Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 8:17
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 labor 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].
17. then I beheld all the work of God ] The confession is like that which we have had before in chap. Ecc 7:23-24: perhaps, also, we may add, like that of a very different writer dealing with a very different question, “How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out” (Rom 11:33). The English reader may be reminded of Bishop Butler’s Sermon (xv.) on the “Ignorance of Man,” of which these verses supply the text. What is noticeable here is that the ignorance (we may use a modern term and say the Agnosticism) is not atheistic. That which the seeker contemplates he recognises as the work of God. Before that work, the wise man bows in reverence with the confession that it lies beyond him. The Finite cannot grasp the Infinite. We may compare Hooker’s noble words “Dangerous it were for the feeble brain of man to wade far into the doings of the Most High; whom although to know be life, and joy to make mention of His name; yet our soundest knowledge is to know that we know Him not as indeed He is, neither can know Him, and our safest eloquence concerning Him is our silence, when we confess without confession that His glory is inexplicable, His greatness above our capacity and reach. He is above, and we upon earth; therefore it behoveth our words to be wary and few” ( Eccl. Pol. i. 2, 3).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 17. Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun] I saw it to be of such a nature –
1, That a man cannot find it out.
2. That if he labour to find it out, he shall not succeed.
3. That though he be wise – the most instructed among men, and think to find it out, he shall find he is not able. It is beyond the wisdom and power of man. How vain then are all your cavils about Providence. You do not understand it; you cannot comprehend it. Fear God!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then, Heb. and, or moreover, I beheld all the work of God; I considered the counsels and ways of God, and the various methods of his providence towards good and bad men, and the reasons of them.
A man cannot find out; no man, though never so wise, and inquisitive, and studious, as it follows, is able fully and perfectly to understand these things; and therefore it is best for man not to perplex himself with endless and fruitless inquiries about these matters, but quietly to submit to Gods will and providence, and to live in the fear of God, and the comfortable enjoyment of his blessings.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then I beheld all the work of God,…. Not of creation, but of Providence; took notice of it, contemplated on it, considered it, and weighed it well; viewed the various steps and methods of it, to find out, if possible, at least, some general rule by which it proceeded: but all so various and uncertain,
that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: he can find out that it is done, but not the reason why it is done: the ways of God are in the deep, and not to be traced; they are unsearchable and past finding out; there is a , a depth of wisdom and knowledge, in them, inscrutable by the wisest of men, Ps 72:19;
because, though a man labour to seek [it] out, yet he shall not find [it]; Noldius and others render it “although”; not only a man that, in a slight and negligent manner, seeks after the knowledge of the works of divine Providence, and the reasons of them; but even one that is diligent and laborious at it is not able to find them out; they being purposely concealed by the Lord, to answer some ends of his;
yea, further, though a wise [man] think to know [it], yet shall he not be able to find [it]; a man of a great natural capacity, such an one as Solomon himself, though he proposes to himself, and determines within himself to find it out, and sets himself to the work, and uses all the means and methods he can devise, and imagines with himself he shall be able to find out the reasons of the divine procedure, in his dispensations towards the righteous and the wicked; and yet, after all, he is not able to do it. The Targum is,
“what shall be done in the end of days;”
wherefore it is best for a man to be easy and quiet, and enjoy what he has in the best manner he can, and submit to the will of God.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. A man cannot find The sad, weighty conclusion is, that the way and work of God among men is absolutely beyond comprehension. Every effort to compute it is entirely unavailing. Many, many questions may be asked to which God is pleased not to answer, and which man, at his wisest wisdom, cannot. The problem, ever unsolved, stares at him like the sphinx in the desert, “with calm, eternal eyes.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
READER! while the preacher is demanding, who is as the wise man? let us be looking unto Jesus, until that our eyes are enlightened in beholding him as wisdom itself, the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person. And so let our souls look and gaze upon that first fair, first beautiful, first and only Holy One, until that from beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
And Reader! while thus looking unto Jesus, until brought into some degree of conformity to him in all things; contemplate at the same time the dark, wretched, and deplorable state of those who are ignorant of him. Behold the end of these men. Though sentence against them is not executed speedily; yea, though their days be prolonged to even the dregs of old age; yet, how in the end will the voice of murdered years and days be lifted up against them? Oh! The soul agony of lying down at last in eternal sorrow!
My brother! think of the felicity of souls redeemed by Jesus, and beg of God the Holy Ghost for grace, that you may cast your lot in among them, and with them have one portion. This will be to sit down to a perpetual feast, and never to be cloyed: but the grace of Jesus, yea, Jesus himself shall abide with him, as the wise man speaks, All the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ecc 8:17 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].
Ver. 17. That a man cannot find out the work. ] No, not the wisest that is; the very best empiric in this kind cannot. Let him labour never so much to find it, he shall but be tossed in a labyrinth, or as a wayfaring man in a desert. If a man cannot define anything because the forms of things are unknown, if he know not the creatures themselves, ab imo ad summum, from the lowest to the highest, neither shall he know the reasons and manner of them. a As a man may look on a trade, and never see the mystery of it; he may look on artificial things, pictures, watches, &c., and yet not see the art whereby they are made; as a man may look on the letter, and never understand the sense; so it is here, and we must content ourselves with a learned ignorance. Si nos non intelligimus quid quare fiat, debeamus hoc providentiae quod non fiat sine causa: b If we understand not why anything is done, let us owe this duty to Providence, to be assured that it is not done without cause.
a Granger.
b Aug. in Psalm cxlviii.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
that a man: Ecc 3:11, Ecc 7:23, Ecc 7:24, Ecc 11:5, Job 5:9, Job 11:7-9, Psa 40:5, Psa 73:16, Psa 104:24, Pro 30:3, Pro 30:4, Isa 40:28, Rom 11:33
Reciprocal: Job 28:13 – knoweth Job 37:7 – that Ecc 1:13 – I gave Mar 4:27 – and grow
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ecc 8:17. Then Hebrew, and, or, moreover, I beheld all the work of God I considered the counsels and ways of God, and the various methods of his providence toward good and bad men, and the reasons of them. That a man cannot find out the work, &c. No man, though ever so wise, is able fully and perfectly to understand these things. And therefore, it is best for man not to perplex himself with endless and fruitless inquiries about those matters, but quietly to submit to Gods will and providence, and to live in the fear of God, and the comfortable enjoyment of his blessings.