Commentary - Ecclesiastes 8:5-9

Bird's-eye view

In this section of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher continues to apply his doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty to the perplexing realities of life under the sun. Having established that God alone gives the gift of enjoyment in the midst of vanity, he now turns to the realm of civil authority and human limitation. The passage explores the tension between the wisdom of prudent submission to authority and the crushing reality of human ignorance and mortality. On the one hand, there is a proper, God-ordained structure to the world, a "time and custom" for everything, and wisdom lies in recognizing it. On the other hand, man's trouble is immense precisely because he cannot see the future and has no ultimate control over the elemental forces of life and death. The Preacher concludes with a stark observation: the very authority structures that should bring order often result in calamity. This is not a contradiction, but rather a description of the world as it is, a world groaning under the curse, where God's beautiful order is constantly being twisted by man's sin, and yet God's sovereign purpose overrules it all.

The key is to see this not as a counsel of despair, but as a preparation for the gospel. The Preacher is systematically dismantling every human hope that is not grounded in God. You cannot find ultimate meaning in political stability, personal wisdom, or control over your own destiny. All these things are smoke. The only solid ground is the fear of the Lord, which allows a man to receive each day, with its attendant joys and sorrows, as a direct gift from the hand of a sovereign God who is working all things together for His own glory.

Outline

Context In Ecclesiastes

This passage sits within the third major section of the book (Eccl 6:1-8:15), where the Preacher applies the doctrine of God's exhaustive sovereignty to the problem of enjoying this life. He has already shown that riches, pleasure, and labor are vanity if a man does not have the God-given ability to enjoy them. He has contrasted the wise man and the fool, but shown that one event, death, befalls them both. Now, in chapter 8, he narrows his focus to the specific vanity of political life and the universal vanity of human weakness in the face of time and death. This section is not a detached philosophical musing; it is a pastoral diagnosis. The Preacher is showing us the sickness in order to point us to the only cure, which is not found "under the sun" but in the fear of the God who is over the sun.

Key Issues

Shepherding the Wind

One of the central metaphors in Ecclesiastes is that of shepherding the wind. It is the perfect image for man's attempt to control his life and his world apart from God. He is trying to corral and direct that which is fundamentally uncontrollable. This passage gives us several examples of this wind-shepherding. Man tries to manage political outcomes, but finds that rulers often bring calamity. He tries to plan for the future, but he doesn't know what a day may bring. He tries to cling to life, but he has no power over the day of his death. All his striving is an attempt to impose his own order on a world that runs according to a script written by another.

The wisdom of Ecclesiastes is not to give up and become a fatalist. Rather, it is to give up your own pretensions of being the shepherd and to trust the one who truly does hold the winds in His fists. When you know that God is sovereignly directing all things, even the chaotic and painful things, you are freed from the burden of having to make sense of it all. You can simply do the next right thing, obey the king, and trust God with the time, the custom, and the outcome. You can receive both the calm and the storm as from His hand.

Verse by Verse Commentary

5 He who keeps a royal command experiences no evil thing, for a wise heart knows the proper time and custom.

The Preacher begins with a piece of practical, proverbial wisdom. Generally speaking, if you want to get along in this world, you obey the authorities. This is the same principle the Apostle Paul lays out in Romans 13. The magistrate is God's deacon, appointed to punish evil and reward good. Therefore, the prudent man, the man with a "wise heart," simply obeys the law. He experiences no "evil thing," which here means he avoids the punitive wrath of the state. But the wisdom here is deeper than just "don't get a speeding ticket." The wise heart knows the proper time and custom. He has discernment. He understands that there is a God-given rhythm and order to life, and that includes the structures of civil authority. He knows when to speak and when to be silent, when to act and when to wait. This is not the wisdom of a revolutionary, but the wisdom of a subject who knows his place in a world ordered by God.

