Ecclesiastes 10

1. DEAD flies cause the ointment of the perfumer to send forth an evil odor: so doth a little folly outweigh wisdom and honour. 2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but 3 a fool’s heart at his left. Yea also, when the fool walketh by the way, his understanding faileth him, and he saith to every one 4 that he is a fool. If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding allayeth great offences [or, gentle- 5 ness leaveth great sins undone]. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an error which proceedeth from the 6 ruler: folly is set in great dignity, and the 7 rich sit in low place. I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants 8 upon the earth. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh through a 9 fence, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso heweth out stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood is endangered 10 thereby. If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct. 11 If the serpent bite before it be charmed, then

12 is there no advantage in the charmer. The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up him- 13 self. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his 14 talk is mischievous madness. A fool also multiplieth words: yet man knoweth not what shall be; and that which shall be after 15 him, who can tell him? The labour of fools wearieth every one of them, for he 16 knoweth not how to go to the city. Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, 17 and thy princes eat in the morning! Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, 18 for strength, and not for drunkenness! By slothfulness the roof sinketh in; and through 19 idleness of the hands the house leaketh. A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh glad the life: and money answereth all 20 things. Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

THE tenth chapter has been described as apparently the most disconnected part of the whole book. The retrospective character of the former part of the book now ceases; and this chapter resembles a portion of the Book of Proverbs, consisting entirely of rhythmical sentences giving advice, more or less direct, as to conduct. It is part of the writer’s answer to the question proposed in chaps. 2:3;6:12, “What is good for men to do!” The thought which underlies the whole chapter is the advantage of that wisdom which includes piety and patience, as practical guidance through all the perplexities of life; various traits of wisdom are set forth in a favorable light, heightened by contrast with folly. Consistency (v. 1) and readiness (vs. 2, 3) are attributes of the wise man, also obedience, and submission to authority, even though its exercise be accompanied by great abuses (vs. 4-7); also caution, preparation to meet with obstacles (vs. 8-10); conciliatory speech, in contrast to the loquacity and self-confidence of a fool (vs. 11-15); temperance, industry, and government of the tongue, specially in speaking of superiors. Throughout a great part of this chapter the advice seems, in addition to its general application, to have a special reference to servants of a king. W. T. B.

1. The swarms of flies in the East very soon corrupt and destroy any moist unguent or mixture which is not carefully covered from them, and pollute a dish of food in a few minutes. Tristram.

In the opening verse of chap. 7 Solomon had emphatically said that a good name is better than precious ointment. It may have been this very comparison which afterward suggested this striking thought. The very sweetness of a precious ointment—the very exquisiteness and delicacy of its odor—exposes it to be the more easily injured. It may be so tainted by the corruption of even a dead fly, as to have its perfume spoiled. And how true a picture does this illustration exhibit, of the fatal injury which a little folly is sure to inflict upon the good name of the man who is held in reputation for wisdom and honor. Buchanan.—A little folly in a wise man, a small sin in an honest man, and a slight indecency of manners in a man of courtly behavior, often greatly derogate from their fame and reputation. Bacon.

2. A wise man’s heart is at his right hand—that is, ready to be employed with dexterity and effect. Parkhurst.—Herein a truly wise man’s worth is discovered that his judgment never fails him in the greatest difficulties; in which he not only resolves right, but takes things by the right handle; whereas a fool mistakes in his aim, and stumbles so much in the easiest business that he commonly miscarries. Bishop Patrick.

The words right hand and left are used figuratively. The meaning is, that the wise man knows how to adapt means to their proper end; and as goodness is involved in the wisdom here referred to, he is ready to do good—his heart directs to the performance of deeds which are graceful and beautiful, morally considered; but the fool does not employ his faculties wisely; and, as this is but another name for sinner, neither does his heart lead him to perform benevolent actions, but rather those which are sinister and corrupt. J. M. M.

3. We need not press the word “say” to its strictest literal sense—that of using these very words; but may take it to mean, He seems to say; he shows very plainly—that he is a fool. Then the verse will mean that in the common affairs of life the fool’s wisdom fails him and he shows himself to all men to be a fool. H. C.—Everywhere, and at all times, the folly of a fool and the wickedness of a sinner are apparent—by the way as well as in the house. Wickedness, like folly, is conspicuous in him who is given to it. It is displayed on all occasions, in public as well as private; he proclaims himself a sinner, a fool in the most melancholy sense.

4. The dignity and gentleness of the man who fears God will prove the best shield against that wrath of a king, which is said to be as messengers of death, and which only the wise man can pacify (Prov. 16:14). J. M. M.

5-7. The idea is that the foolish ruler commits a great mistake and does a great evil by thrusting out of office worthy men and promoting the unworthy. H. C.—6. The sudden elevation of persons in a low condition to office under an Eastern despot, is a transaction that occurs almost every day; and, on the other hand, the degradation of those in office, for the sake of confiscating their property, is equally frequent in the Eastern world.—7. This is only another method of illustrating what he had just said. Servants are promoted to office and ride forth in state, for horses are used in the East principally by the rich and nobles. On the other hand, they who once were princes take the place of servants.

