Eccles. 8 Kings to be greatly respected, Eccles. 8:1–5. Our times uncertain; death not to be resisted, Eccles. 8:6–8. An evil magistrate buried and forgot, Eccles. 8:9–10. Men hardened in sin, because not presently punished; but they shall not escape, but it shall go ill with them, Eccles.

Who is as the wise man? who is to be compared with a wise man? He is incomparably the most excellent man in the world. Or rather, who is truly wise? the particle as being here not a note of similitude, but of reality, as it is John 1:14, and in many other places, as hath been noted.

I counsel thee; which verb is necessarily understood to make the sense full and complete. See the like defects of speech, Ps. 120:7, Isa. 5:9;c. To keep the king’s commandment; observe and obey all his commands; which is not to be understood universally, as if the king should have commanded them to…

To go out of his sight, Heb. to go from his face or presence, to wit, in dislike, or in discontent, withdrawing thyself from thy king’s service or obedience, as malcontents use to do; for this will both provoke him, and lead thee by degrees into sedition or rebellion.

There is power; whatsoever he commandeth he wants not power nor instruments to execute it, and therefore can easily punish thee as he pleaseth. Who may say? Heb. who shall say? Who will presume or dare to say so? He doth not affirm that it is unlawful to say so, for Samuel said so to Saul, 1 Sam.

The commandment; either, 1. Of the king, of which he hath hitherto spoken. Or, 2. Of God; for the word, or commandments, or law are oft used emphatically for the word, law, or command of God, as hath been formerly and frequently observed, and the commandment is put for the commandments, as is very…

There is time and judgment; there is a fit way and season for the happy accomplishment of every business which a man designeth or undertaketh to do, which is known to God, but for the most part hidden from man, as is implied and may be gathered from the following words. See Poole “Eccles. 3:1”.

Men are generally ignorant of all future events, and of the success of their endeavours, and therefore their minds are greatly disquieted, and their expectations frequently disappointed, and they fall into many mistakes and miscarriages, which they could and would prevent if they did foresee the…

The spirit, i.e. the soul of man, which is oft called a spirit, as Job 7:7, Job 10:12, Ps. 78:39, Ps. 104:29;c. To retain the spirit; to keep it in the body beyond the time which God hath allotted to it. This is added as another evidence of man’s misery. In the day; or, against the day, i.e.

All this; all these things before mentioned. Applied my heart unto every work; I have been a diligent observer of all actions and events. There is a time wherein one man ruleth over another; there are some kings who use their power tyrannically and wickedly, whereby they do not only oppress their…

And so, in like manner, or such another vanity or disorder, I saw the wicked; wicked princes or rulers, as the next clause limits this. Buried; die quietly in their beds, and afterward be buried with state and pomp, whereas in truth they deserved an untimely end, and no other than the burial of an…

Sentence against an evil work; or, the decree, &c. God’s determinate counsel or sentence for the punishment of tyrants and all evil-doers. Therefore; because God’s forbearance makes them presumptuous and secure, and confident of impunity. Is fully set, Heb.

An hundred times; frequently and innumerably. His days; the time of his life and prosperity. It shall be well with them that fear God; whereby he implies, both that good men might for a time suffer grievous things from such wicked tyrants, and that it should be very ill with the wicked, which is…

It shall not be well, i.e. it shall go very ill with him; great miseries are prepared for him; which is a figure oft used in Scripture, as hath been formerly and frequently observed. Neither shall he prolong his days, to wit, very long, or for ever, as he desireth.

Which is done; either by wicked potentates, who do commonly advance unworthy men, and oppress persons of greatest virtue and merit; or by God’s providence, who sees it fit for many weighty reasons so to manage the affairs of the present world.

This he speaks, either, 1. In the person of a sensual man. Things being so, as was related, Eccles. 8:14, it is best to give a man’s self up to eating and drinking, and all manner of carnal delights. Or, 2. In his own name and person.

I applied mine heart to know wisdom: this he seems to add as the reason of that judgment which he had now passed, Eccles. 8:15, because he had diligently studied wherein man’s wisdom did consist, and had observed the restlessness of men’s minds and bodies in other courses.

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.