Thy Strong Word - Ecclesiastes 8. All is vanity: Who is like the wise?

Rev. Dr. Brian Kachelmeier, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Las Alamos, NM joins Rev. Brady Finnern to study Ecclesiastes 8.

Wisdom comes from God by the Holy Spirit through Christ. By His Wisdom, in faith, He makes our face shine and have peace by His work. Although the wheels of justice move slowly, God’s day is now as we wait for the day He returns. Evil will not win the day. Christ has had the victory. We are not worthy to be in His presence, but in Christ the King, the wisdom of God, we are united with Him. “Lord God, fill us with faith, so that under any circumstance we grow in wisdom and righteousness on account of Christ’s cross. In Him, Amen”

Thy Strong Word reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations.

Thy Strong Word is hosted by Rev. Brady Finnern, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Sartell, MN, and graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Ecclesiastes 8

Keep the King’s Command

8 Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
and the hardness of his face is changed.

²I say:^[a] Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him.^[b] ³Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. ⁴For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” ⁵Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.^[c] ⁶For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble^[d] lies heavy on him. ⁷For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? ⁸No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. ⁹All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

Those Who Fear God Will Do Well

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised^[e] in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.^[f] ¹¹Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. ¹²Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. ¹³But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

Man Cannot Know God’s Ways

¹⁴There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 8:2 Hebrew lacks say
Ecclesiastes 8:2 Or because of your oath to God
Ecclesiastes 8:5 Or and judgment
Ecclesiastes 8:6 Or evil
Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts forgotten
Ecclesiastes 8:10 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also twice in verse 14 (see note on 1:2)

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. esv.org

Rev. Brady Finnern

Rev. Brady Finnern, host of Thy Strong Word. is an expert in all things Minnesota, including hiking the great mountains of the 5th flattest state in the Union and making his own maple syrup. Although chow mein, fried ice cream, and Peanut Persian donuts with maple frosting are at the top of his foodie list, his prized possessions include his gas station refillable fountain soda cup (which, he says, the savings will pay for college for his 4 kids). Pastor Finnern's Divine Call is as President of the LCMS Minnesota North District, and in addition he also enjoys traveling, coaching track, and movie nights with his wife and kids that may or may not include Shawshank Redemption or any of the Thriller movies. When he's not singing his favorite hymns or listening to his favorite metal music, you might find him working out or taking naps. (Probably naps.)