ill 
 
.rJ 
 
 
 ^.J^ 
 
 
ECCLESIASTES 
 
 A CONTRIBUTION 
 
 mTERPRETATION : 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 AN INTKODUCTION TO THE BOOK ; AN EXEGETICAL 
 ANALYSIS; AND A TEANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 THOMAS TYLER, M.A., 
 
 PRIZEMAN IN HEBREW AND NEW TESTAMENT GREEK, OP THE UNIVERSITY OP LONDON; 
 AUTHOR OF "JEHOVAH THE REDEEMER GOD," ETC. 
 
 Prov. i. 6. 
 
 WILLIAMS AND NOKGATE, 
 
 U, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, 
 
 AND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 
 
 1874. 
 
Preparing for ptihUcation. 
 
 By T. Tyler, Esq., M.A. 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OP "HAMLET:" 
 
 An Enquiry into the Meaning of Hamlet's Conduct, and 
 the Aim of the Tragedy. 
 
PEBFAOE 
 
 T~^ESV(EUX, in the preface to his book on Ecclesiastes, 
 -■-^ tells us that about thirty years had elai^sed since he 
 had first planned the work, and nearly five-and-twenty 
 since he had published a sketch of his plan ; that the work 
 had cost him a hundredfold the time and study which he 
 had at first imagined would be necessary; and that he had 
 been obliged again and again to remould the work, casting 
 it into a form different from that which he had before 
 intended. 
 
 I might, with reference to the work now submitted to 
 the public, repeat, to a considerable extent, what was said 
 by Desvoeux. I cannot, it is true, say that thirty years 
 have passed since I planned my work ; but still, not only 
 is it a very long time since I attained some of the conclu- 
 sions concerning the interpretation of particular passages in 
 Ecclesiastes, which I still hold, and which I have now for 
 the first time printed ; but a good many years have elapsed 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 since I prepared for a society, with which I was at the time 
 connected, a paper on Ecclesiastes containing and express- 
 ing those conclusions. Afterwards I rewrote and enlarged 
 this paper, with a view to its being published. Other work 
 and other engagements, however, demanded attention ; and 
 my paper in its improved form was laid aside. Subse- 
 quently, my attention being for a time less occupied with 
 other pursuits, I took up the work anew, and again enlarging 
 it, it assumed that tripartite form which it now presents ; 
 the paper above mentioned becoming, to a considerable 
 extent, the basis of the Exegetical Analysis. 
 
 When the work was now, as it seemed to me, just ready 
 for the press, I began to perceive the peculiar relation of 
 Ecclesiastes to the post-Aristotelian philosophy. This being 
 Been, I tried to adapt my work, by comparatively incon- 
 siderable alteration ; and I gave some account of the fact I 
 had discovered in a pamphlet entitled Some New Evidence 
 as to the Date of Ecclesiastes, London, 1872. I found, 
 however, that the adaptation of my work which I had 
 attempted was unsatisfactory. The relation of Ecclesiastes 
 to the post-Ai'istoteliau philosophy was too fundamental to 
 be thus dealt with. Much of the work was accordingly 
 written anew, and a good deal of illustrative matter in- 
 troduced. The work has certainly cost me an expenditure 
 of time and labour, such as I could not have at all antici- 
 pated when my attention was first directed to the subject. 
 Apart from certain circumstances, it is likely tiiat the work 
 
I>REFACE. V 
 
 would not now have been published : I might not unreason- 
 ably have hesitated before diverting from other pursuits so 
 very considerable an amount of time and thought as was 
 necessary even for the final preparation of the work for 
 the press. 
 
 Of late, much has been said, and no doubt with justice, 
 of the grave discouragements which attend upon original 
 research in various departments of natural science. But — 
 in England, at least — the discouragements connected with 
 such research in the field of Biblical science are probably, 
 on the whole, far more severe than those which must be 
 encountered by the physicist or the physiologist. This 
 result is caused, in part, by the generally low condition of 
 Biblical and Oriental learning, and, in part, by various 
 other causes, which I need not here particularly mention. 
 I may be pardoned for alluding to this matter, on account 
 of the probability that changes will be made, especially in 
 relation to the Universities, which may, at least in the next 
 generation, greatly facilitate original research in natural 
 science. And I should certainly desire that this result 
 may be attained. But there is some danger lest suitable 
 provision should not be made for independent, faithful, and 
 thorough Biblical investigation. I hope, however, that the 
 necessity for such provision will be seen, since there are 
 multitudinous problems in relation to the Biblical books 
 which still await solution, and which will probably not be 
 solved without prolonged labour on the part of many in- 
 a2 
 
vestigators possessing not only adequate scholarship, but 
 also suitable natural endowments. At present, it is 
 probable, the energies of not a few who might have done 
 good service in this department of intellectual labour, are 
 diverted to other objects on account of the unfavourable 
 circumstances attendant in England upon Biblical research. 
 Some persons, indeed, may contend that, with regard to 
 the Bible, little of importance remains to be discovered, its 
 interpreters having been so acute and so erudite, and its 
 literature being so vast and so voluminous. Probably, 
 however, Di'. Westcott was, in relation to this matter, 
 nearer the truth when he asserted that " we are at present 
 only on the outskirts of the knowledge of Holy Scripture " 
 {Academy, Oct. 1st, 1872). 
 
 I have mentioned above the pamphlet in which I gave 
 an account of the conclusions I had attained concern- 
 ing the relation of Ecclesiastes to the post-Aristotelian 
 philosophy. Some reviews of this pamphlet, both in this 
 country and abroad, may possibly have escaped my notice. 
 Of those which I have seen, I do not know that there is 
 any on which it is necessary that I should here offer a 
 remark, if I except a notice by the distinguished Orientalist, 
 Prof. Ewald, in the Gottimj'isclie gclclirtc Anzcigen (Oct. 23rd, 
 1872). Though Prof. Ewald regards my paper as a proof 
 of the advance which Biblical science is making in England, 
 and considers that it contains matter "not unimportant 
 even for more exact science," yet he calls in question my 
 
conclusions as to the date of Ecclesiastes, and as to the 
 connection of the Book with the actual Stoic and Epicui-ean 
 schools. He professes, however, his willingness to abandon 
 his position with respect to the composition of Ecclesiastes 
 in the Persian period, when satisfactory proof of the later 
 date shall have been furnished. I venture to hope, 
 therefore, that my honoured critic will find such proof in 
 the large amount of additional evidence contained in 
 the following pages, and especially in §§4, 12 of the 
 Introduction. 
 
 Of the three parts into which my work is divided, I have 
 endeavoured to keep the second — the Exegetical Analysis — 
 which gives a general view of the interpretation of Eccle- 
 siastes, free from Hebrew quotations or such technicalities 
 as would be unintelligible to readers not possessing a 
 knowledge of the original languages of the Old Testament. 
 The class possessing such knowledge, to any considerable 
 extent, is, I should fear, even among professional inter- 
 preters of the Bible, a very small one. This part of the 
 work has, perhaps on account of its origin, referred to 
 above, a somewhat more popular and less scientific garb 
 than it would otherwise have had. If this be a fault, it is 
 one which I have not cared to correct. 
 
 The Translation differs in no small degree from the 
 Authorised Version, on which, however, it is, to a con- 
 siderable extent, based. I may observe, that I have not 
 followed the Authorised Version with respect to the usage 
 
of printing Bupplied words in italics. The practice is one 
 which it is perhaps impossible to adopt with perfect and 
 entire consistency. I venture to hope, however, that my 
 translation will not, on the whole, be found wanting in 
 closeness to the original. The notes appended to the 
 translation will be, I trust, not without value to the student. 
 They must be looked upon as, in some measm-e, supple- 
 mentary to such illustrative matter as maybe found in 
 the Introduction and Exegetical Analysis. 
 
 The function which I have attempted to discharge in the 
 following pages is that of the interpreter. Many expository 
 works on Ecclesiastes have been written, but the present is 
 not an addition to their number. My object is not to 
 deduce moral or religious lessons from the Book, but to set 
 forth its meaning. Simply to attain this object is, how- 
 ever, a task of no small difficulty. The interpreter can 
 scarcely be indifferent with respect to those grave questions 
 which Koheleth discusses. And thus a danger arises lest 
 the interpreter's work should be marred by the inter- 
 mingling of the subjective, and lest, by toning down, or 
 dimly presenting, some of the conflicting sentiments con- 
 tained in the Book, he should give an image incomplete 
 and distorted. How far I have avoided these faults the 
 candid and thoughtful reader may decide. Where there is 
 BO much which will probably appear new and strange, 
 some things— possibly a good many things— may be 
 deemed unacceptable. Still, it is perhaps not altogether 
 
impossible that my work, on the whole, may be regarded 
 in time to come as having marked some real advance 
 towards the full solution of the great enigma of Koheleth. 
 
 T. T. 
 
 *#* I may append here a word with respect to the investigationa, of 
 which I have published some account at different times, concerning the 
 name " Jehovah," — a subject of great importance to Biblical science. It 
 was my intention to consolidate and republish the result of these re- 
 searches, making such change and revision as might seem necessary. Now, 
 however, I am doubtful whether I shall be able to accomplish this in- 
 tention. Partly on account of certain alleged archooological discoveries, it 
 appears desu-able that new lines of research should be opened up, the 
 adequate and thorough prosecution of which would probably require the 
 expenditure of at least some years of time and labour ; and this, on 
 account of several different causes, it is not unlikely that I shall be un- 
 able to give. 
 
 I would mention hero, also, as offering a not unpromising field for in- 
 vestigation, a subject more closely connected with the present work — tho 
 relation of Stoicism to the New Testament and to the Talmud, To the 
 relation of Stoicism to the Talmud, the attention of English readers was 
 lately to some extent called by an article, on " Marcus Aurelius and 
 the Talmud," from the pen of Prof. Plumptre, in the Contemporary/ Re- 
 view for January, 1869. With regard to the New Testament, there is the 
 dissertation on " St. Paul and Seneca " appended to Dr. Lightfoot's work 
 on St. Paid's Epistle to the Philippians. But the investigation should, 
 perhaps, take a somewhat wider range than that of this dissertation ; 
 and I think it not unlikely that additional results of importance may 
 be attained. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. INTKODUCTION 1 
 
 § 1. The Chaeacter of the Book ... ... 1 
 
 § 2. The Alleged Solomonic Authorship ... 8 
 § 3. E\idence that Ecclesiastes was written 
 
 BEFORE EcCLESUSTICUS ... ... ... 6 
 
 § 4. Manifest Influence of the Post- Aristotelian 
 
 Philosophy ... ... ... ... 10 
 
 § 5. The Approximate Date of the Book ... 29 
 
 § 6. General View of the Design of the Book 33 
 § 7. The Connection of Ecclesustes with Jewish 
 
 History. The Three Sects ... ... 84 
 
 § 8. The Contradictions of Ecclesiastes ... 47 
 
 § 9. The Ancient Jewish Aoadejiies 50 
 
 § 10. The Name Koheleth... ... ... ... 55 
 
 § 11. The Author of Ecclesiastes ... ... 62 
 
 § 12. The Theology of Ecclesiastes ... ... 64 
 
 § 13. The Style and Diction ... ... ... 70 
 
 § 14. The Integrity of the Text... ... ... 75 
 
 § 15. The Epilogue 76 
 
 § 16. The Eelation of Ecclesiastes to the Book 
 
 of Wisdom 70 
 
 § 17. TheEeceptionofEcclesiastes into the Canon 81 
 
 § 18. The DmsioN of the Book ... ... ... 82 
 
 II. EXEGETICAL analysis 84 
 
 III. TEANSLATION, with notes 118 
 
I. 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 §1. The Characteb of the Book. 
 
 ECCLESIASTES is distinguished among the books of 
 the Old Testament by strongly marked character- 
 istics. In most of these books the relation to the theocracy 
 is obvious and prominent, but in Ecclesiastes the theocratic 
 element appears, at least on a cursory view, subordinate 
 and insignificant. Ecclesiastes takes a wide and compre- 
 hensive survey of humanity, and, dealing with man as man, 
 seems scarcely to regard, if it does not entirely forget, the 
 distinctive pecuharities of the theocratic people. Its char- 
 acter too, in general, appears philosophical rather than 
 rehgious. Its tone is not that of the prophet declaring to 
 Israel " the word of the Lord," but rather that of the philo- 
 sopher telling of his investigations concerning the course 
 of things in the world, and of his attempts to solve the 
 intricate problems jjresented by the nature and condition of 
 mankind. There are indeed particulars in which Ecclesi- 
 astes resembles some others of the Biblical books. A 
 portion of its contents may seem not unlike the Proverbs ; 
 and there may appear ground for comparison, also, with the 
 Book of Job, in the absence of conspicuous reference to the 
 theocracy, in the subject-matter of the discussion, and in 
 some of the sentiments expressed. But from both of these 
 books Ecclesiastes is widely separated by its pecuhar philo- 
 sophical character. With respect to this character Eccle- 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 siastes marks an advance upon the Book of Job, which to 
 some readers may more than compensate for its inferiority 
 to the latter in poetical form and balanced parallelism. 
 
 The difficulties which Ecclesiastes presents have appeared 
 so great that, with regard to these, our book has been 
 asserted to have a jDre-eminence over all the other books 
 of the Old Testament. Not only have particular passages 
 given rise to varying interpretations, but discrepant opin- 
 ions have been expressed concerning the plan to which the 
 book is conformed, the aim and object to which it owes its 
 origin, the date at which it was written, the author by 
 whom it was composed. Expositors and interpreters, 
 attracted probably to a great extent by the unique and 
 peculiar character of the book, have expended much labour 
 in the investigation of its contents, but, on the whole, the 
 result of their toil can scarcely be said to be other than un- 
 satisfactory. A recent writer speaks of Ecclesiastes as "a 
 book with seven seals," and compares the vexation of the 
 reader, baffled in the search for a consistent meaning, to the 
 toil of him who, attempting to decipher hieroglyphics or 
 cuneiform inscriptions, can discern a meaning here and 
 there, but can trace throughout no self-consistent and con- 
 gruous sense (Graetz, Kohelet. p. 4). 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that the difficulty of 
 the book is caused mainly by the obscurity of its language, 
 though here again the book stands alone, its diction present- 
 ing a marked difference from that of any other of the Bibli- 
 cal books. The pre-eminent difficulty of Ecclesiastes has 
 resulted to a large extent from interpreters' having failed to 
 place the book in its true relation to history, as well as from 
 other causes which often tend to obscm-e the meaning of an 
 author who wrote in a distant age. But, in addition to 
 these more usual causes of difficulty, there would certainly 
 appear to be another, which was inherent in the original 
 composition of the book. The distinction between esote- 
 ric and exoteric doctrine, which we find afterwards in 
 
THE ALLEGED SOLOMONIC AUTHORSHIP. 3 
 
 the New Testament (e.g. Matt. xiii. 11 ; 1 Cor. ii. 6), 
 ajDpears to have been ah-eady operative when Ecclesiastes 
 was written. In treating of his grand themes the author 
 doubtless had in view those who were ah-eady initiated in 
 the school of philosophical wisdom. He wrote, not for the 
 frivolous and unlearned, but for earnest and meditative 
 students, whose minds would be braced up and invigorated 
 V gi-appling with difficulty, and who would be qualified to 
 enjoy that intense pleasure of successful investigation, con- 
 cerning which our author himself says: "Who is as the 
 wise man ? And who as he that knoweth the explanation 
 of a thing ? A man's wisdom causeth his face to shine, and 
 the fixedness of his countenance is changed " (viii. 1). The 
 position that Ecclesiastes possesses a designedly enigma- 
 tical character is one of no small importance ; and it is 
 desirable that the reader should keep it steadily in view 
 while studying and investigating the book. 
 
 § 2. The Alleged Solomonic Authorship. 
 That Ecclesiastes was not written by Solomon is the 
 deliberate verdict of modern criticism ; and to this verdict 
 assent must certainly be given. The evidence adduced is, 
 on the whole, so weighty that, if there are any competent 
 Hebraists who would still maintain the Solomonic author- 
 ship, it is probable that they are comparatively few. The 
 popular opinion concerning the authorship of our book has, 
 indeed, been opposed by arguments which may not be by 
 themselves conclusive ; as, for example, that derived from 
 the use of the preterite in i. 12 : "I Koheleth tvas CO'^i^) 
 king over Israel in Jerusalem." It may be replied that, if 
 Solomon was the author, the book must have been written 
 at a late period of his life, when he would not unreasonably 
 endeavour to look at his career from the stand-point of the 
 coming generation, or of posterity, rather than from that 
 of his contemporaries. Such a mode of expression as that 
 in question would be suited to one writing a book which was 
 B 2 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 not designed to gain temporary applause, but to be a Krrnjba 
 69 ael, " a possession in perpetuity." In like manner, it may 
 be said that the words " in Jerusalem," of the same verse, 
 are appropriate as coming from one who takes so wide an 
 outlook over the world and mankind as does the author of 
 our book, and therefore that they do not necessarily imply 
 that the partition of the kingdom was already an historical 
 fact. Again, it has been urged that Solomon would not have- 
 been likely to speak uncertainly about his future heii* (ii. 
 18, 19). But this argument perhaps rather tells the other 
 way. A later writer with the history before him might seem 
 the less likely to speak with uncertainty. Moreover, we 
 need not — if Solomon wrote mainly with a view to posterity 
 — find insuperable difficulty in such passages as i. 16, 
 ii. 7, 8, on the ground that it would have been a vio- 
 lation of the dictates of modesty for an author so to 
 write of his own wealth and his own wisdom. More 
 weight must be allowed to Koheleth's speaking of his 
 addiction to folly and recklessness as a philosophical ex- 
 periment in which he had engaged, and not as impiety 
 or sin of which he sorely repented. Here we seem to dis- 
 cern some evidence that we have before us a fictitious 
 personage. -Similarly, in what is said of misgovernment 
 and maladministration, we do not find any trace of that 
 strong personal interest which a monarch with power such 
 as that of Solomon might be expected to feel, especially if 
 he were speaking of what had occurred in his own king- 
 dom (comp. iii. 16, iv. 1, v. 8, viii. 10). And when we 
 come to the exhortation to respect the king (viii. 2 — 4), and 
 to be yielding to' him when he is angry (x. 4), and read of 
 Koheleth's having seen " servants upon horses, and princes 
 walking as servants upon the earth " (x. 7), we seem rather 
 to have the words of a private subject than of a monarch. 
 It is perhaps yet more improbable that Solomon would 
 have spoken with respect to the "great king" and the 
 **poor wise man" after the manner of ix. 13 — 18; and 
 
THE ALLEGED SOLOMONIC AUTHORSHIP. 
 
 especiall}'' does it seem unlikely that he, great king as he 
 was, would have used those, apparently, contemptuous ex- 
 pressions with regard to the "great king," or to such as 
 he, found in ver. 17, " The words of wise men in quietness 
 are heard above the outcry of one riding over fools " In 
 fact, after the second chapter,, the Solomonic or royal 
 character of Koheleth almost, if not altogether, disappears 
 — at any rate till we come to xii. 9 ; and sometimes Kohe- 
 leth's personal experience seems to become so shadowy that 
 we might perhaps entirely forget that we are reading a 
 narrative of such experience, if we were not reminded of it 
 by such passages as vii. 16, 23 sq., x. 7. Further, the 
 sacred theocratic name Jehovah is absent from the book ; 
 and, in accordance with this absence, we find a searching 
 philosophy instead of the theocratic spirit, with its legal 
 sanctions of earthly good and evil. This philosophical 
 character of the book, differing, as already mentioned, from 
 what appears in Job and the Proverbs, affords an impor- 
 tant argument in favour of its late origin. Besides, if 
 Solomon was really the author of Ecclesiastes, it seems not 
 easy to understand why he should call himself Koheleth, 
 instead of using his ordinary and well-known name. May 
 we not with probability conclude, from the employment of 
 the name Koheleth, that the author of our book did not in- 
 tend to be understood as meaning that the work was really 
 written by the Solomon of Hebrew history ? In addition 
 to what has been said, there is the powerful argument, in 
 favour of the late origin of the book, derived from the fact 
 that its language makes a marked approach to Eabbinical 
 Hebrew. With respect to isolated words or phrases, 
 parallels may perhaps in part be found in the earlier 
 literature, but no satisfactory answer can be thus given to 
 an argument drawn from the prevailing and general com- 
 plexion of the language. 
 
 But it may be said, we have, in favour of the traditional 
 belief, at least the statement of the first verse which 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ascribes the authorship of the book to the " son of David." 
 With respect to this verse the reply may be made, that it is 
 a superscription resembling to some extent the titles to the 
 Psalms and the subscriptions to the apostolical Epistles, 
 and that thus it may reasonably be questioned whether the 
 first verse was not added by a later hand. But, even on 
 the supposition that the first verse was written by the 
 author himself, httle importance need be attached to the 
 words " son of David," if the author had made his fiction 
 sufficiently transparent by the use of the name Koheleth 
 instead of Shelomoh or Solomon. 
 
 The position, then, must certainly be maintained, that 
 Ecclesiastes was not written by Solomon, but that the book 
 is the production of an age later than that of this great 
 Hebrew monarch. 
 
 § 3. Evidence that Ecclesiastes was "UTaiTTEN 
 
 BEFORE EcCLESIASTICUS. 
 
 Putting aside, therefore, the opinionthat Ecclesiastes was 
 written by Solomon, we have before us an extended period 
 during which the book must have been composed. The 
 language, it is true, does not allow us to assent to any very 
 early post- Solomonic date. But, as it seems to me, neither 
 the language of the book, nor supposed allusions to con- 
 temporary history, can enable us to fix the date certainly 
 within two or three hundred years. Is it possible, then, to 
 find any evidence which may enable us to determine the 
 date of the book either precisely or approximately ? Now, 
 as to the date before which Ecclesiastes was written, 
 important evidence may, I think, be obtained from Eccle- 
 siasticus — or Sirach, as the book is sometimes called — 
 taken together with the translator's prologue. If, indeed, 
 we could assent without reserve to the opinion of those who 
 maintain that the prologue furnishes satisfactory evidence 
 that the Old Testament Canon was already definitely fixed, 
 the question which we have before us might be somewhat 
 
ECCLESIASTES WRITTEN BEFORE ECCLESIASTICUS. 7 
 
 more easily settled. It may not, however, be possible to 
 prove that, when the translator speaks of " the law itself, 
 and the prophecies, and the rest of the books " {to, Xonra 
 TMv ^i/3\i(i}v), the third division, " the rest of the books," 
 or the Hagiographa, was already so definite that no addi- 
 tion could possibly be made to it. Still, it would certainly 
 aj^pear that the translator attributed some degree of an- 
 tiquity to the books of the Hagiographa, for we read in 
 this same prologue of " the law, and the prophets, and the 
 others who followed in their steps" {tcov aXkcov twv kut 
 avTov<i TjKoXovOrjKOTwv), and of "the law, and the prophets, 
 and the other books of the fathers " {twv aWcov Trarptcov 
 l3ij3\i(ov). The attribution of antiquity to the books of the 
 Hagiographa does not, however, afford grounds sufficient 
 to enable us to determine whether or not Ecclesiastes was 
 ah-eady numbered among them. But without attempting 
 definitely to settle this question (comp. however, §17), we 
 may, I think, find evidence of high probability that Eccle- 
 siastes was in existence, not only when the translator wrote 
 the prologue, but even when the Son of Sirach composed his 
 book. There are several places in Sirach which might be 
 supposed, with more or less probability, to indicate an ac- 
 quaintance with Ecclesiastes, as Sir. xii. 13 sq. compared 
 with Ecc. X. 11 ; Sir. xiii. 25, 26 with Ecc. viii. 1 ; Sir. xix. 
 16 with Ecc. vii. 20—22 ; Sir. xx. 7, xxi. 25, 26, with Ecc. x. 
 2,3, 12 — 14; Sir.xxvii. 26 with Ecc. x. 8.* Such coincidences 
 as may be found in these and some other places may not be 
 unworthy of consideration, but I would direct the reader's 
 attention more especially to one remarkable passage (Sir. 
 xxxiii. 13 — 15) f, which may be thus rendered: " As a pot- 
 ter's clay in his hand — all its ways according to his good 
 pleasure — so men in the hand of Him who made them, to 
 
 * Ewald {Gott. gel. Anz. 1872, p. 1699) thinks that a com- 
 parison might be made between Sir. xxxiii. 15 and Ecc, vii. 27, 
 and between Sir. xl. 11 and Ecc. i. 7. 
 
 f Otherwise, Sir. xxxvi. 13 — 15, according to the edition. 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 render to them according to His judgment. Opposite to 
 evil is good, and oj^posite to death is life, so opposite to a 
 pious man a sinner. And so look at all the works of the 
 Highest — two and two, one over against another." With 
 this passage should be compared Ecc. vii. 13 — 15 : "Behold 
 the work of God ; for who can straighten what He hath 
 made crooked ? In the day of prosperity enjoy thyself, but 
 in the day of adversity behold. God indeed hath set the 
 one in correspondence to the other, because man findeth 
 nothing after him. I saw all in the days of my vanity : 
 there is a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, 
 and there is a wicked man prolonging his life in his wicked- 
 ness." Corresponding to what is said in the one passage 
 of men and their lot being " in the hand of Him who made 
 them," like "a potter's clay," we find in the other "the 
 work of God " in relation to men described as being such 
 that none "can straighten what He hath made crooked.'' 
 The words " opposite to evil is good " {aTrevavTc rov kukov to 
 dyaObv) should be compared with what is said in Eccle- 
 siastes of "adversity" (^2?^ "evil") and "prosperity" 
 (nnhta "good"). Then it should be observed that in the 
 words '' and opposite to death is life, so opposite to a pious 
 man a sinner," taking them in the order in which they 
 stand, "death" in the one clause corresponds to " a pious 
 man" in the other, and " life " to " a sinner." This seem- 
 ingly inverted order, and this close and remarkable juxta- 
 position, may be accounted for if we turn to the passage in 
 Ecclesiastes : "There is a righteous man perishing in his 
 righteousness, and there is a ivicked man prolonging-his-life 
 i^V^P) in his wickedness." Again, "look at (e>/3\ei/roi/ 
 619) all the works of- the Highest," answers to " behold ('^b*')) 
 the work of God." Perhaps, however, the most important 
 words are those which conclude the passage from Sirach : 
 *' Two and two, one over against another " {8vo Svo 
 evKarevavTi rov evos:), which should be compared with " God 
 indeed hath set the one in correspondence to the other " 
 
ECOLESIASTES WRITTEN BEFORE ECCLESIASTICUS. 9 
 
 (nT"n^^7 ntTi^). Xhe Greek words ev Karevavro rov kv6<i 
 appear almost as if a direct translation from the Hebrew of 
 Ecclesiastes ; and it is the idea of duality in correspondence 
 found in Ecclesiastes, one thing balancing another as made 
 by God, that seems especially to have impressed the mind 
 of the Son of Sirach.* That the correspondence between 
 the two passages is accidental can scarcely be regarded as 
 probable. That the author of Ecclesiastes borrowed from 
 Sirach is not likely to be maintained after a careful study 
 of the two passages. There remains the possibility that 
 both authors may have been indebted to a common source. 
 But though it is possible that Ecclesiastes possesses to 
 some extent a composite character, yet, if the reader will 
 mark carefully the various points of correspondence, the 
 connection of the passage in Ecclesiastes with the context, 
 and also how in the midst of it occur the words of Koheleth, 
 "I saw all in the days of my vanity," he is not likely to 
 come to the conclusion that the passage was taken bodily 
 from some earlier work and transferred to Ecclesiastes. It 
 must be maintained, then, that the passages Ecc.vii. 13 — 15 
 and Sir. xxxiii. 13 — 15 furnish weighty evidence in favour of 
 the conclusion that Ecclesiastes was already in existence in 
 the days of the Son of Sirach. Now, if the evidence thus 
 adduced is valid, and if we are able to ascertain the time 
 when Sirach was composed, we shall have a date before 
 which Ecclesiastes was written. But, before endeavom'ing 
 to determine this date, it may be desirable to consider the 
 influence exercised on Ecclesiastes by the post-Ai-istotelian 
 philosophy. This may enable us to determine also a ser- 
 viceable date after which the book was written. 
 
 * This idea reappears (iravTa Bicraa tV KUTipuvn rov l»oc) in 
 Sir. xlii. 24, 25, but not with the intent of setting forth so 
 prominently the Divine sovereignty as in chap, xxxiii. 13 — 15, 
 the passage quoted above. 
 
10 introduction. 
 
 § 4. Manifest Influence of the Post- Aristotelian 
 Philosophy. 
 
 At first sight it will perhaps appear to many readers im- 
 probable that the author of Ecclesiastes possessed any 
 acquaintance with Greek philosophy, but this apparent 
 improbability may disappear on a further consideration of 
 the matter. Whatever improbability might exist with re- 
 spect to earlier Greek speculation must, through the closer 
 connection of the East and West in consequence of the vic- 
 tories of Alexander, be greatly diminished with respect to 
 post-Aristotelian philosophy. Further, among the philo- 
 sophical sects which arose after the death of Aristotle a 
 very prominent place must be assigned to the Stoics. Now 
 Stoicism wears to a large extent an Oriental aspect ; and 
 besides it is noteworthy that the early Stoic teachers them- 
 selves were, for the most part, of Eastern extraction, coming 
 from the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, from Asia 
 Minor, and from Syria. Zeno, the founder of the sect, was 
 from Citium, in Cyprus, a place said to have been colonised 
 by Phoenicians ; and he was himself reputed to be of Phoe- 
 nician descent. When, in Zeno's earlier life, he was, accord- 
 ing to Diogenes Laertius (vii. 2), engaged as a merchant, 
 and was shipwrecked just by the Piraeus, he lost a quantity 
 of purple from Phoenicia. And it would certainly appear 
 that, after Zeno had become settled at Athens as a philo- 
 sophical teacher, he still retained his connection with East- 
 ern and Semitic peoples. He declined, it is said, to accept 
 the Athenian citizenship, and so to sunder or weaken his 
 connection with Citium (Plutarch, De Stoic. Bepur/n.4). We 
 find, moreover, mentioned among his immediate disciples 
 Persifius, also from Citium, with Herillus from Carthage, 
 Atheuodorus from Cilicia, Dionysius of Heraclea in Pon- 
 tus, Zeno of Sidon — not to be confounded with the Epicu- 
 rean Zeno of Sidon — and Cleanthcs, from Assos in the Troad. 
 Subsequently we read of Chrysippus, from Soli in Cilicia 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 11 
 
 — if, indeed, this great Stoic teacher was not instructed 
 by Zeno himself— Diogenes of the Babylonian Seleucia, 
 Antipater from Tarsus, Posidonius from Apamea in 
 Syria, and others.* Now, looking at this strongly marked 
 connection of Stoicism with the East, we may well put 
 aside the notion of its being altogether improbable that a 
 knowledge of the Stoic philosophy should be possessed by a 
 writer living in Palestine ; for such, we may suppose, was 
 the position of the author of Ecclesiastes. Indeed, taking 
 into account merely what has been said, it would seem not 
 unlikely that this philosophy gained, at an early period, 
 considerable acceptance among the peoples on the east of 
 the Mediterranean. 
 
 Having thus, so far as the Stoic philosophy is concerned, 
 dealt with the notion of its being a priori improbable that 
 the author of Ecclesiastes was influenced thereby, we may 
 proceed to consider evidence which the book itself furnishes 
 showing that this influence was really exerted ; and the 
 evidence is such as, I think, can scarcely leave any reason- 
 able doubt concerning the matter. 
 
 The great principle of Stoic morals was ex^Dressed in the 
 formula to 6/j,o\oyovfMev(o<i rfj (fyvaei ^Pjv, "to live conform- 
 ably to Nature." That conduct, according to the Stoics, 
 was virtuous which resulted from considering the manifes- 
 tation in Nature of the Eternal Reason ; and the vii'tuous 
 man, by the exercise of his reason, followed Nature. Now, 
 in the Catalogue of the Times and Seasons, in the third 
 chapter of our book, we have, as it seems to me, a setting 
 forth of this great principle of Stoic ethics. From a 
 theocratic point of view this portion of the book seems 
 to wear a strange and abnormal aspect, but if it be 
 supposed that the Stoic principle of morality is developed 
 
 * A considerably larger number of names is given by Dr. 
 Lightfoot in notes to the dissertation on ""St. Paul and Seneca," 
 appended to his work on St. PauVs Epistle to the Philippians, 
 pp. 297, 301. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 therein, this aspect may be easily and fully accounted for. 
 We shall then have, in iii. 2 — 8, a compendious statement 
 of the particulars which make up human life, and for each 
 of which there is in Nature a determined season. Each 
 action is to be performed only at the allotted time, since 
 " for everything there is an appointed time, and a season 
 for every matter under heaven." The righteous man, having 
 respect to the divinely appointed times and seasons, acts 
 conformably thereto ; by the wicked man this natm-al order 
 is disregarded and violated (iii. 16). In the next verse 
 (iii. 17), " I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous 
 and the wicked ; for there is a season for every matter, and 
 for all the work there," the last word " there " (Ctt^) has 
 occasioned perplexity ; and a change of the ^^ into ^^ has 
 been proposed. But, on the supposition that we have in 
 iii. 1 — 8 a setting forth of the Stoic moral principle of 
 "living conformably to Nature," and that verse 17 looks 
 back to what had been said before — this word no longer 
 presents difficulty ; nay, it accords so perfectly with the 
 supposition in question as to afford strong evidence of 
 truth. The sense will be, " There " — in the course of 
 Nature — "is a season for every matter, and for all the 
 work " of man. And that the word " there " does thus 
 look back to verses 1 — 8 is shown, moreover, by the repetition 
 from the first verse of the words V?0"^?^ !~^V, " a season 
 for every matter." * 
 
 * There is a passage in Marcus Aurelius (iv. 32) which may 
 be to some extent compared with Ecc. iii. 1 — 9. lu this passage 
 men are spoken of as, one age after another, " marrying, 
 bringing up children, suffering sickness, dying, making war, 
 feasting, trafficking, tilling, flattermg, showing arrogance, 
 suspecthig, plotting, longing for some persons to die, mur- 
 muring at their present state, indulging in love, laying up 
 treasure, seeking after consulships and kmgdoms." With the 
 question (Ecc. iii. 9), " What advantage hath he who worketh in 
 respect of that whereat he toileth ? " may be compared the 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 13 
 
 Thus for that remarkable portion of Ecclesiastes which 
 I have called the Catalogue of the Times and Seasons, as 
 well as for other passages related thereto, a reasonable 
 explanation is found, on the hypothesis that the author of 
 Ecclesiastes was acquainted with and influenced by the 
 Stoic doctrine that there is in the com-se of Nature a certain 
 definite order, to which it is the duty of man to conform his 
 conduct. Still, notwithstanding the evidence thus adduced, 
 some might perhaps think it possible that the author of 
 Ecclesiastes attained the conception of the Life according 
 to Nature altogether independently of the philosophers of 
 the Porch. But the evidence of Stoic influence on our book 
 is very greatly strengthened, when we find that there is 
 reason to recognise the presence, not only of the Stoic ethics, 
 but also of the Stoic physical philosoph3^ According to 
 this philosophy the course of things in Nature proceeds in 
 a predetermined order, and with invariable sequence. When 
 one cycle is completed the procession of events begins anew, 
 to repeat, even in its minutest particular, what has gone 
 before. Can we doubt that this teaching is reflected, when 
 we read that, "as to all that God doeth, it is to be for 
 ever : there is no making addition to it, and there is no 
 taking away from it " (iii. 14) ; and that " whatever hath 
 been, it had been long ago before ; and what is to be ah-eady 
 hath been " (iii. 15), the course of things in the world being 
 but like the revolution of a wheel or circle ? And it is 
 worthy of remark here that, in the conception of the com-se 
 of things as a revolving circle, we may find an adequate ex- 
 planation of the difficult words which conclude the verse just 
 quoted (iii. 15) : " And God will seek after what hath gone 
 before," or, rendered more literally, "And God will seek after 
 what is pursued " ('T^''p"^'^^). Objects on the periphery of a 
 revolving circle seem to chase one another ; and, as the circle 
 
 statement in Marcus Aurehus (I. c.) respecting the multitudes 
 who ill bygone times, after the intense struggle of life, " fell and 
 were resolved into the elements." 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rotates, what may have passed out of view appears again 
 in the same order and with the same sequence. "That 
 which was pursued " is, as it were, sought after, and found, 
 and brought back again. In the first chapter, also, indica- 
 tions of the Stoic physical philosophy seem clearly mani- 
 fest. The toil of Nature is incessant but resultless. The 
 sun continues persistently the same monotonous course ; 
 the winds ever blow again according to their circuits ; the 
 rivers never so fill the sea that thenceforth it has no place 
 for their waters (i. 5—7). And when we think of the Stoic 
 doctrine that each successive cycle only repeated what had 
 gone before, every thing, every event, and every person, as 
 it were, reappearing, we can account at once for the words, 
 " There is nothing new under the sun. Let there be a 
 thing as to which one saith. Behold this, it is new ; it 
 hath been long ago in the olden time which was before us " 
 (i. 9, 10).* And then, that " there is no memorial of those 
 who went before, and even of those coming after who are 
 to be, there will be no memorial of them with those who 
 will be afterwards " (i. 11) — this would naturally follow 
 if, as the Stoics taught, each successive cycle begins 
 entirely anew, that which went before having been ended 
 by an all-destroying catastrophe. It is true that the author 
 of Ecclesiastes does not mention a general conflagration at 
 the end of each cycle ; indeed he speaks of the permanence 
 of the earth (i. 4). But this was a matter with respect to 
 which the Stoic teachers themselves difl'ered in opinion. 
 
 * The opinions of the Stoics seem to have varied as to the 
 question of actual personal identity in the successive cycles — as to 
 whether, for example, in the next cycle, Socrates himself will again 
 marry Xanthippe, and again be accused by Anytus and Meletus, 
 or whether a quasi- Socrates will marry a quasi-Xanthippe, and 
 be accused by a quasi-Anytus and a quasi-Meletus. Seneca, in 
 Ep. xxxvi. 10, declares for actual personal identity: " Veniet 
 iterum qui nos in lucem reponat dies, quern multi recusarent, 
 nisi oblitos reduceret. . . . ^Equo animo debet rediturus exire." 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 15 
 
 Boethus, as it would appear from Pbilo {De Mundl Incor- 
 rup.), followed by Panietius and Posidonius, denied the Stoic 
 doctrine concerning both the conflagrations {ra^ eKirupdicreL^) 
 and the renewal or regeneration {7ra\iyjev€aLa<;) of the world. 
 But, apart from the notion of a general conflagration, it was 
 quite possible to maintain the doctrine of cycles, of a peri- 
 odical revolution in the history of the world, so that " there 
 was nothing new under the sun." Marcus Aurelius (xi. 1) 
 speaks as though history repeated itself in about forty 
 years, and he places among the privileges of a reasonable 
 soul {to, iSia T?}? \oycKP]'i 'v/^y%>}9), its ability to discern that 
 those who shall come afterwards will see nothing newer 
 than fell to the lot of their predecessors, and that those 
 who went before saw nothing additional to what their suc- 
 cessors were destined to behold. Still it is perhaps ques- 
 tionable whether such a mention of the permanence of the 
 earth as that of i. 4 necessarily involves the denial of a 
 periodic conflagration. The matter of the earth might be 
 conceived of as enduring, even if all memorials of man and 
 his works were consumed. 
 
