Ecclesiastes 8:12

Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) Though.—Better, Because; the first part of this verse being in continuation of the preceding. The latter part of the verse states the faith which the writer holds in spite of apparent contrary experience.

Benson Commentary

Ecclesiastes 8:12-13. Though a sinner do evil a hundred times — Frequently, and innumerably; and his days be prolonged — The time of his life and prosperity; yet it shall be well with them that fear God — This implies both that good men might for a time suffer grievous things from tyrants, oppressors, and persecutors, and that it should be very ill with the wicked, which, indeed, is expressed in the following verse: which fear before him — Who stand in awe of God, and fear and forbear to sin, out of a sincere regard and reverence for him. But it shall not be well with the wicked — That is, it shall go very ill with him; great miseries are prepared for him; neither shall he prolong his days — Namely, very long, as he desires; which are as a shadow — His life, though it may seem long, yet in truth is but a shadow, which will quickly vanish and disappear. Because he feareth not God — He is cut off, and this misery is prepared for him as the punishment of his casting off the fear and service of God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:9-13 Solomon observed, that many a time one man rules over another to his hurt, and that prosperity hardens them in their wickedness. Sinners herein deceive themselves. Vengeance comes slowly, but it comes surely. A good man's days have some substance; he lives to a good purpose: a wicked man's days are all as a shadow, empty and worthless. Let us pray that we may view eternal things as near, real, and all-important.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His days be prolonged - i. e., in his wickedness Ecclesiastes 8:8.

"I" is emphatic, as if to mark the opposition to the "sons of men" Ecclesiastes 8:11.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. He says this, lest the sinner should abuse the statement (Ec 7:15), "A wicked man prolongeth his life."

before him—literally, "at His presence"; reverently serve Him, realizing His continual presence.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

An hundred times; frequently and innumerably.

His days; the time of his life and prosperity.

It shall be well with them that fear God; whereby he implies, both that good men might for a time suffer grievous things from such wicked tyrants, and that it should be very ill with the wicked, which is manifest from the contrary course and condition of good and bad men, and which is expressed in the following words: compare Psalm 2:12. Before him; or, at his presence; who stand in awe of God, and forbear and fear to sin out of a sincere respect and reverence to God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Though a sinner do evil an hundred times,.... That is ever so many times, a certain number for an uncertain; though he lives in a continued course of sin, being resolved upon the above consideration to give himself a swing to his lusts. The Targum renders it a hundred years; though be should live so long in sin, yet at last should be accursed Isaiah 65:20. This and what follows are said to check the boldness and presumption of the sinner upon the patience of God; and to make the people of God easy under the delay of justice, and the prosperity of the wicked;

and his days be prolonged: or rather, "and he prolongs unto him" (o); that is, God prolongs unto him, not days only, but the execution of the sentence against his evil works; or defers his wrath and punishment; so Jarchi,

"and the holy blessed God prolongs to him, and does not take vengeance on him;''

and to this purpose is the Targum,

"and from the Lord is given to him space to return;''

yet surely I know; from the word and promise, and from experience, having observed it in a multitude of instances, which have abundantly confirmed the truth;

that it shall be well with them that fear God; not with a servile but filial fear, with a holy, humble, fiducial, affectionate, and an obediential fear; not through any terrible apprehension of his majesty, his judgment, his wrath now and hereafter; but under a sense of his being and perfections, and especially his mercy, grace, and goodness: it is well with such persons in all things; with respect to things temporal they shall not want what is proper for them; and with respect to things spiritual they are interested in the love, grace, and mercy of God; have much made known to them; are remembered by him; the sun of righteousness rises upon them; the eye of God is on them, and his heart towards them, and his hand communicates every needful supply to them; and they are guarded, not only by his angels, but by himself; and it is well with them at all times; in times of public calamity they are either taken from it beforehand, or preserved in it; all afflictions are for their good; it goes well with them at death and judgment; and they will be happy both in the millennium state and in the ultimate glory, So the Targum,