8-11. In all these verses, the most prominent of all the apothegmatic passages in Cohe- leth, there is not a single instance in which the proverb is quoted for its own sake, but merely because it can be made to illustrate the mischief that a want of wisdom or discretion will occasion. What the writer would show is, that, even in the most common concerns and transactions of life, discretion and foresight are needed, in order to avoid danger and to make undertakings successful. In all he is illustrating the final clause of v. 10. M. S.

8. The proverb is double-edged, and may have a twofold meaning: First, if you injure your neighbor’s property and act as an oppressor, there may come an instrument of retribution out of the circumstances of the act itself. Second, if you are too daring a reformer, removing the tottering wall of a decayed and corrupt institution, you may expect that the serpents in the crannies, those who have “vested interests” in the abuse, will bite the hand that disturbs them. You need beforehand to “count the cost” of the work of reformation. E. H. P.

9. The cases made in v. 9 are simply difficult but useful occupations which require skill to prevent personal harm. Wisdom is profitable to direct here, as well as in the case next mentioned. H. C.—If we meet with knotty pieces of timber, men of perverse and ungovernable spirits, and we think to master them by force and violence, and hew them to pieces, they may not only prove too hard for us, but the attempt may turn to our damage. Rather let wisdom direct to gentle methods and forbear violent ones. H.

10. It is, of course, a case of wisdom whether it will pay best to sharpen the dull tool, or to put in the requisite additional strength. The case is adduced simply to illustrate the practical value of wisdom. H. C.—Wisdom is profitable to direct. Wisdom will still find out how to make it execute its office. Hodgson.—Wisdom does, as it were, whet the edge of the axe, and direct men to do that with ease which otherwise cannot be achieved without much labor. Bishop H.

A blunt axe implies heavy blows and an aching arm, coarse work with a blistered hand. But “wisdom is profitable to direct.” Intelligence is as good as strength, and a little skill will save both time and materials, money and temper. The day for stone hatchets and blunt axes is past, and from the humblest craft to the most intellectual profession, in order to succeed, it is requisite to be clever and active and well-informed. Those who are trying to benefit others should possess the wisdom which is profitable to direct. Much good has been defeated by the want of skill or practical wisdom in Christian professors. For all exigencies there is provided a great and precious promise: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” But, like all the gifts of God, this talent grows by trading; and he who prayerfully exerts his understanding in order to maintain the right-forward path of duty, will soon be fit to guide and counsel others Hamilton.

11. When a man had not wisdom to use his tongue so as to render harmless the serpent, then no advantage accrued to him from being the possessor of a tongue. In other words, even the most distinguished members of the body are comparatively useless, without wisdom to direct their use. This verse, therefore, is of the same tenor as the preceding verses. That the tongue was specially employed in enchantment, is evident from the fact that this mostly consists of cantillating certain forms of exorcism. M. S.

12. The antithesis here lies between the words of wise men and the words of fools in the point of value and of results to themselves. The wise man’s words are gracious, i.e., pleasant, agreeable, conciliatory, winning the goodwill of others and fraught with good to himself. On the contrary, the lips of a fool (by means of his foolish words) will frustrate his efforts and sink his cause. H. C.—The wise man here is the good man; his words are true, honest, and are therefore kind; even when they convey rebuke they are calculated to do good to those to whom they are addressed. The fool is the wicked fool, the babbler, the slanderer; his words are not only injurious to others, but they injure himself; the deception at length becomes too transparent to be tolerated, and his hypocrisy and malignity react upon himself. J. M. M.

13. This gives a reason for what was affirmed in the preceding verse. From beginning to end he plays the fool in all that he says. What he utters is folly, and oftentimes even a madness which is mischievous to himself. Not until this mischief overtakes him will he cease prating; it will be well if he does then.

14. Although much speaking leads to the utterance of many foolish things, yet the fool indulges in it; and this, even when neither he nor any one else can tell what mischievous consequences will follow. The reasoning stands thus: He must be a fool, who utters things that may have mischievous consequences which none can foretell. M. S.

15. So far from saying, “I will go to such a city, and buy, and sell, and get gain,” the fool ought to be humble; for he knoweth not how even to go to the city, much less to make himself prosperous there. Y.

18. Slack and sluggish hands neglect repairs and leave the timbers of the house to rot and its roof to leak. H. C.—The roof leaks from inattention and idleness. And the longer it is neglected, the more difficult will it be to repair it. Y.—The only cure for indolence is work; the only cure for selfishness is sacrifice; the only cure for unbelief is to shake off the ague of doubt by doing Christ’s bidding; the only cure for timidity is to plunge into some dreaded duty before the chill comes on. Rutherford.

