Ecclesiastes 10

Ecclesiastes 10:1-20 .

1. Following up Ecclesiastes 9:18 .
him that is in reputation--for example, David ( 2 Samuel 12:14 ); Solomon ( 1 Kings 11:1-43 ); Jehoshaphat ( 2 Chronicles 18:1-34 , 19:2 ); Josiah ( 2 Chronicles 35:22 ). The more delicate the perfume, the more easily spoiled is the ointment. Common oil is not so liable to injury. So the higher a man's religious character is, the more hurt is caused by a sinful folly in him. Bad savor is endurable in oil, but not in what professes to be, and is compounded by the perfumer ("apothecary") for, fragrance. "Flies" answer to "a little folly" (sin), appropriately, being small ( 1 Corinthians 5:6 ); also, "Beelzebub" means prince of flies. "Ointment" answers to "reputation" ( Ecclesiastes 7:1 , Genesis 34:30 ). The verbs are singular, the noun plural, implying that each of the flies causes the stinking savor.

2. ( Ecclesiastes 2:14 ).
right--The right hand is more expert than the left. The godly wise is more on his guard than the foolish sinner, though at times he slip. Better a diamond with a flaw, than a pebble without one.

3. by the way--in his ordinary course; in his simplest acts ( Proverbs 6:12-14 ). That he "saith," virtually, "that he" himself, &c. [Septuagint]. But Vulgate, "He thinks that every one (else whom he meets) is a fool."

4. spirit--anger.
yielding pacifieth--( Proverbs 15:1 ). This explains "leave not thy place"; do not in a resisting spirit withdraw from thy post of duty ( Ecclesiastes 8:3 ).

5. as--rather, "by reason of an error" [MAURER and HOLDEN].

6. rich--not in mere wealth, but in wisdom, as the antithesis to "folly" (for "foolish men") shows. So Hebrew, rich, equivalent to "liberal," in a good sense ( Isaiah 32:5 ). Mordecai and Haman ( Esther 3:1 Esther 3:2 , 6:6-11 ).

7. servants upon horses--the worthless exalted to dignity ( Jeremiah 17:25 ); and vice versa ( 2 Samuel 15:30 ).

8. The fatal results to kings of such an unwise policy; the wrong done to others recoils on themselves ( Ecclesiastes 8:9 ); they fall into the pit which they dug for others ( Esther 7:10 , Psalms 7:15 , Proverbs 26:27 ). Breaking through the wise fences of their throne, they suffer unexpectedly themselves; as when one is stung by a serpent lurking in the stones of his neighbor's garden wall ( Psalms 80:12 ), which he maliciously pulls down ( Amos 5:19 ).

9. removeth stones--namely, of an ancient building [WEISS]. His neighbor's landmarks [HOLDEN]. Cuts out from the quarry [MAURER].
endangered--by the splinters, or by the head of the hatchet, flying back on himself. Pithy aphorisms are common in the East. The sense is: Violations of true wisdom recoil on the perpetrators.