16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,
and your princes feast in the morning!
17 Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility,
and your princes feast at the proper time,
for strength, and not for drunkenness!
18 Through sloth the roof sinks in,
and through indolence the house leaks.
19 Bread is made for laughter,
and wine gladdens life,
and money answers everything.
20 Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king,
nor in your bedroom curse the rich,
for a bird of the air will carry your voice,
or some winged creature tell the matter.
Comment: We do have a king but these days he isn’t a ruler. Our government makes the laws, and we elect them. We need to choose wisely when we vote and pray for them as Paul advises us. Sadly, however, in many lands we are seeing foolish laws passed and elected officials in Biblical terms acting as shepherds who fatten the sheep to kill and eat them rather than caring for their wellbeing! You might accuse me of being judgmental but can you accuse me of lying?
Next Solomon points to the results of laziness, which of course is not seen in the modern age! Ha, ha! Having enough to eat and drink and sufficient money to run your life is true enough. I wonder where Solomon’s tongue was when he added the phrase ‘money answers everything’?
There are instances of a snake and a donkey speaking in the Bible but in one case by the power of Satan and in the other by God. I don’t think that birds can hear and understand human speech nor carry messages unless attached by human hands to their legs! Nevertheless we get the point easily enough – others might catch your carelessly spoken words or somehow perceive your thinking and use them to your harm! There is a sense in which we are held accountable for every word that we speak!
Prayer: Please give me both sense and sensibility as I walk on this earth of Yours, I humbly pray.
As I read it! 
Barry I haven’t been to my Reader for a while so I haven’t seen many of my other bloggers as well. But now here I am. I am a little confused at the moment by what is happening in Ukraine and Israel and God’s role in any of this so I have been trying to be careful in what I say – but maybe not careful enough.
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Sometimes I have to say something which I was taught by the best teachers in my life. IThey sound a bit like a parrot squawking but are fundamental to the life style which I have chosen. Thus ‘God is good’ I repeat to myself. ‘God knows what is happening and is in control’ I repeat. When I see Israel, the Ukraine, America, Albonese in Australia, France, Iran, the First Nation situation etc all of them seem an unsolvable mess. I repeat the above and have peace in my heart. What if they aren’t true. I repeat to myself – ‘they are true and at any rate I’m glad that I live believing that they they are! For I can see God where ever I look and Jesus was real and the Cross story and the Empty tomb are all the proof I need! Sorry to carry on but I gladly accept the peace which believing that God is in control brings!
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