 Koheleth's great thought that "all is vanity " maybe 
 regarded, too, as a natural inference from the Stoic doc- 
 trines. Amid Nature's sternly invariable revolutions, man 
 can make no real advance ; nay, he can secure for himself 
 no permanent place or footing. His perpetual striving 
 must ever be fruitless and vain. " Vanity of vanities, all 
 is vanity." It may seem, however, that, if there is a pre- 
 determined order in Nature, an all-pervading Providence, a 
 designed mutual conformity between man and the world, 
 then it involves some inconsistency to look upon worldly 
 things and worldly pursuits with contempt, and to speak of 
 them as utterly unsatisfying and vain. But if there is an 
 inconsistency here, it is one of which the Stoics were cer- 
 tainly guilty. Marcus Aurelius, for example, says, that to 
 esteem worldly things is to resemble th6 man who should 
 set his affection on some mean and insignificant bird flying 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 past him, wliicli he has no sooner beheld than it passes out 
 of his sight (vi. 15). Worldly things are but as smoke, as 
 very nothingness (x. 31). 
 
 Further, on the supposition that Stoic influence is mani- 
 fested in our book, we may be able readily to account for 
 its recognition of an overmastering Fate or Destiny, since, 
 as is well known, Fatalism was one of the Stoic doctrines. 
 We can understand how it is that Koheleth teaches that 
 neither the swift, nor the mighty, nor the wise, nor the 
 prudent, can command success, but that all are alike 
 exposed to the effects of seasons and accidents (ix. 11) ; 
 and also that " mankind are snared by an evil season, 
 when it falleth upon them suddenly," like " fishes that are 
 caught in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a 
 snare " (ix. 12). 
 
 It seems unnecessary to adduce in this place more than 
 one other indication of the influence of Stoicism on Eccle- 
 siastes. According to the Stoics, folly is madness ; all fools 
 are mad {Xiyovcrc . . . Travrwi re roy? dcppova'? /xaiveaOat,' ov 
 <yap (^ypovlixovi elvai, aXka Kara Tr)v ta-rjv rfj a^poavvr] fxavlav 
 iravra Trpdrrecv — Diog. Laert. vii. 124). And in the class 
 of fools, and consequently of madmen, they included the 
 great mass of mankind : — 
 
 " Quern mala stultitia et quemcunque inscitia veri 
 Cascum agit, insanum Chrysippi porticus et grex 
 Autumat. Hsec populos, hagc magnos formula reges, 
 Excepto sapiente, tenet." — Horack, Sat. ii. 3. 
 
 Now in the way in which the word n'lbbin " madness "* 
 
 * nWin — if indeed n'lbVin is a true plural — is derived from 
 ^yH' ^ "^srb which is probably onomatopoetic, representing the 
 resonance of a sounding body when struck. It seems likely 
 that from thus representing the giving forth of sound the word 
 came to denote also the effulgence of light, and afterwards that 
 bursting forth and frenzy characteristic of some forms of mental 
 derangement. The D'^v7hn of the Psalms are probably the 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 17 
 
 is employed in om- book we may find, as it seems to me, 
 some reflection of this peculiarly Stoic mode of expression, 
 — that folly is madness ; that fools are mad. As an example 
 may be given the words of ii. 12, "And I turned to behold 
 wisdom, and madness, and folly." Probably, however, we 
 ought here to regard the ^l^^^PPI as intended to qualify and 
 explain the n'ibbin preceding, and accordingly to render, 
 " I turned to behold . , . madness, eye?i folly." But, even 
 without this change, it may be at once seen not only that 
 the ideas of ''madness" and "folly" are associated to- 
 gether, but that "madness" stands first, in contrast to 
 " wisdom," though manifestly it is not mental derangement 
 to which reference is made. Similar is i. 17, " And I gave 
 my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly " 
 (or " madness even folly)." So also " madness " in a moral 
 sense is spoken of in vii. 25 : "I proceeded, I and my 
 heart, to know and to explore, and to seek out wisdom and 
 a plan, and to know the depravity of obduracy and folly, 
 madness." Others might, perhaps, be inclined to translate 
 this passage somewhat differently, but I do not see that 
 any change which could be fah-ly made would much affect 
 the matter we have now under consideration. Again, in 
 ix. 3 : " This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, 
 that there is one lot to all ; therefore indeed the heart of 
 mankind is full of evil, and madness is in their heart dm-ing 
 their hfe ; and afterwards they go to the dead :" here the 
 " madness " spoken of is manifestly moral. Similarly in 
 X. 13 nubbin is used in a moral sense in accordance with 
 the accompanying Tivn ; '' The beginning of the words of 
 his mouth is folly, and the end of his talk is wicked mad- 
 ness." Regarded as reflecting the Stoic doctrine, the manner 
 in which our book si^eaks of "madness" maybe reason- 
 
 " arrogant," whose pride, boasting, and display contrast with 
 the humihty and subdued behaviour of the pious. (See 
 Ps. Ixxv. 5.) 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ably accounted for, but looked at in any other way, it will 
 probably remain a perplexing, if not an inexplicable 
 phenomenon. 
 
 On the whole, the evidence thus adduced can scarcely be 
 regarded as otlier than exceedingly strong and cogent. But 
 it is not only the influence of Stoicism which may be dis- 
 cerned ; we have, I think, clear evidence of the presence, 
 also, of the opposed and antithetical doctrine of Epicu- 
 reanism. I shall call the reader's attention to two places, 
 one of which shall be that much-discussed passage iii. 18 — 
 22, the other v. 18 — 20. The first passage may be given 
 thus : " I said in my heart, with respect to mankind, God 
 means to test them, and to see that they are beasts, even 
 they themselves ; for the lot of mankind is also the lot of 
 beasts ; and there is one lot to them. As is the death of 
 the one, so is the death of the other ; and there is one 
 spirit to them all, and pre-eminence of man over the beasts 
 there is none : for they are all vanity. All are going to 
 one place : all were from the dust ; and all are returning 
 to the dust. Who knoweth as to the spirit of mankind 
 whether it goeth up on high, or as to the spirit of the 
 beasts whether it goeth down beneath to the earth ? And 
 I saw that there is nothing better than that man should be 
 glad in his works, for that is his portion ; for who will 
 bring him to look upon what will be after him ? " This 
 passage seems to me to stand in designed opposition to the 
 Stoical teaching which had preceded, and in which the 
 orderly arrangement of the course of nature, and the moral 
 government of the world, had been propounded. In the 
 passage just quoted, the truth of these conceptions is virtu- 
 ally denied, and an Epicurean view of man's condition is 
 set forth. Men are but beasts, having, like them, come 
 forth from the earth, and being, like them, destined to 
 turn again to dust. There is no special divine care mani- 
 fested on man's behalf. If he is wise, therefore, he will 
 derive the utmost possible enjoyment from the world, dui'ing 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 19 
 
 the continuance of his fleeting life, "for who will bring him 
 to look upon what will be after him ? " In the emphatic 
 manner in which it is denied that man has any pre- 
 eminence over the beasts, and asserted that " there is one 
 spirit to them all," we may reasonably trace an allusion to 
 the Stoic distinction between brutes and men, according to 
 which the former possessed an unreasoning soul, while the 
 latter constituted a class by themselves, as alone having a 
 reasonable soul. And, in accordance with this distinction, . 
 we may well believe that the Stoics denied to the souls of 
 brutes that measure of immortality (ver. 21), that ascent 
 upwards to the ether, which they allowed with respect to 
 the souls of men. That men and beasts came alike at first 
 from dust or earth PW)* accords with the Epicurean doc- 
 trine as to the origin of animals and men, — 
 
 " Quum prorepserunt primis animalia terris, 
 Mutum et turpe pecus." — Hoeace, Sat. i. 3. 
 
 The statement that all alike are returning to dust is pro- 
 bably to be understood as conveying in a general way the 
 Epicurean denial of man's immortality, yet without imj^ly- 
 ing that the subtle and minute atoms of which the human 
 soul, according to Lucretius (iii. 425 sq.), consists, do not 
 at death disperse themselves like smoke or vapour. The 
 twenty-second verse : " And I saw that there is nothing 
 better than that man should be glad in his works, for that 
 is his portion ; for who will bring him to look upon what 
 will be after him ?" is to be understood, in accordance with 
 what has been said, as giving the leading principle of Epi- 
 curean moral science, — that, man being what he is, happi- 
 
 * With the A. V. I have rendered "^^^ by " dust," but the 
 word must not be understood as necessarily excluding the idea 
 of moisture (Sept. in this place ^oor. X"'^*') — ^ matter of some 
 importance with respect to the Epicurean view of the origin of 
 animals. Even in Gen. ii. 7 the word probably denotes clay or 
 moist plastic earth, such as could be moulded into the figure of 
 a man. 
 
 c2 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ness or pleasure in this life should be his aim and object, 
 since this is the highest good which he can possibly attain. 
 The Epicurean conception of life appears with equal 
 clearness in the passage v. 18 — 20: "Lo, that is what I 
 have seen good, what I have seen suitable, to eat, and to 
 drink, and to experience enjoyment in respect of all one's 
 toil which he toileth under the sun, during the number of 
 the days of his life, which God hath given him, for that is 
 his portion. Also as to all men to whom God hath given 
 wealth and treasures, and hath given to them power to eat 
 therefrom, and to receive their portion, and to rejoice in 
 respect of their toil : as to this, it is the gift of God, so 
 that he remembereth not much the days of his life, for God 
 is making answer to the joy of his heart." The last verse 
 — to which I would more especially direct the reader's 
 attention — contains two statements ; first, that the person 
 in so happy a condition as that described, "remembereth 
 not much the days of his life," and, secondly, according to 
 the translation just given, that " God is making answer to 
 the joy of his heart." Both of these remarkable statements 
 may, it seems to me, be satisfactorily explained on the sup- 
 position that the Epicurean conception of happiness was in 
 the mind of the author of Ecclesiastes when he wi'ote the 
 passage. In the first statement ; in the " not remembering 
 much the days of life," as they glide by in calm enjoyment, 
 we may discern that arapa^la, that perfect tranquillity which 
 the Epicureans so highly esteemed. In the second state- 
 ment the words of the original translated, " God is maldng 
 answer to the joy of his heart," have caused a good deal of 
 difficulty to the interpreters; and from the translation given 
 it may seem at first sight impossible to obtain a consistent 
 sense. The difficulty presents itself in relation to the 
 word "^^^p- which thus pointed must be taken as the par- 
 ticiple Hiphil of J^??. Now it would appear that this verb, 
 from having the signification of " answering, " came to 
 denote the alternate singing of responsive choirs (comp. 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 21 
 
 Ezra iii. 11 ; 1 Sam. xxi. 12).* This usage may seem, at 
 fii'st, to have little to do with the matter now before us, but 
 if the reader will nevertheless bear this usage in mind, a 
 consideration of the Epicurean theology may help us to a 
 reasonable solution of the difficulty. The Gods were con- 
 ceived of, according to Epicurean ideas, not only as perfectly 
 happy, but as enjoying a felicity analogous to that which 
 it was the object of the Epicurean philosophy to attain. 
 According to the work of Philodemus on the mode of life of 
 the Gods {irepl t?}? tcov OeSiv eyo-TO^j^ou/zey?;? hta'ywyrj<i)\ frag- 
 ments of which were found at Herculaneum, the Gods, 
 though exempt from sleep and death, require nomishment, 
 possess habitations, and converse in Greek, or in language 
 not greatly differing therefrom. " In a word, he conceives 
 of his Gods as though they were a society of Epicurean 
 philosophers, possessing everything they can wish for, — 
 eternal life, no care, and continued opportunity for agree- 
 able conversation." (Zeller, Die Phil, cler Griech. div. iii. 
 part i. p. 397.) " But these Gods are innumerable ; for 
 if the number of mortal beings is unlimited, the law of 
 analogy requires that that of immortal beings should not 
 
 * In the Mishuah, Moed Katon, iii. 9, the " answering " 
 (^'13''^) of women lamenting for the dead (m35?D) is distinguished 
 from the "i^Tp in that the former is said to imply the utterance 
 of aU the women together (inSD m3127 t^'DW), while the latter 
 expresses one woman's utteruig her lamentation alone first, and 
 then all answering after her (_rmnH m3127 p21), in accordance, 
 in the view of the Mishnist, with Jer. ix. 20. Additional illus- 
 tration may be derived from Berakoth vui. 8, where it is laid 
 down that when, in a company, an Israelite pronounces a bless- 
 ing, it is allowed to the company to answer "Amen" (1'^^ yyMS) 
 while he is still speakmg, but in the case of a Samaritan not 
 till the conclusion of the blessing has been heard. 
 
 t "With the addition Kara Ztiviovoq or «tra Zi'ji'ujya, but it is un- 
 certain which, on account of the imperfection of the MS. The 
 former expression would refer to the founder of Stoicism ; the 
 latter to Zeno of Sidon, the Epicurean. 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 be fewer." (Zeller, p. 398; Cicero, De Nat. Deor.i. 19, 50.*) 
 And Epicurus himself tells Menoeceus, in the letter found in 
 Diogenes Laertius, " You will live as a God among men; 
 for in no respect like to a mortal animal is a man living in 
 the enjoyment of immortal blessings" (x. 135). But if Gods 
 and wise men thus live in an analogous manner, and enjoy 
 the same kind of happiness, they may not unnaturally be 
 conceived of as responsive choirs, singing alternate or har- 
 monious strains. And thus we may dispose not unsatis- 
 factorily of the difficulty in the expression "answering to 
 the joy of his heart." Perhaps, however, the idea intended 
 to be conveyed would be still better expressed, if we trans- 
 late, " God is making harmony with the joy of his heart. "t 
 The probability of the interpretation which has been sug- 
 gested may appear the stronger, if the reader bears in mind 
 what has been said above as to the representation, in the 
 first part of ver. 20, of the Epicurean drapa^la ; for it is 
 this perfect tranquillity which, according to the Epicm-ean 
 conception, the Gods pre-eminently enjoy, in that space 
 which they inhabit between the worlds, — the Gods in their 
 tranquil abodes — 
 
 '* Quas neque concutiunt venti nee nubila nimbis 
 Aspergunt neque nix acri concreta pruina 
 Cana cadens violat semperque inuiibilus aether 
 Integit et large diffuse lumiue rident. 
 Omnia suppeditat porro natura neque uUa 
 Ees animi pacem delibat tempore iu ullo." 
 
 LucR. iii. 19—24. 
 
 " " In qua intelligi necesse est, earn esse naturani, ut omnia 
 omnibus paribus paria respondeant. Hanc lanvo^iuv appellat 
 Epicurus, id est fequabilem tributionem. Ex bac illud igitur 
 efficitur, si mortalium tanta multitude sit, esse immortalium 
 non minorem ; et si quae interimant, inuumerabilia sunt, etiam 
 ea quae conservent, infinita esse dcberc." 
 
 I It may be remarked that "i^ys is followed by b of the person 
 whose praise is celebrated (see 1 Sam. xxi. 12 ; Ps. cxlvii. 7). 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 23 
 
 It remains, however, to be remarked that " the Gods " 
 have become m our passage "the Deity" or "God" 
 (D^nb^^n)^ and that God, instead of living in utter disregard 
 of men and their wants, is represented as apportioning 
 the duration of life (ver. 18), as well as giving wealth and 
 treasures, and the power of enjoyment when they have 
 been given (ver. 19). To the contact of Epicureanism with 
 Judaism, these departures from the true Epicurean theology 
 may be perhaps with most probability ascribed.* 
 
 There is one other passage in our book, whose accordance 
 with what we know of the post-Aristotelian philosophy it 
 may be well here to mention: — "And further, be admon- 
 ished, my son, by these : as to the making of many books 
 there is no end, and much close study is a wearying of 
 the flesh " (xii. 12). The representation of great literary 
 activity here given appears entirely to agree with the 
 accounts which have come down to us concerning the Stoic 
 and Epicurean philosophers. With respect to the writings 
 of Epicurus, Diogenes speaks of about three hundred 
 rolls (x. 26). The same author tells us that ApoUodorus 
 6 Kr]7rorupavvo<i\ composed above four hundred books (x. 25), 
 but that Chrysippus, through his surpassing application, 
 left behind him compositions amounting in number to more 
 than seven hundred and five (vii. 180). And as to there 
 being "no end" to the post-Aristotelian book-making, it 
 would appear that the same subjects were again and again 
 discussed, and that, to a considerable extent, successive 
 
 This requires to be borue in mind with respect to the conBtruc- 
 tion in our passage with ^. 
 
 * This is said, of course, on accouut of the construction of 
 D'^nbsn with the singular n337n ; but on this account little diffi- 
 culty need be felt, for it would appear that even Philodemus some- 
 times uses 6 dtoe of " the Deity " or " God " in a general way 
 (e.(j. Op. cit. Here. Vol. torn. vi. col. 10). , 
 
 + The supremacy of ApoUodorus in the Garden was probably 
 between about 125 and 90 b.c. 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 philosophers gave to their works titles identical with those 
 which had been adopted by their predecessors. 
 
 The evidence which I have thus brought before the reader 
 is, I venture to think, entirely conclusive. That the post- 
 Aristotelian philosophy exercised an influence on Ecclesi- 
 astes must be regarded as manifest and certain. I make 
 this statement with respect to the evidence taken as a whole, 
 but, as it seems to me, it would be difficult to avoid the 
 same conclusion, if the number of congruous facts were 
 considerably fewer, so distinctly .do some of these bear the 
 impress of post-Aristotelian ideas and conceptions. 
 
 The attempt may be made, however, to evade the force 
 of my argument by a vague and general statement, that 
 Stoicism, in its essence, may have existed in the East before 
 Zeno, and that the principle of making pleasure the end of 
 existence was doubtless acted on by many who never heard 
 of Epicurus.* So loose a mode of objecting would scarcely 
 perhaps deserve reply, but, even if we were to put aside the 
 particular coincidences of thought, and even of expression, 
 which have been laid before the reader, there would still 
 remain the remarkable fact, that, while in the history of 
 philosophy the appearance of Stoicism and Epicureanism 
 is nearly simultaneous, the Stoical and Epicui-ean elements 
 appear also together in Ecclesiastes. This fact, even on such 
 a general view as that alluded to, would require explanation. 
 Perhaps, however, with the view of preventing some miscon- 
 ception, it may not be out of place for me to say a word or 
 two as to the relation of the post-Ai'istotelian ]3hilosophy, 
 or at least of Stoicism, to previous philosophical systems. 
 
 Zeno, after his shipwreck — according to the account in 
 
 * 111 accordance with the remark of Grotius : " Nou prime 
 Epicuro aut Epicureis in mentem venit in voluptate ea qnse 
 sensibus percipitur beatitudinem esse positam. Sed jam olim 
 mnltis hominibus cogitatio iucidit, quse tameu vana recte in- 
 stitute judici comperitur." 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 25 
 
 Diogenes Laertius (vii. 1, 2, 3) — having gone to a book- 
 seller's, and, reading the second book of Xenophon's Memo- 
 rabilia, asked where he could meet with men corresponding 
 to the picture drawn by Xenophon : he was directed to 
 Crates the Cynic, who happened to be j^assing by at the 
 time. Zeno followed him, and became his disciple. Zeno 
 is said, also, to have received instruction from the Megarians 
 Stilpo and Diodorus, as well as from the Academics Xeno- 
 crates and Polemo. Indeed it is alleged that for twenty 
 years he attended different philosophical schools, before he 
 established himself as a teacher at Athens. Zeno had 
 moreover, according to the statement reported also by 
 Diogenes (vii. 2), applied himself, in compliance with the 
 direction of an oracle, to reading the books of the ancients. 
 The composite character which the Stoic system possesses 
 appears to be in such accord with these statements as to 
 give evidence in favour of their substantial truth. 
 
 Philosophy, according to the Stoics, has a tripartite divi- 
 sion into Logic, Physics, and Ethics. We are not, so far 
 as relates to Ecclesiastes, very much concerned with the 
 first of these sections, that of Logic (comp., however, note 
 on Ecc. xii. 13). We may with probability, however, fol- 
 low the opinion of Zeller, that the Stoic logic had for its 
 basis that of Aristotle, although in this department Zeno 
 may have owed something to Megarian influence. And it 
 is not unimportant for us to observe that Logic — whatever 
 may have been its relative importance as compared with 
 Physics and Ethics — was an integral part of the Stoic phi- 
 losophy. This fact must be looked upon as unfavourable to 
 the opinion that Stoicism was imported into Greece from 
 the East. Still it may be thought possible that the Stoic 
 Physics and Ethics may have had an Oriental origin, even 
 if the Logic was a subsequent accretion. But the relation 
 of the Stoic Physics to the teaching of the Greek philosopher 
 Heraclitus can scarcely be doubted. Like his doctrine was 
 that of the Stoics, that all things have been evolved from 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fire,* into which, in order to a new evolution, they are again 
 to be resolved. There is, however, a difference between the 
 teaching of Heraclitus and that of the Stoics which, with re- 
 gard to our present subject, is particularly worthy of notice. 
 Heraclitus seems to have conceived of a stream origina- 
 ting in the primordial fire, and descending as the world is 
 evolved, but, on the other hand, as ascending when the 
 world is again resolved. I am not aware that there is 
 evidence that he had any idea of a cycle, properly so called, 
 or that he formed the conception of the course of things in 
 the world being like a revolving circle. But this idea of 
 revolution we do certainly appear to find among the Stoics. 
 Thus Nemesius {De Natura Hominis, cap. 38) tells us that 
 the Stoics considered that the great conflagration would 
 occur when the planets, in certain definite periods of time, 
 had returned to exactly the place which each occupied when 
 first the world was formed ; and also that the Gods who 
 were exempt from destruction,! having followed and traced 
 the course of one circuit {rraprjKoKovQt^a-avTe^ jxia ireptohco) , 
 knew therefrom all that is to happen in future cycles and 
 in coming time. Now it would certainly appear that the 
 conception of the course of the world expressed in Eccle- 
 siastes (iii. 14, 15) is not that of the downward or upward 
 stream of Heraclitus, but the revolving circle of the Stoics; 
 for it is to a circle that nothing can be added, and it is from 
 a circle that nothing can be taken away (iii. 14). Here, too, 
 it may be well to remark that, although in the Hindu phi- 
 losophy there is said to be the idea of the world being 
 again and again evolved and resolved, yet, so far as I know, 
 there is no proof that the conception of the course of things 
 took in this philosophy the form of a cycle or revolving 
 
 * "ItToiytlov elvai (^aai twv oi'Tioy ro irvp, Kadcnrep llpaKXeirog. 
 (Eusebius, Prap. Evanci. lib. xv., vol. iv. p. 58 ed. Gaisford.) 
 
 t According to the ortliodox Stoic theology, however, it would 
 seem that Zeus alone is eternal. 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. 27 
 
 circle. The notion of ascribing to this philosophy the doc- 
 trine of the cycles as contained in our book, cannot be at all 
 allowed. Apart from the influence of prejudice, such a 
 notion is perhaps little likely to be entertained. That the 
 Stoics derived from the Pythagoreans the conception to 
 which reference has just been made, together with the 
 doctrine of the repetition of precisely the same events in 
 successive cycles, appears not improbable. And it is in 
 accordance with the composite nature of the Stoic system 
 that the idea of revolution should be associated with Hera- 
 clitus's conception of the divine world-fire. 
 
 So far as our present subject is concerned, I do not know 
 that it is necessary to say more as to the sources of the 
 Stoic Physics. We may pass on to the third branch of philo- 
 sophy, that of Ethics, and, more particularly, to the inquiry 
 whence was derived the Stoic moral principle of conformity 
 to Nature. In ancient times the philosophical descent of 
 Zeno and the Stoics was traced up to Socrates through 
 Antisthenes, the founder of the Cynic School (comp. Diog. 
 Laert. vi. 14, and Eusebius, Prcep. Evang. lib. xv., vol. iv. 
 p. 57 ed. Gaisford). It accords with this pedigree that the 
 duty of obeying natural law is insisted on in the recorded 
 teaching of Socrates, and that the idea of the Life according 
 to Nature was strongly and peculiarly manifested by the 
 Cynics. Here, too, as well as in the department of Physics, 
 the teaching of Heraclitus appears to have had its influence. 
 But if the princii^le of living according to Nature was not, 
 as found in Stoicism, essentially new, the mode and degree 
 of development of this principle by the Stoics must be 
 regarded as decidedly distinctive. And, I may remark, it is 
 the manner and extent of development of this same principle 
 in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes which must be looked 
 upon as one of the most important points of connection 
 between our book and the post-Aristotelian philosophy. 
 
 But, it may be asked, if the various doctrines of Stoicism 
 were thus derived from Greek sources, how is the peculiar 
 
28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and seemingly foreign character of the system to be ac- 
 comited for ? Two causes may be assigned ; first, the cir- 
 cumstances of the time when the system was formed, and, 
 secondly, the Oriental origin of its founder, and of so many 
 of its early teachers. With respect to the first of these 
 causes it has been said : " The Macedonian conquest had 
 broken the independence of the Hellenic States. . . . When 
 political life became impossible, the moral faculties of man 
 were turned inward upon himself, and concentrated on 
 the discipline of the individual soul." (Lightfoot on the 
 Phili'ppians, pp. 269, 270, diss, on " St. Paul and Seneca"). 
 Philosophy, too, had decayed in respect of original specula- 
 tive power, and Sir A. Grant remarks, in his essay on 
 " The Ancient Stoics," " The very decline of thought . . . 
 as it fell away on the speculative side, left the moral side 
 prominent " {The Ethics of Aristotle, Essay vi.). That 
 Stoicism should wear a somewhat strange and novel aspect 
 is not altogether wonderful, if it arose under circumstances 
 so different from those which had attended the origin of 
 previous systems. To the second cause — the connection 
 of Stoicism with the East in its early teachers — may be 
 with probability ascribed, at least to a considerable extent, 
 the choice which it made among the doctrines of the Greek 
 philosophers, as well as the spirit in which it dealt with 
 these doctrines. " To this fact," says Dr. Lightfoot, " may 
 be ascribed the intense moral earnestness which was its 
 most honourable characteristic." Hence, too, we may 
 account for the system being so closely connected as it was 
 with theology. " Founded," remarks Zeller, " as their 
 whole view of the world is, upon the theory of one Divine 
 Being— begetting from Himself and containing in Himself 
 all finite creatures, upholding them by His might, ruling 
 them according to an unalterable law, and thus manifest- 
 ing Himself everywhere — their philosophy bears in gene- 
 ral a decidedly rehgious tone. There is hardly a single 
 prominent feature in the Stoic system which is not, 
 
THE APPROXIMATE DATE OF THE BOOK. 29 
 
 more or less, connected with theology" {The Stoics, &c., 
 Eng. transl. p. 322). 
 
 Here it is important to observe, that, if any system of 
 Greek philosophy could bo accepted among the theocratic 
 people, it may be reasonably supposed that Stoicism would 
 find acceptance, moulded as it had been by Oriental influ- 
 ence, and pervaded as it was by a moral and theological 
 spirit. 
 
 In bringing to a close the discussion contained in this 
 section, I think I may venture to repeat the assertion that 
 evidence entirely conclusive has been adduced with respect 
 to the influence of the post-Aristotelian philosophy on 
 Ecclesiastes. The effects of the conquests of Alexander, 
 the known connection of early Stoic teachers with the East, 
 and the peculiarly religious character of the Stoic system, 
 have been pointed out as standing in opposition to any 
 supposed a imori improbability of such influence being 
 exerted. Manifest coincidences with the post-Aristotelian 
 philosophy, both in thought and expression, have been 
 brought before the reader. These coincidences cannot be 
 referred to the influence of earlier systems of philosophy. 
 No adequate account can be given of them upon such a 
 supposition. Besides, so far as the philosoph}'- of Greece 
 is concerned, the hypothesis of Greek influence prior to 
 the change in the relations of the East and West effected 
 by Alexander can scarcely be looked upon as probable. 
 Lastly, evidence has been adduced of the presence in Ec- 
 clesiastes of both Stoicism and Epicureanism. The fact 
 that both Stoic and Epicurean elements are present, 
 would, by itself, point decisively to the post-Aristotelian 
 philosophy, and to that alone. 
 
 § 5. The Approximate Date of the Book. 
 
 The influence of the post-Aristotelian philosophy on our 
 book, while it is in other respects a matter of very great 
 interest and importance, affords us valuable aid with respect 
 
80 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to the date after which the book was composed. It would 
 seem most probable that the book was not written till after 
 the death of both Zeno and Epicurus. The year 270 b.c. 
 is given as the year of the death of Epicurus. The precise 
 date of Zeno's death is not known, but it probably occurred 
 some years before 250 b.c. We may then take this j'ear, 
 250 B.C., as a date after ivhich Ecclesiastes was written. 
 Now if — in accordance with what has been before said — the 
 evidence already adduced (§ 3) is valid, and if we are able 
 to ascertain the time when Sirach was composed, we shall 
 have, also, a date before which Ecclesiastes was written. 
 
 The indications of time which Sirach and its prologue 
 present are not altogether without ambiguity, but from the 
 words of the prologue, ev yap rm oySow kol rpiaKoarw eret 
 iirl Tov Euepyirov l3aai\i(o<; 'jrapayevrjOeU eh Aijvtttov, a 
 reasonable conclusion as to the date of the book may be 
 drawn. It would certainly appear that the translator, who 
 was the author's grandson, went into Egypt in the thirty- 
 eighth year of the reign * of the second Ptolemy bearing 
 the title Euergetes, Ptolemy Physcon. Further, the con- 
 clusion appears well supported that the years of Physcon's 
 reign were reckoned, not from the death of his brother 
 Ptolemy Philometor, but from Physcon's first assumption 
 of regal state, twenty-four years before (170 b.c). The 
 date at which the translator of Sirach came into Egypt 
 has thus been given as 132 b.c. Now, if we suppose that 
 nearly fifty years had elapsed since the grandfather com- 
 posed the book, we may place its date at 180 b.c. And this 
 we may assign as a date before u-hich Ecclesiastes was 
 written. From 250, the date previously given, to 180 b.c, 
 there is a period of seventy years, somewhere during which 
 
 • * A comparison should be made of the following passages cited 
 by Fritzsche in the introduction to his work on Shach in the 
 Kurzgefasstes exegelisches Handbuch : 1 Mace. xiii. 42, xiv. 27 ; 
 Hagg. i. 1, ii. 1 (i. 16) ; Zech. i. 7, vii. 1. 
 
THE APPEOXIMATE DATE OF THE BOOK. 31 
 
 the composition of Ecclesiastes may be placed. But 
 •while, on the one hand, it would seem likely that Eccle- 
 siastes was written some time before Sirach, so on the 
 other, if we consider how Koheleth has, so to speak, as- 
 similated both Stoicism and Epicureanism, and also how 
 Koheleth is identified with the ancient King Solomon, it 
 may well seem probable that these iDhilosophical systems 
 had already, when Ecclesiastes was written, acquired some 
 degree of age. Perhaps, then, we cannot, on the whole, 
 better satisfy the conditions of the problem than by placing 
 the composition of our book at about 200 e.g., nearly the 
 date assigned by Hitzig on other grounds.* 
 
 Possibly, however, it may be questioned whether the 
 Stoical element in Ecclesiastes does not indicate a Stoicism 
 more fully developed than that of Zeno and his immediate 
 followers. Such a doubt is, perhaps, most likely to be 
 suggested by the representation of the Stoic moral principle 
 in iii. 2 — 8. According to the statements of Diogenes 
 Laertius (vii. 89) and Stobaeus (ii. 134), it would appear 
 that, by Cleanthes and Chrysippus, this principle was de- 
 
 * Hitzig, resting on certain supposed historical allusions, 
 gives the yeai: 204 b.c. Mr. Samuel Sharpe, of Highbury, has 
 favoured me with a commuuication suggesting a date somewhat 
 earher, his conclusiou resting mainly on Ecc. iv. 13, where the 
 " old and foolish kuig " is taken to be Seleucus Callinicus, 
 and the " poor but wise youth," his relative Achseus. But, in 
 addition to the general objection which may be urged against 
 such a method of determining the date (comp. § 11, s./.), arising 
 from the nature of our book, I do not know that there was any 
 such difference between the age of Callinicus and that of Achaeus 
 as could accord with the marked contrast in the passage cited. 
 Neither do I consider it probable that CaUinicus would be re- 
 garded as pre-eminently foolish, notwithstanding some facts in 
 his history. And I am not aware that Achaeus was looked upon 
 as particularly poor, although he gave a marked example of 
 probity and fidelity. 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 veloped — at any rate in expression — considerably beyond 
 what had been maintained by Zeno. According to 
 Stobaeus, Zeno's principle 6f^o\oyov/j,evo)<i ^rjv became in 
 the hands of Chrysippus ^rjv Kar iijuireipiav tmv (pvaeL 
 o-vfi/SaivovTiov. Certainly it would appear that the prin- 
 ciple of "living conformably to Nature " must have been 
 developed as fully as this before such a detailed repre- 
 sentation as that of iii. 2—8 could have been given. 
 Some doubt, it is true, may be felt as to whether we 
 can, from the accounts which have come down to us, 
 accurately distinguish between the doctrine of Zeno, of 
 Cleanthes, and of Chrysippus. But the date of Eccle- 
 siastes need not be much affected, if it be supposed, as 
 seems probable, that the author of Ecclesiastes possessed 
 some acquaintance with the teaching of Chrysippus, for the 
 death of that philosopher is placed in 207 b.c. If, however, 
 somewhat recent modifications of Stoic doctrine were put 
 into the mouth of Koheleth, this need not be regarded as 
 inconsistent with what has been said above. Stoicism, as 
 a system, would still have acquired some degree of age.* 
 
 Before closing this section it is worthy of observation 
 how nearly Luther, apparently by the inspiration of genius, 
 attained to a correct view of the age of Ecclesiastes and of 
 other matters connected therewith. (See Tischreden, vol. vi. 
 p. 128, ed. Irmischer.) He looked upon the book as com- 
 posed by Sirach in the Maccabean period, and though in 
 part essentially Solomonic, yet otherwise like a Talmud, 
 with its materials drawn from many books probably found 
 
 * It may be supposed possible, from the mention of the per- 
 manence of the earth iu Ecc. i. 4, that Boethus had already 
 denied the doctrine of the conflagration. The Boethus of Philo 
 (see p. 15) was probably the contemporary of Chrysippus ; and 
 therefore it would appear that the date 200 b.c. would be still 
 unaffected. I do not know, however, that what is said iu i. 4 
 need be ascribed to this source. 
 
GENEEAL VIEW OF THE DESIGN OF THE BOOK. 33 
 
 in the library of Ptolemy Euergetes. It would thus even 
 api)ear that Luther perceived or suspected the connection 
 of Ecclesiastes with Greek thought. 
 
 § '6. General View of the Design of the Book. 
 
 We have now arrived at a point in the investigation from 
 which we may be enabled to take a general view of the 
 design and plan of the book. If Greek philosophy found 
 its way into Judaea, it was not likely, even in the more 
 religious form of Stoicism, to have an influence favourable 
 to maintaining in simplicity and integrity the faith and 
 piety of the theocratic people. But, in the shape of Epi- 
 cureanism, the effect might be expected to be still more 
 marked and manifest. It might, therefore, be thought 
 probable a priori that a book like Ecclesiastes, dealing with 
 Greek philosoi)hy, would be intended to dissuade from, and 
 not to encourage, philosophical study. It is in accordance 
 with such a view that, both at the beginning and at the 
 end of the philosophical portion of our book (i. 2 to xii. 8) 
 is found the full, deep utterance, " Vanity of vanities ; all 
 is vanity." In accordance, also, with such a view is the 
 admonition or warning against study and book-making 
 found in xii. 12, and especially also is the emphatic in- 
 junction of xii. 13 to fear God and to obey His commands. 
 Thus, in view of what has been already said, it may be 
 regarded as probable that when Ecclesiastes was written, 
 the Stoic and Epicurean philosophies were exerting among 
 the theocratic people an influence adverse to the ancient 
 faith of Judaism. The acquaintance with Greek philosophy 
 which our book displays may induce us to conclude that the 
 book was, probably, with respect to the author himself, a 
 recantation, while it was intended to dissuade others from 
 philosophical speculation, and to recall them to the fear of 
 God and the observance of the Law. 
 
34 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 § 7. The Connection of Ecclesiastes with Jewish History. 
 The Three Sects. 
 
 Here, however, the question may be not unreasonably 
 asked, Are the facts of Jewish history in accord with the 
 conclusions just expressed? Do these facts harmonise 
 with the behef that about the year 200 b.c. the Stoic and 
 Epicurean philosophies were exerting such an influence 
 among the Jews as would give occasion for these philoso- 
 phies to be spoken of after the manner found in Ecclesiastes? 
 These questions may be, I think, most satisfactorily 
 answered in the affirmative. 
 
 First ; the view I have taken of the design and intention 
 of Ecclesiastes is in harmony with the incontestable fact 
 that, about twenty-four years later than the date 200 b.c. 
 — that is, at the commencement of the reign of Antiochus 
 Epiphanes — the effects of Hellenising influence were most 
 signally displayed. The account given in 2 Mace. iv. 
 (comp. 1 Mace. i. 11 sq., and Josephus, Antiq. xii. 5, § 1) 
 tells of two successive high-priests bearing Greek names, 
 Jason and Menelails. These, moreover, were followed, after 
 no very long interval, by another called Alcimus. Then we 
 read of Jewish youths bearing on their heads the petasus, 
 after the Greek fashion ; of theori sent from Jerusalem to the 
 quinquennial festival in honour of the Tyrian Hercules ; 
 of a gymnasium opened at Jerusalem ; of competitions in 
 throwing the discus, and even of the priests being so affected 
 by the Hellenising mania as to disregard and neglect the 
 very service of the Temple. The narrative of the Second 
 Book of Maccabees attributes this state of things to the 
 influence of the high-priest Jason ; but it might well be 
 looked upon as probable, even apart from direct evidence, 
 that causes tending to this outburst of Hellenism had been 
 long and slowly at work, and that, prior to those revolu- 
 tionary attempts of Jason and Antiochus Epiphanes which 
 resulted in the Maccabean war, the people, or a consider- 
 
CONNECTION OF ECCLESIASTES WITH JEWISH HISTORY. 35 
 
 able portion of them, were already, to no small extent, 
 pervaded with the Hellenising spirit. We have, however, 
 the testimony of 1 Mace. i. 11—13 : " In those days 
 there went forth from Israel sons transgressing the law ; 
 and they persuaded many, saying. Let us go and make a 
 covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for, since the 
 day when we were separated from them, many evils have 
 overtaken us. And the proposal seemed good in their 
 eyes. And certain from the people manifested their zeal, 
 and went to the king ; and he gave them authority to es- 
 tablish the institutions of the Gentiles." It would seem 
 not unlikely, too, taking into account 1 Mace. ii. 42 (with 
 the probably true reading 'AaiSaiayv), that already, before 
 the war, things had gone so far that a distinct party— that 
 of the Assideans— was formed, opposed to Hellenising in- 
 novation on the ancestral religion and ancient customs of 
 Judaism. 
 
 If, however, we attempt to trace this Jewish Hellenism 
 to its source, and to indicate its historical development, 
 we have to encounter serious difficulty resulting from the 
 scantiness and imperfection of the sources of Jewish 
 history for so long a period prior to the commencement of 
 the reign of Epiphanes. Yet, during the period of con- 
 siderably more than a century which, at the year 200 b.c, 
 had elapsed since the death of Alexander the Great, we 
 may without difficulty discern various causes which would 
 naturally tend to break down Jewish exclusiveness, and to 
 open a way for the admission of Greek thought and Greek 
 culture. The general influence of Alexander's conquests 
 must,- of course, not be neglected. Then, the first three 
 Ptolemies, Soter, Philadelphus, and Euergetes, seem gene- 
 rally to have acted in a mild and lenient manner towards 
 their Jewish tributaries in Palestine. The conciliatory 
 influence of such a policy, it may be reasonably supposed, 
 was strengthened by the privileges conferred on the Egyp- 
 tian Jews, and, perhaps, at the time, still more considerably 
 
36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 by the translation of the Pentateuch into the Greek 
 language. Then, with reference to Greek philosophy 
 finding acceptance among the Jews, it may be said that 
 the state of things in Palestine under the Ptolemies must 
 probably have been, on the whole, more favom-able to philo- 
 sophical speculation than would have been a condition of 
 political independence. The latter condition, with a more 
 intense national life, would, it seems likely, have been less 
 suitable to the habit of mind which philosophical study 
 requii-es. It is true that, about the date 200 b.c, the Jews 
 were exposed to suffering through the wars which Antio- 
 chus the Great was carrying on against Egypt, " so that," 
 Josephus says, "then: situation was not at all behind 
 that of a ship storm-tossed, and' distressed by the waves on 
 both sides, between Antiochus's prosperity and its change, 
 on the other hand, to adversity" {Antiq. xii. 3,' § 3). 
 But to one acquainted with the history of the period 
 when philosophy attained its highest development in 
 Greece, the instability spoken of by Josephus can scarcely 
 seem out of harmony with the supposition that the 
 study of philosophy was at the same time vigorously 
 pursued. 
 
