In Chapter 10, Koholet reverts to the two-liner proverb format. Perhaps this is intended as satire, because most of it makes no sense. I mean, what the heck is this supposed to mean: "The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." If you break through a wall, you might be bitten by a snake? I suppose that's possible but if I have a good reason to break through a wall I'm still going to do it. I can imagine doing a standup routine with this material, maybe mocking Deepak Chopra type deepitudes. Anyway, if you can extract some meaning from this gibberish, let me know.
10 As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
2 The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the left.
3 Even as fools walk along the road,
they lack sense
and show everyone how stupid they are.
4 If a ruler’s anger rises against you,
do not leave your post;
calmness can lay great offenses to rest.5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun,
the sort of error that arises from a ruler:
6 Fools are put in many high positions,
while the rich occupy the low ones.
7 I have seen slaves on horseback,
while princes go on foot like slaves.8 Whoever digs a pit may fall into it;
whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.
9 Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them;
whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.10 If the ax is dull
and its edge unsharpened,
more strength is needed,
but skill will bring success.11 If a snake bites before it is charmed,
the charmer receives no fee.12 Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious,
but fools are consumed by their own lips.
13 At the beginning their words are folly;
at the end they are wicked madness—
14 and fools multiply words.No one knows what is coming—
who can tell someone else what will happen after them?15 The toil of fools wearies them;
they do not know the way to town.16 Woe to the land whose king was a servant[a]
and whose princes feast in the morning.
17 Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth
and whose princes eat at a proper time—
for strength and not for drunkenness.18 Through laziness, the rafters sag;
because of idle hands, the house leaks.19 A feast is made for laughter,
wine makes life merry,
and money is the answer for everything.20 Do not revile the king even in your thoughts,
or curse the rich in your bedroom,
because a bird in the sky may carry your words,
and a bird on the wing may report what you say.Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 10:16 Or king is a child
1 comment:
Well, this passage does largely sound like inane claptrap, but I certainly can relate to one part:
3 Even as fools walk along the road,
they lack sense
Yesterday, I saw a middle-age couple walking out of a Whole Foods. The man was wearing a wrinkled gray T-shirt, festooned with what was probably a flag and a gun, and it was inscribed (in capital letters, of course), PRO-GUN, ANTI-IDIOT. The great irony was that the man, who looked humorless and completely unaware of his partner, had sort of a lopsided walk, was heavily overweight, and looked like a slovenly, unconscious idiot.
It seems to me that one of the things that conservatives and right-wingers have in common is that they are largely lacking a true sense of humor or irony. They just don't get it -- "it" being an awareness of all the colors in the human emotional palette. They are emotionally impaired.
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