Ecclesiastes 10:2

A wise man's heart [is] at his right hand,.... This is not designed to express the direct position and situation of the heart of man, wise or foolish, which is the same in both; and which, according

A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. A wise man's heart (is) at his right hand - (Ecclesiastes 2:14.) The right hand is more expert than the left.

A wise man’ s heart, i.e. his understanding or wisdom, is at his right hand; is always present with him, and ready to direct him in all his actions. He manageth all his affairs prudently and piously. He mentions the right hand, because that is the chief and most common instrument of actions, which by most men are done with more strength, and expedition, and orderliness, and comeliness by their right hand than by their left. A fool’ s heart at his left; his understanding and knowledge serves him only for idle speculation and vain ostentation, but is not at all useful or effectual to govern his affections and actions. He acts preposterously and foolishly, like one without heart, as it follows.

Ecclesiastes 10:2 A wise man’ s heart [is] at his right hand; but a fool’ s heart at his left. 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," 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," 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, 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; Ahab and his clawbacks; 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. Eιςμετανοιαν. Ut quae aversantur homines fere sinistra depelluntur.

(2) At his right hand.—Perhaps better, towards his right hand, i.e., leads him to go to the right hand. The thought is the same as Ecclesiastes 2:13, namely, that though the actual results of wisdom are often disappointing, the superiority of wisdom over folly is undeniable.

Verse 2. A wise man's heart is at his right hand] As the right hand is ordinarily the best exercised, strongest, and most ready, and the left the contrary, they show, 1. The command which the wise man has over his own mind, feelings, passions, c., and the prudence with which he acts. And, 2. The want of prudence and management in the fool, who has no restraint on his passions, and no rule or guard upon his tongue. The right hand and the left are used in Scripture to express good and evil. The wise man is always employed in doing good the fool, in nonsense or evil.

2. A wise man’s heart is at his right hand] The symbolism of the right or the left hand, the former pointing to effective, the latter to ineffective, action, is so natural that it is scarcely necessary to look for its origin in the special thoughts or customs of this or that nation. It is, however, noticeable, probably as another trace of the Greek influence which pervades the book, that this special symbolism is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament, in which to “be on the right hand” of a man is a synonym for protecting him (Psalms 16:8; Psalms 110:5), while to “sit on the right hand,” is to occupy the place of honour (Psalms 110:1). In Greece, on the other hand, the figurative significance was widely recognised. The left was with augurs and diviners the unlucky quarter of the heavens. So the suitors of Penelope see an ill-boding omen: αὐτὰρὁτοῖσινἀριστερὸςἤλυθενὄρνιςαἰετὸςὑψιπέτης, ἔχεδὲτρήρωναπέλειαν.“But to them came an omen on the left,A lofty eagle, holding in its clawsA timid dove.”Od. xx. 242. Or still more closely parallel, as indicating a mind warped and perverted by unwisdom, in Sophocles: οὔποτεγὰρφρενόθνγʼ ? ἐπʼ ? ἀριστερά,ποῖΤελαμῶνος, ἔβαςτόσσον.“For never else, O son of Telamon,Had’st thou from reason gone so far astray,Treading the left-hand path.”Aias 184. Our own use of the word “sinister” is of course, a survival of the same feeling. The highest application of the symbolism is found in those that are set “on the right hand” and “on the left” in the parable of Mat 25:31-46.

The metaphor perhaps means “A wise man’s sense is in its place, ready to help and protect him; but a fool’s sense is missing when it is wanted, and so is useless.”

2. The fact that wisdom exempts no man from his destiny, and is sometimes outweighed by folly, does not reduce it to the absolute level of folly. A wise man’s heart, etc.