A Fly in the Ointment

Did you ever wonder where the saying, ‘A fly in the ointment’ comes from?   It’s straight from the Bible. Ecclesiastes Ch.10 :1 “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.” (KJV)

The apothecary was the perfumer of his day. He probably worked for King Saul who wrote Ecclesiastes. He would carefully select and mix a blend of beautiful spices, flowers, sandalwood, aromatic leaves etc. He would thoroughly stir it together, put in in a jar and close the lid, and leave it for a few days to manufacture a beautifully scented ointment for the king. But one day he forgot to put the lid on. It wasn’t long before a fly, attracted by the aroma, came and landed on the ointment and sank into it and died. The decay of the dead fly soon ruined the beautiful aroma, and the ointment was spoiled. 

Solomon used this as an illustration of someone who is noted for being wise doing something really foolish. It causes a stink. Their reputation is spoiled. The irony is that the author himself, although he was the wisest man who ever lived, acted very foolishly at times. Sadly, in spite of his great God-given wisdom, and in spite of starting out so well, he ended badly. The lesson is very clear. Don’t allow the flies of foolishness, carelessness, selfishness or sinfulness to make your life stink! Protect that in your life which is made to give your King pleasure. Don’t be like Solomon, finish well.

Stephen Pile has written a book titled The Book of Failures. It’s got unbelievable stuff in it. Like the time back in 1978 during the firemen’s strike in England. It made possible one of the greatest animal rescue attempts of all time. Valiantly, the British Army had taken over emergency firefighting. On January 14th they were called out by an elderly lady in South London to rescue her cat. They arrived with impressive haste, very cleverly and carefully rescued the cat, and started to drive away. But the lady was so grateful she invited the squad of heroes in for tea. Driving off later with fond farewells and warm waving of arms, they ran over her cat and killed it.

“Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life, have been the consequences of action without thought.” Bernard Baruch

So, let’s finish well in life. Let our lives keep its aroma.  

- Pastor David Goudy