Ecclesiastes 3:16 – 4:3 Moreover I saw under the sun: In the place of judgment, Wickedness was there; And in the place of righteousness, Iniquity was there.
I said in my heart, “God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.”
For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.
All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.
Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?
So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?
Ecclesiastes 4:1 Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun: And look! The tears of the oppressed, But they have no comforter — On the side of their oppressors there is power, But they have no comforter.
Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead, More than the living who are still alive.
Yet, better than both is he who has never existed, Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
Idi Amin was the military dictator of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He seized power through a military coup, and maintained power through military power. Amin destroyed entire villages of people, due to their ethnicity. Amin had people killed for financial, political or racial reason. No one knows how many people he killed – estimates range between 100,000 and 500,000 people. He married at least six wives, divorced three of them and fathered over 40 children.
When he was forced out in 1979, he fled to Saudi Arabia. He lived in luxury and wealth in Saudi until 2003, when he died in hospital. Idi Amin never expressed remorse over his crimes. He was never tried in a court, and never served a day in prison. He did not pay any fines, and he lived in relative wealth until the day of his death.
Now when you hear that, you are probably going to say, “It’s not fair!” And you’re right, from a certain perspective. From the perspective of life lived just for the here and now, under the sun, it isn’t fair. How could Idi Amin live so wickedly, massacre hundreds of thousands of people, and then live in wealth till his last days? How can such evil go unpunished? How could he have got into power in the first place? Why didn’t anyone stop him while he was committing all that evil and why was he not punished?
If you are viewing life from under the sun, if you believe that all there is to life is what the sun shines on, then people like Idi Amin are goads. It is just so unfair.
That is Solomon’s next goad for the atheist, the secularist, the humanist, the materialist: if you do not want to live in a reconciled relationship with God, what do you do about all the injustice in the world? If your sole satisfaction is this life and what it holds, what’s the point if some men get away with ruining the lives of others?
Solomon gives us two kinds of injustice in the world:
I. Corruption: Evil Sits Where Righteousness Should
Ecclesiastes 3:16 Moreover I saw under the sun: In the place of judgment, Wickedness was there; And in the place of righteousness, Iniquity was there.
Corruption: evil men sitting where good men should be, ruling, managing, legislating and policing.
Corruption is nothing new. In ancient Israel, it was not uncommon for judges to favour a rich man over a poor man. It was not uncommon for false witnesses to be bribed to lie in court.
So Solomon reflects on life and sees the injustice of it all: in the very place where justice is supposed to be given out, evil is sitting. In the place where you would look for goodness, truth and justice, iniquity is sitting there.
We see it every day, don’t we? The police officers who get rid of criminal dockets for money; the police detectives who sleep on the job and fail to follow up with anything; the advocates who literally sleep in court, fail to prepare for cases, accept bribes. The magistrates who fear negative reactions and rule to please the crowd. Jail wardens who smuggle in weapons, drugs and anything else to assist the gangs in prison. The politicians who accept huge bribes to favour companies, allow organised crime, or pander to popular opinion. Billionaire businessmen who can manipulate deals so as to collapse smaller companies or help themselves. Pastors who embezzle church funds and live in luxury. Security companies that are in the pay of organised crime and allow them to have their way. Banks which allow criminals and nations to launder money through their systems.
Something in us cries out against this. The Bible even describes what those in power are supposed to do:
Romans 13:1,2,4 For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God… For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil… For he is God’s minister to you for good… for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
Police are there to protect the good and punish the criminals. Advocates should prosecute the guilty, defend the innocent. Judges should be impartial upholders of the law. Politicians should legislate for the good of the country. Businessmen should do business without tying the hands of their competitors. Pastors should concern themselves with spiritual matters, not material concerns. Banks are supposed to be safe places to keep your honestly-earned money.
But Solomon tells us the truth: evil sits where righteousness should.
And Solomon is asking the man under the sun: how do you feel about that? How does that sit with you, in your short life under the sun? What do you think of the fact that it is quite likely that you will experience the corruption of good, in the form of evil people in power?
And from the perspective of life lived only in the here and now, it is so unfair.
And that leads us to the second kind of injustice.
II. Oppression: Evil Reigns Where Righteousness Should
Ecclesiastes 4:1 Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun: And look! The tears of the oppressed, But they have no comforter — On the side of their oppressors there is power, But they have no comforter.
Not only does evil sit in the place where righteousness should, but those evil people have power. “On the side of the oppressors is power.”
The evil people are placed, it seems, where they can do what they want!
Just think of people under the communist regime, people under rulers Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong. Think of how the rich oppress the poor. The rich CEOs of food companies, petrol companies, and car companies raise the prices and the poor suffer. They use corrupt weights and measures – arbitrarily fixing prices when they think the time is right. What can the poor do? The power is on the side of the rich businessmen.