"it shall be well in the world to come with them that fear the Lord;''

see Psalm 34:7; with this compare Isaiah 3:10; it is added,

which fear before him: whose fear is not hypocritical, but sincere and hearty; not in show only, but in reality; not the precepts of men, and as before them, but as the sight of God; having always a sense of omniscience and omnipresence before them; and especially this fear is exercised by them when they are his house, in the assembly of his saints, attending his word and ordinances: or "which fear at his presence"; which fills them with a holy awe, as wall as with joy and gladness. The Targum is,

"which fear before him, and do his will.''

(o) "et prolongans ei", Montanus; "et prolongat in Deus dies", Pagninus; so Mercerus, Junius & Tremellius, supply it; "et prorogat dei Deus poenam", Piscator; "et differt Deus iram suam propter illium", Vatablus.

Geneva Study Bible

Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times] The definite number is used, of course, as in Proverbs 17:10; or the “hundred years” of Isaiah 65:20; or the “seventy times seven” of Matthew 18:22, for the indefinite. There is no adequate reason for inserting “years” instead of “times.” By some grammarians it is maintained that the conjunctions should be read “Because a sinner …” and “although I know,” but the Authorised Version is supported by high authority.

yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God] The adverb “surely” has nothing answering to it in the Hebrew, and seems an attempt to represent the emphasis of the Hebrew pronoun. Better, perhaps, I for my part. We may compare the manner in which Æschylus utters a like truth on the moral government of the world:

δίχα δʼ ἄλλων μονόφρων εἰμί. τὸ γὰρ δυσσεβὲς ἔργον

μετὰ μὲν πλείονα τίκτει, σφετέρᾳ δʼ εἰκότα γέννᾳ.

“But I, apart from all,

Hold this my creed alone:

For impious act it is that offspring breeds,

Like to their parent stock.”

Agam. 757, 8.

