Lazy, Selfish Politicians

Scripture Reading

Will you please turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes chapter 10. This morning we'll wrap up Ecclesiastes 10. We'll look at verses 16 through 20. If you're using the provided New King James Pew Bibles for you, you'll find that on page 594. Ecclesiastes chapter 10, beginning at verse 16. Hear now God's perfect word.

Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning. Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes feast at the proper time. for in strength and not for drunkenness. Because of laziness, the building decays, and through idleness of hands, the house leaks. A feast is made for laughter, and a wine makes merry, but money answers everything. Do not curse the king, even in your thought. Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom.

Prayer for Illumination

For a bird of the air may carry your voice, and a bird in flight might tell the matter. Well, in the reading of God's word there, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We know the fear of you is a beginning of wisdom. We need knowledge of you, the Holy One. We need your spirit to understand your word, that we may have ears to hear. And so, Father, please help us. Give us wisdom. Let knowledge be put into skillful practice for your glory. Train us, Lord. Equip us. Correct us. In Jesus's name, we pray. Amen.

Sermon

Well, it's no surprise that Solomon, as a king, has words to say about a king. There's certain things that you ought to know about rulers that Solomon thinks, as he's looking back at the end of his life, and we've already learned a lot about kings in the first few verses of chapter 10, where the king's hand is in his right, and that's a blessing, but what happens when kings are idiots? What happens when Those who are supposed to be rulers become tyrants, dictators. Solomon has some wisdom for us today. So notice in verses 16 and 17, as he gets into this wisdom about kings.

These two are contrasting each other. Theologians, grammarians of Hebrew text will call this antithetical parallelism. This big fancy theological word for they're going to put two things next to each other and contrast them. So you have a woe in verse 16 and a blessing in verse 17. And they go right in line with each other. So in verse 16, you have woe to you, O land. But in verse 17, you have, blessed are you, O land. And notice both of them are talking about kings.

Verse 16, woe to you, O land, when your king is a child. And then verse 17 contrasts that, blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles. Solomon is saying it is a sad, poor, pitiful thing, not necessarily that the king is young, the word here is naar, but it's more like the idea of childish. He should be acting like a man, but instead he's acting like a servant, like a childish one who has not yet come to the age to own his kingdom for himself. It says, woe to you, O land, when your king is a child. Blessed are you, O land, when your king is a son of nobles. There's quite a bit of debate amongst people about what that means, sons of nobles.

But the point is that it's not necessarily like what we think of, like, you know, he has the right lineage and things like this. But the point is, he actually lives up to his name. He's actually a person of honor. It's not just a king with a fake title, but he actually should be king. He comes from a royal line that has earned the crown and his behavior, his attitude, his actions line up with it. But then notice, what does that king look like who acts like a child? What does the king and the princes look like for that one?

In verse 16. Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning. He wakes up in the morning, there's work to be done, there's a kingdom to rule, there's a battle to be had, and instead what is he doing? I'm gonna go get drunk with my buddies. I'm gonna go get fat in the banquet hall. This is what happened.

If you've ever read the book of Daniel before, there's this amazing thing that happens in the book of Daniel if you're paying attention closely. In chapter 5, you have Daniel, and it's no longer Daniel before King Nebuchadnezzar, but it's Daniel before Belshazzar. This is a different king now. Nebuchadnezzar is gone. This is one of his descendants.

And this is the story where, you know, the king is in his palace, and they're having a drunken party, and he says, bring in the goblets from the Jewish temple, and they're drinking, and all of a sudden, the hand starts writing on the wall, mene mene tekel parson, and he's freaked out, and he calls Daniel, and Daniel tells him what the meaning of that prophecy is, and he lavishes him with gifts and all these other things.

This is the same king, the background behind this is, Delshazzar is having this feast, all the while Cyrus, the king of Persia, has gathered an army all around the city of Nineveh, and it's about to fall. They've dammed up the Euphrates. The great city, the river ran through the middle of it, and they dried up the river. And the enemies were about to march through the middle of the city. And if the Persian writings are true, which we'll kind of look at those artifacts in Chalk and Talk later, Cyrus says, there wasn't even a fight.

Why? Belshazzar was acting like a little kid. Oh, we're all going to die. We might as well have a party. Might as well bring out dad's good cups, too. Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning. He should have been ready for war. He should have been fortifying the walls. He should have been arming the troops. He should have been getting ready. But instead, he's putting himself into a gluttonous, drunken stupor. This is the exact opposite of what we see happen. what's described in verse 17, but also what Abraham shows us in Genesis chapter 14. Notice chapter 17, right?

This is the contrast. Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the sons of nobles, and your princes feast. So it's not the feasting that's the problem. Both of them are feasting. So what's it about? And your princes feast in the proper time for strength and not for drunkenness.

See, when Abraham in Genesis chapter 14 goes out, he's gonna fight against all these different clans, all these different ites that have gathered together to fight against him, and he rallies up his men, he gets all the troops, and he goes and he fights against his enemies. He doesn't have a feast and get drunk and things like that and then take his army out. No, he goes and he fights the battle.

And then when that's done, what happens? Melchizedek. By the way, that word, Melchizedek, Melchizedek, King of Righteousness, that same word for king is the word here. Then the King of Righteousness comes out after Abraham has won the battle and he brings him bread and wine. Then he serves him the feast.

See, it's a sad, sad thing. When a king doesn't know when it's the time to weep and when it's the time to dance. It is a sad, shameful thing that comes upon a country when its princes don't know when it's the time to mourn and when's the time to laugh. When the king has no clue about what his people needs and so he doesn't know if it's a time to love or a time to hate, a time for war or a time for peace. The country comes undone. And Solomon says, woe, woe to you, O land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning.

I just want to say, we have been really blessed in our country to have a number of rulers and princes. We don't have kings, but we have presidents. But people have taken this verse very seriously. A number of them who, during times of war, did take vows of abstinence, not because they were putting some type of legalistic burden on them, but just saying, when it's time for this work, I need to be sober. Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the sons of nobles, and your princes feast at the proper time, in strength and not in drunkenness. Because, why? Why is that a blessing? Well, because kingdoms decay. Why do kingdoms decay? Well, part of it is when kings are fools. And that's what he gets at in verse 18.

Because of laziness, the building decays. And through idleness of hands, the house leaks. The kingdom is being run by rulers who are filled with all their desire for luxury and ease. And Solomon is saying, it's like a house. It's like a house that needs the roof to be mended.

It's leaking water. And drops are falling from the ceiling onto the feasting table. But hey, you know what? At least we got food. The roof is sagging in, the beams are wet, and it's about to all fall down on them. But hey, at least we got enough to drink, boys.

Alright, just ignore it. He says that's what the kingdom's like for these foolish kings and princes. The house is about to collapse and they just don't care. And in their luxury, this happens time and time again. It's one of the things that concerns me as a historian, as I read ancient history and I think about kingdoms that have risen and fallen, one of the things that regularly concerns me about our country is as, especially as the upper echelons in the government become more and more about luxury and ease and wealth, it drains the coffers of the country and eventually the people become more and more disillusioned with the princes and the rulers. There becomes a disconnect between the people and their leaders who don't seem to have any grasp of reality. The foundation is crumbling underneath these leaders' feet who are just out there drinking away their time and having fun and they're feasting. All the while the roof is collapsing. And they're just partying it up. And this was one example of this, one of the famous examples.

Now, whether this phrase is true or not, we can talk about that later. But one of the most famous absolute monarchies of the world was at the Palace of Versailles, the Louise of Versailles. And even today, it's sort of. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people every month go to the Palace of Versailles, right, outside of Paris. I mean, chandeliers of gold and walls of mirror and all sorts of luxury. And even as the American Revolution and debt had, the French had just poured money and poured money and poured money and went into absolute just debt. The king in Versailles and his bride were eating well.

Plenty of bread. All the while, the people in the streets couldn't afford bread. And the disconnect, and this is the phrase that's, whether it's true or not, I don't know, right? But the queen says, somebody says, they don't have bread in the streets. And what does Marie Antoinette say? Let them eat cake. That's the point of what it's saying here. Whether that story is true or not, the point is the disconnect.

What happened after that? Well, the people stormed the Bastille. And they have the French Revolution. When you have lavish luxury while the people languish in lacking for even their bread, eventually the house collapses. Even though everyone else could look and see that the building was decaying and the house was leaking, the beams were starting to sag.

It's a sad thing when the land has a king who acts like a child and his princes feast in the morning. But blessed are you, O land. 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. Couldn't help as I was reading about this thinking about who is the king of kings? Who is the Lord of Lord? Who is the Prince of Peace?

His name is Jesus Christ. and thinking about his noble actions. Jesus knew when it was the right time to go to the wedding and to feast and to drink and not become a glutton and a drunkard. Jesus knew what it was like to enjoy the good things that his father gave him in this life. And yet he also knew when it was a time to not. That was not the time to sleep, but it was the time to fast and pray. It was not the time to get drunk. I don't think Jesus ever got drunk. But it was not the time to indulge in drinking. But it was the time to go to the cross. And even when they would give him on the cross and try to encourage him to drink wine, he wouldn't lessen the pain because it was his kingly duty to win the victory over sin and death.

It's our king who knows the perfect time. It's our king that we can follow in his example. Because see, there's a truth to bread, wine, and money. And that's what Solomon gets at in verse 19. A feast is made for laughter. Or more literally, laughter is made by bread. And wine makes Mary. Or more literally, wine gladdens the life. But money answers everything.

I'm gonna be honest, in the margin of my translation, as I was moving this from Hebrew into my own English, I was struggling with this. I literally have written on the side of verse 19, how in the world does this tie? into what was above. And then as I just wrestled over that, I translated on Monday and was on Friday still thinking about it, I just started getting out my highlighters and I started highlighting repeated words. And I realized, oh, these words are used again and again.

This idea of bread, or what's called here feast, bread and wine, is the idea for feasting. is the idea for eating up above. And the idea of money is specifically, the language when it's pronounced sounds very similar, this idea for money is very similar to the ideas of the princes above.

And there's just a reality. There's a reason why a lot of us, we have a goal, we're not gonna gain too much weight around the holidays. But it's really hard when there's eggnog, and there's pumpkin pie, and there's cake, and there's all the fixings at Thanksgiving, and then at Christmas, and then at New Year's. Our family even has a tradition, Auntie Resolution Day. On January 1st, we let the kids go, and we do it before January 1st. We get ready for it, we save up all year, and we have a feast on the first of the year. And they get to buy one thing for breakfast, one thing for lunch, and one thing for dinner. Some people, you might think, have a bellyache by the time lunch comes around. But there's a reason, right? Because it's a joyful day. That's what he's getting at.

A feast is made for laughter and wine makes merry, right? There's a wonderful thing that happens when you eat bread and you have wine. There's a momentary joy that comes from that. Solomon is no stranger, like we talked about in previous chapters. There are good gifts that God gives you in this life. And if somebody's made a delicious ham, or they actually figured out how to make turkey that's not dry and makes you want to cough, enjoy it.

That's a gift. Enjoy it. In the right time. But there's a problem. And that you may have bread that brings laughter. You may have wine that brings joy to your life. Yet, when you couch that against verse 16, that doesn't mean everything is always going well. I'm convinced that verse 19 is tied together with verse 16. A feast is made for laughter and wine makes merry, but money answers everything. There are those who would take that last part of, but money answers everything. And they say, you know, this is just cynical Solomon.

Well, yeah, but if you have money, you can answer all the world's problems. And I'm not here telling you that money isn't a helpful tool, right? The word here for money is silver, right? And don't go, if you're a silver nerd, don't go down your like APMEX spot price list, your stake with me, right? This is not Solomon, I'm convinced it's not Solomon just giving us, and just make as much money as possible because that will answer everything.

