Ecclesiastes · WEB-C
Ecclesiastes
8
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Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. See also: Acts 6:15Deuteronomy 28:502 Peter 1:20I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God. See also: Titus 3:1Proverbs 24:211 Kings 2:43Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence. Don’t persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him, See also: Ecclesiastes 10:4Daniel 4:35Proverbs 14:29for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?” See also: Romans 13:1-4Job 9:12Daniel 4:35Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure. See also: Hebrews 5:14Philippians 1:9-101 Peter 3:13-14For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him. See also: Ecclesiastes 3:1Ecclesiastes 3:17Ecclesiastes 3:11For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be? See also: Ecclesiastes 10:14Ecclesiastes 6:12Matthew 24:50There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it. See also: Psalms 89:48Job 14:5Hebrews 9:27All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt. See also: Ecclesiastes 5:8Ecclesiastes 5:13Ecclesiastes 4:7-8So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity. See also: Proverbs 10:7Ecclesiastes 2:16Ecclesiastes 9:5Because 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. See also: Isaiah 26:10Psalms 50:21-22Romans 2:4-5Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. See also: Psalms 37:11Luke 1:502 Peter 2:9But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God. See also: Ecclesiastes 6:12Job 14:2Isaiah 3:11There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. See also: Ecclesiastes 7:15Malachi 3:15Ecclesiastes 2:14Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun. See also: Ecclesiastes 2:24Ecclesiastes 5:18Ecclesiastes 3:12-13When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (even though eyes see no sleep day or night), See also: Ecclesiastes 2:23Psalms 127:2Ecclesiastes 1:13then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it. See also: Ecclesiastes 3:11Psalms 73:16Romans 11:33
See also: Cross references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), derived in part from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)17 notes
Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.
These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity
Ecclesiastes 8:1
Ver. 1. Most. Sept. "he whose face is impudent, shall be hated." The truly wise and virtuous man is always polite and affable. C. --- As we may form a probable conjecture of a person's disposition from his countenance, so we may judge of man's virtue by their actions. They are right and meritorious when the intention is good, (W.) and the works themselves blameless.
↑ 1Ecclesiastes 8:2
Ver. 2. I. Prot. add, " counsel thee, to keep, &c. "Obey the king and God." H. 1
Pet. ii. 17. ---
Solomon proposes his own example, or speaks in the name of the just. --- God.
The law of Moses, confirmed with an oath, or the engagement to be faithful to the king. 2 K. v. 3. 1 Par.
xxix. 24.
↑ 2Ecclesiastes 8:3
Ver. 3. Face. This courtiers observe, while many Christians neglect God. ---
Work. Defend not what has been said or done amiss.
↑ 3Ecclesiastes 8:4
Ver. 4. So? The eastern kings rule with absolute sway. Prov. xvi. 14.
↑ 4Ecclesiastes 8:5
Ver. 5. Answer. Heb. "judgment." He knows when to reprove even kings with effect; like Nathan, Elias, or S. Ambrose. 2 K. xii. 1. and 3 K. xviii. 17.
↑ 5Ecclesiastes 8:6
Ver. 6. Man. Solomon often reminds him of his misery. Sept. and Theod. "man is possessed of much knowledge," as they read dahth for rahth. C.
↑ 6Ecclesiastes 8:7
Ver. 7. Past. Prot. and Sept. "that shall be." H.
↑ 7Ecclesiastes 8:8
Ver. 8. Spirit from leaving the body, or the wind from blowing. There is no quarter given by death; so the wicked cannot escape vengeance.
↑ 8Ecclesiastes 8:9
Ver. 9. Hurt. Those who are despised in elevated situations, might have been happy in obscurity.
↑ 9Ecclesiastes 8:10
Ver. 10. Works. In life and death hypocrites are mixed with the unjust; and this excites indignation.
↑ 10Ecclesiastes 8:11
Ver. 11. Fear. Thus they abuse the patience of God, and grow worse, because he is good. His time will come. Apoc. xvi. 15 Eccli. v. 4. 2 Pet. iii. 10.
↑ 11Ecclesiastes 8:12
Ver. 12. Face. If God shew such clemency to the wicked, will he disregard his servants? Greek interpreters have read in a different meaning. C. --- Sept. "the sinner has done evil from that time, and for a long while," (T.) &c. See S. Jer. H.
↑ 12Ecclesiastes 8:13
Ver. 13. Let. Or, Heb. "it shall not," &c. Prot. H. --- Faith evinces that the wicked will be punished. --- But. Heb. "like a shadow." Sept. "under the shade," in prosperity.
↑ 13Ecclesiastes 8:14
Ver. 14. Vain, or afflicting. Hence some have denied Providence. Jer. xii. 1. C.
↑ 14Ecclesiastes 8:15
Ver. 15. No good for a man, &c. Some commentators think the wise man here speaks in the person of the libertine, representing the objections of these men against divine Providence, and the inferences they draw from thence, which he takes care afterwards to refute. But it may also be said, that his meaning is to commend the moderate use of the goods of this world, preferably to the cares and solicitudes of worldlings, their attachment to vanity and curiosity, and presumptuously diving into the unsearchable ways of divine providence. Ch.
C. ii. 24. and iii.
12. Eccli. xv. C. --- Felicity is not attached to temporal prosperity, nor are the afflicted always miserable. W.
↑ 15Ecclesiastes 8:16
Ver. 16. Distraction of politicians, (Grot.) and of all human affairs.
↑ 16Ecclesiastes 8:17
Ver. 17. Reason. We know in general that God does all for his own glory, and for the welfare of his elect. But we cannot account for his treatment of mankind in particular cases. Rom. xi. 33.
S. Jer. C. --- Say. Sept. "speak what thing soever, that he may know he," &c. H.
↑ 17License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses