Qohelet 4,13-16

It is suggested that Qohelet 4,13-16 consists of two loosely connected units: a gut-spruch unit (Qoh 4,13-14); and, an observation unit (Qoh 4,15-16). The gut-spruch unit asserts that a wise child is from birth endowed with the intelligence to eventually rule, while a foolish king has been intellectually deficient from birth, being in office would not improve him, and his liability increases with age. The observation unit records that having an old but foolish king many people would naturally vie for his heir, only later to become disappointed, because the heir is apparently no different than his father. The moral of both units is that there is advantage to innate intelligence.