A phenomenon that makes it most difficult for us to understand God’s ways, and respond to them properly, is the problem of injustice in this life. Solomon believed God would eventually balance the scales of justice (Ecclesiastes 3:17), and that He uses injustice for His own purposes (Ecclesiastes 3:18). Probably Solomon believed judgment would take place on earth (Proverbs 22:22-23), though he did not say this explicitly. God uses injustice to remind us of our finite bestiality, among other things. We behave as beasts and die like them (Ecclesiastes 3:18-20). "The same place" (Ecclesiastes 3:20) is the grave (cf. Ecclesiastes 6:6), not that man’s future is identical to an animal’s. No one can observe any differences between the future of man and animals, but God has revealed these differences. In view of these things, Solomon repeated his counsel (Ecclesiastes 3:22).
"From unjust decisions a transition is now made to the subject of the haughty, unmerciful cruelty of the wide-extended oppressions inflicted by men." [Note: Delitzsch, p. 273.]
God has, of course, enabled us to see what will occur after we die by giving us additional revelation after Solomon’s time. The alternative response to the one Solomon advocated is despair, which reflecting on unjust oppression causes (Ecclesiastes 4:1-3).
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