Ecclesiastes Chapter Ten, Impropriety & Sloth

Ecclesiastes 10:16 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!

This pair of verses once more contends with the idea of reversal. What is bad is good, and vice versa. As has already been noted, Ecclesiastes has several themes, this being but one of them that the preacher returns to periodically. Why? Because of its universality. Being king in Jerusalem and knowing so many potentates and ambassadors, he sees the incongruity of life play out from the greatest to the least, and it constantly baffles him. Again, why?

Recall that the preacher is looking for meaning to life under the sun, Ecclesiastes 1:3. Or perhaps more to the point, he is looking for what profit life brings to man. What does man gain by living his life out? One thing he has observed while considering life is that many times something exists in a state it should not, from his observational perspective. For instance, he laments for the land that has a child ruling it, and princes that feast for pleasure at any given time of day. In Daniel chapter 5 we read of the infamous Belshazzar. Son of Nabonidus, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, he was king regent in Babylon shortly before its fall to Medo-Persia. That was why, when Belshazzar rewarded Daniel for the interpretation of the writing, he was given the title of third ruler of the kingdom; the first ruler was Nabonidus, then Belshazzar himself, and then Daniel, Daniel 5:29. At any rate, Belshazzar was giving a feast for a thousand lords and brought out the Jewish worship articles taken from the Temple, profaning them as they made themselves drunk, Daniel 5:1-4.

This feast was occurring while Medo-Persia was at the walls of his city, and Belshazzar suffered the ultimate fate for his indiscretion when he lost his life that very night. Though secular history is unclear what became of him, the Bible is exceedingly clear: he perished at the hands of the Medes and Persians.

Conversely, the preacher commends the land whose ruler is from a proper lineage (i.e., raised and trained to govern the people rightly from wise men who ruled before him). Secondly, he commends the land for princes who feast not to be drunk, but for strength. Strength for what, one may ask. It is not uncommon for a kingdom or government to host a party as a boost to morale before war commences. Feasting may be seen as a trifle gauche while war endures; but it is to boost the morale of the soldiers and citizens to celebrate before battle. It is a sign of confidence of victory over the enemy, despite the losses they know they will incur.

Ecclesiastes 10:18 Because of laziness the building decays, and through idleness of hands the house leaks.

There is much to be said regarding the sluggard from the book of Proverbs. It begins in Proverbs 6:6, where we read, “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise.” More telling about the nature of the sluggard, Solomon describes their habit: “How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep–so shall poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man,” Proverbs 6:9-11.

Continuing his diatribe against laziness, Solomon writes, “As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy man (sluggard KJV) to those who send him,” Proverbs 10:26. Also, “The soul of a lazy man (sluggard KJV) desires, and has nothing,” Proverbs 13:4. And again, “The lazy man will not plow because of winter; he will beg during harvest and have nothing,” Proverbs 20:4. And finally, “The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly,” Proverbs 26:16.

Laziness is a root of need. Solomon had nothing good to say about one who indulges their laziness. We can all be lazy (and sometimes are). Chilling out and kicking back, so to speak, is not evil of itself. I knew a man once who, rather than go to work or even practice personal hygiene, devoted his time to playing video games. His express goal was to be a “kept man.” For those who do not know that phrase, it means to be a woman’s stay at home boyfriend/husband, letting her work in his stead. I cite this example because he not only admitted to being openly lazy, but strove to maintain his status quo. I pray the Lord that his mind has since been changed. Laziness is our enemy; it deflates motivation, energy, enthusiasm or interest. It renders us impotent to take action or be proactive. It stifles the ability to put our all into the work, or support others with everything we have. It robs us of being who we are capable of being, and moreso, who God wants us to be as individuals.

Laziness is toxic, and the more we indulge its influence, the worse it becomes. The preacher takes an exaggerated picture of a decaying, leaky house, falling apart as it were around the lazy person. It is not falling into ruin because of lack of funds or ability; it is falling into ruin because the owner lacks interest or motivation to do anything about it. Mind you, once again this can be any or all of us from time to time. We are human, after all. But this should not be us ALL the time. As the preacher cautions, nothing good will come from laziness.