May 28 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 28—Ecclesiastes 10:2

²A wise man's heart inclines him to the right,
     but a fool's heart to the left.

Devotional:

The contrast between wisdom and folly anchors the closing verses of ch.9. This contrast continues into the 10th chapter and will dominate most of the discussion. The emphasis is now on the nature and manifestations of folly. The general observations about the fool in 10:2-3 may be viewed as a sort of preliminary or introduction to the collection of sayings that follows in ch.10. 10:4-7 expose folly in positions of power and privilege. 10:8-10 discusses folly in terms of a lack of skill, whereas 10:11-15 focuses on the fool's speech. Finally, 10:16-20 returns to the matter of folly in high places and provides a literarily satisfying closure to the collection, in that the text resumes reflection on the initial theme of this block of material.

The first and foremost point to ascertain about the remarks in 10:2-3 is that the fool's problem is traced to a defect of the heart. To use a common expression, we might say, his heart is in the wrong place. "A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart at his left" (10:2). This makes for a humorous anatomy, but the idea of a "blameworthy" left is not at all uncommon. The tendency to associate the "left" with either awkwardness, clumsiness, or even sinister notions ("sinister" comes from a Latin root meaning "left") is observable in many cultures and languages.

Biblical literature shares the tendency of putting an unfortunate spin on the leftward direction. Even God is sometimes seen as being "right-handed." Both divine love as well as justice are depicted as being wrought by God's right hand (cf. Ex. 15:6; Ps. 17:7; Isa. 41:13). It is on God's right hand that we find "pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11), and in the NT, it is on God's right hand—not his left—that the risen Christ has been enthroned.

So the fool's heart is at his left, and that means in the wrong place. It is a fundamental disorientation of the heart that produces the problems our text talks about. On the one hand, the Teacher maintains, God has put eternity into the heart of every human creature (cf. 3:11), so that we know there is more to the world and history than the confusing twists and turns we observe from the dusty road of life (cf. also Rom. 1:19-20). But the fool acts in complete denial of a higher purpose and is bent on seeing the world as his personal playground, where the only rule that matters is "my way." In some sense, therefore, every sinner is a fool at heart, one who conceives and carries out foolish schemes.

Perhaps the chief characteristic of the fool in sapiential literature is his confession that "There is no God" (Ps. 14:1). It would be a mistake, however, to associate this creed only with professing atheists. It is enough that one says this in the heart, and oftentimes the truth of the matter will not be manifest until you take a good look at a person's works. Our works may say, "There is no God," and we can act as though the Lord did not exist, or had nothing to say to us. When we do, it is evident that we have adopted the agenda of the fool. Our heart is in the wrong place. Where is your heart?

The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.