A commentary on Ecclesiastes

XII. (1.) And remember with respect to thy Creators (but בורא is ‘creating’——see Isaiah xl. 28, xli. 5, xlv. 7, 18, where the participle poel occurs; hence, according to the strict meaning, it ought to be thy creatings) in days of thy choosings (with the same meaning as before; the sentence is doubtless intentionally equivocal) until not come days of the evil (‘the evil days’ is quite correct, but then we must remember the emphasis falls on ‘evil,’ not ‘days’), and are caused to draw near years (not ‘the years,’ which spoils the pathos of the passage——years are opposed to days above) which thou sayest there is nothing to me (emphatic) in them of delight (but not without a shade of the technical meaning, ‘providence’——as man grows older he expects no delight; no great good fortune can come to him).

(2.) Until not darkened (i.e. before this happens) is the sun, and the light (referring back to chapter xi. 7), and the moon, and the stars, and return the clouds (storm-clouds) after the rain (the tempestuous rain, i.e. storm succeeds storm).

(3.) In a day (not the day, which again spoils the pathos. Koheleth is now going to give specimens of evil days) when disturbed are, (occurs only Esther iii. 9, and Habakkuk ii. 7, pilpel. This word, שיזעו, has been said to be a late one, but זעוה occurs Deuteronomy xxviii. ♦25; the idea is ‘commotion,’ when they are or may be in commotion) the keepers of the house, and perplex themselves (see chapter i. 15, vii. 13), the men (אנושי, ‘weak men’) of the strength (it is quite consistent with the character of the writer to join such terms as these together, with an oblique sarcasm hidden beneath them), and cease (here only, a so-called late word) the grinding maids, because they are diminished, and are dark the gazers (feminine) in the windows ((1.) the keepers are the slaves; (2.) the strong men the masters; (3.) the grinding maids the women servants; (4) the gazers are the ladies——compare Judges v. 28; thus is comprised the whole family.)

(4.) And shut are the doors in the street, in the failing voice of the grinding, (or ‘grinding maid’), and rises up (as there is no nominative we must take it as impersonal, ‘one rises up’) to a voice of the sparrow, and brought low (see Isaiah ii. 9, and also xxix. 4, where the word is used of a muttering voice) all daughters of the song.

(5.) Moreover (this marks a transition in the catalogue of ills, the former were external evils——these come from within) also from the height they fear; and terrors in the way; and the almond is despised; and burdens itself the grasshopper; and scattered the desire. (This passage has exercised translators and commentators from the earliest times. The LXX. read——καίγε ἀπὸ ὕψους ὄψονται, καὶ θάμβοι ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, καὶ ἀνθήσει τὸ ἀμύγδαλον, καὶ ♦παχυνθῇ ἡ ἀκρίς, καὶ διασκεδασθῇ ἡ καππάρις——‘and they shall look from the height, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the locust shall increase, and the caper berry shall be scattered.’ Here B. read εἰς τὸ ὕψος, ‘into the height.’ Aquila, τρόμῳ τρομήσουσιν, ‘they shall tremble a trembling;’ and καὶ καρπεύσει ἡ καππάρις, ‘the caper-berry shall fructify.’ Now Symmachus, quoted by Jerome, read——‘Super hæc etiam de eccelso videbunt, et error erit in via, et obdormiet vigilans, et dissolvetur spiritus fortitudo.’ The last words are, however, preserved in Greek——καὶ διαλυθῇ ἡ ἐπίπονος. ‘On these they look from the height, and error will be in the way, and the watchful will fall asleep, and the courage of the spirit will be dissolved.’ The Syriac reads—— ——‘and also from the height they fear, and shall be terrified in the way, and the watch shall rush upon him, and the almond flourish, and the grasshopper be increased, and the caper shall burst, and desire shall cease.’ We think that, with these different versions before us, all of which have preserved portions of the original, we shall be able to conjecture the meaning of the text. It is just possible that originally the text read מגביה, and which might have been altered by displacing the י, and putting it on to the beginning of the next word; for otherwise it is hard to suppose that the LXX. would go out of their way to alter a reading the meaning of which, as it stands, is so obvious. B. seems to have preserved this original reading. The difference to the sense, however, is not great, as this looking upwards is evidently the effect of fear, as is shown by the next clause. This begins with the word וחתחתים——a reduplicated and therefore emphasized form of חתת, to ‘be dismayed,’ or ‘distracted,’ as in the sense of ‘broken in pieces;’ hence the rendering of Aquila: ‘These intense tremblings in the way’——which word ‘way’ surely we may interpret in the ethical sense so common in this book of ‘way of life’——are the natural result of ‘looking with fearfulness into the height.’ Compare chapter iii. 21.

