- Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king,nor in your bedroom curse the rich,for a bird of the air will carry your voice,or some winged creature tell the matter. -

If you understood the interpretation of verse 19, you should be able to see a similar pattern already emerging in verse 20.

The first thing we should notice is the contrast between verse 16 and today’s passage. What did it say?

It said woe to the land when your child is a king! What does that mean? Is it only appropriate to curse the curse the king when he is a child?

Well, not quite. To better understand the meaning, let’s continue with the verse. We see quickly that we are not to curse the king or the rich.

Why would wisdom dictate to us not to curse the king or the rich man? We could say that perhaps the most moral thing is to not curse anyone.

That gets a bit difficult when we think about someone doing something truly heinous. Should we not curse someone who butchers children? Are not kings capable of those atrocities?

Let‘s slow down for a moment. The text is very careful. It says not to curse the king or the rich. What does this mean?

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This is an imposition not to curse our king or the rich people in our orbit. It is wisdom provided in the guise of self-preservation, not an unbreakable law.

We are being told something practical here, not necessarily moral. We are being told to save our own skin by teaching our minds not to curse our betters.

How do we know this? The verse go on to say that some winged bird will go on to spread what it is that we are pondering.

In short, if we make a habit of cursing the king in our mind, those thoughts will make it to them eventually in a way that seems to us untraceable.

A rumor gets away from you. Don’t tell so-and-so because I’m only telling you can spread to everyone you know. Be vigilant not to spread gossip.

How can you do so? By not even speaking ill of others in your own mind. You will extinguish the fires before they even have a chance to be lit.

Now, this is a strange verse in our day. We can curse the “king” (rather president) all day long without fear. We can call him old, weak, or stupid and no one does anything except argue back.

How are we then as modern Americans supposed to treat this verse?

First, we need to see this verse is good advice more than it is a moral teaching. In fact, we can find excellent parallels in our own life.

Perhaps the most obvious aphorism is the customer is always right. The customer is your company’s profit. You want to curse them? It’s like preparing and drinking your own poison.

Second, we can see that there are more productive ways in our life to deal with people we dislike than talking bad about them.

Instead of complaining about politicians, why not get involved? Why not go door to door campaigning for local reps instead of watching tv and yelling at talking heads?

It’s important to remember that some of that “news” is merely entertainment. If you only engage with it as a show, are you truly taking it seriously?

Work before you complain. Meet before you judge.

Converse before you condemn prematurely.

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- Bread is made for laughter,and wine gladdens life,and money answers everything. -

This is a strange verse to find in your Bible. Typically, we look for moral teachings, especially in the wisdom literature.

Why are we getting these lessons about wine and money? Are we not supposed to lean on God rather than our own resources?

First, let’s just examine the veracity of these claims.

Is bread made for laughter? Undoubtedly, it brings joy to any feast. I’ve never looked at a piece of bread though and laughed.

Bread though isn’t made just for giggles. It’s made for sustenance. It keeps you going and growing and alive. If we baked bread and just laughed at it, we would be considered deranged.

It is worthless unless you eat it.

Wine can indeed gladden life. But, it does more. It leads to an ungoverned mind, the result of which leads to scandals that can ruin reputations and livelihoods.

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Even recently we have discovered how the lie a little bit of wine is good for you was nothing but a bad study paid for by the wine industry itself!

Does alcohol make life better? No. It dulls our senses to pain and consequence. That makes life seem better without changing any of its circumstances.

There is nothing more frightening than to experience an emergency. There is nothing more demoralizing to wonder how you will pay for the operation while waiting for the family member to recover.

It is good to have money. It makes many of life’s problems that could arise for your family simply disappear.

But, it doesn’t answer everything. You cannot bring a family member back to life. You cannot pay enough to get back the words you have already spoken in anger.

Even while you’re terrified in the waiting room, counting up the bills, you’re still grateful that your family gets to go home together still complete.

You wouldn’t trade that for the world, nor could you.

So then, we have three statements here that are not precisely untrue, but are definitely not the whole picture. They show an aspect that is undoubtedly true and good to know, yet they are incomplete.

What then are we supposed to take away?

