Perhaps the theme of complacency continues, as Solomon continues to flesh out the psychological profile of an incompetent leader – using the illustration of a misruled kingdom where the inexperienced or youthful king is not exercising proper supervision of his princes, his senior management team, with the result that they feast in the morning, a phrase signifying the irresponsible misuse of their time and a shirking of responsibility, and general failure to fully comprehend their mission.

A child, as an alternative translations reads, tends to have short horizons, to be become pre-occupied by the present, to lack self-discipline and focus as a result on pleasure and immediate rewards rather than long-term planning.

If you are a manager, how well do you manage your team? Do you have a vision, and is it shared by them? Or, do they see you as immature, inexperienced and not properly qualified for your post? Have you been promoted to a level of incompetence? If so, what steps can you take to correct the situation?

Perhaps it was this section that provided the inspiration for Jesus’ parable of the unjust steward (Luke 16:1-13), who was very slipshod in managing his master’s estate and failed to collect debts properly. Although Jesus commends the unjust steward for the creative way he redeems the situation, the spiritual lesson appears to be that God will judge us by the way we manage the time, money and possessions entrusted to us in this transient human life.

The king in the parable who was once a servant may well represent the typical self-made successful man – and the lesson may be that despite his present success, his future success may well be limited by this lack of management skills. Along that line, it was disappointing to hear a successful British entrepreneur boast in an interview that he had never read a management book – and perhaps it is not surprising that since that time some of his enterprises have experienced many difficulties that have seriously eroded his public image.