The next clause is still more obscure. The word ינאץ has, in all other places, the meaning ‘to be despised,’ or, in piel, to ‘provoke.’ The hiphil occurs here only, and is rendered, contrary to all analogy, ‘flourish.’ This is virtually to alter the text; and though the LXX. support this rendering, it is clear, from its various readings, that the Greek text has also been tampered with. The original meaning has apparently been preserved by Symmachus, and by the alternative rendering of the Syriac. Then as to ‘the almond tree,’ השקד: the word occurs Genesis xliii. 11, Numbers xvii. 8 (23), Jeremiah i. 11, all. This last passage gives probably the clue. The almond is the first tree to blossom in the coming spring, and is its harbinger; it is, as it were, in a hurry to welcome it; but this harbinger of spring is despised. As to the interpretation that the almond blossom is an allegorical description of the white hairs of an old man, it may be answered that the almond blossom is pink, not white.

The next clause——‘Desire shall fail’——may be explained in the same way. The word תפר, the hiphil of פרר, has always the meaning to ‘break,’ ‘disannul’——see Numbers xxx. 13, Job xv. 4, and hophal, Zechariah xi. 11. Evidently Symmachus, with the reading διαλυθῇ ἡ ἐπίπονος, has preserved the true meaning; for by ἐπίπονος he has rendered the word אביונה, which occurs here only. Now we have no right to seek a strange signification for this word when fair sense can be made according to the ordinary derivations. אביון occurs frequently in the sense of ‘a poor person’——the root being אבה, ‘to wish,’ or ‘desire.’ Jerome translates, as we see——‘Et dissolvetur spiritus fortitudinis’——‘the spirit or breath of the brave is dissolved,’ which is ad sensum; so that we may take אביונה as simply an abstract of אביון, with the meaning of ‘wishfulness,’ or ‘longing.’ Thus the reading of the LXX. is explained: Capers are provocatives of desire or appetite, and hence their Hebrew name. The ἐπίπονος of Symmachus occurs only once again, at Isaiah liii. 3, where it represents the Hebrew מכאבות, ‘griefs’ (see Field’s most instructive note, Hexaplar in loc.). Thus we venture to offer the following as a probable explanation of this passage:——‘Besides, they look with dread on high, and great dismay is in the way, and the almond tree (as a symbol of anticipation) is despised, and the grasshopper (as a symbol of what is small and light) is burdensome, and the caper-berries (as the symbol of desires or longings) are scattered.’ In the last clause the metaphorical out-tops the literal meaning, as the Authorized Version renders, rightly abandoning the LXX. at this point.) For (or ‘so’) advances (הלך, recalling chapter i.) the man (in the ordinary technical meaning of humanity) to (‘towards,’ LXX. εἰς, in its primary sense of motion to a place) a house of his age (עלמו, having its ordinary sense of ‘the age,’ or αἰὼν, as the LXX. render. The Authorized Version’s ‘long home’ is a beautiful paraphrase: his ‘brief home’ is his house; his ‘long home’ his tomb), and go round in the street (which the LXX. render ἐν ἀγορᾷ, ‘in the market’) the mourners (those who mourn for the dead).

We must notice, in interpreting these last verses that the acts described are all such as take time, indeed but a short time, to accomplish, and occur frequently. The string of the lamp will be loosed almost daily, and the lamp taken away; and surely no more poetical or impressive metaphor of death can be discovered than a lamp with oil-bowl gone. Next we have the shattered pitcher——an accident which may happen at any time; and then the bucket running down into the well, which is a comparatively frequent occurrence, and may well bring vividly before our minds the disappearance of one who was just before familiarly among us. That the bucket might be drawn up again full of living water is necessarily not mentioned, but is one of those hidden sarcastic promises in which the book delights. The last two clauses are joined together by the simple ‘and;’ but there is clearly at this point a transition from simile to metaphor, which the Authorized Version notices. If indeed one likes to take it so, the simile is true enough of dust and wind, but the last clause discloses a deeper meaning. After all, the promises of a resurrection are but scarcely hidden behind the apparent hopelessness of the conclusion arrived at.