Who says money fixes all your problems? It’s the man who believes it to be true. Same for the man who says alcohol makes him happy and how much he loves to eat.

We know or have been around people like this. If you ask, they won’t agree with their own words. They will point out the nuances we have already discussed.

But, they won’t offer them up freely. They need to feel judged before they can speak to them. In fact, they say these partial truths knowing them to be partial truths to have others say them to them.

By doing so, they create a culture of casting a blind eye to the parts of our pleasures or pursuits we do not wish to acknowledge so we can enjoy their benefits.

If we say there are no negative consequences, are there?

Wisdom can see the world with both. It knows money is useful, but not entirely. That bread is not to be wasted, and that wine makes you feel good with consequences.

Beware of those who see only a truth and not the whole truth.

Let wisdom be your guide.

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- Through sloth the roof sinks in,and through indolence the house leaks. -

I have a problem. I am a compulsive cleaner.

That doesn’t mean everything I own is spotless. Rather I cannot feel at rest while something in my house is dirty.

If the dishes are filling up the kitchen sink, I feel every single one of them, including the time and effort it will take to clean them.

Can I sit on the couch and be lazy? Sure, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about what needs to be done.

It makes my rest restless. Now, I think in some ways this emotion is common to most people, but I do believe, especially in my conversations with others, I feel it more acutely.

It is one of the reasons I feel disconnected from a common comment from those within my generation regarding home ownership.

I hate home ownership. Something is always breaking!

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My initial thought is of course it is. Even with my predilections, I find a part of the emotion they are communicating within my own chest as well.

I want to spend most of my time relaxing and enjoying the conveniences of modern life. If I’m really honest, one of the reasons I work so hard is so I can sit around.

So, what can I do? Well, if I decide to rest more than I want to work and maintain my home, what is the consequence too that?

The roof caves in. The house leaks. The floors creak. The HVAC system gets ivy in the motor. That mold keeps growing.

Houses tend to fall apart on their own. They need no encouragement from us to start being run down and ragged.

The real truth? This is everything in our lives. Even marriages and the like will begin to crumble if we do not take the time to make them special or provide the routine maintenance they need.

The question then becomes why ever own a home? It’s a chore you have to work through your whole life! Why would you give that to yourself.

Perhaps you might even ask the question, why get married. Who wants the extra burden in their life of taking care of someone else.

Isn’t life complicated enough with all the other problems that it has thrown your way? Why put more work on your back and make things more difficult?

The answer is simple. Have you been in a home? It is a house that has been cared for. It provides more to your life than the good itself.

Have you ever been in love with your spouse for years after you have been married? It is better than being married for one year even with all the newness of the relationship.

The maintenance creates safety, security, and acceptance. The work, even if its mundane provides a real security that makes your life more at rest.

There is that word again. Work leads to a deeper rest. It is a removal of all the snakes from underneath the floorboards. It is not accepting a stone that hasn’t been flipped over.

Once you know that there are no unknowns throughout your house, your rest can become deeper because you and your family have made it a home.

How much more than our Savior and His work that has made our eternal house a True home.

May we trust in His great work.

Housekeeping – Hey everyone, Katie and I have made the decision to proceed with a surrogate for at least one of our three “snow babies.”

With that all being said, I’m picking up a second job and she will be working overtime as well to help pay for this and potentially future transfers.

For the foreseeable future, Broken Wheel is going to a once-a-week post on Wednesday. If this changes how you want to contribute, no hard feelings.

Thanks for going on this journey with me! I am determined to finish this project and have loved every time I’ve had the opportunity to write here.

Have a great rest of your week, and God bless.

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- Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility,and your princes feast at the proper time,for strength, and not for drunkenness! -

The first part of this verse may rub you the wrong way if you are an American. We are known quite famously for our distaste for nobility.

Not to mention this insane discussion about a king.

This verse builds off the prior. As we read it, we need to compare it with the previous in order to understand it better.

Previously, we were told woe was coming to the nation who had a child as a king. Now we are being told to be thankful that our king is the son of nobility?

How do these two relate?

Perhaps the bad king is not from the line of nobility. This may be because he is a usurper or the favorite son of a conqueror.

