Commento su Ecclesiaste 10:12

The words of a wise man find favor. In the eyes of their listeners, and they listen to him, and it is good for him that he assumes greatness over them.

“The words of the mouth of the wise are grace; but the lips of the fool will swallow him” (Ecclesiastes 10:12).
“The words of the mouth of the wise are grace” – this is Cyrus, king of Persia, who said: “Any among you from His entire people, may his God be with him, and he may go up [to Jerusalem]” (Ezra 1:3). “But the lips of the fool will swallow him” – as he recanted his words and retracted them.⁶⁵Cyrus initially allowed the rebuilding of the Temple, but he is also identified with Artaḥshasta, who ordered that the construction of the Temple be stopped (see Ezra, chap. 4; Esther Rabba 1:3).

But lips of a fool devour him. This refers to someone who misleads his fellow man from the good way [to the bad way]; e.g., Bilam, who broke the restrictions that the nations had imposed, that they restricted themselves from immorality from the time of the generation of the flood and onwards, yet, he advised them to offer their daughters for prostitution.²²Alternatively, Targum renders, “the words of a wise man find favor,” i.e., by his prayer he finds favor before God, Who removes the retribution destined to befall the world; “but the lips of a fool,” are words of reproach and bring destruction to the world.