Interlude: Be Sensible
Ecclesiastes 10: 1-20
Interlude, be sensible DIG: What two things are contrasted in verses 1-3? What is the main point here? What is evil in verses 5-7? Where is it found? In 10:6-11, where do you see poetic justice? Random events? Cause and effect? Dry humor? What makes a good leader? What application is there between secretly talking about the king and today’s society?
REFLECT: How skilled are you in the various areas of life? In which areas do you need to develop greater skills? How can this best be done? How has something foolish you said affected others and yourself? To whom do you need to apologize because of it? What practical steps can you avoid such “foolish” conversation? What is the duty of a leader?
A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, but a fool’s heart at his left.
This chapter takes a calm look at life, sampling it at random, so as to help us to keep our own standards high, without being too surprised at the oddities of others, or taken off guard in our dealings with the powerful people of this world.
The fool: Just as dead flies make perfumed oil stink, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor (10:1). This verse pictures the principle on which the previous chapter ended; that it takes far less to ruin something than to create it. This, incidentally, is part of the advantage enjoyed by evil, and of its appeal to the vicious side of us. To put it bluntly as the Teacher does, it is easier to make a stink than to create sweetness. But in this verse, it is the sudden lapse or foolish impulse that is the trouble. There are endless examples of prizes forfeited and good beginnings marred in a reckless moment – not only by the irresponsible, such as Esau, but also by the greatly tried, such as Moses and Aaron.311
A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, but a fool’s heart at his left (10:2). This verse has a typical proverbial form that looks at the same truth from two different directions. The wise go to the right and the fools go to the left. The right hand is the place of protection (Psalm 16:8, 110:5, 121:5) and honor (Matthew 22:44). After the Great Tribulation the Judge, the judgment and those judged are identified in Matthew 25:31-33. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne as the Judge in heavenly glory. All the Gentiles still living on the earth will be gathered before Him for judgment, and He will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats based on their treatment of the Jewish people during the Great Tribulation. He will put the pro-Jewish sheep on His right and the anti-Jewish goats on His left. As far as the anti-Jewish goats, Matthew 25:41-45 states that all who aid the antichrist in the Jewish destruction will be killed and sent to hell. Then He will say to those on His left, “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. They will lose out on the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom.
And when a fool travels, he has no good sense, thus showing everyone that he is a fool (10:3). Comedy breaks through here, as it has often done in Proverbs of this theme. To the sharp eye of Solomon, the fool has no way of disguising what he is, except perhaps by total silence (Proverbs 17:28). Even then, his general bearing would probably give him away. But, in fact, he is too full of himself to stop from running his mouth to everyone he meets. To judge from Proverbs, his fine phrases will sound odd (Proverbs 17:7). his tactless remarks are hostile (Proverbs 18:6); and when you talk to him, he is not really listening (Proverbs 18:2). If he has a message for you he will get it all wrong, and if he comes out with a sage remark, it will backfire (Proverbs 26:6). Fortunately, you can sense his approach and get away from him as fast as you can (Proverbs 17:12).
