June 3 Daily Devotional

Scripture for Day 34—Ecclesiastes 10:15–20

¹⁵The toil of a fool wearies him,
     for he does not know the way to the city.

Devotional:

This is the last of four short text units that combine to form ch.10. In general, they all contrast wisdom and folly, with an unmistakable stress on the latter. The focus on leadership and royalty in 10:15-20 also provides a nice inclusion with 10:4-7, a passage with very similar thematic thrust.

10:15 can be read with both 10:12-14 and the rest of our passage. The incompetence described here connects with the fool's ignorance in 10:14, just as it may serve as an introduction to the observations about lazy princes and the would-be king found to be unequal to the responsibilities of leadership.

The scenario of profligacy and excess among the nobles with disorder and anarchy looming in the land has found ample documentation in history books. We may think, for example, of France at the end of the 18th century, with unheard-of luxury and decadence among the aristocrats and a hungry bourgeoise outside of their palaces. Massacre and chaos followed suit, and no matter how one evaluates the Revolution with respect to long-term effects, the country remained crippled for many years.

The closing verse of the chapter reminds the subjects of the ruling class to exercise circumspection in dealing with royalty. Irrespective of whether a leader fits the bill of the foolish lad (10:16) or the responsible leader (10:17), rulers are still to be respected. Failure to observe the advice may result in unexpected reprisals, with birds and winged creatures functioning as informants of the crown (cf., "…a little bird told me….").

The text's sayings about idleness, carelessness, and self-indulgence tending toward poverty speak for themselves. The principle is also of interest in spiritual matters. 2 Pet. 1:5-10 lists a variety of virtues that contribute to the forming of Christian character. Failure to invest effort in cultivating character will lead to spiritual blindness.

We all have made the experience of how our slackness in spiritual discipline has spoiled the assurance of faith, and how sin has rendered us blind and insensitive to even the most fundamental truths of the gospel. There is a reason why the apostle exhorts us to "make every effort to supplement faith." Most professing Christians are quite unfamiliar with the concept, let alone the practice thereof.

John Owen speaks of this in The Glory of Christ: "The truth is, the best of us all are woefully defective in this duty, and many are discouraged from it because a pretence of it in some has degenerated into superstition; but we are loath at any time seriously to engage in it, and come with an unwilling kind of willingness to the exercise of our minds in it." Owen refers to our need of consistent contemplation of the glory of Christ. If we are to make any progress beyond mere religiosity, we must keep fresh the thought of Christ's glory, wisdom, humility, power, and love for us, so that we, by "beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor. 3:18).

If we make this our business, the growth process is virtually unstoppable, because the Lord himself works in and through us to "keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Thanks be to God that we have such a king!

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.