In a sense, he has no history with the nation, no ancestry to lean on or someone to guide him in how to rule a specific country.

The woe referred to in sixteen may have already occurred in his or his nation’s conquest of the land. The parties and feasting may be at the nation’s expense that has already lost their men in a war.

Why would you want your king to be a member of the nobility? Well, like it or not, they are the only family in town with any experience in running the country.

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Smith. Baker. Weaver. We gave these names so people would have an instant connection between the family and their trade.

The same is true for kings in the past. We understand that information and skill sets today don’t necessarily come from one’s birth, but it is definitely a head start.

The second part of this verse informs us that the king mentioned here is not a youth. How do we know? Because the princes are feasting at the proper time.

As we said last week, it is good to have a king with experience. It is not a guarantee of wisdom, but it is the most common way by which men obtain it.

Finally, and this is a beautiful part of the verse, they feast not for drunkenness but for strength. What does this mean?

To be honest, most times after I have a big meal, I’m not good for much else than sitting on the couch. How can you feast for strength?

If you have a celebration for a victory, does it not strengthen the crown? If you feast in response to a bountiful crop, doesn’t it grow the bonds of friendship between one another?

It is as if you could feast at the proper time!

Excess at some points in our life is a celebration of bounty. It is an echo of the paradise awaiting us. But, we are to never forget that this place is not our home. To do so will lead to drunkenness.

What’s the lesson for a nation without a king? Perhaps it’s that a land is happy when its leaders and its supporters are all in the proper place, both ability and stage of life.

We should strive in our own lives to make this true. We should trust in God where the brokenness of this world has caused this to not be true.

Lean on God to see this world with His eyes.

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- Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,and your princes feast in the morning! -

Woe is a stark phrase. It means that great sorrow or distress is coming upon whom the word is directed at.

It’s dire language for a king to use. They are precisely aware of what kind of woe can befall a land more so than others.

There might even be times in their reign when they themselves are called upon to be the architect of woe upon another nation.

Solomon here could possibly be speaking from experience. Not from his own kingdom, but perhaps from a nearby kingdom.

What is the danger when children rule? Don’t they understand technology better than their parents? Can they not come up with intuitive solutions to old problems?

Despite these advantages to youth, there is one thing the young can never have over the aged.

Experience.

This is important to hear; experience is not correlated with wisdom although it is one of the primary ways by which it is gained.

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You can go through many events in your life and not learn anything from them. You can also be young and hold tight to God’s word and gain wisdom beyond your years.

This is rare and most people gain it through experience.

Even though the young-in may have some great ideas, the chance of him being wise is low. In addition, he is a youth and filled with the passions that accompany it.

What could this result in? Untimely wars or not being prepared for them, pursuing one’s own lusts and desires, or perhaps ignoring the plights of others due to limited vision.

Perhaps even the king will have feasting in the morning instead of the evening. What is the problem with this?

He is beginning the day without any attempt to work. He is getting the reward for being a king without providing his end of the bargain.

Perhaps you have already begun to see it. In our day and age, are we ruled by the desires of the aged or the youth?

We have this belief that revolution will come with the young. That the structures that have oppressed people for so long will topple to the ground.

What do these individuals wish to achieve? They want the benefits of society while working as little as possible for themselves and others.

Now, may they see actual corruption? Potentially, there is always the possibility that those in authority are blind or are willfully hurting others for their own gain.

Corruption must be dealt with in the proper manner. This is something that the young fail to see and they create changes like that of the French Revolution – destruction to all that was dear.

You don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. You don’t try to remove the splinter until the log is out of your own. You must use minimal necessary force.

We see the opposite in our day and age. We see certainty with no facts, we see brashness disguised as empathy, and destruction of all definitions as liberation.

A kingdom governed by unwise rulers, either old or young, cannot stand. They will flail around in the dark until their stronger and truly evil enemies come to remove them.

Or perhaps nature will get a fair shot in. Or God.

But we know this world is headed for judgement. Our Lord has lovingly liberated us from it. Even while we are headed for destruction, we can have hope in Jesus.

What’s the lesson?

Do not give authority to unwise leaders.