The social tightrope: If a ruler gets angry at you, stay at your post, because calmness soothes great offenses. The Teacher, here, advises those who serve the king to counter his anger with gentleness. Solomon offers another example of how foolishness can wreak havoc in society, the placement of fools in positions of authority. This practice has not stopped and we can see evidence of it even today. The Teacher describes it as being evil. Another evil I have seen under the sun, cutting God out of the picture, the kind of mistake rulers make, is that fools are promoted to high positions, while the rich occupy low places. This thought continues as he presents us with a vivid picture of this social tightrope. I have seen servants riding horses, while princes walk on foot like slaves (10:4-7). Usually, the most important and privileged people rode horses (Second Chronicles 25:28; Escher 6:8-9), while slaves or servants walk alongside to tend to their masters’ needs. Here, however, we have the exact opposite, the ruler’s simple mistake results in a totally chaotic society.312
Plain facts of life: He who digs a pit may fall into it; he who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a serpent. He who quarries stones may get hurt by them, he who chops wood puts himself in danger (10:8-9). If the hatchet’s iron blade is blunt, and its user doesn’t sharpen it, he will have to exert more effort (10:10); but the expert has the advantage of his skill. If a snake bites before it is charmed, the snake-charmer has no advantage (10:11). The outlook behind these pointed remarks is not fatalism, as verses 8 and 9 may suggest on their own, but elementary realism. The blinding glimpse of the obvious in verse 10, backed up by the dry humor of the next verse, dispels any doubt. We are asked to use our minds, and to look a little way ahead. For there are risks in any vigorous action and the person we call “accident-prone” usually has himself to blame, rather than his bad-luck. He should have known; he should have taken care. But Solomon drops a hint of a parable by talking of a pit and of a serpent; for the pit that traps its maker was a proverbial picture of poetic justice, and the unnoticed serpent was the very image of lurking retribution. This is how the prophet Amos saw it (Amos 5:18-20 and 9:3); so too did the witness of Paul’s encounter with the viper (Acts 28:4).313
Sense and nonsense: Solomon has stated elsewhere his belief in the relative superiority of wisdom over folly, though such sentiments are usually accompanied by an indication that wisdom itself is not ultimately to be prized. Such qualifications are not found here; these proverbs are remarkably similar to those found in Proverbs 10:8 and 21, 15:2 and 18:7. While the words of the wise result in positive effects, the fool’s speech ends in disaster. The words spoken by the wise bring them favor, but the lips of a fool swallow him up (10:12). Using a merism, a figure of speech in which polar opposites are chosen to indicate totality, Solomon characterized a fool’s speech as starting with foolishness and ending with wicked madness (10:13). While the fool’s speech might seem insane or silly to start with, the end result is insanity. A fool keeps talking and talking, yet no one knows what the future will bring – can anyone tell a person what will happen after he’s gone (10:14)? In other words, the fool is going on and on about something for which he has no information and about which he can gain no knowledge – the future, a subject about which the Teacher has already told us that is no knowledge (6:12, 7:14, 8:7). The efforts of a fool wear him out; he doesn’t even know the way to town (10:15)!314 This is a proverbial expression for extreme ignorance, like the modern proverb, “He doesn’t know enough to come in out of the rain.” This is why the fool finds his work such a chore.
The immature ruler: Woe to you, land, when your king is immature, and your leaders start their parties in the morning! Such a land is in trouble. It is not only the king who lets the nation down, however, it is also the leaders. In contrast to the gluttonous leaders, happy are you, land, when your king is well-born, and your princes eat at the proper time, in order to stay strong, not to get drunk! In good, practical wisdom, Solomon warns against laziness by pointing out the consequences. When the owner is lazy, the roof sags; when hands are idle, the house leaks (10:16-18). People who sit around and do nothing will end up with disaster on their hands. The book of Proverbs considers such sluggards, at least implicitly, to be fools (Proverbs 6:6, 26:16).315
In the proverb of verse 19, the first two lines may tie in with the feasting scenes, good and bad, he opened the paragraph in verse 16. Parties are made for having a good time, wine adds cheer to life, and silver has an answer for everything (10:19). The point is not that every man has his price but that every gift has its use – and silver, in the form of money, was the most versatile of all. Feasting for happiness is a good thing, but excess is pointless. God’s wholesome gifts are good, and their proper use is delightful. Then, we are back at it again with men of power and intrigue. Don’t insult the king, not even in your thoughts; and don’t insult the wealthy, not even in your bedroom; for a bird in the air might carry the news, a creature with wings might repeat what you said (10:20). They are not comfortable company. To the twentieth-first century reader there is something familiar in their too-sensitive ear for whispers, but they need no electronics for their espionage. They would not have reached their dizzying political heights, and stayed there, without a sixth-sense for dissidents. Practical as ever, Solomon sees this as a fact of life, and ends the chapter with advice on managing to live with it. To survive is the first step, even if it is by no means the last. Now the Teacher can lead us on towards the climax of the book (to see link click Cy – The Conclusion of the Matter).316
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You that You, Almighty God, are the most powerful Ruler in the universe. You are also totally holy. Seraphim . . . called out to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is ADONAI-Tzva’ot! The whole earth is full of His glory (Isaiah 6:2a, 3). The wise person is the one who fears and loves You! The fear of Adonai is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline (Proverbs 1:7). Thank You that in Your love and Your wisdom you choose to adopt as your children (Ephesians 1:4-5) those who fear and love You (John 1:12). We love to worship and follow You, our wonderful and wise Heavenly Father. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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