The Importance Of Acting Thoughtfully And With Great Care With Regard To The Affairs Of Life ( Ecc 10:8-11 ).

Ecc 10:8

‘He who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever breaks through a fence a poisonous snake will bite him.’

Those who seek to do harm to others may find that their plans rebound on themselves. The schemer often finds himself trapped, or put at a disadvantage, by his own schemes. Vandalism and carelessness with other people’s things will bring trouble on the culprit. (Snakes often nest in loose stone walls).

Ecc 10:9

‘He who hews out stones will be hurt by them, and he who chops wood is endangered by it.’

It is important to take proper care when doing something dangerous, for over-familiarity with a something can make us careless. But the deeper idea is that we should not play with fire if we do not want to be burned. We should consider the possible effects of what we do.

Ecc 10:10

‘If the iron is blunt and one does not whet the edge (literally ‘curse before it, curse its face’), then he must put forward more strength. But wisdom is profitable for success.’

We must ensure that we use common sense in what we do. Those who maintain their tools, and keep them sharp where necessary, will find that they serve them better and are easier to use. ‘Whet the edge’ is an attempt to make sense of the Hebrew which is literally ‘curse the face’ or ‘curse before (it)’. The idea may be that he finds it blunt and curses it before proceeding to sharpen it. (The iron here was the popular metal for tools and weapons. We would use steel).

This applies to any preparation for any task. Good preparation means the task will be made easier, and not cause hardship. Thus wisdom is like sharpened metal, it accomplishes its purpose well because it is sharp and penetrating. Then it is successful.

Ecc 10:11

‘If the snake bites before it is charmed, then there is no advantage in the charmer.’

This has in mind the old snake charmers who were called in to get rid of snakes by use of their enchantments. If the snake has bitten his victim then there is no point in calling the charmer. He should have been called earlier. The thought here is that we should do things while there is still a point to it, and not delay until it is too late.

But it could be translated, ‘Surely the snake will bite where there is no enchantment, and the slanderer is no better.’ The point then is that a slanderer is like a snake, which unless dealt with quickly is dangerous.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Ecc 10:8. And whoso breaketh an hedge And whoso forceth his way through a hedge. See the Observations, p. 217. To shew that such a choice as that mentioned in the 7th verse is not only an evil, but likewise a great folly, our author observes, first, that the inconveniences arising from it do not affect the people only, which might be a consideration of little weight with a selfish despotic monarch; but that they reach the prince himself. This he proves by four proverbial sentences, in this and the following verse; the general meaning of which is, that the first author of any mischief or improper measure is likely to be the first sufferer by it.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. (9) Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby. (10) If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct. (11) Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better. (12) The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. (13) The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. (14) A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him? (15) The labour of the foolish wearieth everyone of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.

We shall have a much clearer apprehension of the Preacher’s meaning in those several expressions concerning both wisdom and folly, if we always keep in remembrance that by wisdom is implied, That wisdom which maketh wise unto salvation: and by folly, the ignorance of the heart concerning Christ. This doctrine the Holy Ghost graciously explained by Job ages before, when by the mouth of his servant he said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, is understanding. Job 28:28 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Ecc 10:8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.

Ver. 8. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it. ] As heedless huntsmen do. He that being of base beginning, and unmeet for government, seeks to set up himself upon better men’s ruins, and where he finds not a way to make it, shall fall from his high hopes into remediless misery; as he hath made a match with mischief, so he shall have his belly full of it. As he hath conceived with guile, so (though he grow never so big) he shall bring forth nothing but vanity, and worse. Job 15:35

And whoso breaketh an hedge. ] The hedge of God’s commandments, as our first parents did, to come to the forbidden fruit. A serpent bites such, Pro 23:32 and the poison cannot be gotten out. Others sense it thus (and I rather incline): He that seeks to overthrow the fundamental laws and established government of a commonwealth, and to break down the fences and mounds of sovereignty and subjection, shall no less (but much more) imperil himself than he that pulls up an old hedge, wherein serpents, snakes, and adders do usually lurk and lie in wait to do mischief. Wat Tyler the rebel dared to say that all the laws of England should come out of his mouth. a Stratford uttered somewhat to the like sense in Ireland. Our good laws are our hedges; so our oaths – quasi . Let us look to both, or we are lost people. Det Deus ut admonitio haec adeo sit nobis omnibus commoda quam sit accommoda.

a Speed.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Ecclesiastes

FENCES AND SERPENTS

Ecc 10:8 .

