Do not be amazed. I’ve used that specific phrase quite a few times throughout this project. Now, it is time to explore Qoheleth’s deployment of it. Human history is marred by constant corruption, injustice, and systemic oppression. And for that, for Qoheleth, we should not be amazed.
Once again, Qoheleth addresses the issue of oppression. This time, in contrast with 4:1, Qoheleth is cold and analytic. There are no tears to behold. Because now we are not focused on the effect, we are focused on the cause.
“If you see in the province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be astonished (al-titmah) at the matter, because a high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.”
Do not be astonished. That’s just the way it is. Here, Qoheleth isn’t lamenting injustice and corruption; he is naming it as an inevitable fact of life. As I argued in the post on Ecc. 4:1, the “oppressed” then have become immigrants, those who suffer from psychiatric disorders, or even children afraid to go to school because of a bully. Injustice is to be expected. It was true for Qoheleth; it remains painfully true now over two millennia after Ecclesiastes was written.
And why not be astonished? Well, because that is the order of the hebel world. The high official is watched by a higher and corruption exists on all levels.
The hierarchy ends somewhere. Who is the highest official? Who is at the top of this chain of corruption? Perhaps a God who left the office and has yet to return. As such, the administrative world becomes an earthly analogue of the theological world.
A Quick Note
This is the final verse in the section my thesis focuses on. It is not, however, the final post. In the considerably drier thesis, chapter 1 explores 3:16–4:3, chapter 2 explores 4:4–5:8. Chapter 3 exists to synthesize these insights to fully make the case that hebel is a protest, a descriptive dissent depicting the world under a hidden God. We aren’t finished quite yet!
A Complicit Deity
As the previous post argued, the “fear of God” in Ecclesiastes is much closer to terror or fright than simple awe and wonder. The God who makes things inscrutable, who can get angry and destroy the work of your hands. And now in 5:7, a God who may be to blame.
For one emerging biblical scholar, Jimyung Kim, 5:7 presents a “robbery of justice” that God allows to persist. He writes:
“What is more, though Qohelet does not explicitly blame God for the social inequities described in Eccl 5:7 as well as in 4:1, Qohelet’s reasoning should have reached the thought that God is ultimately responsible for the sufferings of the oppressed since he believes that God controls the world as the ultimate power.”
Again, Qoheleth abides by his own wisdom; he guards his steps (5:1). He is not irreverent. He does not directly accuse God. Otherwise, it certainly wouldn’t be in the Bible. And even in its present form, it almost wasn’t. He is extremely careful in choosing his words.
He presents a complicit, hidden deity, without making vain accusations. But within this absurd, confusing world he painfully describes, there seems to be no just order. Everything is chaotic. And the earthly hierarchies serve to exploit and oppress those at the very bottom. Do not be amazed!
Indeed, God is present in divine sovereignty, yet absent in the capacity the sufferer desires: a responsive agent of justice.
The Victims of the Hierarchy
Thus far, Qoheleth has introduced us to those at the very bottom in this world. Those who toil endlessly (4:4). The fool who consumes himself (4:5). The isolated toiler (4:7–8). And of course, the oppressed, identified in 4:1 by their tears and victimhood.
One commentator, Stuart Weeks, identifies hebel as a label Qoheleth uses for things in life that are illusory. I find that fitting here. The illusion Qoheleth confronts is that the world’s structures and powers exist to protect the vulnerable or ensure justice. But instead, Qoheleth illustrates the world as he and his audience, throughout history, have experienced. A world where power is corrupt.
All is hebel (1:2; 12:8). And this too is hebel. Hebel, in my estimation, becomes a literary marker naming divine hiddenness as an experienced reality within a world encased in its absurdity. What happens under this cosmic and earthly hierarchy? If you’ve been reading the other posts in the series, you already know. Wickedness in the place of justice. And so on.
When God is hidden and inscrutable, all is hebel. And for Qoheleth, that is precisely the case. My mother earnestly believed that God chose elected officials, especially national leaders. They were underneath God in the hierarchy. They were watched by the higher official. But where is the source of the corruption? That seems to be the question Qoheleth leaves us with.
Trickle-Down Theology
My reading challenges the scholarly consensus that treats 5:7 as the beginning of a new section. One that is politically charged. I disagree. The verse especially recalls 3:16 and 4:1. Once again, we find oppression (recalling 4:1) joined with “the violation of justice and righteousness” (recalling 3:16).
But most importantly, the “high official watched by a higher” (5:8) serves as the analogue of the “God in heaven” (5:2). In both passages, the vulnerable dwell far beneath the protected powers above them, unreachable.
Additionally, the passage underscores surveillance. “…is watched by.” Yet does this surveillance produce justice? Hell no. There is no accountability. If it sounds like a bad business, that’s because it is. It is an unhappy business.
It is the unhappy business of life under the sun. The surveillance is absolute, with the reader encouraged to “guard” their own steps, but oppression thrives in the province. The reader must presume that the divine watcher is non-intervening and therefore complicit in the oppression occurring at the lower levels. Again, do not be amazed!
Do not be amazed because this is exactly what trickle-down theology looks like. The oppression is the effect of a hidden deity without moral legibility. If God can become angry and destroy the work of one’s hands (5:6), then the earthly officials simply mirror the natural order of creation. I conclude in the thesis:
“As such, God watches, the king watches, the provincial official watches, and the oppressed are ultimately left with nothing but their tears.”
Conclusion: The Weight of Divine Hiddenness
Ecclesiastes 4:17–5:8 addresses the substantial weight of a sufferer living in a world defined by hebel. Human life is marked by vulnerability, existential uncertainty, and submission to powers that either oppress or operate on totally separate realms. Here, in my view, hebel serves as a theological critique of the governance itself. Life under the sun is absurd. Life under the provincial official is absurd.
The logic of the temple—careful speech, risk, divine distance—bleeds over into the bureaucratic hierarchy of 5:7–8, where oppression itself becomes unsurprising. Read this way, there is a tension in the distance between heaven and earth mirrored in earthly bureaucracies. The higher up you are, the less likely you are to face justice for your crimes and shortcomings. That’s just the way it is.
There is no resolution here. No theological closure. This is how the world operates, plain and simple. Is it not the same in modern politics? How about corporations, where the CEO at the top lives comfortably while the lowest employees cannot afford rent? How about churches, are they exempt from this toxic hierarchy? They are not.
They are not because, again, this too is hebel. All is hebel.