Ecclesiastes 8:16

THE INCOMPETENCE OF EVERY MAN TO FIND OUT THE UNSEARCHABLE WAYS OF GOD[30]

"When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes), then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however much a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea, moreover, though a wise man seek to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it."

The problem in Ecclesiastes is exactly that which was encountered in the Book of Job, namely, can the eternal righteousness and justice of God be reconciled with the glaring instances cited in Ecclesiastes 8:14, where the righteous received what the wicked deserved and the wicked received what the righteous deserved? Loader, and other scholars, believe that the author of Ecclesiastes believed that this was impossible. "The answer for the Preacher is no."[31] This writer cannot accept that; and even if that interpretation is correct, it would mean that Solomon himself was grossly in error by such an allegation. Job accepted both the anomalies of life and the eternal righteousness and justice of God as absolutely compatible; and we believe, in his conclusion, that Solomon also did this.

Certainly, any fool knows that "All is not right with the world," and that all kinds of injustices and gross wickedness prevail everywhere; but none of this can be intelligently charged as God's fault, in any degree whatever. Man's freedom of the will, his decision to serve Satan rather than God, the fact of God's displeasure with man's rebellious condition (evidenced by his cursing the ground for Adam's sake), the strange fact of the children of darkness being in many instances wiser than the children of light, the impartiality in natural disasters, and the capricious results of chance happening to all men alike .... it is these things that cause startling miscarriages of justice continually throughout the world. Yet back of it all, the justice and mercy of God prevail eternally.

"Though a wise man seek to know it, yet shall he be not able to find it out" (Ecclesiastes 8:17). Solomon here says that, "Even a wise man like himself cannot fathom the ways of God's providence."[32]

Solomon often stressed the idea of "eat, drink, and be joyful"; but he never cited these things as the ultimate happiness, always mentioning along with them the toil, uncertainty, brevity of life, etc. as foils, even of these blessings. Kidner understood Solomon's real intention when he wrote, "He gives us a ray of hope in the words, `all the work of God' (Ecclesiastes 8:17), for it is God's work that battles us; life is not `a tale told by an idiot.'"[33]

Loader also supposed that Solomon here attributes the riddle that he has seen to the action of God.[34] This is true. Adam's expulsion from Eden, the ensuing enmity between Satan and the seed of woman, the curse upon the earth, etc. - these were key elements in man's earthly wretchedness.

The unfathomable mysteries of life and all of the hidden things that belong to God come to mind as we read these verses. "This unsearchable nature of divine things is similarly proclaimed in Job 11:6-9 and in Romans 11:33."[35]