What is meant here is, probably, not such a hedge as we are accustomed to see, but a dry-stone wall, or, perhaps, an earthen embankment, in the crevices of which might lurk a snake to sting the careless hand. The connection and purpose of the text are somewhat obscure. It is one of a string of proverb-like sayings which all seem to be illustrations of the one thought that every kind of work has its own appropriate and peculiar peril. So, says the Preacher, if a man is digging a pit, the sides of it may cave in and he may go down. If he is pulling down a wall he may get stung. If he is working in a quarry there may be a fall of rock. If he is a woodman the tree he is felling may crush him. What then? Is the inference to be, Sit still and do nothing, because you may get hurt whatever you do? By no means. The writer of this book hates idleness very nearly as much as he does what he calls ‘folly,’ and his inference is stated in the next verse-’Wisdom is profitable to direct.’ That is to say, since all work has its own dangers, work warily, and with your brains as well as your muscles, and do not put your hand into the hollow in the wall, until you have looked to see whether there are any snakes in it. Is that very wholesome maxim of prudence all that is meant to be learned? I think not. The previous clause, at all events, embodies a well-known metaphor of the Old Testament. ‘He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it,’ often occurs as expressing the retribution in kind that comes down on the cunning plotter against other men’s prosperity, and the conclusion that wisdom suggests in that application of the sentence is, ‘Dig judiciously,’ but ‘Do not dig at all.’ And so in my text the ‘wall’ may stand for the limitations and boundary-lines of our lives, and the inference that wisdom suggests in that application of the saying is not ‘Pull down judiciously,’ but ‘Keep the fence up, and be sure you keep on the right side of it.’ For any attempt to pull it down-which being interpreted is, to transgress the laws of life which God has enjoined-is sure to bring out the hissing snake with its poison.

Now it is in that aspect that I want to look at the words before us.

I. First of all, let us take that thought which underlies my text-that all life is given us rigidly walled up.

The first thing that the child learns is, that it must not do what it likes. The last lesson that the old man has to learn is, you must do what you ought. And between these two extremes of life we are always making attempts to treat the world as an open common, on which we may wander at our will. And before we have gone many steps, some sort of keeper or other meets us and says to us, ‘Trespassers, back again to the road!’ Life is rigidly hedged in and limited. To live as you like is the prerogative of a brute. To live as you ought, and to recognise and command by obeying the laws and limitations stamped upon our very nature and enjoined by our circumstances, is the freedom and the glory of a man. There are limitations, I say-fences on all sides. Men put up their fences; and they are often like the wretched wooden hoardings that you sometimes see limiting the breadth of a road. But in regard to these conventional limitations and regulations, which own no higher authority or lawgiver than society and custom, you must make up your mind even more certainly than in regard of loftier laws, that if you meddle with them, there will be plenty of serpents coming out to hiss and bite. No man that defies the narrow maxims and petty restrictions of conventional ways, and sets at nought the opinions of the people round about him, but must make up his mind for backbiting and slander and opposition of all sorts. It is the price that we pay for obeying at first hand the laws of God and caring nothing for the conventionalities of men.

But apart from that altogether, let me just remind you, in half a dozen sentences, of the various limitations or fences which hedge up our lives on every side. There are the obligations which we owe, and the relations in which we stand, to the outer world, the laws of physical life, and all that touches the external and the material. There are the relations in which we stand, and the obligations which we owe, to ourselves. And God has so made us as that obviously large tracts of every man’s nature are given to him on purpose to be restrained, curbed, coerced, and sometimes utterly crushed and extirpated. God gives us our impulses under lock and key. All our animal desires, all our natural tendencies, are held on condition that we exercise control over them, and keep them well within the rigidly marked limits which He has laid down, and which we can easily find out. There are, further, the relations in which we stand, and the obligations and limitations, therefore, under which we come, to the people round about us. High above them all, and in some sense including them all, but loftier than these, there is the all-comprehending relation in which we stand to God, who is the fountain of all obligations, the source and aim of all duty, who encompasses us on every side, and whose will makes the boundary walls within which alone it is safe for a man to live.

