Obey the king’s command (8:2–3). Ecclesiastes 8 exhorts the reader to be properly submissive to authorities. Similar exhortations to obedience and proper decorum before rulers can be found in other ancient literature. For example, The Instruction of Ptahhotep teaches:
If you are in the audience chamber,
Stand and sit in accordance with your position,
Which was given to you on the first day.
Do not exceed (your duty), for it will result in your being turned back.33
Ecclesiastes by no means supposes that government always works properly (8:11, 14), but even so, it exhorts people to behave respectfully toward authority because it is both safe before the king (8:3) and right before God (the “oath” of v. 2).