Ecclesiastes 10:11

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 10:11

11. A "serpent will bite" if "enchantment" is not used; "and a babbling calumniator is no better." Therefore, as one may escape a serpent by charms (Psalms 58:4; Psalms 58:5), so one may escape the sting of a calumniator by discretion (Psalms 58:5- :), [HOLDEN]. Thus, "without enchantment" answers to "not whet the edge" (Ecclesiastes 10:10), both expressing, figuratively, want of judgment. MAURER translates, "There is no gain to the enchanter" (Margin, "master of the tongue") from his... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ecclesiastes 10:8-11

Improper timing can also nullify wisdom. Four different situations illustrate the fact that though wisdom is valuable in a variety of everyday tasks (Ecclesiastes 10:8-10), one can lose its advantage if the timing is not right (Ecclesiastes 10:11)."The sum of these four clauses [in Ecclesiastes 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... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ecclesiastes 10:11

2. The future of the wise on earth 9:11-10:11Solomon’s emphasis in Ecclesiastes 9:2-10 was on the fact that a righteous person could not be more certain of his or her earthly future than the wicked. In Ecclesiastes 9:11 to Ecclesiastes 10:11, his point was that the wise cannot be more sure of his or her earthly future than the fool. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 10:1-20

Practical Advice Touching Life’s Puzzles1-8. Cultivate wisdom and tact, specially in the dangers that attend upon courts, but also in ordinary operations.1. Dead flies, etc.] This v. really belongs to the end of Ecclesiastes 9. As a few of the poisonous flies abounding in hot countries would render valueless a whole jar of perfume, so a man by a slight admixture of error may render nugatory much of his own skilful or upright conduct.2. At his right hand.. left] A wise man’s mind directs him to... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 10:11

(11) This also is a difficult verse. Literally translated it is, If the serpent bite for lack of enchantment, there is no advantage to the master of the tongue. It seems best to follow the LXX. and other interpreters, and take the “master of the tongue” to mean the snake charmer, who possesses the “voice of the charmer” (Psalms 58:5). The whisperings of the snake charmer, so often described by Eastern travellers, are referred to also in Jeremiah 8:17, and in a passage, probably founded on the... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Ecclesiastes 10:1-20

Fences and Serpents Ecclesiastes 10:8 Any attempt to transgress the laws of life which God has enjoined is sure to bring out the hissing snake with its poison. I. All life is given us rigidly walled up. The walls are blessings, like the parapet on a mountain road, that keeps the traveller from toppling over the face of the cliff. II. Every attempt to break down these limitations brings poison into the life. Some serpents' bites inflame, some paralyse; and either an inflamed or a palsied... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 10:1-20

Nor in Devotion to Affairs and its Rewards. Ecclesiastes 9:13-18; Ecclesiastes 10:1-20So far, then, Coheleth has been occupied in retracing the argument of the first Section of the Book. Now he returns upon the second and third Sections: he deals with the man who plunges into public affairs, who turns his wisdom to practical account and seeks to attain a competence, if not a fortune. He lingers over this stage of his argument, probably because the Jews, then as always, even in exile and under... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 10:9-20

Combined with a steadfast Faith in the Life to come. Ecclesiastes 10:9 - Ecclesiastes 12:7But, soft; is not our man of men becoming a mere man of pleasure? No; for he recognises the claims of duty and of charity. These keep his pleasures sweet and wholesome, prevent them from usurping the whole man, and landing him in the satiety and weariness of dissipation. But lest even these safeguards should prove insufficient, he has also this: he knows that "God will bring him into judgment"; that all... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Ecclesiastes 10:1-20

CHAPTER 10 This chapter contains a series of proverbs, expressing the wisdom and prudence of the natural man. Here are a number of observations and all show that there is a practical value in wisdom and that it has certain advantages. These maxims are of a different kind than the proverbs in the preceding book. There we are face to face with the wisdom which is from above, here it is the wisdom of man. The name of the Lord is not mentioned once, Similar philosophic utterances can be traced in... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Ecclesiastes 10:1-20

United Proverbs Ecclesiastes 10:0 In this graphic chapter we have a number of extraordinary sayings, which some commentators have fruitlessly attempted to shape into unity. Bishop Ellicott says: "Commentators cannot be said to have been very successful in their attempts to trace a connection between the proverbs of this chapter. Perhaps nothing better can be said than that the common theme of these proverbs is the advantage of wisdom. It is forcing the connection to imagine that the enterprise... read more

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