“Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird of the air may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.”
~ Ecclesiastes 10:20
Hi James and Ellen,
What have you learned in school? What is your teacher’s name? How would you like to everyday call your teacher Mr. Ecclesiastes? The name Ecclesiastes denotes teacher. If you were to call your teacher Mr. Ecclesiastes, you would be calling your teacher Mr. Teacher. Do you call your teacher – teacher, or do you call your teacher by his or her last name? The author of Ecclesiastes claims that he is teacher. Some guys think that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. Because the guy who wrote Ecclesiastes has such a case against rulers and/or kings, your grandpaa thinks that it was another guy who wrote Ecclesiastes. How would you like it if your teacher or your dad and/or ma always taught you things that you should not do instead of teaching you things that you should do? Mr. Ecclesiastes seems to have learned a lot of things from the kind of life that he had lived. Mr. Ecclesiastes wants guys, gals and specially kids to learn from the good and bad experiences that he had from the kind of life that he had lived. What have you learned from a good or bad experience that you have had? Mr. Ecclesiastes seems to have done some very foolish things during his lifespan. Have you already done some very foolish things? If you are not able to remember anything foolish that you have done, maybe your dad and/or ma can remind you of something foolish that you have already done. Doing something foolish is to do something that is stupid, unwise or imprudent. Have you thought of something that you have done that was stupid, unwise or imprudent? Have you run out into a street without first looking to see if a car was coming? That would be very stupid, unwise or imprudent to do. You will do plenty of stupid, unwise, imprudent and foolish things during your lifetimes. Every guy, gal and kid does stupid, unwise, imprudent and foolish things. Do you know who will be one of the best teachers who you will ever have? A really good teacher that you will have will be Mr. Mistake. Mr. Mistake helped Mr. Ecclesiastes write his teaching letter. Mr. Ecclesiastes wrote his letter to help Students of Life to not do the same stupid, unwise, imprudent and foolish things that he did. Mr. Ecclesiastes in his Teacher Book recalls what he learned during his long life.
Ecclesiastes 10 is a hodgepodge list of the teacher’s observations and experiences that he had over his lifespan. The teacher in this chapter specifically talks about two guys – a ruler and a fool. The teacher communicates that he does not have much time for rulers and/or kings although in verse 20 the teacher writes “Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird of the air may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.” Your grandmaa and grandpaa always enjoy spending time with a summer team. A summer team is usually made up of college age guys and gals. A summer team spends about seven and a half weeks in a country like Bolivia or Guatemala. Your grandpaa normally plans a summer team’s activities and ministries as well as setting the itinerary for a summer team. Something that your grandmaa and grandpaa always tell the gals on summer teams is that they are not to talk to the young guys who live in countries like Bolivia and Guatemala. Some young guys who live in countries like Bolivia and Guatemala will try to find ways to get to know a gal who is from the United States. If a young guy from a country like Bolivia or Guatemala can get a gal from the United States to talk with him, the young guy will think that the gal must like him so the young guy will continue to try to talk with the gal. Your grandpaa tells the guys on a summer teams to always watch out for the gals on their team – that if they ever see a young guy in their host country like Bolivia or Guatemala trying to talk to one of the gals on their team, that they are to help the gal get away from the young guy. Puerto Suarez is a town in Bolivia where your grandmaa and grandpaa would take a summer team each year. Your grandpaa can still remember watching a guy who lives in Puerto Suarez trying to talk with one of the gals who was on a summer team. The gal had talked with the guy for only a moment. When the gal realized that the guy wanted to continue to talk with her, the gal tried to get away from the guy. The guy kept following the gal wherever the gal went. Your grandpaa finally went to the pastor of the church that is in Puerto Suarez – to ask the pastor to tell the guy that he was to stop following the gal. The gal on the summer team had been stupid, unwise, imprudent and foolish to talk to the guy – even for a second, as she had been very clearly told to never to talk to a guy while she was in Bolivia. Your grandpaa knows that he has done his share of stupid, unwise, imprudent, foolish things during his lifetime. Your grandpaa was stupid, unwise, imprudent and foolish when he ran out of gas after having passed a gas station where your grandpaa could have stopped and put gas in his car’s gas tank before he found himself sitting on the side of a busy highway.
Do you know how you can know if a guy or gal is a fool? A fool will always talk about himself or herself. A fool only thinks of himself or herself. A wise guy or gal thinks about other guys and gals. A wise guy and gal will care about other guys and gals. A wise guy or gal will ask guys and gals questions to find out ways how they can encourage the guys and gals. It is easy to tell wise guys and gals from fools. A wise guy or gal will always know the right life direction to go while the fool never knows what life direction to go. A wise guy or gal always knows what is right to do; a fool does not have any commons sense so the fool will do what is wrong to do. Doing something foolish, stupid, unwise or imprudent will stink up everything that you may have done that was wise and done with honor. If you listen carefully like a bird to what Mr. Ecclesiastes wrote, you will be well prepared to live wise lives.
Ecclesiastes 10 (161)