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A wise person’s words win favors, but a fool’s lips are self-destructive.
A fool starts out by talking foolishness and ends up saying crazy things that are dangerous. He never stops talking. (Eccl 10:12-14 GW) [context– Eccl 10:11-15]
The Nature of Words
Words are interesting. Words can be meaningful and meaningless. It depends a lot on who is saying them. The meaning of words depends on the intent and motivation of the speaker (or writer). The use of words can be wise or foolish.
Two obvious examples of how words can be either wise or foolish are in social media and politics. This is especially true in what I’d call the age of misinformation. Several decades ago the term Information Age was coined.
It’s safe to say the 21st century could be described as the Misinformation Age.
Words are the means of conveying ideas, feelings, thought, and even complex concepts. Words only have meaning because of how they’re used or misused—their given and specific context.
Words are symbolic. Their meaning is assigned by how they’re used.
I remember how we began to understand how words have meanings assigned to them during our family’s preparation and training for cross-cultural missions work. As we learned new vocabulary words in the language we studied, the words seemed arbitrary and odd to us.
In our local dialect (Cebuano), the word pila is used to count or measure by number. But in another major dialect (Tagalog), the same word meant to line up in a queue or straight line.
When a cashier at a bus terminal asked how many tickets were to be purchase, she said, “Pila?” Our pastor friends from Luzon began to line up in a queue because they heard “pila” as, “line up!” If you knew Filipino culture, this would bring a chuckle since Filipinos don’t usually form lines as westerners do.
I’ve also seen American pastors and missionaries use English words, even biblical words, that aren’t understood by people who know English as a second or third language. Instead of explaining uncommon words in English into simpler words or terms, they assume and expect their listeners to understand.
This really poses a problem for interpreters. Some words (even biblical ones) don’t have an equivalent word or meaning in other languages. I’ve witnessed this many times. The interpreter will either ignore what is said, make something up, or ask for an explanation, which is often lacking.
All this to illustrate and say—a wise person’s words are meaningful and have value. But a foolish person’s words are empty and useless.
Insights
This segment of verses in the middle of Ecclesiastes Chapter 10 doesn’t need a lot of explanation. Since a fool “never stops talking,” it’s only wise to not say too much.
One verse that needs some clarity is verse 11. I prefer the way it’s written in the NKJV rather than in several other versions (including GW)—
A serpent may bite when it is not charmed; The babbler is no different.
This fits the context better than any attempt to be more literal with the translation. Figurative language and proverbial sayings need to be understood within their original context—historical and cultural—and taken as the author intended.
The rest of the verses are fairly easy to discern. The contrast between the words of the wise person and a fool is more about their integrity of character than just their words.
Perhaps this contrast is seen most clearly in verse 12—
A wise person’s words win favors, but a fool’s lips are self-destructive. (GW)
The wise person gains favor with people with their words but the fool self destructs with theirs.
Verse 15 drives the point home with the implication that the fool doesn’t even know what is obvious to everyone else. All the fool says and does is pointless. He has no grounding in what’s true and all he says and does lack purpose.
Here’s a simple summary of these five verses—
A wise person is gracious and purposeful with their words because they have integrity of character.
A foolish person wounds and wearies himself and others with his words because the fool is vacuous (empty) and verbose (overly wordy) by nature.
Existential Reflections
What we can learn from these few verses is simple, as is the application for our own lives. What could be difficult for some of us is to discern which person we are more like than the other.
Perhaps each of us has played the role of a foolish person at certain times in our life or even certain days of the week. Maybe more than we realize. I know this to be true for myself.
We all tend to talk too much about what interests us most. At times, we repeat what we’ve heard others say without verifying how true and reliable they are or if what they said is accurate.
I see this a lot on social media. I cringe at times when I know something that’s said or repeated isn’t accurate or truthful. At times, I cringe because I’ve said similar things only to realize later how wrong I was.
Although it’s said in a different context, what Solomon said earlier in Ecclesiastes also seems appropriate as a practical application of these few verses in Chapter 10—
Don’t be in a hurry to talk. Don’t be eager to speak in the presence of God. Since God is in heaven and you are on earth, limit the number of your words. (Eccl 5:2 GW)
The apostle James echoes this thought—
Remember this, my dear brothers and sisters: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and should not get angry easily. (James 1:19 GW)
Later he says—
…the tongue is a small part of the body, but it can brag about doing important things. A large forest can be set on fire by a little flame.
The tongue is that kind of flame. It is a world of evil among the parts of our bodies, and it completely contaminates our bodies. The tongue sets our lives on fire, and is itself set on fire from hell. (James 3:5-6 GW)
Solomon puts a fine point on it when he says—
Sin is unavoidable when there is much talk, but whoever seals his lips is wise. (Prov 10:19 GW)
It’s hard to miss the point of all this. But just in case… remember the old adage—
God gave us two ears and one mouth for good reason.
If we can remember all this, we’ll be the wiser for it and so will others.
This is an excerpt from my newest book available on Amazon! Glimmers of Light in the Darkness of Life
The Scripture text for this devotional study can be found by clicking the blue button link– “Ecclesiastes Chap 10” [I’ve used God’s Word Translation (GW) for ease of reading but the button link will take you to the text in a parallel version with the NKJV text.]
Also, for further commentary, I recommend Enduring Word by Ptr David Guzik.