Ecclesiasteschapter 10
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Speaks with:Luke 12×3Ecclesiastes 10×2Ecclesiastes 8×21 Samuel 25×2Proverbs 29×2Colossians 4×2
Summary
Chapter summary
Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to stink: 'so doth a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor.' A fool's heart is at his left; folly is set in great dignity while the rich sit in a low place. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; if the axe be blunt, one must put to more strength: 'but wisdom is profitable to direct.' The fool multiplieth words. 'Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child'; curse not the king, no, not in thy thought: a bird of the heavens shall carry the voice.
Context
Poetry · Solomon — Ecclesiastes overview
- A. 1–11 Dead Flies Spoil the Ointment: a Little Folly Outweighs Wisdom
- B. 12–20 Woe to the Land Whose King Is a Child — a Bird Shall Carry the Voice
The outline
A.Dead Flies Spoil the Ointment: a Little Folly Outweighs Wisdomvv. 1 to 11
Read vv. 1 to 11 →B.Woe to the Land Whose King Is a Child — a Bird Shall Carry the Voicevv. 12 to 20
Read vv. 12 to 20 →
The world behind this chapter
Ecclesiastes 10The history
"Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour." The perfumer's trade was real and expensive: oils infused with imported spices, stored in sealed jars because contamination ruined the batch. One insect in the jar destroyed a fortune's worth of scent.
The work hazards are those of actual trades. "He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it" — cisterns and storage pits were cut by hand and left open while being dug. "Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him" — field boundaries were dry stone walls, and vipers lived in the gaps; pulling out a stone put your hand where the snake was. "Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith, and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby" — quarrying and splitting timber killed and maimed men regularly.
"If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct." Iron tools were new enough in Israel's memory to be prized and had to be sharpened constantly. The proverb prefers a whetstone to a stronger back.
"Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning." The ordinary working day started at first light and the main meal came late. Officials feasting in the morning meant a government that had stopped governing. The counterpart is a land whose princes "eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness."
"A bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter" is a proverb about informers — a warning not to curse the king even in your bedroom. Ancient courts ran on exactly that kind of reporting.
What it meant to them
"Through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through" is the same failed clay roof as in Proverbs, and it makes the chapter's argument physical: neglect does not announce itself, it just leaks.
For hearers who worked with tools and lived under officials, the chapter's message was that small things decide outcomes — one fly, one blunt edge, one loose stone, one word said in the wrong room.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Ecclesiastes 10. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.