ECCLESIASTES 10.14

The fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming -- who can tell him what will happen after him?

Talking too much is a common problem, but the fool multiplies words as a matter of habit, probably hoping to say something clever of funny to impress the other person – but ends up by making himself look very stupid instead. The wise salesman, however, knows when to shut up, keep silent and so force the prospect to speak and reveal his true feelings and real objections – which can then be dealt with. Even if the silence becomes painfully long, the good salesman resolutely sits it out.

The more important meaning may be that the fool blusters about any subject, with minimal encouragement, and feels confident and fully qualified, despite his ignorance, to offer advice and predict the outcome of any anticipated action. However, even today, with the mass of research data readily available, attempting to forecast the future is a notoriously unreliable practice.

Perhaps Solomon’s reference in the previous section to madness is a reminder that the affairs of life are not always logical or predictable, despite our best efforts, as he makes more explicit here.

With this timely reminder of the uncertainty of life, Solomon may well be highlighting the crucial importance of forward planning – the traditional function of the proverbial executive who spent a lot of time in his office, feet up on his desk, smoking his pipe and deep in creative meditation.

The fact that no-one knows what is coming does not mean that we should not try to anticipate future trends and developments and do our best to prepare for them – expecting the unexpected, imagining and rehearsing worst-case s cenarios, but also planning for future growth and demand.

The fact that something is coming suggests that the event is actually underway already, in the proverbial pipeline because important things are happening and changes taking place, perhaps ever so slowly -- that events are building up and that clues may be there if only we take time to find them. Even when the Roman Empire was at the peak of its power, its demise was coming, as, day by day, month by month, injustice, violence, unrest festered and opposition grew.

When Solomon asks "Who?" , and also includes so many personal pronouns in one short verse, he may well be suggesting that there probably are people who could tell, if only time is taken to locate and consult them -- and that useful sources of planning information do in fact exist and should be dug out and researched, such as social trends, and the implications of new technologies for life-styles. The conducting of public opinion and consumer surveys, although notoriously unreliable unless meticulously constructed, is now an important business.

The effective executive reads widely and refuses to stagnate – illustrating the possibility that the theme may actually be continuing from the previous section, with Solomon stressing the importance of learning by listening carefully, rather than talking – receiving rather than transmitting.

Solomon also appears to be stressing the need for a leader to think long-term and to plan for the inevitable transition that must come with his retirement or even premature death – hence the importance of key-man insurance for a corporation. Even giant corporations can founder when the top man retires and power passes to the hands of someone much less competent. Hence the need for established policies and reliable, time-tested procedures.

The apostle Peter, one of the executive leaders of the Early Church, was very concerned about the threat of false teachers, and when it became clear that Jesus would not return for many years, by which time he and the apostles would be dead, he realized that it was urgently necessary to assemble a reliable written record of Christian doctrine.

As a result, knowing that his own life was drawing to an end, Peter was inspired to assemble the cannon of New Testament Scripture -- the gospels, the book of Acts, two of his own letters, as well letters written by John and Paul

He makes the situation clear when he says, Quote: “I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things (2 Petere 1:12-15).

As the letters of Peter and John make very clear, many false teachers were at work in congregations even then, twisting and perverting Christian teachings – so perhaps we should not be surprised to find the same thing taking place today.