Remember Your Creator

Life in this world is serious business and we are well served by seeking and applying all of the wisdom we can find. It says in Ecclesiastes 10:1 “a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor” so what we say and the way we behave affects our relationships and has a huge impact on the outcome of events in our lives. This is why we are told in Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth”. This world we are in is fruitful in many ways, yet we must plant and harvest and recognize the uncertainty that exists. Not everything we do will succeed but some things will and any financial manager will appreciate this advice in Ecclesiastes 11:2 “Divide your share in seven or in eight, for you do not know what disaster will happen on the earth”. Whether it is for our natural provision or in fulfilling our commission to spread the gospel of the kingdom, we must remember what it says in Ecclesiastes 11:6 “Sow your seed in the morning, and do not let your hands rest in the evening, for you do not know what will prosper— whether this or that”.

Do It With All Your Might

Ecclesiastes 9:7–12

Wisdom Is Better Than Weapons

Ecclesiastes 9:13–18

A Little Folly Outweighs Wisdom And Honor

Ecclesiastes 10:1–11
People will often make a comment and follow it by a statement like “I was just joking” and we might take the word translated as folly here to simply mean “silliness”¹ but it is more than that, “Folly (sekel) or a fool (sākāl) is associated with wickedness (7:17) and is the opposite of wisdom (2:19) … Elsewhere the foolish are said to be ‘skilled in doing evil’ (Jer. 4:22) and to be characterized by moral insensitivity (cf. Jer. 5:21).² The connection here couldn’t be clearer, as flies spoil perfume, so a little folly spoils wisdom in

Ecclesiastes 10:1 Dead flies cause a bad smell and ruin the ointment of the perfumer. So also a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

Jesus speaks rather sternly about this in

Matthew 12:36 “But I tell you that every worthless word that they speak, people will give an account for it on the day of judgment!”

Our words matter and we are to use them for positive and constructive purposes. More importantly, we must be attentive to wisdom because even the skilled craftsman may be injured. We may know the right precautions but that doesn’t help if we aren’t attentive. We must take a break when fatigued, sharpen tools when they are dull, shore up the walls of the pit. Whatever the task, there is no room for folly.

The Wise Man Wins Favor

Ecclesiastes 10:12–20

Send Out Your Bread On The Water

Ecclesiastes 11:1–6
There are many ways this statement “send out your bread” has been interpreted in

Ecclesiastes 11:1 Send out your bread on the water, for in many days you will find it.

Some say “The idea that this phrase refers to charitable giving comes from a parallel in Egyptian Wisdom literature. The Instruction of Ankhsheshonq says, “Do a good deed and throw it in the water; when it dries you will find it.”³

and that fits with

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you, a good measure—pressed down, shaken, overflowing—they will pour out into your lap. For with the measure by which you measure out, it will be measured out to you in return.”

and some say it is from “the custom of sowing seed by casting it from boats into the overflowing waters of the Nile, or in any marshy ground. When the waters receded, the grain in the alluvial soil sprang up (Is 32:20).”⁴ and this practice in Egypt may be the meaning.

From the context though, it seems most likely this is a comment relating to commerce where “Ships on commercial voyages might be long delayed before any profit resulted. Yet one’s goods had to be committed to them. Solomon’s fleet which brought back ‘gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks’ (1 Kgs 10:22) sailed once in three years.”⁵

And if we read on to the next verse, we find a risk management strategy that today we would call diversification in

Ecclesiastes 11:2 Divide your share in seven or in eight, for you do not know what disaster will happen on the earth.

and having done all of this, he also says keep sowing your seed in

Ecclesiastes 11:6 Sow your seed in the morning, and do not let your hands rest in the evening, for you do not know what will prosper— whether this or that, or whether both of them alike will succeed.

Let Him Rejoice In All Of Them

Ecclesiastes 11:7–10