Ecclesiastes
8:2-10
Where
Evil Lies
-
8:2
Obey the king's command, I say, because
you took an oath before God.
3 Do not be in a
hurry to leave the king's presence. Do not
stand up for a bad cause, for he will do
whatever he pleases.
4 Since a king's
word is supreme, who can say to him, "What
are you doing?"
5 Whoever obeys
his command will come to no harm, and the
wise heart will know the proper time and
procedure.
6 For there is a
proper time and procedure for every
matter, though a man's misery weighs
heavily upon him.
7 Since no man
knows the future, who can tell him what is
to come?
8 No man has
power over the wind to contain it ; so no
one has power over the day of his
death.
As no one is
discharged in time of war, so wickedness
will not release those who practice it.
9 All this I saw,
as I applied my mind to everything done
under the sun. There is a time when a man
lords it over others to his own hurt.
- 10 Then too,
I saw the wicked buried—those who
used to come and go from the holy place
and receive praise in the city where
they did this. This too is
meaningless.
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to
change the way that we think, and the way
that we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
What about Evil
Leaders ?
Solomon says that we
should obey our laws and the leaders of
our country even if they are not always
right.
Even an evil
leader is still the
leader.
Some are caught and
punished while in office and some are not.
Some leaders do things that are totally
immoral (like a certain president Clinton)
but the immorality is brushed off with the
courts saying basically that being immoral
has nothing to do with being a good
leader.
I'm not singling out
just one person to be mean or judgmental;
not in the least.
I can safely say
that we have all done evil things and
things that displease God.
This has always been
a point that non-Christians have a
difficult time understanding.
How can we be
Christians and still sin?
I don't proclaim to
be a pastor but I feel that one of the
major differences between Christians and
non-Christians is that, although we as
Christians still fall short and do things
that displease God, we are forgiven
through Jesus Christ who died to take away
our sins.
Not perfect -
just forgiven.
In verse ten of this
passage, Solomon is most likely talking
about how an evil person is many times
praised after their death in the very town
where they practiced their wrong doings.
At a funeral the
eulogy giver tries to only point out the
good points of a person, even if that
person was the most unjust creature in
town.
Please understand
that we are not here to judge. Only God
can do that. So, we have to live our lives
the best we can as Christians and aspire
to do better in the eyes of the Lord.
But, as much as we
try, we will NEVER be perfect
except through the acceptance of Jesus
Christ.
Love in
Christ
- Bob
If you have never made
the commitment to receive the love and
life-changing experience of Jesus Christ,
please take a moment to go
here and
take the first
steps to
salvation.
Verses are from Life Application
Study Bible: New International
Version
|
