Eclesiastés 8:10 Midrash: Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Midrash Tanchuma, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition) & Pesikta Rabbati

(Exod. 18:1:) NOW JETHRO <PRIEST OF MIDIAN, MOSES' FATHER-IN-LAW>, HEARD <ALL THAT GOD HAD DONE FOR MOSES>…. This text is related (to Eccl. 8:10): AND THEN I SAW THE WICKED BURIED, AND THEY CAME BACK. Are there wicked buried who [come back] and go about?¹Tanh., Exod. 5:1. <It is even> as Solomon said (ibid.): BURIED, AND THEY CAME BACK. However, R. Simon has said: These are wicked, in that they are dead and buried during their lifetimes.²Eccl. R. 8:10:1; see Ber. 18b; Gen. R. 39:7. Thus it is stated (in Job 15:20): A WICKED PERSON WRITHES IN TORMENT ALL HIS DAYS. What is the meaning of WRITHE IN TORMENT (mitholel)? That he is dead (met) and writhing (holel).

Now Jethro heard (Exod. 18:1). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: And so I saw the wicked buried, and they came into their rest; but they that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city; this also is vanity (Eccles. 8:10). Is it really so that wicked buried come and go at will? R. Simon declared: These are the wicked, who are considered as dead and buried while still living, as it is said: The wicked man travails with pain all his days (Job 15:20). What is the meaning of mitholel (“travails with pain”)? The wicked man, even in his lifetime, is considered as met (“dead”) and halal (“slain”) even while alive.

Another explanation of I saw the wicked buried, and they entered into their rest.¹Where they strengthened their faith. Cf. Ecclesiastes Rabbah 10:1. Scripture speaks here of the proselytes who come to repent. And went away from the holy places alludes to the synagogues and the houses of study (they visited).