 It may be observed, moreover, with reference to that un- 
 stable position of the Jews to which reference has just 
 been made, that it is at least not out of harmony with 
 those passages in Ecclesiastes which speak of the uncer- 
 tainty of human affairs, and of prosperity being suddenly 
 exchanged for adversity. (See xi. 2—4 et al) This may 
 be said, even if the nature of the book requires us to be 
 cautious in admitting the existence of aUusions to con- 
 temporary history. 
 
 Interesting evidence in favour of intercourse on the part 
 of the Jews with Greece about 200 b.c, or somewhat later, 
 is furnished by the letter of the Spartan king to Onias III. 
 as given by Josephus (Antiq. xii. 4, § 10), m which it is 
 asserted that both Jews and Spartans were descended fi-om 
 
 I 
 
CONNECTION OF ECCLESIASTES WITH JEWISH HISTORY. 37 
 
 Abraham. The date of the letter is probably about 190 
 B.C. (Comp. 1 Mace, xii.) 
 
 Of no small importance in relation to om- present subject 
 is the brief statement of the Mishnah concerning Antigonus 
 of Socho ("I3^D tt7^« DiDr:::S). According to Ahoth i. 3, Antigo- 
 nus came next in the Rabbinical succession after Simon the 
 Just, and received from him the Mishnic tradition. In the 
 passage cited Antigonus is also particularly distinguished 
 as having taught that men should not serve God like hire- 
 lings, impelled by the hope of a reward. If we accept the 
 historical position assigned by the Mishnah to Antigonus — 
 and there appears no sufficient reason for discrediting it — 
 we must regard him as living in the first half of the third 
 century before Christ. He is thus the first Jew of whom we 
 have any knowledge as bearing a Greek name — a very note- 
 worthy circumstance ; and the question may suggest itself, 
 Has this Greek name of Antigonus any essential connection 
 with his doctrine concerning the hope of reward ? Now, as 
 Epicurus was teaching between about 300 b.c. and 270 b.c. 
 it may seem by no means impossible, taking into account 
 Antigonus's Greek name, that his doctrine contains some 
 dim reflection of the Epicurean denial of man's immortality. 
 Indeed it may well be looked upon as far from unlikely that, 
 in accordance with Sir. xxxix. 4, Antigonus had travelled 
 to Athens or some other of the Greek cities ; that, affected 
 with admiration for Greek philosophy and culture, he 
 adopted a Greek name, and that though, of com-se, it cannot 
 be by any means supposed that he abandoned Jewish mono- 
 theism or the Jewish ritual, yet that his subsequent theo- 
 logical teaching was to some extent influenced and modified 
 by what he heard either from Epicurus or from one of his 
 disciples. Such an hypothesis is confirmed by the account 
 given in the Ahoth of R. Nathan concerning Antigonus and 
 the Boethusians and Zadokites, or Sadducees. According 
 to this account Antigonus had two disciples, Boethus and 
 Zadok, who reiterated his teaching (inam v:"m7 vn:i'). This 
 
38 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 was done, moreover, by successive generations of disciples ; 
 and thence it arose in the course of time that, through 
 the teaching of Antigonus, the future state and the resur- 
 rection of the dead were called in question. And this scep- 
 ticism in the school of Antigonus resulted in apostasy 
 from the Law on the part of the Boethusians and Sadducees. 
 Now it is not necessary to maintain the actual personality 
 of Boethus and Zadok as disciples of Antigonus. Putting 
 this aside, the connecting of the Sadducean denial of a 
 future state with the school of Antigonus is very important ; 
 and, bearing in mind what has been already said as to the 
 Greek name of Antigonus, it may well appear that in the 
 doctrine attributed to Antigonus in the Mishuah, we have a 
 noteworthy indication of the influence of Greek philosophy. 
 Then it is well worthy to be observed that the Mishnah 
 {Berakoth, ix. 5) looks back upon a time when the Epicu- 
 reans (T'DI-np^DSn) corrupted the Jewish faith, saying that 
 there is only one world. In consequence of this Epicurean 
 doctrine, the Mishnist tells us that D^v^n '^V^ nbl^^n p was 
 used in all forms of blessing in the sanctuary where 
 cbll^n p alone had been previously employed. It is true 
 that, with the Old Testament before us (see Nehem. ix. 5 
 et al.), we cannot very easily admit that any such change 
 was consequent on the diffusion of the doctrine of Epicurus 
 as to a future state. But, nevertheless, I see no sufficient 
 reason for regarding the word " Epicureans " in the passage 
 cited as equivalent merely to "heretics" or "atheists."* 
 It certainly appears to me — especially taking into account 
 evidence before adduced — altogether the most probable con- 
 clusion that the Mishnic writer speaks of corruption and 
 apostasy consequent on the acceptance of the true Epicurean 
 doctrine among the Jews, even though what he connects 
 
 * The reading r3"'X2n, " the heretics," is probably not to be 
 admitted, in accordauce with the critical rule that the more 
 difficult reading is to be preferred. 
 
CONNECTION OF ECCLESIASTES WITH JEWSH HISTORY. 39 
 
 therewith may not he admisBible. Compare also Sanhedr. 
 xi. 1; Eosh Hashshanah, ii. 1. I do not mamtain that the 
 Jews did not sometimes designate as Epicureans those who 
 were not disciples of Epicurus, hut this usage is probahly 
 to be looked upon as secondary and subordinate. 
 
 The soui'ces of Jewish history do not, with regard to Stoi- 
 cism, furnish us, so far as I know, with any evidence as to 
 its introduction among the Jews prior to 200 b.c, similar 
 to the evidence which has been adduced with respect to 
 Epicureanism ; but since, for reasons which have been 
 already mentioned (§ 4), Stoicism would seem to have been 
 especially likely to find favour with Jewish minds, we may 
 well conclude that, if there were among the Jews disciples 
 of Epicurus, there must also have been disciples of his 
 contemporary Zeno. Stoicism, however, would more easily 
 allow of interfusion and incorporation with Judaism than 
 would the doctrines of Epicurus. Probably the adoption of 
 the doctrines of the Porch did not lead to apostasy or occa- 
 sion any marked or conspicuous change, and on this account 
 — as appears likely — the sources of Jewish history are 
 silent as to the time of the introduction of Stoicism. 
 
 It may then, I think, be reasonably affirmed that Jewish 
 history agrees perfectly with the conclusions before ex- 
 pressed — that Ecclesiastes was written about the year 200 
 B.C., and that its author's design was to maintain the 
 ancient faith of Judaism in opposition to philosophical 
 speculation, and especially to the Stoic and Epicurean phi- 
 losophies. 
 
 If the view which I have so far set forth with regard to 
 the relation of Ecclesiastes to Jewish history is correct, 
 little difficulty will probably be felt in admitting that the 
 book bears, in several particulars, a very important relation 
 to the three great Jewish sects— the Sadducees, the Phari- 
 sees, and the Essenes ; though, indeed, it is no new thing 
 to observe that principles characteristic of these sects are 
 already to be discerned in Ecclesiastes, lying in the germ 
 
40 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and awaiting historical development.* If in Ecclesiastes 
 we really have evidence that, about the year 200 b.c, the 
 doctrines of the Porch and the Garden had found disciples 
 among the Jews, it may very possibly seem that the testi- 
 mony of Josephus, that the Jews had had for a very long 
 time three kinds of philosophy {Antiq. xviii. 1, § 2), and that 
 the sect of the Pharisees came very near to that of the 
 Stoics {rj nrapa'TrXria-LO'i iari ttj 'rrap'" EWrja-i XrwiKfj Xeyofjuivrj 
 — Vita, 2), may be far more trustworthy than some recent 
 authors have maintained. If the fact is as before mentioned, 
 we may well hesitate to affirm that, in the statements 
 referred to, the historian diverged from the truth, influ- 
 enced by a desire to conciliate for Jewish institutions the 
 favour and esteem of his Greek readers. And thus we 
 shall not be disposed readily to allow that we have a Jew- 
 ish idea awkwardly dressed up in a Greek garb (comp. 
 Graetz, Gesch. vol. iii. p. 455, 2nd edit.), when Josephus 
 tells us that "the Pharisees ascribe all things to Fate and 
 God" {^apia-aloi.. . elfxapiMevrj re koX 6em irpoadirrovcn iravra — 
 Bell. Jud. ii. 8, § 14). Not only is the union of the two ideas 
 of "God" and "Fate" entirely in accordance with the 
 Stoic theology, but the very language employed meets 
 with its parallel in the words of Cleanthes, as quoted by 
 Epictetus {Man. 53) : 
 
 "Aye hi] [o-y] p u) Xev kol avy >/ YiEirpoipirj). 
 
 * Ewald remarks : " Die Zweifelsucht des Sadduqaer's, die 
 Bedachtigkeit und Scheu des Pharisaers und die Lust zu 
 murrischer Zuriickgezogenlieit des Essaers liegen . . . sclion in 
 Qoheleth im Keime vor : nur was dort uoch durch einen hohern 
 Gedankeu zusammengehalteu uud zu eiuer Eiuheit verarbeitet 
 wurde, ist bier auseinandergefallcn. " [Gesch. des V. Isr. vol. 
 iv. p. 430.) And agam : " Es stelit schou am Sclieidewege 
 dieser drei Eichtungen, man sielit bier schon die Moglicbkeit wie 
 diese entstehen konnteu. . . . Eben dadurcb bat denn auch diess 
 Bucb eine eigne gescbichtlicbe Bedeutung und Wichtigkeit." 
 {Die Sal. Schrift, p. 271.) 
 
CONNECTION OF ECCLESIASTES AVITH JEWISH HISTORY. 41 
 
 And when Josepbus {I. c.) says further that, according 
 to the Pharisees, the moral character of the actions of 
 men "lies principally in the power of men, although 
 Fate does co-operate in every action," we see brought 
 into view the difficulty which was felt by the Stoics, and 
 which attaches to every system which attempts to reconcile 
 necessity with moral responsibility. It was. probably the 
 attempts made by the Stoics to escape from this diffi- 
 culty which led Plutarch {De Pine. i. 27, § 3) to say that 
 they taught that some things were determined by Fate, 
 while others were not so determined {ra fxev eifidpdai, ra 
 S" av€i/jidp6ai) , And this is just what Josepbus says of the 
 Pharisees in Antiq. xiii. 5, § 9.* Now in Ecclesiastes, not 
 only does the doctrine of Fatalism present itself, as we 
 have already seen (§ 4), but we have the two ideas of Fate 
 and a personal God (ix. 1, 2—12) ; and the difficulty of 
 reconciling the conception of a moral government with that 
 of a predestined plan or scheme of the world is conspicuously 
 manifested (§ 12). What we thus find in Ecclesiastes may 
 with reason predispose us strongly to the acceptance of 
 Josepbus' s testimony as to the Fatalistic doctrine of the 
 Pharisees, and of the statement already cited, that the 
 Pharisees were related to the Stoics. 
 
 In the account which Josepbus gives of the eschatological 
 doctrine of the Pharisees {De Bell. Jiid. ii. 8, § 14), he says 
 that they teach that "the souls of good men only are re- 
 moved into other bodies " {jiera^alveiv Be ek erepov aw/xa rrjv 
 Twv cuyaOoiv jjLovrjv) ; and, according to Antiq. xviii. 1, § 3, 
 those who have lived virtuously will " have liberty to revive 
 and live again " (paa-Tcovrjv rov dva^tovv). From these pas- 
 sages (comp. Acts xxiii. 8) we may infer with some proba- 
 bility that the teaching of the Pharisees concerning the 
 resurrection was a modification of the Stoic doctrine with 
 
 * 01 p-EV olv ^apiaaloi Tivh Kal ov wdyra rffg I'lpappirrjc dvai \eyov- 
 aiv 'ipyov, tlvcl h' k(f kavroie l-irapxEtv avpfiaiveiy re /cat ov yit'efrdai. 
 
42 INTRODrCTION. 
 
 respect to the reappearance of the same, or, as it were, the 
 same persons in successive cycles. If the same persons 
 were to reappear, it may have been supposed that their 
 souls would eternally survive, and that they would be 
 clothed in the next cycle with new bodies. The limitation 
 to the souls of good' men may have proceeded from an un- 
 mllingness to make any admission tending to the conclu- 
 sion that God is the Author of evil, and that evil is a 
 permanent element in the system of things (comp. § 12). 
 And here it is particularly worthy of remark, that Nemesius 
 {De Xat. Horn. cap. 38) says there were those m his day 
 who spoke of the Stoic doctrine concerning a cyclical repro- 
 duction and restoration as being the som-ce even of the 
 Christian doctrine of the resm-rection {kuI ha ravTTjv ttjv 
 aTTOKardaracnv ^aai TLve<i tov^ Xpi(rriavov<; ttjv avacrracriv 
 (pavrd^eadai). It is deserving notice, also, that in opposing 
 this assertion Nemesius does not allege that the Chi'istian 
 resm-rection is to be different in kind fi-om that of the 
 Stoics, but that it will occur only once, and vriH not take 
 place periodically (ov Kara TrepioBov eaeadaC). 
 
 With respect to the Sadducees, I assent — in accordance 
 with what I have said above — to the opinion which connects 
 this sect with the Epicm-eans.* What Josephus states as 
 to the teaching of the Sadducees, agrees remarkably well 
 with the Epicm-eanism of Ecclesiastes. x\ccording to Ko- 
 heleth (Ecc. iii. 19 — 21), none can discern whether the spirit 
 of man goes upward, or the spii-it of the beast goes down- 
 ward. Both man and beast are from the earth, and both 
 are alike returning to dust. Josephus tells us that the Sad- 
 ducees " do away with the belief of the immortal duration 
 of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades " 
 {Be Bell. Jud. ii. 8, § 14), and that they teach that souls 
 and bodies perish together {Aiitiq. xviii. 1, § 4). Again, in 
 
 * On this subject authorities are cited by Fabricius, Bibliotheca 
 Graca, vol. iii. p. 610. 
 
CONNECTION OF ECCLESIASTES WITH JEWISH HISTORY. 43 
 
 Ecclesiastes (chap. iv. passim) we find the doctrine of Di- 
 vine Providence denied — if not in express terms, j^et at any 
 rate virtually — and the assertion made, in accordance with 
 the Epicm*ean doctrine, that men are left to themselves in 
 the world : there is no divine scheme or plan to which their 
 conduct is conformed. And the Jewish historian says, con- 
 cerning the Sadducees, that they " do away with Fate 
 entirely, .... and they say that good or evil lies before 
 man for his own choice, and that it pertains to everyone to 
 follow his own judgment in accepting the one or the other " 
 {De Bell. Jud. ii. 8, § 14 : comp. Antiq. xiii. 5, § 9). 
 
 But though there appears to me to be strong reason for 
 connecting the Sadducees with the Epicureans, yet I think 
 it would be incorrect to regard the Sadducees as wholly, 
 or perhaps even chiefly, a philosophical sect. However 
 paradoxical the opinion may at first sight appear, while 
 connecting the Sadducees with the Epicureans, I at the 
 same time adopt the opinion that the Sadducees were the 
 priestly aristocracy, the centre of the Jewish state between 
 the Return from the Captivity and the Maccabean war, and 
 who, as the New Testament shows, possessed no small 
 political influence even long afterwards. I not only thus 
 follow in part the opinion of Geiger {Urschrift, &c., p. 101 
 sq.), but with him I look upon the name " Sadducees " or 
 ** Zadokites " as representing the p'l'^^* '55 of Ezek. xliii. 19, 
 xliv. 15 al, and consequently the Zadok of E. Nathan 
 appears to me to be most probably a mythical personage in- 
 vented in order to explain the designation of the Sadducees. 
 This is, perhaps, scarcely the place for a full discussion of 
 the tenets of the Sadducees, but it is, I venture to think, on 
 such [a complex view as that I have suggested that the 
 statements of the New Testament, the Talmud, and Jose- 
 phus can be most fully reconciled. With regard to the 
 New Testament, we are thus enabled to explain that very 
 important passage (Acts v. 17), which speaks of "the high 
 priest and all they who were with him, which is the sect of 
 
44 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Sadducees" (see also iv. 1), and also those places 
 which speak of the Saddiicean denial of the resurrection 
 (Matt. xxii. 23 a/,.)— implying by this denial, as it would 
 certainly appear, the disavowal of a future state — and of 
 their allegation that neither angel nor spirit really exists 
 (Acts xxiii. 8). 
 
 To account for the facts concerning the Sadducees we 
 may suppose that when, during the third century b.c, 
 Greek philosophy obtained acceptance among the Jews, 
 Epicureanism was adopted by a large proportion of the 
 sacerdotal class, so that the denial of man's immortality, 
 and of other doctrines connected therewith, became charac- 
 teristic of the *' sons of Zadok." However incredible it 
 may seem at first sight that the ministers of religion 
 should become Epicureans, such a conclusion is entirely in 
 accordance with the Maccabean history, with the part 
 played by the high-priests in the Hellenising apostasy, and 
 with the priests' neglecting the sacrifices of the Temple 
 through their eagerness to engage in the performances 
 which took place in connection with the newly established 
 gymnasium (2 Mace. iv. 13, 14). The adoption of Epicu- 
 rean principles may well, in the case of many of the 
 priestly class, have prepared them for more open revolt or 
 apostasy.* And here it should not be passed over,that, though 
 there is nothing, perhaps, which can enable us certainly to 
 identify the Epicureanism of Ecclesiastes with the priests, 
 yet it is remarkable that the answer in chap. v. to the 
 Epicurean sentiments found in chaps, iii. and iv. commences 
 with allusions to the Temple and its services : " Take heed 
 to thy steps when thou goest to the house of God," &c. ; 
 
 * It is worthy of mention that Joseph, son of Tobias, was 
 nepheiv of the hu)h-pnest, Onias II. ; and he it was who, neglecting 
 Jewish restraint as to conformity with Gentile customs, gave 
 offence through his conduct at the court of Ptolemy Euergetes, 
 about 230 b.o. (Josephus, Antiq. xii. 3.) 
 
CONNECTION OF ECCLESIASTES WITH JEA\1SII HISTOEY. 45 
 
 " When thou vowest a vow unto God, delay not to pay it," 
 &c. (chap. V. 1, 4). 
 
 As I consider the Sadducees cannot be rightly regarded 
 as pure Epicureans, so neither do I hold that the Pharisees 
 were mere Jewish Stoics. The Chas'ulini, or Assideans of 
 Maccahean times, were probably the common progenitors 
 of both the Pharisees and the Essenes. The Assideans 
 were distinguished by their zeal for the Law and for the 
 maintenance of their ancestral institutions. But so pro- 
 found had been the influence of Greek j)hilosophy, and so 
 homogeneous did the doctrines of the Porch seem to be 
 with Judaism, that — as appears to have been the case — 
 Assidean conservatism became invested to some extent with 
 a Stoic garb. The Stoical character of the Assideans may 
 have been derived from the adhesion of the Jewish Stoics 
 to that party, when the tendency of the Epicureans— or 
 at least of that portion of them found in the Hellenising 
 party — to open revolt and apostasy became manifest and de- 
 veloped. But, however this may be, the facts seem certainly 
 to point to the close union of Stoicism with conservative 
 Judaism. With respect to this matter the testimony of 
 the Fourth Book of Maccabees is important. Whatever 
 opinion may be formed concerning the date of the book, 
 it exhibits to us Stoicism associated and interwoven with 
 Judaic legalism. The certain indications of Stoicism in 
 Sirach are not perhaps very numerous, but there are some 
 which, as it appears to me, are sufficiently clear (see § 12 
 and note.) And these indications, on account of the age and 
 conservative character of the book, are very important. 
 
 After the Maccabean war, the powerful reaction which 
 had been manifested therein appears to have exerted itself 
 in developing or strengthening tendencies to asceticism and 
 stricter legalism. Although the tendencies just mentioned, 
 we may well believe, with Ecclesiastes before us, were by no 
 means latent even before the war, yet it was probably a 
 considerable time afterwards before they gained distinct 
 
46 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 expression and embodiment in the Essenes and the Phari- 
 sees. These divergent sects, however, after the separation 
 still bear witness, in their respective tenets, to the pre- 
 Maccabean influence of Stoicism. With respect to the 
 Pharisaic doctrines, I have spoken above on some of the 
 more important particulars mentioned by Josephus. In 
 the case of the Essenes probably still more numerous 
 points of connection with Stoicism might be indicated than 
 in that of the Pharisees, but a full discussion of the 
 doctrines and practices of the Essenes might lead us too 
 far away from our proper subject. 
 
 The Essenes appear to have carried away with them into 
 their seclusion a name representing Chasidim, the designa- 
 tion of the stock whence, according to the view above 
 given, both they and the Pharisees had sprung. I am not 
 able, however, to suggest any new reason for the change 
 which the name, on this view of it, must have undergone. 
 With regard to the Pharisees, their name of r^l"'^ {" sepa- 
 rated") entirely agrees with the conclusion I have expressed, 
 that they represented and embodied the tendency to a strict 
 legalism. They were separated and distinguished by their 
 higher ceremonial purity. The clothes of common country 
 people (V^wn nV)^ the Mishnah (Chagigah ii. 7) tells us, were 
 of no higher degree of sanctity than that which marked 
 them as worthy to be trodden upon by Pharisees (DilD 
 T^tt^'ncbj. The Pharisee is probably to be identified with 
 the chaber {Demai ii. 3), and as such he belonged to a 
 society under special restrictions as to its intercourse with 
 common people {Demai, I.e.).* Thus, however the mass 
 of the people may have been affected towards the Pharisees, 
 
 * " Bertinorius autem aperte asserit idem esse "i^n et ti^l"i5, 
 Socium et Pharisaium. . . . Pharisiei, quia seipsos separabant ab 
 omni immunditie et a cibo immundo, et a plebe de cibo minus sol- 
 Ucita. . . . Socti iidem vocati respectu Societatis inter se ad pollu- 
 tionem vitandam initaa." (Guisius, in Sureuhusius's Mishnah.) 
 
THE CONTRADICTIONS OF ECCLESIASTES. 47 
 
 it is certainly incorrect to say that they tvei-e Pharisees. 
 The Pharisees were thus outwardly distinguished by their 
 ceremonial legalism, though in their Stoic doctrines they 
 gave evidence — as the Sadducees did by their Eijicureanism 
 — how deeply penetrating had been, previous to the Macca- 
 bean war, the influence of Greek philosophy. From what 
 I have said the reader may understand the manner in which 
 I accept the statement of Josephus as to the existence of 
 Jewish sects of philosophy {Antiq. xviii. 1, § 2). 
 
 With respect to the historical position of the author 
 of Ecclesiastes, the contents of the book and the indica- 
 tions which have been reviewed in this section appear alike 
 in harmony with the conclusion that the introduction of 
 Greek philosophy had not as yet resulted in outward 
 division or complete defection. Neither Stoics nor even 
 Epicureans had put themselves quite outside the pale of 
 the theocracy. And thus we may compare, to some extent, 
 the position of the author of our book with that of the 
 author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who was con- 
 cerned with the tendency to apostatise, and not with 
 open and manifest apostasy from the faith. 
 
 § 8. The Contradictions of Ecclesiastes. 
 Our book possesses a remarkable antithetical character, 
 its contrasts not unfrequently assuming the form of decided 
 and obvious contradiction. This antithetical character is 
 specially marked in the two great thoughts of the philo- 
 sophical part of the book — the Stoic, All is vanity ; and 
 the Epicurean, Eat, drink, and enjoy. For the sake of 
 further example I may refer to the contrasted particulars 
 of the Catalogue of the Times and Seasons (iii. 2 — 8) ; to 
 the prudence recommended in chap, x., as compared with 
 the liberality inculcated in chap, xi., to the contrast 
 between chap, iv., with its Epicurean or Atheistic tendency, 
 and the apology for the divine administration found in chap. 
 V. ; to the sharp opposition of iii. 16, 17, and iii. 18 — 21; 
 
48 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and to the opposed clauses in the famous passage, vii. 16, 
 17 : " Be not righteous overmuch, neither assume thyself 
 to be excessively wise : why shouldest thou be struck 
 with dismay ? Be not wicked overmuch, neither be thou 
 foohsh : why shouldest thou die before thy time ? " Nay, 
 the book as a whole furnishes an example, the larger 
 or philosophical portion standing in decided antithesis to 
 the conclusion, xii. 13, 14, which inculcates the fear of God 
 and submission to His commandments. One might fancy 
 that the author of Ecclesiastes intended that the contrarie- 
 ties of his book should in some sort reflect and image forth 
 the chequered web of man's earthly condition, hopes alter- 
 nating with fears, joys succeeded by sorrows, life contrasting 
 with death. It must not be supposed, however, that we 
 can find an adequate explanation in the hypothesis that 
 the author of Ecclesiastes arranged his materials in a 
 varied and artistic manner. Our book does not furnish 
 instances of antithesis only ; there are plain and obvious 
 contradictions, as, for example, that between the Stoic and 
 Epicurean elements of the third chapter. 
 
 The recognition of contradictory passages has suggested 
 the idea of a dialogue, the statements of a sceptic being in- 
 troduced in conflict with the author's sentiments, just as in 
 the Epistle to the Romans the Apostle interweaves objec- 
 tions with his argument. Or, again, the book has been 
 regarded as containing the report of a discussion in a 
 learned or philosophical assembly, over which Solomon is 
 represented as presiding. The latter view may be con- 
 sidered preferable to the former. The variety of opinions 
 propounded in the book is apparently more considerable 
 than would comport with the idea of a dialogue between two 
 persons. But, in opposition to any such opinion, it must 
 certainly be maintained that we have throughout the book, 
 from the "Vanity of vanities" of i. 2, to the "all is vanity" 
 of xii. 8, the " words of Koheleth." If at any time the 
 reader imagines that he can detect indications of another 
 
THE CONTRADICTIONS OF ECCLESIASTES. 49 
 
 voice, he will probably very soon discover that what seemed 
 so dissimilar was nevertheless part of the teaching of 
 Koheletli's experience. It is Koheleth, for example, who 
 sees wickedness in the place of justice and righteousness, 
 and who concludes that God will judge the righteous and 
 the wicked (iii. 16, 17), and it is Koheleth who concludes 
 that men are but beasts (iii. 18), and who, with regard to 
 man's destiny, asks the question, " Who will bring him to 
 look upon what will be after him?" (iii. 22). The con- 
 tinuity of Koheleth's discourse is well illustrated also by the 
 passages vii. 23 — 26 and x. 5. Thus, then, we have to do 
 with the perplexing phenomenon that varying sentiments 
 and contradictory opinions are uttered by one and the 
 same speaker. It would afford no adequate explanation of 
 this phenomenon to allege with Prof. Plumptre (Smith's 
 Dictionary, art. '.' Ecclesiastes"), that we have in the book 
 a record of the author's personal experience ; that he was 
 a man "in whom the mood of spirit, over-reflective, indis- 
 posed to action, of which Shakespere has given us in 
 Hamlet, Jaques, Richard II., three distinct examples, has 
 become dominant in its darkest form;" and that seeming 
 contradictions indicate the oscillations of sentiment and 
 opinion which he experienced in his struggle towards 
 truth. This explanation, even if it were in other respects 
 satisfactory, would still be open to one fundamental objec- 
 tion. If the author of Ecclesiastes had never been " king 
 over Israel in Jerusalem ;" if he had never lived in that 
 princely magnificence described in the second chapter, we 
 cannot, with any approach to certainty, determine that we 
 have elsewhere only a record of his personal experience. It 
 seems unlikely that, if he had intended merely to give such 
 a record, he would have introduced it by a description out 
 of harmony with his own condition and history. Ou the 
 other hand, it is quite possible that Koheleth's experience 
 may represent in part the experience of the author ; but if 
 fiction be admitted to be present at all, we cannot draw 
 
50 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 any entirely safe and trustworthy line between fiction and 
 fact. If, then, it cannot be admitted that the author gives 
 us in the book a narrative of his varied personal experience, 
 how are we to account for the perplexing phenomenon which 
 we have before us ? — for that multiphcity, combined with 
 unity, which the book presents? The true answer to 
 this question is, I think, to be found in the word Koheleth, 
 which appears at once as the title of the book and as the 
 name of its author, or at least of the author of the philo- 
 sophical discourse extending, as before mentioned, from 
 i. 2 to xii. 8. 
 
 § 9. The Ancient Jewish Academies. 
 
 Before, however, I attempt to determine the meaning of 
 the name Koheleth, it seems desirable to say a few words 
 on the somewhat obscure subject of the ancient Jewish 
 academies. In its bearing on the origin of Ecclesiastes 
 the subject is too important to be entirely disregarded. 
 Whether the Jewish schools of wisdom and reHgious learn- 
 ing are to be connected with the prophetic colleges, it is 
 not necessary here to determine. Apart from the hypothesis 
 of such connection, it is not difficult to discern causes why 
 there should come to be held assemblies of persons devoted 
 to the study of religious wisdom, and why young men and 
 others desirous of becoming acquainted with this wisdom 
 should connect themselves with these assemblies as learners 
 or disciples.* It is not necessary here, moreover, to con- 
 sider the causes which, prior to the Exile, may have tended 
 to the origination of such assemblies. After the Keturn 
 from the Captivity, the difference between the language of 
 the sacred books and the popular idiom— whether fully 
 
 * Allusions to schools of wisdom have beeu supposed to be 
 made in several places in the Book of Proverbs, especially in 
 viii. 1—3, ix. 1—4. (See Ewald, Die Sal. Schrift. pp. 116, 123, 
 2ud ed). 
 
THE ANCIENT JEWISH ACADEMIES. 51 
 
 manifested at once, or slowly developed — would give birth 
 to schools or colleges for the initiation or training of the 
 uninstructed in the ancient language and literature. Then 
 those who had made great proficiency in sacred learning 
 would not only be distinguished from others by their 
 superior erudition, but their common knowledge would be 
 to some extent a bond of union. It would seem, however, 
 so far as we have any evidence which can afford direction 
 on the matter, that these literati did not limit themselves 
 to holding distinct and exclusive assemblies, but that they 
 formed a distinct class in more popular assemblies, connected 
 probably more or less closely with the synagogues. In the 
 Mishnah the Beth Midrash, or "Academy," is sometimes 
 distinguished from the Beth Keneseth, or " Synagogue" 
 (Teminoth xi. 11), and sometimes ajiparently identified with 
 it (Shahbath xvi. 1, xviii. 1). The admissibility of the 
 people generally to the academies (comp. Luke ii. 46 ; 
 1 Cor. xiv. 23) is possibly a matter of some importance 
 with respect to the probability of the institution being 
 known by so general a designation as ^n^ or eKKkrja-La* 
 This admissibility would not prove, however, that the dis- 
 courses or discussions were necessarily such as the common 
 people could comprehend (comp. Matt. xiii. 34, 35). 
 
 If we do not possess any very direct information as to 
 the constitution of the academies at about the time with 
 which we are at present more particularly concerned, we 
 have at least, in Sir. xxxviii. 24 to xxxix. 11, interesting evi- 
 dence of the existence of a class of literati devoted to sacred 
 learning, and following no secular pursuit. It was not, we 
 are told, for the agriculturist, the builder, the engraver, 
 the coppersmith, the potter, however skilful in their 
 
 * Still there may have been private classes as well as more 
 pubHc meetings. The great Hillel, in his poverty, is said to 
 have been u,nable to pay the fees requh-ed in the time of She- 
 maiah and Abtalion. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 craft, to attain " the wisdom of the scribe." This re- 
 quired seasonable leisure and little distraction through 
 ■worldly business ; so that there might bo adequate facility 
 for the study of ancient lore, for the investigation of 
 enigmatical sayings, for foreign travel, and for careful 
 attention to religious exercises. The duly trained scribe 
 should be qualified to stand before great men and governors. 
 " Peoples shall tell of his wisdom, and the congregation 
 shall utter his praise." 
 
 The passage from Sirach just cited is, in several par- 
 ticulars, of very considerable importance with respect to 
 our present inquiry. To the allusion to foreign travel the 
 reader's attention has been already directed (§ 7). Then 
 how, at the time, the learned were occupied in the 
 solution of enigmas, and in penetrating into the hidden 
 meaning of proverbial or parabolic sayings (comp. § 1), is 
 shown by the language of xxxix. 2, 3 : koI iv aTpoc^al^ 
 irapal3okoiv auveccreXevcreTai. airoKpvcpa TrapoifjUMV iK^Tjnjaec, 
 KoX iv alviy/xaai Tvapa^oXayv avaarpa^rjcreTaL. Probably, 
 however, the arpof^al irapa^oXwv of ver. 2 are antithetic or 
 responsive philosophic utterances. And the word avveia-e- 
 XevcreTac may be taken as pointing to the learned man's 
 coming into the assembly where such exercises were taking 
 place. The words, on this view of them, if regarded as 
 indicating a practice common at the time in assemblies of 
 the learned, would be of very considerable importance with 
 regard to the structure of our book (comp. § 8). If a dis- 
 tinction between the airoKpv^a nrapoifiiwv and the alpuyixaTa 
 iTapaj3o\oiv is to be made, the former may be taken as 
 comprehending proverbs with two meanings, the true inner 
 and concealed signification belonging to a sphere of thought 
 or action difierent from that whence the outer dress of 
 language and imagery has been obtained ; while the latter 
 expression may be used of parabolic or allegorical stories, 
 like that of the little city and the poor wise man (Ecc. ix.). 
 In both cases, however, the occupation of the learned man 
 
THE ANCIENT JEWISH ACADEMIES. 53 
 
 would correspond to what we know of the Rabbmical 
 teachers and scholars of a later day, the "enigmatical 
 parables " representing the Haggadistic element in the 
 Talmud. Then the existence of such a learned class as 
 that of which the passage from Sirach speaks is in accord- 
 ance with the seemingly contemptuous manner in which, 
 in our book, worldly and unphilosophical persons are spoken 
 of (comp. vi. 3 — 6); just as afterwards the Eabbinical school- 
 men spoke of then* countrymen outside the schools as mere 
 
 There is not, perhaps, in the passage cited from Sirach 
 any altogether unquestionable reference to assemblies of 
 learned men, though in addition to what has been already 
 said, I should think it very probable indeed that the words 
 of xxxviii. 33, iv iKK\.r)<TLa ov^ virepaXovvTat, "they shall 
 not spring over in the assembly," refer to dexterity dis- 
 played in academical disputations." And it is well worthy 
 of remark that if eKK\7)aia is used in Sirach of an academical 
 assembly this use would be altogether in harmony with the 
 name Koheleth, which, on any acceptable view of it, is 
 connected with ^rji^ == eKKkrjaLa (comp. §§ 8, 10). But, 
 putting this evidence aside, if there was such a class of 
 learned men as the passage from Sirach describes, the 
 existence at the time of academical assemblies might be 
 reasonably inferred, even if there were no other reasons 
 conducting towards the same conclusion. And the con- 
 tents of Ecclesiastes, — its abstruse and philosophical cha- 
 racter, its colloquial manner, its various and conflicting 
 sentiments, — all accord with the idea of an assembly of 
 learned men or students of wisdom. And it was, we may 
 
 * No valid argument against this view can be di-awu from the 
 mention immediately afterwards of judicial proceedmgs, for, as 
 at a later day, learned men who disputied in the academy would 
 probably also exercise judicial functions. Compare, too, the 
 concluding words of the verse: kv Trupaf^uXalt; obx tvi)iO}iaovTai. 
 
64 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 suppose, in such assemblies that Simon the Just and 
 Antigonus propounded the dicta ascribed to them in the 
 Mishnah {Aboth i. 2, 3). 
 
 Probably the academies were the chief medium through 
 which Greek philosophy and culture were introduced among 
 the Jews. It does not seem likely, however, that this result 
 was attained by the admission of Gentile philosophers to 
 the academies. Eather may we attribute it to the retm-n 
 to Palestine of Jews who had been resident among Greek- 
 speaking peoples, and, in accordance with what has been 
 said in the case of Antigonus (§ 7), to foreign travel on the 
 part of members of the academies (Sir. xxxix. 4). 
 
 The place in Jerusalem where the meetings of the 
 academies were held at the time when Ecclesiastes was 
 written, was, it seems likely, in the Temple precincts. And 
 here probably the priests imbibed those Epicurean senti- 
 ments, and that Hellenising spirit, which were destined to 
 issue in such important consequences for Jewish history. 
 
 As to the subjects with which the academies concerned 
 themselves, it would seem likely that, in addition to the 
 study of speculative and moral philosophy, there was the 
 handling of the Biblical narratives in a generalised or 
 philosophical manner. Thus it would certainly appear 
 probable that we have in vii. 26 a generalised application 
 of the account of Samson and Delilah in Judges xvi. 
 Instead of Delilah and her wiles, we have " the woman 
 who, as to her heart, is nets and snares." The binding 
 of Samson is represented by, "whose hands are bonds;" 
 his escape at first, while he retained his Nazariteship, by, 
 "he who is pleasing to God will escape from her;" his 
 being taken by the Philistines when his locks had been 
 shorn, and the Lord had departed from him, by, "the 
 sinner will be caught by her;" and the words, "I find 
 a more hitter thing than death" represent the voluntary 
 death by which Samson finally escapes from Delilah and 
 her pernicious wiles. So in v. 1 we have apparently a 
 
THE NAME KOHELETH. 65 
 
 reference to Samuel's rebuke of Saul after the defeat of 
 Agag. But instead of Saul not intending to do wrong, we 
 have a general statement respecting "fools offering a 
 sacrifice, though they mean not to do evil." Similarly in 
 vi. 10, Adam, " of the earth, earthy," according to the 
 narrative in Gen. ii., is taken to represent the nature of 
 man in general. And probably in the same verse there is 
 a similar generahsed application of what is said concerning 
 the antediluvians in Gen. vi. 3. (See note ad he.) 
 
 It would perhaps be going too far to assert that natural 
 science was closely studied in the Jewish schools. But, 
 judging from xii. 1 — 6, it would seem likely that, at least, 
 the tracing of analogies between the condition and hfe- 
 history of man, and natural and other objects, was pursued 
 to a considerable extent. 
 
 The contents of Ecclesiastes may be, then, with proba- 
 bility regarded as reflecting the studies and discussions of 
 the Jewish academies at the time when the book was 
 written. The vast difference between our book and what 
 we find in the Mishnah seems not difficult to account for, 
 if the effects of the powerful Maccabean reaction are fully 
 considered. 
 
 What has been said as to the Jewish academies or philo- 
 sophical assembhes— taking such an assembly as designated 
 by the word kahal — may prepare us for considering the 
 important and much-discussed name Koheleth. 
 
 § 10. The Name Koheleth. 
 The first occurrence of the name is at the very com- 
 mencement of the book (i. 1): "The words of Koheleth, 
 the son of David, king in Jerusalem." In this verse, and 
 usually, the word, notwithstanding its feminine form, is 
 employed as a masculine proper name. It is found once, 
 however, with the article, as though it were an appellative ; 
 once — as if a feminine proper name (vii. 27) — it appears as 
 the subject of a verb having the feminine termination. 
 