Think of how governments introduce new schemes to milk the taxes out of people – more toll roads, more levies, more rates, more forms of income tax. What can the citizens do? The power is on the side of the government. Think of how some business owners and managers oppress their employees– forcing them to work beyond what is reasonable, underpaid, not protected from harm, not compensated. But what can they do? Think of people oppressed by religious leaders – threatening the people with expulsion, shame, guilt and doom if they do not pay money, keep the traditions, stay in the recognised boundaries of the religion. What can the people do?
Think of the average man who wants to get property. The bank will lend him money and get about double the amount back through interest, while the man pays for it for a third of his life.
Solomon looks over the scene of human life and he sees weeping. He sees the tears of the man trying to make ends meet, who is exploited by a greedy businessman. He sees the tears of the widow, who is oppressed by financial advisors, insurance salesmen and businesses who fail to live up to their promises. He sees the innocent man in jail, and he sees the bereaved father and mother weeping at the thought that their son’s murderer is walking the streets. He sees the citizens of a country reduced to bread and water because of a government’s evil policies.
And he turns to the atheist, the agnostic, the secularist and says – what do you think?
And the man or woman who lives under the sun, from that perspective, cries out, “It is galling that evil people have this kind of power in the first place. Why do people like this get into places where they can harm others? It’s so unfair! It shouldn’t be like this!”
And Solomon replies, “Really? You think it should be something different, do you?”
“Well”, says Solomon, “let me add one more thought to this thing we’re considering.”
I. Mortality: We Die, and It Seems Justice Dies With Us
Ecclesiastes 3:18-20 I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.”
For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.
All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.
Solomon reminds us, when all our schemes are over, we end up like zebras, dogs, and squirrels – we die. Human beings die just like animals do.
If you are a secularist, then verse 19 is a deep goad – man has no advantage over animals – all is meaningless and mysterious. V20 – we are dust and return to dust.
Take note: Solomon is not saying man is merely an animal. He is saying man does not appear to have any advantage over the animals. Man seems to live and die just like an animal. He isn’t saying that’s all we are, as becomes clear in verse 21.
What is Solomon doing? He has plunged the goad of corruption and oppression into you, and now he is twisting that knife. He is saying – men oppress each other; men commit terrible injustices, and then they all die. Here we are, living our short and simple lives under the sun, and evil and ruthless men get into power, and ruin, destroy or end the lives of others. And then they die and we die. The good people die, having had miserable lives, and the evil men die, having had enjoyable lives. But once they’re dead, they’re dead – nothing more. So what’s the point? What’s the point of having a desire for justice, fairness, goodness, when evil men get away with things, and live better lives than you do? So you go to the trouble, Mr Atheist, of being ethical, upright, moral, and you think yourself better off for it, but the evil man does none of those things, ruins the lives of others, enjoys his life to the full, and then you both die and that’s it! So what’s the point? There is no point, from the perspective of life under the sun.
If we are merely animals, life is a painful joke. Because we have something in us saying, good is good, evil is evil; men shouldn’t be corrupt; men should oppress each other, and yet men do that all the time, and get away with it, and then it’s game over for all of us! That’s galling! That’s insane! That’s like having a raging thirst for water, seeing another man drink himself full, and then pour the remainder of his water out at your feet, and then both of you die. Except you die thirsty and he dies satisfied.
In fact, if that’s the whole picture, it would be better to not live at all. If you are itchy, it is relieving to be able to scratch it, but better than all of it is never to itch at all. Nice to have your desires fulfilled in life, but if they are all going to be thrown down, then rather not live or even know about life.
That’s what he says in 4:2-3:
Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead, More than the living who are still alive.
Yet, better than both is he who has never existed, Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
The one who has never been born, never known what it is to long for justice and goodness and fairness is better off than the one who has been born into this dog-eat-dog world, only to see that desire for fairness evaporate.
If you’re living under the sun and trying to make life work with the here and now, know that life will not be fair, you will not get what is yours, you will probably be exploited and oppressed, and no one will fix it for you. So what’s the point?
There was another man who looked at life from this perspective: Asaph.
Psalm 73:3-12 For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment.
Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish.
They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; They speak loftily.
They set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue walks through the earth.
Therefore his people return here, And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
And they say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Behold, these are the ungodly, Who are always at ease; They increase in riches.
Asaph also looked at life through the lenses of the here and now. As he looked at life through temporary eyes, he came to the same conclusions that Solomon did, under the sun.
The wicked are rich. They don’t die painful deaths; they die peacefully in their homes or in nursing homes. They don’t have the problems and pains of other men. They are confident, they swagger. They have everything they want, they are bulging with abundance. They even joke and boast about their abuse of power and their oppression. They boast against God Himself. They are at ease, and getting richer.
When Asaph looked at life like this, it severely goaded him.