No. No, there's been plenty of kings and rulers that look like they're really rich only for their kingdoms to be destroyed. I think what this is really getting at is that there is decay. And even though that there are dictators who are being decadent in their luxury, there's a danger with those types of dictators. Because I think 19 serves as a bridge to get us from these wicked rulers down to verse 20 and the danger that we find ourselves in. So you may You may be the type of person who's able to look through all the bread and all the wine and see how it's just smoke and mirrors. And you may say, like, oh, people are, we're running out of money and the country's about to collapse. I think Solomon's warning us that you still have to be careful.

Because a dictator who has wealth may be wounded, but that makes him more dangerous. I mean, you can wound a lion. Maybe you go on a safari or something. You're not legally allowed to do this, but let's say you go on a safari and you shoot a lion. And you know he's going to die. I would encourage you not to walk up to that lion while he still has breath. Because a wounded lion still has resources that are unpredictable to lunge and to attack, to hurt you and maim you.

And money will make people do, silver will make people do all sorts of crazy things. Do you know one of the main ways that the British tried to fight against the American Revolution? They didn't have enough redcoats. So King George, who had German blood in him, hired German Hessians, mercenaries, soldiers who will serve whoever pays them the silver. Money has all the answers.

I think there's a certain amount here that Solomon is saying, you need to be careful. Be on your guard because even though you can see through the bread and through the wine, that guy still has a lot of resources in his hands. Money can answer a whole lot of his problems still. And so you better watch your words. And this is where I think why it ties into verse 20. Do not curse the king, even in your thought. Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom. For a bird of the air may carry your voice, and a bird in flight may tell the matter. And this is where I think 19 connects to 20, in the real heart of things.

See, we live in a society, we live in a culture where we enjoy the freedom of speech. People can make fun of any president or any judge they want, they can post it out on social media, you can have cartoons, you can have entire satire shows, just making fun of the rulers. Even today in a number of countries that I have traveled to, you better not engage in that type of activity or you will end up in jail. Even if you do it in what you thought was a private place, It's very possible you end up behind bars.

You just disappear. Money answers all sorts of problems for a ruler who has it. So don't curse the king. Verse 16. Chapter 20, or verse 20, I think it's tying to verse 16. Don't curse that king. So woe is the land. But if you curse that king, You're going to have problems. If you curse the rich, those princes, you're going to have problems. They're the ones with money. Why? A little birdie may be sitting at your windowsill and your words, even though you say them in what you think is a super secret quiet place, might flutter away and bring it to the ear of the king. This is a storytelling way of saying the king has spies where you don't even understand.

You may think that you can trust your closest confidant, but you better be careful with your words in an era that Solomon is talking about when it is absolute kings that at the spoken word they can have somebody killed. So you better be careful about how you speak about rulers Because rulers who are in charge of collapsing kingdoms become more and more paranoid and suspicious.

Have you ever, and some of you lived through this, but there's been more and more stories that have come out of what happened in Soviet countries. As communism was starting to collapse on itself, As the dictators and those who were leading the communist parties were having a harder and harder time keeping their reigns over the society, that did not mean more peace for the people. That meant more spies. That meant more people disappearing.

That meant more not being able to know if you could trust the person next to you. When paranoia sets in, you better be careful because even in your bedroom, even in the inner part of your house where you shut the door, in a society that's paranoid by a king that has a child ruler, there's trouble.

I notice he doesn't just say what comes out of your mouth. Did you see that in verse 20? And it's not just what you say. Do not curse the king even in your thoughts. Why? Don't you have a right to think whatever you want about whoever you want whenever you want? Well, yeah, sure, you have a right to.

But I'll tell you what, that might still change your attitude and change your demeanor and even change how you treat that person who you look down to, disdain, and hate in your heart. Probably going to be hard to keep a smile when you have to walk into the court.

This is why Nehemiah was deathly afraid when he went before the king and he was the cupbearer and the king said, why is your face so downtrodden? He wasn't even thinking badly about the king. He was just having hard thoughts about what was going on in Jerusalem and the king was able to tell. And Nehemiah was concerned because that could mean his life. Our inner heart will eventually show in our faces, our attitudes, and our words. And so this is why I chose for us to read Romans chapter 13 earlier. As you see, we want to act like, as Americans, we just live in this blip on the radar of history.

But for the vast majority of Christians throughout the centuries, the vast majority of God's people, period, across the centuries, even all the way back to Solomon, you didn't have a right to your own thoughts. You didn't have a right to your own attitudes. You could be judged. You could be killed. And even in the first century church, the people were not being governed by Christian emperors or kings. Quite the opposite. How were they to think? How were they to behave? Well, for conscience sake.

The Holy Spirit inspires Paul to tell them, by conscience sake, understand that God in His sovereignty, we don't know why, but has placed that ruler in their place, given them authority, and so you know what you do? You pray for them, is what we're told in 1 Timothy chapter 2. You obey them, Romans chapter 13. You honor them, 1 Peter chapter 2.

Why? Because God has placed them in their position of authority. Why has he done that? Not our business. We trust the Lord that he's the one who's governing the universe. I'm sure the Jewish people thought, really, Nebuchadnezzar, that's who you're going to bring? That's who you're saying you rose up? Yeah, that is who the Lord rose up. It's not their business why he's doing it.

So this is very... For a conscience sake, even today, we may have rulers who act like fools. And I think we're pretty blessed. Maybe I should just wait there for a second. We are really blessed that if we have lawmakers or judges, or even presidents who are spending more time at a golf course than in the Oval Office, we can say something about it. We're really blessed to know how much income our legislature is supposed to make. And if they're getting rich when they're only supposed to be making $1,000 a year and they walk out of 10 years of office with $50 million, we're sitting there scratching our head like something ain't right there. We're blessed to live in a country that we can actually say that.

Don't take that for granted. And yet, how much time do we in our hearts just be a good-for-nothing nasty politician? Because how often do we pray for, ask God for reform, plead before the throne of heaven that we would have statesmen and not just politicians who want to feast in the morning? and get drunk when they have responsibilities. We live in this weird place of already and not yet. We live in this place where Jesus, our King, has given us bread and wine. I know that we only eat like a little square of bread, and we only get like a little tiny cup of wine or fruit of the vine when we take communion.

It's meant to show a feast. The king has won the battle. The covenant has been made. And that's why we eat and drink until his coming again. Because we remember that our king Our king has promised us a kingdom that's not of this world. He's given us an inheritance that's kept secure for us in heaven. He's been given the name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. We know that he is exalted to the right hand of the power and the authority of God. He has all the majesty of the fullness of the deity of the Godhead dwelling in him. We know that that is our King who is in heaven today. And yet, sometimes we have wicked rulers who are fools. And so don't place your hope in earthly princes. Don't be surprised when kings act like fools. Pray for them.

But what's our responsibility? We fix our eyes on Jesus Christ. We know that there is a kingdom that is above all of them. And we serve him. We walk in reverence and in godliness. and we pray for our country, and we entrust it to the Lord's hand. May we be those who pray that we would be blessed, O land, when your king is the sons of nobles, and our princes feast at the proper time, for strength and not for drunkenness. But no matter what, if the Lord decides it's not what's good for our nation, That's not what his plan is. Guess what? If our nation falls, it'll be one of the hardest and most difficult times, I believe, in world history. And yet our King will still reign. And we will still have the blessing of going out and telling the nations about King Jesus. So brothers and sisters, thank God we have a king who knows the perfect time.

Closing Prayer

And look to him and pray for the country we live in today. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for practical wisdom that you have given us in your word. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, our king, our ruler, our head. We thank you that he has given us a feast Lord, we know that the wedding feast of the Lamb awaits us. That there will be a day when we get to dwell with you forever. We thank you that we get a taste of that even here and now in this life. Father, please let us walk with wisdom. Teach us, Lord, how to pray and how to live in a world that's fraught with danger. Thank you, Lord, for giving us hope that's not fixed on any earthly king or kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.