Ecclesiastes 8:8 - Exposition

This verse gives the conclusion of the line of argument which confirms the last clause of Ecclesiastes 8:5 . There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit. If we take "spirit" in the sense of "the breath of life," explaining the clause to mean that the mightiest despot has no power to retain life when his call comes, we have the same thought repeated virtually in the next clause. It is therefore bettor to take ruach in the sense of "wind" ( Genesis 8:1 ). No one can control the course of the wind or know its way (comp. Ecclesiastes 11:5 , where the same ambiguity exists; Proverbs 30:4 ). Koheleth gives here four impossibilities which point to the conclusion already given. The first is man's inability to check the viewless wind or to know whence it comes or whither it goes ( John 3:8 ). Equally impotent is the tyrant to influence the drift of events that is bearing him on to his end. God's judgments are often likened to a wind (see Isaiah 41:16 ; Wis. 4:4; 5:23). Neither hath he power in the day of death ; rather, over the day of death . The second impossibility concerns the averting the hour of death. Whether it comes by sickness, or accident, or design, the despot must succumb; he can neither foresee nor ward it off ( 1 Samuel 26:10 , "The Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle, and perish;" Ecclesiasticus 14:12, "Remember that death will not be long in coming, and that the covenant of the grave is not showed unto thee"). And there is no discharge in that war . The word rendered "discharge" ( mishlachath ) is found elsewhere only in Psalms 78:49 , where it is translated "sending," "mission," or "band." The Septuagint here has ἀποατολή ; the Vulgate Nec sinitur quiescere ingruente bello . The Authorized Version is doubtless correct, though there is no need to insert the pronoun "that." The severity of the law of military service is considered analogously with the inexorable law of death. The Hebrew enactment ( Deuteronomy 20:5-8 ) allowed exemption in certain cases; but the Persian rule was inflexibly rigid, permitting no furlough or evasion during an expedition. Thus we read that when (Eobazus, the father of three sons, petitioned Darius to leave him one at home, the tyrant replied that he would leave him all three, and had them put to death. Again, Pythius, a Lydian, asking Xerxes to exempt his eldest son from accompanying the army to Greece, was reviled by the monarch in unmeasured terms, and was punished for his presumption by seeing his son slain before his eyes, the body divided into two pieces, and placed on either side of the road by which the army passed, that all might be warned of the fate awaiting any attempt to evade military service (Herod; 4.84; 7.35). The passage in the text has a bearing on the authorship and date of our book, is as seems most probable, the reference is to the cruel discipline of Persia. This is the third impossibility; the fourth follows. Neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it ; its lord and master. Septuagint, τὸν παρ αὐτῆς , "its votary." Ginsburg translates resha "cunning;" but this seems foreign to the sentiment, which is concerned with the despot's impiety, injustice, and general wickedness, not with the means by which he endeavors to escape the reward of his deeds. The fact is, no evil despot, however reckless and imperious, can go long unpunished. He may say in his heart, "There is no God," or, "God hideth his face, and sees him not," but certain retribution awaits him, and may not be avoided. Says the gnome—

ἄγει τὸ θεῖον τοὺς κακοὺς πρὸς τὴν δίκνη .

"Heaven drives the evil always unto judgment"