Ecclesiastes 10 Commentary
When Wisdom Quits
The word of God can change your life. Read it daily…FOR HELP CLICKHERE
KEY THOUGHT: Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child [Ecclesiastes 9:16a NKJV]
Kindly read your Bible before going through the commentary!
Ecclesiastes 10 NKJV
Wisdom and Folly
10 Dead[a] flies [b]putrefy the perfumer’s ointment,
And cause it to give off a foul odor;
So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.
2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand,
But a fool’s heart at his left.
3 Even when a fool walks along the way,
He lacks wisdom,
And he shows everyone that he is a fool.
4 If the spirit of the ruler rises against you,
Do not leave your post;
For conciliation[c] pacifies great offenses.
5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun,
As an error proceeding from the ruler:
6 Folly is set in [d]great dignity,
While the rich sit in a lowly place.
7 I have seen servants on horses,
While princes walk on the ground like servants.
8 He who digs a pit will fall into it,
And whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent.
9 He who quarries stones may be hurt by them,
And he who splits wood may be endangered by it.
10 If the ax is dull,
And one does not sharpen the edge,
Then he must use more strength;
But wisdom [e]brings success.
11 A serpent may bite when it is not charmed;
The [f]babbler is no different.
12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious,
But the lips of a fool shall swallow him up;
13 The words of his mouth begin with foolishness,
And the end of his talk is raving madness.
14 A fool also multiplies words.
No man knows what is to be;
Who can tell him what will be after him?
15 The labor of fools wearies them,
For they do not even know how to go to the city!
16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,
And your princes feast in the morning!
17 Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles,
And your princes feast at the proper time—
For strength and not for drunkenness!
18 Because of laziness the [g]building decays,
And through idleness of hands the house leaks.
19 A feast is made for laughter,
And wine makes merry;
But money answers everything.
20 Do not curse the king, even in your thought;
Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom;
For a bird of the air may carry your voice,
And a bird in flight may tell the matter.
Footnotes
a. Ecclesiastes 10:1 Lit. Flies of death
b. Ecclesiastes 10:1 Tg., Vg. omit putrefy
c. Ecclesiastes 10:4 Lit. healing, health
d. Ecclesiastes 10:6 exalted positions
e. Ecclesiastes 10:10 Lit. is a successful advantage
f. Ecclesiastes 10:11 Lit. master of the tongue
g. Ecclesiastes 10:18 Lit. rafters sink
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Ecclesiastes 10 Commentary
Of what use is a parachute that only pops out after the user has cracked his skull? Yes, Wisdom is important, but the delayed application of Wisdom is useless. The scripture urges the wicked to acknowledge the lordship of the Messiah at the right time!
Doing so at the wrong time, at judgment day, when the LORD returns to make all things square, is of no use at all. At this point, “the charmer receives no fee.”
“Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at the right time – for strength and not for drunkenness.” Again, the scripture emphasizes doing the right thing at the right time.
This chapter, and the rest of the chapters in this book, repeat many of the lines in the Book of Proverbs, but the context is different. For example, the author laments the evil of having fools in high positions. He claims this error comes from a ruler.
Since the LORD God rules over all, could there be a suggestion that we have an error in God’s creation? Could this state of affairs justify his banner statement that everything is vanity?
We are back to riddles, but again the context is different. Meaningless. Even these riddles are meaningless, since everything is meaningless! Yet the author still has them in print.
There is more value to be had from these lines based on the context. The axe is dull. Its edge is unsharpened. Could we be looking at God’s creation whose design is impossible to navigate without skill? Could it be an indirect call for wisdom, Wisdom?
And if skill is also meaningless, since everything is meaningless, what then is meaningful? The author has given hints already. He will conclude his thoughts in Chapter 12, but for now, we have more teachings.
If this book brings pessimism, then it has achieved its purpose. It will have correctly observed and described life under the sun but without the Son! It’s all chaos! Then the statement, “Let there be light (Light)” makes more sense.
- Ecclesiastes 10 Commentary
- Ecclesiastes 9 Commentary
- Ecclesiastes 8 Commentary
- Ecclesiastes 7 Commentary
- Ecclesiastes 6 Commentary
- Ecclesiastes 5 Commentary
- Ecclesiastes 4 Commentary
- Ecclesiastes 3 Commentary
- Ecclesiastes 2 Commentary
- Ecclesiastes 1 Commentary
- Proverbs 31 Commentary
- Proverbs 30 Commentary
- Proverbs 29 Commentary
- Proverbs 28 Commentary
- Proverbs 27 Commentary
- Proverbs 26 Commentary
- Proverbs 25 Commentary
- Proverbs 24 Commentary
- Proverbs 23 Commentary
- Proverbs 22 Commentary
- Proverbs 21 Commentary
- Proverbs 20 Commentary
- Proverbs 19 Commentary
- Proverbs 18 Commentary
- Proverbs 17 Commentary
- Proverbs 16 Commentary
- Proverbs 15 Commentary
- Proverbs 14 Commentary
- Proverbs 13 Commentary
- Proverbs 12 Commentary
- Proverbs 11 Commentary
- Proverbs 10 Commentary
- Proverbs 9 Commentary
- Proverbs 8 Commentary
- Proverbs 7 Commentary
- Proverbs 6 Commentary
- Proverbs 5 Commentary
- Proverbs 4 Commentary
- Proverbs 3 Commentary
- Proverbs 2 Commentary
- Proverbs 1 Commentary
- Psalm 150 Commentary
- Psalm 149 Commentary
- Psalm 148 Commentary
- Psalm 147 Commentary
- Psalm 146 Commentary
- Psalm 145 Commentary
- Psalm 144 Commentary
- Psalm 143 Commentary
- Psalm 142 Commentary
Loving Scripture….
LOVING SCRIPTURE 
Leave a comment