Ecclesiastes 10 Commentary
Of what use is a parachute that only pops out after the user has cracked his skull? Yes, Wisdom is important, but the delayed application of Wisdom is useless. The scripture urges the wicked to acknowledge the lordship of the Messiah at the right time!
Doing so at the wrong time, at judgment day, when the LORD returns to make all things square, is of no use at all. At this point, “the charmer receives no fee.”
“Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at the right time – for strength and not for drunkenness.” Again, the scripture emphasizes doing the right thing at the right time.
This chapter, and the rest of the chapters in this book, repeat many of the lines in the Book of Proverbs, but the context is different. For example, the author laments the evil of having fools in high positions. He claims this error comes from a ruler.
Since the LORD God rules over all, could there be a suggestion that we have an error in God’s creation? Could this state of affairs justify his banner statement that everything is vanity?
We are back to riddles, but again the context is different. Meaningless. Even these riddles are meaningless, since everything is meaningless! Yet the author still has them in print.
There is more value to be had from these lines based on the context. The axe is dull. Its edge is unsharpened. Could we be looking at God’s creation whose design is impossible to navigate without skill? Could it be an indirect call for wisdom, Wisdom?
And if skill is also meaningless, since everything is meaningless, what then is meaningful? The author has given hints already. He will conclude his thoughts in Chapter 12, but for now, we have more teachings.
If this book brings pessimism, then it has achieved its purpose. It will have correctly observed and described life under the sun but without the Son! It’s all chaos! Then the statement, “Let there be light (Light)” makes more sense.
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