Ecclesiastes 10:11-20
11 A serpent may bite when it is not charmed;
The babbler is no different.
12 The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious,
But the lips of a fool shall swallow him up;
13 The words of his mouth begin with foolishness,
And the end of his talk is raving madness.
14 A fool also multiplies words.
No man knows what is to be;
Who can tell him what will be after him?
15 The labor of fools wearies them,
For they do not even know how to go to the city!
16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,
And your princes feast in the morning!
17 Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles,
And your princes feast at the proper time—
For strength and not for drunkenness!
18 Because of laziness the building decays,
And through idleness of hands the house leaks.
19 A feast is made for laughter,
And wine makes merry;
But money answers everything.
20 Do not curse the king, even in your thought;
Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom;
For a bird of the air may carry your voice,
And a bird in flight may tell the matter.
The proud babble empty words when not tamed by the good sense of wisdom. Wise people have grace on their lips (Proverbs 22:11) but the raving madness of a fool eats himself alive as his speeches begin with foolishness and terminate in evil madness. The fool simply cannot direct his words without godly understanding and wisdom as the wise righteous man. Foolish words just ramble on and on without purpose or destination without any inkling of understanding of what is to come from it all in his life. Nobody can tell him what the end results will be if he continues down that path except for the unfortunate eternal consequences. The foolish one does not even want to work for what he has, choosing instead to make much ado about nothing while having no understanding how to navigate through life even, like the example given here of being unable even to find their way into the city! If a nation then has such a ruler who has the thinking and drive of a child and parties away the day from the beginning, then the end for that land is not good. Wisdom like Solomon’s is required, given and led by God, to prosper. Blessings follow leaders who know the proper times and work to be done in godly strength instead of drunkenness and wasteful living. Laziness and an idle work ethic only results in everything falling apart around us. May we be wise and not so foolish to put our hand to the plow instead! Leaders can have parties and fun but the earning of income answers the decay of society’s infrastructure in the end. These are wise sayings to make us examine ourselves and choose words of wisdom over foolish pride as the ungodly pursue. Nations rise and fall on these words and thinking.
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