Ecclesiastes 8:9,10 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

All this I have seen All these things before mentioned; and applied my heart unto every work I have been a diligent observer of all actions and events. There is a time when one man ruleth, &c. There are some kings, who use their power tyrannically, whereby they not only oppress their people, but hurt themselves, bringing the vengeance of God upon their own heads. And so I saw In like manner; the wicked Wicked princes or rulers, buried With state or pomp; who had come and gone Had administered public justice, which is frequently signified by the phrase of coming in and going out before the people; from the place of the holy The seat of majesty and judgment, which may well be termed, the place, or seat, of the holy That is, of God, often called the holy one; who is in a special manner present in, and presides over those places where justice is administered: and for whom, and in whose name and stead, magistrates act, who, therefore, are called gods. And the tribunal seems to be so called here, to aggravate their sin, who, being advanced by God into so high and sacred a place, betrayed so great a trust, and both practised and encouraged that wickedness which, by their office, they were obliged to suppress and punish. And they were forgotten Although they designed to perpetuate their names and memories to succeeding ages; in the city where they had so done Where they had lived in great splendour, and were buried with great magnificence, which one might have thought would have kept up their remembrance, at least, in that place. This is also vanity That men should so earnestly thirst after, and please themselves with worldly glory, which is so soon extinct, and the very memory of which is so quickly worn out of the minds of men.