(9.) And for the rest (for now is to be added something over and above, to form a supplement to what went before; compare 1 Kings xiv. 19 both for the Hebrew and Greek. As the word וְיֹתֵ֕ר stands first, it is the subject: whether we point it as noun or participle will not make much difference to the sense, but the Masoretic pointing is best; they also, with great taste, put a large distinctive accent on the word. The meaning is, ‘there is something yet to be added;’) that he was (the contract-relative with subject verb) even a Koheleth (i.e. a preacher or gatherer) who was wise, yet (the LXX. render καὶ ὅτι , ‘nevertheless,’ but their rendering is very remarkable and we will discuss it at length presently) taught knowledge (and in the sense so common in this book, of the knowledge how to act under a given set of circumstances) with respect to the people (not as usually understood that he taught the people knowledge, but taught knowledge with regard to the people, the collected body of humanity; compare chapter iv. 16) and he gave heed, and he sought out (Deuteronomy xiii. 4; Psalms cxxxix. 1) an order (chapter i. 15, viii. 18; this is the third time of occurrence of this root, which is peculiar to this book. The Masorets point as piel pret., it might however be a noun, as the LXX. render it, and we shall see reason presently for adopting this interpretation) of parables the many.

(10.) Sought Koheleth to find words of providence (דבר and חפץ, both in their usual technical senses) and written (full participial form) uprightness, words of truth. (The passage is very obscure; the LXX. render καὶ περισσὸν ὅτι ἐγένετο ὁ ἐκκλησιαστὴς σοφὸς [καὶ] ὅτι ἐδίδαξεν γνῶσιν σὺν τὸν ἄνθροπον καὶ οὖς ἐξιχνιάσεται κόσμιον παραβολῶν. Πολλὰ, κ.τ.λ. ‘and for the rest, because the Preacher was wise, and because he taught knowledge with respect to the man, and his ear will trace out the orderly arrangement of parables.’ Now, some curious features in this rendering deserve notice——the word κόσμιον occurs 1 Timothy ii. 9, and iii. 2; it is used as a neuter, ‘orderliness.’ Again, את העם is rendered σὺν τὸν ἄνθρωπον. B. omits and A² includes in brackets the καὶ, so marked, in the text; A² reads ἔτι; F.X. omit σὺν; F. reads [for ἄνθρωπον] λαὸν; E. ἐξιχνίασε; and D. κόσμον. Thus it appears probable that the LXX. read יחקר and as this future follows the past, we have the sense of the imperfect: they also translated σὺν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, because they considered העם as used generically——see chapter iv. 16, and in the same sense. If, however, the Hebrew text were altered, which would be done simply by lengthening the jud י into van ו, the rendering of the LXX. would become unintelligible, and hence the variations, especially that of E. Then אזן, which is really nominative to יחקר, and emphatic as standing before it, came to be regarded as a verb and pointed piel, the only instance of such pointing that occurs, and then accenting וְחִקֵּ֔ר with zakeph, the Masorets made these two words a parenthesis, and pointed תִּקֵּן as a piel pret., instead of a noun as do the LXX.; they then make הרבה singular agree with the plural משלים, which would, according to the usage of this book, be distributive. On the whole, however, it seems very probable that the LXX. have preserved the right reading, or at least the meaning of the passage; this meaning is, ‘and for the rest, because Koheleth was a wise man, still he taught knowledge with respect to the people, and his ear [i.e. judgment, for the word contains the idea of weighing as in a balance] was seeking out an orderly meaning [or solution] of parables;’ by parables he means doubtless the mysterious facts cited. The next verse takes this thought up thus: ‘Very much sought Koheleth in order to find words of providence——and written correctly words of truth.’ If the reading were really וכתוב, and not, as we may conjecture, יכתוב, we should then read ‘he was writing,’ which it must be confessed makes excellent sense. The LXX. render here [καὶ] γεγραμμένον εὐθύτητος λόγους ἀληθείας, in the accusative, governed by ἐζήτησεν, and the meaning is therefore, ‘sought ... a thing written of right [even] words of truth.’ This agrees altogether with the context, and also is cognate with what follows).

