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Ecclesiastes 10 (ESV)

1 Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench;
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
² A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right,
but a fool’s heart to the left.
³ Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense,
and he says to everyone that he is a fool.
⁴ If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place,
for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.

REFLECTION:

Here the dead flies represent ignorance, and the ointment symbolizes wisdom and honor. The literal translation from biblical manuscripts is: “A little folly outweighs wisdom and honour.” This is not to belittle wisdom and honour, but to emphasize that the destructive power of a little folly could outweigh the positive effects of wisdom and honor. When a fool appears among a group of wise people, this little folly can be enough to corrupt the entire group. In Verse 2 Solomon is still talking about the comparison of wisdom and ignorance, which has nothing to do with the position of the human heart. In Israeli tradition, the right side is regarded as the place of honor and the most protected place, and the left side is relatively secondary compared to the right side. Solomon means to say that wise people put their thoughts and minds on the most important things in life, while fools put the cart before the horse and only value the things of secondary importance. Do you understand what the most important thing in your life is? May you put your mind and thought on God’s way of life, meditate on God’s words all day long, follow God’s way, and become a wise and blessed person.

PRAYER:

Ask God to enlighten you so that you can discern what is important, what is secondary, and what is even harmful and useless in the things you are doing now. Ask God to give you the courage to repent and completely abandon the worldly values, and live a life of heavenly wisdom based on God’s words.

HYMN:

Better Is One Day – youtu.be/ndVRcqziKWA