There is an obviously intentional contrast between what the thinker has seen (Ecclesiastes 8:9), and what he now says he knows as by an intuitive conviction. His faith is gaining strength, and he believes, though, it may be, with no sharply defined notion as to time and manner, that the righteousness of God, which seems to be thwarted by the anomalies of the world, will in the long run assert itself. There is at least an inward peace with those who fear God, which no tyrant or oppressor can interfere with. The seeming tautology of the last clause is best explained by supposing that the term “God-fearers” had become (as in Malachi 3:16) the distinctive name of a religious class, such as the Chasidim (the “Assideans” of 1Ma 2:42; 1Ma 7:13; 2Ma 14:6), or “devout ones” were in the time of the Maccabees. The Debater, with the keen scent for the weaknesses of a hypocritical formalism, which we have seen in ch. Ecclesiastes 5:1-7, says with emphatic iteration, as it were, “when I say ‘God-fearing’ I mean those that do fear God in reality as well as name.” So in French men talk of la vérité vraie, or we might speak of “a liberal indeed liberal,” “religious people who are religious,” and so on.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Though a sinner do evil a hundred times. The sentence begins again, as ver. 11, with asher, followed by a participle; and the conjunction ought to be rendered "because," the statement made in the former verse being resumed and strengthened. The Vulgate has attamen, which our version follows. The Septuagint goes astray, translating, ο{ς ἥμαρτεν, "He that has sinned has done evil from that time." The sinner is here supposed to have transgressed continually without cheek or punishment. The expression, "a hundred times," is used indefinitely, as Proverbs 17:10; Isaiah 65:20. And his days be prolonged; better, prolongeth his days for it; i.e. in the practice of evil, with a kind of contentment and satisfaction, the pronoun being the ethic dative. Contrary to the usual course of temporal retribution, the sinner often lives to old age The Vulgate has, Et per patientiam sustentatur, which signifies that he is kept in life by God's long-suffering. Ginsburg gives, "and is perpetuated," i.e. in his progeny - which is a possible, but not a probable, rendering. Yet surely I know; rather, though I for my part know. He has seen sinners prosper; this experience has been forced upon him; yet he holds an inward conviction that God's moral government will vindicate itself at some time and in some signal manner. It shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him. This is not really tautological; it is compared to St. Paul's expression (1 Timothy 5:3), "widows that are widows indeed" (ὄντως), implying that they are, in fact and life, what they profess to be. Delitzsch and Plumptre suggest that in Koheleth's time "God-fearers" had become the name of a religious class, as the Chasidim, or "Assideaus," in I Macc. 2:42; 7:13, etc. Certainly a trace of this so-named party is seen in Psalm 118:4; Malachi 3:16. When this adjustment of anomalies shall take place, whether in this life or in another, the writer says not here. In spite of all contrary appearances, he holds firm to his faith that it will be welt with the righteous in the long run. The comfort and peace of a conscience at rest, and the inward feeling that his life was ordered after God's will, would compensate a good man for much outward trouble; and if to this was added the assured hope of another life, it might indeed be said that it was well with him. The Septuagint has, "that they may fear before him," which implies that the mercy and loving-kindness of God, manifested in his care of the righteous, lead to piety and true religion. Cheyne ('Job and Solomon'), combining this verse with the next, produces a sense which is certainly not in the present Hebrew text, "For I know that it ever happens that a sinner does evil for a long time, and yet lives long, whilst he who fears before God is short-lived as a shadow." Ecclesiastes 8:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"Because a sinner doeth evil an hundred times, and he becometh old therein, although I know that it will go well with them that fear god, that fear before Him: but it will not go well with the wicked, and he shall not live long, like a shadow; because he feareth not before God." Ewald (whom Heiligst., Elst., and Zckl. follow), as among the ancients, e.g., Mendelssohn, translates Ecclesiastes 8:12 : "Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and live long, yet I know," etc. That an antecedent may begin with asher is admissible, Leviticus 4:22; Deuteronomy 18:22; but in the case lying before us, still less acceptable than at Ecclesiastes 8:11. For, in the first place, this asher of the antecedent cannot mean "although," but only "considering that;" and in places such as Ecclesiastes 6:3, where this "considering that" may be exchanged with "although," there follows not the part., but the fut. natural to the concessive clause; then, in the second place, by this antecedent rendering of asher a closer connection of Ecclesiastes 8:12 and Ecclesiastes 8:12 is indeed gained, but the mediation of Ecclesiastes 8:12 and Ecclesiastes 8:11 is lost; in the third place, גם כי, in the meaning "however" (gam, ὃμως, with affirmative ki), is not found; not asher, but just this ki gam,

(Note: That גּם is pointed גּם, has its reason in the disjunctive Jethîb with כי, which is not interchanged with the conjunctive Mahpach. Thus, Ecclesiastes 8:1, כּ מי, and Ecclesiastes 8:7, כּ כּי.)

signifies, in the passage before us, as at Ecclesiastes 4:14, εἰ καί, although, - only a somewhat otherwise applied gam ki, Ewald, 362b, as כי על־כן is a somewhat otherwise applied על־כן כי. Rightly, Hitzig: "In Ecclesiastes 8:12, Ecclesiastes 8:11 is again resumed, and it is explained how tardy justice has such a consequence." The sinner is thereby encouraged in sinning, because he does evil, and always again evil, and yet enjoys himself in all the pleasures of long life. Regarding חטא for חטא, vid., above, p. 641, 1. מאת is equals פעמים מאה, an hundred times, as אחת, Job 40:5, is equals אחת פעם; Hengst. and others, inexactly: an hundredfold, which would have required the word מאתים; and falsely, Ginsburg, with the Targ.: an hundred years, which would have required מאה, scil. שׁנה, Genesis 17:17. This centies (Jerome) is, like מאה, scil. בנים, Ecclesiastes 6:3, a round number for a great many, as at Proverbs 17:10, and frequently in the Talm. and Midrash, e.g., Wajikra rabba, c. 27: "an hundred deeply-breathed sighs (מאה פעיות) the mother gave forth."

