You have probably heard of Murphy’s Law - "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." Here are some corollaries to Murphy’s Law:

• Nothing is as easy as it looks;

• Everything takes longer than you think;

• The other line always moves faster (that still applies if you change lines);

• The chance of a piece of bread falling jam and butter side down is directly proportionate to the cost of the carpet;

• If you drop a tool while you are repairing your car, it will roll underneath to the exact center;

• The repairman will not have seen a model quite like yours before.

There is also Petrov’s Law - it says that Murphy was an optimist. The point is that there are times when things get out of control. The house of cards crumbles. Our carefully laid plans to control our destiny fall apart and life seems to be careening down a mountainside with no brakes and no steering mechanism. The circumstances of life come crashing down all around us and there is nothing to be done except to ride it out. At a time such as this, there are some principles from the Preacher.

The Preacher begins with a rhetorical question. It is a question that expects no answer because none is needed. Who is like the wise man? The answer is given in the second phrase. It is a further description of the "wise man."

Throughout this section of Ecclesiastes we have been presented with several of the benefits of wisdom.

Here we see a third benefit of wisdom. A man’s wisdom illumines him - literally, a man’s wisdom makes his face shine. At first glance, this seems to refer to the quality of a sunny disposition. There are people who can light up a room just by walking into it. The corollary is that there are some who can light up a room just by leaving. But I don’t believe that is what the Preacher is describing. You see, the concept of having one’s "face shine" is one familiar to every Jew. It was a part of the Levitical Blessing.

A similar usage is found in Psalm 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 80:3; 80:7; 80:19; 119:135. In every one of these passages, it is the Lord’s face that is said to be shining upon His people. As a result of this shining, they would receive a blessing.

This time, it is not the Lord’s face that is said to be shining. This time it is the face of the wise man that is said to shine. It is his wisdom that enlightens his face.

Here is the point. Wisdom does what God does. True wisdom comes from God. And it brings with it the blessing of God. Even in the hard times. Even when everything falls apart. Even when life deals you a short hand.

But that is not all. Wisdom also has a second effect upon the one who possesses it. It causes his stern face to beam - literally, it "changes the strength of his face." Wisdom softens a harsh look. It takes the harsh condition of life that leads to a stormy countenance, and it softens it with an understanding that God is still in control and events are not so random as they seem.

This passage is written by Solomon. He writes it as the King of Israel. He is a King writing about how to get along with the King. But even if you do not live in a country that has kings, there are some principles here which can apply to any who are under authority.

Americans by nature are not inclined to submit to authority. We are a nation who was founded upon rebellion to authority. Our forefathers decided that they no longer wished to abide the taxing authority of England and moved to oust that authority and to declare our independence. I have no wish to try to rewrite history, but we should not automatically assume that all decisions which led to the founding of this country were godly decisions in keeping with Biblical principles.

Solomon begins this section with the injunction to "Keep the command of the king." Why is this so important? There are two reasons given.

1. Obedience is Required because of an Oath of Loyalty.

• We pledge allegiance to the country of our citizenship.

• When we work for an employer, we are bound to obey his lawful directives until such a time that we leave his employment.

• Members coming into the Presbyterian Church in America promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of their ability, submitting to the government and disciple of the Church.

2. Obedience is Required as a Prudent Procedure.

Solomon has just finished speaking about how to deal with kings and monarchs - and we have applied some of these principles to dealing with any authority under which we find ourselves. But now he hastens to add that, no matter how high any such authority might extend, it has certain impassable limits.

• No one has authority over the future: If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen? (8:7).

• No one has authority over the wind: No man has authority to restrain the wind with the wind (8:8).

• No one has authority over the day of his death: No man has... authority over the day of death (8:8).

• No one has authority over his own draft card: There is no discharge in the time of war (8:8).

• No one has authority to prevent the eventual judgment of evil: ...and evil will not deliver those who practice it (8:8).

To make matters worse, the authority that man DOES have is often utilized to his own hurt.

Governments are capable of great evil. This is not speaking of one type of government over another type. It is true of ALL sorts of government. John Kenneth Galbraith put this very aptly when he said, "Under capitalism man exploits man; under communism it is exactly the reverse."

But this does not mean that government is itself a wrong thing. The Preacher is not advocating anarchy. He is simply showing us life as it really is. The reason that governments are capable of evil is because they are led by fallen and sinful men. That is the only kind of men there are.

The problem is that not all such evil leaders are recognized for their evil acts. In many cases their evil deeds are forgotten.

The NIV translates this verse quite differently.

The two different readings are a result of textual differences. Different Hebrew manuscripts show one of two possible readings.

As can be seen above, the difference between the two reading is the difference between and (similar to making a mistake in reading between O and Q).

It is the context that will help us to understand the passage. If we are to take the NAS reading, then we would understand this to mean that after the wicked are dead and buried, their evil deeds are forgotten by those who come after.

The NIV, on the other hand, would indicate that these wicked who are dead and buried are afterward praised. History often whitewashes the scoundrels of the past and praises those who were in reality despicable in their actions.

She was the wife of a notorious wretch and a criminal. On hearing the eloquent eulogy of him, what a wonderful man he was, etc., she said to her son, "Go up and see if that's your father that's in that coffin!"

In Shakespear’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony quips, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is often interred with their bones." But Solomon tells us that it is the opposite which is often true.

Consider no less an icon than Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of the New World. His magnificent discovery notwithstanding, he was a notorious scoundrel.

• He kidnaped Indians and brought them against their will back to Europe.

• He demanded that he be made governor of all that he had discovered, even though he showed himself to be a terrible governor.

• He mandated an annual tribute of gold from the Indians under threat of punishment, making them virtual slaves on their own land.

• Within a space of 2 years, he managed to have a third of the Indian population of Espanola put to death (approximately 100,000 people).

• By the time 15 years had passed, the entire population had been reduced from 300,000 to 20,000.

• When he was deposed as governor, he rebelled against the authority of the King and Queen of Spain who had installed him and only desisted when put into chains.

And yet, much of history has whitewashed his actions and focused only upon his accomplishments. That is often the case. For this reason, the Preacher concludes with his familiar refrain, "This too is futility."

The good news is that God knows the whole story. And there is coming a day when the rest of the story will be told. Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed (Luke 12:2).

There are times, at least from our "under the sun" perspective, when it seems as though God has lost control - when it seems as though the universe is operating only by chance and there is no great plan or purpose.

1. When a Sentence is not Quickly Executed.

2. When a Sinner Lives a Long Time.

3. When the Righteous Suffers and the Sinner is Rewarded.

The Preacher’s conclusion is that life is to mysterious for us to figure out all the answers. Even staying awake each night will not help to solve all of life’s mysteries.

And so, he concludes that we ought to eat and to drink and to be merry. This is true if this is all that there is. It is also true if this is all that you can know.

But we can know more because there is more. It was demonstrated to us in the life of the One who came to earth and died for sins and then rose from the dead to demonstrate to us that there is life after death.