Jump Start # 1660

Ecclesiastes 10:8-9 “He who digs a pit may fall into it, and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall. He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and he who splits longs may be endangered by them.”

Here in Ecclesiastes, Solomon is discussing the problem of folly. To us, folly means something that is funny, light-hearted, enjoyable. As Solomon uses it, folly is connected to foolishness. To be a fool is one of the worst things in the Bible. One of the harshest words God ever uses is “fool.” You remember the farmer who was tearing down his barns to build larger ones. He died that night. God said, “You fool.” The Psalmist declares, “The fool says there is no God.” So, folly, foolishness, is much more than being silly. It’s a serious spiritual blunder.

In the midst of this, Solomon tells us of four laborers. A man digs a hole. A construction man is busting up a wall. A man is quarrying stone. A man is cutting lumber. Hard workers. Industrious people. Definitely not desk work. But in all four examples, there is the potential of harm. The workers could get injured. The man digging the hole might fall into it. There has been those who dug trenches, and the trench caved in and trapped them. On some sad occasions, the worker died. Another man is breaking through a wall. He must be tearing down the wall. A snake has been hiding in the wall and it bites him. He is in danger of losing his life if he does not get immediate treatment. The man who quarries stones can be injured by collapsing rocks. And the one who splits logs can be injured by falling trees, the axe hitting him or the flying chips that come from him splitting the logs. Dangers lurk in these jobs. There is no indication that these men were careless, foolish or irresponsible. These are dangerous jobs and things can happen.

Now, why does Solomon tell us this? Isn’t this obvious? We could add other things to this list. Sky divers can get hurt. Race drivers get killed. Those that work with wild animals can be attacked. Being a cop is dangerous. Being a soldier is dangerous.

Solomon is reminding us of the unexpected. Things happen. Things do not always go as planned. Things break. Accidents happen. Trees do not always fall the way the lumberjack expected. Rocks do not always fall as the quarryman anticipated. A simple job, like busting down a wall, holds potential danger. Digging a hole, as simple as that may seem, can hide dangers and troubles.

There has been those who left for work and never returned back home. An accident at work took their lives. A simple task, turned deadly.

This ought to be common knowledge and even common sense to most of us, so what’s the point? The rest of the chapter returns to the discussion of folly. There doesn’t seem to be any folly in our verses. The man digging the hole wasn’t doing anything foolish. He feel in.

There are two central thoughts from this:

First, we must be careful. We can do things so many times that we let our guards down. Driving can be that way. Simple things like using power tools can be that way. Pay attention. Accidents happen. Life is precious and don’t take risks that are unnecessary. The way some drive, you’d think that they are at the race track. Oh, it seems so cool to them, tailgating, zig zaggng in and out of traffic at high rates of speed. They give little thought to what can happen, not only to themselves but to other drivers. Be careful.

Second, be ready. I don’t know if Solomon intended this, but how can we look at these dangerous situations and not think, one could die. Each of the four situations involve dangers that could take life. The hole caves in and a man suffocates. The construction man dies from a snake bite. The rocks fall and crushes a man. A tree falls and kills a person. Each of these has the potential of taking a life. Those engaged in such dangerous work must be ready to face God. His work, dangerous as it is, has the potential of ending his life. He needs to be ready. His soul must be right with God. He must be walking with the Lord daily. His heart needs to reflect the goodness of God. But this thought ought to be with all of us. You may have a simple desk job and your biggest danger is a paper cut. You still need to be walking with the Lord.

I suppose we could see contextually why this is found surrounded with words about foolishness. The fool wouldn’t see the potential dangers in that work. The fool lives as if he is going to live forever. The fool never thinks about how precious and fragile life is. The fool doesn’t pay attention and gets in trouble with dangerous things. The fool would be the very person who dies not knowing the Lord.

All of this comes back to us. It is dangerous every time we get on the highway. We not only need to pay attention, do I need to say anything about cell phones and driving, but we need to live as if each day were our last. Are you ready for God? Have you put off things? Have you given the Lord your best? Have you allowed worry, discouragement, distractions, temptations to fill your heart and crowd God out? Have you hid behind excuses?

Live each day righteously. Live ready for the Lord.

Dangers lurk…be careful and be ready.

Roger