Useful Bible Studies > Ecclesiastes Commentary > chapter 10

Reasons to behave calmly

Ecclesiastes 10:4

Here is some advice for the official who must deal with an angry ruler. Perhaps the official deserves that angry reaction because he has done something wrong. Or perhaps the official has done nothing wrong, but the ruler is still angry.

In such situations, the official will feel the strongest emotions. Perhaps he too feels anger, and he would like to argue back. But that would not be wise. It is foolish to allow your emotions to control your behaviour.

So a wise official would behave in a calm manner. He would continue loyally to carry out his duty. And he would still give honour to his ruler.

By such wise behaviour, many officials have avoided a terrible punishment. Sometimes they have even avoided punishment when they are guilty of a very serious crime. But there is also another reason why God’s people should behave in that manner.

Although God’s people may work for a ruler in this world, their real master is God. They give honour to those rulers because God’s servants should respect the rulers of this world (Romans 13:1-7). And they obey their rulers as if they were obeying Christ (Ephesians 6:5-8).

God’s people realise that they cannot always expect rulers in this world to be kind to them. Often, such rulers will not even give them the rewards that they rightly deserve. But God’s people should not care too much about the rewards that people get in this world. The rewards that come from God, in heaven, are much more important.

Next part: When rulers make wrong decisions (Ecclesiastes 10:5-7)

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© 2019, Keith Simons.