Mark Dunagan Commentaries

Ecclesiastes 10:13

"the beginning of his talking is folly, and the end of it is wicked madness."

Seen any wicked madness lately? What started with selfish, ignorant, foolish, arrogant and boastful language often ends in the fruit of insane wickedness. What the verse is saying is that if the unbeliever follows his or her unbelieving theory or logic to its natural end---he or she will end up in extreme wickedness. Many have noted that the fruits of Evolution, Hedonism or Atheism are such things as might makes right, racism, anything goes, etc…"The fool goes from bad to worse---the beginning will be foolish, silly, irrelevant-when the conclusion of their utterance is reached, it is no longer merely silly or idle-but evil" (Leupold p. 246). 'Since he begins with. foolish premise (there is no God, Psalms 14:1), his conclusion is sheer madness' (Tay). "That end, in wicked madness, may look too lurid to be true; but its two elements, moral and mental, are the final fruits of refusing the will and truth of God. If there are innumerable unbelievers whose earthly end could hardly be described as either wickedness or madness, it is only because the logic of their unbelief has not been followed through….But when. whole society goes secular, the process is far more evident and thoroughgoing" (Kidner p. 92).

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Mark Dunagan Commentaries

Ecclesiastes 10:13

Old Testament

New Testament