We sometimes foolishly feel that a life thus hedged up, limited by these high boundaries on either side, must be uninteresting, monotonous, or unfree. It is not so. The walls are blessings, like the parapet on a mountain road, that keeps the travellers from toppling over the face of the cliff. They are training-walls, as our hydro-graphical engineers talk about, which, built in the bed of a river, wholesomely confine its waters and make a good scour which gives life, instead of letting them vaguely wander and stagnate across great fields of mud. Freedom consists in keeping willingly within the limits which God has traced, and anything else is not freedom but licence and rebellion, and at bottom servitude of the most abject type.

II. So, secondly, note that every attempt to break down the limitations brings poison into the life.

We live in a great automatic system which, by its own operation, largely avenges every breach of law. I need not remind you, except in a word, of the way in which the transgression of the plain physical laws stamped upon our constitutions avenges itself; but the certainty with which disease dogs all breaches of the laws of health is but a type in the lower and material universe of the far higher and more solemn certainty with which ‘the soul that sinneth, it shall die.’ Wherever a man sets himself against any of the laws of this material universe, they make short work of him. We command them, as I said, by obeying them; and the difference between the obedience and the breach of them is the difference between the engineer standing on his engine and the wretch that is caught by it as it rushes over the rails. But that is but a parable of the higher thing which I want to speak to you about.

The grosser forms of transgression of the plain laws of temperance, abstinence, purity, bring with them, in like manner, a visible and palpable punishment in the majority of cases. Whoso pulls down the wall of temperance, a serpent will bite him. Trembling hands, broken constitutions, ruined reputations, vanished ambitions, wasted lives, poverty, shame, and enfeebled will, death-these are the serpents that bite, in many cases, the transgressor. I have a man in my eye at this moment that used to sit in one of these pews, who came into Manchester a promising young man, a child of many prayers, with the ball at his foot, in one of your great warehouses, the only hope of his house, professedly a Christian. He began to tamper with the wall. First a tiny little bit of stone taken out that did not show the daylight through; then a little bigger, and a bigger. And the serpent struck its fangs into him, and if you saw him now, he is a shambling wreck, outside of society, and, as we sometimes tremblingly think, beyond hope. Young men! ‘whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.’

In like manner there are other forms of ‘sins of the flesh avenged in kind,’ which I dare not speak about more plainly here. I see many young men in my congregation, many strangers in this great city, living, I suppose, in lodgings, and therefore without many restraints. If you were to take a pair of compasses and place one leg of them down at the Free Trade Hall, and take a circle of half a mile round there, you would get a cavern of rattlesnakes. You know what I mean. Low theatres, low music-halls, casinos, haunts of yet viler sorts-there the snakes are, hissing and writhing and ready to bite. Do not ‘put your hand on the hole of the asp.’ Take care of books, pictures, songs, companions that would lead you astray. Oh for a voice to stand at some doors that I know in Manchester, and peal this text into the ears of the fools, men and women, that go in there!

I heard only this week of one once in a good position in this city, and in early days, I believe, a member of my own congregation, begging in rags from door to door. And the reason was, simply, the wall had been pulled down and the serpent had struck. It always does; not with such fatal external effects always, but be ye sure of this, ‘God is not mocked; “whatsoever a man,” or a woman either, “soweth, that shall he also reap.”‘ For remember that there are other ways of pulling down walls than these gross and palpable transgressions with the body; and there are other sorts of retributions which come with unerring certainty besides those that can be taken notice of by others. I do not want to dwell upon these at any length, but let me just remind you of one or two of them.

Some serpents’ bites inflame, some paralyse; and one or other of these two things-either an inflamed conscience or a palsied conscience-is the result of all wrongdoing. I do not know which is the worst. There are men and women now in this chapel, sitting listening to me, perhaps half interested, without the smallest suspicion that I am talking about them. The serpent’s bite has led to the torpor of their consciences. Which is the worse-to loathe my sin and yet to find its slimy coils round about me, so that I cannot break it, or to have got to like it and to be perfectly comfortable in it, and to have no remonstrance within when I do it? Be sure of this, that every transgression and disobedience acts immediately upon the conscience of the doer, sometimes to stir that conscience into agonies of gnawing remorse, more often to lull it into a fatal slumber.

