Wisdom and Folly.


Ecclesiastes 10

1 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odour; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honour.
2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left.
3 Even when a fool walks along the way, He lacks wisdom, And he shows everyone that he is a fool.
4 If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, Do not leave your post; For conciliation pacifies great offenses.
5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, As an error proceeding from the ruler:
6 Folly is set in great dignity, While the rich sit in a lowly place.
7 I have seen servants on horses, While princes walk on the ground like servants.
8 He who digs a pit will fall into it, And whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent.
9 He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, And he who splits wood may be endangered by it.
10 If the axe is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.
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 labour 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.

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In this next section, we find more of Solomon’s proverbs, that he shares to highlight the disgrace of foolishness.
 

1 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odour; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honour.

One expects foul smells from drains and rotting garbage but not from a jar of perfume.
The Preacher likens a foul smell in the ointment to a foolish word coming from the mouth of someone respected for wisdom.
One stupid word from a respected man can cause him to lose his reputation. His life can go, in a moment from honour to disgrace, because of one moment of folly.
Many a great man has been brought low by silly words or actions.

Last week, Kay Burley the anchor for Sky News was suspended for 6 months for breaking Covid rules.
Kay Burley is known for her no nonsense interviews, not letting up on her guests and giving them a real grilling.
She gives anyone a hard time if they are being hypocritical.
Her own actions have caught her out.
This is the same as a foolish word but seen in an action. Such a thing can ruin a reputation.
 

2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left.

The right has always been considered the strong side. Christ sits at God’s right hand.
The sheep go to Christ’s right and the goats to His left.
A right hand man is seen as good and strong.
When I was at school, we were taught to try to use our right hand. Using your left hand was known as cack handed, meaning bad or wrong. Cack handed meaning- inept; clumsy.
Wisdom is strong, the flesh is weak.
When Solomon say’s the fool’s heart is at his left hand, he is saying that the man is on the wrong direction in life.

3 Even when a fool walks along the way, He lacks wisdom, And he shows everyone that he is a fool.

A fool is easily recognised by his foolish ways. It doesn’t take much for a fool to show his foolishness.
A lack of wisdom, whether through youth or stupidity will very soon be manifest.
 

4 If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, Do not leave your post; For conciliation pacifies great offenses.

The idea here is, the wise thing to do when your boss rebukes you, is to keep your peace, but stand firm, don’t answer back or retaliate and it may soon pass.
You cannot argue back with the one who holds the power. They always have the upper hand.
All we can do in situations like this, is to commit ourselves to God’s care.

5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, As an error proceeding from the ruler:

On this earth, rulers are not always right. They are humans and not always wise. Therefore they make bad decisions and people suffer. This is an evil which has far reaching consequences.
Parents or church leaders have responsibility for those in their care. It is most important that right decisions are made.
When one makes wrong decisions for themselves, it may be that only they suffer the consequences.. But, when rulers make bad decisions, it can have a devastating effect on others.
 

6 Folly is set in great dignity, While the rich sit in a lowly place.

Very often, we see bad decisions being made by rulers in giving high positions to people that are not qualified for the job. This may result from, “Jobs for the boys” or “nepotism”. Whilst the right person is overlooked, to the detriment of others. This is how life is “under the sun”.

7 I have seen servants on horses, While princes walk on the ground like servants.

This is the same sentiment, men in places they should not be and those that should be in those positions are overlooked.
Again the folly of human wisdom.

It is foolish to think that in this age one can become wise. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

1 Cor 3: 18 No one should deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he can become wise. 
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness;
20 and again, The Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are meaningless.
 

The three following clauses are proverbial expressions, teaching men to be wise and cautious, lest by their conduct, they bring mischief upon themselves; 
David, Solomon’s father expressed the same sentiment.
David wrote:

Psa 7:15  He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. 

Psa 7:16  His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. 

Solomon reiterates this sentiment.
 

8 He who digs a pit will fall into it, And whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent.
9 He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, And he who splits wood may be endangered by it.

When one digs a pit, he must remember where he has dug it and not to step back into it.

The fool is not wise enough to know that he must sharpen the axe or use more strength.

10 If the axe is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.

Wisdom makes a note of where the pit is and wisdom knows that a sharp axe makes lighter work.
The wise man takes note of health and safety. The fool just jumps in and usually makes mistakes.
 

11 A serpent may bite when it is not charmed; The babbler is no different.

We all know that a babbler can cause a lot of trouble with his many words. Usually the babbler doesn’t know what he is talking about.

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!

Verses 12 – 15 Explains how a fool shows himself up by the words of his mouth.
There is nothing worse than addressing a group when you have not made good preparation. One ends up babbling and making no sense. Which is no help to anyone.

People get wearied at the mouth of a fool. They want things making simple and understandable. More words does not do the job.
A fool will go all round the houses to give directions, when all a man wants is the simple route home.
 

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!

If you are under the rule of a leader who is acting like a child, it is very likely you will encounter trouble.
If your leader is throwing a celebration before the job in hand is complete, again this foolishness.
It is like counting the chickens before they hatch.

18 Because of laziness the building decays, And through idleness of hands the house leaks.

A wise man tends to his property and maintains its structure. A fool is idle and floods the house.
 

19 A feast is made for laughter, And wine makes merry; But money answers everything.

This is referring to those leaders who care more about pleasure and self seeking and think that when things go wrong, just throw money at and it will go away.
The problem is, the people suffer, for this is a misuse of public taxes. A waste of public money.
This happens more and more, when those in office are fools.

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.
 

Be careful little lips what you say.
An idle word can come back with vengeance.

There is a saying that we use that explains this. The question is, “Who told you?”.
The answer, “A little bird told me”.

Be careful when you criticise rulers, Walls have ears.
In these days of social media, phone cameras and recorders, this is more relevant today.
One wrong move, one wrong word, can come back and bite you on the proverbial.

There is a big difference between wisdom and folly. More so, there is a difference between human wisdom and true wisdom.

Jesus used a parable to explain the difference between wisdom and folly.
The man who built his house on a rock and the man who built on sand.

How are we to know the difference?

Matt 7: 26 gives us the answer.
But everyone who hears My sayings and does them, he is the wise man.

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