56 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Such at least are tlie phenomena which the text presents, 
 according to its present division and pointing. 
 
 With respect to the meaning of the name Koheleth, 
 there is, as it would appear, a considerable agreement of 
 opinion in favour of the interpretation which takes the 
 word as denoting " one who convenes an assembl}^" though 
 to the idea of convening, that of calling to or addressing 
 an assembly, seems to be not uncommonly added. Some 
 probably would give the greater prominence to the latter 
 idea. In favour of such a view appeal is generally made 
 to the rendering of the Septuagint, 'EKKXtjaiaar^^;. It 
 should be remembered, however, that the private member 
 of an eKKkr](7ia, not less than the orator, might be called an 
 iKK\7}(na(TTi]^. Thus the word is used, for example, in 
 Aristotle's Politics, iii. 1, where Aristotle speaks of the 
 office of eKKXrja-iacTTi]^ as pertaining to all citizens as such. 
 The Septuagint, therefore, by thus translating Koheleth, 
 gives no adequate support to the opinion that the word 
 means "one who addresses an assembly," or, as the 
 Authorised Version gives it, "the Preacher." The fact is, 
 however, worthy of note, that the Septuagint does certainly 
 connect the word with the idea of an assembly. The 
 authority of this version is accordingly unfavourable to any 
 rendering which excludes this idea ; as, for example, "the 
 Compiler." With respect to this rendering, " the Compiler," 
 it has been said also, and said with justice, that the verb 
 ^nrj is employed with reference, not to the collecting of 
 things, but to the convening or assembling of persons. But 
 then we have the difficulty that n'^HP is the participle 
 active Kal, and the Old Testament furnishes no example 
 whatever of the use of the Kal form of the verb with the 
 sense of convening or assembling, the verb in Kal occurring, 
 in fact, only in the word now under consideration. The 
 idea of assembling persons, or causing them to assemble, 
 appears, however, with sufficient frequency in the Old 
 Testament to render it not improbable that if this idea 
 
THE NAME KOHELETH. 57 
 
 could have been expressed by the verb ^nf^ in Kal, some 
 examples of its being so employed would be found. But 
 in fact we always find, if this verb is used, the Hiphil 
 conjugation employed to express the idea of convening 
 an assembly. We should accordingly have had ^ vli?^ 
 Makhclcth, and not ^^HP Koheleth, to denote " one who 
 convenes an assembly," or, " the Assembler." The opinion 
 that Koheleth has this meaning must, therefore, be rejected. 
 If, however, we translate Koheleth by "the Preacher," wg 
 depart still farther from the evidence of the Old Testament. 
 The verb, neither in Hiphil nor in Niphal, expresses the 
 idea of vocal utterance. It cannot, then, be admitted that 
 Koheleth is one who preaches or lectures, even to a few 
 chosen disciples, "speaking wisdom among the perfect." 
 How, then, without departing from the analogy of the 
 language, or disregarding the evidence of the Old Testa- 
 ment, are we to determine the meaning of this important 
 word '? In reply it may be said that, if ^"^^'!7P'? Makheleth 
 would be transitive or causative, meaning " one who as- 
 sembles," or, " one who convenes an assembly," it would 
 s^eem natural to regard ^^HP Koheleth as intransitive, and 
 as meaning "one who is an assembly." If it should be 
 contended that this rendering would require ^"^Irrjp to be 
 regarded as a denominative form, there appears no 
 difficulty in the way of supposing that it is such a form, 
 especially if the Kal of ^n,-? was not in use. From a 
 grammatical point of view there certainly appears to be 
 nothing whatever to prevent our regarding Koheleth as 
 meaning " one who is an assembly," or, having regard to 
 the feminine form, " She who is an Assembly." Whether 
 this rendering is in other respects reasonable remains to be 
 considered. 
 
 The feminine termination of n^Hp Koheleth has been 
 accounted for by regarding Koheleth as personified Wisdom 
 rn^'^n, or by supposing that Wisdom speaks through 
 Koheleth. Such a view might well derive some credibiHty 
 
68 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 from the personification in the Book of Proverbs, where 
 (chap, ix.) Wisdom ajDpears as though she were a queen 
 who has built for herself a palace, and adorned its banquet- 
 ing-hall. That she may entertain those who will acknow- 
 ledge her sway, she kills her fatted beasts, mingles her 
 wine with spices, and furnishes her table. To bring in 
 her guests to the banquet, she sends forth her attendant 
 maidens, and proclaims her gracious invitation, " Come, 
 eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have 
 mingled " (Prov. ix. 1 — 5). In the previous chapter she is 
 represented as being present with Jehovah during His 
 creative work, and as then disporting or exulting before 
 him (Prov. viii. 30). The author of Ecclesiastes, we may 
 well beheve, was familiar with this personification of 
 Wisdom in the Proverbs, and it appears not improbable 
 that he had it in view when he formed his conception of 
 Koheleth. Still Koheleth is certainly not to be identified 
 with the divine Wisdom of the Proverbs. Wisdom, as 
 there personified, cannot be supposed to indulge, even by 
 way of experiment, in jovial revelry (Ecc. ii. 1), or to advance 
 in knowledge (i. 16), or to utter contradictory statements. 
 Wisdom, moreover, as exhibited in the Proverbs, is ani- 
 mated by a deeply religious spirit, which does not manifest 
 itself in Koheleth. The wisdom of Koheleth is speculative, 
 and does not begin with "the fear of the Lord." This 
 fact may suggest that Koheleth is Wisdom in a sense 
 different from that of the Wisdom of the Proverbs. Though 
 not representing perfect and divine wisdom, Koheleth may 
 yet be a personification of Philosophy. Now Philosophy 
 may be considered not only as an abstract idea, but also 
 with reference to the several philosophers whose specula- 
 tions may be collectively embodied under this designation. 
 And it was after this manner that Philosophy appears to 
 have been conceived of by the author of Ecclesiastes. She 
 was Koheleth, " She who is an assembly," meaning pro- 
 bably, not any actual contemporary academy of which our 
 
THE NAME KOHELETH. 69 
 
 author was a member, but rather an ideal assembly of 
 those Jewish philosophers, Stoic, Epicurean, and others, 
 whose opinions were influential at the time when the book 
 was composed. It is, as it appears to me, this assembly, 
 this Q'^P^n bn)2., of which, as representing Philosophy, 
 Koheleth is the personification. It may be seen at once 
 that the name Koheleth, thus regarded, is in harmony both 
 with the unity and the multiplicity which characterise 
 Ecclesiastes ; with the fact that there is but one speaker 
 from i. 2 to xii. 8, though the sentiments uttered are 
 various, discrepant, and conflicting. There is unity, be- 
 cause Philosophy is everywhere present ; there is multi- 
 plicity ; there is discrepancy ; on account of the plurality 
 of philosophers who speak by the mouth of Koheleth. 
 Moreover, it is not difficult to see why our author makes 
 Koheleth, as the personification of Philosophy, utter con- 
 tradictory statements, if it was his intention to warn his 
 readers against philosophical studies (xii. 12), and to teach 
 them that such pursuits were altogether fruitless and 
 vain. 
 
 If Koheleth is a personification of an assembly of sages 
 or philosophers, it seems natural to suppose that, as in 
 the case of other personified assemblages of men — as, for 
 example, cities and peoples — the name representing the 
 personification would be feminine. And it is especially 
 deserving of attention that, in the prophets, a feminine 
 participle is repeatedly used to designate a collective per- 
 sonification, as ^"i^t?"* " she who inhabits," for inhabitants 
 collectively (Jer. li. 35), and n?''^ " she who is an enemy," 
 for enemies collectively (Mic. vii. 8). This usage gives 
 very important evidence in support of the opinion that 
 Koheleth, also, denotes a collective personification. 
 
 It may be observed, besides, that the representation of 
 Philosophy as a personified assembly, as concrete instead 
 of abstract, is in accordance with other phenomena which 
 our book presents. Instead of speaking of laiv in the 
 
60 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 abstract, Koheleth brings before us a king (viii. 2). Caution 
 and reverence in treating of the divine administration is 
 inculcated in the very concrete form, " Take heed to thy 
 steps when thou goest to the house of God" (v. 1), The 
 identification of Koheleth, or Philosophy, with Solomon 
 (i. ii.) may be looked upon as a still farther advance in 
 the direction of the concrete, since, embodied in the great 
 Hebrew monarch, Koheleth attains a more perfect unity. 
 We may understand, moreover, how, if the voice of Koheleth 
 is the voice of an assembly, Solomon may be represented 
 as speaking in the first and second chapters, though in 
 some other i3laces we may seem to have sentiments suited 
 rather to a private person than to a monarch. Still, we 
 ought not perhaps to suppose that, in the philosophical 
 portion of the book, the Solomonic character of Koheleth 
 is entirely dropped after the second chapter, even though 
 it may be comparatively disregarded. If any difficulty 
 should be felt to arise from Solomon being regarded as the 
 mouth-piece of specidat'we philosophy; if it should be 
 thought that the endowments or attainments of Solomon 
 lay rather, according to the history, in other directions, it 
 may be said that, whatever advance in knowledge had 
 been effected since the days of this great monarch, or what- 
 ever change had been made in the direction of intellectual 
 activity, it would aj^pear that Solomon, with his surpassing 
 powers, was looked upon as having ah-eady anticipated the 
 advance and the change. It may be instructive to the 
 reader to compare 1 Kings iv. 29 — 34 with the seventh 
 chapter of the Book of Wisdom. Not only are Solomon's 
 attainments in natural science in the latter more extended 
 (ver. 18—20), but the seventeenth verse speaks of an 
 accurate knowledge of the nature of things; of acquaintance 
 with the constitution of the /cocr/io?, and with the operation 
 of the elements. Taking such a passage as that just cited 
 into account, we need find little difficulty in understanding 
 how Solomon might be regarded as including within the 
 
THE NAME KOHELETH. Gl 
 
 range of bis comprehensive intellect all the wisdom of the 
 philosophical Koheleth. We may, however, with probability 
 go further than this, and, taking into account the facts 
 both of Ecclesiastes and the Book of Wisdom, may affirm 
 that Solomon was regarded as though the embodiment of 
 all philosophical wisdom : in him Philosophy herself had 
 been enthroned. 
 
 On the view which has been thus set forth, it may well 
 appear not inexpHcablc that n^HP should vary in gender, 
 as it does in our present text. In the first chapter, where 
 the Solomonic character of Koheleth is prominent, the 
 word is masculine, but afterwards — this character not being 
 so much regarded, and Philosophy rather than Solomon 
 speaking — the word becomes feminine (vii. 27). Probably 
 in xii. 8 also we ought to read ^^.OP nn^^ instead of 
 ^V'7"P'^ '^'^^> ^or we may well question the use of ^"^^HP with 
 a masculine verb when — -as in this case the article would 
 show — the word is not a proper name. The reading in 
 the text may perhaps owe its origin to a desire to assimi- 
 late xii. 8 to i. 2, yet without omitting the ^- Very likely 
 also the construction with a masculine verb in the next 
 verse (xii. 9) may have had its influence ; but for the 
 construction in the ninth verse, a probable reason can be 
 adduced, namely, that there is an allusion to the Book of 
 Proverbs, and that thus — the Solomonic character of 
 Koheleth again becoming more conspicuous — the word is 
 again determined to the masculine gender. 
 
 What has been said above may give the principal reason 
 for the identification of Koheleth with Solomon; but it 
 seems by no means improbable that the author of Eccle- 
 siastes may have been influenced by a motive similar to 
 that for which Cicero, in his treatise on Old Age, intro- 
 duced the elder Cato as the chief speaker — that the dis- 
 com-se might carry with it greater weight and authority, 
 "quo majorem auctoritatem haberet oratio." This view 
 is in accordance with the position that the author intended 
 
62 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to warn his contemporaries against the influence of the 
 Greek philosophy, as opposed to the ancient faith of 
 Judaism. And it is not difficult to see a measure of i3ro- 
 priety in the fiction by which he introduces the ancient 
 King Solomon as declaring philosophical pursuits to be 
 fruitless and vain. If, indeed, the Greek philosoj)hy was 
 of modern introduction, still, in accordance with what has 
 been already said, it would certainly appear that Solomon 
 was looked upon as having anticipated its doctrines and its 
 speculations.* 
 
 § 11. The Author of Ecclesiastes. 
 The name of the author of Ecclesiastes is now unknown. 
 In this respect, it has already happened with him in 
 accordance with what he himself says of the wise man 
 being forgotten like the fool (ii. 16). Of his profound in- 
 tellect, however, his book is an enduring monument. t One 
 might think that a man of so great intellectual power must 
 have occupied a distinguished position among his contem- 
 poraries ; but, on the other hand— considering the way in 
 which he speaks, in the ninth chapter, of the " great king " 
 and the " poor wise man "—it seems hkely that he did not 
 so speak without having himself suffered from 
 
 " the proud man's contumely," 
 
 and that it is not without an allusion to his own experience 
 that he tells of the poor man's wisdom being neglected and 
 
 * On the identification of Koheleth with Solomon the reader 
 may compare alsoEwald, Die Sal. Schrift.,-p^. 281, 282, 2ud ed. 
 
 t Ewald, contrasting with those who have depreciated our 
 book, says: " Wer das Innere dieses rauh und seltsam scheinen- 
 den Buches iiberdacht hat, wird es veil von Sinn Zusammenhang 
 und Wahrheit finden. Und es muss vielmehr uusre hohe 
 Bewunderuiig erwecken dass noch in so spiiter Zeit ein so schcip- 
 ferisches Schriftwerk im Volke Israel eutstehen konnte." (Die 
 Sal. Schri/t. p. 287.) 
 
THE AUTHOR OF ECCLESIASTES. 63 
 
 despised (ix. 16). Still it is quite possible that he may 
 have been distinguished and honoured among Jewish philo- 
 sophers, and yet have met with rebuffs from the 2>f'of(iniim 
 vulfjus, the unthinking crowd, or even from such monarchs 
 as Seleucus Callinicus, Antiochus the Great, or Ptolemy Phi- 
 lopator, men who would not improbably have treated with 
 contempt a Jewish philosopher, if chance had brought such 
 a one in their way. But with respect to the details of our 
 author's life, we are treading on uncertain and precarious 
 ground. It would seem not improbable, however, that 
 when his book was written he had already attained an 
 advanced stage of life. From the general tone of the book, 
 and from the acquaintance with philosophy which it dis- 
 13lay8, it seems also exceedingly probable that he had been 
 in earlier years a strong adherent of one of the philoso- 
 phical sects: most likely he had been a Stoic. If so, then, 
 as before said (§ 6) our book must be looked on as a 
 recantation of philosophy. And it is possible that it is not 
 without an allusion to jears which the author had devoted 
 to philosophical speculation, that Koheleth says (vii. 15), 
 *' I saw all in the days of my vanity." 
 
 With respect to the place where the author lived, I should 
 certainly incline to the opinion that he dwelt at Jerusalem, 
 notwithstanding what Ewald has said (Die Sal. Schrift. 
 p. 269). The facts of the book seem certainly to imjjly 
 that he had lived in the society of advanced thinkers and 
 philosophical students, and that it was for such, in great 
 measure, that he composed his book. On this account it 
 would seem that we cannot with probability assign as his 
 locality any place in Palestine outside of the metropolis. 
 Samaria, indeed, may perhaps have presented not alto- 
 gether unsuitable conditions, but we cannot suppose that 
 the author of Ecclesiastes was a Samaritan. 
 
 Allusion has already been made (§ 7) to Sir. xxxix. 4, a 
 passage from which it would appear that foreign travel, for 
 the purpose of becoming practically acquainted with the 
 
64 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 institutions of other countries, was by no means uncommon 
 among learned Jews. That the author of Ecclesiastes had 
 conformed to this custom, in order that he might "try 
 things good and things evil among men," seems by no 
 means improbable. Indeed, I should think it quite likely 
 (comp. § 5) that he had at Athens listened to Chrysippus 
 discoursing on the Stoic doctrines. The possibility of such 
 a visit to Athens should not be lost sight of, even if the 
 supposition is not absolutely necessary to explain that 
 acquaintance with the post-Aristotehan philosophy which 
 our book displays. This possibility of the author's having 
 travelled in foreign countries should be borne in mind, also, 
 in estimating the value, as evidence with respect to the 
 date of the book, of those passages which speak of kings 
 or rulers, or of seemingly contemporaneous circumstances. 
 If the horizon of the author's experience had been thus 
 widened, it is not to be supposed that he must of necessity 
 allude to the condition of Palestine, or to the court of 
 Egypt or of Syria. And of course, in accordance with 
 what has been already said, we should keep in view also, 
 with regard to such supposed allusions, the character of the 
 Ijook, — that it is, in important respects, a work of fiction. 
 
 § 12. The Theology of Ecclesiastes. 
 The composite nature of Ecclesiastes must be, of course, 
 taken into account in considering its theology. If the book 
 sets forth now Stoical and now Epicurean sentiments, we 
 may be prepared to find that, with regard to its theology, 
 there is neither perfect harmony nor entire homogeneity. 
 This remark will apply to the doctrine of our book concern- 
 ing the immortality of the soul, with respect to which a 
 good deal of interest has been manifested. Certainly it 
 would appear that, in the Epicurean passage iii. 18—22, 
 
 whether we take the n of verse 21 as the article or as the 
 
 interrogative— this immortality is, in accordance with the 
 true Epicurean doctrine, altogether denied. In ix. 5 — 10 
 
THE THEOLOGY OF ECCLE8IASTES. 65 
 
 — a passage still essentially Epicurean — we have possibly a 
 conception of the dead as inert and feeble shades dwelling 
 in Sheol (see ver. 10, and comp. xi. 8). But this discre- 
 pancy, if such there be, is easily explained on the supposi- 
 tion that the author of Ecclesiastes, in accordance with his 
 practical aim and object, does not deal so much with pure 
 Epicureanism or with pure Stoicism, as with those various 
 philosophical opinions which were promulgated in the 
 Jewish schools of his day. Moreover, we must not forget 
 also, that it was, in all probability, our author's intention 
 to set forth, by way of warning, the fluctuating and discre- 
 pant nature of the sentiments propounded by contemporary 
 philosophers (§ 10). In Stoical passages too, we ought 
 probably to recognise a want of agreement, with respect to 
 the doctrine of immortality, reflecting in part that which, 
 according to the ancient authorities, existed among the 
 Stoics. It appears to have been the orthodox Stoic doctrine 
 that the souls of all men survive for a longer or shorter 
 period ; those of the good and virtuous till the great world- 
 conflagration, but those of the foolish and wicked for a 
 shorter time only, during which they are subjected to punish- 
 ment in Hades. It would seem, however, according to 
 Ai'ius Didymus in Eusebius {Prap. Evang. lib. xv. p. 68, ed. 
 Gaisford), that some Stoics taught that the souls of men 
 are mingled at death with the Deity, the World- Soul C'Ewot 
 he T7]v fxev rov 6\ov, dtScov ra? 8e A-oiTra? (TUfu,fj,typuaOat iirl 
 reXevrf) et9 eKeivrjv). Expressing, as it seems to me, this 
 latter doctrine, we have the passage Ecc. xii. 7, which 
 speaks of " the dust returning to the earth as it was, and 
 the spirit returning unto God who gave it." If we under- 
 stand the last clause to denote the re-absorption of the soul 
 into the Deity, there is then a congruity with the first 
 clause, which points to the dissolution of the body, and to 
 its particles mingling again with the. earth. On' the other 
 hand, the idea of individual immortality, so far as respects 
 the soul surviving death, probably underlies iii. 17, which 
 
66 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tells of God "judging the righteous and the wicked," * and 
 viii. 7, 8, which it seems best to understand as depicting 
 the fears of the sinner with regard to the future, and to 
 certainly ajjproaching death. It may be well here to 
 observe that, though xii. 14, the last verse in the book, pos- 
 sibly implies the idea of individual immortality, yet that 
 probably its primary intention was rather to denote a 
 future vindication of God's moral government, and the 
 revelation of what is now hidden and mysterious with 
 reference thereto. 
 
 The frequent use of the abstract designation of God, 
 D'''^ '.^n ha-Elohlm, which would perhaps be most correctly 
 translated "the Deity," is in accordance with the philoso- 
 phical character of the book, and with the absence — at 
 least from the greater portion of it — of a theocratic stand- 
 point. With this last characteristic accords also the fact 
 that the name Jehovah nowhere appears. The absence of 
 the sacred name may possibly be connected with that 
 exaggerated feeling of reverence for it which was mani- 
 fested by the later Jews. But with respect, at any rate, 
 to the philosophical portion of the book, i. 2 to xii. 8, we 
 need not take this possibility into account. Cosmopoli- 
 tanism was a marked characteristic of the post-Aristotelian 
 philosophy, and as this philosophy, to so considerable an 
 extent, speaks through Koheleth, it may well have seemed 
 to our author a thing out of place, and incongruous, to put 
 into the mouth of Koheleth the distinctive and localised 
 name of the God of Israel. At first sight, however, it may 
 appear that, if in Koheleth's discourse there is no mention 
 of the theocratic name Jehovah, still some things are 
 spoken of specially connected with the theocracy, as the 
 Temple and vows, in v. 1 — 6. But this reference, there 
 
 * The position that the doctrine of immortality is, by impU- 
 cation, affirmed in what is here said, suits well the denial of 
 this doctrine in iii. 18 — 22. 
 
THE THEOLOGY OF ECCLESIASTES. 67 
 
 seems no doubt, should be understood figuratively, and as 
 made with the view of inculcating in a veiled and enigma- 
 tical manner the duty of caution and reverence in speak- 
 ing of the divine administration. Similarly in ix. 2 the 
 words "pure " C^^^) and " defiled " {^'^^) may not unrea- 
 sonably be looked upon as employed in a general or moral 
 sense. And " he who sacrificeth," in the same verse, need 
 not be regarded as meaning merely, an observer of the 
 Levitical law. 
 
 It has here to be added that, in Koheleth's discourse, the 
 post-Aristotehan philosophy has become so far assimilated 
 to Judaism, that we have nowhere any mention of a society 
 of Gods living in disregard of men and their wants. This 
 of course relates to Epicureanism. As to the Stoic doctrine, 
 there was jarobably, in this particular, less difficulty in 
 effecting an assimilation with Jewish monotheism, since 
 it would certainly appear — whatever may be the contradic- 
 tion involved — that Stoicism, though Pantheistic, yet did 
 not renounce the concej^tion of one supreme personal God ; 
 and of supposed inferior or derivative deities the Stoic 
 teachers seem to have taken comparatively small account. 
 
 As to the course of things in the world, the Stoics, since 
 their theory was optimistic, had, of necessity, to contend 
 with very serious difficulties connected with the existence of 
 physical and moral evil. The manner in which they ex- 
 plained the difficulty we may see, to a remarkable extent, 
 set forth in the seventh chapter of our book. If our author 
 speaks of evil as set by God over against good ; of pros- 
 perity having been arranged in correspondence to adversity 
 (vii. 14), his teaching but reflects that of the philosophers 
 of the Porch, who looked upon physical evil as the neces- 
 sary counterpart of good, and as indispensable to the sym- 
 metry and completeness of a well-ordered scheme of things. 
 Thus, for example, Marcus Aurehus declares that the ter- 
 rible jaws of the fierce lion, deadly poison, and other 
 noxious tilings, are not to be regarded with aversion or 
 F 2 
 
68 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 horror, as though they were monstrous and abnormal, but 
 are to be looked upon as necessarily resulting from the 
 existence of what is fair and beautiful (vi. 36).* The Stoic 
 conception may perhaps be illustrated, not inaptly, by the 
 idea of a building constructed of many parts corresponding 
 to and fitting into each other, some being protuberant, and 
 others in consequence hollow or indented. Besides, seem- 
 ing ills .and adverse outward circumstances were supposed 
 to be intended by God in order to the due training and 
 exercise of man's moral powers. These circumstances, 
 rightly used, may be made subservient to the wise man's 
 highest advantage. It is in accordance with this teaching 
 that Koheleth recommends that the house of mourning 
 should be visited ; that patience under reproach and adver- 
 sity should be exercised, since he who fears God will come 
 forth from all the trials to which he is subjected^ It is for 
 fools to indulge, under untoward circumstances, in irritation 
 and anger (vii. 2 — 18). And if the Stoics, notwithstanding 
 difficulties which they were unable adequately to solve, still 
 taught that no evil could really happen to the wise man, 
 and that this was possible only in the case of the vicious 
 (comp. Marc. Aurel. ix. 16), Koheleth declares : "Although 
 the sinner doeth evil a hundred times, and yet prolongeth 
 his days, yet surely I know that it will be well with those 
 who fear God, who fear before Hini ; but it will not be well 
 with the wicked man, neither will he lengthen out his 
 days like the shadow, because he feareth not before God " 
 (viii. 12, 13). 
 As to the degree and the extent of the moral depravity of 
 
 * The influence of the Stoic doctrine in this particular appears 
 clearly manifest also in Sir. xxxiii. 13 — 15 (see § 3), and in xlii. 
 24, 25 : IlaJTa ^latra ev KarivavTi rov evug, koI ovk tTro/jjo-ev ov^iv 
 eK\e~nroy. iv rov kfog earepewcrE ra ayada, Koi Tie TrXrjerdlifftTai opG>v 
 ioiav avTOv ', Compare xxxiii. 14, airivavTi Tov KaKOv TO ayadoy, 
 
 K.T.X. 
 
THE THEOLOGY OF ECCLESIASTE8. 69 
 
 mankind, there is also a singular accord between the teach- 
 ing of the Stoics and that of Koheleth. Seneca says, "We 
 are wicked; we have been wicked; we shall be wicked ;"*and 
 Koheleth declares, "There is not a righteous man on the 
 earth who doeth well, and sinneth not" (vii. 20). "Moreover, 
 pay no attention to all the words which people speak, so 
 that thou hear not thy servant reviling thee ; for thy heart 
 knoweth that thou, even thou, hast many times also reviled 
 others " (vii. 21, 22). If Koheleth could only find " one 
 man out of a thousand" (vii. 28), the Stoics, we are told, 
 declared most men wicked, but talked of one, and perhaps 
 a second, good man as having existed, as though a good 
 man were a strange and unnatural animal, rarer than the 
 phoenix (Alex. Aphrod. DeFato, 28). And further, if Kohe- 
 leth ascribes human dejDravity to man himself, seeing that 
 " God had made man upright " (vii. 29), Cleanthes, in his 
 hymn to Zeus, declares that nothing in earth, or sea, or 
 sky, is done without Zeus, — 
 
 irXtji' VTTOffa pi^ovai kukoI (T<ptTipr](nv ayoiaig. 
 
 Notwithstanding such explanations of the state of things 
 in the world as Koheleth was able to offer, he declares that 
 he found it impossible to discover any scheme to which, 
 from a moral point of view, man's condition could be seen 
 to conform. It was "far off and exceeding deep : who can 
 find it ? " (vii. 24). Even the wise man is foiled when he 
 thinks to understand the work which is being done under 
 the sun (viii. 17). The discovery of what God is doing in 
 the world, or of what He intends, it was entirely beyond the 
 philosopher's power to attain. 
 
 * " Oinnes mah sumus. Quidquid itaque in aho reprehen- 
 ditur, id unusquisque iu suo sinu inveniet. . . . Mali inter 
 malos vivimus." {De Ira, iii. 26, § 4.) " Peccavimus omnes, 
 alii gravia, alii leviora. . . . Nee deliuquimus tantum, sed 
 usque ad extremum asvi delinquemus." (De Clem. i. 6, § 2.) 
 
70 introduction. 
 
 § 13. The Style and Diction. 
 
 It has not been uncommon to regard the language of 
 Ecclesiastes as furnishing the chief argument against the 
 Solomonic authorship. Thus Grotius, to whom is ascribed 
 the merit of having, after Luther (§ 5), shown the way to a 
 more correct view of the origin of the book: "Ego tamen 
 Solomonis esse non puto, sed scriptum serius sub illius 
 Eegis, tanquam poenitentia ducti nomine. Argumentum 
 ejus rei habeo multa vocahula quae non alibi quam in 
 Daniele, Esdra, et Chaldaeis interpretibus reperias." And 
 unquestionably a most powerful argument may be thence 
 derived in support generally of the late origin of the book. 
 The date of the book has already, however — so I venture to 
 think — been determined with a definiteness of result (§ 5) 
 such as no argument derived from the diction is likely to 
 yield. So far, then, as respects the date, it may be sufficient 
 if the language of the book does not appear out of harmony 
 with the conclusion which has been already expressed. 
 
 Now, taking into account the date which I have given, 
 the inquiry not unnaturally suggests itself : Does the dic- 
 tion of Ecclesiastes give any unquestionable indications of 
 Greek influence ? It is true that the absence of such indi- 
 cations would^ not be necessarily inconsistent with the 
 conclusions which we have already attained, but still it may 
 reasonably be regarded as probable that a considerable 
 transference of ideas from the Greek philosophy would be 
 accompanied by the importation, to a greater or less extent, 
 of the Greek idiom. Zirkel and Graetz (Graetz, Kohelet, 
 p. 179 sq.) have adduced various supposed instances of 
 Grtecism, the majority of which, perhaps, cannot be re- 
 garded as entirely satisfactory, especially when considered 
 apart from other evidence of Greek influence. It may, how- 
 ever, be regarded as quite probable that ^5^ in Ecc. v. 18 
 reflects the Greek Ka\6<;, though it seems quite conceivable 
 that the word might have acquired the sense it bears inde- 
 
THE STYLE AND DICTION. 71 
 
 pendently of the Greek. A similar remark may be made 
 with regard to the varied use of the same word in the 
 Mishnah (iii. 11, note). But it seems preferable on the 
 whole to admit that we have probably, in the passage cited, 
 a genuine example of Greek influence. A still better 
 example, and one which seems to me pretty certain, is 
 found in the 21^ nV^l^ of iii. 12— a phrase which Zirkel 
 takes as equivalent to ev irpdrreiv. No other explanation 
 seems at all admissible. To these examples I would add 
 the remarkable use of ^S"? in xii. 13 ; an expression which 
 appears inexplicable, unless it be regarded as reflecting to 
 KaOokov or ro oXov of the Greek philosophers (see note ad loc). 
 There is, besides, the repeated employment of plural nouns 
 with a singular verb (i. 10, note) ; a usage which probably 
 resulted from the author's having in his mind, or attempting 
 to imitate, the well-known construction in Greek of a 
 neuter plural noun with a singular verb, when the objects 
 indicated by the noun are taken collectively. Thus we have 
 at once an explanation of the singular verb in the construc- 
 tion "i:i"i ti^">7: n).^ >n?i3T in x. 1 ; and, with respect to 
 >\ r\^r\ n^2 ^3^ in ii. 7, we have a close parallel to the 
 Greek (see note ad loc). 
 
 The examples of Graecism thus adduced cannot be, I 
 think, easily set aside ; and they may well be taken into 
 account in our decision with regard to other examples 
 which would be by themselves more doubtful. And it ap- 
 pears to me not unlikely that future research will discover 
 indications of Greek influence in places where Graecisms 
 have not as yet been detected. 
 
 The diction of Ecclesiastes is entirely in accordance 
 with what has been said before as to the close connection 
 of the book with the Jewish academies. When Hebrew 
 had ceased to be the language of ordinary communication 
 among the common people, it was still em^Dloyed in the 
 schools as the " language of the learned," acquiring at the 
 same time various peculiarities which distinguish it from 
 
72 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the earlier idiom. Ecclesiastes stands alone among the 
 Biblical books in the approach which it makes to the 
 Hebrew of the Jewish colleges, as this is exemplified in the 
 Mishnah. And though the difference is still no doubt con- 
 siderable, it may be reasonably accounted for, if we take 
 into account the wide interval which elapsed between the 
 composition of Ecclesiastes and the redaction of the Mish- 
 nah. The resemblance, however, is marked and striking. 
 We have Mishnic words and phrases, or those which are 
 essentially such, and which we find nowhere else in the Old 
 Testament ; as i;3V, P V^n, n>i^^ 75, 1??, n^tp (ii. 8, note). 
 Other words found in our book have acquked, or are 
 tending towards, a Mishnic sense ; as the Niph. of ^t?'?, 
 n'^'?p (i. 9, 14, notes), d"?^ (iii. 11), "fVi3 (iv. 14, note), 
 "i^t^pn (x. 10, note), ^T "^m without reference to place (xi. 6). 
 Similar indication is given by the wider and more general 
 sense of "'"'^V (x. 6, 20), and probably other words (see note 
 on X. 16) ; by the use of the suffix pronoun with reference 
 to an antecedent implied only, and not fully expressed (iv. 
 12 et al.), and, passing over other indications, generally by 
 the abrui)t, concise, and elliptical style which characterises 
 our book. 
 
 The author of Ecclesiastes has been supposed to have 
 borrowed various words and phrases from earlier writers, as 
 mvp "ipitt7 viii. 5 (comp. Prov. xix. 16), ^33 ^^^ (x. 20) from 
 Prov. i. 17. And indeed, we may well regard it as likely 
 that he was thoroughly familiar, not only with the Pro- 
 verbs, but generally with the earlier Biblical writings. 
 (Comp. § 9.) Still it would certainly not appear that the 
 author of Ecclesiastes at all attempted to imitate the style 
 of the older Hterature. He probably wrote in the " lan- 
 guage of the learned," using for the most part just such 
 Hebrew as was commonly heard in the schools in his day. 
 We may well believe, however, that he would not have 
 allowed his fiction to be in this respect so transparent, 
 if he had intended to convey the impression that his 
 
THE STYLE AND DICTION. 73 
 
 book had really been written centuries before by King 
 Solomon. 
 
 Whether we do or do not entirely agree with Ewaldin the 
 high eulogy which he has passed on the artistic skill dis- 
 played by the author of Ecclesiastes in his st3de and diction, 
 we may well be cautious — especially with xii. 10 before us — 
 how we bring against him the charge of writing in a mean 
 and inelegant manner. His art may be of a high order, 
 even if not always, and altogether, identical with that of 
 earlier writers. 
 
 Ewald points to the way in which our author plays artis- 
 tically upon words ; adducing as examples pV^ and I^^V in 
 vii. 1, and Q'^1"'P and '^V in vii. 6. It is worthy of notice, 
 too, how also in the seventh chapter, having in view pro- 
 bably the root-meaning of the word, he uses Dl?3 in two dif- 
 ferent senses ; so that, at first sight, vii. 3 and vii. 9 seem 
 quite contradictory (see note on vii. 9). From what has 
 just been said some light may be thrown on the difficult 
 word ^Y"ii^"!, which, it is particularly deserving of attention, 
 occurs also in this same seventh chapter in close proximity 
 to the passages just now cited. The context seems certainly 
 to require that the verb in question should be taken, in vii. 
 7, in some such sense as " gives lustre to " or " causes to 
 shine forth." (See note ad loc.) Now if it were contended 
 that this sense would be singular, and not fully supported 
 by any other passage in the Old Testament, still, taking 
 into account what has been said, the sui3position would not 
 be um-easonable that our author plays upon the word, and 
 employs it in an unusual and paradoxical sense ; at the 
 same time, however, bringing back the word nearer to its 
 radical signification.* 
 
 If the usage of placing Ecclesiastes among the poetical 
 books be followed, it should still not be forgotten that, with 
 respect to its conformity to the requirements of poetical 
 
 • The reader should compare also viii. 8, and note. 
 
74 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 form, our book presents a remarkably diversifiecl appear- 
 ance. If it should be contended, with Ewald, that there 
 is nowhere in the book mere prose, such an assertion must 
 have regard in great measure to the sentiments expressed, 
 and certainly not to any uniform obedience to the laws of 
 poetical parallelism. Without expressing my entire assent 
 to the arrangement given by Ewald in his translation {Die 
 Sal. Schrift., 2nd ed.), I may mention that he distinguishes 
 the following passages and verses as wholly or in part 
 poetical :— i. 2, 4—8, 15, 18 ; ii. 2, 11,* 14* ; iii. 1—9, 15, 
 19, 20 ; iv. 5, 6 ; v. 2 (3), 6 (7), 9 (10), 14 (15) ; vi. 4, 5 ; 
 vii. 7, 12, 19, 29; viii. 1,* 5; ix. 4, 17— x. 2; x. 6, 
 8—13, 18, 20* ; xi. 4, 10 ; xii. 2, 6, 8. For the diversified 
 appearance which the book thus presents, various reasons 
 may be, with greater or less probability, suggested. It may 
 be supposed that since the discourse of Koheleth is the 
 discourse of a personified assembly (§ 10), our book, as it 
 varies from a poetical to a more prosaic form, reflects the 
 practice of the Jewish schools at the time, some of the 
 speakers, and some only, employing the language of poetry 
 (comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 26). Or again, as in the poetical drama, 
 the variation in question may be regarded as evidence of 
 artistic skill, a higher and more pleasing efi'ect being there- 
 by produced. Or an explanation may be found in the com- 
 posite nature of the book, its varying aspect agreeing with 
 the varied character of the sources whence om- author ob- 
 tained his materials. And such an explanation may be 
 given without regarding the book as an inartistic patch- 
 work, or denying that, in accordance with xii. 10, our 
 author very carefully adapted and elaborated the materials 
 which he employed. Or, lastly, the book, as regards the 
 aspect of it in question, may be looked upon as reflecting 
 the comprehensive genius of its author, who, it may be 
 
 * The verses marked by an asterisk are printed by Ewald as 
 only in part poetical. 
 
THE INTEGRITY OF THE TEXT. 75 
 
 contended, was endowed, not only with philosopliic pene- 
 tration and insight, but also with the glowing imagination 
 and formative skill of the poet ; the structm-e of the book 
 varying in accordance with the predominance in the author, 
 now of the poetical and now of the philosophic element. 
 I am not anxious to make a selection among these different 
 explanations. It is not perhaps necessary to do so, since 
 probably the diversified structure of the book is not due to 
 any one alone of the causes I have suggested. 
 
 The influence which the philosophic character of our 
 book had on its diction should certainly not be overlooked. 
 Though, in accordance with what has been said, we may 
 maintain that our author probably used, for the most part, 
 such Hebrew as was commonly employed in the schools in 
 his time ; yet this is not out of harmony with the suppo- 
 sition, that he strove earnestly to give the new philosophic 
 . ideas a fuller expression and embodiment, wresthng, as 
 Ewald has it {Die Sal. Schrift. 2nd ed. p. 270), with the 
 Hebrew language, in order that he might mould it into an 
 instrument fitted for his purpose. We may thus compare 
 om- author with Lucretius, in the difficulty which the great 
 Koman poet tells us that he experienced, — 
 
 " Propter egestatera linguas et rerum novitatem," 
 The twenty-fifth verse of the seventh chapter may be, I 
 think, cited as a specially pertinent example of what has 
 just been said. 
 
 § 14. The Integrity of the Text. 
 
 A word may here be said on the integrity of our present 
 text of Ecclesiastes. After giving a not inconsiderable 
 measure of attention to the book, I see no reason to doubt 
 that we have it, at least substantially, as it came from the 
 author's hands. It may be conceded that the superscrip- 
 tion i. 1 is possibly not genuine (§ 2), and perhaps a few 
 places, as x. 18 (n\"ib'J2?2) may be open to suspicion ; but 
 
76 
 
 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 I see no valid reason whatever for the unrestrained em- 
 ployment of critical conjecture, or for the supjjosition that 
 there are several lacunce in the text, as well as "disloca- 
 tions" which require to be rectified. The notion of an 
 exceedingly corrupt text may well be looked upon as an 
 endeavour to cut the knot, after failure in the attempt to 
 disentangle and untie it. 
 
