Ver. 1. Dead flies cause the ointment, &c.] The Preacher had said that “one sinner destroys much good”; (Ecclesiastes 9:18) here he affirms the same of “one sin”; be it but a small sin, a peccadillo, no bigger than a few “dead flies” fallen into a pot of sweet odours, it is of that stinking nature, that it stains a good man’s esteem, and blows his reputation. A great many flies may fall into a tarbox, and no hurt done. A small spot is soon seen in a swan, not so in a swine. Fine lawn is sooner and deeper stained than coarse canvas. A city upon a hill cannot be hid; the least eclipse or aberration in the heavenly bodies is quickly noted and noticed. If Jacob, a plain man, deal deceitfully, the banks of blasphemy will be broken down in a profane Esau thereby. If his unruly sons falsify with the Shechemites, he shall have cause to complain, “Ye have made me to stink among the inhabitants of the land.” (Genesis 34:30) If Moses marry an Ethiopian woman, it shall be laid in his dish by his dearest friends. (Numbers 12:1) If Samson go down to Timnah, the Philistines will soon have it by the end, “told” it will be “in Gath, published in the streets of Askelon.” If David do otherwise than well at home, the name of God will soon stink abroad, (2 Samuel 12:14) if Josiah go up unadvisedly against Pharaohnecho, and fall by his own folly, this “shall be his derision in the land of Egypt.” (Hosea 7:16) The enemies of God will soon compose comedies out of the Church’s tragedies, and make themselves merry in her misery. She is said to be “fair as the moon,” (Song of Solomon 6:10) which, though it be a beautiful creature and full of light, yet is she not without her black spots and blemishes; (Galileo used his telescope to discover mountains on her). These the Church malignant is ever eyeing and aggravating, passing by or depraving the better practices of God’s people. As vultures they hunt after carcases, as swine they musk in the muck hill, as beetles they would live and die in horse dung. It must be our care as much as may be to maintain our reputation, to cut off all occasion of obloquy, to be “blameless and harmless,” (Philippians 2:15) fair to the eye and sweet to the taste as that tree in paradise; without blemish from head to foot, as Absalom was; Non aliunde noscibiles quam de emendatione vitiorum pristinorum, as Tertullian saith of the Christians of his time, known from all others by their innocence and patience. That was a good choice, for this purpose, that he himself made, Malo miserandum quam erubescendum, I had rather be pitied than justly reproached. Strive we should to be as Paul was, a “good savour,” (2 Corinthians 2:14) and not to go out, as they say the devil doth, in a stench. Απλαστος.— Sept. Vultures ad male olentia feruntur. -Basil. Tertul. Ad Scapul. Tertul. De Fuga Pers.
Ver. 2. A wise man’s heart is at his right hand.] He doth his business discreetly and dexterously, he is handy and happy at it. And as he “ordereth his affairs with discretion,” (Psalms 112:5) so he doth his affections too, reining them in with his right hand, and not suffering them to run riot, as the fool doth oft to his utter ruin. As the wise man’s “eyes are in his head,” (Ecclesiastes 2:14) so his “heart is at his right hand”; he hath it at command, to think of what he will when he will; it is as a hawk brought to the falconer’s lure; or as a horse that is taught his postures. Hence he keeps his credit untainted, he retains the reputation of a wise man, he rightly owns that honour that the Italians arrogate to themselves, in that proverbial speech of theirs; Italus sapit ante factum, Hispanus in facto, Germanus post factum -i.e., The Italian is well advised before the deed done, the Spaniard in, the German after it. But a fool’s heart at his left.] At his left side, so it may be rendered, where nature placed it; he never yet sorrowed as those Corinthians did, (2 Corinthians 7:9) to a transmentation, to a thorough change both of mind and manners; his heart is yet still in the old place, he follows the course of depraved nature, he is a perfect stranger to the life of God. Or his heart is at his left hand,] i.e., He rashly rusheth upon business without due deliberation, and doth it awkwardly, as with the left hand, and like a bungler, invita Minerva, et collachrymantibus Musis, he brings it to no good upshot. See an instance of this in Hanun and his counsellors; (2 Samuel 10:2-4) Ahab and his clawbacks; (1 Kings 22:6) Antichrist and his adherers. Bellarmine bewails it in these words: Ab eo tempore, quo per vos Papa Antichristus esse coepit, non modo non crevit eius imperium, sed semper magis ae magis decrevit (Lib. iii. de Pap. Rom. c. 2,3): Ever since you Protestants have made the Pope to be Antichrist, his authority hath not only not increased, but still more and more decreased. Or thus, His “heart is at his left hand”; that is, he puts away reason and wisdom from himself—as, for the most part, those things which men dislike are put away with the left hand. Thus Junius expounds it. Εις μετανοιαν. Ut quae aversantur homines fere sinistra depelluntur.