Debra Band

The Day is Short and the Work is Much & When the King is a Child, 2021, Slunk vellum, ink, gouache and gold, 330 x 406 mm;

When Fools Govern

Commentary by Debra Band

Cite Share

Pity the person who works for a careless employer. All the more so if the employer is a ruler! Here spilt wine has spattered a pair of illuminated court documents, the pride of the childish ruler. The careless act has undermined the very grandeur and authority of his decrees—in which policies, we might understand, Qohelet assumes his audience has been involved.

In late biblical texts such as Esther, the importance of the preparation of royal documents was carefully marked, and within the Muslim court culture of the medieval period, within which the Alhambra shone, illuminated books and documents gleaming with precious gold and paints were the pride and envy of the royal court.

These modern illuminations were inspired by illuminated manuscripts made in the Ottoman palaces of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The one at right presents the text of verses 16–20 of chapter 10 of Qohelet (Ecclesiastes). At left the painting creates another mock document illuminating a passage attributed to Rabbi Tarfon from the small ethical tract of the Mishnah, Pirke Avot, Ethics of the Fathers:

The day is short and the work much;
the workers are lazy and the wages high;
and the Master of the house presses (Pirke Avot 2:20)
(translation by William Berkson & Menachem Fisch)

Rabbi Tarfon might indeed have had Qohelet’s words in mind, for just as his next recorded words warn that ‘you are not obliged to complete the work, but you are not free to neglect it’, Qohelet admonishes his listeners and readers that they cannot neglect their responsibilities despite the foolishness, and even danger, surrounding them.

 

References

Band, Debra, and Fisch, Menachem. 2023. Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living (Waco: Baylor University Press)

See full exhibition for Ecclesiastes 9:13–11:7

Ecclesiastes 9:13–11:7

Revised Standard Version

Ecclesiastes 9

13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.

17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

10Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off an evil odor;

so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

2A wise man’s heart inclines him toward the right,

but a fool’s heart toward the left.

3Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense,

and he says to every one that he is a fool.

4If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place,

for deference will make amends for great offenses.

5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: 6folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. 7I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on foot like slaves.

8He who digs a pit will fall into it;

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

9He who quarries stones is hurt by them;

and he who splits logs is endangered by them.

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

he must put forth more strength;

but wisdom helps one to succeed.

11If the serpent bites before it is charmed,

there is no advantage in a charmer.

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

but the lips of a fool consume him.

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

and the end of his talk is wicked madness.

14A fool multiplies words,

though no man knows what is to be,

and who can tell him what will be after him?

15The toil of a fool wearies him,

so that he does not know the way to the city.

16Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,

and your princes feast in the morning!

17Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of free men,

and your princes feast at the proper time,

for strength, and not for drunkenness!

18Through sloth the roof sinks in,

and through indolence the house leaks.

19Bread is made for laughter,

and wine gladdens life,

and money answers everything.

20Even in your thought, do not curse the king,

nor in your bedchamber curse the rich;

for a bird of the air will carry your voice,

or some winged creature tell the matter.

11Cast your bread upon the waters,

for you will find it after many days.

2Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,

for you know not what evil may happen on earth.

3If the clouds are full of rain,

they empty themselves on the earth;

and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,

in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

4He who observes the wind will not sow;

and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

5 As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun.

More Exhibitions