Ecclesiastes5:8

1: “high official”

Only the adjective “high” is used here, the noun that it modifies (probably official) must be assumed. The adjective means something or someone is “high, lofty, exalted, proud, or arrogant.” The presence of the adjective without the noun seems to place the emphasis on the attitude not the authority itself. This is a statement about human nature, and it resembles many statements in the Proverbs which indicate “this is the way things are; nothing you can do will change things.” Accepting this as reality does not mean that it is a good thing or that we have to like it, rather it acknowledges that this is the situation in which we find ourselves. Adam’s fall into sin is the reason for these unpleasant realities, however, that is not mentioned here; it is assumed the reader already knows that.

2

This word means “to keep, watch, guard, protect and preserve.” Preserving seems to be the purpose for the watching or guarding. What is being preserved? There are two options here:

1) In this context it can mean that one official watches another to make sure that he is doing his job correctly, and that higher officials are watching over both of them so that justice will be served and righteousness preserved or restored. While this option is a possibility, it requires that we force some things upon the text that are not there, namely law enforcement and judicial reform.

2) Or it can mean that each government official watches the other one’s back and they protect each other from repercussions so they can all keep taking advantage of their authority and continue advancing themselves at the expense of others. Even the higher official plays this game.

The latter fits the context best. If that is the case, what is being preserved is the government officials’ ability to keep practicing extortion and oppression.

What Solomon seems to be saying here is something akin to this: “Listen, here is the reality as it pertains to human nature and power. If you give people power, they will use it for their own benefit, at the expense of others. Even I cannot change that; it is part of human nature. You may wish it were different, but I’m telling you it’s not going to change. I could replace these officials with others, and they would do the same thing. I could put you in that position and you would do the same thing because it is your nature to do so.”

He just told them to not be “in consternation” about it, amazed by it and wondering how this could be. He does not promise that it will change or that things will improve. I learn from this that my focus should not be on the abuse of power or the people that are doing it, instead I should focus on how pervasive and how controlling our fallen sinful nature is. Instead of saying, “Wow, look how terrible those people are,” I should say, “Wow, look how terrible our fallen sinful nature is.” By including myself in the statement, it makes it harder to be judgmental toward others.

This explanation probably doesn’t make you feel encouraged, but I think it is what he was communicating.

3: “higher officials over them"

The fact that there are people higher up the ladder than the ones you observe only means that the abuse of authority is guaranteed to continue. Sure, you can take the matter to a supervising official, but he will do nothing about it. He will act concerned, but in the end he will do nothing because he does not want to hurt his own ability to do the same thing.