Building a House

Ecclesiastes 10

3900 words long.

Published on 2024-05-12

How many times can a person read Ecclesiastes 10 and not notice what metaphor the author is using? In my case, many! The following passage has two riddles:

The easy riddle of what metaphor ties all the parables together
The difficult riddle of what that metaphor prophesies

For decades I could not even solve the easy riddle. Perhaps you can. Here are the verses. What is the author talking about?

⁵ There is an evil that I have seen under the sun,

as it were an error proceeding from the ruler:

⁶ folly is set in many high places, and the rich

sit in a low place. ⁷ I have seen slaves on horses,

and princes walking on the ground like slaves.

⁸ He who digs a pit will fall into it,

and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall.

⁹ He who quarries stones is hurt by them,

and he who splits logs is endangered by them.

¹⁰ If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,

he must use more strength,

but wisdom helps one to succeed.

¹¹ If the serpent bites before it is charmed,

there is no advantage to the charmer.

¹² The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor,

but the lips of a fool consume him.

¹³ The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness,

and the end of his talk is evil madness.

¹⁴ A fool multiplies words,

though no man knows what is to be,

and who can tell him what will be after him?

¹⁵ The toil of a fool wearies him,

for he does not know the way to the city.

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.

The focus of this website is the architecture of Lady Wisdom's House. This riddle is not about her house. It is about ours. The central metaphor, if you have not figured it out yet, is the building of a house. It follows the whole process, from digging a hole for the the foundation to hammering down the roof. Each building activity is a separate parable and each parable a prophecy. Together they combine to describe the building of a new civilization: our civilization.

The Book of Ecclesiastes gives us a view of life in which our years may be divided into three parts:

Ascending Years (birth to maturity, in twenty-eight times, up to age 49)
Productive years (age 50-61)
Declining Years (62+)

Solomon devotes most of the book to the first part of life, the ascending years. The productive years are covered in chapter 10 and the start of chapter 11. How interesting this warning is for Americans:

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all;

but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many.

All that comes is vanity.

- Ecclesiastes 11:8

When financial catastrophe strikes an American, they may have to file for bankruptcy. We call that "Filing for Chapter 11" by reference to a section of our legal code. That is a "day of darkness" indeed, and often spells the beginning of a person's declining years. This article is not about that. It is about the part of the productive years described in chapter 10. The ideas were originally presented in a short section of the chapter named A Grand Father Clock & a Silver Cord from Peace, like Solomon Never Knew.

In that book, I introduced Fractal Historicism, a novel theory of eschatology. An important component of that theory is that the same pattern may apply to different scales of time. Thus the twenty-eight times of Solomon describe:

the course of one person's life, from birth to death
the history of ancient Israel and the Church, from 960 BC until Christ returns
the history of modern Israel, from the Holocaust until Christ returns
the history of the world, from the Creation until Christ returns

The chapter in question was dealing with the last and largest time scale, which I called the Grand Father Clock. It divided world history into four parts:

Growth Years: 28 periods of 175 years (4900 years total), from 4020 BC to 880 AD
Middle Years: 12 periods of 100 years (1200 years total), from 880 to 2080 AD
Declining Years: 2 periods of 100 years (200 years total), from 2080 to 2280 AD
Death: 1 period of less than a century (likely 30-50 years), from 2280 AD until Christ returns

The riddle in this article concerns the Middle Years, from 880-2080 AD. Those years have nearly run their course.

Productive Years (880-2080 AD)

At this point the Grand Father Clock strikes ten – chapter ten. This chapter of Ecclesiastes is all about work. To break it into pieces we do not have “under the sun” as an easy delimiter as we did for the times, nor the word “remember” as we will find in the next section. Instead, each part concerns a single facet of work. The sections range from half a verse to four verses in length. Each is a parable of great subtlety.

In an earlier chapter, the opening of the seals of Revelation was likened to the pulling down of scaffolding to reveal a new building. The old political, religious, economic and cultural systems were torn away to reveal the new. Along the same vein, this chapter describes the building of a great house. Forgive me for updating the analogies.

Note: Solomon also used the metaphor of a house prophetically in Psalm 127, as explored in “Appendix D: To Number our Psalms”.

Hiring the GC (880-980 AD).