Psalm 73:16 When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me —
Asaph kept looking at life from the perspective of the here and now, and it tortured him. He came very near to denying the faith altogether.
Psalm 73:2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped.
Asaph questioned whether being a believer was worth it.
Why bother being righteous? What’s the point? Why live this life of self-denial, obedience, trust, when those around me do nothing of the sort, and look how happy and satisfied they are!
Psalm 73:13-14 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocence.
For all day long I have been plagued, And chastened every morning.
Asaph was asking questions like, “How can God do this? How can God allow this?” From the perspective of under the sun, we even view God through jaundiced eyes. Because if you think all there is, is the here and now, you are already in unbelief, and therefore you will keep coming to the wrong conclusions about God. You will think like this: If God is really that good and really that powerful, he would stop the corruption, the oppression and the injustice. The fact that He doesn’t means if He really is good, then He is not that powerful, because He can’t stop what is going on; or, if He is really that powerful, then He is not that good because He doesn’t want to stop the evil going on. So, unbelief says, God must be indifferent or impotent. If God is all-powerful, then He can’t be good. If God is good, then He can’t be all-powerful.
Now both in Ecclesiastes and in Psalm 73, the perspective changes. You see, perspective changes everything.
Imagine living in a world where the only thing you can see of people is their shadow. You talk to the shadow, watch the shadow, and interact with the shadow. One day, you are introduced to a body-builder. Someone says this is Joe, world-champion body-builder. But as you look at his shadow, cast at four ‘o clock in the afternoon on a winter’s day, Joe looks long, lanky, skinny. You laugh to yourself, “Some body-builder!” But what if suddenly, you could turn and look at the man himself? You would stop laughing. Perspective changes everything.
A little boy was stung by a bee. While crying, his mother dabbed his sting, while the boy sobbed, “I hate bees!” To cheer him up, she brought him some bread with honey on it. As he was eating, the smile coming back to his face, she asked him, “Where do we get honey from?”
He thought a while and said, “From bees.”
“Do you love honey?” she asked.
“Yes”, said the boy.
“Then you should love bees as well.”
Perspective changes everything.
A widow had one son who sold umbrellas. Every morning she would look out her window at the weather. If it was sunny, she would be miserable, because people bought umbrellas when it was cloudy and rainy.
She had another son who sold fans. If it was cloudy and rainy, she would be miserable, because people buy fans when it is hot and sunny. So whether it was sunny and hot, or whether it was cold and rainy, she would be miserable, because she knew either son would not be selling his products.
One day someone said to her, ”Don’t you realise that another way of looking at things is that cloudy or sunny, one of your sons is making money?” She hadn’t thought of it. Perspective changes everything.
Well, now that Solomon has you in a corner, he brings in God’s perspective. He is now going to bring in the nails of truth, the tent-pegs of the Shepherd, and explain things from heaven’s point of view.
Here it is in a sentence: God Will Judge All Men In His Time.
Notice that Solomon makes it clear that man’s spirit is not like the animals’.
Ecclesiastes 3:21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?
Man might be humbled to die like the animals, but that doesn’t mean he is one. Man’s spirit returns to its maker to be judged. Animals die, and their life returns to nothing – to the ground out of which they were made. Man is no animal. Man is made in the image of God. That is why man wants justice. That is why man hates corruption. The reason you are outraged when the people who are supposed to do good do evil instead, is that you have a desire, placed in your heart by God, that law-enforcers should be lawful, and judges should judge with equity.
Animals do not sit around feeling goaded by oppression. Animals do not puzzle over corruption and injustice. That is what humans do – because we are in God’s image and desire justice, equity, fairness.
Second, God will judge all men, when He chooses to.
Ecclesiastes 3:17 I said in my heart, “God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
Now, if God will judge men in His time, and we don’t see that happening, what does that tell us? It means it hasn’t happened yet. That changes the perspective, doesn’t it?
Here you have Adolf Hitler who was responsible for the deaths of millions and then decided to take his own life to avoid any prosecution and punishment. Here you have one of the virgin martyrs of ancient times, who were killed by wild beasts in a Roman circus before she could enjoy marriage, children or much of life at all.
From the perspective of under the sun, it isn’t fair. Hitler got away with it. An evil man did evil and was never punished. A good woman had her life taken from her in her youth. But what if we change the perspective and we see that after death, Hitler and the virgin martyr live another million years. Make that a billion years. In fact, stretch out their lives as far as your mind can manage, and know that even there, it doesn’t end, for they will both live forever. Where is Hitler spending the rest of his everlasting life? In a place of punishment. Where is the virgin martyr spending the rest of her everlasting life? In a place of glory and joy.
Does that change the perspective?
You see, life as you can see it, is the shadow. It is not the reality. The reality is the things we believe by faith. If you mistake the shadow for the reality, you will be very unhappy.
