in the field to be consumed, to be made into manure for the soil. But see the funeral of the wheat. What a magnificent funeral has the wheat-sheaf. Harvest home is shouted as it is carried to the garner, for it is a precious thing. Even so let each of us so live, as considering that we must die. But there is a sad thing yet to come. We must look a little deeper than the mere ceremonial of the burial, and we shall see that there is a great deal more in some peoples coffins besides their corpses. If we had eyes to see invisible things, and we could break the lid of the hypocrites coffin, we should see a great deal there. There lie all his hopes. The wicked man may come and go from the place of the holy, but he has no hope of being saved. He thought, because he had attended the place of the holy regularly, therefore he was safe for another world. There lie his hopes, and they are to be buried with him. Of all the frightful things that a man can look upon, the face of a dead hope is the most horrible. Wrapt in the same shroud, there lie all his dead pretensions. When he was here he made a pretension of being respectable; there lies his respect, he shall be a hissing and a reproach lev ever. But there is one thing that sleeps with him in his coffin that he had set his heart upon. He had set his heart upon being known after he was gone. He thought surely after he had departed this life he would be handed down to posterity and be remembered. Now read the text–And they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. There is his hope of fame. I have often noticed how soon wicked things die when the man dies who originated them. Look at Voltaires philosophy; with all the noise it made in his time–where is it now? There is just a little of it lingering, but it seems to have gone. And there was Tom Paine, who did his best to write his name in letters of damnation, and one would think he might have been remembered. Butt who cares for him now? Except amongst a few, here and there, his name has passed away. And all the names of error, and heresy, and schism, where do they go? You hear about St. Austin to this day, but you never hear about the heretics he attacked. Everybody knows about Athanasius, and how he stood up for the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ; but we have almost forgotten the life of Arius, and scarcely ever think of those men who aided and abetted him in his folly. Bad men die out quickly, for the world feels it is a good thing to be rid of them; they are not worth remembering. But the death of a good man, the man who was sincerely a Christian–how different is that! And when you see the body of a saint, if he has served God with all his might, how sweet it is to look upon him–ah, and to look upon his coffin too, or upon his tomb in after years!
III. We are to write his epitaph; and his epitaph is contained in these short words: this also is vanity. And now in a few words I will endeavour to show that it is vanity for a man to come and go from the house of God, and yet have no true religion. Why, although you must deplore a wicked mans wickedness as a fearful crime, yet there is some kind of respect to be paid to the man who is downright honest in it; but not an atom of respect to the man who wants to be a cant and a hypocrite. (C.H. Spurgeon.)
The funeral of the wicked
I. Wicked men buried.
1. A truly sad scene. Wicked men going to their graves, their probation over, the means of improvement ended.
2. A common scene. Death does not wait for a mans repentance.
II. Who were once in connection with religious ordinances. Who had come and gone from the place of the holy. This suggests:–
1. The religious craving of human nature. The soul everywhere is restless for a God. All feel the want, whatever their character.
2. The power of man to resist Divine impressions.
3. The surest way to contract guilt. it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha, etc.
4. There is no necessary power in religious means to improve men.
III. Passing from the memory of the living. There is a greater tendency in the living to forget the wicked than the good. It is true that some giants of depravity have stamped their impress on the heart of ages; such as Nero, Caligula, Napoleon, etc.; but the great mass of wicked men sink into oblivion, whilst the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. What are the powers of mind that prompt men to remember the departed?
1. Gratitude is a commemorative power. Men instinctively remember the good, but what benefits have the wicked wrought?
2. Love is a commemorative power. Those who have had power to draw out the esteem and admiration of the soul will not easily, if ever, fade from the memory. The mystic hand of love will hold them close to the heart. But who can love in a moral sense the wicked?
3. Hope is a commemorative power. Those from whom we anticipate good we do not easily forget. What good can be anticipated from the wicked? Future meetings, should they ever take place, will be very fearful things. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. Who had come and gone from the place of the holy] The place of the holy is the sacred office which they held, anointed either as kings or priests to God; and, not having fulfilled the holy office in a holy way, have been carried to their graves without lamentation, and lie among the dead without remembrance.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And so, in like manner, or such another vanity or disorder, I saw the wicked; wicked princes or rulers, as the next clause limits this.
