Flies in the Perfume
Ecclesiastes 10
We can see when we read this chapter that the example of the fool. I would say this chapter uses the fool or the ways of the fool as a teaching example of how not to follow the ways of the fool. The last few verses especially look somewhat like Proverbs does in foolishness and wisdom. I do not know about you but reading verse 1 really caught my attention.
It says, “Dead flies make the perfume’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” First off, I am not a fan of flies, I actually despise flies. Why, because they are annoying; they hover around you and like to be a problem during bbq’s. As this is more of a proverbial statement, it is a true statement. Most likely the flies ended up in the perfume because someone left the lid off of the ointment and because someone left the lid off, it ruined the perfume. The same with us and sin, a little sin can ruin us. 1st Corinthians 5:6 says, “A little leaven certainly can affect the whole lump.” Just like the teacher said, “A little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” A little playing around with sin outweighs the righteous living. That is why it is so hard to go back once you messed up. Think about it, once you lied, you have rebuild trust and prove that you are sorry and that you will not lie again. The person you lied too will always question if you are telling the truth. Once you cheat at school you have to prove yourself that you are not cheating anymore and your teacher will always have in the back of their mind if you cheated to get that grade.
How to keep the flies out of our ointment
It is interesting that this metaphor is used to describe a wise living because we are a sweet smell to God. Just like flies can ruin the smell of perfume, sin ruins it for us. It shows how we should view sin, as disgusting like dead flies in perfume. It started great but now it is disgusting and has this nasty smell going on. In order for someone to keep the flies out of their perfume they would need to cover it with a lid. Some action needed to be done and the same with us. We need to cover ourselves or guard ourselves so we do not find ourselves with flies. In the Holman Old Testament Commentary on Ecclesiastes it suggested the guarding yourself with doing private acts of growth. How true is that, if we focus just on the public offices of a Christian, like teaching, and forget the private actions we are not growing. How are you with Bible reading? What are you getting out of it? What is God showing you through his Word? How are you with private prayer? What has God revealed to you? If you practice the private actions with God you can be ready for the public responsibilities that will come your way.
