PM Home Bible Study Group; April 14, 2010

Ecclesiastes 8:2-13

Theme: This passage describes Solomon’s wise advice for living in the context of fallible human government while ‘under the sun’.

In this evening’s passage, Solomon continues his exploration of wise living in the context of life “under the sun”. And in it, he gives counsel regarding one of the things we have to deal with the most in life “under the sun”—human government and the politics of men.

In 1905, a famous London newspaper hired G.K. Chesterton to write a weekly column. He was told by the paper that he could write about anything he wanted—except religion and politics. Chesterton responded that there was nothing else worth writing about (Dale Ahlquist, G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense [San Fransisco: Ignatius Press, 2003], p. 13). Many people today consider these two subjects to be far too controversial to talk about on their own—let alone brought together under one head. But you might say that tonight’s passage dares to do just that—that is, to bring both of the vital subjects of religion and politics together in a single focus.

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To appreciate this passage as we should, it would be wise to shine some New Testament light on it.

In one of the most pivotal stand-offs between religion and politics in all of human history, Pilate—the representative figure of human government—asked Jesus, “Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” And from a strictly human standpoint, it was true that he did. But Jesus said to the civil governor, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given to you from above” (John 19:10-11). Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself established that—whatever else human government may think of its authority; and indeed, whatever it may choose to do with it—its authority is not absolute. It is a legitimate authority within its proper domain; but it exists as ‘authority under authority’. It is what it is because of the ordinance of God.

In the mystery of the sovereignty of God, this is even true of governments and civil leaders who abuse their power. When the chief priests and captains of the temple came to arrest Jesus, He didn’t resist them. Instead, He told them, “But this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53b). When the disciples in Acts prayed for boldness after the authorities threatened them and forbade them from preaching the gospel of Jesus, they acknowledged before God in prayer, “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done” (Acts 4:27-28, emph. added). Therefore, even the most abusive and vigorously secularized government is still—whatever else it may believe—under the sovereign rule of the higher authority of God; and it will one day be held accountable to that authority on the Day of Judgment.

This never permits the man or woman of God, however, to reject or despise legitimate human authority. Far from it! In fact, the recognition of God’s higher authority morally obligates the man or woman of God to submit to God’s authority through submission to the human government He has established. The obvious limitation, of course, is in those cases when human authorities order the man or woman of God to disobey a direct command of God, or when they demand that the man or woman of God give devotion to the human government that only rightly belongs to God. In all such cases, “we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). But apart from such cases, we are obligated to honor human government as that which is ordained by God.

Consistent with this, the law of God commanded the Israelites to show reverent respect to the human government; saying, “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people” (Exodus 22:28). And when it comes to followers of Jesus, as the apostle Peter puts it,

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using your liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king (1 Peter 2:13-17).

Perhaps the clearest statement of the godly man’s or woman’s duty toward human government under the sovereign rule of God is found in Romans 13:1-7;

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor (Romans 13:1-7).

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Now; as an important consideration for our study tonight, note that the statement concerning the doing of good before a higher authority (in Romans 13:3) applies not only to the individual who may be tempted to do evil under a human government, but also to human governments themselves. They too are under authority (see Luke 7:8); and they will be held accountable to that authority.

All of this background is necessary; and helps us appreciate the advice that Solomon now gives concerning life “under the sun” when dealing with always fallible—and often oppressive—forms of human government. It is wise, given the frustrations of this fallen world, to walk in faithful obedience to civil government as much as we are able; but it is also wise, while doing so, to keep an expectant eye to the ultimate Day of God’s justice!

Note that . . .

I. A WISE MAN WALKS PRUDENTLY UNDER THE POLITICAL RULE OF MEN (vv. 2-8).

A. He walks carefully before the king (vv. 2-3). The temporal political rule of men is embodied in Solomon’s word “king”. As the greatest monarch of his time, his words concerning submission to the king ought to bear weight. He urges that the wise man, ‘under the sun’, walks carefully before the king. “I say, ‘Keep the king’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God’” (v. 2). The “oath” spoken of here may be the literal one that is referred to in 1 Chronicles 29:24; where we’re told, “All the leaders and the mighty men, and also the sons of King David, submitted themselves to King Solomon.” Or, it may be a figure for the general obligation of all men to recognize the legitimate authority of human government as that which comes first from God and that is established by Him. The “oath” is to be put into practice by ‘keeping’ the commandments of the king. Solomon elaborates further on this in verse 3. “‘Do not be hasty to go from his presence’”—and that this refers to hurrying one’s self away to do evil can be concluded from the next phrase; “‘Do not take your stand for an evil thing. . .’” The prudent man doesn’t seek, somehow, to avoid the scrutiny of the king’s eye out of an inclination to do evil; “‘for he [i.e., the king] does whatever pleases him’”. The earthly human authority is given power, within its proper realm and under its proper limitations, to do as it sees fit. This is by God’s design; and so, it’s foolish to try to resist the government from out of an evil or rebellious intent.

