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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Ecclesiastes 10

Ecclesiastes 10: dead flies, a fool's words and a land whose king is a child

General context

Dead flies make the apothecary's ointment stink, and so does a little folly to one known for wisdom and honour. A wise man's heart is at his right hand and a fool's at his left, and a fool walking by the way tells everyone he is a fool. If the ruler's spirit rises against the hearer, he is to keep his place, since yielding pacifies great offences. The Preacher names an evil he has seen, an error from the ruler: folly set in great dignity and the rich in low place, servants on horses and princes walking like servants. Four hazards follow: the digger of a pit falls into it, the hedge-breaker is bitten by a serpent, the remover of stones is hurt, the cleaver of wood endangered. Blunt iron demands more strength, but wisdom directs; a serpent bites without enchantment, and a babbler is no better. A wise man's words are gracious, but a fool's lips swallow him; his talk begins in foolishness and ends in mischievous madness, and though he is full of words, no one can tell what shall be. The labour of the foolish wearies them, because he does not know how to go to the city. Woe is pronounced on a land whose king is a child and whose princes eat in the morning, and blessing on a land whose king is the son of nobles and whose princes eat in due season for strength, not drunkenness. Sloth lets the building decay and idle hands let the house drop through. A feast is made for laughter and wine makes merry, but money answers all things. The hearer is warned not to curse the king even in thought, nor the rich in his bedchamber, because a bird of the air will carry the voice.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 10:1, Ecclesiastes 10:2, Ecclesiastes 10:3, Ecclesiastes 10:4, Ecclesiastes 10:5, Ecclesiastes 10:6, Ecclesiastes 10:7, Ecclesiastes 10:8, Ecclesiastes 10:9, Ecclesiastes 10:10, Ecclesiastes 10:11, Ecclesiastes 10:12, Ecclesiastes 10:13, Ecclesiastes 10:14, Ecclesiastes 10:15, Ecclesiastes 10:16, Ecclesiastes 10:17, Ecclesiastes 10:18, Ecclesiastes 10:19, Ecclesiastes 10:20

Ecclesiastes 10 (KJV)

1Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.

2A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.

3Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

4If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.

5There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler:

6Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.

7I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

8He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.

9Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.

10If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.

11Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.

12The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

13The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

14A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

15The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.

16Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!

17Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

18By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.

19A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.

20Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

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Historical context

No ruler, king, land or city is named in this chapter. The ruler whose spirit rises up, the ruler from whom an error proceeds, the child king and the king who is the son of nobles are all unnamed types, and the woe and blessing are addressed to O land in general. The speaker appears in the first person only in the phrases I have seen, at verses 5 and 7, and is not otherwise identified here; the counsel to thou continues from earlier chapters. The servants on horses and princes walking are given as something the Preacher has seen, without saying where. The city in verse 15 that the fool does not know how to reach is not identified, and the text does not explain the saying. The great offences that yielding pacifies are not specified. The line that money answers all things stands as a saying without comment from the Preacher, alongside sayings on feasting, wine, sloth and idleness. The final warning gives no account of how a bird carries a voice; the text states the image and leaves it.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 10:4, Ecclesiastes 10:16, Ecclesiastes 10:17, Ecclesiastes 10:5, Ecclesiastes 10:7, Ecclesiastes 10:15, Ecclesiastes 10:19, Ecclesiastes 10:20

Literary context

The chapter has no narrative and no sustained argument; it is a sequence of sayings held together by the contrast of wise and fool, which appears in the opening simile, in right hand against left hand, in the fool on the road, in blunt iron against wisdom that directs, and in the gracious words of the wise against the self-swallowing lips of the fool. The first verse continues the thought that closed chapter 9, where one sinner destroys much good: here a little folly spoils a reputation as dead flies spoil ointment. Sayings come in clusters. Verses 8 and 9 give four hazards of ordinary work in parallel clauses, and verses 12 to 15 dwell on the fool's talk from its beginning to its end. Verses 16 and 17 are a matched pair, woe and blessed, with the same shape, O land, when thy king is, and the same test, when the princes eat. The chapter closes on speech again, but now the hearer's own: the fool's words swallow him, and the hearer is not to curse the king even in thought. That closing echoes the counsel of chapter 8 on the power of a king's word and turns it toward the hearer's silence.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 10:1, Ecclesiastes 10:2, Ecclesiastes 10:3, Ecclesiastes 10:10, Ecclesiastes 10:12, Ecclesiastes 9:18, Ecclesiastes 10:8, Ecclesiastes 10:13, Ecclesiastes 10:16, Ecclesiastes 10:17, Ecclesiastes 10:20, Ecclesiastes 8:4

Key moments

  1. Dead flies in the ointment (Ecclesiastes 10:1). A little folly spoils a reputation for wisdom as dead flies spoil ointment.
  2. Leave not thy place (Ecclesiastes 10:4). If a ruler's spirit rises against the hearer, he is told to keep his place, since yielding pacifies offences.
  3. Servants on horses (Ecclesiastes 10:7). The Preacher reports seeing servants on horses and princes walking like servants.
  4. The pit and the serpent (Ecclesiastes 10:8). The digger falls into his pit and the hedge-breaker is bitten by a serpent.
  5. A fool's lips swallow him (Ecclesiastes 10:12). The words of the wise are gracious, but the fool's own lips swallow him up.
  6. Woe to the land with a child king (Ecclesiastes 10:16). Woe is pronounced on a land whose king is a child and whose princes eat in the morning.
  7. A bird carries the voice (Ecclesiastes 10:20). The hearer is warned not to curse the king even in thought, since a bird will carry the voice.

For reflection

The chapter tells the hearer to keep his place when a ruler's anger rises and not to curse the king even in thought, while also reporting an error that proceeds from the ruler. Does the restraint it counsels come from respect for the ruler, from the danger of the bird that carries the voice, or from something the sayings leave unsaid?