#2 Irritant: The Fly In Ointment

#2 Irritant: THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT.

Thanks to Phil Walton for the fodder for this sermon. Thank you. This follows part #1. FLIES: Irritant, show me what ticks you off… This is part #2: IRRITANT: THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT. I have a fly swatter, some rubber flies, and a jar labeled as OINTMENT with a rubber fly in it.

Ecclesiastes 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.

Ecclesiastes 10:1 (MSG) Dead flies in perfume make it stink, And a little foolishness decomposes much wisdom.

DEAD FLIES IN THE OINTMENT IS AN IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION THAT STATES SOMETHING MORE THAN WHAT IS SAID. Idiom means you cannot derive the meaning just from the meaning of the words used. It is figurative not literal meaning.

DEAD FLIES IN THE OINTMENT?

FLY: a two winged, six legged insect. Goes through complete metamorphosis, egg, larva (maggot, will eat on anything), adult fly.

Flies often travel in groups we call: SWARMS.

OFTEN WHEN WE DISCUSS FLIES WE ARE TALKING ABOUT LITTLE THINGS THAT CAN IRRITATE, AGGREVIATE, ANGER AND OR FRUSTRATE INDIVIDUALS. * Irritate: aggravation, frustration, causing trouble, difficult, to provoke impatience, anger or displease; annoy, bother, bug, often by repeated acts, quick brief attacks, source of vexation, nuisance.

OFTEN WE FIND IN THE BIBLE OINTMENT WAS ASSOCIATED WITH REJOICING AND JOY… FLIES IN THE OINTMENT SPEAK OF DRAWBACKS TO GOOD VALUES. LOOK AT POULTICE, PLAISTER AND OINTMENT.

Hezekiah was dying. He set his face to the wall and repented and prayed. The Preacher had good news if HEZEKIAH would listen. Was the healing in the ointment or in the obedience?

Isaiah 38:21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.

*PLAISTER: an obsolete word, a strip of material to cover for medication

*POULTICE: a soft, usually heated medicated mass spread on a cloth or applied to sores or lesions.

We had an old man that attended church that would often tell us how his family and friends would make POULTICES and OINTMENTS in the fall in preparation for the winter sicknesses that would come. His mother was a mountain woman that knew the recipes to help cure all.

Every fall they would kill 3 skunks and bake them down and make a grease like poultice to use all winter. The man’s father and uncles were serious moonshiners and alcoholics. They had been out hunting raccoons late one night and when the dad got home the whole family was asleep in bed. The father opened the wood stove oven and low and behold there was “leftover” meat in the oven. The old man told us his dad helped himself to the meat and went to bed.

The next morning the old man’s father told his mother that meat was pretty good that he ate when he came in from hunting. The whole family started laughing as they knew the meat was SKUNK POULTICE for the winter. They had a fear of their dad’s alcohol, so they never told their dad that he ate the SKUNK POULTICE. This may have been a wise choice for the family?

*OINTMENT: a salve for application to the skin, VARIOUS FRAGRANT PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL and CERMONIAL PURPOSES. We know the role of anointing oil both in the Old and New Testament.

Psalm 133:2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

Proverbs 27:9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.

DEAD FLIES OR SMALL THINGS CAN AFFECT THE VALUE OF SOMETHING. LITTLE WORDS? LITTLE ATTITUDES? LITTLE DEEDS? LITTLE ACTIONS? PESSIMSITIC? OPTIMISTIC?

Song of Songs 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grap

NOW LET US STUDY THE FLY… THE FLY IN THE BIBLE SPEAKS OF PESTS, VERMIN, ANGER, FRUSTRATION.

FLY: a very grievous pest that often carries diseases. The flies in Biblical times were known to inflict very painful bites with their jaws. The germs and bacteria they carried would often lead to terrible infections. Their bites could possibly lead to death if not treated.

There was in the Middle East and Africa a fly that had a poisons bite. Isaiah refers to a hiss fly that had a painful bite. Today we know of the TSE TSE FLY that is known as the SLEEPING SICKNESS CARRIER.

Isaiah 7:18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.