B. This is because the king possesses legitimate authority from God (vv. 4-5a). “Where the word of a king is,” Solomon explains, “there is power; and who may say to him, ‘What are you doing?’” (v. 4). The power and authority of the ruler to punish evil and reward good is legitimate. The authority is, as Romans 13 tells us, armed with the sword for a purpose. The suggestion that no one can say, “What are you doing?”, doesn’t mean that government is without accountability. Rather, it simply means that the accountability is, ultimately, to God and not to the man or woman under government’s authority. Thus, Solomon advises , “He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful . . .” (v. 5a). This is reflected in Paul’s words in Romans 7; “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good.”

C. Thus, even the king is subject to the limitations of frail humanity (vv. 5b-8). None of this, of course, means that whatever a king does is ‘right’ simply because it is a king who does it. Because his authority is from God, it is to God’s authority that he must give an account. So, the wise man, walking under the sun, will restrain himself from resisting authority—even when authority is abused. “And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment, because for every matter there is a time and judgment, though the misery of man increases greatly” (vv. 5b-6). He recognizes, as Solomon has said elsewhere, that “to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (3:1); and that “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work” (3:17; see especially 12:14). God is at work in even the evil that men may suffer—accomplishing a sovereign purpose that man hasn’t the wisdom to see. Thus the man or woman under the king must exercise restraint; “For he [that is, the man under the king's authority] does not know what will happen; so who can tell him when it will occur?” The king may suddenly be taken away; for “No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit [or "wind" as some translate it; see Proverbs 30:4], and no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, and wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it” (vv. 7-8). What king has been able to keep himself alive to fulfill his plans, however powerful he may otherwise be? Even the most powerful king on earth is one “whose breath is in his nostrils” (Isaiah 2:22). Pinch his nose and he’s gone—thus underscoring the limitations of human government.

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Thus far, Solomon details the wise man’s conduct under human government “under the sun”. None of this, of course, means that legitimate avenues shouldn’t be used to petition the government for the ‘setting right’ of what may be wrong. But the God-fearing man need never act rashly out of despair even if his petitions will not be heard. There remains a higher court of justice than even that of the greatest of kings.

So, the wise man walks wisely under human government; . . .

II. BUT HE SO WALKS WITH AN EYE TO THE FINAL COURT OF GOD’S JUSTICE (vv. 9-13).

A. A king can rule to his own hurt (v. 9). Solomon—a man of vast experience and observation when it comes to human rule—says, “All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt” (v. 9). He knew very well that, as another great king once learned the hard way, “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men” (Daniel 4:17). A king may abuse his authority to punish evil-doers—using it in such a way as to become, himself, an evil-doer and a terror to those who do good. But his victims aren’t the only ones who suffer. They do so under the observation of a just and good Judge in the heavens; and the day of reckoning for that evil ruler comes—either in this world or before the throne of God.

B. What’s more, the king can suddenly be taken out of the scene by death (v. 10). So far, every ruler that has ever lived in history past has been taken out of the picture by the same death that other men die; and thus, his rule brought to an end. And so, a wise man can restrain himself—knowing that, eventually, even the king will stand before God. As Solomon says, “Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity” (v. 10). The “wicked” may be a general term; but in this context, it seems that Solomon is making reference to wicked rulers or those who occupy wicked governments. “The place of holiness” would, then, refer to the place of authority that had been given to them by God—”holy” because they were to rule as His servants. Suddenly, their splendor is gone. They were buried in the earth; where their bodies decay. Nothing is left of them but monuments that honor a king that nobody remembers. As Isaiah 40:6-8 tells us; “All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” All “this”—that is, the splendor of the king in which he boasts—”is vanity”.

C. Thus, the ultimate judgment of all men—even the king—is certain (vv. 11-13). “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (v. 11). This is a general principle of fallen humanity; but it is just as true of kings as it is of common men. They may not see the hand of God stopping them from doing evil immediately, and thus are tempted to carry on in their evil; but that doesn’t mean that the hand of God will not fall—as it always eventually does. Thus Solomon advocates trusting confidently in the day of God’s justice: “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear God” (vv. 12-13). Not even the most powerful and evil monarch can, in the end, escape the justice of God.

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All this helps to underscore the main point of Solomon’s book. Apart from a confident faith in God—apart from seeing hope “above the sun”—man is in a state of despair. He is constantly ruled either by well-meaning but fallible men, or by men who are malicious and who do evil. But as he says at the end of his book,

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).