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

There is a strange dichotomy in regard to being a fool. You may have already noticed this in my previous posts.

You do not want to be a fool. You are already a fool.

Why do I know you are a fool? Because all men are fools in some area of their life. You simply cannot know everything.

Imagine an electrician scoffing at a brain surgeon. It has happened before, and it will happen again.

It is good to know you are a fool. Why? Who has something to learn? Only someone who knows they do not know can gain knowledge.

We’ve identified the conundrum. Everyone wishes to be wise and to not act like a fool, yet everyman is forever and perpetually a fool.

Then how do we ever come to recognize some men and women as wise?

I’ve said this before, but part of being wise is that you know this truth. By acknowledging your foolishness, you already begin to move yourself towards wisdom, an unreachable goal.

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The fool in this story, and like many of the fools mentioned by Solomon, is one who does not realize he is a fool.

It’s strange to say his toil wearies him. Doesn’t any labor weary the body? How could it be any other way for the wise?

Have you ever engaged in nonproductive labor? Perhaps you were asked to do a task at work that had no utility, simply filling out forms.

Probably performing that task bothered you. Why? Because it was a waste of the work itself. Not only did you lose time, but you spent effort for no gain.

The fool does this to himself in his own labor because he does not know its purpose. He works and not only tires his body but doesn’t achieve anything with it.

How could this happen? Perhaps he is engaged in a trade that he is bad at yet refuses to admit so to himself.

Maybe he lacks knowledge and creates a product that cannot be sold because it is not high enough quality. Perhaps he is too lazy.

His labor doesn’t matter. It is just as useful as if he didn’t do it at all. The second half of the verse helps us see this idea more clearly.

How is that the fool cannot find his way to the city? It doesn’t make any sense. Does he have a house but simply winds up sleeping in the street?

He has to be able to find the city. Our verse means something a little more abstract.

The metaphor means something akin to this, he cannot navigate his way through the city’s governmental, economical, or legal intricacies.

What do I mean? It’s not a matter of finding a place, it’s a matter of knowing what price to sell at, what licenses he needs, and what taxes he has to pay.

Even while being in the city, it’s like he isn’t even there, and his inability to make sense of it leaves him with no benefit from his work.

It’s sad when we see people like this; people who blame laws and competitors for their lack of success when we all struggle underneath the same rules.

What is the lesson for us? We could say it is don’t act like a fool. We could even say it is to know you are a fool.

The best lesson?

Don’t be so foolish you cannot learn.

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- A fool multiplies words,though no man knows what is to be,and who can tell him what will be after him? -

Isn’t it amazing how everyone seems to know everything about everything? Perhaps you think I’m guilty of this as well.

At times I definitely struggle with it. Why? Well, the information age makes us feel like experts. The right answers are only a google away.

Yet, many of us have terrible memories. Rarely, unlike our very recent ancestors, do we commit anything to memory.

We take notes, jot things on sticky pads, take pictures, send emails, or just reread the Wikipedia article for the 18th time.

Why? Does it seem impossible that those who came before us memorized entire epic poems? What changed?

Perhaps the ubiquity of paper and information systems simply reduced the need. Why memorize the story when the blue ray is sitting in the drawer?

This over-confidence that comes from an abundance of information leads us to think we know many topics completely.

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We’ve all known (or been) the individual who has an opinion on everything. Yes, from politics, religion, and how to fix your cracking foundation.

What does Ecclesiastes tell us? A fool multiplies his words. What does this mean? For starters, he speaks of everything.

But it is more than that. He speaks of everything and says more than is necessary to explain it. They say nothing yet they don’t stop talking.

Ironically, if given the chance to speak long enough, they may even conclude the opposite of what they initially touted as correct!

Why? Because they are not speaking with any wisdom or intelligence; they simply speak whatever is at the top of their mind, filling in the absence with their most current thought.

What should we do? First, we should learn to be silent. In listening, we may learn and become wiser and more capable.

Second, we should learn something well. What do I mean? Is it not good to help your fellow man? To improve their life and take suffering from it?

How might you do this without some knowledge? Can you be a plumber and not understand vent, water and sanitary lines?

