What Happens When Fools Are In Charge | Solomon's Warnings to Rulers

In the section before us this evening we are given the flip side: “What happens when fools are in charge.” What a timely study this is. One might argue that the modern era could be a case study for this since its proponents have given great energy to topple the old nobilities of the world in order to replace them with new ones that are radical, revolutionary, and highly experimental. This was the basis of the French Revolution, the Russian Bolshevik Communist Revolution led by Carl Marx, the Communist Revolution of China under Moa Zedong, and the Fascist Revolutions of Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany. These were not genuine revolutions but were rebellions. The American Revolution, Edmund Burke observed, was a genuine revolution. What makes for a genuine revolution is that those who are leading it are returning to historic, conservative philosophies of government. A true revolution does not seek to change into something new but desires to reestablish order and virtue as it once was. False revolutions masquerade as “revolutions” when in reality they are rebellions, military coups, warnings against the historic order, and virtue to establish their own rule and power. These use the people for the elite few, while true nobility lead the people by leading the nation to security and prosperity. What does this have to do with the Book of Ecclesiastes? Solomon, the Wise, observes for us that such things are not as new as we thought. Even in ancient times servants and fools overthrew wise leaders to the ruin of themselves and others. Solomon warns us in this section against elevating fools. He warns his readers about the nature of those who do not possess God’s wisdom. He also instructs wise rulers about proper etiquette and ethical leadership. It’s not all-inclusive but it is dense with profound insight that may as well have been written last week for Forbes Magazine.