The human sense of smell is quite impressive, and some of us have more sensitive olfactory senses than others. It is interesting how the smell of something can attract you to it, or away from it. A pleasant odor attracts us while a putrid smell repels us.
Most of us don’t realize how much our sense of smell factors into our enjoyment of foods, or how an aroma of something can make us hungry for that item. One time a friend of ours arranged a behind the scene tour of Disneyland for us. It was quite fascinating, going behind the “stage” to see how the fire effects in the Pirates of the Caribbean were produced, and the ghosts projected in the Haunted House.
However, one of the most interesting things was the use of aromas in the park. Our guide pointed out that the smell of hot, buttered popcorn was pumped through ducts that exited beside the sidewalks, and that within close proximity of those ducts, a popcorn stand would be located. People would subconsciously suddenly desire popcorn, and within thirty steps further along the path there would be the place to buy some. This was done with hamburgers, pizza, or cinnamon aromas to get you hungry for those items, and there was always an opportunity to buy them close by. What amazed me was how coordinated, orchestrated and effective it was. Business is business.
Have you ever smelled rancid cooking oil? It is nauseating, and smells of death and decay. The writer of Ecclesiastes picked up on this theme in Ecclesiastes 10:1-2 (NLT), where he says: “As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor. A wise person chooses the right road; a fool takes the wrong one.”
Perfume is intended to smell wonderful, to be attractive. But all it takes are a few dead flies decaying in it, and it changes the odor from enticing to repulsing, from wonderful to horrible. And once it goes rancid or rotten, you can only throw it away.
The writer is saying that wisdom is rare and wonderful, and it attracts many people due to its sublimity and beauty. But like perfume or oil, if there is a little foolishness in it, like a couple dead flies of nonsense, then the wholeness of that wisdom is ruined. A person can wow you with their great words, but when rotten decisions are injected into the mix, it changes the whole nature of the advice or concept, and the results can be catastrophic. When a few bad decisions or behaviors become a part of a person’s values, a life that was once attractive, can suddenly become very unappealing. Interestingly, the verse is not talking about making the perfume from dead flies, nor stuffing the perfume bottle full of dead flies. One or two dead flies in the perfume ruin the whole thing, and changes its appeal.
Wisdom takes a long time to acquire, and sometimes even a longer time to gain notice. But just a little stupidity, negates the wisdom slowly acquired. In verse two the writer states that wise people are revealed by their decisions, by the path they choose to follow. Conversely, choosing to take a bad path, puts dead flies in the ointment of life. It is interesting that the wonderful perfume does not change the odor of the dead flies. We probably all wish that it would, but the nature of decay is to
stink. No amount of sweet aroma can change rancid oil into good oil. It has been corrupted, changed in nature.
Wisdom does not make fools wise, wisdom makes wise people wiser. However just a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor. The second verse stresses that wise people choose the correct course, the correct path, and make right decisions. Fools choose the wrong path.
I wonder what aromas accompany wisdom? What would wisdom smell like? What makes it attractive to others? It would probably be wise for each of us, from time to time, to take a smell test, to see if our lives and decisions are wise and attractive, to see if our life passes the smell test regarding wisdom. Will we smell like elegant perfume, or will we discover that we have allowed some dead flies to make the odor of our lives repulsive to God, and others?
Award-winning columnist Dr. Ed Jordan is pastor of Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church, Gwynn, VA. He can be reached at szent.edward@gmail.com.