Bible Commentaries
Ecclesiastes 8

Verses 1-17

Indoctrination: Practical Wisdom to Fear God In Ecclesiastes 7:1 thru Ecclesiastes 11:8 the Preacher gives illustrations of practical wisdom, or doctrine on how to fear God in this life. In other words, these proverbs give us wisdom on how to bring our lives into God’s divine plan that we were created to pursue. Much of this passage is delivered as a collection of proverbs, or short, pithy sayings, that summarize wisdom and is very similar to the book of Proverbs in structure. However, I believe that these particular set of Proverbs are designed to guide us into finding the answers for how to serve the Lord with all of our strength.

Why is this section the longest one in the book of Ecclesiastes? Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that the underlying theme of the book is the keeping of God’s commandments in the fear of the Lord. Thus, the Preacher takes the time to list these commandments. In a similar way, the longest section in the book of Proverbs is wisdom’s call (Proverbs 1-9), since man’s daily walk in wisdom requires him to constantly recognize and hear wisdom’s call in order to make the right decisions each day.

Outline Here are a number of topics discussed in this section:

Wisdom Seen in Being Sober-minded Ecclesiastes 7:1-6

Wisdom’s Ability to Protect Ecclesiastes 7:11-12

Wisdom Found in Recognizing God’s Hand in Daily Life Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

Wisdom Found in Moderation Ecclesiastes 7:15-18

Wisdom Found in Ignoring What Others Say About You Ecclesiastes 7:21-22

The Preacher’s Pursuit of Wisdom Ecclesiastes 7:23-25

The Tongue of the Wise and the Fool Ecclesiastes 10:11-14

The Principles of Sowing and Reaping Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

A Reminder of the Vanities of Life Ecclesiastes 11:7-8