He asks the question –“Who is like a wise man?” (v1) He says that such a man knows the interpretation of a thing, and his face shines rather than looking stern. I think it suggests that you can see joy in his face and he displays grace and gentleness. Honouring authority is part of our obedience to God (v2-4) (see Romans 13). You might say that Solomon would say this for he was king. The Bible clearly says we should honour the king and authority, but it also says that where authority and God conflict, we must obey God. There are several examples of this. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Peter, John, and Paul.
He goes on to say that there are reasons for wise living (v5-9). If we keep the king’s command we will not suffer harm. That is the ideal but of course there are some rulers who are wicked and oppressive and tyrants. They will not succeed in the end because they are under the overall rule of God. They often are put to death by their own people. “They rule to their own hurt.”
He then restates what we read in chapter 3:1-8 that there is a time for everything and a wise man discerns such time and purpose. However wise we are does not give us any knowledge of the future and we have no control over the day of our death. He refers to it as ‘a war’ from which there is no release. Without God we have no control over our destination after death apart from hell as our destination if we reject the salvation He offers. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3).
We must remember that much of what Solomon is speaking of is “under the sun” meaning from an earthly and worldly standpoint. This is what it appears to the ordinary man without God’s intervention. Thus he says that the wicked have come and gone and they were forgotten when buried (v10-13). He states that the sentence against an evil work should be executed speedily, thus their heart is fully set to do evil. There is a saying in legal circles that judgment delayed is judgment denied, in other words judgment should be exercised speedily. We see the folly in our legal system today, huge backlogs in the hearing of cases.
His observation is without thinking about judgment after death. Some people are praised for their evil deeds even after death. Solomon is really in a Godless state thinking that evil men will not face punishment. The Bible says that it is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment (Hebrews 9;27). Evil men who escape judgment in this life may think they have got away with it, but far from it, as far as God is concerned. He adds that he knows that those who fear God, their days will be prolonged. God is abundant in His mercy even to those who do not fear Him.
Solomon then states a recurring problem (v14,15) – why do good things happen to bad people and why do bad things happen to good people. It seems it has ever been thus. Again we go back to Job. This was the problem faced there – why should a righteous man like Job suffer as he did? Job still trusted in God even though things seem to go against him. Has anyone suffered like he did when it seemed totally unjust? We have the value of seeing behind the scenes which Job did not. He knew nothing of the conversation between Satan and God where Satan questioned Job’s allegiance to God. God gave him limited permission to affect Job’s body but not take his life. Even Job’s wife told him to curse God and give up, but he did not. God rewarded him in the end. Why any of us should be shown goodness is completely down to the mercy of God.
The meaningless of life leads him to repeat a policy which he has mentioned before – enjoy life, there is nothing better than to eat, drink and be merry. Making the best of his situation was about all there was from a worldly standpoint (v15-17). He then seems to recall that there is something more than this life and say that man cannot find out fully the work of God. God is greater than all we can think or imagine. Not even a wise man can fully fathom God’s working.
