Ecclesiastes 10: Dead Flies and Flying Birds

"Dead 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" (10:1). A perfumer's work can be ruined by a few flies; a reputation by a little foolishness.

"A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left" (v. 2). The fool "walketh by the way" and tells everyone he is a fool (v. 3). "If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences" (v. 4).

"There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler: folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place. I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth" (vv. 5–7). The world of rank is turned upside down, and Qoheleth calls it an error.

"He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby" (vv. 8–9). "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" (v. 10). "Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better" (v. 11): if the snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer's skill is worthless.

"The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself" (v. 12). He begins with foolishness and ends in "mischievous madness" (v. 13), multiplies words though "a man cannot tell what shall be" (v. 14), and wears himself out because "he knoweth not how to go to the city" (v. 15).

"Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! Blessed 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!" (vv. 16–17). "By much slothfulness the building decayeth" (v. 18). "A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things" (v. 19). "Curse 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" (v. 20).

Tools and work

Iron tools became common in Judah during the Iron Age; axes and adzes needed regular sharpening on whetstones (1 Samuel 13:19–21 describes Israelites going to the Philistines to sharpen their tools). Stone was quarried and dressed for buildings and terraces; field walls of piled stone sheltered snakes. Deuteronomy 19:5 envisages an axe head flying off its handle and killing a neighbor. Ecclesiastes 10:8–10 draws on this everyday world: competence reduces risk but cannot remove it.

"A little bird told me"

The idea that birds carry secrets is old and widespread: the Aramaic Words of Ahiqar (5th-century BC papyrus from Elephantine) warns that "a bird is a word" and that whoever releases it is foolish, and Greek writers (Aristophanes, The Birds) joke about birds as messengers. Ecclesiastes 10:20 uses the image for informers and rumor in a world of royal spies; it is a figure of speech.

10:1 in the witnesses

The Hebrew zevuve mavet (literally "flies of death") has plural flies with singular verbs, which has led some to read "a dead fly." The witnesses differ in the second line: the KJV follows the Hebrew ("so doth a little folly him that is in reputation"); the library's Greek makes it a comparison ("better a little wisdom than great glory with folly"); the Vulgate turns it into praise of wisdom ("wisdom and glory are more precious than a little, brief folly"). These are attempts to construe a terse Hebrew line, not evidence of different Hebrew texts.

10:16: a child king?

Na'ar can mean "child" or "youth," or "servant," in contrast to "son of nobles" (ben chorim, "son of free men") in v. 17. Interpreters have proposed references to a historical boy-king (for example the Ptolemaic king Ptolemy V, who came to the throne as a child in 204 BC), which would date the book late. Most commentators think the saying is general: a land is unfortunate when its ruler is immature or base-born and its officials begin drinking in the morning. Using v. 16 to date the book rests on an identification the text does not make.

10:19: "money answereth all things"

The verse is often quoted as if it praised money. In context it observes how a corrupt court works: feasts for pleasure, wine for cheer, and money to make it all happen. Ya'aneh ("answers") can also mean "keeps busy" or "meets every need." The library's Greek adds a moral tag ("all obey their money, but to their shame"). The saying describes; elsewhere Qoheleth has said that "he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied" (5:10).

Ketiv and qere in this chapter

The Leningrad Codex has three reading notes in chapter 10: v. 3 (written "when the fool," with an extra article, read without it), v. 10 (written hakhshir, read hakhsher, "to give success") and v. 20 (written "the possessor of the wings" with the article, read "possessor of wings"). They are small and do not change the sense. They show that the Masoretes preserved the written text even where they read it differently.