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Dr. James Dobson once said that the greatest lesson you can teach a child is that life is loaded and she can hurt herself very deeply without the ability to make key decisions. We make truly major decisions about five or six times in our lives. At those times, we can either leap to a higher level or crater our lives. A good decision won’t come through our innate ability; it will come through recognizing the supremacy of God, learning His Word, and submitting yourself to Him. This is what Solomon calls wisdom.
The Excellence of Wisdom
How Can I Make It in a World Where Ungodly People Prosper and the Righteous Suffer?
As we see in Proverbs 17, “The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered” (verse 27).
Even in tough times, we need to learn that “a wise man has a cool spirit” and stay poised!
Solomon pleads with us to be wise as we enjoy life, our families, and our work.
As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Even as fools walk along the road, they lack sense and show everyone how stupid they are. – Ecclesiastes 10:1-3
Don’t think that if you honor God, know His Bible, and live a wise life, everybody is going to applaud you. You’re not going to have any popularity from wisdom. You’ll make a great husband, a great wife, or a great worker, but no one is going to applaud you.
However, all you need is one foolish act to spoil your integrity (and “give perfume a bad smell”).
Peter went so far to say, “In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you” (1 Peter 4:4).
Solomon is trying to show us that wisdom is the only thing that provides lasting strength in this life. We shouldn’t abandon our position when bad things happen.
If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great offenses to rest. There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler: Fools are put in many high positions, while the rich occupy the low ones. I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves. – Ecclesiastes 10:4-7
Sometimes in the short term, life seems to be backward, and wicked men get the upper hand. Life can seem topsy-turvy. When that happens, Solomon encourages us to hold fast to our position.
Solomon reminds us that wisdom still has the edge. When the last bell is rung, it’s better to be a godly person.
Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them. – Ecclesiastes 10:8-9
Sometimes, we can be working hard and get hurt.
If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success. – Ecclesiastes 10:10
When you were working with an axe in those days, you would make a divot down in the wood and set the axe down in it and then tie it and secure it in there. You would stop and tighten down the axe head and then sharpen the blade. You didn’t have to work as hard because you had worked smart. You still have an edge if you are wise and preventative.
If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee. – Ecclesiastes 10:11
This verse looks like a random thought but is actually key to this entire section. You’ve probably seen a snake charmer on television. And it’s quite a talent to be able to charm a snake, but if the charmer gets bitten, his talent didn’t do him any good. The charmer had the skill but he didn’t use it. Solomon’s point is that you need to use the wisdom you have. Otherwise, you may as well not have it since it’s of no service to you.
It’s not enough to know how to charm the serpent—you have to actually apply your knowledge before you’re bitten.
So the important thing is not just that you have the knowledge but that you actually use it in marriage, parenting, and life. You have to use your wisdom.
Churches are filled with Bible-believing people who have mangled their lives because they were bitten by the snake. They didn’t put their wisdom to use.
It doesn’t matter how much Bible you know, it’s meaningless if you don’t know how to charm the serpent before it gest to you. Life is loaded.
Solomon gives us one more warning about the fool.
At the beginning their words are folly; at the end they are wicked madness—and fools multiply words. No one knows what is coming—who can tell someone else what will happen after them? – Ecclesiastes 10:13-14
The fool opens his mouth and error comes out. And yet he keeps talking. No matter how he gets beat up in life, it never convinces him to repent.
Scholars suggest that the last sentence in verse 14 should been seen as a sarcastic sentence spoken boldly by the fool: “No man knows what will happen, and who can tell what will come after him?”
The fool pontificates and pretends that he has exhaustive knowledge about life. He fakes certainty to keep up the pretense of having his life together. It’s called humanism. The fool says, “I’m in charge and there is no God.” But the fool’s philosophy can’t get him through life.
The toil of fools wearies them; they do not know the way to town. – Ecclesiastes 10:15
Solomon is making fun of the fool. He’s saying that this person who claims to know everything about life’s most important questions can’t even find the next city.
Paul Johnson wrote a book called The Intellectuals, where he examined the teachings of many of the most important thinkers of Western civilization—Rousseau, Marx, Tolstoy, and Bertrand Russell. But he didn’t just study their teachings, he also examined the way they lived their lives. He looked at how they treated people, their habits, their marriages, their kids, and their friends.
Do you know what he found? Every one of those people scoffed at God. They pontificated on eternity. They denied everything holy and presented themselves as the fount of all wisdom. But most of them didn’t have the sense to raise a child well. They didn’t keep their marriages together. They destroyed first themselves and then everything around them. Don’t be misled by a fool.
Sin makes you weak and ignorant. Foolishness harms not only individuals and families but entire civilizations.
Woe to the land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning. Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness. – Ecclesiastes 10:16-17
When leaders don’t have the wisdom to focus on priorities and guide decisions with morality, a country is in trouble. But the opposite is also true. A country with godly, wise leaders is blessed.
Check out the countries that have renounced God for rationalism, humanism, atheism, communism, or Nazism. Russia hasn’t done so well. France didn’t do so well. Germany didn’t do so well. And in many ways, America isn’t doing well either.
Solomon uses the image of a house to illustrate his point.
Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks. – Ecclesiastes 10:18
The house will fall apart, if wisdom is not applied. What destroys a country and makes it worthless? Foolish leaders who care only for their own interests and lack the fear of God.
A feast is made for laughter, wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything. Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird in the sky may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say. – Ecclesiastes 10:19-20
In verse 19, Solomon continues his sarcasm. “If I have money, I’ll be happy…” These men are the foolish children who feast in the morning. They try to solve problems with pleasure.
In verse 20, Solomon tells us how to deal with the fools we encounter in life. He warns us not to inappropriately subvert the authority of a leader. Even in our bedrooms, we shouldn’t curse someone because the things we say will eventually get out.
Do right wherever you are. Doing the right thing will always be best in the long run. This is the message of Ecclesiastes chapters 8 through 10.
Ecclesiastes teaches us to focus on what is controllable rather than what is uncontrollable. It’s wise to be ready to focus on God when trials come our way.
Does your “doing” fully reflect your “knowing”? If not, ask God to give you the strength to live out what you know, so you won’t end up like the fool.