The Yalkut Shimoni (Kohelet h. 9, 989) takes a rather singular (so-very-human) and shockingly mordant and unorthodox view of this and says that everything happens by chance, and that there’s no reason to say that the righteous should necessarily do well any more than there’s reason to say that the wrongful should necessarily do badly!
We’re sure the Midrash is only expressing (and lamenting) an often-felt but ill-advised perspective on things, but it’s still an astoundingly unexpected statement.
(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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