Ecclesiastes 10:2

A little folly spoils a good name the way dead flies spoil fine ointment: something small and worthless gets into something precious, and the whole of it goes bad. The word for flies, zᵉbûwb, comes from a root meaning “to flit” and names a fly, especially one of the stinging kind. Flies were everywhere in a warm land, and finding them in a valuable substance was a sure sign that it was contaminated. Left in the ointment, the dead insects decay, and the whole batch gives off “a stinking savour”.

The apothecary was a perfumer, a skilled craftsman whose work was costly and prized. In Israel ointments and perfumes were used in anointing, in healing, for beauty and in preparing the dead for burial. The picture sets the commonest of creatures beside one of the most carefully made of goods, and the cheap thing ruins the costly one.

“So doth a little folly” turns the picture onto people. The word for folly, çiklûwth, means silliness or foolishness, the lack of sound judgment that leads to harmful choices. The man it harms is “in reputation for wisdom and honour”, and the word behind “in reputation” is yâqâr, an adjective meaning precious, costly or rare. He is as precious as the ointment, his good name has been built over many years, and one small act of folly can bring a stink on all of it. The damage is out of all proportion to the folly that caused it, and it falls hardest on those who are most highly regarded.

The saying follows straight on from the close of chapter 9. The Preacher has just said that time and chance happen to all (Ecclesiastes 9:11–12), and that wisdom is better than weapons of war, though one sinner can destroy much good (Ecclesiastes 9:18). Verse 1 applies that warning to a single life. Wisdom is worth far more than folly, and still a little folly can undo a wise man.

The wise man’s heart is at his right hand because his inner life is turned toward what is skilful, honourable and effective, while the fool’s heart is turned toward the clumsy and the harmful. The heart here is lêb, a form of lêbāb. It means the heart, and it is used very widely for the feelings, the will and the mind, and even for the centre of anything. It is the core of a person, where thoughts, intentions and decisions begin, which is why Proverbs calls us to guard it (Proverbs 4:23). Verse 2 speaks of a disposition deep inside a man, and his outward conduct grows from it.

The right hand, yâmîyn, stood for strength, skill, honour and favour. For most people it is the hand that does the work, and it is the hand of blessing and authority. To sit at a king’s right hand was the highest place of honour and power (Psalm 110:1). The left hand, sᵉmôʼwl, stood for awkwardness and a less favoured place, a picture taken from the everyday use of the two hands. Scripture also sets right and left side by side to mark the straight path God’s people were to keep, as when Moses tells Israel to turn aside to neither (Deuteronomy 5:32).

The wise man, châkâm, is intelligent, skilful, even artful. Wisdom in Scripture is practical discernment, the ability to apply truth well to the situations of life, and Proverbs speaks of the wisdom of the prudent (Proverbs 14:8). A heart at the right hand leads to careful planning, foresight and good work. A heart at the left leads to rash decisions, poor judgment and harm to oneself and others. The verse lays the ground for the good and bad judgments the rest of the chapter describes, because both start in the heart.

The fool tells everyone what he is by the way he goes about his life. “Yea also” carries verse 2 out of doors, so the heart that leans to the left shows itself as soon as the man is out on the road. The verb for walking, hâlak, is used both for going on foot and for a person’s conduct, and the way, derek, a road or path, was a common picture of a person’s whole manner of life. The scene is as ordinary as it could be. The fool is simply going about his day, and his character is on show in every step and every passing word.

“His wisdom faileth him” uses lêb, the same word as “heart” in verse 2. The KJV renders it “wisdom” here because the heart is the seat of understanding and good sense, so the heart that was at his left in verse 2 is the very thing that lets him down on the road. Even in plain situations his lack of practical judgment leads to poor decisions, unfitting words and absurd actions. The fool of this verse is çâkâl, a different Hebrew word from the fool of verse 2, though the English word is the same. It means foolish, or a fool, one who acts without good sense or wisdom.

“He saith to every one that he is a fool” is the striking end of the verse. His words, his actions and his bearing are so plainly lacking in sense that they announce his folly to everyone he meets. There is irony in it, because he may be trying to get through life well, or even to look wise, and all the while his conduct makes the confession for him. Proverbs makes the same point from the other side: “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding” (Proverbs 17:28). It is the fool’s own words that give him away. He also keeps going back to his folly, “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly” (Proverbs 26:11), so his actions confirm it again and again. Jesus taught the same principle: “Ye shall know them by their fruits,” for a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bad fruit (Matthew 7:16–20).

The three verses belong together. A wise man can spoil his name with a little folly, and a fool shows his folly with every step he takes. The contrast between the wise and the foolish runs through the whole of Ecclesiastes 10, and what lies within a person comes out in time, before others and always before God.

These sayings point us to Jesus Christ, in whom wisdom and honour stayed perfectly pure. Peter testifies that he was without sin, even when he was falsely accused and unjustly condemned (1 Peter 2:22). His heart was always at his right hand, turned wholly toward his Father’s will, and his words and deeds showed the wisdom of God at every step. In the passage on the preaching of the cross, Paul calls Christ “the power of God, and the wisdom of God”, and says that the message the world counts as foolishness is God’s own wisdom and power to save (1 Corinthians 1:18–25).

Our own follies, great and small, are like the flies in the ointment. Scripture says that there is none righteous (Romans 3:10–12), and sin has spoiled any name for righteousness we might try to build and made us offensive before a holy God. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), bore the weight of our folly and sin on the cross. God made the sinless one to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). In him the stink of our sin is taken away, and we are given a standing of righteousness and honour that rests on his perfect life and sacrificial death.

He also renews the heart that verse 2 speaks of. God promises his people a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26), Paul tells believers to let the mind of Christ Jesus be in them (Philippians 2:5), and Christ is made unto us “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Those who have received him are to walk in him (Colossians 2:6). Where the fool of verse 3 announced his folly on the road, God’s people proclaim the glory of him who called them out of darkness into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9).

These three verses give us an honest measure of things. A good name is as costly as the perfumer’s ointment, and a little folly can spoil it. The heart sets the direction of a life, and the plainest walk down the road shows what is in it. Over all of this stands the God who sees the heart, who forgives the folly of those who turn to him, and who in Christ gives his people a new heart and his own wisdom. The verses call for watchfulness over small things as well as great ones, and the gospel rests that watchfulness on his grace.