Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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There was an individual, who growing up, had rickets which hindered his ability to run and play like many other children.
He wore leg braces until he was five years old.
He was from a family that was quite dysfunctional.
He was raised by his mother after divorcing the father.
As he got a little older, he became involved in a gang and actually spent some time in youth prison.
It was after a meeting with the famous baseball player, Willie Mays, who encouraged him to avoid this troubled life and try to better himself through sports.
So, he played football, both ways, as a running back and defensive back and was named to the Junior College All-American team as a running back for City College of San Francisco.
He then transferred to the University of Southern California.
In 1968, he made a major name for himself.
He still holds the record for the largest margin of victory for the Heisman Trophy.
In 1973, he became the first player in the NFL to break the 2,000 yard rushing mark.
He still holds several NFL records.
In case you haven’t figured out who this person is, his name is O. J. Simpson.
Sadly, he is no longer remembered for any of this but rather for the foolishness of a dramatic slow-motion police chase, high profile murder trial, breaking and entering as a thief, etc.
The first 3 verses of chapter 10 serve somewhat as an introduction to the end of Solomon’s lecture.
Once again, we see the word folly used in this chapter 9 different times.
Those who teach public speaking say that in order to capture an audience’s attention, begin with an introductory comment that really grabs their attention.
Well how about, Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil stink . . .
?
I have to admit, he got my attention, as my mind began to visualize the picture and that of those smelling the perfume.
The point is obviously, that the reputation of the person with wisdom and honor stinks when it becomes tainted with a little foolishness.
That is probably the verse which is the foundation for all of the upcoming examples.
Yet, as we approach the following examples, we wonder why some people seem to hang around foolishness like a magnet, while others seem to show great wisdom and actually seem to repel folly.
Well, verse 2 shows that it begins in the heart or the center of a person, their character.
What is it that motivates you from your very essence?
It seems that some people are just bent on being foolish, even though there are people that want to walk beside along the road.
They are naturally attracted to folly because they do not have a guiding principle of wisdom as part of their character; most likely because they have rejected God.
Now, lest someone think that this is a political commentary, it’s important to understand what the listeners of that time period thought about the right and the left.
In that time and that part of the world, it was commonly understood that the right hand was one of power and honor.
The left hand was considered weak and unimportant.
Interestingly, the English word for sinister comes from a Latin word which was understood to refer to on the left hand.
Thus, when the Bible speaks of the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left, it is because that person lacks wisdom.
Today, we want to remember that:
We need wisdom which can only come from truly knowing God.
So, knowing this we will look at the four different examples Solomon discusses as he reveals different kinds of fools.
A Ruler Who Doesn’t Measure Up. - 10:4-7
One would think that a ruler of a nation would have to have wisdom.
We recall Solomon even requesting wisdom upon becoming king.
We get the impression that this ruler was a bit of a hot head.
It could be as a result of being prideful or arrogant.
Solomon gives no justification for this anger.
Now we’ve heard the phrase of someone who loses their temper.
That means that they lost control of their emotions.
It has been suggested that if a person cannot control his temper, then he cannot control himself.
Thus, he probably cannot control a host of other situations.
In fact, listen to a couple of verses from Proverbs which goes along with this thought.
Proverbs 16:32
Proverbs
However, the response seen in the last part of verse 4 seems to show the use of wisdom: do not abandon your position, because composure allays great offenses.
I especially like the NLT wording: don’t quit!
A quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes.
Maybe we could suggest that we don’t fight fire with fire.
Rather than acting like a fool, as well; we should let wisdom guide our reactions.
Verses 5-7 show another foolish thing that some rulers do, and is probably seen throughout the world today; not just in politics, but in various venues.
Here is where the ruler or leader doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing.
In this instance, he appoints those who are foolish to positions of authority.
Meanwhile, he has people who could very well lead and do the right thing, placed in lower positions doing menial tasks.
He also shows that the ruler has the servants riding around on horses like they’re the ones who ought to be there.
At the same time, those who ought to be treated well and on horses are being treated as slaves and nobody’s.
Think about this for a bit.
If the ruler or leader is fool enough to use incompetent people and not utilize the strengths and talents of those who could help lead, then there will be some very unwise leading or ruling taking place.
We recall the example of Rehoboam who chose not to heed wise counsel.
Instead he chose to listen to his buddies and in his foolish arrogance, things went quite badly for him.
My friends, there is nothing wrong with exercising wisdom, even though it might not be popular.
One would be a fool to put someone into a position of authority who is not qualified.
One would be a fool who ignores a wise person and tries to minimize that person and not take advantage of how God had equipped them.
We need wisdom which can only come from truly knowing God.
A Worker Without Wits - 10:8-11
We need to understand that Solomon was not downplaying hard work or manual labor.
What he appears to be discussing is those who are working hard, but have problems because they were foolish in the process.
It seems that the overall picture is that when work was being done or had been done, an accident or injury took place because they were careless.
The first one dug a pit or a well and ended up falling into it.
The wise person would have set some precautions in place.
Then we see an individual who is tearing down a wall or a fence and ends up being bitten by a snake.
Accidents can happen, we know.
But Solomon is focusing on those that could have been prevented.
That becomes more obvious with the next illustration.
Here we see workers at a quarry and in the woods.
Verse 10 helps to explain why there was foolishness causing the hurt.
The individual was trying to split wood or cut down the tree with a dull ax.
It’s almost like the fellow who took almost a day trying to cut down a tree with a brand new chain saw.
As he complained about this new-fangled gadget being worthless, his neighbor asked if he’d bothered to start it up.
The foolish tree cutter had been trying to cut down a tree without running the motor.
When harvesting or tilling the soil, we would save so much time by taking extra time to make sure the sickle blades were sharp or the discs or chisels were clean and sharp.
Verse 11 stands out as a bit odd to us in the Western world.
However, during Solomon’s time, the snake charmer was an entertainer of sorts.
It is fairly common knowledge that a snake doesn’t have ears.
Instead it gathers sound through sound waves vibrating its head bone structure.
In reading a bit about this, it is stated that it is not so much the music which the snake charmer plays.
It is the man’s movement and staring that keeps the serpent focused and controlled.
Thus, Solomon shows how ridiculous it would be for the snake to bite the charmer before it was charmed.
This would happen when a charmer was trying to make things happen too quickly in efforts to have more show to make more money.
Obviously, being bitten by the serpent was a real downer for the charmer since he’ll probably die.
Also, he won’t get any income from those watching since he had behaved like a fool, hurrying the process.
By the way, I discovered that the mongoose was often close to the charmer so that if the snake or serpent attacked, the mongoose would snatch it before it got to the charmer.
But sometimes, they missed.
In each of the scenarios Solomon presented, the workers did not use wisdom.
In their foolishness, they were possibly arrogant or overconfident or simply trying to get by with a shortcut.
However, they were either slowed down, hurt, or possibly killed.
Even in our work, We need wisdom which can only come from truly knowing God.
A Talker Who Shouldn’t - 10:12-15
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