19. Money answereth all things. It answers not only our comfort, but also our imperious wants, our sacred obligations. To desire it is a thing as innocent as the act of breathing; but, from a legitimate attachment for it, to an extreme attachment, the passage is short and slippery. A. Monod.—Riches in themselves are no evil. Nor is the bare possession of them wrong. Nor is the desire to possess them sinful, provided that desire exist under certain restrictions. For in almost every stage of civilization money is requisite to procure the conveniences, and even the necessaries of life; to desire it therefore as the means of life, is as innocent as to live. In its higher application it may be made the instrument of great relative usefulness; to seek it, then, as the means of doing good, is not a vice, but a virtue. But, perceiving that money is so important an agent in society, that it not only fences off the wants and woes of poverty, but that, like a centre of attraction, it can draw to itself every object of worldly desire from the farthest circumference, the temptation arises of desiring it inordinately, of even desiring it for its own sake, of supposing that the instrument of procuring so much good must itself possess intrinsic excellence. Harris.

Wealth is the implement or result of industry—an instrument of influence that has in itself no moral character, and can have none apart from the use to which it is applied. It is simply an instrument which the good or evil passions of men can employ to produce any desired result. And as thus apprehended, its power is vast—can scarcely be overrated. It furnishes the capital of enterprise. It is the talent which industry can put out to usury and multiply manifold. In conjunction with human energy, its natural ally, it can accomplish wonders. It carries forward all the processes of our complicated civilization. It rears the manufactory, feeds its spindles, and turns its wheels. It provides and sustains the laboratory of art. It builds the school-house, the college, the church. It covers the land with railroads and canals, developing new wealth along their track. It tunnels the mountain, tames the wilderness, and opens the forest. It launches the vessel it has built, unfurls the sail of commerce, and explores the coasts of distant lands. It turns the world into a great workhouse of industry, rich with the products of every soil and the treasures of every clime. Some few rills of its great river, overflowing its banks, run into the channels of benevolence, and cheer the arid waste of human misery, sprinkling the broad desert with green oases or turning the wheels of hallowed enterprise. Gillett.

There are two very simple tests for determining the right use of riches—the one is, that we shall so use them as to extract from them the real and rational enjoyment they are intended to minister to their possessor; the other is, that they shall be so used as to be made the vehicles of blessing to mankind. It unquestionably is legitimate to use wealth in the gratification of refined tastes, and in whatever Christian ways will best fit us for the service of God and for usefulness to mankind. There is no way of enjoying one’s possessions like that of using them for the glory of the Giver of them and for the good of our fellow-beings. That it is “more blessed to give than to receive,” every one finds to be true who tries the experiment. But there is here an open secret. He who would know the real and abiding blessedness of giving, must begin early, and practise often. We are all creatures of habit. Emotions, like principles of action which they always accompany, once coming to be habitual, also become necessities of life. If men would know the sacred pleasure of giving when they become rich, they must practise it while their riches are accumulating. Men who are penurious when comparatively poor, are almost certain to be penurious when rich. E. G. Robinson.

The voice of duty, while it requires us to recognize the source of our wealth and all our titles to it in God, bids us, in the right use of our faculties, and with true views as to the value of wealth and the way in which it is to be employed, make all we can—not, however, overtasking our powers, or interfering with the just claims of body and soul upon our time and attention. Industry is a Christian duty, and vigor is a Divine gift, a talent God has given to be employed. The faithful use of our powers in their appropriate sphere, multiplying the conveniences and comforts of life to ourselves and others, giving us the means of influence and doing good, has the highest sanction of the Word of God. With right views and aims, we can be as truly serving God and working out the end of our probation in the field or in the workshop, as when we are found in the closet or prayer-meeting, giving each, however, its appropriate place. Except as the love of selfish gain interferes, we may work for God in seeking to increase the profits of our business and multiplying our means to bless the world. Let no man say that religion will spoil a businessman, even if it does forbid by solemn ordinance all unjust gain, the lie, or cheat. It bids us be industrious. “Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,” is the Christian’s motto. Make all the money you can, consistent with honesty and the higher interests of yourself and your fellow-man. It is only the right use of your talent which enables you to become more extensively and widely useful. Gillett.

God keeps an exact account of every penny that is laid out upon Him and His, and that is laid out against Him and His; and this in the last day men shall know and feel, though now they may or will not understand. T. Brooks.

20. Too much license is often taken, especially in free governments, in uttering words disrespectful of those in authority. Disloyal words come from disloyal thoughts. Disobedience begins in the “thought.” To speak evil of dignities is both dangerous and wicked. “Thou shalt not revile the gods (magistrates), nor curse the ruler of thy people” (Ex. 22: 28). Y.—The institution of magistracy cannot attain the ends for which it was designed, unless the persons of rulers be clothed with a degree of sanctity that shall shield them from popular reproach. One reason undoubtedly why the name of “god” was applied to magistrates was, that the office might be sanctified in general estimation, and that the conscience of him who held the office might be duly influenced by the consideration that he was in a sense acting as God’s vicegerent and representing His person, authority, and attributes among men. Accordingly we find the Apostle Paul distinctly recognizing the obligation of this law even in respect to one who was in fact a most unrighteous persecutor (Acts 23: 2-5). Bush.