Wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words. Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions, so their conclusions will be wicked madness; they chatter on and on. No one really knows what is going to happen; no one can predict the future. (Ecclesiastes 10:12–14)

A close look at Solomon’s journal entry reveals at least four ways a fool demonstrates his or her folly:

Mouth and Words

“Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, while the lips of a fool consume him; the beginning of his talking is folly and the end of it is wicked madness. Yet the fool multiplies words” (Ecclesiastes 10:12–13 NASB 1995). Pretty blunt, isn’t it? But it’s the absolute truth. Notice that “the lips of a fool consume him.” The word consume means “to swallow up.” An old German commentator named H. C. Leupold offers this translation: “The lips of a fool bring about his own undoing.”

Who is it that suffers the most consequences in the life of a fool? The fool himself. He may make others miserable, but he’s the one who is “consumed.” The fool is the one who winds up in prison. The fool is the one who suffers the ultimate brunt of his actions.

Future and Predictability

“No man knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him?” (10:14 NASB 1995). Does this sound familiar? If you have teenagers in your home, I’ll bet you’ve used some similar lines: “Honey, if you keep acting like that, there’s no telling where you’re gonna wind up.”

It’s hard enough when your teenager is acting like a fool, but it is downright tragic when the fool is your husband or your wife, and you’re trying to find meaning through a maze of madness. You feel as though you’re on a gyroscope, spinning, leaning, wondering how long you can go on. And such family instability affects everyone—especially the children.

“The beginning of his talking is folly and the end of it is wicked madness” (10:13 NASB 1995) The future of a fool is unpredictable. In some cases, the future is a terrible accident. Sometimes, as I mentioned earlier, it’s prison. Sometimes it’s a fresh grave.

Confusion and Stupidity

The fool exhausts himself by his inefficient and unproductive lifestyle. He gets so confused, he doesn’t even “know how to go to a city” (10:15 NASB).

Don’t misunderstand, it doesn’t mean they’re intellectually defective. Fools can be very bright. I have seen fools with extremely high IQs. Folly has nothing to do with IQ. But it has everything to do with stupidity! His talk is empty prattle. To quote Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Procrastination and Poor Judgment

Fools make all kinds of promises, but they don’t follow through. There’s wasted time; there’s a loss of priorities; there’s a careless lifestyle; there’s a lack of discipline toward unfinished tasks. Even though there are so many things to take care of, irresponsibility and verbosity abound.
 

Taken from Living on the Ragged Edge by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 1985, 2004 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com