Buried; die quietly in their beds, and afterward be buried with state and pomp, whereas in truth they deserved an untimely end, and no other than the burial of an ass.
Who had come and gone; who had administered public justice and government, which is frequently signified by the phrase of coming in and going out before the people, as Num 27:17; Deu 31:2. The seventy Jewish interpreters, whom some others follow, render the word, they were praised, applauded and adored, by the variation of one letter in the Hebrew word, which also is very like that letter which is in the text.
The place of the holy; by which he understands either,
1. The holy city Jerusalem, or the Holy Land, where Israel dwelt; which may be added to aggravate the wickedness of such persons, from the obligations, and counsels, and examples which they had to do better things. Or,
2. The seat of majesty and judgment, which may well be called the place or seat of the Holy, i.e. of God, who is called the Holy One, Hab 3:3, and oft elsewhere, who is in a special manner present in and president over those places, whose work, and for whom, and in whose name and stead, magistrates act, who therefore are called gods; of all which see Exo 22:28; Deu 1:17; 1Ch 29:23; Psa 82:1, &c. And the throne or tribunal seems to be so called here, to aggravate their wickedness, who being sacred persons, and advanced by God into so high and sacred a place, betrayed so great a trust, and both practised and encouraged that wickedness which by their office they were obliged to suppress and punish. They were forgotten; whereas they designed to spread and perpetuate their names and memories to succeeding ages, Psa 49:11. Where they had so done, i.e. come to and go from the place of the holy; where they lived in great splendour, and were buried with great magnificence; which might have kept up their remembrance at least in that place. This is also vanity; that men should so earnestly thirst after and please themselves with worldly greatness and glory, which is so soon extinct, and the very memory of it quickly worn out of the minds of men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. the wickednamely, rulers(Ec 8:9).
buriedwith funeralpomp by man, though little meriting it (Jer22:19); but this only formed the more awful contrast to theirdeath, temporal and eternal, inflicted by God (Luk 16:22;Luk 16:23).
come and gone from the placeof the holywent to and came from the place of judicature,where they sat as God’s representatives (Ps82:1-6), with pomp [HOLDEN].WEISS translates, “Buriedand gone (utterly), even from the holy place they departed.”As Joab, by Solomon’s command, was sent to the grave from the “holyplace” in the temple, which was not a sanctuary tomurderers (Exo 21:14; 1Ki 2:28;1Ki 2:31). The use of the veryword “bury” there makes this view likely; still “whohad come and gone” may be retained. Joab came to thealtar, but had to go from it; so the “wicked rulers”(Ec 8:9) (including highpriests) came to, and went from, the temple, on occasionsof solemn worship, but did not thereby escape their doom.
forgotten (Pr10:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And so I saw the wicked buried,…. Or “truly” k, verily, as the Targum, this is matter of fact; or “then I saw”, as Aben Ezra and others, upon applying his heart to every work; or when be observed particularly wicked magistrates, he took notice that some of them continued in their power until death, and died in their beds, and were carried to their graves in great pomp and state, and interred in a very magnificent manner, when they deserved no burial at all, but, as King Jeconiah, to be buried with the burial of an ass;
who had come and gone from the place of the holy; which most understand of the same persons, of wicked magistrates buried, who kept their posts of honour and places of power and authority as long as they lived; and went to and came from the courts of judicature and tribunals of justice, in great state and splendour; where they presided as God’s vicegerents, and therefore called the place of the holy, Ps 82:1; or though they were sometimes deposed, yet they were restored again to their former dignity; or though they died and were buried, yet in a sense rose again in their children that succeeded them, so Aben Ezra: but it seems better to understated it of other persons, and render the, words thus, “and they came, and from the place of the holy”, or “the holy place they walked” l; that is, multitudes came to attend the funeral of such rich and mighty men, and walked after or followed the corpse; and ever, the priests and Levites from the temple made a part of the funeral procession, and walked in great solemnity from thence to the place of interment, which was usually without the city;
and they were forgotten in the city where they had done; all their evil deeds were forgotten, their acts of oppression and injustice, as if they had never been done by them. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions are, “and they were praised in the city”; panegyrics upon them were written and rehearsed, monuments were erected to their honour, with large encomiums of them; and so it may be read by the change of a letter; and Jarchi says, do not read “forgotten”, but “praised”; and so he says it is interpreted by their Rabbins. The whole may be considered in a very different view thus “but then I saw”, c. such arbitrary rulers die, and laid in the grave, one after another, and their names have been buried in oblivion, and never remembered more in the city where they have exercised so much power and authority. The latter part of the text is by many understood of good men, and rendered thus, “and” or “but [on the contrary] they were forgotten in the city where they had done right” m their persons and their good deeds were remembered no more; but this seems contrary to Ps 112:6. The Targum paraphrases the whole thus;
“and in truth I have seen sinners that are buried and destroyed out of the world, from the holy place where the righteous dwell, who go to be burned in hell; and they are forgotten among the inhabitants of the city; and as they have done, it is done to them;”
this [is] also vanity; the pompous funeral of such wicked magistrates.