I do not speak of the retributions which we heap upon ourselves in loading our memories with errors and faults, in polluting them often with vile imaginations, or in laying up there a lifelong series of actions, none of which have ever had a trace of reference to God in them. I do not speak, except in a sentence, of the retribution which comes from the habit of evil which weighs upon men, and makes it all but impossible for them ever to shake off their sin. I do not speak, except in a sentence, of the perverted relations to God, the incapacity of knowing Him, the disregard, and even sometimes the dislike, of the thought of Him which steal across the heart of the man that lives in evil and sin; but I put all into two words-every sin that I do tells upon myself, inasmuch as its virus passes into my blood as guilt and as habit . And then I remind you of what you say you believe, that beyond this world there lies the solemn judgment-seat of God, where you and I have to give account of our deeds. O brother, be sure of this, ‘whoso breaketh an hedge’-here and now, and yonder also-’a serpent shall bite him’!

That is as far as my text carries me. It has nothing more to say. Am I to shut the book and have done? There is only one system that has anything more to say, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

III. And so, passing from my text, I have to say, lastly, All the poison may be got out of your veins if you like.

Our Lord used this very same metaphor under a different aspect, and with a different historical application, when He said, ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.’

There is Christ’s idea of the condition of this world of ours-a camp of men lying bitten by serpents and drawing near to death. What I have been speaking about, in perhaps too abstract terms, is the condition of each one of us. It is hard to get people, when they are gathered by the hundred to listen to a sermon flung out in generalities, to realise it. If I could get you one by one, and ‘buttonhole’ you; and instead of the plural ‘you’ use the singular ‘thou,’ perhaps I could reach you. But let me ask you to try and realise each for himself that this serpent bite, as the issue of pulling down the wall, is true about each soul in this place, and that Christ endorsed the representation. How are we to get this poison out of the blood? Reform your ways? Yes; I say that too; but reforming the life will deliver from the poison in the character, when you cure hydrophobia by washing the patient’s skin, and not till then. It is all very well to repaper your dining-rooms, but it is very little good doing that if the drainage is wrong. It is the drainage that is wrong with us all. A man cannot reform himself down to the bottom of his sinful being. If he could, it does not touch the past. That remains the same. If he could, it does not affect his relation to God. Repentance-if it were possible apart from the softening influence of faith in Jesus Christ-repentance alone would not solve the problem. So far as men can see, and so far as all human systems have declared, ‘What I have written I have written.’ There is no erasing it. The irrevocable past stands stereotyped for ever. Then comes in this message of forgiveness and cleansing, which is the very heart of all that we preachers have to say, and has been spoken to most of you so often that it is almost impossible to invest it with any kind of freshness or power. But once more I have to preach to you that Christ has received into His own inmost life and self the whole gathered consequences of a world’s sin; and by the mystery of His sympathy, and the reality of His mysterious union with us men, He, the sinless Son of God, has been made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The brazen serpent lifted on the pole was in the likeness of the serpent whose poison slew, but there was no poison in it. Christ has come, the sinless Son of God, for you and me. He has died on the Cross, the Sacrifice for every man’s sin, that every man’s wound might be healed, and the poison cast out of his veins. He has bruised the malignant, black head of the snake with His wounded heel; and because He has been wounded, we are healed of our wounds. For sin and death launched their last dart at Him, and, like some venomous insect that can sting once and then must die, they left their sting in His wounded heart, and have none for them that put their trust in Him.

So, dear brother, here is the simple condition-namely, faith. One look of the languid eye of the poisoned man, howsoever bloodshot and dim it might be, and howsoever nearly veiled with the film of death, was enough to make him whole. The look of our consciously sinful souls to that dear Christ that has died for us will take away the guilt, the power, the habit, the love of evil; and, instead of blood saturated with the venom of sin, there will be in our veins the Spirit of life in Christ, which will ‘make us free from the law of sin and death.’ ‘Look unto Him and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth!’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Ecc 10:8-20

8He who digs a pit may fall into it, and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall. 9He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and he who splits logs may be endangered by them. 10If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success. 11If the serpent bites before being charmed, there is no profit for the charmer. 12Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, while the lips of a fool consume him; 13the beginning of his talking is folly and the end of it is wicked madness. 14Yet the fool multiplies words. No man knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him? 15The toil of a fool so wearies him that he does not even know how to go to a city. 16Woe to you, O land, whose king is a lad and whose princes feast in the morning. 17Blessed are you, O land, whose king is of nobility and whose princes eat at the appropriate timefor strength and not for drunkenness. 18Through indolence the rafters sag, and through slackness the house leaks. 19Men prepare a meal for enjoyment, and wine makes life merry, and money is the answer to everything. 20Furthermore, in your bedchamber do not curse a king, and in your sleeping rooms do not curse a rich man, for a bird of the heavens will carry the sound and the winged creature will make the matter known.