You must learn and in learning you must become a student at the expense of what else you can learn. By limiting yourself, you become more than what you are.

With that focus, you gain the respect the fool wishes to obtain by seeming to know everything. You become someone worth listening to.

You will notice when you speak that others listen. Why? Because they want to hear. They communicate this with their bodies, with their attention.

But what else does Ecclesiastes say? Who can know what is to be? What will come after him?

The first part is instruction in knowledge while the latter is instruction in wisdom. The future is a mystery to every man, hidden behind the veil.

What man can see it? Perhaps one may answer the prophet. Is he not able to speak to us of the future promises of God? Do they not speak of the future of Christ’s reign?

Perhaps, but it is not something they come to by their own. It is rather something shown to them. This presenter is the one who knows what is to be and comes after man, even in finality.

He has seen the end of this heaven and earth, of these forms, and of this pain.

Praise God for the His redeeming vision.

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- The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness,and the end of his talk is evil madness. -

Thou shalt not judge.

It’s one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Many people outside of the church love it. They do so because they see people within the church judging them harshly.

You cannot follow this simple command by your God? Then how dare you call yourself Christian. I am obviously more Christlike than you who purports to be His follower.

Many people within the church hate the banter surrounding this verse because of this tactic (perhaps you could go so far in certain situations to call it bullying).

You will see Christians tie themselves in knots trying to show that this verse doesn’t mean what it plainly means.

Of course, we are to judge. How else will be able to call sin - sin? We have to call out things that grieve God no matter where they can be found.

Why then do I call this one of my favorite verses despite the confusion it causes within the church and society? It is because the verse has nothing to do with the argument surrounding it.

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In many ways, we all act like Pharisees, trying to determine with our worldly understanding the meaning of a verse that has nothing to do with us.

Why are we not to judge? Because there is only one Judge.

There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

It will surprise you possibly to know that this verse comes directly from James, chapter 4 verse 12.

Does this mean we do not live lives according to God’s will? Does it mean we do not witness to the unsaved? How can we know if we cannot discern what pleases God?

And here we see the truth. Christians are not supposed to judge but warn of judgement. All know in their hearts that the secret actions they take are stored against them.

Whether they believe it or not, all feel the corruption of living against the force of Being itself. Their own lives become a judgment, forcing them to see their own foolishness.

What foolishness is it they have succumbed to? By saying you cannot judge me they mean more than what they say. They mean no one can judge me.

Not even the King of Heaven. They don’t believe in Him and use His own words to belittle His followers, exposing their own foolishness.

Reminds me of a showdown in the wilderness.

What happens when you believe there is no judge or that His will cannot be known?

You might begin to believe that your sexual relationships don’t matter. Afterall, nobody is hurt. There is no crime!

You may think the consequences of those sexual actions should be erased. A night of pleasure willing entered shouldn’t result in a lifelong financial burden.

No one has been hurt, save for the embryos.

What then will stop you or others from leaving the natural use of each other’s bodies? You will feel it a moral obligation to give homosexual couples the same cultural standing as heterosexual ones.

If men’s and women’s bodies have lost their purpose (rearing children), then why not allow them to be interchanged?

Why not remove their ability to serve the Lord in one of His earliest commands?

Why not butcher your body like the pagans?

Why be judged?

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- The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him. -

A mark of a good teacher is knowing when to ask your audience a question.

This is most clearly seen in the poor discussion questions that accompany study books. The questions definitely can generate discussion, but not perhaps in the way the author’s intended.

There is always the opportunity for the class to run away with the lecture when a question is asked. Give them an inch and some take a mile.

Perhaps a more unsure instructor will only use rhetorical questions as a way to indicate thought without inviting others to participate.

A step up from this is the “are you actually listening?” question. It drives engagement with the talk, but limits it to a memorization game.

What did I just read? What did we just discuss? How does this relate to what we just covered?

These questions are useful as they keep people on track, help them remember key parts of your talk that you intend to reference, and to guilt listeners who are not paying attention.

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Some teachers might be tempted to think that the best question is the one that invites their listeners to think for themselves.