k “et vere”, Vatablus. l “et venerunt, immo ex ipso etiam loco sancti itabant”, Rambaschius. m So Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Rambachius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And then I have seen the wicked buried, and they came to rest; but away from the holy place they had to depart, and were forgotten in the city, such as acted justly: also this is vain.” The double particle signifies, in such a manner, or under such circumstances; with “I have seen” following, it may introduce an observation coming under that which precedes ( = Mishnic ), or, with the force of the Lat. inde , introduce a further observation of that ruler; this temporal signification “then” (= ), according to which we have translated, it has in the Targ. ( vid., Levy’s W.B.).
(Note: Cf. , 2Ch 32:31; Ewald, 354 a; Baer’s Abodath Jisrael, pp. 384, 386.)
Apparently the observation has two different classes of men in view, and refers to their fate, contradicting, according to appearance, the rectitude of God. Opposite to the (“the wicked”) stand they who are described as : they who have practised what is rightly directed, what stands in a right relation ( vid., regarding , as noun, under Pro 11:19), have brought the morally right into practice, i.e., have acted with fidelity and honour ( , as at 2Ki 7:9). Koheleth has seen the wicked buried; is followed by the particip. as predic. obj., as is , Ecc 7:21; but is not followed by (which, besides not being distinct enough as part. perfecti, would be, as at Neh 13:22, part. praes.), but, according to the favourite transition of the particip. into the finite, Gesen. 134. 2, by , not ; for the disjunctive Reba has the fuller form with waa; cf. Isa 45:20 with Job 17:10, and above, at Ecc 2:23. “To enter in” is here, after Isa 47:2, = to enter into peace, come to rest.
(Note: Cf. Zunz, Zur Gesch. u. Literatur, pp. 356-359.)
That what follows does not relate to the wicked, has been mistaken by the lxx, Aquila, Symm., Theod., and Jerome, who translate by , laudabantur, and thus read (the Hithpa., Psa 106:47, in the pass. sense), a word which is used in the Talm. and Midrash along with .
(Note: The Midrash Tanchuma, Par. , init., uses both expressions; the Talm. Gittin 56 b, applies the passage to Titus, who took away the furniture of the temple to magnify himself therewith in his city.)
The latter, testified to by the Targ. and Syr., is without doubt the correct reading: the structure of the antithetical parallel members is chiastic; the naming of the persons in 1 a a precedes that which is declared, and in 1 a b it follows it; cf. Psa 70:5, Psa 75:9. The fut. forms here gain, by the retrospective perfects going before, a past signification. , “the place of the holy,” is equivalent to , as also at Lev 7:6. Ewald understands by it the place of burial: “the upright were driven away (cast out) from the holy place of graves.” Thus e.g., also Zckl., who renders: but wandered far from the place of the holy … those who did righteously, i.e., they had to be buried in graves neither holy nor honourable. But this form of expression is not found among the many designations of a burial-place used by the Jews ( vid., below, Ecc 12:5, and Hamburger’s Real-Encykl. fr Bibel u. Talm., article “Grab”). God’s-acre is called the “good place,”
(Note: Vid., Tendlau’s Sprichw., No. 431.)
