Neville Goddard on Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Ecclesiastes 8 in context

Scripture Focus

1Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.

2I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.

3Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.

4Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

5Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

6Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.

7For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

8There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

9All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

10And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

11Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

12Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:

13But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

14There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

15Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

16When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)

17Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

Ecclesiastes 8:1-17

Biblical Context

Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 ponders wisdom, power, time, and the limits of human understanding; it reveals that inner discernment guides outward events and that life under the sun follows a rhythm beyond mere effort. It invites a shift from chasing control to aligning with inner timing.

Neville's Inner Vision

Within this text I hear the inner king speaking, the I AM who interprets every circumstance. The scripture says the king’s word holds power; I awaken to the fact that my own decree governs the scene when I assume the consciousness of the ruler within. When I cultivate the assumption that I understand the interpretation of life, my face shines with the calm boldness of a heart at rest in God. Time and judgment are not distant laws but the rhythm of my inner state, and misery arises only when I forget that law. There is a season to all things, and by abiding in that season I experience well-being; to fear is to misread the clock. The vanity of outward appearances fades as I fix my attention on the inner alignment, the inner king who never dies, who never fails to interpret rightly. As I dwell in that truth, mirth returns as a natural expression of life, and the world seems to bend to the harmony within.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: Tonight, step into the sense of being the inner king. Close your eyes and repeat, 'I am the I AM; I interpret every event as it serves my divine purpose,' and feel the calm, shining presence answer in imagination.