Ecclesiastes 5:8

5:4-8 When a person made engagements rashly, he suffered his mouth to cause his flesh to sin. The case supposes a man coming to the priest, and pretending that his vow was made rashly, and that it would be wrong to fulfil it. Such mockery of God would bring the Divine displeasure, which might blast what was thus unduly kept. We are to keep down the fear of man. Set God before thee; then, if thou seest the oppression of the poor, thou wilt not find fault with Divine Providence; nor think the worse of the institution of magistracy, when thou seest the ends of it thus perverted; nor of religion, when thou seest it will not secure men from suffering wrong. But though oppressors may be secure, God will reckon for all.

Ecclesiastes 5:8 . If thou seest the oppression: &c. — Here is an account of another vanity, and a sovereign antidote against it. Marvel not — As if it were inconsistent with God’s wisdom and justice to suffer such disorders. For he that is higher than the highest — The most high God, who is infinitely above the greatest of men. Regardeth — Not like an idle spectator, but a judge, who diligently observes, and will effectually punish them. And there be higher than they — Namely, God; it is an emphatical repetition of the same thing.

(8) The interpretation of this verse depends on the sense we give to “marvel.” There are some who take it of simple surprise. “You need not think it strange; the instances of oppression which you observe are only parts of a gigantic scheme of mutual wrong-doing, the oppressors of one being themselves oppressed in turn by their superiors.” But instead of “Do not wonder,” the meaning “be not dismayed” is preferable. (Comp. Psalm 48:5 ; Job 26:11 ; Isaiah 13:8 ; Jeremiah 4:9 .) The verse then supplies the answer to the gloomy view of Ecclesiastes 4:4 . In the view that the last clause speaks of the Divine rectification of earthly injustice, I am confirmed by observing that the author of this book delights in verbal assonances, and constantly links together words similar in sound. An English version might admit the meaning: “Over the high oppressor stands a higher, and over both, those who are higher still; “though even here there is the difficulty that the highest of all are spoken of in the plural number, of which it is a very awkward explanation that the “higher” is the king, and that the women and favourites who govern him are the “higher still.” But I cannot but think that the language of the Hebrew, that over the “gebōh” there be “ gebōhim,” is intended to suggest Elohim to the reader’s mind. On the word “province,” see Note, Ecclesiastes 2:8; and on “matter,” Ecclesiastes 3:1.

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, wonder not at the matter: for he that is {f} higher than the highest regardeth; and there are higher than they. (f) Meaning, that God will address these things, and therefore we must depend on him.

Matter - Rather, purpose (as in the margin, and Ecclesiastes 3:1 ), referring either to the will of God or to the edict of an oppressive ruler. For he ... they - literally, for high watches over high and the highest over them, i. e., the king in the capital watches over the judge or governor in the province, and God over both. This seems more in harmony with the preceding verses, and more agreeable to the scope of this passage than to understand the passage only of earthly rulers.

8. As in Ec 3:16, so here the difficulty suggests itself. If God is so exact in even punishing hasty words (Ec 5:1-6), why does He allow gross injustice? In the remote "provinces," the "poor" often had to put themselves for protection from the inroads of Philistines, &c., under chieftains, who oppressed them even in Solomon's reign (1Ki 12:4). the matter—literally, "the pleasure," or purpose (Isa 53:10). Marvel not at this dispensation of God's will, as if He had abandoned the world. Nay, there is coming a capital judgment at last, and an earnest of it in partial punishments of sinners meanwhile. higher than the highest—(Da 7:18). regardeth—(2Ch 16:9). there be higher—plural, that is, the three persons of the Godhead, or else, "regardeth not only the 'highest' kings, than whom He 'is higher,' but even the petty tyrants of the provinces, namely, the high ones who are above them" (the poor) [Weiss].

Here is an account of another vanity, and a sovereign antidote against it. Marvel not, as if it were inconsistent with God’s wisdom, and justice, and truth to suffer such disorders, or a just cause for any man to throw off that fear and service of God which I have now commended to thee. He that is higher than the highest, the most high God, who is infinitely above the greatest of men, and therefore, if he saw meet, could crush them in an instant, regardeth, not like an idle spectator, but like a judge, who diligently observes and records all these miscarriages, and will so effectually punish them, that neither they shall have any cause of triumph in their former successes, nor good men to be grieved at the remembrance of them. There be higher than they; either, 1. The high and holy angels, who are employed by God in the government of kings and kingdoms, as we read in the Book of Daniel, and elsewhere, and for the defence of God’s people, Psalm 34:7 91:11 Hebrews 1:14 . Or, 2. God; and so it is an emphatical repetition of the same thing, which is frequent in Scripture; there is a higher than they . Or, as the words are by others fitly rendered, the Most High (for plural words are oft understood of God singularly) is above them , and therefore can control them, and will certainly call them to an account.