(Note: Vid., Jac. Reifmann in the Zeitsch., המגיד, 1874, p. 342.)

The meaning of לו וּמעריך לו is in general clear: he becomes therein old. Jerome, improbable: et per patientiam sustentatur, as Mendelssohn: he experiences forbearance, for they supply 'pow (Isaiah 48:9), and make God the subject. לּו is in any case the so-called dat. ethic.; and the only question is, whether the doing of evil has to be taken from רע עשׂה,

(Note: We expect these two words (cf. Genesis 31:12) with the retrogression of the tone; but as this ceases, as a rule, with Mercha before Tifcha and Pashta, Genesis 47:3; Exodus 18:5; Deuteronomy 4:42; Deuteronomy 19:4; Isaiah 10:14 (cf. the penult. accent of יאכל, Leviticus 22:10, Leviticus 22:10, Leviticus 22:19, and בּנה, Genesis 4:17, with the ult. accent Leviticus 22:14; Habakkuk 2:12), so with Mercha sometimes also before other disjunctives, as here before Tebr.)

as obj. to ומא: he practises it to him long, or whether, which is more probable, ימים is to be supplied after Ecclesiastes 8:13, so that האריך signifies to live long, as at Proverbs 28:2, to last long; the dat. ethic. gives the idea of the feeling of contentment connected with long life: he thereupon sins wantonly, and becomes old in it in good health.

That is the actual state of the case, which the author cannot conceal from himself; although, on the other hand, as by way of limitation he adds ki ... ani, he well knows that there is a moral government of the world, and that this must finally prevail. We may not translate: that it should go well, but rather: that it must go well; but there is no reason not to interpret the fut. as a pure indic.: that it shall go well, viz., finally, - it is a postulate of his consciousness which the author here expresses; that which exists in appearance contradicts this consciousness, which, however, in spite of this, asserts itself. That to ליר האל the clause אשׁר מלּ, explaining idem per idem, is added, has certainly its reason in this, that at the time of the author the name "fearers of God" [Gottesfrchitige] had come into use. "The fearers of God, who fear before (מלּפני, as at Ecclesiastes 3:14) Him," are such as are in reality what they are called.

In Ecclesiastes 8:13, Hitzig, followed by Elster, Burg., and Zckl., places the division at ימים: like the shadow is he who fears not before God. Nothing can in point of syntax be said against this (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:15), although אשׁר כּצּל, "like the shadow is he who," is in point of style awkward. But that the author did not use so rude a style is manifest from Ecclesiastes 6:12, according to which כצל is rightly referred to ימים ... ולא־. Is then the shadow, asks Hitzig, because it does not "prolong its days," therefore ימים קצר? How subtle and literal is this use of ימים! Certainly the shadow survives not a day; but for that very reason it is short-lived, it may even indeed be called קצר ימים, because it has not existence for a single day. In general, qetsel, ὡς σκιά, is applicable to the life of all men, Psalm 144:4, Wisd. 2:5, etc. It is true of the wicked, if we keep in view the righteous divine requital, especially that he is short-lived like the shadow, "because he has no fear before God," and that in consequence of this want of fear his life is shortened by his sin inflicting its own punishment, and by the act of God. Asher, Ecclesiastes 8:13, as at Ecclesiastes 8:11, Ecclesiastes 8:12, is the relative conj. Also in Ecclesiastes 8:14, אשׁר (שׁ) as a pronoun, and אשׁר (שׁ) as a conj., are mixed together. After the author has declared the reality of a moral government of the world as an inalienable fact of human consciousness, and particularly of his own consciousness, he places over against this fact of consciousness the actual state of things partly at least contradicting it.