Special Insights No. 11
First Quarter 2007 Adult Sabbath School Lessons
“Ecclesiastes”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
Dead Flies and Snake Charmers: More Life Under the Sun
The theme of chapter 10 is the consequences of thinking, speaking, and acting. Words are simply vehicles for thoughts. Have you ever used the expression: “I will give so and so a piece of my mind.” How did you do it? By speaking.
Jesus is called the “Word of God,” God’s thought made audible and visible. If we want to understand God’s heart, study Jesus. If we want to understand God’s heart concerning justification in the end time setting of earth’s history, study Christ and His righteousness as presented in 1888 message.
In contrast to Christ and His righteousness, chapter 10 reveals the deep anguish of an exceptional king who enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a season and then awakened to the nauseous, stomach-churning, disgusting, revolting, and loathsome sickness of heart that always follows folly.
Imagine this scenario. You are seated at a table where a vegetarian runza (dough bread pocket with filling) is served. After taking a bite you discover half of a dead fly on the bitten surface, which becomes a nauseating experience. So it is with flies found in the ointment of character of which Solomon writes.
In this chapter, Solomon reflects on five different kinds of people with different character traits: (1) The wise whose words reveal right heart motives. Their hearts direct them to do right and their words (mouths) speak gracious words (vss. 2a, 12a). (2) The foolish ones whose manner of life betrays them as fools and reveals their heart motivation to do evil (vss. 3, 2). The foolish may be given great authority which usually spells disaster (vss. 6-7). (3) Those under authority who are given counsel to stay calm and don’t quit even if those in authority are angry with you (vs. 4); a woe is pronounced on the land whose king is a child and the princes are gluttons (vs. 16) contrasted with the land where the king is a nobleman whose passions and appetites are under the control of reason and of God (vs.17). Regardless of the kind of authority a person is under he or she ought not to make light of the person or persons in authority even in thought (vs. 20). (4) The lazy person who lets the roof leak and the rafters rot (vs. 18). (5) The babbler, who, if not charmed will bite like a serpent (vs. 11).
Solomon relates certain insights he observed in life such as a party that produces laughter (vs. 19a), the wine that gives happiness (vs. 19b), and the money that is the answer for everything (vs. 19c). He reveals his enjoyment in the seasonal pleasures of sin. In the following metaphors the great king reveals his experience in sin and also his deep repentance for his transgressions.
He gives warnings concerning injuries while working: (1) be careful when you dig a well, that you don’t fall in; (2) be careful of snakes when you demolish an old wall; (3) while working in a quarry, watch that the stones don’t crush you; (4) when you chop wood, don’t let the axe strike you (vss. 8-10). These are illustrations of Solomon’s experience in sin. He fell, he felt the poisonous venom, he was crushed, and he was deeply cut. So is everyone who has enjoyed sin for a season and then comes to the awful realization of what he or she has done.
In these warnings, Solomon deals with the principle of cause and effect in various aspects of life, namely his own. Consequences follow thinking, speaking, and doing. As a man thinks in his heart, so will he do as he speaks and acts. He may cover up what he thinks for a while, but in time the true sentiments of his heart will manifest themselves and they will be heard and seen by those who are observant.
In Solomon’s observations about different kinds of people he reveals his own heart. In this chapter and in the entire book of Ecclesiastes we are studying Solomon’s sincere repentance as he turned from his foolishness in sin. This book is a book of repentance, especially chapter 10, which reveals that even though a respected leader whose sins are forgiven and cleansed by God cannot escape the influence of those sins either on his own life or on the lives of others. Because of certain kinds of sins a person cannot go back, fully, to what he previously did.
The simile of the “dead flies” in the ointment refers to Solomon’s experience in sin and the after effects. He had been greatly honored and respected by God and by man, but turned to the folly of sin from which he never fully recovered. Like his father before him, he knew he was forgiven by God, but he never functioned as fully as the wise and honorable king he once was. After his repentance he became again honorable and wise, but there were those who could not, or would not, trust him. And of course he never trusted himself again, which was not something bad.
Solomon was king and could not be disposed of as easily as someone of lesser status. But he was unable to reign as he once did. Ellen White comments in two places concerning Solomon’s deep repentance and also of the remaining consequential “dead flies” in the ointment of his character:
“In the anguish of bitter reflection on the evil of his course, Solomon was constrained to declare, ‘Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.’ ‘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.’
“’Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.’ Ecclesiastes 9:18, 10: 5, 6, 1” (Prophets and Kings, p. 85).
“Solomon's repentance was sincere, but the harm that his example of evil-doing had done the people, could not well be remedied. In the anguish of bitter reflection on the evil influence of his sinful course, he was constrained to declare: ‘Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.’ ‘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.’ ‘Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor’” (Review and Herald, Feb. 15, 1906).
In closing, let’s consider Jesus as our Surety. Although He committed no sin, He repented as us. His was a perfect repentance, which was more deeply felt than was Solomon’s for He carried the full guilt and woe of the sins of the world upon Himself. It was for us and as us. We have burdened Him with our sins. We have wearied Him with our iniquities (see Isa. 43:24). Because of His great love for us He was and is willing to be sick at heart because of what we do to Him and to one another. His relationship to Laodicea underscores His experience.
Most translations leave the impression that Jesus, in anger, will spew us out of his mouth because of our miserable condition (see Rev. 3:16). Look again. The language is: I am about to vomit because of a nauseating stomach-wrenching revulsion and sorrow caused by the sin of Laodicea while she remains ignorant of her condition and of My reaction.
The language of our Laodicean hearts has been, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” We need to hear and to believe the words of Him who is the first and the last: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear: Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see.”
“Those who accept the message [context: 1888] given, will heed the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans, and will buy the gold, which is faith and love; the white raiment, which is the righteousness of Christ; and the eyesalve, which is spiritual discernment” (1888 Materials, pp. 414, 415).
The faith of Jesus of which He counsels us to buy, is the only faith which works by love, and purifies the soul, producing its fruit of humility, patience, forbearance, long suffering, peace, joy, and willing obedience. Jesus did not sin, but He was sick in mind and heart. Our sin broke His heart and crushed His life from Him. He did not fall but He felt the poisonous venom. He was crushed. And he was deeply wounded, in the house of His friends.
We will find no dead flies in the precious ointment of the righteousness of Jesus. We will find no dead flies in the Bread from heaven. We may eat without fear of foreign substance. We will never become nauseous from partaking of this heavenly bread.
—Gerald L. Finneman
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