Ecc 10:8 This relates two unexpected consequences to one’s actions:

1. A person who digs a pit to capture an animal (or person) will be captured by it (cf. Pro 26:27).

2. A person breaks through a wall to escape, but in doing so is bitten by a snake hiding there (cf. Amo 5:19).

It must be admitted that the above interpretation assumes a negative attitude on the part of the worker, which is not easily demonstrated from the text itself. It is possible, however, that the results described are merely accidental and unexpected (cf. Ecc 10:9).

Ecc 10:9 Human actions and words have unexpected consequences (cf. Pro 26:27).

Ecc 10:10-11 Humans can take actions (i.e. gain wisdom) that will help them live their lives easier and better!

The term advantage (BDB 452) carries significant theological weight, often referring to a lasting or eternal advantage (cf. Ecc 1:3; Ecc 2:11; Ecc 3:9; Ecc 5:16). Here the focus is on this life.

Ecc 10:12 There is a play on the term mouth, lips, and swallow (i.e., consume). What we say does make a difference (e.g., Ecc 10:13-14; Pro 10:32; Pro 13:3; Pro 18:21; Mat 12:37).

SPECIAL TOPIC: HUMAN SPEECH

Ecc 10:13 the end of it is wicked madness The NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 1040, asserts that this refers to an attitude of life that recognizes no moral law operating in the world. Therefore, this would be taking the metaphor under the sun as a life’s motto. In our culture it is the idiom, you only go around once in life, so get all the gusto you can. Ecclesiastes addresses this very attitude (cf. Ecc 3:17; Ecc 9:11; Ecc 12:14).

Ecc 10:14 No man knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him This is a recurrent theme (cf. Ecc 3:22; Ecc 6:12; Ecc 7:14; Ecc 8:7; Ecc 10:14). The future is hidden, even from wisdom! Wisdom is far better than foolishness (cf. Ecc 10:15), but it is limited by this fallen period of human history!

Ecc 10:15 There are several ways to view this verse:

1. work makes a fool tired (i.e., instead of happy)

2. fools do not like work (i.e., they are lazy)

3. fools cannot find the path to the city (i.e., God’s wisdom, cf. Ecc 10:2-3)

Ecc 10:16-17 Woe This INTERJECTION (BDB 33 III), often translated alas, is found only twice in the OT, both in Ecclesiastes (cf. Ecc 4:10; Ecc 10:16), but often in rabbinical literature.

There are two reasons for the woe:

1. a young, inexperienced ruler

2. drunken, worldly-minded leadership

It is surprising that young (BDB 654, lit. child) is contrasted with noble (BDB 359). Possibly this is related to Ecc 10:7 (i.e., slave acting like a prince) or to Ecc 4:13-16, a seeming historical example.

Ecc 10:17

NASB, NKJVblessed

NRSV, NJBhappy

TEVfortunate

This term (BDB 80, e.g., Psa 32:2; Psa 84:5; Psa 84:12; Psa 119:1; Pro 3:13; Pro 8:34; Pro 28:14) is the literary opposite of woe, (Ecc 10:16). In Psalms it denotes the blessing of being the covenant people of YHWH. See Special Topic: Blessing .

At the appropriate time This concept of a divinely appropriate time was first introduced in Ecc 3:1-11; Ecc 3:17; Ecc 7:17; Ecc 8:5-6; Ecc 8:9; Ecc 9:8; Ecc 9:11-12(twice); Ecc 10:17 (esp. Ecc 3:11).

for strength Food is for activity, not for inactivity (drunkenness, see Special Topic at Ecc 2:3). We eat to live; we do not live to eat!! One who controls the base appetite to eat probably can control other areas where self takes control. Self discipline is crucial in a leader!

Ecc 10:18 This seems to be an unrelated saying (cf. TEV. NJB), which chastises inactivity (cf. Pro 24:30-34). It may be related to characteristics of leaders (cf. NKJV, NRSV). The words are rare (i.e., rafters, BDB 900) and point toward a cultural proverb.