but not the “holy place.” The “holy place,” if not Jerusalem itself, which is called by Isaiah II (Isa 48:2), Neh., and Dan., ‘ir haqqodesh (as now el – kuds ), is the holy ground of the temple of God, the (Mat 24:15), as Aquila and Symm. translate. If, now, we find min connected with the verb halak , it is to be presupposed that the min designates the point of departure, as also , Isa 14:19. Thus not: to wander far from the holy place; nor as Hitz., who points : they pass away (perish) far from the holy place. The subject is the being driven away from the holy place, but not as if were causative, in the sense of fo esne , and meant ejiciunt , with an indef. subj. (Ewald, Heiligst., Elst.), – it is also, Ecc 4:15; Ecc 11:9, only the intens. of Kal, – but denotes, after Psa 38:7; Job 30:28, cf. Job 24:10, the meditative, dull, slow walk of those who are compelled against their will to depart from the place which they love (Psa 26:8; Psa 84:2.). They must go forth (whither, is not said, but probably into a foreign country; cf. Amo 7:17), and only too soon are they forgotten in the city, viz., the holy city; a younger generation knows nothing more of them, and not even a gravestone brings them back to the memory of their people. Also this is a vanity, like the many others already registered – this, viz., that the wicked while living, and also in their death, possess the sacred native soil; while, on the contrary the upright are constrained to depart from it, and are soon forgotten. Divine rectitude is herein missed. Certainly it exists, and is also recognised, but it does not show itself always when we should expect it, nor so soon as appears to us to be salutary.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(10) They had so done.An ambiguity in translation of this verse arises from the fact that the word translated so is rendered well (2Ki. 7:9 and elsewhere). Consequently some understand the verse, The wicked receive an honourable burial, while those who have acted well are driven away from the holy place (viz. Jerusalem, Isa. 48:2; Neh. xi, 1, 18) and forgotten. But we prefer to translate the word so the second time, as well as the first, where it occurs in the verse; and to take the meaning to be that the oppressors prosperity is but temporary, for soon comes death, burial, and forgetfulness of his honour.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. I saw the wicked buried The best translation of this difficult verse is the following: Indeed I have seen the buried wicked [ruler] reappear, [in his successor,] and those who did right depart even from the place of the holy, and be forgotten in the city. A more perplexing passage can hardly be found. The tyrant dies in quiet and leaves his power to his heir, while the righteous man, the devout attendant upon the sanctuary, passes away into oblivion. Admitting this lack of visible punishment for a sinful life, we are prepared for the impressive statement of the following verse.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Problem of The Wicked Who Die Unpunished ( Ecc 8:10-16 ).
The writer now turns to consideration of how and why the wicked die unpunished, and the fact that justice is only carelessly applied, thus encouraging ill-doing. He especially considers cases of some who on burial were treated honourably, and whose wickedness was soon forgotten after their deaths. But in the end he is convinced that in spite of appearances God will surely ensure that justice is finally applied.
Ecc 8:10
‘And so I saw the wicked buried, and they came, and from the holy place they went, and they were forgotten (some suggest a rare form meaning ‘were praised’) in the city where they had so behaved (or ‘where they had done right’). This also is vanity.’
This probably means that they were buried after a funeral service in a holy place which was holy to the gods that they worshipped, for to an Israelite a dead body was unclean and would not be allowed in a holy place. However kings were later rebuked by Ezekiel because they had had themselves buried too close to the temple. So it could be that even men in Israel did seek to be buried in places seen as holy, thinking as men foolishly do that somehow it would benefit them, and that this was actually allowed even though they were wicked.
And then, in spite of what their behaviour had been, they were soon forgotten. Their past was not held against them. Humanly speaking they had got away with it. They were both buried in a holy place, and their evil lives were not remembered by those over whom they had misruled. If God was just it appeared to have been a strange thing to have happened.
But it just may mean that they were praised at their funeral and their ‘righteous’ lives were spoken about before they were buried. If so such funerals were little different from modern funerals. Either way the writer is back to his pessimistic mood and declares it is all empty and meaningless. Nothing has been done about their sin.
Ecc 8:11
‘Because sentence against a crime (‘evil work’) is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.’
