Ecclesiastes 5:8-9
8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.
9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.
We need not in this book always expect continuous connexion. It is not the regular dissertation upon a given subject, but a rapid survey of the different points in the great sphere before him. Yet this verse falls in with one great object of the Book, which is to compose the minds of the servants of God to stillness and confidence under his inscrutable dispensations. Solomon supposes a wide extent of unjust oppression — not a village — town — city — but a province under perverting influence. This is truly a dark page in providence, which exercises “the patience and faith of the saints” (Ps. 73:12-13; Jer. 12:1), stumbles the ill-instructed, and opens wide the caviller’s mouth.
But — as Bp. Butler wisely remarks — ‘there may be the wisest and best reasons, why our happiness and misery should be put in each other’s power in the degree in which it is.’* There is therefore no cause to marvel at the matter, as if it were unexpected, to allow hard thoughts of God, to complain of his dispensations, or to be weary of his service. There is an appeal to a higher court. All will be set right there. If the oppressor be high, the Higher than the highest regardeth. (Ps. 10:11-14; 12:5; Prov. 22:12-13) He does not look on as an unconcerned spectator. If he “keeps silence,” his forbearance is not forgetfulness. (See Ps. 50:21) He is only waiting — as in his dealings with the chosen nation — his own best and fittest time for their deliverance. (Ex. 3:7-9) Messiah’s kingdom is brightened with the sunbeam — “He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.” (Ps. 72:12-14)
High and lofty as the oppressors of the Church may be, let us look upward. “The Lord reigneth.” Here is our present stay. (Ps. 46:10; 97:1-2; 146:7, 10) “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.” (Ps. 140:12) His angelic messenger — higher than the oppressors — may be the swift invisible instruments of vengeance. (Ps. 103:20; 104:4; with 2 Kings 19:35; Acts 12:20) The Lord cometh — Here is our “blessed hope.” He will assert his own sovereign right, and remove all inequalities. (Tit. 2:13; Mal. 3:5; 4:1-3) “Rest” to the oppressed will be the joyous consummation of that day. (2 Thess. 1:7)
Moreover — connects this statement, though somewhat obscurely, with the preceding. (See Poli Synopsis.) Perhaps the supremacy of God, giving to all an equal interest in the earth, was intended as a memento, that common interest and mutual dependence should check unjust oppression.
Gradation of rank is indeed the ordinance of God, evil only, when the higher abuse their elevation. Yet there is a level, where “the rich and the poor meet together.” (Prov. 22:2) The curse upon the ground is so far mitigated, that while “bread” is still “eaten in the sweat of the face” (Gen. 3:17) there is profit — directly or indirectly — for all. The many live by it. The highest cannot live without it. The King himself is served by the field. He is more dependent on the labourer, than the labourer is on him. He has more need of the labourer’s strength, than the labourer has of his royal crown. Agriculture was an ordinance of God before the fall. (See Gen. 2:15) ‘And of all the arts of civilized man, it is transcendently the most essential and valuable. Other arts may contribute to the comfort, the convenience, and the embellishment of life. But the cultivation of the soil stands in immediate connexion with our very existence. The life itself, to whose comfort, convenience, and embellishment other arts contribute, is by this to be sustained, so that others without it can avail nothing. In their dependence on the field all are equal. The prince and the peasant are alike served of it.’ (Wardlaw.) Humility, therefore, is the lesson for the rich; contentment for the poor. All of us may be reminded of the important truth, with its daily responsibilities — that all are members of one body — parts of the one great whole. Independence is man’s proud delusion. The desire of this prerogative was his fall and ruin. (Gen. 3:4-5) Gracious therefore and wise is the dispensation, that sweeps it away. The highest cannot say to the lowest — “I have no need of thee.” (1 Cor. 12:21) No man lives for himself, but for the body. Mutual helpfulness contributes to the increase and prosperity of the whole. (Eph. 4:15-16)
— Charles Bridges (1794-1869)
* Analogy, part i. c. iii. ‘It is not necessary we should justify the dispensations of Providence any further than to shew, that the things objected against may, for aught we know, be consistent with justice and truth — not only consistent with justice, but instances of it.’ Ib. part ii. c. viii.