Ecc 10:19 This verse, like Ecc 10:20, seems to relate to Ecc 10:16-17 (cf. NRSV).

NASBmoney is the answer to everything

NKJVmoney answers every thing

NRSVmoney melts every need

TEVyou can’t have either without money

NJBmoney has an answer for everything

Ths phrase is not meant to be a negative attack on money. Food (i.e., bread) and drink (i.e., wine) are seen as gifts from God, so too, the means to buy them. It is possible that the VERB (BDB 772 I, KB 851, Qal IMPERFECT) is meant to be understood as in Ecc 5:20 (the other use of this VERB in Ecclesiastes), keep him occupied. In this sense money allows feasts, parties, social occasions for all to keep their minds off (1) the vanity of all things and (2) the mysteries of God’s activities.

Ecc 10:20 The VERB curse (BDB 886, KB 1103, used twice) is a Piel IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense.

It is hard to keep reckless words a secret (cf. Luk 12:3)! Those who hear these outbursts often use them for self interest (i.e., tell the king in order to gain favor).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

hedge = a wall built of loose stones without mortar. Hebrew. gader, used especially of sheep-folds (Num 32:16, Num 32:24, Num 32:36; 1Sa 24:3). Zep 2:6); also for fencing pathways between the vineyards (Num 22:24. Psa 62:3; Psa 80:12). The crevices between the loose stones form hiding-places for lizards and other creeping things.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Ecc 10:8-11

Ecc 10:8

“He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh through a wall, a serpent shall bite him.”

Haman’s being hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai is the classical example of what is meant by the first line. Regarding the second line, “Breaking through a fence, one is stung by a serpent lurking in the stones of his neighbor’s garden wall.

Ecc 10:9

“Whoso heweth out stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood is endangered thereby.”

These truisms have the simple meaning that certain tasks carry with them an element of risk and danger. “If you work in a stone quarry, you get hurt by stones; if you split wood, you get hurt doing it. The spiritual application of this is that if one is engaged in any kind of an enterprise or activity that is designed to defraud or damage other people, it will most certainly be the same thing which happens to him.

Ecc 10:10

“If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength; but wisdom is profitable to direct.”

In this, the author is still talking about cleaving wood; and the iron here is a reference to the axe. “If the axe is blunt and the edge unwhetted, more strength must be put into the blow; successful skill comes from shrewd sense.; Ecc 10:8-9 were summarized as saying, “Every job has its dangers. This verse (1) is paraphrased: “Wisdom can make any job easier; if a person sharpens the knife (axe) the job is easier. Wisdom is like that.

Ecc 10:11

“If the serpent bite before it is charmed, then is there no advantage to the charmer.”

“If the snake-charmer is unwise in the practice of his craft, he may be bitten like anyone else. “Knowing how to charm a snake is of no use if you let the snake bite you first”! A spiritual application is that, “Knowing what to do to be saved is of no use to the man who puts it off till death overtakes him.”

The following four illustrations demonstrate further the foolishness of working without the aid of wisdom. In the midst of the illustrations the Preacher pauses for a moment to make clear the emphasis he wishes to make: He says, Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.

Ecc 10:8 In a similar passage in Pro 26:26-27, the context suggests evil activity. If such is the case in this verse, the digging of a pit would be an effort to try and snare another person or do him harm. In like manner, breaking through a wall would imply that one would be making an effort to steal from his neighbor. In both instances wisdom would be lacking as it directs one in the path of righteousness. Consistent with this interpretation is Psa 7:15-16; Psa 57:6 and Amo 5:18-20. The principle of retribution, taught clearly in the verse, also fortifies the argument that the activity is of an evil nature. The one who digs a pit will fall into it, and the one who breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent. The Amplified Bible translates the verse: He who digs a pit (for others) will fall into it, and whoever breaks through a fence or a stonewall, a serpent will bite him. Although most snakes in Palestine are harmless, there are some which are deadly.

Ecc 10:9 This verse does not suggest retribution as did the former verse. Rather, it speaks to the accidents which may result from common everyday work when wisdom is not employed. One does not have to work long in a stone quarry or logging camp until the potential dangers are evident. To quarry stones and split logs suggests building something new. Wisdom is an essential element in such an enterprise.

