"Have I not written to you excellent things of counsels and knowledge"
excellent things
This is the Hebrew word shalish, which means previous, adjunct, and also officer. It is translated, in this case, as excellent things. The idea is clearly valuable and weighty things.
counsels
This is the Hebrew word moetsah, which means counsel, plan, principle, device. This is the organizational plan necessary to lead a life of wisdom. Solomon is reminding us that he has already given us very valuable things that will bring about a better life.
knowledge
This is the Hebrew word daat, which means knowledge, information, and skills. Solomon had already given valuable information that would allow the listener to avoid the wrong people, make plans that would redirect life to a wise conclusion, and particular skills that would need to be developed in order to win at life.
It is important to grasp that we need to gain information that we don't have and practice skills that we don't naturally come equipped with if we are going to win at life. Life takes learning and growing. We have this idea in our culture that if you just do what you can naturally do, you will come out okay. But that is not the truth. You must do much more than what comes naturally. You must gain information about how to handle difficult people and temptations that could derail your life. You need to find ways to resist temptations and skills in dealing with people and situations.
It is interesting that Solomon needs to help people see the value of the information that he has shared. It is too easy to pass by relational information as though it were not important. But relational information – especially that kind of information that tells us how to handle different kinds of people and how to overcome our natural impulses – is of incredible value. But Solomon must make you see the value of it. Most workplace studies show that the greatest amount of a person's success at work is their relational knowledge and skill and not their technical skill.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz