---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Ecclesiastes 10"
description: "CHAPTER 10   :-. 1. Following up  :-. him that is in reputation—for
example, David (2 Samuel 12:14);
Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-43);
Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/ecclesiastes/10"
---

CHAPTER 10

.

**1.** Following up .
**him that is in reputation**—for
example, David ([2 Samuel 12:14](../../../kjv/2-samuel/12/14));
Solomon ([1 Kings 11:1-43](../../../kjv/1-kings/11/1-43));
Jehoshaphat ([2 Chronicles 18:1-34](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/18/1-34);
[2 Chronicles 19:2](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/19/2)); Josiah ([2 Chronicles 19:2](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/19/2)). 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* ([2 Chronicles 19:2](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/19/2)); also, "Beelzebub" means *prince of flies.*
"Ointment" answers to "reputation" ([Ecclesiastes 7:1](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/7/1);
[Genesis 34:30](../../../kjv/genesis/34/30)). The verbs are
*singular,* the noun *plural,* implying that *each* of
the flies causes the stinking savor.

**2.** ().
**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 (). 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**— (). This explains "leave not thy place"; do not in a
*resisting* spirit withdraw from thy post of duty ().

**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 (). Mordecai and Haman ([Esther 3:1](../../../kjv/esther/3/1);
[Esther 3:2](../../../kjv/esther/3/2); [Esther 6:6-11](../../../kjv/esther/6/6-11)).

**7. servants upon horses**—the
worthless exalted to *dignity* (); and vice versa ().

**8.** The fatal results to kings of
such an unwise policy; the wrong done to others recoils on themselves
([Ecclesiastes 8:9](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/8/9)); they fall into the pit
which they dug for others ([Esther 7:10](../../../kjv/esther/7/10);
[Psalms 7:15](../../../kjv/psalms/7/15); [Proverbs 26:27](../../../kjv/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 ([Proverbs 26:27](../../../kjv/proverbs/26/27)), which he maliciously pulls down ([Proverbs 26:27](../../../kjv/proverbs/26/27)).

**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.

**10. iron . . . blunt**—in
"cleaving wood" (), answering to the "fool set in dignity" (), who wants sharpness. More force has then to be used in
both cases; but "force" without judgment "endangers"
one's self. Translate, "If one hath blunted his iron"
[MAURER]. The preference
of rash to judicious counsellors, which entailed the pushing of
matters by *force,* proved to be the "hurt" of
Rehoboam ([1 Kings 12:1-33](../../../kjv/1-kings/12/1-33)).
**wisdom is profitable to
direct**—to a prosperous issue. Instead of forcing matters by
main "strength" to one's own hurt ([Ecclesiastes 9:16](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/9/16);
[Ecclesiastes 9:18](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/9/18)).

**11.** A "serpent will bite"
if "enchantment" is not used; "and a babbling
calumniator is no better." Therefore, as one may escape a
serpent by charms ([Psalms 58:4](../../../kjv/psalms/58/4);
[Psalms 58:5](../../../kjv/psalms/58/5)), so one may escape the
sting of a calumniator by discretion ([Psalms 58:5](../../../kjv/psalms/58/5)), [HOLDEN].
Thus, "without enchantment" answers to "not whet the
edge" ([Ecclesiastes 10:10](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/10/10)), both
expressing, figuratively, *want of judgment.* MAURER
translates, "There is no gain to the enchanter" (*Margin,*
"*master of the tongue*") from his enchantments,
because the serpent bites before he can use them; hence the need of
continual caution. [Ecclesiastes 10:10](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/10/10), caution in acting; [Ecclesiastes 10:10](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/10/10) and following verses, caution in speaking.

**12. gracious**—Thereby he takes
precaution against sudden injury ().
**swallow up himself**—
([Proverbs 10:8](../../../kjv/proverbs/10/8); [Proverbs 10:14](../../../kjv/proverbs/10/14);
[Proverbs 10:21](../../../kjv/proverbs/10/21); [Proverbs 10:32](../../../kjv/proverbs/10/32);
[Proverbs 12:13](../../../kjv/proverbs/12/13); [Proverbs 15:2](../../../kjv/proverbs/15/2);
[Proverbs 22:11](../../../kjv/proverbs/22/11)).

**13.** Illustrating the *folly*
and *injuriousness* of the fool's words; last clause of .

**14. full of words**— ().
**a man cannot tell what shall
be**— ([Ecclesiastes 3:22](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/3/22); [Ecclesiastes 6:12](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/6/12);
[Ecclesiastes 8:7](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/8/7); [Ecclesiastes 11:2](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/11/2);
[Proverbs 27:1](../../../kjv/proverbs/27/1)). If man, universally
(including the wise man), cannot foresee the future, much less can
the fool; his "many words" are therefore futile.

**15. labour . . . wearieth**—
([Isaiah 55:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/55/2); [Habakkuk 2:13](../../../kjv/habakkuk/2/13)).
**knoweth not how to go to the
city**—proverb for *ignorance of the most ordinary matters*
([Ecclesiastes 10:3](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/10/3)); spiritually, *the
heavenly city* ([Psalms 107:7](../../../kjv/psalms/107/7);
[Matthew 7:13](../../../kjv/matthew/7/13); [Matthew 7:14](../../../kjv/matthew/7/14)).
MAURER connects [Matthew 7:14](../../../kjv/matthew/7/14) with the following verses. The labor (vexation) caused by
the foolish (injurious princes, [Matthew 7:14](../../../kjv/matthew/7/14)) harasses him who "knows not how to go to the city,"
to ingratiate himself with them there. *English Version* is
simpler.

**16. a child**—given to
pleasures; behaves with childish levity. Not *in years;* for a
nation may be happy under a young prince, as Josiah.
**eat in the morning**—the
usual time for dispensing *justice* in the East (); here, given to feasting ([Isaiah 5:11](../../../kjv/isaiah/5/11);
[Acts 2:15](../../../kjv/acts/2/15)).

**17. son of nobles**—not merely
in blood, but in virtue, the true nobility ([Song of Solomon 7:1](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/7/1);
[Isaiah 32:5](../../../kjv/isaiah/32/5); [Isaiah 32:8](../../../kjv/isaiah/32/8)).
**in due season**— ([Isaiah 32:8](../../../kjv/isaiah/32/8)), not until duty has first been attended to.
**for strength**—to refresh
the body, not for *revelry* (included in "drunkenness").

**18. building**—literally, "the
joining of the rafters," namely, the kingdom ([Ecclesiastes 10:16](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/10/16);
[Isaiah 3:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/3/6); [Amos 9:11](../../../kjv/amos/9/11)).
**hands**— ([Ecclesiastes 4:5](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/4/5);
[Proverbs 6:10](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/10)).
**droppeth**—By neglecting
to repair the roof in time, the rain gets through.

**19.** Referring to . Instead of repairing the breaches in the commonwealth
(equivalent to "building"), the princes "make a feast
for laughter ([Ecclesiastes 10:16](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/10/16)), and
wine maketh their *life* glad ([Ecclesiastes 10:16](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/10/16)), and (but) money supplieth (answereth their wishes by
supplying) all things," that is, they take bribes to support
*their extravagance;* and hence arise the wrongs that are
perpetrated ([Ecclesiastes 10:5](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/10/5); [Ecclesiastes 10:6](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/10/6);
[Ecclesiastes 3:16](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/3/16); [Isaiah 1:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/1/23);
[Isaiah 5:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/5/23)). MAURER
takes "all things" of *the wrongs* to which princes
are instigated by "money"; for example, the heavy taxes,
which were the occasion of Rehoboam losing ten tribes ([Isaiah 5:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/5/23), &c.).

**20. thought**—literally,
"consciousness."
**rich**—the great. The
language, as applied to earthly princes knowing the "thought,"
is figurative. But it literally holds good of the King of kings (), whose consciousness of every evil thought we should
ever realize.
**bed-chamber**—the most
secret place ([2 Kings 6:12](../../../kjv/2-kings/6/12)).
**bird of the air,**
c.—proverbial (compare [Habakkuk 2:11](../../../kjv/habakkuk/2/11)
[Luke 19:40](../../../kjv/luke/19/40)); in a way as
marvellous and rapid, as if birds or some winged messenger carried to
the king information of the curse so uttered. In the East superhuman
sagacity was attributed to birds (see on [Luke 19:40](../../../kjv/luke/19/40); hence the proverb).

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