 § 15. The Epilogue , 
 Particular objection has been made with respect to the 
 verses xii. 9—14, the so-called "epilogue"— a designation 
 to the entire fitness of which, however, I should certainly 
 demur, though, for the sake of convenience, I may be allowed 
 to employ it. But the view which has been already sug- 
 gested (§ 6) necessarily requires that the verses in question 
 should be regarded as an integral part of the book, and 
 not as a sort of appendix, without which the larger portion 
 of the book (i. 1 — xii. 8) would still be complete. If the 
 larger portion of the book possessed a distinctively negative 
 character ; if its intention was to set forth the vain and 
 unsatisfying nature of philosophical pursuits, as well as 
 the discrepant and contradictory conclusions which different 
 philosophers had drawn from the same facts, it may well 
 seem fitting, in order to the completeness of the book, that 
 some distinctly positive utterance should follow. It may 
 thus be with probability concluded that the epilogue is an 
 integral part of the book, and that it was intended to turn 
 away the reader's attention from philosophical speculation 
 concerning man and his condition to Authority and Faith ; 
 to the fear of God and to the observance of His com- 
 mandments, in the expectation that what seems abnormal 
 will yet be shown to be right, and that the justice of the 
 divine administration will hereafter be made clearly mani- 
 fest. With this view the words of the twelfth verse seem 
 entirely congruous : " And further, be admonished, my son, 
 by these : as to the making of many books there is no end, 
 
THE EPILOGUE. 77 
 
 and much close study is a wearying of the flesh." The 
 word rendered " be admonished," Tf')'"', might be translated, 
 " be warned " (comp. iv. 13 and Ezek. xxxiii. 4 — 6) ; and 
 it is thus quite suitably used, if the epilogue was written 
 with the intention which I have supposed. And the 
 reasonableness of this view may be still more apparent, if 
 we consider what it is against which the warning is directed 
 — the endless making of books and that close study which 
 is a wearying of the flesh (see § 4). It Would thus be im- 
 plied that no reading and study, however intent, no multi- 
 pKcation of books, however skilfully they might be com- 
 posed, would avail to solve the great problems arising 
 from the earthly condition and the moral nature of man. 
 
 We have next to notice the plural expressions D^P^r] '';^:p"q 
 "words of wise men" (ver. 11) and rr^np "by these" 
 (ver. 12), expressions which have been supposed to refer to 
 the several books making up the Hagiographa, and to be 
 in accordance with the opinion, that the epilogue was not 
 written by the author of Ecclesiastes with special reference 
 to the work which he was bringing to a conclusion, but that 
 it was composed by the collector of the Hagiographa, with 
 the view of making a suitable conclusion ta the collected 
 books, of which it is considered Ecclesiastes was the last. 
 But the idea of the epilogue being a general conclusion to 
 the collected Hagiographa seems a little out of harmony 
 with the special mention of Koheleth in ver. 9. And then, 
 as to the plm-al expressions referred to, it may be said that 
 they appear quite to agree with the interpretation of 
 Koheleth, as " she who is an assembly," which has been 
 already maintained. If the author of Ecclesiastes had 
 been giving the views of various philosophers with regard to 
 human life, he might quite naturally speak of the " words 
 of wise men," and say, " Be warned, my son, by these." 
 
 There is another expression in the eleventh verse, ''^?.? 
 nisps, which it may be well here to notice. This phrase 
 has been rendered, " masters of assemblies " and " members 
 
78 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of assemblies." Those, however, who so render the phrase 
 seem not sufficiently to have regarded the evidence as to 
 the meaning of n'lSD^^ furnished by the word ^'?P^, which 
 denotes, not assemblies of persons, but collections of things, 
 or stores, as may be seen by referring to the passages 
 1 Chr. xxvi. 15, 17 ; Neh. xii. 25. The phrase in question, 
 then, ri""ii:D|^ \?V^ may accordingly be taken to mean "men 
 of collections." But " collections " of what ? Taking the 
 context into account, it seems not difficult to reply to this 
 question, collections of the ivords of wise wen,, that is to say, 
 collections of proverbs and of such other utterances as 
 might be included under the comprehensive word ^'^ <^^' 
 Now, as we are told in ver. 9 that Koheleth " set in order " 
 or arranged meshalim, it would appear that Koheleth was 
 to be ranked among the " men of collections." This would 
 agree entirely with the conclusion as to the composite 
 character of Ecclesiastes already indicated. It may be 
 observed also that the tenth chapter of our book, espe- 
 cially, would be in accordance with such a view. This 
 chapter appears manifestly to consist of separate dicta, 
 having for the most part a proverbial cast. It may be 
 added that the fact that, on careful examination, a con- 
 necting thought may be found running through the whole, 
 is in accordance with Koheleth's setting in order or arrang- 
 ing meshalim. 
 
 Evidence in favour of the interpretation of haale asuppoth, 
 which has just been given, may be obtained also from the 
 words of Sir. xxxiii. 16, in which the Son of Sirach speaks 
 of himself as having " awaked up last of all, as one that 
 gleaneth after the grape-gatherers." The collectors of 
 meshalim are here metaphorically spoken of as " grape- 
 gatherers ;" and it would appear that several, probably 
 many, such had preceded the Son of Sirach. Taking into 
 account what has been said as to the respective dates of 
 Sirach and Ecclesiastes (§ 5), the words of Sirach just 
 quoted may be regarded as of some importance in relation 
 
RELATION OF ECCLESIASTES TO THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 79 
 
 both to the composition of Ecclesiastes and the meaning 
 of the words haale asuppoth. (See also note on xii. 11.) 
 
 We may, then, with probability affirm that the epilogue 
 is an integral part of the book ; that the author intended 
 to give therein a hint with regard to the structure of his 
 work, as containing the opinions and dicta of various 
 philosophers and sages ; to offer a warning against fruitless 
 speculation; and, especially, to set forth the great positive 
 conclusion towards which it was intended that the readers 
 of the book should be directed and urged, as by goads 
 given out by the one Shepherd. 
 
 § 16. The Relation of Ecclesiastes to the Book 
 OF Wisdom. 
 
 There is, between Ecclesiastes and the Book of Wisdom, 
 a noteworthy resemblance, of which it is desirable that 
 some account should be given. Though in neither the one 
 nor the other is the name of Solomon mentioned, yet in 
 both he is in some manner introduced as speaking. Did 
 the author of Wisdom designedly follow the example of 
 Ecclesiastes in connecting his book with the Hebrew 
 monarch ? If, with the view of answering this question, 
 we examine some of the contents of Wisdom, we may find 
 indications favourable to the conclusion that the author of 
 Wisdom had the teaching of Koheleth specially in view, 
 and that his clear enunciation of the doctrine of immortality 
 was directed against such Epicurean teaching as that of 
 Ecc. iii. 18 — 22. What is said of the souls of the righteous 
 being in the hand of God in Wisd. iii. 1, may perhaps recall 
 Ecc. ix. 1. So, in the reasonings of the ungodly in the 
 second chapter, we may fancy that there is an allusion to 
 Koheleth's ^5U when life is compared to the "tracks of a 
 cloud," or to a " mist " vanishing under the rays of the 
 sun (Wisd. ii. 4) ; and in the call to present enjoyment of 
 Wisd. ii. 6 — 9 there may well seem some satirical reflection 
 
80 TNTRODL'CTlON; 
 
 of Koheletli's repeated exhortation. Koheleth, hoTvever, 
 when he summons to enjoyment, never incites to "lying in 
 wait for the righteous " (Wisd. ii. 12), to " oppressing the 
 poor righteous man," and "sparing not the widow" 
 (Wisd. ii. 10). But these, it niay he supposed, are intro- 
 duced as consequences naturally resulting from the denial 
 of immortality. In like manner we may not unreasonably 
 think that there is some reference to Ecc. i. 11, ii. 16, 
 when we read, "And our name will in time be forgotten, 
 and none will remember our works" (Wisd. ii. 4). It is 
 observable that there is a nlarked contrast between Eccle- 
 siastes and Wisdom in the fact that the latter, in several 
 of its last chapters, deals at considerable length with the 
 theocratic history, or at least with the account of the rescue 
 from Egypt, and with matters relating thereto. The dis- 
 course of Solomon, also, in Wisd. vii. viii. stands in strong 
 contrast with what we find in Ecc. i. ii. In the former, 
 for example, it is said of wisdom that "tarrying with her 
 hath no bitterness, nor living with her a pang, but mii*th 
 and joy " (Wisd. viii. 16). In the latter we read that " in 
 much wisdom is much grief, and he who addeth to his 
 knowledge addeth to his pain" (Ecc. i. 18). It would 
 seem not unlikely that Ecclesiastes would be distasteful to 
 a mind of Platonising tendency, loving to clothe the stern 
 realities of the world with the ideal hues of its own subjec- 
 tivity. On this account the author of Wisdom may have 
 felt some antagonism to our book, even if he did not design 
 altogether to write a reply. Still, in introducing Solomon, 
 he very probably intended to put into his mouth what — 
 especially in relation to wisdom and immortality — he may 
 have conceived to be far worthier sentiments than those 
 attributed to Koheleth in Ecclesiastes.* 
 
 * The exact date of Wisdom is uncertain. The book was 
 written, not improbably, however, a century later than Eccle- 
 siastes. 
 
the reception of ecclesiastes into the canon. 81 
 
 § 17. The Reception of Ecolesiastes into the Canon. 
 
 If the view given above as to the design of our book and 
 its relation to Jewish history is correct, it may appear 
 probable that it received at an early date, and while its 
 intention was still well remembered and understood, a 
 place among the Hagiographa. Ecclesiastes may thus 
 have been included among "the rest of the books," even 
 when the prologue to Sirach was composed (comp. § 3). 
 As time, however, advanced, and the circumstances at- 
 tendant on the composition of the book were forgotten, or 
 only dimly remembered, it is not difficult to see how doubts 
 may have arisen as to the title of Ecclesiastes to a place 
 among the books of the Hagiographa. I should thus 
 account for those misgivings recorded in the Mishnah, as 
 to whether Koheleth does or does not " pollute the hands " 
 (Yadaim iii. 5). 
 
 A word must here be added as to the meaning of the 
 expression "pollute the hands." At first sight it may 
 Beem a strange and unsuitable expression to employ as 
 descriptive of sacred books, that they "pollute the hands," 
 The explanation is given, however {Yadaim iv. 5), that it 
 was out of regard for the sacred books that they were 
 looked upon as unclean. Greater care and caution are 
 exercised with respect to the unclean than with respect to 
 the clean. In this matter uncleanness is an indication of 
 regard, just as the bones of an ass, though despised and 
 contemptible, are clean, while the venerated bones of the 
 high priest are unclean. No one makes spoons out of the 
 bones of his loved and honoured relations. So, also, the 
 uncleanness of the sacred books is an indication of esteem 
 and love. Heretical books, which are not regarded with 
 affection, do not "pollute the hands " {Yadaim, I. c.).* 
 
 * Later discussions concerning the canouicity of Ecclesiastes 
 I do not think it necessary here to consider. 
 
82 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 § 18. The Division of the Book. 
 
 With respect to the division of the book it may be said 
 that, although the portion i. 2 to xii. 8 has, on the whole, 
 a negative character, in accordance with the words " all is 
 vanity," found alike at its commencement and at its close, 
 it may be naturally divided into two parts, i. 2 to vi. 12, 
 and vii. 1 to xii. 8. (1) i. 2— vi. 12 : this may be charac- 
 terised as pre-eminently the negative part, though the 
 positive element, as in the invitation to worldly enjoyment, 
 is not entirely wanting. On the whole, however, it speaks 
 of disappointment, failure, and dissatisfaction ; in accord- 
 ance with the words of vi. 7, 11, " All man's toil is for his 
 mouth, but yet the soul is not filled." " Seeing there are 
 things in abundance which increase vanity, what advantage 
 is it to man ? " (2) vii. 1— xii. 8 : in like manner this 
 may be called the positive part, since here the positive 
 teaching of Koheleth as to how philosophy may mitigate 
 the evils of life predominates over the negative element. Of 
 anything like a symmetrical and duly subordinated sub- 
 division of these two sections there is apparently no evidence. 
 Besides the two greater sections we have the superscription 
 i. 1, and the epilogue. The epilogue, like the philosophical 
 portion of the book, may be divided into two sections, (1) xii. 
 9—12, containing appended and explanatory matter ; (2) 
 xii. 13, 14, the general conclusion of the whole book. 
 We shall thus, if we assign an independent place to the 
 superscription i. 1, have a division into five parts (I.) i. 1 ; 
 (II.) i. 2— vi. 12 ; (III.) vii. 1— xii. 8 ; (IV.) xii. 9—12 '; 
 (V.) xii. 13, 14 ; or, if we subdivide the two greater sections, 
 (II.) and (III.), the whole book may be represented 
 thus : — 
 
 (I.) i- 1. . 
 (ID i. 2-vi. 12. 
 (1) i. 2-11. 
 
THE DIVISION OF THE BOOK. 83 
 
 (2) i. 12— ii. 2G. 
 
 (1) i. 12—15 ; (2) i. 16—18 ; (3) ii. 1, 2 ; (4) ii. 
 3—23 ; (5) ii. 24—26. 
 
 (3) iii. 1—11. 
 
 (l)iii. 1—8; (2)iii. 9— 11. 
 
 (4) iii. 12, 13. 
 
 (5) iii. 14—17. 
 
 (1) iii. 14, 15 ; (2) iii. 16, 17. 
 
 (6) iii. 18— iv. 16. 
 
 (1) iii. 18—22 ; (2) iv. 1—3 ; (3) iv. 4—6 ; iv. 7 
 —12; (5)iv. 13, 14; (6) iv. 15,16. 
 
 (7) V. 1-17. 
 
 (1) V. 1—7; (2) V. 8—12 ; (3) v. 13—17. 
 
 (8) V. 18-20. 
 
 (9) vi. 1—12. 
 
 (1) vi. 1—6 ; (2) vi. 7—12. 
 (III.) vii. 1— xii. 8. 
 
 (1) vii. 1—29. 
 
 (1) vii. 1 ; (2) vii. 2—10 ; (3) vii. 11, 12 ; (4) vii. 
 13—18 ; (5) vii. 19—22 ; (6) vii. 23—29. 
 
 (2) viii. 1. 
 
 (3) viii. 2—13. 
 
 (1) viii. 2—5 ; (2) viii. 6—8 ; (3) viii. 9, 10 ; (4) 
 viii. 11—18. 
 
 (4) viii. 14, 15. 
 
 (5) viii. 16, 17. 
 
 (6) ix. 1—10. 
 
 (1) ix. 1—6 ; (2) ix. 7—10. 
 
 (7) ix. 11—18. 
 
 (l)ix. 11, 12; (2)ix. 13—18. 
 
 (8) X. 1—20. 
 
 (9) xi. 1—6. 
 (10) xi. 7— xii. 8. 
 
 (1) xi. 7, 8 ; (2) xi. 9— xii. 8. 
 (IV.) xii. 9—12. 
 (V.) xii. 13, 14. 
 
 a 2 
 
II. 
 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 NEXT after the superscription (i. 1), which attributes 
 the authorship of what follows to " Koheleth, the 
 son of David, king in Jerusalem," we come to the noble 
 prologue (i. 2—11), in the first verse of which is sounded 
 the key-note of the philosophical portion of our book, and 
 especially of the first section of it, 1. 2 to vi. 12. The pro- 
 logue, in fact, may be, to some extent, compared to an 
 Overture which tile skilful musician has so arranged as to 
 give an anticipation of the composition which is to follow, 
 and also to prepare the mind of the hearer for listening to 
 its strains. " Vanity of vanities, said Kohelethj vanity of 
 Vanities, all is vanity " (i. 2). Man's incessant and restless 
 labour yields him no profit, no permanent and enduring 
 possession (i. 3). The earth, by her stern persistence, 
 mocks the fruitless strivings of the generations of men, as 
 they come and go in endless succession (i. 4). Human life 
 is like the course of the sun, the wind, and the rivers, which 
 appear to be always pursuing some object never to be 
 grasped, striving after a goal which they are destined never 
 to attain. The sun issues forth, day after day, from the 
 east, mounts up the vault of heaven until he has reached 
 the meridian, and then he descends at once towards the 
 western horizon. He never stops in his course at mid-day, 
 as though he had then attained the end for which he issued 
 forth with the dawn : he never sinks beneath the horizon 
 to enjoy repose. Even throughout the night he is still 
 
CHAPTER I- 
 
 85 
 
 hastening onward, that, at the appointed hour, he may 
 again reach his eastern starting-place (i. 5). The wind, 
 great though its changes may be, seems never to have 
 accomphshed the purpose for which it puts forth its power. 
 It never subsides into a state of lasting quiescence : it never 
 even finds a station which it can permanently occupy. It 
 ** veereth about continually," yet it ever " bloweth again, 
 according to its circuits " (i. 6). The streams flow onward 
 to the ocean ; but the time never comes when the sea, filled 
 to overflowing, refuses to receive their waters. The thirst 
 of the sea is never quenched ; the waters of the rivers are 
 lost ; and yet, with unavailing constancy, they still pour 
 their contributions into its bosom (i. 7). Nor does this fruit- 
 less activity pertain to the sun, the wind, and the rivers 
 alone. Nature all around is engaged in labour incessant, 
 but resultless; motion monotonous, though multiform; 
 change which tends to its own reproduction, but which pre- 
 sents such variety and compHcation, that, in contemplating 
 it, the powers of man fail ; human language, in the attempt 
 to describe it, is exhausted: "A man cannot tell it; the 
 eye is not satisfied in seeing it, and the ear is not filled from 
 hearing it " (i. 8). Sometimes, indeed, the unvarying suc- 
 cession may appear to be interrupted : it may seem that 
 the vast and complex machinery of Nature has yielded an 
 unexpected and novel product. Some one, ignorant of the 
 past, may say: " Behold this; it is new: " but " it hath been 
 long ago in the olden time which was before us " (i. 9 — 11). 
 But it may be said, although the forces of Nature gene- 
 rally can never attain the end of their activity, and enjoy 
 lasting repose, yet the case is different with Man, on 
 account of the high powers with which he is endowed ; 
 and it may be su2)posed possible that, by the use of these, 
 he may secure to himself real and substantial good, that 
 which shall still all longing and desire, and which shall 
 yield him full and perfect satisfaction throughout all the 
 days of his life. It may be granted, perhaps, that this has 
 
86 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 not yet been attained, but then those who sought for it may 
 not have possessed the appliances necessary to ensure suc- 
 cess ; or, even if they had these, they may have lacked the 
 skill required to use them aright ; or, again, they may have 
 been deficient in perseverance — in that energy which knows 
 no obstacle, in that resoluteness which brooks no defeat. 
 
 There was none in Hebrew history, we may well beheve, 
 who could be so fitly introduced to answer such reasoning 
 as the renowned monarch Solomon. If any on earth could 
 ever have attained perfect satisfaction, surely he might have 
 done BO, the glory of whose reign was so transcendent, 
 whose dominions were so ample, whose fame was so widely 
 extended, whose wealth was so abundant, whose voluptuous- 
 ness could be so fully gratified, whose wisdom was so pro- 
 found and yet so practical, whose enterprises were so 
 magnificent and so successful. 
 
 We may thus be enabled to see that there was good 
 reason for the prominence given in our book to the ex- 
 perience of the illustrious monarch : for " what can the 
 man do who cometh after the king ? " 
 
 It would appear probable that, in the portion of our book 
 from i. 12 to ii. 25, after some general statements with 
 respect to Koheleth's wide survey of' human life, we have 
 first, in i. 16 — 18, an account of his speculative study of the 
 world, and then, in the second chapter, of two practical ex- 
 periments. The investigation generally was in accordance 
 with the desire for knowledge which God has implanted in 
 man (i. 13). Of the general result it is said, that, having 
 seen all the works done under the sun, Koheleth found all 
 to be empty and vain : there were distortions and deficien- 
 cies, whose cure and remedy was beyond human art and 
 skill (i. 14, 15). Koheleth's investigations, as a student of 
 "wisdom and knowledge," and of heedless and senseless 
 folly, failed to yield him satisfaction. He found that "in 
 much wisdom is much grief ; and he who addeth to his 
 knowledge addeth to his pain" (i. 18). 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 87 
 
 We come now to Koheleth's first practical experiment 
 (ii. 1, 2), in which, laying aside the character of a student or 
 a sage, with fools he hecame a fool, joining in their jovial 
 revelry and boisterous mirth (ii. 1). But the laughter 
 of fools was as the crackling of the burning thorns. The 
 noisy blaze was but for a moment ; the gloom was deep and 
 enduring. Of their laughter he said : " Frenzied it is," 
 and of their mirth, " What good doth this do ? " (ii. 2). 
 
 But though riotous mirth had thus failed to yield Kohe- 
 leth that satisfaction of hi^ nature which he was seeking, 
 that " good for mankind, which they may do under the 
 heavens, throughout the number of the days of their life," 
 yet what unreasoning reveh-y could not give might perhaps 
 be obtained from more prudent enjoyment. The excite- 
 ment of wine and folly might be cautiously indulged in, the 
 " heart guiding wisely" (ii. 3). Under the conduct of the 
 judgment, pleasure of a higher kind might be conjoined 
 with sensual delights. Koheleth engaged accordingly in 
 executing great works, in the building of palaces, in the 
 planting of vineyards and orchards, and in the laying out 
 of parks and gardens. He acquired possessions, too, in 
 servants and maidens, oxen and sheep, silver and gold and 
 treasure. He obtained also singers, both male and female, 
 and "the voluptuous pleasures of mankind, a wife and a 
 harem " (ii. 4 — 8). 
 
 From the success which Koheleth achieved, and the 
 pleasure which he derived from his works, it might seem 
 that he had now attained the supreme good, and that 
 though this was beyond the reach of ordinary men, yet that 
 it might be possessed and enjoyed by one pre-eminent in 
 power, in wealth, and in wisdom. Koheleth's satisfaction 
 was not destined, however, to be enduring. After a while 
 his joy passed away, and all was found to be evanescent 
 and vain. Still, on a comparison -of wild, unrestrained 
 folly and its pleasures with ,wisdom and prudence, as exer- 
 cised in controlling and guiding enjoyment, he found that 
 
88 
 
 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 the latter has as great advantage over the former, " as 
 the light hath greater advantage than the darkness. As 
 for the wise man, his eyes are in his head, but the 
 fool walketh in darkness." There was one fate, however, 
 which awaited alike the wise man and the fool. Much 
 as Koheleth had accomplished, he still found himself con- 
 fined within bounds which he could not pass. He must 
 leave his possessions and the works in which he had 
 so much delighted, and die, even as the fool dieth; and 
 then he must be succeeded by another in whose power it 
 would be to mar or destroy the work in accomplishing 
 which he had displayed so much skill and wisdom. And 
 this no power of his could prevent ; for he must cease 
 for ever from exercising control over the fruits of his own 
 labour and toil. And when a man has succumbed to the 
 inexorable doom, what remains to him of the success he 
 may have achieved through toil, and pain, and sorrow; 
 by laborious days and sleepless nights ? All is vanity 
 (ii. 9—23). 
 
 Koheleth' s two experiments thus proved that full satis- 
 faction was to be obtained neither from riotous revelry nor 
 from the calm and prudent enjoyment of worldly things. 
 The supreme good was in neither case to be found with " the 
 man who eateth and drinketh, and causeth himself to find 
 enjoyment in respect of his toil " (ii. 24). In this result 
 Koheleth perceived " the hand of God," for if any could 
 thus have obtained full and perfect satisfaction, sm-ely it 
 was Koheleth, whose powers were so vigorous, and whose 
 appetite for pleasure was so keen (ii. 25). There was, in- 
 deed, a certain measure of enjoyment which, in accordance 
 with the Divine appointment, might be obtained from worldly 
 things ; but he who, by sedulously labouring, heaping up, 
 and accumulating, endeavours to pass beyond the limit thus 
 fixed, is a sinner, whose earnest striving will prove to be 
 but "vanity and a pursuit of the wind." Not perfect and 
 unending bliss, but moderate, limited, and partial enjoy- 
 
CHAPTER III. 89 
 
 ment, was allowed to man while awaiting his certain and 
 inevitable doom (ii. 24 — 26). 
 
 It may be seen that the Catalogue of the Times and 
 Seasons (iii. 1 — 8) follows in close connection with what 
 had been before said with respect to the limits appointed 
 for man. It is now affirmed that there are times and 
 seasons, fixed and determined, for all the affairs and pur- 
 suits of men. " For every thing there is an appointed 
 time, and a season for every matter under heaven ; a 
 season for giving birth and a season for dying ; a season 
 for planting and a season for rooting up what was planted ; 
 a season for slaying and a season for healing," and so on 
 (iii. 1—8). This catalogue appears to be given as an enu- 
 meration of the various particulars which make up human 
 life from its commencement to its close, or, so to speak, 
 as a kind of syllabus of human life. It is asked, in view 
 of this enumeration of changing and transitory seasons, 
 " What advantage hath he who worketh, in respect of 
 that whereat he toileth?" (iii. 9). Nevertheless the suc- 
 cessive generations of men still go on planting and rooting 
 up, slaying and healing, breaking down and building up. 
 How is this to be accounted for, if they gain thereby no 
 profit, no substantial and enduring advantage? We may 
 find an answer to this question in the verses which follow 
 (iii. 10, 11). It is God Himself who is ever leading them 
 on : they are accomplishing the travail which He has allotted 
 them. He has made all these occupations beautiful and 
 attractive in their respective seasons, and He has also " set 
 the world in their heart," so that they are moved by an 
 internal impulse to occupy themselves with its pursuits. 
 Thus, urged by their own appetites, jDassions, and incli- 
 nations, they perceive not the Divine hand, nor from the 
 beginning of life even to its end, do they " find out the 
 work which God hath wrought " (iii. 10, 11). From the 
 pursuits of life, Koheleth affirms, man could obtain no 
 good except such seasonable and transitory' enjoyment as 
 
90 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 was allowed by the " gift of God " (iii. 12, 13). This 
 accords with what had been already said (ii. 26). 
 
 Times and seasons had been spoken of in which the 
 natural propensities of men may be lawfully indulged ; and 
 in this respect the Divine appointments are unchangeably 
 fixed : "I perceived that, as to all that God doeth, it is to 
 be for ever : there is no making addition to it ; and there 
 is no taking away from it ; and God so arranged it, that 
 they may fear before Him," that is, may fear before Him, 
 seeing the inflexible decision of His character. The course 
 of things, in its invariable sequence, is like a revolving 
 circle, objects on whose periphery are seen again and again 
 in their former position : " Whatever hath been, it had 
 been long ago before, and what is to be already hath been, 
 and God will seek after what hath gone before ; " that is, 
 what in the rotation has passed by, or, more literally, 
 " what is pursued," objects on a revolving circle seeming to 
 pursue and chase one another ; and God will seek after the 
 past, in order to bring it back again in due season (iii. 14, 15). 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding the unvarying order of nature and 
 the fixedness of the Divine appointments, men nevertheless 
 are found disregarding the allotted times and seasons, and 
 acting in a manner which is altogether ill-timed and un- 
 seasonable : "I saw under the sun the place of judgment, 
 there was wickedness ; and the place of righteousness, there 
 was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the 
 righteous and the wicked ; for there is a season for every 
 matter, and for all the work there " (iii. 16, 17). 
 
 But, on the other hand, the fact that wickedness was to 
 be found where there should be judgment and righteousness, 
 and that God does not at once interfere to correct and re- 
 dress this state of things, might suggest the conclusion that 
 there are in reality no appointed times and seasons for 
 human actions ; that there is no pre-arranged order in the 
 world ; that virtue and vice, righteousness and iniquity, are 
 not to be distinguished by any divine appointment ; that 
 
CHAPTER IV. 91 
 
 the moral accountability of man is, in fact, a conceit and a 
 fiction. Thus it may be maintained that the condition of 
 men is like that of beasts, or, that men are themselves 
 beasts, and that the present state of things is intended " to 
 test them," and to let it be seen that they are but beasts. 
 *' The lot of mankind is also the lot of beasts ; " " as is the 
 death of the one, so is the death of the other." Who knows 
 that the spirit of a man goes upward, or that the spirit of 
 a beast goes downward ? No : a man has no pre-eminence 
 above a beast. Both are of the dust, and both turn to dust 
 again, and there is an end of them both. Let a man, there- 
 fore, enjoy the world while he is in it ; for this is his only 
 portion. " For who will bring him to look upon what will 
 be after him?" (iii. 18—22). 
 
 Throughout the fourth chapter, it may be observed, there 
 is no mention of the Deity. What is there said may not, 
 perhaps, contain so express a denial of the moral govern- 
 ment of the world as that found in the last verses of the 
 third chapter, but the tendency appears certainly to be 
 in the same direction : God troubles Himself not with 
 human affairs. The tear of the oppressed is unheeded ; 
 none interposes on their behalf ; none comes to console 
 them in then- affliction: "On the side of those oppress- 
 ing them there was might, but they had no comforter." 
 More fortunate than theirs, it is urged, is the condition of 
 the dead ; and better still that of him who has not as yet 
 been born, and has not seen the grievous work done under 
 the sun (iv. 1 — 3). Then, again, if a man jDrospers in the 
 world, as the result of his exertions, others, instead of re- 
 joicing at his prosperity, are stirred with envy ; and thus 
 an excuse is given to the fool who does not exert himself 
 at all, but, folding his hands, suffers penury and want. 
 " Better," he says, " is a handful with quiet than the two 
 hands full with toil and a pursuit of- the wind " (iv. 4 — 6). 
 Then follow (iv. 7 — 12) observations on individual isolation, 
 as well as on the advantage of union and co-operation. 
 
92 
 
 EXEGBTICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 This subject is probably introduced in order to show that 
 men are left to themselves. If they unite to accomplish 
 any purpose, they can then succeed ; but there is no Deity 
 who either helps the solitary individual or interferes with 
 his fate. The miser who has neither son nor brother, goes 
 on vainly amassing wealth, regardless of the question which 
 naturally suggests itself, " For whom am I toiling, and 
 depriving myself of enjoyment ? " If two are together, and 
 one of them falls down, the other can help his companion to 
 rise again, " but woe to the one who falleth, when there is 
 not a second to raise him up." If two lie together they 
 may derive warmth one from the other, " but astooue, how 
 can he be warm ? " So again, in the case of an assault, 
 though one may be overpowered, two can oppose an 
 effectual resistance, "and a threefold cord is not quickly 
 broken," — this being not improbably a proverbial expres- 
 sion, setting forth the advantage of close and intimate 
 union (iv. 8 — 12). The next verse speaks of "a king, 
 old and foolish, who hath no longer the sense to accept 
 admonition." At first sight there may seem to be here a 
 break in the continuity of thought, but a very little reflection 
 may suffice to show that a king who will accept from others 
 neither admonition nor warning is a signal example of iso- 
 lation. So also the leading idea appears clearly discernible 
 in the mention of " the prison house," the place of con- 
 strained separation from the world: "Out of the prison 
 house he went forth to reign," — words not, probably, to be 
 taken of any historical fact, but merely as vividly depicting 
 how the supposed old and foolish king cuts himself off from 
 the experience of others. Possibly, also, it may be implied 
 that, spurning admonition, the king acts like one who, 
 coming out of a prison, throws off all restraint in the joy of 
 his new liberty. The disastrous effect of such a king's mis- 
 government is shown in the poverty of his subjects. A per- 
 son young in years, and poor, if but wise and prudent, would 
 be a better ruler than the old self-willed king (iv. 13, 14). 
 
CHAPTER V, 93 
 
 It might be considered, however, that what had been said 
 was only of partial application ; 'and accordingly, in the last 
 two verses of the chapter, we have presented to us a more 
 comprehensive view extending to three generations : " I 
 have seen all the living that walk under the sun, with the 
 second child who is to stand in their stead." On this com- 
 prehensive view two observations are made. The first of 
 these is that " there is no end to all the people." This 
 observation concerning the limitless number of the people 
 is made, not imj)robably, in opposition to the idea that 
 man's condition is conformed to a divinely appointed plan. 
 Looked at in the aggregate, humanity presented to the view 
 no definiteness such as would suggest the idea of design. 
 The second observation is, with regard to the connection of 
 thought, particularly important : " As to all that was before 
 them, even those who come after rejoice not therein." 
 Previously the isolation of individuals had been spoken 
 of, but now a separateness in the interests of whole genera- 
 tions is asserted (iv. 15, 16). 
 
 If, however, there is a Deity presiding over the affairs of 
 men, might we not expect to find unity instead of disinte- 
 gration ? harmony instead of discord ? Would the indivi- 
 dual be left to fall unheeded and alone ? Would success 
 depend on union and co-operation ? Would the poor man 
 suffer from the reckless misgovernment of the self-willed 
 king ? Would the weak be oppressed, down-trodden, and 
 left without a comforter ? 
 
 " Take heed to thy steps when thou goest to the House of 
 God, for more acceptable is it to draw nigh to hear, than for 
 fools to offer a sacrifice, though they mean not to do evil. 
 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart hasten 
 to utter a word before God ; for God is in heaven and thou 
 upon earth ; therefore let thy words be few." He who 
 treats of Divine things, comes, a§ it were, into the very 
 Temple of God. Therefore, in speaking of the way in 
 which the world is ordered and governed, there should be 
 
9-4 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 caution, deliberation, reverence. The speech of a man who 
 talks at random concerning the Divine administration may 
 be compared with the unacceptable sacrifice of the fool, who 
 means not to do evil, although in his heedlessness he may 
 disregard the law (v. 1, 2). Besides, it is a serious matter 
 to speak before God : the vow once made could not be re- 
 tracted ; the word spoken before God was irrevocable : 
 " What thou vowest, pay. Better is it that thou shouldest 
 not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Allow 
 not thy mouth to make thy body sin." The discourse of a 
 man who says a great deal, and speaks hastily, is likely to 
 be wanting in consistency and coherence ; and it may thus 
 be compared to a dream, in which images are presented to 
 the mind without order, and the circumstances of which are 
 wholly deficient in congruity : " As a dream cometh with 
 much confusion, so cometh a fool's voice with a multitude 
 of words." " As in a multitude of dreams there are vani- 
 ties, so also is it with an abundance of words : but fear 
 thou God" (v. 3—7). 
 
 By insisting on the necessity of caution, deliberation, 
 and reverence, the way is prepared for observations in 
 defence of the Divine administration, and in reply to what 
 had been before said (comp. iv. 1 with v. 8.): "If thou 
 seest in a country the oppression of the poor and the per- 
 version of right and justice, wonder not at the matter ; for 
 One higher than the high observeth it, and there are powers 
 high above them " (v. 8). It is shown, further, that there is 
 a distribution of earthly good more nearly equal than may 
 at first sight appear. In some respects all men stand on 
 the same footing. The produce of one- field may supply the 
 wants of both the peasant and the prince: "As to the 
 produce gained from the land, it is shared among all ; the 
 king is dependent on the field " (v. 9). If some men have 
 greater wealth than others, their enjoyment of life is not 
 on this account necessarily enhanced. With the increase 
 of wealth cupidity and avarice become stronger and more 
 
CHAPTER V. yo 
 
 intense : " He who loveth silver is not satisfied with silver, 
 nor any one who setteth his affection on riches with his 
 income " (v. 10). " When wealth increaseth, they increase 
 who eat it ; and what profit hath the owner thereof, except 
 the beholding with his eyes ? " (v. 11). The poor labourer 
 who earns his bread by daily toil, and enjoys at night re- 
 freshing repose, may have an advantage over the man of 
 abounding wealth : " Sweet is the sleep of the labourer, 
 whether he eat little or much, but as to the satiety of the 
 rich man, it allowetli him not to fall asleep" (v. 12). 
 Moreover, it would have been well for some men never to 
 have become rich, since wealth may be " kept by its owner 
 to his injury " (v. 13). *' And that wealth perished in a 
 grievous business ; for he begat a son, and there was 
 nothing in his hand ; " — meaning probably that the son 
 was a spendthrift, a reckless prodigal ; and so the parent, 
 his wealth having been dissipated, is left to pass his 
 declining days in darkness and sorrow, affliction and anger 
 (v. 14—17). 
 
 So signal an example of evil consequences resulting from 
 the keeping and reservation of w^ealth, and of failure to 
 enjoy the pleasures of the passing hour, gives an oppor- 
 tunity for its being again asserted that it is fitting and 
 suitable for a man to derive present and seasonable gratifi- 
 cation from the earthly good which circumstances may offer. 
 And if it is given him to possess wealth, and to enjoy pros- 
 perity, he should allow his days to glide by in calm and 
 tranquil pleasure, feeling that his life is in harmony with 
 that of God Himself (v. 18—20). 
 
 It has been already shown that the possession of wealth 
 is accompanied by drawbacks and counterpoises which tend 
 to equalise the condition of men. If wealth does not yield 
 enjoyment and satisfaction, its possession may even be 
 looked upon as a calamity. This is exemplified in the case 
 of one to whom God gives wealth and honom*, which he is 
 not permitted to enjoy. Perhaps, on attaining the summit 
 
96 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 of his flmbition, he may he suddenly reduced to penury by 
 some sinister occurrence ; or perhaps, by the stroke of 
 death, he may be cut off childless, and a stranger may take 
 his possessions (vi. 1, 2). Nor is happiness the necessary 
 result of the possession of wealth, together with a numerous 
 family and protracted longevity, not even though a man 
 should beget a hundred children, and live two thousand 
 years. He who ever postpones to the future satisfaction 
 and fruition, may possibly be so intent on preparation for 
 future enjoyment as to neglect even to provide a sepulchre 
 which may perpetuate his name. And dying without having 
 reached the goal he proposed to attain, he departs in the 
 darkness, and his name is covered with darkness (vi. 3 — 6). 
 The intent pursuit of wealth, the eager, unremitted 
 Btriviiig after earthly things, fails to appease the cravings 
 of man's nature : he is left still unsatisfied and hungry : 
 " All man's toil is for his mouth, but yet the soul is not 
 filled " (vi. 7). There is, as was before asserted, a certain 
 limited measure of enjoyment possible for men, and, with 
 respect to this, they are to a great extent on a footing of 
 equality: "For what advantage hath the wise over the 
 fool ? what over the poor who knoweth how to walk before 
 the living?" (vi. 8). Better, it is true, than a continued 
 restless striving after future earthly good is this present 
 moderate enjoyment, "the sight of the eyes," but even this 
 is vain and empty (vi. 9). Man possesses now, as he always 
 has possessed, a feeble nature. This was indicated by the 
 name long ago given to him, Adam, of the earth, earthy 
 (comp. Gen. v. 2). His restless striving after the perfect 
 good must necessarily, therefore, be fruitless. So weak and 
 impotent a creature cannot possibly gain the victory over 
 the One mightier than he, who has determined that he shall 
 not find a perpetual unalloyed satisfaction in any earthly 
 pursuits or pleasures: "As to what hath been, his name 
 was given to him long ago, and it was known that he is 
 man (adam) : and he cannot contend with Him who is 
 
CHAPTER VII. 97 
 
 mightier than he " (vi. 10). He may indeed resist the 
 Divine appointments : he may in many ways, as we have 
 seen, add to the vanity of his earthly lot, but " what advan- 
 tage is it to man ? " (vi. 11). The question may then be 
 asked, Can nothing be found to assuage the cravings of 
 man's nature ? Is there no pursuit to which, without 
 " increasing vanity," he may apply himself throughout 
 " the days of his vain life?" "For who knowcth what is 
 good for man in life, during the number of the days of 
 his vain life, and that he may make them like the 
 shadow, since who can tell man what will be after him 
 under the sun?" (vi. 12). With this question the nega- 
 tive section of the philosophical part of our book ends ; with 
 the next chapter the answer to the question commences. 
 
 The positive section (vii. 1 to xii. 8) exhibits wisdom as of 
 surpassing value to man, but yet not as perfect and un- 
 alloyed good. This part of our book is, moreover, tentative, 
 grappling with problems which it does not profess to have 
 solved. At its close (xii. 8), as at the commencement of the 
 negative part (i. 2), is sounded that fuU, deep utterance, 
 " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." 
 
