10 And I have also seen the wicked buried and going away; and such as had acted rightly went from [the] holy place, and were forgotten in the city. This also is vanity.
For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
The memory of the righteous [man] shall be blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot.
And he came in, and ate and drank; and he said, Go, look, I pray you, after this cursed [woman], and bury her; for she is a king's daughter. And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands.
Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
I am forgotten in [their] heart as a dead man; I am become like a broken vessel.
{A Song of degrees. Of David.} I rejoiced when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of Jehovah. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, which art built as a city that is compact together, Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of Jah, a testimony to Israel, to give thanks unto the name of Jehovah. For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
Thou hope of Israel, Jehovah! all that forsake thee shall be ashamed. They that depart from me shall be written in the earth; because they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters.
And it came to pass that the poor man died, and that he was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham. And the rich man also died and was buried.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 8
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
Solomon, in this chapter, comes to recommend wisdom to us as the most powerful antidote against both the temptations and vexations that arise from the vanity of the world. Here is,
Ecc 8:1-5
Here is,
Ecc 8:6-8
Solomon had said (v. 5) that a wise man's heart discerns time and judgment, that is, a man's wisdom will go a great way, by the blessing of God, in moral prognostications; but here he shows that few have that wisdom, and that even the wisest may yet be surprised by a calamity which they had not any foresight of, and therefore it is our wisdom to expect and prepare for sudden changes. Observe,
Ecc 8:9-13
Solomon, in the beginning of the chapter, had warned us against having any thing to do with seditious subjects; here, in these verses, he encourages us, in reference to the mischief of tyrannical and oppressive rulers, such as he had complained of before, ch. 3:16; 4:1.
Ecc 8:14-17
Wise and good men have, of old, been perplexed with this difficulty, how the prosperity of the wicked and the troubles of the righteous can be reconciled with the holiness and goodness of the God that governs the world. Concerning this Solomon here gives us his advice.