There is an evil I have seen under the sun,

the sort of error that arises from a ruler:

Fools are put in many high positions,

while the rich occupy the low ones.

I have seen slaves on horseback,

while princes go on foot like slaves. (10:5-7)

To begin, we need a GC - a general contractor. Once people reach their most productive years, recruiting, interviewing and hiring competent and trustworthy people is a vital concern. In these verses, Solomon tells us that from the start, things wouldn’t go well. From Pope Sergius III to Pope John XII, the selection of church leaders succumbed to the murderous scheming of Theodora and Marozia during the "rule of the harlots". Spiritually, this was one of the darkest times for the church.

This era is known for one significant positive event. Near the beginning of the tenth century, in Aleppo, Syria, the Aleppo Codex was written by Jewish scholars. This was the most important and influential copy of the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament to be created. Descendants of that text influenced the translation of the King James Bible.

Digging the Foundation (980-1080 AD).

Whoever digs a pit may fall into it... (10:8a)

Trench collapse is a common cause of injury and death in construction. Two decades ago, fifty workers a year died in the trenches in the US, prompting OSHA to conduct a major study and tighten standards. One discovery was that at many job sites, the supervising engineer never bothered to ascertain the soil type before planning the excavation. Knowing the soil type is one of the most crucial factors in understanding and mitigating risk. Jesus preached a whole sermon on the importance of knowing what type of soil each person is: beaten path, rocky, thorny or good. Jesus would have made a good construction engineer.

This verse, however, talks about a different kind of pit: schism. In 1054, the Great Schism finally and irrevocably split the church into East and West. The English word schism comes from the Greek σχίσμα, which means division, cleft, fissure, or break. The fissure that opened up between the two halves of Christendom would lead to the death or suffering of millions. The cost of digging the foundation for our house was great.

Demolition & Site Prep (1080-1180 AD).

... whoever breaks through a wall

may be bitten by a snake. (10:8b)

During excavation, the remains of previous construction may be uncovered. Old walls will have to be demolished and hauled out of the pit. In this case, the walls needing to be breached during the construction of Christendom were the walls of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. The snakes biting the workers were the soldiers of the Caliphate, the empire associated with the seventh beast of Revelation. Recall that with Satan bound for a thousand years beginning in 380 AD, he is held behind a wall. If you reach into his prison, he will bite! The Christian kingdoms had been hemmed in for centuries by the relentless expansion of Islam, but now they broke through the wall. However, was it Christians breaking in, or Satan angling for a way to break out?

Deliveries & Masonry Work (1180-1280 AD).

Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them... (10:9a)

A modern work site sees an endless stream of trucks dropping off supplies. The masonry work may require marble, granite, brick, natural stone or cinder blocks. This verse, about quarrying stone, is the most on-the-nose verse in the chapter. This century was the peak of the age of church building. Many of the great cathedrals were constructed during this century. It is estimated that during this phase of the establishment of Christendom, more stone was quarried for churches than was used for all the pyramids and temples of Ancient Egypt combined.

Not only buildings, but also vital church institutions were built during this century. Religious orders like the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Augustinians trace their founding to this time.

Sadly, many of the common people who built the church died at its hands due to injustice. During the Fourth Crusade, Christian killed Christian when Constantinople was sacked. The Inquisition began in 1184 AD and the Albigensian Crusade was launched against the Cathars, killing tens of thousands.

During the Albigensian Crusade, a French Cistercian monk named Arnold Amalric acted as the Pope’s representative. When the crusaders reached Beziers, a soldier asked Amalric how they would distinguish between the townspeople that were Catholics and the ones that were Cathars. Amalric is reputed to have answered, “Kill them all. God will recognize his own.” Over time, this has been paraphrased as “Kill them all and let God sort them out.” And that is how the builders were injured at their own quarry.

Carpentry & Framing (1280-1380 AD).

... whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.

If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened,

more strength is needed,

but skill will bring success.

- Ecclesiastes 10:9b-10, NIV

With the base of the building done, we can frame the exterior and interior walls. In this verse, the emphasis is on working with dull tools. What are those tools? Intellect. Leadership. Coordination and cooperation. Character. Public order. All were deficient during this tumultuous century, forcing select people of ability to envision new ways to organize society.