(11.) The words of (but as דברי is repeated, we have ‘those words of’) wise men as goads (דברי חכמים כדרבנות; the play is manifest between דבר and דרב, but דרבנות occurs here only, note also its two accents, and the noun in a concrete form at 1 Samuel xiii. 21) and as nails (the particle of comparison being repeated, gives the idea ‘but as nails as well,’ but מַשְֹמְרֹות, spelt with the letter sin, occurs here only; only one instance of a piel participle of the very common verb שמר occurs, viz. Jonah ii. 8 (9), but the noun משמר is also quite common; see 1 Chronicles ix. 23, where למִשׁמָרוֹת occurs in the sense of ‘by wards’) planted masters of assemblies (אספה, occurs as a feminine noun Isaiah xxiv. 22; LXX. συναγωγὴν. This word has a curious history, which will further illustrate its meaning at this place. The reading of the Hexapla at Isaiah xxiv. 22 is: Οʹ. καὶ συνάξουσι ※ συναγωγὴν αὐτῆς ※ εἰς δεσμωτήριον καὶ ἀποκλείσουσιν εἰς ὀχύρωμα. Σ. καὶ ἀθροισθήσονται ἀθροισμὸν δεσμίου καὶ συγκλεισθήσονται εἰς συγκλεισμόν, showing a difficulty about the word which in the Hexapla is included between ♦asterisks. Here the Peshito renders Koheleth by ‘masters of thresholds,’ and uses this same word at Exodus xii. 22, 23, and Deuteronomy vi. 9; hence they understood the allusion to be to the stake set across the entrance of the fold to prevent the cattle from straying out. That this reading will explain Isaiah xxiv. 22 is evident enough, and that it will explain this passage also will be seen if we look upon these goads as both compelling the oxen to labour, and, as the Syriac renders, forming the stakes which close the entrance to the lair); are given from a shepherd, one only (notice that אחד stands emphatically at the end of the sentence, and must mean, therefore, ‘the shepherd, who is the only one.’ This verse has greatly perplexed commentators: a diligent perusal of the ancient versions, and following the hint given by the Syriac above, will show us what is the real meaning. The LXX. read πεπυρωμένοι A¹. D. E. X., which A², B alter to πεφυτευμένοι, and which Aquila follows; probably πεπυρωμένοι was a misreading of πεπαρμένοι, from πάρω, ‘to infix;’ Symmachus reads πεπηγότες ‘constructed on,’ see Hebrews viii. 2. All the ancient Greek versions consider בעלי as a preposition, and render by παρὰ τῶν; the LXX. render אספות by συναγμάτων; B. συνθεμάτων; Aquila συνταγμάτων; Syriac Hexapla ; Symmachus συναχθέντων, otherwise συναντημάτων; Syriac , all which words have nearly the same meaning. The Syriac also gives here, from Theodotion, what is possibly a rendering of this place, but may be intended for παρεωραμένῳ, in verse 14, , i.e. ἀόρατοι, ‘unseen things.’ The Peshito rendering, perhaps, may give us the clue——these ‘collections’ or ‘collectanea’ are the instances of human life adduced by Koheleth, and it is men [like a herd of oxen driven by goads, and confined by stakes] over which these wise words are masters; and this we think will make all clear. The meaning of the passage will be: ‘These words of wise men are like goads, by which the ox is incited to labour, but then they are like stakes [i.e. to which the ox may be tied, or, of which a fence might be made to confine him] as well, planted around the persons brought together, [or the herd, and so infixed as masters of the assembly]; they are given from the shepherd [or herdsman’——for the word has both senses]——‘who is the only one;’ or, since מֵרֶֹעֶה is ambiguous, and pointed מִרְעֶה means ‘pasture,’ they give pasture only. Thus the metaphor is kept up and the equivoke maintained).

(12.) But for the rest (repeating the formula of verse 9, and hence a further extension of the same idea), from them (emphatic, ‘but for anything else that these wise words can do’ is the meaning) my son, be admonished: makings of books (ספרים used for the sake of the alliteration with אספות above) the many (i.e. too many) is nothing of an end (i.e. gives no result) and study (להג occurs here only, LXX. μελέτη) the much (too much) wearies (compare chapter i. 8) the flesh. (Thus even wisdom itself is no cure for the ills of humanity. The catalogue of human ills and the instances of human evanescence would form too large a volume for humanity to master, so that in this case also the world itself would not contain the books which should be written. The grand result of all however is easily obtained, and follows.)

(13.) The conclusion (compare chapter iii. 11, vii. 2) of the word (i.e. the final reason), the whole (with article in its usual sense), is heard (niphal), with respect to the Deity, fear; and with respect to his commandments, keep (notice the emphatic את, which, however, the LXX. do not render by σὺν, because the article and position give the emphasis required) for this is all the man (i.e. the whole duty, happiness, etc., of humanity).