10 Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.
11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.
13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
14 There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.
wicked (v.10) — the wicked rulers from the first 9 verses.
so done (v.10) — ruled wickedly
Verse 10 … may be paraphrased: “And, accordingly, I saw the wicked (i.e., evil men dying in the false hope of verse 8) buried, and they came to the grave with pomp; and I saw those that had done right (that is, the righteous) and they passed away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city. … If God, and eternity, and what is above the sun, have no existence, and if death is annihilation, then is the philosophy of verse 15 sound philosophy. But the argument and teaching of the book of Ecclesiastes is that it is folly; for God exists, and will bring every action into judgment. — Williams, page 446.
set (v.11) = emboldened
When punishment for crime does not happen quickly (v.11), people are emboldened to commit more crime because they see no punishment forthcoming for wrongdoing. …Government is supposed to punish the evil doer and reward the one who does good (Romans 13:3-4; 1 Peter 2:14). When government does not do this, it has failed to fulfill its divine mandate. — Grace, page 1177.
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“Though” and “yet” (v.12) are counterpoints to each other. Though a sinner may have his life “under the sun” prolonged, yet in the end, it will be those who fear God who fair well. — Grace, page 1177.
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Death is oppressive and must be faced by all men; for there is no discharge from the demands of death’s war on humanity. Inventive man has never yet found a way to get around death’s demands. The authors of oppression think that they shall get away with their evil since God does not judge them immediately (v.11). The man of wisdom waits, knowingly affirming that the way to ultimate profit in this life and the next is the fear of God. Ultimately those who practice evil will receive a full recompense for their deeds. They may enjoy long life but their end will be tragic and without profit since they have not practiced the fear of God. … Although the man of wisdom can affirm by faith the ultimate profitableness of fearing God, the earth still remains a place of vanity. Life under the sun is in many ways an enigma. The wicked often prosper, and the righteous often suffer. This is certainly problematical and may cause man to initially posit the profitableness of pursuing pleasure. However, as the wisdom Preacher has already shown, this is a hasty and superficial decision and cannot lead to the path of true profit. — KJV Commentary, page 748.
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