Ecclesiastes 10 - Introduction

X.

(l) Dead flies. — Literally, flies of death, which, according to a common Hebrew idiom, “weapons of death” (Psalms 7:14); “snares of death” (Psalms 18:5) ought to mean death-giving or poisonous flies; but the existing translation yields so satisfactory a sense that we are unwilling to disturb it. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 5:6.) There is a close connection with the last words of the preceding chapter, which might better have been brought to a close at the end of Ecclesiastes 10:12.)

Apothecary. — Exodus 30:35.

Him that is in reputation for. — Substitute “is weightier than.” The sense remains the same, viz., that a little folly undoes the effect of much wisdom.