Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Pengkhotbah 8:11

For the most important aspect of a person's worship of God is that he should do good for its own sake and for the sake of the Profound Statute issued by the Supreme Lawgiver; and principally for the sake of His great Name (2Chronicles 6:32). However, this would not be the case if a person's actions were guided by considerations of reward or fear of punishment. For he would then be serving not God but himself and this is not the sort of worship God desires. If the reaction to evil acts was immediate (Ecclesiastes 8:11) and God meted out punishment to the wicked at once, nobody would dare (Jeremiah 30:21) to do evil for fear of the immediate retribution that would follow. Similarly, everyone would try to do good because they knew they would be rewarded instantly. The deed would not be performed for the sake of God, nor would there be any meaning to reward and punishment, seeing that all would be bound to act as they did out of fear of punishment or hope of reward. Nor would there be any meaning to free-will and trial, though they were the substance of God's purpose in creating man: that the heart's inclination should tempt a person to do evil and he should feel free to do so, but that nevertheless he should refrain and turn away from evil (Psalms 34:15), out of respect for God and His divine ordinances. Therefore, He endowed man's mind with everything, except the knowledge of how God acts (Ecclesiastes 3:11) with regard to the reward of the righteous or the punishment of the wicked. And so there are evil-doers who prosper and wicked persons who are praised in public for what they have done and God's Providence is concealed and hidden from the sight of most people. Contrariness beguiles understanding, causing it to deny Providence and to declare that the world runs itself (TB Avodah Zarah 54b); that everything depends on heredity, nature and the stars; that the Lord is on high, His glory is above the heavens (Psalms 113:4), and He does not govern those down below; not to mention the other charges made by heretics. As proof, they all cite the disorder and capriciousness of Providence, namely, that the righteous languish and the wicked prosper.

When you beget children and children’s children, etc. Since the punishment for evil is not executed quickly, the hearts of men are emboldened to do evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11). One does not realize that the Holy One, blessed be He, is patient but collects what is His at the end of days. Therefore, it says, When you beget children, etc., and you become corrupt and make a graven image, etc. This means that during this time, in those very days when you corrupt yourselves, you will beget children and children’s children as is the way of the world, and you will grow old in the land. Because of this, you will err and say, “If God wanted to kill us, would He have remained silent all this time? Behold, we are bearing children as is the way of the world and dwelling in the land for many days, so surely we are without guilt.” To this, it says, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will quickly perish from the land. For it is the attribute of the Blessed God not to bring calamities one after another in quick succession, as they learned in the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 75:13) from the verse, And put a space between drove and drove (Genesis 32:16). This applies specifically when He exacts punishment immediately without extending the time. But if the Holy One, blessed be He, is patient for a long time, then at the end of days He brings bundled troubles one after another in quick succession, with one calamity approaching its sister. So it was in the time of the First Temple, when they worshipped idols for a long time from the days of Jeroboam, yet He was patient with them. And what is written and you will quickly perish (Deuteronomy 11:17), Rashi explains there: “I will not give you an extension.” Similarly, here it says, you will quickly perish. It must be that this matter of “quickness” refers to the calamities that will come at the end in rapid succession, one after another.

Eliphaz reasons that were this to happen, worship [of God] would be imperfect as there would be no place for free-will nor for reward and punishment. For the righteous would just worship [God] in order to be rewarded (Avot 1:3) and the wicked would only be restrained from doing wrong for fear of the immediate retribution that awaits them. Therefore, God has to conceal the matter and so the righteous sometimes suffer even for some minor sin and the wicked are rewarded for some slight merit. As a result people err, thinking there is neither Judge nor justice, and the righteous who worship [God] do so without any expectation of reward, whilst the wicked plot their evil untroubled. As it is written: It is because sentence for a wicked act is not carried out promptly that men do evil so boldly (Ecclesiastes 8:11).