Then he points out that wickedness is encouraged by slow or careless justice. Crime must be punished, and be seen to be punished quickly, otherwise others will be encouraged to similar crimes. He probably saw those just mentioned as being wicked, partly as a result of having been allowed to get away with it. Thus justice was simply not working properly. And this is probably also to be seen as preparing for the next verse, which speaks of the sinner who does evil a hundred times because he escaped quick punishment.
Ecc 8:13
‘Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and prolong his life, yet surely I know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before him, but it will not be well with the wicked, nor will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.’
But in the end he convinces himself that though one of these sons of men do evil a hundred times because of the slowness of justice, and the life of this multiple sinner seems still to be prolonged, yet the principle of retribution will eventually apply. It will be well with those who fear God and worship Him, and it will not be well with the wicked man nor will his days be prolonged like a shadow. Long shadows come in the evening when the sun is setting, getting longer and longer. So it may be that he is saying that in the evening of the sinner’s life, because he does not fear God, his days will not be prolonged. In one way or another judgment will come.
Alternately it may be that this hundredfold sinner is seen as the exception, and yet that he maintains that the general principle can still be seen as applying. (Note the use of ‘a hundred’ as meaning simply a large number of times). Either way he has satisfied himself that justice will prevail.
Ecc 8:14
‘There is a vanity which is done on earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens in accordance with the work of the wicked. Again there are wicked men to whom it happens in accordance with the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.’
But the Preacher’s thoughts are flowing to and fro, for he sees that the system of retribution does work sometimes, but that it is not working fully. Sometimes sinners do have their lives cut short, but sometimes they do not.
It had not worked with those who were buried in Ecc 8:10. It had worked with others (Ecc 8:12). But there are still others, now mentioned, with whom it does not work. Indeed we have the converse situation. Righteous men who die young as if they were sinners, and sinners who live on to old age. He cannot understand it. It all appears to be meaningless.
Ecc 8:15
‘Then I commended mirth (joy) because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be merry (rejoice), for that will accompany him in his labour all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.’
So again he can only fall back on the idea that men may find some kind of true happiness in eating, drinking and rejoicing, together with their labour, all their lives. (The words for mirth and be merry can equally be translated joy and rejoice as earlier. They are the same roots). After seeming to grow in his search for a solution he has now reached his lowest point. Here God is hardly mentioned. He is baffled by the failure of God to exact retribution on the wicked. He recognises that earthly retribution is not the answer, for it often does not happen.
Ecc 8:16-17
‘When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how that neither by day nor by night do men sleep with their eyes, then I beheld all the work of God, that men cannot find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man exert himself to seek it out, yet he will not find it. Yes moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet he will not be able to find it.’
So he turns for the answer to the fact that even the wise cannot fathom God’s ways and purposes. His search for wisdom continues, and he scans all business done on earth. He notes that there is never a time when all men are asleep. There are those who watch over the sheep, those who stand guard in palaces, those who scan the stars, those who study through the night, those who stay up all night because of their businesses or in order to travel though the night. Thus man is awake day and night. Yet still man cannot fathom all the work of God. It is beyond him. Even the wise man cannot find or know it. He knows this because he himself has tried. It is all a mystery. So it is not that God’s judgment has failed, but that man cannot comprehend His ways (Ecc 3:11).
This fact that man cannot comprehend God’s ways is at the root of his whole thesis. The godless go on seeking after wind. The godly live in quiet confidence and trust in God. That is why the godly eat, drink and are joyful, because while they do not understand God’s ways their lives are lives of trust and obedience to His will. They do what pleases Him. Thus the Preacher acknowledges that his own ignorance and his concept that all is vanity is also due to a failure to understand God’s ways.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ecc 8:10 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.
Ver. 10. And so I saw the wicked buried. ] With pomp and great solemnity, funeral orations, statues, and epitaphs, &c., as if he had been another Josiah or Theodosius; so do men overwhelm this mouse with praises proper to the elephant, as the proverb hath it.
Who had come and gone from the place of the holy.
And they were forgotten in the city where they had so done.
a Pemble
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Ecc 8:10-13
10So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility. 11Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. 12Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly. 13But it will not be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.
Ecc 8:10 This verse has several textual problems. The question is, how many people are being referred to and how are they characterized?