A nicely phrased open-ended question has the flair of the academic all around it, but this requires a buy-in from the students that is usually not given.

For an open question to work, the audience must’ve read enough to engage with it properly. This is a luxury for a teacher and not a possibility for a lecturer.

Now, asking on open ended question to students who cannot answer it shows them, if they are paying attention, that they are not ready for the exam!

But, a lecturer has the hour. No required reading is distributed beforehand. They are the only person to engage with their texts.

So, what kind of question can they ask? They ask questions that show their audience how to think.

They are questions that show how the lecturer moves from point to point throughout their studies and meditations on the subject itself, revealing how to learn the material.

A good lecturer reveals what they have learned and instructs those listening how to discover similar insights for themselves.

How can we know this? We might have been lucky enough to have experienced this type of teacher before, or we could thank Socrates himself.

The Socratic method is essentially this process of asking questions to get to the bottom of things. Read Socrates though and you will see he acts plenty of times like a guide rather than an explorer.

Perhaps it is with the proper questions that we can recognize wise men and women among us.

Now, one thing that we can find in any lecture is the student who wishes to not only answer every question but fill every silence.

They may even have some genuinely good insights, but these are drowned out by the rest of their speech.

Why? No one came to hear them. They’ve taken over a public forum. They came to an event where someone else was to speak and made it about their ego.

They’ve proven themselves a fool and destroyed any good message they had with an abundance of speech.

What is the lesson for us? Sit when it is our time to sit. Even bad lectures prove to our benefit if we listen to what they lack.

As a teacher, know you must guide your listeners and direct away from distractions. You must be an expert both in speech and your material in order to do so.

In all things, act as unto God.­

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- If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,he must use more strength,but wisdom helps one to succeed. If the serpent bites before it is charmed,there is no advantage to the charmer. -

Once again, we have some useful proverbs to discuss that can guide us in our own life. By adopting them, perhaps we can utilize them prior to experiencing their veracity.

Ever tried to cut something with a dull edge? It’s miserable work. I keep a razor blade on me and for some reason I’m terrible at replacing the blade.

In an effort to conserve my blades, I’ll use the same dull one again and again until my fingers are better tools. Only then will I reach for a new blade.

This same scenario used to happen in our kitchen until I bought a knife sharpener. Best decision of my culinary career.

No longer do we struggle in the kitchen to make cuts. Three quick runs over the modern whetstone and prepping a meal has never been easier.

Now, this isn’t just true when it comes to knives. You of course have heard the axiom of the southern man regarding this same truth?

Work smarter not harder.

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What does it mean? It’s not an injunction against working hard, it’s simply that increasing your effort at times isn’t the best path forward.

Perhaps, if you step back and assess the situation, you can finish the task faster, with less effort, and potentially future tasks faster as well.

In fact, the decision to do the hard work is found in the decision to work wisely. What do I mean?

The best thing for you to do is not to man up. That is actually an escape to do what is expedient and not what is most efficient.

We think of hard work as only being that which is physically difficult. Sure, that’s part of it, but it’s important to remember to do the hard work of problem solving as well.

Now, what is this part about a serpent biting? If you have a King James version, you probably read this verse and didn’t think a second thought about it.

Those versions appear to talk about two people, a charmer and a babbler, i.e. someone skilled and someone filled with nonsense.

Pretty easy to see the meaning in that verse. Unfortunately, that’s not really what the verse means in the original Hebrew.

The ESV is a better match. In this version, we can see that the charmer is bitten because he has failed to do his job properly.

The serpent isn’t charmed and strikes. What is the point in hiring someone who cannot do their job?

Why is the charmer bitten? Well, it could be simply due to incompetence. The text here also implies another reason.

He is impatient or in hurry. Sometimes, when we are experts in dangerous work, we can assume we are fine because we’ve done this before.

It’s when you assume that you are above safety, that you get bit. How does this look in our own day and age?

We still do dangerous work. Construction for starters. Don’t tie off? That’s a dangerous risk a few stories up.

But it also comes in a host of office regulations and laws in general. The one time you don’t cross your t’s is the one time somebody checks.

What do our proverbs teach us today?

Work with wisdom and diligence.

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