Ecc 10:10 The axe may be symbolic of all implements used by men in the activities of their work. When wisdom is not employed the maximum benefit of all implements is lessened. One must exert much more energy when the edge of the ax has not been properly honed. The latter part of the verse may be translated, Wisdom is profitable to direct. Perhaps more time would be consumed in planning the work and sharpening the tools, but such purposeful direction pays dividends in both the energy exerted and the amount of work accomplished. Once again the value of wisdom is demonstrated.

Ecc 10:11 This final illustration demonstrates the foolishness of neglecting opportunities. In this instance wisdom would have directed the one responsible for charming the snake to employ a charmer (one who tames or controls the snake) before he had displayed the snake. Eastern cultures have practiced snake charming for centuries. References to the practice are found elsewhere in the Old Testament. (Cf. Exo 7:11; Psa 58:5-6; Jer 8:17) If one has the secret to charm the snake, but does not use it and is bitten by it, what benefit does he gain from such wisdom? To be bitten by a poisonous viper which spreads its destructive venom throughout the body, is likened unto a slanderer who by his words destroys the character of another. Note the Amplified Bible where the verse is rendered: If the serpent bites before it is charmed, then it is no use to call a charmer, (and the slanderer is no better than the uncharmed snake). Wisdom teaches that both the serpent and the slanderer be controlled before they have an opportunity to destroy. A similar analogy is made by Jesus in Mat 23:33. It is one thing to possess wisdom, it is something else to use it to advantage.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

that: Jdg 9:5, Jdg 9:53-57, 2Sa 17:23, 2Sa 18:15, Est 7:10, Psa 7:15, Psa 7:16, Psa 9:15, Psa 9:16, Pro 26:27

a serpent: Amo 5:19, Amo 9:3

Reciprocal: Exo 21:33 – General Pro 11:6 – but Pro 11:18 – wicked Pro 23:32 – biteth Pro 28:10 – he shall Jer 18:20 – digged Hab 2:7 – bite

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Ecc 10:8-9. He that diggeth a pit, &c. The meaning of these verses, which may be considered as common proverbs, is, that those who are seeking and striving to injure others, often bring mischiefs thereby on their own heads; as he that digs a pit for another may, unawares, fall into it himself; and he who, in those hot countries, was pulling up a hedge, was in danger of being bit by a serpent lurking in it; and he that removes stones to undermine his neighbours house, may possibly be hurt, if not killed, by the upper stones falling on himself. It may be observed here, however, that Melancthon, Bishop Patrick, and many other interpreters, consider these verses as containing warnings to princes and people to take heed they do not rashly, and with violence, attempt to make changes in the established order of things in churches or states. Let neither prince nor people, says Henry, violently attempt any changes, nor make a forcible entry upon a national settlement, for they will both find it of dangerous consequence. Let not princes invade the rights and liberties of their subjects; and let not subjects mutiny and rebel against their princes, but let both be content within their own bounds. God, by his ordinance, as by a hedge, hath enclosed the prerogatives and powers of princes, and their persons are under his special protection; those, therefore, that form any treasonable designs against their peace, their crown, and dignity, are but twisting halters for themselves. And those that go about to alter a well-modelled, well-settled government, under colour of redressing some grievances, and correcting some things amiss in it, will quickly perceive, not only that it is easier to find fault than to mend; to demolish that which is good, than to build up that which is better; but that they pull a house down upon themselves, under the ruins of which they may perhaps be crushed to death. But this latter verse is thus interpreted by some, He that removeth stones That rashly attempts things too high and hard for him; shall be hurt therewith Shall suffer injury from such attempts. And he that cleaveth wood With an iron instrument; shall be endangered thereby May peradventure cut himself: that is, he that deals with men of knotty, stubborn tempers, shall have much vexation and trouble thereby, and probably shall find his character as well as peace much wounded.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Improper timing can also nullify wisdom. Four different situations illustrate the fact that though wisdom is valuable in a variety of everyday tasks (Ecc 10:8-10), one can lose its advantage if the timing is not right (Ecc 10:11).

"The sum of these four clauses [in Ecc 10:8-9] is certainly not merely that he who undertakes a dangerous matter exposes himself to danger; the author means to say, in this series of proverbs which treat of the distinction between wisdom and folly, that the wise man is everywhere conscious of his danger, and guards against it." [Note: Delitzsch, p. 379.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)