Whoso removeth stones is hurt therewith; he that cleaveth wood is endangered thereby.
Ecclesiastes 10:9 sits in a run of short sayings about work that turns on the worker — the pit, the wall, the stones, the logs. Is ordinary work simply unsafe? Or is the warning aimed at the man who takes on a job without the wisdom for it?
One commentator gives his own translation of the line, offering "wounded" as a second word for the danger. He then reads straight on into the next verse.
Whoever moves stones is hurt by them; he who splits wood is endangered (or wounded) by it. If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must apply more strength; but wisdom is profitable for success.
The same writer sets this verse beside the pit and the broken hedge before it. He names one job as riskier than all of them.
The dug pit, the broken hedge, the moving of stones, and the splitting of wood — especially with poor tools — are all dangerous jobs. They are dangerous not for others only, but for those who try them in particular. None is more dangerous than pulling down a boundary marker, out of which comes a biting serpent. As wisdom is profitable to direct, so it is to charm the snake and escape the deadly thing.
This saying sits in a chapter about a bad ruler. The same writer shows what wisdom does when a man is under one.
The ruler's towering spirit naturally provokes; but wisdom strengthens a man to keep the place of a subject, and, if an answer is called for, to give a soft one. Mere right never sets wrong straight; the grace that gives up self and serves does. What the great king saw is common in every age, and hard even for the wise and meek: the error comes from the ruler, who lifts up the unworthy and puts down the worthy. But wisdom can bow and wait without contention, which would not remedy the evil but only add another.
One writer sees this verse acted out at the Jordan, where a work party lost a borrowed axe head in the water.
When they came to Jordan they split wood. The human element was at work, but "he who splits logs is endangered by them" (Eccl. 10:9). So we see the borrowed tool lost and the man of God quietly triumphant. They showed him the place where it fell. He cut off a piece of wood and threw it in, and the iron floated... The man using the axe might have been on his way to a city of refuge shortly after he began work (Deut. 19:5).
The danger in this verse is not theoretical.
The next verse gives the remedy: sharpen the edge instead of forcing it. One writer reads verses 9 and 10 together as a believer's everyday skill — knowing the will of God and doing it.
As a believer, it is your privilege to know and to do the will of God... You have a sense of what suits the Lord. You have His mind. You have learned the meaning of Ecclesiastes 10:9–10... Or you are like the two hundred men of Issachar. Of them we read, "Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" (1 Chr. 12:32).
On its own the verse could sound like bleak fate. One writer sets it in the wider argument of these chapters, where human ability counts for little.
We see too in Ecclesiastes 9 and 10 how little everything here meets the apparent ability of man; and, even when that ability is real, how little it is valued. Still, the wisdom of the upright and the folly of the fool each have their own consequences, and, after all, God judges.
- Wounded. "Endangered" can also be read as "wounded." The stone and the log hurt the man handling them.
- Backward. The hurt comes back on the man who started the job, not on the people watching. The pit, the hedge, the stones and the wood make one point.
- Provoked. The saying follows a picture of a bad ruler and misplaced honours. It warns against hacking back in anger: contention removes no evil, it adds another.
- Blunt. The remedy in the next verse is not more force on a dull edge but a sharpened one; wisdom is what directs the stroke.
- Judged. Wisdom is little valued here, yet wisdom and folly each carry their own consequences, and God judges in the end.
If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he apply more strength; but wisdom is profitable to give success.
Ecclesiastes 10 collects short sayings about wisdom and folly in daily work and public life. Verse 10 sets one of them in a workshop: a man swinging a dull blade. It raises a question every worker faces: more force, or a sharper edge?
Earlier chapters spoke from personal experience. Here the book turns to short, practical sayings. One commentator sets out the change:
This chapter, and those that follow, differ from the earlier ones. They drop almost entirely the language of personal experience... In the rest we have short, pointed remarks that confirm the argument of the book. They warn against indulging folly even in the smallest thing. They commend wisdom in practical affairs, for every class, rulers and subjects alike, in public as in private life, in word as well as deed.
The verse follows a run of images: a pit, a broken wall, moved stones, split wood. In each one the harm lands on the person doing the job. Tools matter here:
Digging a pit, breaking a hedge, moving stones, and splitting wood are all dangerous jobs, above all with poor tools. They are dangerous not only for others, but even more for the people who try them.
The last clause is rendered in more than one way. Alongside "wisdom is profitable to direct," one translation brings out the outcome rather than the guidance:
Whoever moves stones is hurt by them; he who splits wood is endangered by it. If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must apply more strength; but wisdom is profitable for success.
The point is not that strength is worthless. It is the lesser thing. One writer gathers two sayings from the same book under a working definition:
Wisdom is the right use of knowledge in relation to practical affairs. "Wisdom is better than strength" (Ecclesiastes 9:16). "Wisdom is better than weapons of war" (Ecclesiastes 9:18).
Wisdom does not compete with strength. It increases what strength is worth. Another writer explains the kind of strength wisdom gives:
A wise man is strong, we are told. It is moral strength. Samson had the reverse: physical strength joined to moral weakness and folly. So too a man of knowledge increases strength. He does not lose its advantage through carelessness.
That names the man in verse 10: he has strength, and carelessness is costing him its benefit.
Wisdom is more than stored information. One writer separates the two:
It is possible to acquire Bible information in much the same way as one gets historical or geographical information. In that case a person may be able to analyse and explain the Scriptures and yet be a complete stranger to their practical bearing and their power... The wise man is he who is able, with good judgment, to apply his knowledge to the circumstances he has to face.
Another writer ties the sharpened edge to knowing God's will:
As a believer, it is your privilege to know and to do the will of God... You have a sense of what suits the Lord. You have His mind. You have learned the meaning of Ecclesiastes 10:9-10... Or you are like the two hundred men of Issachar. Of them we read, "of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" (1 Chronicles 12:32). You get the mind of the Lord. Then you have to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him — pleasing the One who has delivered you.
There is a warning on the other side. Energy without God's mind does not just tire a man out. It sends him down the wrong road:
With virtue we also need knowledge, by which we acquire divine wisdom to guide us in all our practical ways. Apart from the knowledge of God and His mind, as revealed in His word, our very energy may lead us into paths of self-will.
- Blunt — The chapter is a string of practical sayings. This one starts with a dull blade. The danger of the job falls first on the worker swinging it, above all when his tools are poor.
- Force — More strength is the costly answer. It is not forbidden, only expensive. Carelessness robs a strong man of the advantage his strength should give him.
- Edge — Wisdom sharpens instead of straining. It is the right use of knowledge in practical affairs — better than strength, better than weapons of war.
- Applied — Information is not an edge. A man may explain the Scriptures well and still be a stranger to their power. Wisdom applies what you know to the situation in front of you.
- Directed — Knowing God's will, a believer works like the men of Issachar, who knew what Israel ought to do. Without God's mind, energy runs off into self-will.