Ecclesiastes 8:14 Commentary and Bible Study

Solomon deliberately views life through the eyes of the unbeliever who sees nothing beyond the chaotic appearance of things in this world. On earth there is vanity. That vanity includes the absence of justice, or even what seems to mock justice. Providence does not appear to reward righteousness, nor to punish wickedness, but seems indifferent to both. God’s providence seems to present a meaningless arrangement on the surface. Vanity is all that men can see because since the fall God has withdrawn and hidden himself from the eyes of men. He has done this so that those who live only for the here and now, may find nothing but meaninglessness. Bridges quotes Beza as saying, ‘Nothing is more repugnant to reason than this apparently strange distribution.’ When Adam denied God’s righteous government of his life, God punished him and all his seed by handing them over to a government which at the superficial level appears to be chaotic. He removed from the world much of the evidence of his orderly government. But while this is the appearance of things, the Lord nevertheless works with perfect wisdom where we cannot see. There are deeper levels of providence which men are only sometimes aware of. By faith the Christian judges that all things work together for his good. He sees in Scripture examples in which providence appeared to bring only evil, but where God brought good to pass in spite of evil, or even through evil. He sees the promises of Scripture that the omnipotent God loves each one of his children individually and knows the details of their lives, beyond even what they know about themselves.