In the case of Asaph, it was when he realised that his perspective was all wrong, that his heart changed. Asaph only understood this when he got the eternal perspective:
Psalm 73:17-20 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.
Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction.
Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.
As a dream when one awakes, So, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.
Question: if you do not see this happening to all men in this life, where will it happen? It will certainly happen when Jesus returns. It will certainly happen when He reveals the reality of His kingdom and peels back the shadows of this life.
God wants man to know that He will judge, but not in this life.
Here is something to think about. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, reveals how everything will end. And frequently, the curtain is pulled back and we see believers in heaven praising God. And do you know what the theme of their praise is again and again? It is God’s justice.
Revelation 11:17-18 saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”
(Also 15:4, 16:5-7, 19:1-2)
You see, when we look at life, and then we try to imagine how God must act, we assume something. When confronted with injustice, suffering, oppression, that God must act as we would. God must act now, and set things straight. We assume, from the vantage point of time, that a failure to act now, is a failure of justice. That is like the infant who wails if you do not give them their bottle or blanket now, because they have no concept of waiting, of things in their time. Now take that and multiply it to where you are talking not minutes, but years, and you begin to understand.
Do you remember the words of that hymn “God Moves in A Mysterious Way”? It says:
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
If you don’t face injustice from the point of view of heaven, then you feel like a beast.
Psalm 73:21-23 Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind.
I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.
Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand.
I want you to notice where and when Asaph got the right perspective:
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.
Do you realise one of the reasons for meeting together is to get our perspective corrected every week? In a world which believes the shadows are the reality, we come back and meet with believers and open His Word and agree, no, this life is the shadow, the reality is still coming. To treat the shadow as the reality is a serious mistake.
If God is going to handle justice, and I am in a right relationship with God, do you know what I can do? I can rest, and enjoy life as a gift.
Ecclesiastes 3:22 So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?
I can look past the shadows, focus on the reality, and turn my affections, my joys towards God Himself.
Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
How do you know that God is definitely going to bring ultimate justice? How can you be sure that God will not judge you as wicked on that day?
Acts 17:30-31 “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
“because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Here’s how you know that there will be a judgement after this life: because God gave a sign which no one can deny: Jesus Christ lived a real life on this real earth. He died a real death on a Roman cross. Then, His real body was no longer in the tomb on Sunday. No one denies that. If Jesus’ body had still been in that tomb, anyone of the enemies of Christianity would simply have gone to that tomb, produced the body and said, “You are worshipping a dead man.” But they couldn’t do that. The Romans didn’t steal the body. The Jewish leaders didn’t steal the body. The disciples didn’t have the power or courage to steal the body.
Jesus then appeared to over 500 hundred people, not as an apparition, but as a man who ate fish and bread with them, who allowed them to touch Him and feel his physicality. After He ascended, the same men who had fled when He was arrested, were now willing to die for Him.
These were real events in the real world that the man under the sun says is all there is. God says, I assure you, because Jesus lived and died and rose again – He is the Judge.
Jesus died on that cross not as an accident, but as a deliberate substitute. He died to take the punishment of sin upon Himself, so that people could be reconciled to God. He is like a Judge who must charge you for your crime, but chooses to pay the fine for you. In that way, justice is still served, but you are mercifully free of the punishment. God’s punishment on sin has always been death and separation from Him. Sinners cannot be one with Him any more than germs are welcome on the doctor’s operating table. But since ancient times, God has called for blood atonement – the death of an innocent, to take the place of the guilty.
Jesus is the last and ultimate substitute. If you will ask God to forgive you your sins through His Son Jesus, God will count you as not guilty. God will charge your sin to Jesus, and count His righteousness as yours. On that day of judgement, God will pass over you and punish those who stand without God’s righteousness, without the blood of Messiah Himself covering them.
Do you realise that Jesus dying for our sins was the ultimate injustice? He was the only sinless man to ever live? And yet He died for the guilty, so that we, the guilty could be counted innocent.
That’s the real world. The shadow is that evil men seem to get away with things. The real world is that Jesus died so that guilty men could be forgiven, but all those who will not come to Him, will be punished by the same Judge who is a Saviour.
A man was saved from drowning one day and thanked his rescuer. A few years later, he fell into sin and stole a car. He was caught and brought to court to be tried. When he entered the court, he saw that the Judge was the same man who had rescued him from drowning those years before. He thought, “He will surely save me again.” To his surprise, the judge found him guilty. The man said, “But you saved me those years ago? Why not save me now?” The judge said, “I was your saviour once, but now I am your judge.”
Jesus is the Saviour, to those who will accept Him. For those who won’t, He will be the judge. Trust Him as your Saviour. Clear up your own injustices and sins and corruptions.
Then, look beyond the shadows to the reality. Set your affections on those things above.