8 . If thou seest the oppression of the poor ] From the follies of the religious life we pass to the disorders of the political. As in ch. Ecclesiastes 4:16 , the thinker looks on those disorders of the world, “the poor man’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,” and teaches others how he has learnt to think of them. The words “wonder not” tells us with scarcely the shadow of a doubt who had been his teachers. In that counsel we have a distinct echo from one of the floating maxims of Greek proverbial wisdom, from the Μηδὲν θαυμάζειν (“wonder at nothing”) of Pythagoras, and Cebes ( Tabula , p. 232), which has become more widely known through the Nil admirari of Horace ( Epist . i. 6. 1). Why men were not to wonder at the prevalence of oppression is explained afterwards. The word for “province” may be noted as one distinctly belonging to later Hebrew, found chiefly in the books of the Persian period, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and Daniel; once only in those of earlier date, 1 Kings 20:14-17 . for he that is higher than the highest ] The first impression made by the verse is that the Debater tells men not to wonder or be dismayed at the prevalence of wrong, on the ground that God is higher than the highest of the tyrants of the earth and will in the end punish their wrong-doing.

So understood, the first and the last “higher” both refer to “God,” or, as some take it, the last only, the first referring to the king as distinct from satraps or other officers, and the train of thought is supposed to be “Wonder not with the wonder of despair, at the seeming triumph of evil. The Supreme Judge (ch. Ecclesiastes 3:17 ) will one day set all things right.” The last “higher” is however plural in the Hebrew, and if it be understood of God, it must be by a somewhat unusual construction connecting it with the plural form ( Elohim ) of the name of God. We have, it may be noted, another example of a like construction in the use of the plural form for Creator in ch. Ecclesiastes 12:1 , and for “the Holy” in Proverbs 9:10 ; Proverbs 30:3 . Over and above the grammatical difficulties, however (which, as has been shewn, are not insuperable), it may be said that this thought is hardly in keeping with the tone of the Debater’s mind at this stage of his progress. Belief in the righteous government of God can hardly remove, though it may perhaps silence, the wonder which men feel at the prevalence of evil. It seems better accordingly to fall back upon another interpretation. The observer looks upon the state of the Persian or Syrian or Egyptian Monarchy and sees a system of Satraps and Governors which works like that of the Pachas in modern Asiatic Turkey.

Verses 8-17. - Section 7. Perils to which one is exposed in a despotic state , and the unprofitableness of riches . Verses 8, 9. - In political life there is little that is satisfactory; yet one must not surrender one's belief in a superintending Providence. Verse 8. - If thou seest the oppression of the poor . From errors in the service of God, it is natural to turn to faults in the administration of the king ( Proverbs 24:21 ). Koheleth has already alluded to these anomalies in Ecclesiastes 3:16 and Ecclesiastes 4:1. Violent perverting ; literally, robbery ; so that judgment is never rightly given, and justice is withheld from applicants. In a province ( me dinah , Ecclesiastes 2:8); the district in which the person addressed dwells. It may, perhaps, to implied that {his is remote from the central authority, and therefore more liable to be injuriously dealt with by unscrupulous rulers. Marvel not at the matter ( chephets , Ecclesiastes 3:1). Be not surprised or dismayed ( Job 26:11 ) at such evil doings,, as though they were unheard of, or inexperienced, or disregarded. There is here nothing of the Greek maxim, reproduced by Horace in his "Nil admirari" ('Epist.,' 1:6. 1). It is like St. John's "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you" ( 1 John 3:13 ); or St. Peter's "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among' you" ( 1 Peter 4:12 ).

The stupid and unintelligent observation of such disorders might lead to arraignment of Providence and distrust in the moral government of God. Against such mistakes the writer guards. For he that is higher than the highest regardeth. Both the words are in the singular number. Septuagint, Ὑψηλὸς ἐπάνω ὑψηλοῦ φυλάξαι . One thinks of the Persian satraps, who acted much as the Turkish pashas in later times, the petty rulers oppressing the people, and being themselves treated in the same fashion by their superiors. The whole is a system of wrong-doing, where the weaker always suffers, and the only comfort is that the oppressor himself is subject to higher supervision. The verb ( shamar ) translated "regardeth" means to observe in a hostile sense, to watch for occasions of reprisal, as 1 Samuel 19:11 ; and the idea intended is that in the province there were endless plottings and counterplottings, mutual denunciations and recriminations; that such things were only to be expected, and were no sufficient cause for infidelity or despair. "The higher one" is the monarch, the despotic king who holds the supreme power over all these malad-ministrators and perverters of justice. And there be higher than they . "Higher" is here plural ( gebohgm ), the plural of majesty, as it is called (comp. Ecclesiastes 12:1 ), like Elohim , the word for "God," the assonance being probably here suggestive.