 At the outset the immaterial is preferred before the 
 material and sensuous, a good reputation before fragrant 
 oil or precious ointment: "Better is a good name than 
 fragrant ointment, and the day of death than the day of 
 one's birth " (vii. 1). It appears unlikely that there is 
 in the latter part of the verse any reference to a state 
 of future blessedness. More probably is it to be taken 
 in accordance with the ancient dictum that none was to 
 be accounted happy before his death, since throughout 
 life the future is uncertain. A good name which has 
 been gained may be injured or destroyed by a man's sub- 
 sequent acts, but, when life has been finished and sealed by 
 death, this is no longer possible. Moreover death may teach 
 lessons of especial value to the living ; may communicate 
 to them just views of life, and awaken a seriousness of 
 
98' EXEQETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 disposition indispensable to those who would be truly 
 wise. Those who desire this preparation of heart should 
 visit '* the house of mourning," and ponder its lessons 
 on the brevity of life and the solemn mystery of death. 
 The heart chastened and subdued may become calm and 
 tranquil, even if the countenance is saddened and pen- 
 sive (vii. 2 — 4). With the pursuit of true wisdom the 
 laughter and merriment of fools is incongruous : it is but 
 like the crackling of the burning thorns. Better is it ta 
 be reproached by a wise man than to listen to such mirth 
 (vii. 5, 6). Still, to hear the reproach even of the wise is- 
 to endure present pain, though this pain may be followed 
 by improvement in the character of him who bears the 
 reproach. We may thus trace a connection with the verse 
 which follows : "For the infliction of pain maketh a wise 
 man shine forth, but a gift corrupteth the heart " (vii. 7). 
 The view thus suggested appears entirely in accordance 
 with the next two verses : " Better is the end of a thing 
 than its beginning ; better is the man of patient spu'it than 
 the man of proud spirit. Be not in haste to stir up anger 
 in thy spirit, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools " 
 (vii. 8, 9). He who is involved in calamity and misfortune- 
 is not unlikely to look back with regret on days gone by and 
 on former times, and to ask, Why were they better ? Such 
 a question, Koheleth teaches, is not the dictate of wisdom 
 (vii. 10). Other possessions, indeed, may be lost, but, to 
 the wise man, one possession of surpassing excellence still 
 remains : " Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, and better 
 too to those who see the sun. For wisdom serveth as a 
 protection, and money serveth as a protection ; but know- 
 ledge hath an advantage : wisdom preserveth in life those- 
 who possess it " (vii. 11, 12). Moreover, to resist Omnipo- 
 tence is useless. It is the part of a wise man to conform 
 his conduct to the Divine appointments, and not to engage 
 in a struggle so fruitless and unavailing. Prosperity and 
 adversity are alike of Divine appointment, and each should 
 
CHAPTER VII. 99 
 
 be allowed to exercise its proper influence on the character ; 
 and this influence, if exercised at all, must be exercised 
 during life, since " man findeth nothing after him : " " Be- 
 hold the work of God, for who can straighten what he hath 
 made crooked ? In the day of prosperity enjoy thyself, but 
 in the day of adversity behold. God, indeed, hath set the 
 one in correspondence to the other, because man findeth 
 nothing after him" (vii. 13, 14). The apparent moral 
 anomalies of the world do, however, severely test the wise 
 man. He may see a good man cut off in the midst of an 
 honourable and useful course, possibly, in consequence of 
 his firm and uncompromising integrity, while to a notorious 
 sinner is allowed a long life ; nay, his very wickedness may 
 seem profitable and advantageous. He who observes such 
 facts may be tempted to conclude that God puts no differ- 
 ence between good and evil, and consequently he may 
 plunge into sin, and become "foohsh" and "over much 
 wicked ; " or, on the other hand, there is danger lest he 
 should assume to be " excessively wise " and "righteous 
 over much," sitting in judgment on the Holy One, and call- 
 ing in question the wisdom and justice of His doings : " I 
 saw all in the days of my vanity : there is a righteous man 
 perishing in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man 
 prolonging his life in his wickedness. Be not righteous 
 over much, neither assume thyself to be excessively wise : 
 why shouldest thou be struck with dismay. Be not wicked 
 over much, neither be thou foolish : why shouldest thou die 
 before thy time ? It is well that thou shouldest take hold 
 of the one admonition, and also from the other decline not 
 thy hand ; for he who feareth God will come forth from 
 them all." Such a one is neither over much wicked, nor 
 righteous over much : he comes forth from all the trials to 
 which the difficulties of God's moral government subject 
 him (vii. 15 — 18). But the wise man attains this victory, 
 not only because he is under the guidance of wisdom, but 
 because wisdom rules over him. To coerce the evil still 
 h2 
 
100 EXEGETICATi ANALYSIS. 
 
 existing in his nature, Wisdom has to dominate within him 
 with a power greater than that of ten rulers in a city 
 (vii. 19) : " For there is not a righteous man on the earth, 
 who doeth well and einneth not " (vii. 20). Absolute moral 
 perfection is not to be expected ; the taint of evil pervades 
 humanity: "Moreover, pay no attention to all the words 
 which people speak, so that thou hear not thy servant re- 
 viling thee. For thy heart knoweth that thou, even thou, 
 hast many times also reviled others" (vii. 21, 22). 
 
 The words of the following verse, "I said, I will be wise, 
 but it was too far off for me," &c. appear certainly to have 
 a close connection with what had been said just before. 
 The moral condition of mankind, and the moral govern- 
 ment of God, presented a problem w^hich baffled all at- 
 tempts at solution: "I said, I will be wise, but it was 
 too far off for me. That which w^as far off and exceed- 
 ing deep, who could find it ? " The inquiry in which Kohe- 
 leth now engaged was not to result in the same success as 
 he had before attained (vii. 23, 24). This investigation was 
 directed ajDparently towards two objects, — first, to the dis- 
 covery of the philosophy of man's moral condition — the 
 reason why it was what it was, or the plan of which it was 
 the embodiment — and secondly, to the acquiring a know 
 ledge of moral evil in its fuller development and manifesta 
 tion. With respect to the second branch of the investigation 
 Koheleth does not appear to have been altogether unsuccess 
 ful, but with regard to the first, in the main, he failed 
 though he found that man, at first made upright by God 
 had " sought out many inventions." It would appear that 
 the inquiry was conducted inductively, and that the plan 
 of man's moral condition was sought for by the successive 
 examination of individual characters or particular facts. 
 In the course of the inquiry Koheleth was led to conclusions 
 especially unfavourable to the moral character of woman : 
 " I proceeded, I and my heart, to know, and to explore, and 
 to seek out wisdom and a plan, and to know the depravity 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 101 
 
 of obduracy and folly, even madness. And I find a more 
 bitter thing than death, the woman who, as to her heart, is 
 nets and snares, whose hands are bonds : he who is pleasing 
 to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be caught 
 by her. See, this I found, said Koheleth, considering one 
 by one to find a plan, which my soul hath up to this time 
 Bought, but I have not found : one man out of a thousand I 
 found, but a woman in all these I found not. See, this only 
 I found, that God had made man upright, but they had 
 sought out many inventions " (\'ii. 25 — 29). 
 
 What had been said about Koheleth's inquiry and its 
 results, gave an opportunity for speaking of the deep joy 
 of the wise man, when he has solved a problem, or con- 
 ducted an investigation to a successful issue : " Who is 
 as the wise man? and who as he that knoweth the ex- 
 planation of a thing ? a man's wisdom causeth his face 
 to shine, and the fixedness of his countenance is changed " 
 (viii. 1). 
 
 In the seventh chapter Koheleth had treated of the wise 
 man with respect to Providence — to "the work of God" 
 in relation to the circumstances and conditions of man's 
 earthly lot. In the eighth chapter he advances beyond this, 
 and speaks of the wise man in relation to Law. In a very 
 effective manner, the concrete appears to be put for the 
 abstract. A king is brought before us, as though he were 
 Law personified or embodied. His power is derived from 
 God, the fountain of law. He is God's vicegerent, as is 
 shown by the fact that he can adjure men, putting them 
 imder the sanctions and penalties connected with such ad- 
 juration (comp. Lev. v. 1 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 24 ; Matt. xxvi. 63) ; 
 for this is probably what is implied in the mention of " the 
 oath of God : " "I say, Observe the king's commandment, 
 and that on account of the oath of God. Be not in haste 
 to go from before him : persist not in .an evil thing ; for he 
 doeth whatsoever he pleascth : because the king's word is 
 with authority, and who can say unto- him, What doest 
 
102 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 thou? He who observeth what is commanded hath ex- 
 perience of no evil thing, and the heart of the wise man 
 discerneth both season and law"(viii. 3 — 5). Men do, 
 however, very commonly disobey law. Disobedience . is 
 followed by suffering ; the conscience is disturbed, and the 
 soul is troubled by fears of future punishment : " Because 
 for every matter there is a season and a law, the misery of 
 man is great upon him. For he knoweth not what will 
 be; for how it will be, who can tell him?" (viii. 6, 7). 
 Especially do the fears of men converge towards that great 
 crisis of existence, death — that war from which there is 
 neither exemption nor discharge : " There is no man having 
 control over the wind, so as to hold in the wind, and there 
 is no control over the day of death ; and there is no dis- 
 charge in war ; and wickedness will not deliver those who 
 commit it " (viii. 8). Difficulty or uncertainty may attach 
 to some of the expressions in this verse and in those im- 
 mediately preceding, but still there appears to be no sufficient 
 reason for questioning that, the subject of law having been 
 introduced by what had been said about the king, we have 
 in these verses statements concerning the general operation 
 of law, especially in relation to man as a transgressor. We 
 then have brought before us another fact respecting law, 
 that it does not appear in this world in full and unsullied 
 majesty. Injustice and oppression sometimes occupy the 
 place of the holy, and sit on the seat of justice : " I saw all 
 this, and I gave my heart to all work which was done under 
 the sun, even in the season when man ruled over man to 
 his injury" (viii. 9). And this w^as looked upon, not as a 
 surprising and abnormal portent, but as a thing so little 
 strange and unusual that the wicked rulers passed away like 
 other men, and were buried like them ; and by and by " they 
 were forgotten in the city where they had so done " (viii. 10). 
 Another apparent imperfection in the operation of law i& 
 manifested in delay occurring before merited punishment is 
 inflicted. Transgressors in consequence become embold- 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 103 
 
 ened : " Because the sentence against the evil work is not 
 speedily executed, therefore the heart of mankind is fully 
 set in them to do evil " (viii. 11). Still, if Justice does not 
 at once poise her balance, it must not be inferred that she 
 will never make her award. The penalty may overtake the 
 transgressor not the less certainly, if it travel with slow and 
 halting step. The reward of the righteous may be not the 
 less sure, even if it be for a while delayed : " Although the 
 sinner doeth evil a hundred times, and yet prolongeth his 
 days, yet surely I know that it will be well with those who 
 fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with 
 the wicked man, neither will he lengthen out his days like 
 the shadow, because he feareth not before God " (viii. 12, 
 13). The comparison with the shadow would thus imply 
 that a wicked man's life will not be lengthened out as a 
 shadow is when sunset approaches. In fact, however, if 
 length of life or other manifest advantage is the due reward 
 of the wise and righteous man who obeys law, it does some- 
 times happen, not only that he never receives his due, but 
 even that he suffers from evils which should have been in- 
 flicted on the disobedient ; whik, on the other hand, the 
 wicked man passes a life as calm, tranquil, and prosperous 
 as if he had been doing " the work of the righteous " (viii. 
 14). But, if this is the fact, why should wisdom be so pain- 
 fully pm-sued ? Why should the house of mourning be 
 preferred to the banquet ? " And I commended enjoyment, 
 because there is nothing good for man under the sun, except 
 to eat, and to drink, and to enjoy, for this will accompany 
 him in his toil, during the days of his life, which God hath 
 given him under the sun " (viii. 15). 
 
 In the verses viii. 16 — ix. 2, an advance is made upon 
 the position, just before maintained, that to some righteous 
 men it happeneth according to the work of the wicked, and 
 that to some wicked men it happeneth according to the 
 work of the righteous ; a position which is consistent with 
 the conclusion that generally " the work of God " in 
 
104 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 punishing or rewarding man is seen in the apportionment 
 to them of earthly good or evil, and that thus is given, on 
 the whole, a manifest indication whether men have been 
 obedient or disobedient, righteous or wicked. But, in 
 oj)position to such a conclusion, it is affirmed in the passage 
 just cited that men cannot thus distinguish the work of 
 God, and that it is not possible to discern His love or His 
 hatred in the outward circumstances of men, or in " all that 
 is before them." " When I gave my heart to know wisdom, 
 and to see the busy work which was being carried on upon 
 the earth — for indeed neither by day nor night doth it see 
 sleep with its eyes — then I saw, as to all the work of 
 God, that man cannot find out the work which is done 
 under the sun, because that, though man should toil to 
 seek it, yet will he not find it out, and even if the wise 
 man should think to know it, he will not be able to find it 
 out. For I laid all this to heart, even to investigate all 
 this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are 
 in the _ hand of God, yet men discern neither love nor 
 hatred in all that is before them. All is alike to all : there 
 is one lot to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good 
 and to the pure, and to him that is defiled, and to him who 
 sacrificeth, and to him who sacrificeth not: as is the good 
 man, so is the sinner ; he who sweareth, as he who feareth 
 an oath" (viii. 16 — ix. 2). 
 
 The fact that the present condition and external circum- 
 stances of men do not correspond to their moral character 
 and actions, but that *' all is alike to all," affords a provo- 
 cative to reckless wickedness: — "Therefore, indeed, the 
 heart of mankind is full of evil, and madness is in their 
 heart during their life, and afterwards they go to the dead. 
 For in the case of one who is associated with all the living 
 there is confidence, for, even a living dog, he is better 
 than the dead lion " (ix. 3, 4). The teeming life which a 
 man sees around him, while he is associated with the living, 
 not unnaturally gives rise to a feeling of hope and confi- 
 
CHAPTER IX. 105 
 
 deuce. " Even a living dog, he is better than the dead 
 lion," was probably a proverbial expression, implying con- 
 tempt for the dead, and indicating also that life, while it 
 lasted, was to be prized and enjoyed. " For the living 
 know that they will die, but as for the dead they know not 
 anything, and they have no further recompense, for the 
 memory of them is forgotten. Their love, as well as their 
 hatred and their envy, hath long ago perished, and they 
 have no more for ever any part in anything that occurreth 
 under the sun" (ix. 5, 6). 
 
 Koheleth's reprehension of the moral administration of 
 the world seems now to have reached a climax, and, in 
 accordance with this, his exhortation to enjoyment and 
 activity while in the world, has a greater amplitude than 
 what had preceded: — "Go, eat thy bread with gladness, 
 and drink thy wine with a cheerful heart, for long ago 
 hath God approved thy works. At every season let thy 
 garments be white, and let there not be any lack of oint- 
 ment on thy head. Enjoy life with the woman whom thou 
 lovest, during all the days of thy vain life, which He hath 
 given thee under the sun" (ix. 7 — 9). The tenth verse 
 must be understood in a sense agreeing with the context. 
 As life was to be regarded as the time for enjoyment, so 
 also was it the time for activity. The prospect beyond 
 death was dark and gloomy. If, indeed, it was to be sup- 
 posed that existence would be at all continued, there would 
 be no longer in Sheol the exercise of thought, imagination, 
 or activity : — " All that thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
 thy might ; for there is neither work, nor plan, nor know- 
 ledge, nor wisdom in Sheol, whither thou art going " (ix. 
 10). It certainly appears most probable that Sheol does 
 not denote " the grave," but that gloomy subterranean 
 receptacle, the supposed dwelling-place of the inert and 
 feeble shades. (Comp. Isa. xiv. 9 — 18). 
 
 Nor is it moral excellences alone which fail to meet with 
 their due reward in the world. The case is similar with 
 
106 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 respect to physical and intellectual attainments and en- 
 dowments : — " Again I saw under the sun that neither to 
 the swift is the race, nor to the men of might the battle, 
 nor yet to wise men bread, nor yet to prudent men riches, 
 nor yet to men of discernment favour, but seasons and 
 accidents happen to them all. For man also knoweth not 
 his season : like fishes that are caught in an evil net, and 
 like birds that are caught in a snare, so they, mankind, are 
 snared by an evil season, when it falleth upon them sud- 
 denly " (ix. 11, 12). 
 
 That an external reward may not be gained by intellectual 
 excellence and skill, even when successfully and beneficially 
 exerted, is illustrated by the case of a little city which, 
 when it had few to defend it, and was besieged by a power- 
 ful monarch, was delivered by a poor wise man — who, how- 
 ever, even after he had been thus successful, was disregarded 
 and despised : — " I saw also this example of wisdom under 
 the sun, and it appeared great unto me : a little city, and 
 few men within it, and a great king came against it, and 
 surrounded it, and built great forts over against it. And 
 he found in it a poor wise man, and the latter delivered the 
 city by his wisdom, yet no man remembered that same 
 poor man. And I said. Wisdom is better than might, but 
 the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and as to his 
 words they are not heard " (ix. 13 — 16). This narrative 
 points to one of the causes why intellectual excellence may 
 fail of obtaining an external reward — the unwillingness not 
 uncommonly manifested among men, to recognise mental 
 power when dissociated from extrinsic and artificial ad- 
 vantages. Where these advantages are highly valued, it is 
 probable that there the " poor wise man " will suffer in- 
 justice, and that his wisdom will be neglected and despised. 
 The jihilosopher, if needy and obscm-e, may be regarded 
 with proud disdain by " fools " who pay servile homage to 
 the " great king," with his armies and his forts, or even 
 to the ignorant plebeian who dazzles their eyes with 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER X. 107 
 
 glittering wealth. Nevertheless, the men of thought are 
 true kings, even though they may lack the outward sem- 
 blance of royalty, and wisdom is a power in the world, such 
 as neither wealth nor artificial distinction can confer : 
 " The words of wise men in quietness are heard above the 
 outcry of one ruling over fools " (ix. 17). But, great as is 
 the power of wisdom, evil also possesses great power : one 
 poor wise man may defeat a great king ; but one sinner 
 can render valueless aud corrupt much of the good which 
 wisdom has attained: — "Wisdom is better than weapons 
 of war, but one sinner may destroy much that is good " 
 (ix. 18). 
 
 From the mischievous influence exerted by one sinner 
 the transition is easy to the evil effect which a little folly 
 may produce in the character of a wise man : " Dead flies 
 cause the perfumer's ointment to stink and putrefy, so doth 
 a little folly a man esteemed on account of wisdom and 
 honour " (x. 1). Care ought therefore to be exercised, in 
 order that a little folly may not corrupt and spoil a cha- 
 racter otherwise beautiful and symmetrical. He who 
 would acquire and retain a reputation for wisdom ought to 
 be eminently prudent. "We are thus brought to the general 
 subject of the tenth chapter, in which Koheleth, leaving 
 behind the great problem of man's moral condition, 
 descends to the level of common life, and insists on the 
 importance of practical wisdom, tact, prudence, caution. 
 The thread of thought running through the whole chapter 
 appears very clearly manifest. A wise man discerns the 
 course of circumstances without, and so he is enabled to 
 do the right thing at the proper time. His " heart is at 
 his right hand, but a fool's heart is at his left " (x. 2). The 
 fool has not the prudent self-restraint to conceal his folly, 
 but, even as he goes along, he makes his deficiency con- 
 spicuous : " He saith to all that he is a fool " (x. 3). By 
 prudence and submission the anger even of a ruler may 
 be appeased, and the consequences of his wrath averted : 
 
108 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 — " If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, quit not 
 thy place, for yielding letteth great ofiFences remain quiet " 
 (x. 4). The advantages of prudence and practical wisdom 
 may be shown by adducing examples of evil resulting from 
 the opposite qualities. Imprudence and the want of prac- 
 tical wisdom are conspicuous, when a ruler, passing by 
 men of superior ability or fitness, assigns prominent posi- 
 tions to persons who do not possess appropriate qualifica- 
 tions : — "There is an evil which I saw under the sun, it 
 appearing as an error which proceedeth from the ruler : 
 Folly is put in very exalted positions, while great men 
 remain in a lowly rank. I saw servants upon horses, and 
 princes walking as servants upon the earth " (x. 5 — 7). 
 Circumspectness, prudence, and practical wisdom are 
 necessary not only to the prince and courtier, but even to 
 him who labours in digging or hewing. If he is careless 
 in digging a pit, he may fall into it ; if he is incautious in 
 breaking down a fence, a serpent may bite him (x. 8). 
 And in a similar manner, " He who quarrieth stones may 
 be hurt by them : he who cleaveth trees may be endangered 
 by them. If the iron be blunt, and he sharpen not the 
 edge, then hath he to exert great strength, but the right 
 guidance of wisdom is an advantage " (x. 9, 10). Moreover, 
 what has been said about digging, cleaving trees, quarrying 
 stones, &c., may have been intended to intimate figuratively 
 that prudence and practical wisdom are required in inter- 
 course with men. At any rate, the lesson is set forth in 
 what follows. There are unduly loquacious people who 
 resemble serpents in the mischief which they inflict, and 
 who require to be treated with great tact and skill, if they 
 are to be rendered innocuous : — " If the serpent, without 
 charming, will bite, the babbler is no better " (x. 11). This 
 foolish loquacity, with its mischievous results, contrasts 
 strongly with the well-ordered and prudent speech of the 
 wise man : — " The words of a wise man's mouth are ac- 
 ceptable, but the lips of a fool swallow up himself. The 
 
CHAPTER X. 109 
 
 beginning of the words of his mouth is folly, and the end 
 of his talk is pernicious madness : man knoweth not what 
 it is that will he ; and what will be after him, who can tell 
 him?" (x. 12—14). The latter part of ver. 14, "Man 
 knoweth not," &c., may possibly be the words of the fool 
 arrogating to himself a knowledge of the future superior to 
 that of other men ; but far more probably they are intended 
 to convey the idea that, as a man's knowledge is limited, 
 his speech ought to be prudent and restrained. With re- 
 spect to the following verse (ver. 15), it may be observed 
 that "not to know how to go to a city" was probably a 
 proverbial expression, used to denote clownish ignorance 
 and deficiency of practical wisdom : " The toil of fools 
 wearieth each of them, because he knoweth not how to go 
 to a city " (x. 15). Especially disastrous are the conse- 
 quences likely to ensue when the government of a country 
 is in the hands of persons who are at once incompetent and 
 imprudent, and when its princes pass amid revelry and 
 feasting the time which ought to be devoted to the concerns 
 of the state : — " Woe to thee, land, whose king is a boy, 
 and whose princes eat in the morning. Hajopy art thou, 
 land, whose king is of noble descent, and whose princes 
 eat at the proper season, for strength, and not for carous- 
 ing " (x. 16, 17). The next two verses contain what were 
 probably prudential maxims or proverbs, the first relating 
 to the evil effects of indolence : — " By great slothfulness 
 the framework is decayed, and by slackness of hands the 
 house drippeth through" (x. 18). The following verse 
 appears designed to teach the value of money, and conse- 
 quently the importance of a prudent economy: — "They 
 prepare food for laughter, and wine maketh life joyful, but 
 money answereth for all things " (x. 19). Prudence, more- 
 over, should regulate not only actions and words, but even 
 the thoughts and purposes of the heart. Thoughts of evil 
 may, in an unguarded moment, or a time of seeming 
 security, give birth to words, and these it may be impos- 
 
110 EXEOETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 sible to recall : — " Even in thy thoughts revile not the 
 king, nor in thy bedchamher revile the great man ; for the 
 bird of heaven may carry the sound, and that which hath 
 wings may tell of the matter " (x. 20). With this verse 
 Koheleth's exhortations to prudence and caution reach a 
 climax. What immediately follows stands in antithesis 
 and contrast. 
 
 Care, circumspectness, and caution, thrift and economy, 
 may become excessive. And after all, so uncertain is the 
 future, and so feeble and short-sighted is man, that the 
 most careful j)recautions against future evil may be fruit- 
 less. The storm of adversity may suddenly and in a 
 moment dissipate the wealth accumulated during long years 
 of prudent saving and painful self-denial. It is the part, 
 therefore, of a wise man to act with liberality towards 
 those who need his help; for they in turn may be able to 
 befriend and succour him, if it should ever be his lot to 
 suffer from adverse fortune : — " Cast thy bread upon the 
 surface of the waters, for in the course of time thou wilt 
 find it. Give a portion to seven, and even to eight, for 
 thou knowest not in what way calamity will come upon the 
 earth " (xi. 1, 2). The sky is perhaps at present clear, 
 but soon it may become black with the clouds of adversity. 
 The winds may rush forth to struggle together for the 
 mastery ; and the bright sunshine may be succeeded by the 
 raging and pitiless storm. Then the most stately tree may 
 be laid prostrate by a sudden blast, never to regain its 
 former magnificence, but, where it falls, whether on the 
 south, or on the north, there to be (xi. 3). To perfect and 
 absolute security none can attain. The most anxious 
 watching of external circumstances may be fruitless. 
 Besides, a too careful solicitude about the future may 
 result in timorousness, disqualifying for the active duties of 
 life: — "A man watching the wind wall not sow, and one 
 looking at the clouds will not reap " (xi. 4). The dispen- 
 sations of Divine Providence are hidden as the way of the 
 
CHAPTER XI. Ill 
 
 wind, and mysterious as the growth of the embryo in the 
 womb (si. 5). " In the morning sow thy seed, and at 
 evening rest not thy hand, for thou knowest not which will 
 succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will be alike 
 good" (xi. 6). 
 
 And now Koheleth finds opportunity to begin his last ex- 
 hortation to present enjoyment, and, especially to appro- 
 priate and seasonable indulgence in pleasure during the 
 continuance of youth. Youth is the morning of life. The 
 rising sun then makes the world appear bright and beau- 
 tiful. " And the light is sweet, and pleasant it is to the 
 eyes to behold the sun " (xi. 7). But neither the morning 
 nor the day can always continue : the time of darkness is. 
 approaching. The day will soon be gone. While it lasts, aa 
 much enjoyment as possible should be secured : — " If men 
 live many years let them rejoice in them all, and let them 
 remember the days of darkness, for they will be many '^ 
 (xi. 8). It seems likely that, by the darkness spoken of, 
 and contrasted apparently to life, as a time of light, is 
 meant, not old age, but the darkness of Sheol, that "dark- 
 ness like the deep gloom of the shadow of death, and where 
 there is no order, and where the shining is like deep 
 gloom " (Job X. 22). So suitable is enjoyment to youth, that 
 he who then rejects pleasure must be looked upon as acting 
 unseasonably (comp. iii, 1 — 8, 16, 17), and violating the 
 course of nature, — conduct for which he may expect to be 
 brought into judgment. " Enjoy, young man, thy youth, 
 and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and 
 walk in the ways of thy heart, and according to the sight 
 of thine eyes, and know that concerning aU these things 
 God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sor- 
 row from thy heart, and put away afiliction from thy body, 
 for youth and dawning-time are vanity" (xi. 9, 10). 
 
 In considering the first verse of the twelfth chapter, we 
 should bear in mind the exhortation to enjoyment which 
 had preceded. The "remembering of the Creator in the 
 
112 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 days of youth," even if it implies a general regard for 
 the appointed times and seasons, will, in accordance with 
 the context, more especially point to youthful pleasure 
 and enjoyment as being in conformity with the very nature 
 of man as created by God. In the previous chapter (ver. 8), 
 enjoyment throughout the whole of life had been spoken of 
 in contrast to "the days of darkness," but now life itself is 
 distinguished into different seasons, and youth is followed 
 by days of evil, and days when pleasure has departed. 
 " And remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, 
 before the days of evil come, and years arrive when thou 
 wilt say, I have no pleasure in them" (xii. 1). In the 
 winter of age there may be no longer the clear and bright 
 sky; but the thick clouds returning constantly after the 
 rain, may hide the sun and the light by day, and the moon 
 and the stars by night (xii. 2). The natural decay and 
 dissolution of the body is described in beautiful, though, for 
 the most part, metaphorical language in the verses 3 — 7. 
 Probably the body is conceived of at first as though a noble 
 mansion or regal palace. The guard, the keepers of the 
 house, tremble. The men of might bow themselves, possibly 
 through fear, or on account of the lengthened period during 
 which they have remained on duty. The reference in these 
 expressions to the shaking arms and bending knees of old 
 age, may be admitted as probable without much difficulty. 
 And it seems scarcely necessary to comment on the signifi- 
 cance of "the grinding women" becoming few, and ceasing 
 from their labours, and of " the women looking out at the 
 lattice-windows" being darkened (xii. 3). The reference 
 to the failure of the teeth and to the impaired power of 
 vision is not to be mistaken. The fourth verse presents 
 greater difficulty: "And the two-leaved door is shut in the 
 street, when the sound of the mill faileth, and it becometh 
 the voice of a bird; and all the daughters of song are 
 brought low" (xii. 1). "The door being shut," may well 
 refer to the approach of the chin to the nose, and to the 
 
CHAPTER XII. 113 
 
 mouth falling in through the loss of the teeth. " The 
 sound of the mill," it would appear, must he understood 
 of the voice, i^robably because the tongue, teeth, and other 
 parts of the mouth, which are used in grinding the food or 
 in eating, are set in motion also in speaking. "Becoming 
 the voice of a bird," would thus indicate that change in 
 the voice which Shakespeare has described in the well- 
 known quotation: — 
 
 " His big manly voice. 
 Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 
 And whistles in his sound." 
 
 The failure of the song -voice would then be denoted by 
 the words, "the daughters of song are brought low." In 
 the following verse we have no longer a description of the 
 body as a house. At first (ver. 5) it would seem that aged 
 persons are spoken of without metaphor, but afterwards 
 new and remarkable figures are introduced. "Also they 
 are afraid of what is high, and terrors are in the way, and 
 the almond tree blossometh, and the locust is a burden to 
 itself, and the caper-berry splitteth open, for man goeth to 
 his everlasting home, and the mom-ners go about in the 
 street (xii. 5). The first part of the verse probably repre- 
 sents the timidity characteristic of old age, and the diffi- 
 culty, through feebleness, of making any ascent, or of 
 encountering any obstacle which may be met with in the 
 road. The almond-tree, covered in winter by a profusion of 
 pale-hued blossoms, would be a not inappropriate sj^mbol 
 of the hoary head of age. The locust seemingly bent and 
 bowed down by its own weight, may well represent great 
 decrepitude ; while the caper-plant, with its fruit» no longer 
 erect, but directed downward to the earth, to which at last it 
 yields up its seeds, would point to the final act of dissolution. 
 The symbols employed would thus be placed in appropriate 
 gradation. And with this view the conclusion of the verse 
 is in accordance, if we take it to denote the funeral pro- 
 cession, with attendant mourners, conveying the corpse to 
 I 
 
114 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS, 
 
 the grave, " the everlasting home." In the next verse 
 Koheleth goes back a little to the period before dissolution, 
 reverting probably to the conception of a house and its 
 appointments : — "Before the cord of silver is detached, and 
 the golden bowl broken, and a water-jar shattered at the 
 spring, and the wheel broken at the cistern " (xii. 6). 
 Underlying the first part of the verse is probably the idea 
 of the house being left in darkness through the failm*e of 
 its lamp; and, in the second part, that of the supply of 
 w^ater to the house being interrupted. Whether or not 
 Koheleth has in view, at first the spinal cord, and the skull 
 containing the brain, and then the circulatory ax)paratus, 
 when he speaks of the fountain and cistern, the language 
 points at any rate to the cessation of the bodily functions 
 in death, when, according to the next verse, "the dust 
 returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth 
 unto God who gave it" (xii. 7). That there is in this 
 verse any indication of the continued immortality of 
 the individual human soul, certainly appears altogether 
 improbable. Eather would it seem to denote the re-absorp- 
 tion of the soul into God, as the dust of the body mingles 
 again with the earth. And it is this conception of the 
 entirely transient nature of human existence which seems 
 required by what follows : — " Vanity of vanities, said 
 Koheleth, all is vanity" (xii. 8). By this utterance the 
 whole of the book from i. 2 is, as it were, enclosed and 
 shut in. This utterance, it should be observed, does not 
 stand at the end of the book ; a fact probably of important 
 significance. We now, therefore, pass out of the circle 
 enclosed with the words, " Yanity of vanities ; all is 
 vanity." 
 
 With the ninth verse commences the ejnlogtte, xii. 9 — 14, 
 though it is not to be imjilied by the use of this designation 
 that this last portion of the book is an appendage of com- 
 paratively little importance. Probably, however, we are to 
 regard the words of Koheleth as ending with the last clause 
 
CHAPTER XII. 115 
 
 of the eighth verse, "all is vanity." At any rate, Koheleth 
 is now spoken of, and even in the thirteenth verse the 
 formula "said Koheleth" is not used. This is especially 
 noteworthy. In what follows the words "all is vanity" of 
 ver. 8, it seems likely that the author designed to give to 
 the careful and thoughtful reader some clue to the meaning 
 and structure of his book : — "And moreover since Koheleth 
 was wise, he still further taught the people knowledge ; 
 and he paid attention and investigated : he set in order 
 many proverbs. Koheleth sought to find pertinent words, 
 and what was written was right, words of truth. The 
 words of wise men are like goads, and those of the editors 
 of collections like nails driven in ; they were given by one 
 Shepherd" (xii. 9 — 11). In what is said about "teaching 
 the people knowledge," and " setting in order many pro- 
 verbs," there is probably an allusion to the Book of 
 Proverbs, and to its generally popular character ; but when 
 we consider the special prominence which would be given 
 to the Book of Proverbs by what follows, if the reference 
 were solely to it, we may well feel that more than this was 
 intended, and especially that the author cannot have meant 
 to exclude the book just coming to an end. The truth 
 would appear to be, that while, in accordance with his 
 fiction concerning Solomon, he has, to some extent, in 
 view both the Book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, it is to 
 the latter he mainly refers. We may infer, then, that our 
 book was to be regarded as a collection of " the words of 
 wise men," and as such, that it was "right;" that its 
 words were " pertinent words," and "words of truth." Its 
 words, moreover, were to be like "nails di'iven in," and 
 like "goads" given forth by "one Shepherd." But for 
 what purpose are the goads to be employed ? Whither 
 does the Shepherd urge his flock ? Is it meant that they 
 are to be driven to a secure fold and to new pastures ? 
 
 " And, further, be admonished, my SQn, by these : as to the 
 making of many books there is no end ; and much close study 
 i2 
 
116 EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS. 
 
 is a wearying of the flesh" (xii. 12). To understand how 
 the philosophical part of our book was to "admonish," or 
 "warn," we must not forget that it contains discrepant and 
 contradictory passages ; that even its positive teaching does 
 not appear wholly satisfactory, but is included within the 
 all-encircling " vanity of vanities ; all is vanity." Koheleth 
 had sought for the supreme good in worldly things, and his 
 temporary success had passed into despair, in the prospect 
 of the inevitable fate which awaited him. He had seen the 
 seasons fixed in the constitution of nature disregarded with 
 apparent impunity. He had witnessed oppression and 
 suffering without redress or consolation. The place of the 
 holy was occupied by the wicked. Integrity and prudence 
 could not secure the wise man against evil. The righteous 
 and the unrighteous were seen faring alike. God's love and 
 hatred could be distinguished by no external manifesta» 
 tions. The attempt to solve the great problem of man's 
 moral condition was hopeless even for the wisest. Now if 
 we take all this into account it may not be difficult to un- 
 derstand how what had been set forth in our book was 
 intended to " admonish " or "warn" the reader against 
 devoting-Jiis days and nights to fruitless and unavailing 
 study; and against "making books without end," on the 
 attractive but impracticable problem of God and humanity. 
 So far the lesson taught is negative, warning the reader 
 against fruitless speculation. The concluding verses con- 
 tain the positive lesson, showing that the design of the 
 book was to lead the reader from philosophy to authority 
 and faith. "The conclusion of the discourse, the univer- 
 sal law, let us hear. Fear God, and keep His command- 
 ments ; for this is the universal law for man. For God 
 will bring all the work into judgment, concerning every- 
 thing hidden, whether it be good, or whether it be evil " 
 (xii. 13, 14.) "Fear God, and keep His commandments," 
 was the universal law for which the way had been prepared 
 by the preceding discussion. Philosophy, confessing her 
 
CHAPTER XII. 117 
 
 weakness and incompetence, retires in humble submission 
 to Faith. 
 
 The last verse (xii. 14) probably involves the doctrine of 
 immortality, though it seems not unlikely that its true im- 
 port is different from that commonly assigned to it. We 
 may take it as stating that God will bring into judgment 
 " all the work," with special reference to that work which 
 now even the wisest cannot find out (viii. 17), but which 
 is dark and mysterious, like the way of the wind and 
 the growth of the embryo (xi. 5) ; that He will bring to 
 light what is hidden and anomalous — will vindicate His 
 conduct, 
 
 "And justify the ways of God to men." 
 
III. 
 TEANSLATION^ 
 
 WITH NOTES. 
 
 I. 
 
 1 rflHE words of Koheleth, the Bon of David, king in 
 
 i Jerusalem. 
 
 2 Vanity of vanities, said Koheleth, vanity of vanities, all 
 
 3 is vanity. What profit is there to man in respect of all 
 
 4 his toil which he toileth under the sun ? One generation 
 is always going, and another generation coming, but the 
 
 5 earth abideth for ever. And the sun ariseth, and the 
 sun setteth, and then is hastening to his place where he 
 
 6 ariseth. Going southward and veering about northward, 
 the wind veereth about continually, and then bloweth 
 
 1. On this verse see Introd. § 2. Koheleth: — Introd. § 10. 
 
 2. Said, — probably to be preferred to " saith," so that Koheleth 
 and his experience may be placed in the past. Comp. ver. 12. 
 
 5. Hastening to his place, &c. — Kightly regarded by the Clialdee 
 interpreter as speaking of the sun's nocturnal joiu-ney, though 
 we have not here the sun conveyed in a boat by the stream of 
 Oceanus, as in the Greek poets. The conception of the sun's 
 nightly voyage appears also to have existed iu ancient Eg^^it. 
 
 6. Going southward, &c. — I prefer to connect these words with 
 what follows rather than with the previous verse. Bloweth again : 
 — more lit. "returueth." 
 
CHAPTER I. 119 
 
 agaiu, according to its circuits. All the streams flow to 7 
 the sea, hut, as for the sea, it is not full : to the place 
 whither the streams flow, thitherward they repeat their 
 flow. All language is wearied out : a man cannot tell it ; 8 
 the eye is not satisfied in seeing it ; and the ear is not 
 filled from hearing it. What hath been, that it is which 9 
 will be ; and what hath been done, that it is which will be 
 done ; and there is nothing new under the sun. Let there 10 
 be a thing as to which one saith, Behold this ; it is new : 
 it hath been long ago in the olden time which was before 
 us. There is no memorial of those who went before ; and 11 
 even of those coming after, who are to be, there will be no 
 memorial of them with those who -^ill bo afterwards. 
 
 I Koheleth was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And 12, 13 
 
 7. All the streams. — The reference is probably not so much to 
 perennial rivers as to streams intermitting with the summer's 
 heat, such as were generally the streams of Palestine. Sept. 
 XeifJiapfioi. Thitherward. — 0^27 must not be regarded as eq^uiva- 
 lent to nW72. 
 
 8. All lamjuage. — A. V. " All things," but this rendering of 
 C^nmn ^3 seems here less suitable. The ear is not filled. — 
 Obviously not because the ear can hear more, but on the con- 
 trary, because all of nature's multiform toil cannot be heard, 
 since it cannot be fully told ; and therefore the sense of satis- 
 faction is not felt, the hearing never being fully accomplished. 
 
