- Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,
and your princes feast in the morning! -
Woe is a stark phrase. It means that great sorrow or distress is coming upon whom the word is directed at.
It’s dire language for a king to use. They are precisely aware of what kind of woe can befall a land more so than others.
There might even be times in their reign when they themselves are called upon to be the architect of woe upon another nation.
Solomon here could possibly be speaking from experience. Not from his own kingdom, but perhaps from a nearby kingdom.
What is the danger when children rule? Don’t they understand technology better than their parents? Can they not come up with intuitive solutions to old problems?
Despite these advantages to youth, there is one thing the young can never have over the aged.
Experience.
This is important to hear; experience is not correlated with wisdom although it is one of the primary ways by which it is gained.
You can go through many events in your life and not learn anything from them. You can also be young and hold tight to God’s word and gain wisdom beyond your years.
This is rare and most people gain it through experience.
Even though the young-in may have some great ideas, the chance of him being wise is low. In addition, he is a youth and filled with the passions that accompany it.
What could this result in? Untimely wars or not being prepared for them, pursuing one’s own lusts and desires, or perhaps ignoring the plights of others due to limited vision.
Perhaps even the king will have feasting in the morning instead of the evening. What is the problem with this?
He is beginning the day without any attempt to work. He is getting the reward for being a king without providing his end of the bargain.
Perhaps you have already begun to see it. In our day and age, are we ruled by the desires of the aged or the youth?
We have this belief that revolution will come with the young. That the structures that have oppressed people for so long will topple to the ground.
What do these individuals wish to achieve? They want the benefits of society while working as little as possible for themselves and others.
Now, may they see actual corruption? Potentially, there is always the possibility that those in authority are blind or are willfully hurting others for their own gain.
Corruption must be dealt with in the proper manner. This is something that the young fail to see and they create changes like that of the French Revolution – destruction to all that was dear.
You don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. You don’t try to remove the splinter until the log is out of your own. You must use minimal necessary force.
We see the opposite in our day and age. We see certainty with no facts, we see brashness disguised as empathy, and destruction of all definitions as liberation.
A kingdom governed by unwise rulers, either old or young, cannot stand. They will flail around in the dark until their stronger and truly evil enemies come to remove them.
Or perhaps nature will get a fair shot in. Or God.
But we know this world is headed for judgement. Our Lord has lovingly liberated us from it. Even while we are headed for destruction, we can have hope in Jesus.
What’s the lesson?
Do not give authority to unwise leaders.
Ecclesiastes 10:16