The Black Death was the shattering tragedy that forced the issue, killing off half of Europe or more. The Avignon Papacy (1309-1378 AD) had the Pope flee Rome for most of the era, as well as having multiple popes claiming the title at once. In the intellectual sphere, scholastic theology was an attempt to sharpen the church’s reason and carry it beyond the ideas of the ancient world. Some of its results led in wrong directions and made faith complex and unintelligible to the masses. Also, this cerebral approach prompted opposition to the East’s focus on Hesychasm, a personal, spiritual relationship with God. This era also saw substantial development toward modern nation-states, the interior walls between the new countries arising out of old Rome. All in all, old, dull tools were being discarded in search of sharp new ones to handle a new age.

Zoning, Payables & Receivables (1380-1480 AD).

If a snake bites before it is charmed,

the charmer receives no fee. (10:11)

All of a sudden, the work stops. The electrician wants to be paid up front but your bridge loan wasn’t approved by the bank. The neighbors at the zoning board meeting complain about increased traffic, site drainage, and the height of the flag pole. The town building inspector says the building code changed and the roof trusses must be spaced closer. The bricklayers union goes on strike. It would be so easy to just burn it down and collect the insurance...

This period began with the Western Schism (with more multiplications of popes battling for legitimacy from 1378-1416 AD) and only got worse, as Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453 AD. After a thousand years of confinement, Satan slipped his bonds and broke out of prison in 1380 AD. Don’t pay the snake charmer: he fell asleep on the job.

(Every eschatological system assigns a different time to the imprisonment and release of Satan. The strength of the system in this book is that the same event shows up in many clocks at the same corresponding time, reinforcing this assertion.)

Marketing (1480-1580 AD).

Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious,

but fools are consumed by their own lips.

At the beginning their words are folly;

at the end they are wicked madness—

and fools multiply words.

No one knows what is coming—

who can tell someone else what will happen after them?

The toil of fools wearies them;

they do not know the way to town. (10:12-15)

It is finally time to list the property with realtors. Can the house we are building be successfully sold by the folks on the TV show Million Dollar Listing? Before the open house, it is smart to fill the rooms with furniture, hang a few pictures, place vases of fresh cut flowers and cover the kitchen island with tapas. During this century, the church filled its house by plundering the New World of gold, silver, firs, potatoes, tomatoes, maize and chocolate, fruits of the Colombian Exchange.

However, the phrase from Ecclesiastes that best describes this time is “fools multiply words”. At the close of the previous century, Gutenberg created his first press (1439 AD) and printed his first Bible (1455 AD). Sure, the Chinese already had moveable type, but they used ceramic type, which didn’t hold the ink well, and used water-based paints, which bled and faded fast. Gutenberg invented type metal, an alloy of lead, tin and antimony, which was durable but also easily moldable and held the ink well. Gutenberg had access to oil paints developed during the High Renaissance. From them he designed an oil-based ink vastly superior to the water-based inks used before him. On top of that, he constructed a special type matrix that enabled a printer to create new fonts or special symbols rapidly.

As the century of this era dawned, printing presses popped up all over Europe. Writing and literacy expanded. Now the fools (and the wise) had their market for writing more than just Bibles. The Protestant Reformation shook the world. Books and pamphlets filled with every sort of innovation in philosophy, religion, economics and politics found an audience and the explosion of ideas led to real explosions as wars gripped the world. The Age of Marketing had begun.

Negligent Subcontractors (1580-1680 AD).

Woe to the land whose king was a servant

and whose princes feast in the morning. (10:16)

The property may be up for sale, but the subcontractors are still working their way through the final punch list. Some of them cut corners to finish in time – or so they could head to the pub for a drink.

This century was convulsed by the General Crisis that swept across Europe, Asia, North and South America, and parts of Africa. Leaders had to contend with the poor climate of the Little Ice Age, inflationary pressure from bulk importation of silver from the Americas, religious controversy flowing from the Reformation and the clamoring of the poor for freedom and justice. Emblematic of this century was a man from the very bottom of the aristocracy (and by income, initially below it) who rose to command a great nation. Oliver Cromwell led the revolution that toppled – and executed – the King of England. That revolution did spell woe to England for decades, as this servant who displaced their king served an extremist agenda that nearly brought the nation to ruin.

Conscientious subcontractors (1680-1780 AD).

Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth

and whose princes eat at a proper time—

for strength and not for drunkenness. (Ecclesiastes 10:17, NIV)

After you fire the negligent contractors, you hope their replacements do a better job. Many kings and queens of the eighteenth century embraced the enlightenment. They freed serfs, established colleges for women, protected religious minorities, funded public health measures and pursued other notable reforms. Among their ranks were Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia – the three great enlightenment monarchs. Their lands truly were blessed.

Roofing & Maintenance (1780-1880 AD).

Through laziness, the rafters sag;

because of idle hands, the house leaks. (10:18)

The house is complete, the title transferred and the family all moved in. Now the owners are responsible for it going forward. Will they be attentive or neglectful? The article “Why Monarchy? The Rise and Demise of a Regime Type” by Gerring et al has the answer.

Two visuals in the article tell the story. In Europe, starting in 1790 AD, the number of monarchies in the world began to plummet, partially as a result of consolidation into fewer nation states. By 1870, this wave washed over the rest of the world. Starting in 1920 AD (in the fallout from World War I) the number of non-monarchies surged. All these kingdoms – these royal houses – sagged and then collapsed.

Furnishing & Feasting (1880-1980 AD).

A feast is made for laughter,

wine makes life merry,

and money is the answer for everything. (10:19)

For the house that stands, the diligent owners enjoy a year of ease. They fill their house with luxuries and celebrate life. During this century the material wealth of the world increased vastly – twenty-fold by some measures. Sadly, it has spawned generations more convinced than ever that “money is the answer for everything”.

Privacy (1980-2080 AD).

Do not revile the king even in your thoughts,

or curse the rich in your bedroom,

because a bird in the sky may carry your words,

and a bird on the wing may report what you say. (10:20)

As couples get older, they like to relax in the privacy of their home among trusted friends. Privacy is what this century is tossing aside, leading to hate, cancel culture, unforgiveness, and violence. For us “the bird in the sky” is a spy satellite or plane and “a bird on the wing” is a drone or a nosy bystander with a cell phone. The surveillance state and its private version, the social network, intrude more each year. The “time of hate” is almost upon us, but its tools are in place and being wielded by an emboldened elite seeking to destroy their enemies at all costs.

We have been warned:
the most important skills to develop during the
coming years are diplomacy and tact.

These tools of oppression would be destructive enough in the hands of rational, mentally stable people in full possession of their faculties. However, that is not the sort of people who will inherit them. The world is going senile. What would Orwell’s 1984 be like if Big Brother had Alzheimer’s? We are about to see...

IRS Audit.

Ship your grain across the sea;

after many days you may receive a return.

Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;

you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. (11:1-2)

In the chapter “Winding the Clock”, a comprehensive analysis of this passage and much of the rest of Ecclesiastes 11 was presented. There the “ventures” were interpreted as centuries (consistent with this clock). The auditor’s report was that seven full centuries plus part of an eighth from the past millennium would be productive, and so they were. A few came near the start (the morning) and the rest towards the end (the evening). As Solomon said,

“Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening

let your hands not be idle, for you do not know

which will succeed whether this or that, or

whether both will do equally well.” (11:6)

Those eight ventures are complete. Will we earn enough from our savings and investment to last us through retirement? In case you were thinking of working past retirement age, remember what Jesus said:

As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me.

Night is coming, when no one can work. (John 9:4)

A skeptical reader of the above proposed solution to the riddle of Ecclesiastes 10 will likely zero in on the idea that the Millennial Kingdom has come and gone and the confident assertion that Satan was bound in 380 AD and released in 1380 AD. If this passage were the sole proof of those ideas, it would be flimsy indeed. Between Peace and Plague I have discovered over forty distinct prophetic clocks. They are synchronized and consistent with one another. References to the start of the millennial kingdom and the binding and/or unbinding of Satan exist in many Bible books, all keyed to the same periods in history. Those analyzed in detail in my books refer to prophecies in:

Ecclesiastes 10
Matthew 18
Genesis 3 / Job 1-2 / Matthew 4
Psalm 58
Psalm 91
Proverbs 15
Proverbs 23
Proverbs 26
Job 26
Exodus 20
Song of Songs
Daniel
Revelation

Other eschatological systems that attempt to place these events in history rely upon far fewer passages, often just those in Daniel, Revelation and Matthew.

The upshot is this. Build your house with care, for the devil is lurking out there.