Ecclesiastes 10:1-20

Ecclesiastes 9:17 to Ecclesiastes 10:15 . Experience Crystallised in Proverbs.

Ecclesiastes 9:17 to Ecclesiastes 10:3 forms a series of proverbs perhaps due to the sage who worked over the original book. In Ecclesiastes 9:17 follow mg.; the contrast is between the quiet but sure voice of the wise and the noisy pretentious clatter of an arch-fool. With Ecclesiastes 9:18, cf. Ecclesiastes 9:13-Nehemiah :.— sinner: better, blunderer. Evil is wrought by want of thought as well as by want of heart. Ecclesiastes 10:1 a is obvious, Ecclesiastes 10:1 b less so; it is simplest to say that “ as dead flies corrupt the perfumer’ s ointment so little follies in a man outweigh and thus spoil his better qualities and name.” A wise man’ s heart (intelligence plus conscience plus will) leads him in the right direction, that of a fool has a sinister bent ( Ecclesiastes 10:2); when he walks out he thinks all the people he meets are fools ( Ecclesiastes 10:3 mg.) . In Ecclesiastes 10:4 Qoheleth resumes his observations on princes; the counsel is similar to that of Ecclesiastes 8:2-Deuteronomy :. The courtier will do best by bending to the storm, his safety is in complaisance. Yet the ruler is by no means always right ( Ecclesiastes 10:5), especially when like Edward II or, nearer Qoheleth’ s time, Ptolemy Philopator (p. 62), he advances the unworthy to positions of trust and honour at the expense of the nobles and aristocracy, here called “ the rich” ( Ecclesiastes 10:6 f.). The mention of horses is an indication of late date; in earlier Israel kings rode on asses or mules. Cf. also Proverbs 19:10.

Ecclesiastes 10:8-1 Samuel : are isolated proverbs though they illustrate caution as an element of wisdom. “ He who breaks through a fence” or a wall, is perhaps a robber, perhaps simply a wanton destroyer, perhaps even a reformer who is stung by a jealous opponent. For serpents in walls, cf. Amos 5:19. The quarryman and woodcutter must be careful; Ecclesiastes 10:9 a is probably not to be taken of “ removing a neighbour’ s landmark” ( mg.) .

Ecclesiastes 10:10 f. The advantage of wisdom is to give success; it teaches the woodcutter to sharpen his blunt axe instead of wearying himself with brute force; it teaches the snake-charmer to exercise his skill before the snake bites (disregard mg.) . Wisdom is foresight and wins favour, the ineffectual man is a fool and suffers ( Ecclesiastes 10:12). His course may even be a progress from stupidity to criminal (perhaps “ pitiful” ) madness ( Ecclesiastes 10:13); he is a perpetual babbler ( Ecclesiastes 10:14 a) whose verbosity is the measure of his ignorance ( Ecclesiastes 10:14 b). But perhaps Ecclesiastes 10:14 b is a fragment of Qoheleth ( cf. Ecclesiastes 6:12, Ecclesiastes 7:14) strayed from its context into this collection of proverbs.

Ecclesiastes 10:15 is obscure, but probably means that he who asks a fool the way to a city is likely to be weary before he gets there, or perhaps that the simpleton who doesn’ t know the way to town is likely to have a deservedly tiresome life.