Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 10:12-15
Solomon, having shown the benefit of wisdom, and of what great advantage it is to us in the management of our affairs, here shows the mischief of folly and how it exposes men, which perhaps comes in as a reflection upon those rulers who set folly in great dignity.
I. Fools talk a great deal to no purpose, and they show their folly as much by the multitude, impertinence, and mischievousness of their words, as by any thing; whereas the words of a wise man's mouth are gracious, are grace, manifest grace in his heart and minister grace to the hearers, are good, and such as become him, and do good to all about him, the lips of a fool not only expose him to reproach and make him ridiculous, but wi…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 10:14
full of words-- (Ecc 5:2).
a man cannot tell what shall be-- (Ecc 3:22; Ecc 6:12; Ecc 8:7; Ecc 11:2; Pro 27:1). If man, universally (including the wise man), cannot foresee the future, much less can the fool; his "many words" are therefore futile.
John Gill on Ecclesiastes 10:14
A fool also is full of words,.... Or, "multiplies words" (y). Is very talkative, says the same thing over and over again; uses an abundance of waste words, that have no meaning in them; utters every thing that comes uppermost, without any order or judgment; affects to talk on every subject, whether he knows anything of it or not; and will engross all the conversation to himself, though of all in company the most unfit for it;
a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him who can tell him? what the fool is talking of; what is the drift of his discourse; or where it will end, and what he will bring it to, it is so noisy, confused, and incoherent: or no man can tell future thing…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 10:14
"And the fool maketh many words: while a man yet doth not know that which shall be; and what shall be when he is no more, who can show him that?" The vav at the beginning of this verse corresponds to the Lat. accedit quod. That he who in Ecc 10:12 was named kesil is now named hassachal, arises from this, that meanwhile sichluth has been predicated of him. The relation of Ecc 10:14 to Ecc 10:14, Geier has rightly defined: Probatur absurditas multiloquii a communi ignorantia ac imbecillitate humana, quae tamen praecipue dominatur apud ignaros stultos. We miss before lo-yeda' an "although" (gam, Neh 6:1, or ki gam, Ecc 8:12); the clause is, after the manner of a clause denoting state or conditi…