6 For there is a proper time and custom for every matter, though a man’s trouble is multiplied upon him.

This verse expands on the principle and immediately introduces the tension. Yes, there is a "proper time and custom for every matter." God has woven a structure into the fabric of creation. There is a time to plant and a time to harvest, a time for war and a time for peace (Eccl 3:1-8). The universe is not chaos. However, right alongside this truth is the brutal reality that "a man's trouble is multiplied upon him." The Hebrew word for trouble here is ra'ah, the same word for evil. So even when a man is walking in wisdom, seeking to discern the times, his life is still filled with grief and calamity. Why? Because we live in a fallen world. The beautiful, ordered system God created is now groaning under the curse of sin. The gears of the cosmic clockwork still turn, but they grind and screech, and we are caught in them. The Preacher is holding two truths in balance: God's world has a beautiful order, and our experience in it is often one of multiplied trouble.

7 If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?

Here is the source of man's multiplied trouble. His fundamental problem is ignorance. He lives his life facing forward, but he can only see backward. He doesn't know the "what" of the future, and so he certainly cannot know the "when." This is a direct assault on human pride. We build our five-year plans, our retirement portfolios, and our political strategies, all on the assumption that we have some measure of control over what is to come. But the Preacher tells us this is an illusion. We are like a man in a rowboat, pulling hard on the oars, but unable to see the waterfall just ahead. This ignorance is not a flaw in the system; it is a feature. It is designed by God to keep us humble and dependent. We are commanded to work and plan, but we must do so with an open hand, acknowledging that the secret things belong to the Lord (Deut 29:29).

8 There is no man who has power to restrain the wind with the wind, and there is none who has power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in the time of war, and wickedness will not provide escape to its masters.

The Preacher now gives four stark examples of man's ultimate impotence. First, no man has power to "restrain the wind." This is a fundamental force of nature, a metaphor for all the created realities that are utterly beyond our command. Second, and most pointedly, no one "has power over the day of death." This is the great equalizer. Rich or poor, wise or foolish, king or peasant, all must keep this appointment. You cannot bribe death, outsmart it, or overpower it. Third, there is "no discharge in the time of war." When the battle is joined, the soldier cannot simply decide he has had enough and go home. He is subject to a higher authority and a larger conflict that sweeps him along. Finally, "wickedness will not provide escape to its masters." The wicked man thinks his cunning, his ruthlessness, his rejection of God's law, will give him an advantage, a way out. But his wickedness is a trap that will ultimately ensnare him. All four of these are illustrations of the same point: man is not sovereign. He is a creature, bounded, limited, and accountable.

9 All this I have seen and given my heart to every work that has been done under the sun wherein a man has power over another man to his calamity.

This is the Preacher's somber conclusion based on his observations. He has applied his mind to all the goings-on of life, and this is what he has seen. The very structures of authority that God has ordained, the "power" one man has over another, are frequently used "to his calamity." The king you are supposed to obey (v. 5) often becomes a tyrant. The system that is supposed to provide order and justice becomes a source of multiplied trouble. The ruler uses his God-given authority for his own harm and the harm of his subjects. This is the tragic irony of the fall. The good gifts of God, in the hands of sinful men, become instruments of pain. This is not an argument for anarchy. It is a realistic assessment of the world as we find it, a world desperately in need of a king who will not rule for His own calamity, but for the blessing of His people.

Application

So what are we to do with this bleak picture? First, we must embrace humility. This passage is designed to strip us of our self-reliance. You are not in control of your future, your health, or the political climate. Your wisdom is limited, and your strength is small. This is not bad news; it is the necessary preparation for receiving the good news. The man who thinks he can save himself will never cry out for a savior.

Second, we must learn to live within our creaturely limits. We are called to be faithful in the here and now. Obey the king. Do your work. Love your family. Discern the times as best you can. But do not carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. That is God's job. Cast your anxieties on Him, because He is the one who is actually running the universe. Your ignorance of the future is a gift that forces you to trust Him for daily bread.

Finally, this passage should make us long for the kingdom of Christ. We see here that earthly rulers, even at their best, are flawed and often rule to their own calamity. But we have a king, the Lord Jesus, who used His ultimate power not for His own benefit, but to lay down His life for His people. He is the truly wise king, the one who knew the "proper time and custom" of His own death and resurrection. He is the one who has ultimate power over the wind and the waves, and who has conquered death itself. Because He lives, we can face the multiplied troubles of this life, not with despair, but with a battle-hardened joy, knowing that our King reigns and is making all things new.