 9. What hath been done: — or, perhaps, " What hath occm-red," 
 in accordance with the use of the Niph. of T1W3 in Eabbinical 
 Hebrew. Comp. ver. 14 ; ii. 17 ; iv, 1, 3. 
 
 10. Which ims before us. — The smgular H'^n is probably used 
 on account of bygone ages or cycles (D'^X3727) being con- 
 ceived of together as one whole, perhaps because of their being 
 supposed, according to the Stoics, exactly to resemble each other. 
 Comp. as to the sing, verb, i. IG ; ii. 7 ; x. 1. On ver. 9 — 11 
 see lutrod. § 4. 
 
 12. Beivrf done. — See note on ver. 9, 
 
 13. / ffave vnj heart, &c. — Comp. Sir. xxxix. 4. Emphvjmcnt : 
 — "|"'3y. This word appears to denote bustling, or at least busy, 
 
120 TRANSLATIOX, WIITI NOTES. 
 
 I gave my heart to investigating and making search with 
 wisdom concerning all which was done under heaven : this 
 grievous employment God hath given to mankind to busy 
 
 14 themselves therewith. I saw all the works which were 
 done under the sun ; and lo, all was vanity and pursuit of 
 
 15 the wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened ; and 
 
 16 what is wanting cannot be supplied. I spake with my 
 heart, saying, Lo, I have acquired greatness, and have 
 accumulated wisdom, above any one who before me was 
 over Jerusalem; for my heart had become abundantly 
 
 employment (Sept. irepicncaa^or). lu the Mishuah the word 
 occurs in a weaker sense, denoting "subject," "matter," &c., 
 e.g. Cholin X. 1, r^^^ -I'fflWti? na " What is said m this case." 
 The word v'QS', which we had in ver. 3, makes more conspicuous 
 the grievousness or oppressiveness of labour, hke our word 
 " toil." 
 
 14. Works wJiich tvere done. — See note on ver. 9. ntL75?a is 
 fi-equently used in the Mishnah with the sense "occurrence," 
 " affair," &c. See e.g., Baba Bathra, x. 8, ^3Qb W3 rm;ra 
 ^S17X3ti;'' ''m «' the matter came before E. Ishmael;" Berakoth ii. 5, 
 7S'^ ,a:j pi:^ nwVD " an instance occm-red in the case of E. 
 Gamaliel." Vanity and jmrsait of the wind : — TVn mi;~)"1 bun. 
 Possibly, consistency may seem to requne that we should render, 
 either by " vanity and fruitless endeavour," or, by " vapom* and 
 pursuit of the wind," rather than transmute the metaphor iu 
 the case of one expression only. But neither of these modes of 
 rendering seems always suitable. 
 
 15. StippJicd. — From the sense of "dividing" and "appor- 
 tioning," n3X3 would seem to have come to denote " arranging," 
 "reducing to order" what is abnormal or nrcgular, and so 
 "rectifying" or " supplying " deficiencies. 
 
 16. Any onewho before me icas over Jerusalem. — ''327 HTt "ItfS bD 
 '"'31. Perhaps, however, we might more hterally render ^' All 
 which before me was over Jerusalem." Kohelcth's predecessors 
 would thus be conceived of together as making up one whole, 
 and not individually. This would seem quite in accordance 
 with our author's style and mode of thought. Comp. i. 10. 
 
CHAPTER II. 121 
 
 acquaiiitecT with wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my 17 
 heart to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly : 
 I perceived that even this very thing was a pursuit of the 
 wind : For in much wisdom is much grief ; and he who 18 
 addeth to his knowledge addeth to his pain. II. 
 
 I said in my heart, Come now, I will test thee with mirth, 1 
 and acquaint thyself with enjoyment ; and, lo, that also 
 was vanity. Of laughter I said. Frenzied it is ; and of 2 
 rairth, What good doth this do? I revolved it in my 3 
 heart to draw out with wine the powers of my body, and, 
 my heart guiding wisely, also to seize upon folly, until I 
 should discover where is this good for mankind, which they 
 may do under the heavens throughout the number of the 
 days of their life. I engaged in great works ; I built for 4 
 myself houses, I planted for myself vineyards. I prepared 5 
 for myself gardens and parks ; and I planted in them all 
 kinds of fruit trees. I made for myself pools of water, to 6 
 water therefrom the plantations of growing trees. I ac- 7 
 quired slaves both male and female, and I had slaves who 
 were born to me in the house ; I had also possessions in 
 herds and flocks more abundant than those of any who 
 were before me in Jerusalem. I gathered together for 8 
 
 17. Madness. — See Introd. § 4. 
 
 II. 3. To draw out. — So that, under the stimulus of wme, 
 pleasure might bo as intense as possible. The poicers of my body. 
 — Perhaps as literal a rendering of "'"ili'2 ns as is practicable. 
 This yood. — The great object which both Stoicism and Epicu- 
 reanism sought to attain. 
 
 7. The singular verb H'^n in "'b r]^71 n>n ''in may be 
 accounted for on the ground of the ^"1"^^ "'321 being conceived of 
 collectively as property. There is here, it seems likely, an in- 
 dication of Greek influence. Comp. for example, lira) iaTiy 
 avT)f)uiroZa TZEVTifKovTaT] ttXeIcj (Plato, TtejndiUc, ix. 578, E.). 
 
 8. Provinces. — Sec 1 Kings iv. 7 — 10, though the translation 
 " countries " is perhaps not inadmissible. Notwithstanding tliat 
 niD'^TS only has the article, it would appear that this word, as well 
 
122 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 myself also silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and 
 of the provinces ; I procured for myself singers male and 
 female, and the voluptuous pleasm-es of mankind, a wife 
 9 and a harem. And I became great, and I accumulated, 
 more than any one who had been before me in Jerusalem : 
 
 10 also my wisdom continued with me. And nothing that 
 my eyes desired did I keep from them ; I debarred my 
 heart from no enjoyment : for my heart was gladdened by 
 all my toil ; and this was my portion out of all my toil. 
 
 11 And I turned to look on all my works which my hands had 
 wrought, and on the toil which I had toiled to accomplish ; 
 and, lo, all was vanity and a pursuit of the wind, and there 
 
 12 was nothing to yield advantage under the sun. And I 
 turned to contemplate wisdom, and madness, and folly : for 
 what can the man do who cometh after the king ? w4iat 
 
 13 hath been already done. And I saw that wisdom hath as 
 
 as D^^sba is to be taken as genitive after rb^D : comp. vii. 25, 
 mbriDm bos VW), a wife and a harem. — That appears to be 
 the true explanation which regards nitt? as identical with the 
 Mishnic HT'Ii?, taken to denote a soft moveable seat or convey- 
 ance, 2)il<-'>itiim, though this would certainly not seem to be the 
 only meaning of nTtt? in the Mishnah (e.g. Kelirnxxii. 8). Taking 
 the word as signifying " a couch," or npilentum, it seems quite in 
 accordance with the genius of the Semitic languages to suppose 
 that it is used by Koheleth metaphorically and euphemistically 
 of a wife, with reference merely to sexual gratification. This 
 explanation of mitCT HIW seems to suit well the rii:i357n pre- 
 ceding. As to Bibhcal Hebrew, the metaphor by which a wife 
 is spoken of as a garment should be compared. (See Mai. ii. IG.) 
 The use of Xe'xoc by the Greek poets in a similar sense is pro- 
 bably to be accounted for in a different manner. See Sophocles, 
 Antij. 573, 1225, 1303. 
 
 9. Any one who had been before me. — See note on i. IG. 
 
 11. 'Turned: — scil. from mere enjoyment. 
 
 12. What can the man do ? &c. — Apparently a current proverb. 
 This is probably the cause of the elliptical construction in the 
 Hebrew. 
 
CHAPTEU II. 123 
 
 great advantage over folly, as the light hath greater advan- 
 tage than the darkness. As for the wise man, his eyes are 14 
 in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness : yet I, even 
 I, perceived that one fate bcfalleth them all. And I said 15 
 in my heart, As the fate of the fool will be the fate which 
 will befall me, even me ; and why then have I excelled in 
 wisdom ? and I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 
 For there is no memorial in perpetuity of the wise man 16 
 more than of the fool, because that, in the times that are 
 coming, all will long ago have been forgotten : and how, 
 alas, dieth the wise man like the fool ! And I hated life, 17 
 for grievous unto me was the work which was done under 
 the sun : for all was vanity and a pursuit of the wind. 
 And I hated all my toil at which I was toiling under the 18 
 sun, because I should resign it to the man who shall be 
 after me. And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man 19 
 or a fool ? yet will he be master over all my toil whereat I 
 have toiled, and which I have wrought wisely under the 
 sun : this also was vanity. So I proceeded to give my 20 
 heart up to despair concerning all the toil whereat I had 
 toiled under the sun. For if there be a man whose toil 21 
 hath been wise, and skilful, and prosperous, yet to a man 
 who hath not toiled at it, will he have to give it, to be his 
 property : this also is vanity and a great evil. For what is 22 
 there to man in respect of all his toil, and the striving of 
 his heart, wherewith he toiletli under the sun ? For all 23 
 his days are passed in pains and in harassing occupation : 
 even in the night his heart resteth not : as for this also, it 
 is vanity. Good is not with the man who eateth and 24 
 
 17. Work, &c.— Notes on i. 9, 14. 
 
 24. Good is not with the man icho eateth and drinJceth, &c. — 
 These words, it appears to me most probable, contaiu a general 
 couclusion refcrriug back to ver. 3. The experiment did not 
 result in the finding of the " good for mankind which they may 
 do under the sun throughout the number .of the days of their 
 life." Our passage, thus regarded, does not assert that " it is 
 
124 TBANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 drinketh, and causeth himself to find enjoyment in respect 
 of his toil : this also I saw that it was from the hand of 
 
 25 God ; For who eatcth ? or who hath so good an appetite as 
 
 26 I have ? For to a man who is pleasing to him, hath he 
 given wisdom, and knowledge, and gladness ; but to the 
 sinner hath he given the task of gathering and amassing, 
 to give to him who is pleasing to God : this also is vanity 
 
 III. and a pm-suit of the wind. 
 
 1 For everything there is an appointed time, and a season 
 
 2 for every matter under heaven ; A season for giving birth 
 and a season for dying ; a season for planting and a season 
 
 not good for men to eat and to di-mk," &c., but it only denies 
 that therein could be found the supreme good, the sununum homnn. 
 No striving or toil could transform worldly things into such a 
 perfect good, for it had been otherwise arranged by "the hand of 
 God." It may be added, that the words of the next verse, "For 
 who eateth ?" &e., are enthely consistent with this view. Kohe- 
 leth's powers were such that if any could have thus obtained this 
 perfect good, surely it was he. If, however, altering the text, 
 we read v2S'^JL"'tD, and translate " There is nothmg better for a 
 man than that he shoidd eat," &c., ver, 25 seems not so easy 
 of explanation. The difficulty which may present itself on a 
 comparison of this verse with what is said elsewhere, is probably 
 to be met by the supposition that we have here a conception of 
 "good" allied to that of the Stoics, the perfect good according 
 to the nature of a reasonable being as such (Diog. Laert. vh. 94), 
 but that in other passages we have the Epicm*ean "good," or 
 an approximation thereto. Comp. Introd. § 8. 
 
 26. Hath he given. — Notice the pret. 10?, the divine appoint- 
 ment being unalterably fixed, 
 
 III. 2. A season for giving birth, — It may perhaps seem, at first 
 sight, that we ought to have had as antithesis to a season for 
 dying " a season for bemg born." But the expression in the 
 text probably has reference to the duration of pregnancy being 
 fixed and determined by Nature. Similarly, a season for dying 
 would imply that the duration of human life is limited by Nature. 
 Comp. Job xiv. C, 6. 
 
CHAPTER III. 125 
 
 for rooting up what was planted ; A season for slaying and 3 
 a season for healing ; a season for breaking down and a 
 season for building; A season for weeping and a season for 4 
 laughing ; a season for wailing and a season for dancing ; 
 A season for casting away stones and a season for collect- 5 
 iug stones ; a season for embracing and a season for 
 keeping far from close embrace ; A season for seeking and 6 
 a season for letting go ; a season for keeping and a season 
 for casting away ; A season for rending and a season for 7 
 sewing ; a season for keeping silence and a season for , 
 speaking ; A season for loving and a season for hating ; 8 
 a season for war and a season for peace. What advantage 9 
 hath he who worketh in respect of that whereat he toileth ? 
 I have seen the task which God hath given to mankind to 10 
 busy themselves with. He hath made all beautiful in its 11 
 
 4. Dancimi, or " skipping joyfully." 
 
 5. For keeping far from close embrace. — Probably to be under- 
 stood de re venerea. Comp. the use of P^H ui Prov. v. 20. The 
 season spoken of is to be looked upon as determined by the 
 appointments of Nature. Comp. Lev. xv. 24. 
 
 6. Letting go. — This sense, or "giving up as lost" seems re- 
 quhed by the antithesis. Gesenius (Thes.) gives the sense "j^'o 
 umisso liahuit, verloren geben." 
 
 11. Beautiful, — nD"*. There is ^probably no sufficient reason 
 for translatmg the word here by " suitable," though this trans- 
 lation appears certainly to be requhed in v. 18. In the Mishnah, 
 the word is found with significations diverging very widely from the 
 origmal sense. Thus, in Zahim ii. 2, we have HD"' 'J*'n V") ^''n 
 " whether evil or good;" and in iii. 1, with reference to the case 
 of a man having an issue and another ceremonially pure getting 
 up together mto '* a strong tree," HD'' ]b''S2. Comp. also 
 Makshirin v. 10 ; Mikvaoth x. 6 ; Nazir vii. 4, mos n2"' 
 * ' thou hast spoken very well ; " ZebacJdm viii. 2, Dnntt? PTDTf ""m 
 "the price of the best beast among them ;" Shebiith, i. 1 ; Teru- 
 moth ii. 4, 6; Keritliuth vi. C, tlT n-)tt?17 HD^ "worth ten 
 zuzim," et al. The sense of the word in Ecc. v. 18 shows an 
 approach to the Mishnic diction. 
 
126 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 season : also he hath set the world in their heart, so that, 
 
 from the beginning even to the end, man findeth not out 
 
 32 the work which God hath wrought. I perceived that there 
 
 is no good in them except to enjoy and to prosper in one's 
 
 13 life ; And also, as to all men who eat and drink, and 
 experience enjoyment in all their toil, that it is a gift of 
 
 14 God. I perceived that, as to all that God doeth, it is to 
 be for ever : there is no making addition to it ; and there 
 is no taking away from it ; and God so arranged it, that 
 
 15. they may fear before him. Whatever hath been, it had 
 been long ago before, and what is to be, already hath 
 been, and God will seek after what hath gone before. 
 
 16 And further I saw under the sun the place of judgment, 
 there was wickedness ; and the place of righteousness, 
 
 17 there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judgo 
 
 12. In them. — Meaning probably in the various pursuits, &c. 
 specified in ver. 2 — 8. These are taken as making up the 
 cu'cle of life, that world corresponding to which is man's heart. 
 To prosper. — '^l^ mti^rb "to be occupied with good." The 
 idea of "doing good" in a moral sense appears improbable. The 
 phrase is probably a Grsecism = el irparreiy. 
 
 15. Hath (/one before. — More literally, "is followed after," or 
 "is pursued." Ovid's Metamorpjhoses, lib. xv. 179 sq. may be 
 compared : — 
 
 " Ipsa quoque assiduo labuntur tempora motu 
 Non secus ac flumen. Neque enim consistere flumen, 
 Nee levis bora potest : sed ut unda impellitur unda, 
 Urgeturque prior veniente, urgetqiie priorem, 
 Tempora sic fugiunt pariter, pariterque sequuutiu', 
 Et nova sunt semper." 
 
 Probably, however, the conception underlying the expressions 
 employed by Kolieleth is that of a revolving circle or wheel, and 
 not that of a stream, accordmg to the conception of Heraclitus. 
 See Introd. § 4. 
 
 17. All the work: — sell, of man. There: — m the appomted course 
 of things, but referrmg back to ver. 1 — 8, as shown by the use 
 
CHAPTER IV. 127 
 
 the righteous and the wicked ; for there is a season for every 
 matter, and for all the work there. I said in my heart, 18 
 with respect to mankind, God meaneth to test them, and to 
 see that they are heasts, even they themselves ; For the 19 
 lot of mankind is also the lot of beasts ; and there is one 
 lot to them : as is the death of the one, so is the death of 
 the other ; and there is one spirit to them all, and pre- 
 eminence of man over the beasts there is none : for they 
 are all vanity : All are going to one place : all were from 20 
 the dust : and all are retm-ning to the dust. Who knoweth 21 
 as to the spirit of mankind whether it goeth up on high, 
 or as to the spirit of the beasts whether it goeth down 
 beneath to the earth ? And I saw that there is nothing 22 
 better than that man should be glad in his works, for that 
 is his portion ; for who will bring him to look upon what 
 will be after him ? IV. 
 
 And, again, I saw all the acts of oppression which were 1 
 being wrought under the sun ; and lo, there was the tear 
 of the oppressed, and they had no comforter ; and on the 
 side of those oppressing them there was might ; but they 
 had no comforter. And I pronounced the dead who had 2 
 already died more fortunate than the living who were still 
 alive, And more blessed than both him who had not yet 3 
 
 again of V-^^ ^^^ ^"1^ as in ver. 1. This tends to confirm the 
 view taken of 03 in ver. 12. 
 
 19. The lot of. — Notice, however, the pointing in the Hebrew. 
 
 21. Whether it goeth vp, &c. — Taking the n in nbm and 
 riTT^n as the interrogative. It appears, however, not impossible 
 to consider the n as the article, if, in accordance with the 
 primary signification of 271^, we take ^Tl"* ''S m the sense 
 " Wlio discerneth ? " The verse may then be translated " Wlio 
 discerneth the sphit of mankind, that which goeth up on high, 
 or the spu'it of the beasts, that which goeth down bencatli to the 
 earth ? " With " that which goeth i;p," and " that which goeth 
 down," we should have to understand " as they say." The 
 general sense would thus be the same. 
 
128 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 existed, who had not seen the grievous work which was 
 
 4 wrought under the sun. And I observed, as to all the 
 toilsome yet prosperous undertakings, that hence ariseth 
 one man's being envied by another ; this also is vanity and 
 
 5 a pursuit of the wind. The fool foldeth his hands, and 
 
 6 eateth his own flesh : Better is a handful, with quiet, 
 than the two hands full, with toil and a pursuit of the 
 wind. 
 
 7, 8 And again, I saw vanity under the sun. There is one, 
 but there is not a second ; moreover he hath neither son nor 
 brother ; and there is no end to. all his toil ; also his eye is 
 not satisfied with riches ; yet for whom am I toiling and 
 depriving myself of enjoyment ? this also is vanity, and it 
 9 is a grievous business. Two are better than one, because 
 
 10 they have a good reward in respect of their toil. For if 
 they fall, the one will raise up his companion ; but woe to 
 the one who falleth when there is not a second to raise him 
 
 11 up. Also, if two lie down, then they are warm ; but as to 
 
 IV. 5. Eateth Ms oivn flesh : — becomes emaciated. 
 
 6, The words a handful and the two hands full scarcely express 
 adequately the difference between ^^ sbD and □"'3Dn sb?3, the 
 first of which expressions would properly denote the palm or 
 hollow of the hand filled, and the latter, as much as could be 
 grasped by the palm and fingers, each of the two hands being 
 thus made into a ball (comp. Fuerst, Lex. s. v. 1?^). It would be 
 allowable, I may add, in pomt of grammar (see e.rj. Jud, vi. 38), 
 to translate, " Better is a handfid of quiet than the two hands 
 full of toil," &c., but such metaphorical language would be ex- 
 cessively stramed. It is probably better to take rim &c., as 
 adverbial accusatives with the sense I have given. 
 
 8. His eye, — according to the Keri ; but the Kethib, which gives 
 the plural, is probably correct. Compare x. 12, and note. 
 
 9. T(t)o .-—literally " the two" (D^2i:;n). go also "the one" 
 (insn)^ the article making more prominent the idea of mere 
 number, the contrast between one as such and more than one 
 as such. 
 
CHAPTKTl V. 
 
 129 
 
 one, how can ho be warm ? And if one overpowereth a man, 12 
 two will withstand the attack; and a threefold cord is not 
 quickly broken. Better is a youth, poor but intelligent, 13 
 than a king old and foolish, who hath no longer the sense 
 to accept admonition : For out of the prison-house he went 14 
 forth to reign ; for also in his reign poverty ariseth. I have 15 
 seen all the living that walk under the sun, with the second 
 child who is to stand in their stead. There is no end to 16 
 all the people : as to all that was before them, even those 
 who come after rejoice not therein ; so that this also is 
 vanity and a pursuit of the wind. V^ 
 
 Take heed to thy steps when thou goest to the House of 1 
 God ; for more acceptable is it to draw nigh to hear, than 
 
 12. It appears to me that ^nsn must be taken as the subject 
 of the verb preceding; that the suffix in "^-i70'! must be regarded 
 as an indefinite pronoun, "a man," " any one," while that in 
 y^r'?. is taken as referring back to "insn. The use of the suffix 
 with the weakened force of an indefinite pronoun need not occa- 
 sion much difficulty in view of some other passages in om- book. 
 
 13. Better : — meaning, probably, better suited to govern. In 
 the Mishnah it is laid down (Horaioth iii. 8) chat even a bastard, 
 if wise and taught in Jewish learning, takes precedence of a 
 plebeian high priest, that is, a high priest unskilled in the learning 
 of the schools {V^i^n uv bn3 ]n::). 
 
 14. The second for, as it appears, looks back to ver. 13, 
 "Better is a youth," &c. The reckless misgovcrmnent of the 
 old and foolish king tends to the poverty of his subjects. FovcHy 
 ariseth : — or, more literally, " the poor is born," tt^"i wia. Hci-e 
 again we may recognise an approach to the Mishnic diction. 
 Illustrative passages may be found in Xedarim ix. 2, where "ib"l3 
 is used of that which ariseth afterwards ; Temurah iii. 5, ^W 
 072 Cnb mblD'.:; "^D bl^ " although they may have contracted a 
 blemish ; " more literally, " although a blemish may have arisen 
 iu them," Terumoth viii. 8. 
 
 15. Meaning apparently that, in the time of the second gene- 
 ration, the population becomes entu-ely changed. 
 
 y. 1. To draw niijh to hear, etc. — Said probably with latent 
 
 K 
 
130 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 for fools to offer a sacrifice, though they mean not to do 
 
 2 evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart 
 hasten to utter a word before God ; for God is in heaven and 
 
 3 thou upon earth ; therefore let thy words be few. For, as 
 a dream cometh with much confusion, so cometh a fool's 
 
 4 voice with a multitude of words. When thou vowest a vow 
 unto God, delay not to pay it ; for he hath no pleasure in 
 
 5 fools : what thou vowest, pay. Better is it that thou should- 
 est not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 
 
 6 Allow not thy mouth to make thy body sin ; and say not 
 before the minister, that it was an error : why should God 
 be angry concerning thy voice, and destroy the work of 
 
 7 thy hands ? For as in a multitude of dreams there are 
 vanities, so also is it with an abundance of words ; but 
 fear thou God. 
 
 8 If thou seest in a country the oppression of the poor and 
 
 reference to 1 Sam. xv. 22. Mean not to do evil, — by thoughtlessly 
 Bacrificing. 
 
 3. With much confusion. — ^^^ ^"^^ : intended probably to 
 represent the multiplicity of images and confused action of a 
 troubled dream. This sense of T^^ would easily connect itself 
 with that of " busy employment." See note on i. 13. 
 
 6. Minister. — Priest or other attendant concerned with the 
 matter in question. Dr. Graetz considers that we ought not to 
 think of a priest as represented by "TS7X2 : " sondern an eineu 
 einfaclien Boten dor von dem Tempelamt beordert wurde, die 
 Gelobuisse einzuforderu. Der "'^^'^^ oder Tempelbote batte das 
 Eecbt bei Versaumnissen von Geliibden zu pfanden." The word 
 "an, " treasurer," occurs in Ezra i. 8. As to its use as the 
 designation of a religious functionary see Mishnali, Feah i. 6; 
 ii. 8, et (d. An error. — A discharge from vows in error ("^"113 
 m^^tt?) ill certain cases was allowed. See Mishnali, Nedarim 
 iii. 1 sq. ; ix. 10. Comp. also Terumoth, iii. 8. 
 
 8. A country. — As this verse seems certainly to look back to 
 iv. 1, where " all the acts of oppression wrought under the sun " 
 are spoken of, " a coimtry" is probably to be preferred to "a 
 province," as A. V. renders. In the Mishnah (e.g. Maasar 
 
CHAPTER V. 131 
 
 the perversion of right and justice, wonder not at the 
 matter ; for One higher than the high observeth it, and 
 there are powers high above them. And as to the produce 9 
 gained from the land, it is shared among all ; the king is 
 dependent on the field. He who loveth silver is not satis- 10 
 fied with silver, nor any one who setteth his affection on 
 riches, with his income : this also is vanity. When wealth 11 
 increaseth, they increase who eat it ; and what profit hath 
 the owner thereof, except the beholding with his eyes ? 
 Sweet is the sleep of the labourer, whether he eat little or 12 
 much ; but as to the satiety of the rich man, it alloweth him 
 not to fall asleep. There is a distressing evil I have seen 13 
 under the sun, wealth kept by its owner to his injury. And 14 
 that wealth perished in a grievous business ; for he begat a 
 son, and there was nothing in his hand. As he came forth 15 
 from his mother's womb naked, so shall he go back again, 
 as he came ; and he shall take nothing in respect of his 
 toil, which he can carry with him in his hand. And this 16 
 also is a distressing evil, that, altogether as he came, so he 
 should go : and what advantage is it to him that he should 
 toil for the wind ? Also all his days he eateth in darkness, 17 
 
 Sheui iii. 4) n3''l!3 is used of the country as distinguished from 
 Jerusalem. Shuilarly we distinguish between the mctrojwUs and 
 the "provinces.'' 
 
 9. Dependent on the field : — or, if we translate with the A. V., 
 " served by the field," the general sense of the passage will be 
 the same, 
 
 17. All his days. — That is, as I take it, all his days after his 
 son had squandered the father's property. Eateth : — liveth, life 
 being represented by one of the principal actions connected 
 therewith. Such a mode of speakmg seems to be in harmony 
 with the philosox:)liical style of our author. Compare also the 
 prommence given to "eating" in ver. 19; ii. 25; vi. 2. In 
 darkness: — expressive perhaps of the obscurity of the condition to 
 which he is reduced. Endureth affliction, — If we take ^^Tl as 
 equivalent to ""^ "^^n, then it would seem that the suffix must 
 be supplied with ^^p. 
 
 k2 
 
132 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 and suffereth much vexation, and enduroth affliction, and 
 
 18 anger. Lo, that is what I have seen good, what I have 
 seen suitable, to eat, and to drink, and to exj^erience enjoy- 
 ment in respect of all one's toil which he toileth under the 
 sun, during the number of the days of his life, which God 
 
 19 hath given him, for that is his portion. Also as to every 
 man to whom God hath given wealth and treasures, and 
 hath given to him power to eat therefrom, and to receive 
 his portion, and to rejoice in respect of his toil : as to this, 
 
 20 it is the gift of God. So that he remembereth not much the 
 days of his life, for God maketh answer with the joy of his 
 
 VI. heart. 
 
 1 There is an evil which I saw under the sun ; and a heavy 
 
 2 affliction was it unto men ; A man to whom God giveth 
 wealth, and treasures, and honour, and he lacketh for him- 
 self nothing of all which he desireth, yet God empowereth 
 him not to eat therefrom, but a stranger eateth it : as for 
 
 3 this, it is vanity and a grievous affliction. If a man should 
 beget a hundred, and live many years, so that the days of 
 his years should be in abundance ; yet if his soul be not 
 satisfied with good, and if also he hath not possessed a 
 
 18. Lo, that is ivhat I have seen. — This affords an illustration 
 showing that the enjoyment of good is not to be postponed, and 
 referring back, as it would appear, to iii. 12, 13. Suitable. — On 
 HD"' see note on iii. 11. 
 
 20. He remembereth not, &c. :—i.e. he to whom so happy a lot 
 has fallen, and whose days glide by m cahu enjoyment, with 
 little to distinguish one from another. See Introd. § 4. For 
 God maketh answer xvith. — The second "^^ is probably to be thus 
 explained : *' His days pass by so tranquilly, for he has attained 
 consummate happiness, a felicity answering to the Divine." 
 
 VI. 2. To eat therefrom ■ — to enjoy what he possesses. 
 
 8. Not satisfied with good : — on account, possibly, of inordmate 
 cupidity. Possessed a sepulchre. — In his lifetime, which sepulchre, 
 after his death, might prevent his name from being " covered 
 with darkness." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 133 
 
 sepulchre, I said that an abortion is better than he ; For 4 
 he came in vanity, and he goeth away in darkness ; and his 
 name will be covered with darkness. Moreover he hath not 5 
 seen the sun, nor known rest, even he more than the other. 
 Even if one hath lived a thousand years twice over, but hath 6 
 not experienced good ; do not all go to one place ? 
 
 All man's toil is for his mouth, but yet the soul is not 7 
 filled. For what advantage hath the wise over the fool ? 8 
 what over even the poor who knoweth how to walk before 
 the living ? Better is the sight of the eyes than the con- 9 
 tinned movement of the soul : this also is vanity and a 
 pursuit of the wind. As to what hath been, his name was 10 
 given to him long ago, and it was known that he is man ; 
 and he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he. 
 Since there are things in abundance which increase vanity, 11 
 what advantage is it to man ? For who knoweth what is 12 
 good for man in life, during the number of the days of his 
 
 4:. In vmiitij. — Naked and empty-handed. Coinp. v. 15. I do 
 not see how 72371 can be made the subject in this and the 
 following verse. Probably, however, the language used is 
 designed to refer to both the abortion and the person whose case 
 is supposed, or at least this person is spoken of in language 
 borrowed, for the most part, from the case of the abortion. 
 
 5. He hath not seen the sun. — Perhaps there may be implied 
 here, and in the comparison with the abortion, a philosophical 
 contempt for the mere x/Jr/juartoTj/c and the man inordinately 
 occupied with worldly and material acquisition. 
 
 9. This also is vanity. — To be referred, probably, to " the sight 
 of the eyes." 
 
 10. He is man. — CIS Slil with reference probably to the 
 narrative in Gen. ii., meaning that man's name, adam, appro- 
 priately expresses his feeble nature, since he was moulded in 
 dust or earth [aphar min haadamah). Cannot contend. — Takmg 
 into account what has just been said, it would seem probable 
 that in T"'"' there is an allusion to Gen. vi. 3. The "itrn Sin 
 in the latter passage should also be taken mto account. 
 
134 TEANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 vain life, and that ho may make them Hke the Bhaclow, since 
 ''II. who can tell man what will be after him under the smi ? 
 
 1 Better is a good name than fragrant ointment, and the 
 
 2 day of death than the day of one's birth. Better is it to go 
 to the house of mourning than to go to the banqueting 
 house ; for the former is the end of all men, and the living 
 
 3 will lay it to his heart. Better is sorrow than laughter ; 
 for, with a gloomy countenance, the heart becometh better. 
 
 4 The heart of wise men is in the house of mourning, but the 
 
 5 heart of fools is in the house of mirth. Better is it to hear 
 the rebuke of a wise man, than for a man to hear the song 
 
 6 of fools. For as the noise of the thorns under the pot, so is 
 
 7 the laughter of the fool : this also is vanity. For the in- 
 
 12. Make them like the shadow. — Attain great longevity, his 
 days being lengthened out, as a shadow is by the setting sun. 
 Comp. viii. 13. 
 
 VII. 1. A good name. — It is worthy of observation, however, 
 that the Stoics, accordmg to Diog. Laert. vii. 102, placed a good 
 reputation (eioo^m) among thmgs indifferent {ovUrepa), that is, 
 things neither good nor evil, though of such things some were 
 to be preferred to others. The influence of Stoicism on the 
 teaching of this seventh chapter is conspicuous. (Introd. § 12). 
 Of one's birth : — ''i"'??'?. The suffix has here again (comp. note 
 on iv. 12) the weakened force of an indefinite pronoim. 
 
 2. Banqueting house. — One might perhaps question as to 
 whether " house " or " place " is the better rendering of ri*':i in 
 this verse and in ver. 4. Probably, however, it is best to under- 
 stand the beth mishteh of the house where a maniage feast is 
 celebrated. 
 
 7. The sixth verse is to be regarded, I think, as parenthetical, 
 and the ''^ of ver. 7 as connected with ver. 5. The article in 
 ptZ727n may then be looked upon as referring back to the 
 D3n rn373. The Poel verb bbirr^ appears to have the mean- 
 ing of " making manifest," " causing to shine forth," or " giving 
 lustre," which last sense was adopted by Desvooux. The con- 
 nection forbids the rendering of the A.V., " maketh a wise man 
 mad." As to the employment of ^ '"'H'^ in Job xii. 17, and Isa. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 135 
 
 fliction of pain maketh a wise man sbine forth, Liit a gift 
 coiTuptetli the heart. Better is the end of a thing than its 8 
 beginning ; better is the man of patient spirit than the man 
 of proud spirit. Be not in haste to stir up anger in thy 9 
 spirit, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Say not, 10 
 How was it that the former days were better than these ? 
 for thou hast not, guided by wisdom, inquired concerning 
 this. Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, and better too 11 
 to those who see the sun. For wisdom serveth as a pro- 12 
 tection, and money serveth as a protection ; but knowledge 
 hath an advantage : wisdom preserveth in life thos€ who 
 
 xliv. 25, it may be said that the sense of " making manifest," 
 "bringing to light," "causing to shine forth" the real character 
 of the persons spoken of, is not unsuitable. Comp. lutrod. § 13. 
 The injiiction of pain :■ — more literally " the pressure " or '* con- 
 straint " soil, put upon a man's tendencies and inclinations. 
 A gift corrupteth, &c. — It may seem that there is here little 
 congruity with ver. 5. But it should be remembered that 
 hearing the song of fools, and obtaining a gift, may be taken as 
 diverse modes of receiving pleasure. Here, as elsewhere (comp. 
 chap. X. passim) the author of Eccl. is probably arranging pro- 
 verbial dicta of Jewish philosophers, with reference to their 
 inner kernel of meaning, not their outward form. 
 
 9. It would certainly appear that the 0273 contrasted with 
 pinC27 in ver. 3 is not to be identified with the D2?3 of ver. 9. 
 This latter, which " rests in the bosom of fools," is that nri- 
 tatiou of mind which is opposed to resignation and calm sub- 
 mission. 
 
 11. As good as an inheritance. — As to the sense of C27 compare 
 ii. 16. Such an interpretation as, for example, that of Graetz, 
 " dass Weisheit beim Besitze von Land und Acker dienlich 
 sei," is not at all admissible. 
 
 12. Wisdom serveth as a protection. — It would scarcely suit to 
 translate more literally, " Wisdom is in the character of a 
 shadow." Preserveth in life. — By imparting a knowledge of the 
 world and of the conditions of life ; or perhaps, as the A.V., 
 " giveth life," if we understand the words a,s referring to the 
 
136 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 13 i)osses3 it. Behold the work of God ; for who can straighten 
 
 14 what he hath made crooked ? In the day of prosperity 
 enjoy thyself; but, in the day of adversity, behold. God, 
 indeed, hath set the one in correspondence to the other, 
 
 15 because man findeth nothing after him. I saw all in 
 the days of my vanity : there is a righteous man perish- 
 ing in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man prolong- 
 
 16 ing his life in his wickedness. Be not righteous overmuch, 
 neither assume thyself to be excessively wise : why should- 
 
 17 est thou be struck with dismay ? Benotwdcked overmuch, 
 neither be thou foolish : why shouldest thou die before thy 
 
 18 time ? It is well that thou shouldest take hold of the one 
 admonition, and also, from the other, decline not thy hand ; 
 for he who feareth God will come forth from them all. 
 
 19 Wisdom is a power to the wise man, greater than ten rulers 
 
 higher intellectual life of the Cl^n living in a world above that 
 of common men (V"!^^ 037). Comp. vi. 5, and note. 
 
 14. The one in correspondence to the other. — Possibly there is 
 underlying the words HT rK^vb PIT the conception of life as a 
 path, on the opposite sides of which, and parallel to one another, 
 stand the circumstances of prosperity and adversity, the things 
 good and the things evil, which each man has to encounter. If 
 life was thus conceived of, we may be enabled better to under- 
 stand the all of ver. 18 : "He who feareth God will come forth 
 from them all.'" Comp. Introd. § 12. Man findeth nothimj after 
 him. — Gomp. the last words of chap. iii. 
 
 15. I saw all. — Meaning, probably, all of man's earthly life, 
 or especially, all relating to it that was seemingly crooked and 
 abnormal. My vanity. — While I was seeking for satisfaction in 
 worldly things, or, before I had given up as hopeless the attemi)t 
 to solve the problems connected with man's earthly condition. 
 There is. — It occurs in the world. In his riyhteoiisness. — Or, 
 perhaps, *' by his righteousness," " by his wickedness." 
 
 16. Struck with dismay. — Possibly said with a special reference 
 to Job xl. 3 — 5 and xlii. 1 — G. 
 
 19. Ten. — A full number : comp. Gen. xxxi. 7 ; Job xix. 3. 
 In the Mishnah {Miyilah i. 3), a great city is defined as one 
 
CHAPTER VII, 137 
 
 which were in the city. For there is not a righteous man 20 
 on the earth who cloeth well, and sinneth not. Moreover, 21 
 pay no attention to all the words which people speak, so 
 that thou hear not thy servant reviling thee. For thy heart 22 
 knoweth that thou, even thou, hast many times also reviled 
 others. All this I tested by wisdom : I said, I will be wise ; 23 
 but it was too far off for me. That which was far off and 24 
 exceeding deep, who could find it ? 
 
 I proceeded, I and my heart, to know, and to explore, 25 
 and to seek out wisdom and a plan, and to know the 
 
 in which there are ten men of leisure. Ten men were required 
 for the formation of a synagogue. 
 
 23. All this. — Meaning, probably, what had been said in vii. 
 1 — 22, and which it would appear had been said in answer to 
 the questions with wliich the sixth chapter closes. It : — wisdom 
 nD3n, as shown by the feminines ^*'^n and npim, 
 
 24. That tvhich ivas far o/.—Tt^ilW HQ p^m. It should be 
 remembered that Koheleth is narrating his past experience. 
 
 25. Apian: — i.e. of the moral administration of the world. 
 The idea represented by ]i2tpr7 is, probably, the thought xouler- 
 hjing and manifested in the condition of man viewed as the subject of a 
 moral fjovernment. The word with this sense is perhaps best 
 rendered by " a plan." Similarly, if we take the word in the 
 same sense, we shall have in ix. 10, first, ntt'2?a " work " or 
 " action," and then "Jl^ti^n ''device" or "plan." From the use 
 of 'D.WU to denote " weaving," the transition is easy to the idea 
 of " demising " or " planning." The passage 2 Chron. xxvi. 15 
 is here instructive. The word ]l3ti?n appears to me to have the 
 sense of " plan " also in the Mishnah, in Ahoth iv. 22, /2nffi' 3?T1 
 ■Jin^Tin *'Db, which I translate, " And know that all will be 
 according to the plan." This sense I defend to some extent on 
 account of what precedes, but more particularly from what 
 follows : " And let not thy thought cause thee to trust that 
 Sheol will be a place of refuge for thee, since without thy con- 
 currence thou airt created, and without thy concurrence thou art 
 born, and without thy concurrence thoui livest, and without tliy 
 concurrence thou dicst, and without thy concurrcuce thou wilt 
 
138 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 26 depravity of obduracy and folly, even madness. And I 
 find a more bitter thing than death, the woman who, as 
 to her heart, is nets and snares, whose hands are bonds : 
 he who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the 
 
 27 sinner will be caught by her. See, this I found, said 
 
 28 Koheleth, considering one by one, to find a plan ; Which 
 my soul hath up to this time sought, but I have not 
 found : one man out of a thousand I found, but a woman 
 
 29 in all these I found not. Only see, this I found, that God 
 
 undergo judgment, and render up an account (ps^Tn T^T ^rT'b) 
 before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One ; blessed 
 be He." With respect to the use of ll^t^n to denote the account 
 to be rendered to God, the word may be looked upon as pointing 
 to the thoughts underlymg a man's actions, — the reason why he 
 acted as he has done. This use of it is thus not repugnant to 
 its employment to denote a *' plan." Stoical influence is pro- 
 bably to be detected in Aboth iv. 21, 22, as in the words of 
 Ecclesiastes. The depravity of obduracij and folly. — ^^^2 '3W\ 
 mbDOm. As to the article, compare ii. 8. 
 