1. the wicked (NASB, NKJV, NRSV, TEV, NJB, NIV)
a. were given a proper burial (implication elaborately)
b. attended worship often
c. were temporarily praised (there is a textual problem involving forgotten [BDB 1013] or praised [BDB 986 II]) in the city where they lived and everyone knew they were evil
2. the wicked and the righteous (JPSOA, JAMES MOFFATT Translation)
a. wicked were buried with praise
b. righteous were not praised
c. both were forgotten
3. the wicked attend worship and boast of it (NEB, REB, this involves a textual change)
Ecc 8:11 the sentence This is a Persian word for royal judgment (BDB 834). In this context it must refer to God. His mercy and slowness to anger is taken as a license instead of a call to repentance (cf. Rom 2:4; 2Pe 3:9)! Time and opportunity reveal the human heart!
Ecc 8:12 may lengthen his life This was/is the problem of evil in a fallen world. It is in its own environment! It flourishes here. It seems to prevail over the good. Evil persons may live longer, but they will face God one day! It is this seeming unfairness to God’s Word (i.e. Deuteronomy 27-29), unfairness to traditional Wisdom teaching (cf. Pro 3:2; Pro 9:10-11; Pro 10:27; Pro 14:23; Pro 19:23) that rubbed Job, the author of Psalms 73, and Qoheleth wrong! Where is the God of promises and justice?!
still I know it will be well for those who fear God This is a faith statement for Qoheleth (i.e., Ecc 3:14; Ecc 5:7; Ecc 7:18; Ecc 8:12-13; Ecc 12:13; Pro 1:7; Pro 1:29; Pro 2:5; Pro 9:10). His experience says differently (i.e. Ecc 8:14-15). Yet, he trusts God for a future vindication (as did Job, cf. Job 14:14-15; Job 19:25-27).
Ecc 8:13 will not lengthen his days This seems in direct contrast to Ecc 8:12.
like a shadow See note at Ecc 7:12.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
I saw = I have seen.
the wicked = lawless men (plural) Hebrew. rasha’. App-44.
come and gone. Supply the complex Figure of speech Ellipsis (App-6), “I have seen wicked men come [to the grave; and righteous men] depart [in death, Gen 15:2] from the place of the holy, and be forgotten”, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
so: 2Ki 9:34, 2Ki 9:35, Job 21:18, Job 21:32, Job 21:33, Luk 16:22
the place: Psa 122:1-5, Act 6:13
they were: Ecc 2:16, Ecc 9:5, Psa 31:12, Pro 10:7, Jer 17:13, Heb 10:38
Reciprocal: 1Ki 13:31 – lay my bones Job 24:20 – he shall be Psa 34:16 – to cut Psa 88:12 – in the land
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ecc 8:10-15. The One End of Righteousness and Unrighteousness.The good are soon forgotten, the wicked enjoy honour and long life; the best thing a man can do is to enjoy life while he has it.
Ecc 8:10 is difficult, MT is probably corrupt. RV is a fair attempt; others would emend so as to read, I saw the wicked buried, carried even from the sanctuary, and they used to go about and be praised in the city because they had done so (i.e. used their power to hurt others; cf. Ecc 8:9). This excludes all mention of the righteous and their shameful exclusion from the holy place, which in any case cannot be interpreted as consecrated burial ground.
Ecc 8:12 f. is plainly the insertion of an orthodox annotator; Ecc 8:12 is a concession, Ecc 8:13 is the general rule as to the wicked mans long life. Ecc 8:12 b seems to hint at some compensation, possibly future, for the short-lived good man.
Ecc 8:14 f. shows us the typical mood of Qoheleth; cf. especially Ecc 3:12 f., Ecc 3:22, Ecc 5:18, Ecc 9:7-10.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
8:10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and {i} gone from the {k} place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this [is] also vanity.
(i) That is, others as wicked as they.
(k) They who feared God and worshipped him as he had appointed.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The limitations of Wisdom 8:10-17
Wisdom can enable a person to avoid the king’s wrath (Ecc 8:2-9), but it cannot enable him or her to understand fully why God deals with people as He does (Ecc 8:10-17).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
There are two apparent inequities in Ecc 8:10. First, the wicked get an honorable burial. Second, people soon forget the godly. These verses provide instances of exceptions to the retribution doctrine.