May 31, 2026 The King & Obedience | Ecclesiastes 8:2-17

Today, we will be returning to our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 8:2-17, The King and Obedience. When Solomon calls for obedience to the king, he’s speaking about obedience to God as our king. Solomon has been reflecting for so long about life under the sun, and as we near the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is turning his focus more and more towards God, recognizing that without God, life is meaningless, and there is no hope or future without God.

Transcript

The King and Obedience

Ecclesiastes 8:2–17

Solomon knows that the world and people can be dangerous and that wisdom is important to guide us. Yet he also realizes that God is so much greater than we are and his plans are often hard for us to understand, especially when he allows hard things to happen and seems to be quiet. Wisdom is often in short supply today, just look at our culture. We seem to be caught in a cycle of finger-pointing and talking down people who disagree with what we believe. There’s little patience for engaging in meaningful conversations with those we disagree with, there’s little careful reflection, or the willingness to learn and change. It’s “us” or “them.” This leaves us unable to learn from people we disagree with. Wisdom looks like building relationships with people who see the world differently and be humble enough to admit that they may know things we don’t.

Our culture values youth and beauty over wisdom. We listen to people who become wealthy and successful while young. We’re obsessed with beauty. But the young have not always learned deep wisdom yet, and beauty fades quickly. Meanwhile, those who have lived many years and bear some scars have deep wisdom to offer if we’re willing to listen. Wisdom looks like building friendships and relationships with older members of our congregation, like a grandparent or neighbour. They may not be able to tell you how to navigate social media, but they can share how to be kind and grace-filled and how to live in a healthy way that builds your souls and a strong community of people around you. How we communicate may change, but people don’t, whether we relate through a screen or face-to-face. 

In verses 2-5, Solomon is urging his readers to use wisdom when in dangerous situations, especially around those serving in the king’s court. In eastern and middle eastern courts, kings were seen as god-like, but could be very unpredictable because of their immense power over their people. Solomon calls his readers to obey the king because of the oaths they made before God. A wise person will keep the king’s command because of their sacred oath. He tells his readers to not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Another interpretation of the Hebrew is “do not be terrified to walk from the king’s presence.” Fear can cause us to react in foolish ways, and when things get unpleasant, because the king is going to do what he wants anyway, don’t argue with the king, but leave. The wise person will know the proper time to speak up and when to be silent, and how to speak into unfairness and injustice. Solomon calls us to use wisdom in order to survive in a dangerous world.

Jesus used such wisdom to get himself out of tricky, and even dangerous situations. The Pharisees often tried to trap Jesus into saying things that would turn the people against him. The Jews hated paying taxes to Rome, so one time the Pharisees asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” No matter what Jesus answered, he would get in trouble, if he said “Yes, pay your taxes,” then the Jews would hate him, and if he said “No,” then the Romans would charge him with rebellion. Jesus asks for a coin and then asks, “Whose head is this?” They answer, “The emperor’s,” so Jesus then says, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When things would get tense, Jesus would avoid confrontation by going back to Galilee or into the mountains with his disciples for a time. Jesus often warned his disciples that things would get dangerous for them because they chose to follow him, telling them in Matthew 10, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” In the book of Acts, Luke shares stories of the apostles being arrested, being persecuted and beaten, and even dying like Stephen for their faith in Jesus. Persecution and injustice still happen today; the call of Jesus is still true for us to “be wise.”

Solomon writes that “the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure,” and yet our wisdom and knowledge is limited because we don’t always understand God’s ways. Verses 6-8 remind us that we don’t know the future; there’s a proper time and way for everything, but no one has power over the time of their death, over every event in our lives, it’s all in God’s hands and timing. Isaiah 55:8–9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Ultimately, it’s God who’s in control, not us, or even the most powerful ruler. Jesus is the King of kings. Solomon knew that God is the king of Israel, Solomon and all the other kings were only representatives of God, called to be obedient to the High King. The kings of Israel were called to protect and to provide for the people, representing God’s relationship and commitments to his people.

In verses 9-14, Solomon talks about injustice, wickedness and how some wicked prosper while righteous people suffer; it seems unfair and meaningless, and hard to understand why. If there’s no God, no one to hold the wicked accountable, then life’s meaningless and there’s no reason not to be wicked and selfish and take whatever you want from life and the people around you. From our perspective under the sun, justice often doesn’t come quickly or easily, or even when we look at it from God’s perspective. As Solomon writes, “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. 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.” Solomon’s successor was his son Rehoboam who did not take his older advisor’s advice, instead taking his friends’ advice, 1 Kings 12:10–11, “The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’” This tore Israel apart.

What Solomon knows goes against what he sees. Solomon sees how wicked people can be part of the temple, and in their death be honoured by the people. Granted, a person’s wickedness will come to an end one day when they die, but there are always other wicked people who will rise up in their place. Injustice undealt with, creates more trouble; at some point, even good people become self-centered and scheme to get what they believe is their fair share. Injustice leads to a desire for vengeance, for taking justice into their own hands. This allows wicked people to become even more wicked. Jesus comes to satisfy God’s justice by taking our sin on himself to the cross, but under the sun, we still experience injustice too often.

Those who experience injustice with no accountability find it impacts their relationship with the Lord, tempting them to reject the Lord, or to allow bitterness to settle into their heart and soul. I’ve walked alongside those who’ve been abused and seen the justice system fail them, whether in the courts, or even within the church, creating doubt about God’s justice and compassion. The pain of their abuse settles in deep when justice isn’t carried out. This is why wisdom calls us to not stand up for a bad cause, to call our leaders and each other to honesty, justice, and good ruling. We’re called to embrace God’s values and morals, to strive after justice and righteousness.

Wickedness can gain wealth and power for the sinner, but can’t deliver him from death. Even if wicked people live long lives, they still have to stand before God’s judgment. This gives those who have suffered injustice hope in knowing that the wicked will be held to account. God is a God of justice, but we don’t understand why it takes so long for some to face justice. Solomon sees all that God has done, but acknowledges that we can’t really understand what’s going on: our understanding is limited because God’s ways are not our ways. God tells Job, Job 11:7–8, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know?” It takes faith and trust that God is true to his people, that he hears our cries.

God patiently waits until death when the wicked move from being under the power and protection of Satan into God’s hands and accountability. The wicked may live a long time here, yet we have eternity in our hearts, the days here under the sun are limited. We need to look past the days under the sun to the days that are coming when Jesus returns, and death is defeated, and eternity with God stretches out before us. Earthly kings will face justice before Jesus who is the King of kings. Belief in God’s judgement is the ultimate grounds for hope. Every false charge will be dropped and every wrongful conviction will be overturned. Meaninglessness will come to an end. This is never spelled out in Ecclesiastes; it’s in the rest of Scripture that we see how God’s plan of redemption and restoration play out in the coming of Jesus. 

The best Solomon can offer under the sun is to keep going back to his advice to enjoy life, to eat, drink, and be glad. Paul understands where Solomon’s coming from, without Jesus, we have nothing left, in 1 Corinthians 15:32 he writes, “If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Our hope lies in knowing that in a dangerous and often unjust world, that Jesus came to bring new life, hope, and the kingdom of heaven marked by justice and righteousness, a place of safety where we can live into our potential with a joy that rests in a God of eternity that so many unfortunately don’t yet know.