 26. Nets and snares, &c. — Said probably not only with a 
 general allusion to Weiberlist, but our author may have had iu 
 his mind several particulars given concerning Samson and 
 Dehlah. See Introd. § 9. 
 
 27. Considering. — This word, it would appear, must be suppHed 
 from what had been previously said of seeking and exploring. 
 One by one. — nnS7 nns. It might have been expected that 
 the masculine inSv ins would have been used to denote the men 
 and ivomen whose characters Koheleth considered, but special 
 prominence is given to women both in what precedes and iu 
 what foUows. This is perhaps, on the whole, the best way of 
 accounting for the feminine. 
 
 28. One man out of a thousand. — Sec Introd. § 12. 
 
 29. Many inventions. — Probably meaning the devices and con- 
 trivances (niaht^n) of civilisation, regarded as marking de- 
 generacy from a primitive state of natural simplicity and purity. 
 The reader need scarcely be reminded how, in the golden age 
 of the classic poets, neither plough furrowed the soil, nor 
 ship traversed the ocean. And, indeed, upon the supposition 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 189 
 
 had made man upright, but they had sought out many in- VIII. 
 ventions. Who is as the wise man ? and who as he that 1 
 knoweth the expLanation of a thing? a man's wisdom 
 causeth his face to shine, and the fixedness of his counte- 
 nance is changed. 
 
 I say: Observe the king's commandment, and that on 2 
 account of the oath of God. Be not in haste to go from 3 
 
 that man was bound strictly to conform to the ordinances of 
 Nature, and to submit unreservedly to her restraint, it is not 
 difficult to see how agriculture, navigation, and other arts 
 might be regarded as evidences of moral debasement. Accord- 
 ingly Horace, after speaking of the first navigator's audacity 
 and fortitude, says : — 
 
 " Nequidquam Deus abscidit 
 Prudeus Oceano dissociabili 
 Terras, si tamen impis 
 
 Non tangeuda rates transiliunt vada. 
 Audax omnia perpeti 
 
 Gens humana ruit per vetitum et nefas." 
 
 Cann. i. 3. 
 VIII. 1. The fixedness of his countenance. — V3Q ?57, denoting the 
 stern, grave countenance and rigid features of the man eagerly 
 pursuing an investigation, or bent on finding the solution of a 
 difficult problem. Comp. rr^SQ 71tVH in Prov. vii. 13, an 
 expression intended probably to denote the fixed, amorous gaze 
 of the " strange woman." Comp. also Prov. xxi. 29. 
 
 2. I say, &c. — Bather than resort to critical conjecture it 
 seems preferable to suppose an ellipsis, even if this latter 
 course is not altogether free from difficulty. The kimfs com- 
 viandmcnt : — or, with Ewald, " den Mund des Konigs," the king's 
 mouth being the source whence law proceeds. 
 
 3. Be not in haste, &c. — An injunction to the practice of 
 respect and reverence (comp. x. 4). It would certainly appear, 
 however, that the king here spoken of is ideal, the embodiment 
 or personification of law, and the representative of God, who, 
 according to Stoic doctrine, was Himself Eternal Law. This 
 view may derive increased credibihty from the extent to which 
 
140 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 before him : j^ersist not in an evil thing ; for he cloeth 
 
 4 whatsoever he i^leaseth : Because the king's word is mth 
 authority, and who can say unto him. What doest thou ? 
 
 5 He who observeth what is commanded hath exi)erience of 
 no evil thing, and the heart of the wise man discerneth 
 
 6 both season and law. Because for every matter there is a 
 season and a law, the misery of man is great upon him. 
 
 7 For he knoweth not what will be, for how it will be, who 
 
 8 can tell him ? There is no man having control over the 
 
 the ideal enters into the description of the king in SanheJrin 
 ii. 2 — 5. The king is here described as neither judging nor 
 judged. He is free from the Levirate law. None may marry 
 his widow. If one of his relations dies, he must not leave the 
 palace to join the funeral procession. None but himself may 
 ride on his horse, sit on his throne, or handle his sceptre. 
 None may look upon him when naked, or while at the bath. 
 Before even his corpse the people must prostrate themselves on 
 the ground. The presence of the ideal can scarcely be denied, 
 however much of these details may have been actually followed 
 out with respect to an Oriental king. The quasi-divine 
 character of the king appears also conspicuous. The high 
 priest, however, partook of the nature of man, and represented 
 man (Heb. v. 1) ; and the law of the Mishnah in his case 
 (Sanhedr. ii. 1) differs greatly from that laid down with respect 
 to the king : " The high priest judges and is judged," &c. 
 
 5. Season and law. — The H^^ or " season," as ordered by the 
 Eternal Reason, becomes an ordinance (l^2tr?2) or " law " for 
 the regulation of human conduct. 
 
 6 — 8. In these verses we have, vividly depicted, that fear and 
 perturbation of mind from which, according to the Stoics, it 
 was the great privilege of the wise man to be free. He gained 
 this reward for his conformity to the eternal law of Natm'c. 
 
 6. Great upon him. — Presseth upon him like a heavy burden. 
 
 7. He knoweth not what idll he, &c. — Expression of the con- 
 sciousness of guilt and fear of punishment. How it will be: — or, 
 perhaps, " when" instead of " how," as A.V. 
 
 8. Uariiifi cmtirnl over i/ic iiind. — There may be here a play on 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 141 
 
 wind, so as to hold in the wind ; and there is no control 
 over the day of death ; and there is no discharge in war ; 
 and wickedness will not deliver those who commit it. I 9 
 saw all this, and I gave my heart to all work which was 
 done under the sun, even in the season when man ruled 
 over man to his injury. And then I saw the wicked buried ; 10 
 and they had come, and from the place of the holy they 
 went ; and they were forgotten in the city where they had 
 BO done: this also is vanity. Because the sentence against 11 
 the evil work is not speedily executed, therefore the heart 
 of mankind is fully set in them to do evil. Although the 12 
 sinner doeth evil a hundred times, and yet prolongeth his 
 days, yet surely I know that it will be well with those who 
 fear God, who fear before him. But it wdll not be well with 13 
 the wicked man, neither will he lengthen out his days like 
 the shadow, because he feareth not before God. 
 
 There is vanity which is wrought on the earth, that there 14 
 are righteous men to whom it happeneth according to the 
 work of the wicked, and that there are wicked men to whom 
 it happeneth according to the work of the righteous : I said 
 
 the two senses of rrn, "wind" or " spirit." In Stoic phrase- 
 ology, the soul of man was a iryevij.a Ivdepjiov. There is no 
 discharge in war has apparently a similar double meaning, 
 and is thus said with reference to the last conflict, the death- 
 agony. 
 
 10. Buried. — Not cast out to the dogs and vultures. They 
 had come, and from the place of the holy they went: — implying that 
 there was no apparent break or disruption of the usual course 
 of things, at the departure of the wicked rulers. Neither God 
 nor man so interposed as to eject them from " the jilace of the 
 holy." Notice how well the future lobn"* agrees with the idea 
 of continuity. Where they had so done : — or " that they had so 
 done :" their abnormal and wicked conduct was forgotten. This 
 also is vanity, — That the way in which the wicked rulers had 
 acted when in " the place of the holy " should even l)e forgotten, 
 showed how imperfect was the reign of law. 
 
142 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 15 that this also is vanity. And I commended enjoyment, 
 because there is nothing good for man under the sun, 
 except to eat, and to drink, and to enjoy, for this will accom- 
 pany him in his toil, during the days of his life, which God 
 hath given him under the sun. 
 
 1 6 When I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to see the 
 busy work which was carried on upon the earth — for indeed 
 neither by day nor night doth it see sleep with its eyes — 
 
 14. This also is vanity. — These words are appropriately used, as 
 the statement with regard to imperfection attending the opera- 
 tion of law had been, in this verse, advanced still further. 
 
 16. Neither by day nor night doth it see sleep ivith its eyes. — It 
 would certainly appear that these words are not to be under- 
 stood of man's persistent application to toil for the sake of gain 
 or for the means of subsistence, but rather of the entirety of 
 action proceeding in the world, and comprehending the work of 
 God in relation to man ; and that " the busy work" T^VH thus 
 conceived of is said, by a bold metaphor, never to " see sleep 
 with its eyes." The supposition that the Divine work just 
 mentioned is even principally referred to, accords with what 
 follows and with what had been said before, ver. 12 — 15. The 
 reader may compare with the sixteenth and seventeenth verses 
 the Erdgeist's description of his activity in Goethe's Faust : — 
 " In Lebensfluten, 
 Im Thatenstm-m, 
 Wall' ich auf und ab, 
 Webe bin und her 
 Geburt und Grab, 
 Ein ewiges Meer, 
 Ein wechselud Weben, 
 Ein gliihend Leben, 
 So schaff' ich am sausendem Webstuhl der Zeit, 
 Und wirke der Gottheit lebendiges Kleid ; " 
 And the words with which the Erdgcist, before vanishing, 
 answers Faust : — 
 
 " Du gleichst dem Geist, deu du begreifst 
 Nicht mir." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 143 
 
 Then I saw as to all the work of God, that man cannot find 17 
 out the work which is done under the sun, because that, 
 though man should toil to seek it, yet will he not find it 
 out ; and even if the wise man should think to know it, he IX. 
 will not be able to find it out. For I laid all this to heart, 1 
 even to investigate all this, that the righteous and the 
 wise, and their works, are in the hand of God, yet men dis- 
 cern neither love nor hatred in all that is before them. All 2 
 is alike to all : there is one lot to the righteous and to the 
 wicked, to the good and to the pure and to him that is de- 
 filed, and to him who sacrificeth and to him who sacri- 
 ficeth not : as is the good man, so is the sinner; he who 
 sweareth, as he who feareth an oath. This is evil in all 3 
 that is done under the sun, that there is one lot to all ; 
 therefore indeed the heart of mankind is full of evil, and 
 madness is in their heart during their life ; and afterwards 
 they go to the dead. For in the case of one who is asso- 4 
 ciated with all the living, there is confidence ; for, even a 
 living dog, he is better than the dead lion. For the living 5 
 know that they will die ; but as for the dead they know not 
 anything, and they have no further recompense, for the 
 memory of them is forgotten. Their love, as well as their 6 
 hatred and their envy, hath long ago perished, and they 
 
 IX. 1. Koheleth had to grapi^le with two seemingly conflicting 
 conclusious : on the one hand, that the righteoiis and the wise 
 and then' works are iu the hand of God ; on the other, that 
 their earthly lot afforded no indication of either his love or his 
 hatred. 
 
 3. That is done: — or, *' that occurs," as in pre\'ious passages. 
 See also note on ver. 6. Afterwards : — Vnnw. The suffix has 
 here undergone a further weakening, as compared with passages 
 previously noticed. Hitzig compares Jer. li. 46, and illustrates 
 by nachdcm, nachher. 
 
 4. Associated : — adopting, as more probable, the Keri. All the 
 living. — The "all" is not superfluous, but points to the abun- 
 dance of fife around, as promoting the confidence spoken of. 
 
144 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 have no more for ever any part in anything that occurreth 
 
 7 under the sun. Go, eat thy bread with gladness, and drink 
 thy wine with a cheerful heart ; for long ago hath God ap- 
 
 8 proved thy works. At every season let thy garments be 
 white, and let there not be any lack of ointment on thy 
 
 9 head. Enjoy life, with the woman whom thou lovest, 
 during all the days of thy vain life, which He hath given 
 thee under the sun, during all the days of thy vanity ; for 
 that is thy portion in life, and in thy toil whereat thou 
 
 10 toilest under the sun. All that thy hand findeth to do, do 
 it with thy might, for there is neither work, nor plan, nor 
 knowledge, nor wisdom in Sheol, whither thou art going. 
 
 11 Again, I "saw under the sun that neither to the swift is the 
 race, nor to the men of might the battle, nor yet to wise 
 men bread, nor yet to prudent men riches, nor yet to men 
 of discernment favour, but seasons and accidents happen to 
 
 6. Anything ihat occurreth. — I have rendered the pret. Htt^l^i 
 in this and some preceding verses by the present, as though it 
 were nt??^.'^. This, however, can scarcely be avoided, though 
 the pret. is probably still used on account of the experience of 
 Koheleth being placed in the past : see i. 2, note. But as the 
 state of things in the world, as described by Koheleth, still con- 
 tinued, it is not wonderful that we should find some indications 
 more appropriate to present time, as in ver. 5. 
 
 7. Long ago hath God approred thy rvorks : — probably said in 
 marked contradiction of the doctrine of future rewards and 
 punishments. 
 
 8. At everij season may be understood as opposed to any 
 custom requiring abstinence from the wearing of white garments 
 at certain times and on certain occasions. Ointment : — perfumed 
 oil or other unguent. 
 
 10. Plan. — Comp. note on vii. 25. 
 
 11. The swift and the men of might are not sure of success. 
 The men of discernment, however great their knowledge of men, 
 and however keen their insight may be, yet fail of gaining 
 acceptance and popularity. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 145 
 
 them all. For man also knoweth not his season : like 12 
 fishes that are caught in an evil net, and like birds that 
 are caught in a snare, so they, mankind, are snared by an 
 evil season, wlien it falleth upon them suddenly. 
 
 I saw also this example of wisdom under the sun, and it 13 
 appeared great unto me : — A little city, and few men within 14 
 it ; and a great king came against it, and surrounded it, 
 and built great forts over against it. And he found in it a 15 
 poor wise man, and the latter delivered the city by his 
 wisdom, yet no man remembered that same poor man. 
 And I said, Wisdom is better than might ; but the wisdom 16 
 of the poor man is despised, and as to his words, they are 
 not heard. The words of wise men in quietness are heard 17 
 above the outcry of one ruling over fools. Wisdom is better 18 
 
 12. Snared by an evil season. — The author sj)eaks apparently of 
 the evil season as though it were like the net in a bird-catcher's 
 trap, suddenly enclosing the unwary victim. 
 
 14 — 16. Wliat is said of the little city and the great king 7natj 
 describe an historical fact, but I should ratber take it as a 
 parable illustrating the teaching of ver. IG, that " wisdom is 
 better tlian miglit." The same lesson is taught also by tbe well- 
 known story of Ulysses and the Cyclops in the Odyssey. So, 
 too — as in ver. 17 we are told that the wisdom of the poor man 
 was despised— we find, in Homer, the Cyclops uttermg con- 
 temptuous words of Ulysses, a persoii so different from what he 
 had expected : — 
 
 dW alti riya (pCJra jiiyai' Kai kuXov tciyfi))!' 
 kvQah' tKEvatiQai, iitya\r]v e-KUi^irov u.XKt)y, 
 rvr di fx iwv oKiyoQ re kol ovncai'dg kcu clkiicvq 
 ofdaXfxov a\ato(Tey, iTrel fi l^afxcKTcraTo oivu). 
 
 (hi. ix. 513—510. 
 15. A)id he found in it. — The great king was unexpectedly 
 confronted by the poor wise man, whose skill was brought into 
 direct antagonism with the king's miglit. 
 
 17. The outcry of one ruling over fools. — Notice the contrast 
 between " tbe n-ords of wise men in quietness," and " the outcry 
 of one ruling over fools," implying probably a philosopher's con- 
 L 
 
146 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 than weapons of war, but one sinner may destroy much 
 X. that is good. 
 
 1 Dead flies cause the perfumer's ointment to stink and 
 putrefy, so doth a little folly a man esteemed on account of 
 
 2 wisdom and honour. A wise man's heart is at his right 
 
 3 hand, but a fool's heart is at his left. And even in the 
 road, as the fool walketh, his heart faileth, and he saith to 
 
 4 all that he is a fool. If the spirit of the ruler rise up 
 against thee, quit not thy place ; for yielding letteth great 
 
 5 offences remain quiet. There is an evil which I saw under 
 the sun, it appearing as an error which proceedeth from 
 
 6 the ruler : Folly is put in very exalted positions, while great 
 
 7 men remain in a lowly rank. I saw servants upon horses, 
 
 8 and princes walking as servants upon the earth. He who 
 diggeth a pit may fall into it : and as to him who breaketh 
 
 9 through a fence, a serpent may bite him. He who quarrieth 
 stones may be hurt by them : he who cleaveth trees may 
 
 10 be endangered by them. If the iron be blunt, and he 
 
 tempt for the " great king ;" a view which comports well with 
 the description " one ruling over fools." 
 
 X. 1. A plural nominative nin ''imnT is found here with singu- 
 lar verbs ^''^"' 2}"'S3''. The reason probably was, that the verb 
 was conformed to the conception of the subject collectively as 
 a whole. It would thus be analogous to the Greek construction 
 of a neuter plural nommative with a smgular verb. See i. 10, 
 and note. 
 
 8. Heart.— The word would seem to approach here to the 
 meaning of our phrase " common sense." 
 
 6. Great men. — The word "T^tt?!?, from denoting "a rich man," 
 seems to have come to signify one possessing those quahties 
 which might be looked for in a rich man, fitting their possessor 
 for an exalted rank. 
 
 9. By them: — meaning, perhaps, by detached fragments. See 
 Hitzig ad loc. 
 
 10. Though the general sense seems pretty clear, yet the lan- 
 guage presents several difficulties. With respect to the con- 
 dnding words, it would certainly appear that "^^t?'?n must be 
 
CHAPTER X. 147 
 
 sharpen not the edge, then hath he to. exert great strength, 
 but the right guidance of wisdom is an advantage. If the 
 serpent, without charming, will bite, the babbler is no 
 better. The words of a wise man's mouth are acceptable, 
 but the lips of a fool swallow up himself. The beginning 
 of the words of his mouth is folly, and the end of his talk is 
 pernicious madness. But the fool multiplieth words : man 
 knoweth not what it is that will be, and what will be after 
 him, who can tell him ? The toil of fools wearieth each of 
 them, because he knoweth not how to go to a city. Woe 
 to thee, land, whose king is a boy, and whose princes eat 
 
 taken as the Inf. constr. followed by TTDDH in the genitive. 
 The word "T^ti^^n may be illustrated by referring to the frequent 
 use in the Mislmah of a form which appears to be essentially 
 the same, "itC3n, denoting " predisposition," or " direction," 
 and which is employed with a special reference to the law of Lev. 
 xi. 38, according to which law, water faUing on seed i^redisposes 
 it to become ceremonially unclean, or (jives it a direction towards 
 uucleanness. And in this passage of Ecclesiastes it would 
 not perhaps be amiss to take the word as signifying the pre- 
 disposition and pre-arrangement of the materials to be wrought 
 and the mstruments to be employed, so that danger and un- 
 necessary exertion may be avoided, and the work successfuUy 
 performed. If this view is taken, " pre-arrangement " might 
 be substituted for " right guidance." A general application 
 of the passage to human affairs appears not very difficult to 
 discern. 
 
 12. The lijjs : — representing the idea " language:" accordingly 
 we have in the Hebrew a singular verb. 
 
 15. Each of them. — The transition to the singular in the 
 suffix pronoun is perhaps to be accounted for by supposing that 
 the conception changes from that of phu-ality to the individual 
 fool standing apart from others, while he displays his want of 
 tact and practical accpiaintance with the ways of men. 
 
 16. A boy. — "1273 may be here used not merely of youth, but 
 metaphorically, in accordance with' the Eabbiuical dictum, 
 n^Dn 112]^X m ipf, "He is aged who has acquin^I wisdom." 
 
148 THAXSLATlaX, WITH XOTEb'. 
 
 17 in the morning. Happy art thou, land, whose king is of 
 noble descent, and whose princes eat at the proper season, 
 
 18 for strength, and not for carousing. By great slothfulne&s 
 the framework is decayed, and by slackness of hands the 
 
 19 house drippeth through. They prepare food for laughter, 
 and wine maketh life joyful, but money answereth for all 
 
 20 things. Even in thy thoughts revile not the king, nor in 
 thy bedchamber revile the gi-eat man, for the bird of heaven 
 may carry the sound, and that which hath v/ings may tell 
 
 XL of the matter. 
 
 1 Cast thy bread upon the face of the waters, for in the 
 
 If this view is acceiited, D''l"Jn "|n in the next verse may be 
 regarded as denoting one possessed of such intellectual or other 
 qualities as might be reasonably looked for in a person of noble 
 or of free birth (comp. ver. 6). And thus it is said (Aboth vi. 2) 
 that none is to be esteemed a hen cJiorin except the man who 
 exercises himself in the study of the Law. Dr. Graetz takes 
 "1^3 as denoting "a slave," with a special historical application. 
 But, without adopting this view, it may well be maintained, in 
 A'iew of the antithesis in C^lin p, that naar does not merely 
 express youth, but involves the idea of lowly condition or mean 
 birth. 
 
 17. The ^ in n"n:2:i:3 and ^"^^n has a s-ignification analo- 
 gous to the ^ of price. 
 
 18. Dr. Graetz thinks that the apparently dual termination 
 in DTl7''37 belongs properly to the following word "l'^'^, and 
 that tbe first two letters of the latter word have been written 
 twice over. Drippeth throuiih : — the rain comes through. 
 
 19. Theij prepare foo(L — The food required for a feast and con- 
 viviality. Amirereth for all: — or, "is equivalent to all," the idea 
 of " answering" easily passing into that of equivalency (comp. 
 V. 20). 
 
 20. The (jre((t max : — comp. ver. 6. 
 
 XL 1. Ujwn the face of the waters. — The idea which has been 
 suggested appears not altogether improbable, that the conception 
 here is that of thin cakes which would at first float on the 
 purface of the Avaler (C'"7::n ''2?: A"). Afterwards, however, like 
 
CHAPTER XI. 149 
 
 coui'se of time thou wilt find it. Give a portion to seven 
 and even to eight, for thou knowest not in what way cala- 
 mity will come upon the earth. If the clouds become filled 
 with rain, they pour it out upon the earth; and whether 
 a tree fall on the south, or on the north, in the place where 
 the tree falleth, there will it be. A man watching the wind 
 will not sow, and one looking at the clouds will not reap. 
 As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind, nor how 
 the bodily framework ariseth in the womb of her who is 
 pregnant, so thou knowest not the work of God who doeth 
 
 alms given promiscuously to the needy, the bread would seem 
 to be utterly lost. The phrase D^'^n "'3D hv is used in the 
 Mishnah of a ship floating ou the water {Ohaloth vi. 5), as well 
 as of other things in similar positions (Parah ix. 6; Bitsahv. 2). 
 The notion that the author of Ecclesiastes alludes to the sowing 
 of rice on muddy laud, or allowing it to drop through water into 
 the soil, seems unsuitable. In addition to the difficulty in the 
 way of this opinion resulting from the language employed, 
 there is the objection, that we have apparently no evidence that 
 the cultivation of rice had already become, when Ecclesiastes 
 was written, well known in Palestine ; though it must be main- 
 tained that this was the case when the Mishnah was composed. 
 See for example Shcbiith ii. 7, where orez (TilS) is spoken of as 
 putting forth its roots before the commencement of the year. 
 And in Demai ii. 1, we have orez grown in Israel distinguished 
 from that which was imported. 
 
 3. And ivhether a tree/all, itc. : — implying the uncertainty of 
 the quarter from Avhich calamity comes, and the powerlessuess 
 of man to guard against it. 
 
 5. As thou /cnoivcst not ivhat is the ivay of the wind : — referring 
 back to the previous verse. Nur hoiv the hodih/ franieicorli ariseth: 
 — or, more hterally, " what is the way of the bodily framework." 
 The 2 in W^'f2i''JV^ would thus represent the preceding 12\S "ti'SD 
 -[-n n!2 ^11\ Her ivho is pregnant :—'n^^^. In the Misb- 
 nah nS'^bD occurs, though rarely, in the same sense. The 
 more usual word is n~imro. 'fhe work of God icho doeth all : 
 ^comp. viii. 17. 
 
150 
 
 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 6 all. In the morning sow thy seed, and at evening rest not 
 thy hand, for thou knowest not which will succeed, whether 
 
 7 this or that, or whether both will be alike good. And the 
 light is sweet, and pleasant it is to the eyes to behold the 
 
 8 sun. But if men live many years, let them rejoice in them 
 all, and let them remember the days of darkness, for they 
 
 9 will be many : all that cometh is vanity. Enjoy, young 
 man, thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the 
 days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and 
 according to the sight of thine eyes, and know that con- 
 cerning all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 
 
 6. Which : — HT '•S, without reference to place, a usage which 
 appears m the plu-aseology of the Mislmali. 
 
 8. They ivill be mamj. — Compare the words of Antigone with 
 respect to the time she would have to pass m Hades : — 
 
 ETTEt TrXeiojy ■)(^p6vog 
 oy Be~i fi apicTKEiv toIq kcitw riuy eydciSe 
 inii yap alel ic£iuof.iai. 
 
 Sophocles, Antir/. 74 — 76. 
 All that cometh is vanity .-—These words are perhaps best imder- 
 stood of the shadowy and msubstantial condition of the dead 
 amid the darkness of Sheol : — 
 
 " Jam te XDremet nox fabuliBque Manes, 
 Et domus exilis Plutonia." — Hokace, Carm. i. 4. 
 
 " Nos, ubi decidimus, 
 Quo pater iEneas, quo dives Tullus et Ancus, 
 
 Pulvis et umbra sumus." — Horace, Carm. iv. 7, 
 
 9. All these things : — the living conformably or not with these 
 precepts, indulgence in pleasure diu-ing youth being requhed by 
 the law of the times and seasons. Will bring thee into judgment : 
 —meaning, as it would certainly appear, that the youth who 
 refuses to gi-atify his appetites, and stifles his passions, commits 
 a crime against Nature. It might be thought, perhaps, that we 
 have here a reductio ad uhsurdum of the ethical prmciple of 
 " hving conformably to Nature." But I should rather incline to 
 the opinion that, however much an orthodox Stoic would have 
 disavoAved such an application of the principle just mentioned, 
 
CHAPTER XII. 151 
 
 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away afflic- 10 
 tion from thy body ; for youth and dawning-time are vanity. XII. 
 
 And remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, 1 
 before the days of evil come and years arrive, when thou 
 wilt say, I have no pleasure in them ; Before the sun is 2 
 darkened, and the light, and the moon, and the stars ; and 
 the clouds return after the rain. In the day when the guards 3 
 of the house tremble, and the men of might are bent, and 
 the grinding-women cease, because they have become very 
 few, and the women looking out at the lattice windows are 
 darkened ; And the two-leaved door is shut in the street, 4 
 when the sound of the mill faileth, and it becometh the 
 voice of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought 
 low : Also they are afraid of what is high, and terrors are 5 
 in the way, and the almond tree blossometh, and the locust 
 
 it is au application which was actually made and taught in the 
 Jewish schools. Dr. Graetz rightly resists the weakening of the 
 sense of this verse by translators and interpreters. 
 
 10. Remove sorrow, &c. — The admonition here given appears 
 to agree entirely with the view I have taken of the previous 
 verse. Dawning -time : — in accordance with, and probably looking 
 back to, ver. 7. 
 
 XII. 1. Thy Creator.— "^liQ pliural m the Hebrew (T^mn), as 
 more abstract than the singular, may be regarded as better 
 suited to the language of philosophy. 
 
 3. The women looking out at the lattice windows. — In illustration 
 of the figure here used, reference may be made to the phrases 
 ^57 prs^S " little man of the eye," and V^ ^2 '^^W^i^ "little 
 man daughter of the eye," both phrases denoting the pupH. The 
 " lattice window " would thus probably signify the nis. 
 
 4. The sound of the mill. — This, it would appear, must be 
 understood of the voice ; and if the varied motions of the mouth 
 and its parts iu speaking are taken into accoimt, such a view 
 may seem not altogether improbable. It hecometh. — Possibly, on 
 the whole, the best rendering. 
 
 5. They are afraid.^Old men are probably spoken of, without 
 metaphor. The cdmvnd tree hlossomcth, — I do not feel able to 
 
152 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 is a burden to itself, and the caper-berry splitteth open, for 
 man goeth to his everlasting home, and the mourners go 
 
 adopt the opmion that iu what is here said of the "^P^, S^n, and 
 n^T^^N, there is a veiled allusion to that failure of the reproductive 
 function common in advanced age. I doubt the possibility of 
 making the language employed square with such an opinion ; 
 but apart from this, the interpretation in question seems not well 
 to harmonise with the last part of the verse, which appears cer- 
 tainly to speak, not of commencmg decrepitude, but of the grave 
 and the funeral procession. Still, it must, I think, be admitted 
 that such a figurative description of the matter in question would 
 not be alien fr-om the Kabbinical mode of speakhig. Thus in 
 the tract Niddah v. 7, a woman, at different periods of life, is 
 spoken of as an unripe fig, a ripening fig, and a fig fully ripe. 
 And with respect to matters pertaining to women, we have 
 (Niddah ix. 11) the figure of different species of vines, one of 
 which yields black and another red wine, while of one the wine 
 is scanty and of another abimdant. The vine which yields no 
 wme is spoken of as the vine of Dorkati, a word which is re- 
 garded as derived from "Tn " generation," and 2?*'^p " cut off." 
 Comp. also Niddah u. 5. And the locust is a burden to itself. — 
 Sept. mi TvaxvvO^ t] uKplg. The caper-herry splitteth open. — Sept. 
 KoX Zia(TKe.la(TQy ij KuTnrapiQ. " The caper-shrub is very common 
 in Palestine, and the sight of pods which have opened, and are 
 nearly faUen off, must, of course, be very frequent" (E. F. C. 
 Rosenmiiller, Mineralogy and Botany of the Bible, translated in 
 Bib. Cabinet). It is worthy of notice here, with reference to the 
 sense of rrD1*'3W, that in Maaseroth iv. 8 it is given as the law, 
 according to E. Akiba, that, while other parts of the caper-plant 
 are exempt from the law of tithe, the abiyonoth are hable, " be- 
 cause they are fruit." That ~i5n should have the mtrausitive 
 signification " splitteth open," appears ui accordance with the 
 analogy of the sense of the Hiphil conjugation in a good many 
 verbs, and as to the use of ~i"iS in this conj. otherwise than 
 metaphorically no msuperable difficulty need be felt. In the 
 street. — Graetz, however, contends that pitC necessarily means a 
 market, and not a street. With this view may bo contrasted the 
 rendering of the Peshito in Acts ix. 11. UnptvOiiri In) T))r ^n'70/r 
 
CHAPTER XII. " 153 
 
 about iu the street ; Before the cord of silver is detached, 6 
 and the goldeu bowl broken, and a water-jar is shattered at 
 the spring, and the wheel broken at the cistern ; And the 7 
 dust returneth to the earth, as it was, and the spirit 
 returneth unto God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, said 8 
 Koheleth, all is vanity. 
 
 r/)v m\ov^ui'r]i- Evdtlay is translated by S!;nn Knpn!2"r Sp^a^b bT. 
 " In the street " is probably to be taken in a general way, just 
 as we sometimes use the phrase. 
 
 6. Before, &c.— It woidd appear that, iu the previous verse, 
 the corpse had been conceived of as carried to the grave, attended 
 by the momners. Koheleth now goes back a little. The cord of 
 silver. — To understand this of the spinal cord seems to involve 
 no difficulty. The figure seems quite suitable, considering the 
 general colour and shining appearance of the spinal marrow. 
 Aristotle notices its XiTraporrjc {De Part. Animal, ii. 7). Detached. 
 — I give this rendering without confidence, as both the true 
 reading and the sense are doubtfid. The golden howl broken. — I 
 know of no opinion preferable to that which understands the 
 "golden bowl" of the skidl, for such a reference would be 
 enthely congruous with an allusion just before to the spinal 
 column. It is not perhaps necessary to press the figm-e too 
 closely, so as to make a difficulty about the " breaking " of the 
 golden bowl. If, however, the golden bowl is a lamp-bowl 
 feeding the flame of life, then our passage represents, apparently, 
 a physiological view different from that of Aristotle, who seems 
 to have looked upon the bram as cold, and to have supposed that 
 the heat of the blood was moderated in the head. A water-jar. — 
 Of the nouns in this verse 13 alone is without the article, jjer- 
 haps because in a duly-furnished house there were several water- 
 jars. That, in the latter part of the verse, there is some 
 allusion to the chculation of the blood, seems not improbable, 
 considering that there would appear to have been, among both the 
 Peripatetics and the Stoics, at least some dim notion of the fact. 
 
 7. As it ivas. — The author of Ecclesiastes may have had Gen. 
 u. 7 in view here. The spirit returneth unto God who gave it. — There 
 is probably still allusion to the narrative m Gen. ii. Comp. also 
 Introd. § 12. 
 
164 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 9 And moreover, since Koheleth was wise, lie still further 
 taught the people knowledge ; and he paid attention, and 
 
 10 investigated : he set in order many proverbs. Koheleth 
 sought to find pertinent words, and what was A^Titten was 
 
 11 right, words of truth. The words of wise men are like goads, 
 and those of the editors of collections like nails driven in : 
 
 9. Set in order. — That this is the true rendering of "Ipri may 
 weU be defended, especially on account of the words l^W and 
 "ipn which precede, and which would be appropriately used of 
 the attention and investigation preparatory to due arrangement. 
 Proverbs. — This rendering is open to objection, as being too 
 narrow and restricted. Proverbs, parables, and fables are all 
 meshalim. Still it slioidd not be forgotten that there is here, not 
 improbably, an allusion to the Book of Proverbs. 
 
 11. Those of the editors of collections. — The opinion appears to 
 me to be correct that there is an ellipsis of ''"12"T before ''vra 
 m^DS (comp. Preston ad loc). For other instances of ellipsis I 
 may refer the reader to viii. 1 and xi. 5. The editors of collections. 
 — See Introd. § 15 ; and in addition to what I have there said, 
 I may ask the reader to compare Sh. xxxiii. 16 with the use of 
 )^DS .of collecting ears of corn, gleaning (Euth ii. 7), and of 
 gathering in produce (Exod. xxiii. 10). Much of Hebrew learn- 
 ing consisted in the gathering and storing up of the dicta of 
 sages, of meshalim. (Comp. Job vii. 8 sq. ; xii. 3 ; xiii. 12 ; xv. 18 
 sq. ; xvi. 4.) Thus the phrase m2DW '''hv'2 " men of collec- 
 tions," might perhaps be translated "learned men," and sofmnish 
 a still closer parallel to D^J^^n. Still, the wisdom of the persons 
 designated by the expression in question is evidently conceived 
 of as imparted to others ; and besides, as I have remai'ked 
 (Introd. § 15), there is probably an allusion to the composite 
 structure of our present book. So that, on the whole, " editors 
 of coUections " may be as good a reuderiug as is attainable. 
 Nails driven in. — The idea that there is an allusion to tent-pins 
 or stakes seems not improbable, considering the context. The 
 "wise men" and the baale asuppoth are, as would appear to 
 be implied, undcr-shepherds deriving their words from one 
 
 ap-^nroi'/jitji'. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 155 
 
 they were given by one Shepherd. And further, be admo- 12 
 nished, my son, by these : as to the making of many books 
 there is no end ; and much close study is a wearying of the 
 flesh. 
 
 The conchision of the discourse, the universal law, let us 13 
 
 12. On this verso see Litrod. § 15. 
 
 13. The universal law. — The ^3 in this verse occasioned me 
 a good deal of difficulty, till I derived what appears to me a 
 reasonable and probable solution from that very frequent formula 
 of the Mishnah bbsn nt^ meaumg " this is the general rule," 
 or, " this is the universal law." After particular examples or 
 precepts have been stated or discussed, the discussion is very 
 commonly closed by giving a general ride introduced by the for- 
 mula just quoted. There is here, it seems to me, a pretty 
 certain trace of the influence of the Greek philosophy, and 
 especially of that Aristotelian inductive method which aimed at 
 proceedmg from Particulars to a Universal, to Kad6Xov. And it 
 is this expression, or possibly to liXov used in a similar sense 
 (comp. Plato, Republic, bk. ii. 377 A.), that, as appears to me 
 probable, bb^n represents. Fm-ther, it may be reasonably 
 mamtained that both bb^n and bsn are essentially of the same 
 signification, and that both mean strictly " the totality." In- 
 deed, in accordance with the analogy of verbs, ^''3, Vs = Vbs. 
 The pointing of b'^D with a instead of o would make no essential 
 difference. I think, then, that tlnough the influence of the 
 Ai-istotelian philosophy (comp. lutrod. § 4) it was ah-eady, when 
 Ecclesiastes was written, a common practice in the Jewish 
 schools to close a discussion with the statement of a universal 
 principle or law, and that the author of Ecclesiastes here con- 
 forms to a usual practice. At a subsequent period, and prior to 
 the composition of the Mishnah, bbsn seems to have been used 
 mstead of ^^n to express the idea of a universal law, the change 
 having been made possibly for the sake of greater distinctness of 
 expression. The universal laiv for man. — The b^ here must be 
 understood in the same sense as that preceding, though it remits 
 its article to the genitive following. The impracticabdity of the 
 rendering, "for this is all men," afl"ords a strong argument in 
 
156 TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES. 
 
 hear. Fear God, and keep bis commandments, for this is 
 14 the universal law for man. For God will bring all the work 
 into judgment, concerning everything hidden, whether it be 
 good, or whether it be evil. 
 
 favour of tlie position that ^3 is here to be understood in a 
 pecuUar technical sense. 
 
 14. All the work : — TIWVD 73 HS, Sept. avixizav ru 7ro//j/ia. 
 Compare 'f^'3 73 DW, iy, 4. I should, however, very strongly 
 inchne to the opinion tliat we ought to pouit nti72?X2 as in the 
 const, state before D'TrbMn, and translate, " For all God's work 
 will He bring into judgment," though I have not ventured to in- 
 troduce this change into the text of my translation (comp. viii. 
 17 ; xi. 9). To express the sense usually attributed to this verse 
 it would seem that we should rather have had 1''li?2?7D b3 "hv "^D 
 I25t2?nn D"*nb«n 1S^n\ The opinion that this verse speaks of 
 the judgment of each individual man, and not of the vuidication 
 of the Divine administration, seems not in harmony with the 
 general tenor of the book. Everythiny hidden may be taken as 
 referring to such mysterious and seemmgly anomalous facts as 
 had been previously spoken of. The Peshito inserts wb^T " and 
 manifest ; " and indeed, if the passage spoke of the judgment of 
 individuals, such an addition might not be unsuitable. But the 
 fact that this addition is not in the Hebrew afibrds an argument 
 against the ordinary view, and m favour of that which I have 
 given. The author of Ecclesiastes says " everything hidden," 
 not " everything hidden and everything manifest." This argu- 
 ment, if it stood alone, however, might not be of sufficient 
 strength : comp. Eom. ii. 16 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5. 
 
 DNWIN BROTnERS, rRINTKns, LONDON AND OHIlWOBTa. 
 
Date Due 
 
>"S^grac,-raj^^^'"5g'"ffli-i- -rec^iJ— 
 
 a:^.-j 
 
 BS1475.4 .T98 
 
 Ecclesiastes : a contribution to its 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00051 7633