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taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was unknown writer of the attestation (probably the President of the Sanhe. drin, or some other Master of the Wise, such as were Hillel and Gamaliel) begins by repeating the key-note of the opening of the book. So taken, the words are every way significant. They do not name Solomon as the author, but content themselves with recognising the enigmatic name with which the unknown writer had veiled himself. He, they say, belonged to the company of the sages. He gave good heed" (literally, he hearkened or gave ear), he "sought out" (we note how exactly the word describes the tentative, investigating character of the book, as in Judg. xviii. 2; 2 Sam. x. 3; Prov. xxviii. 11; Job v. 27, xxviii. 27), he "set in order" (i.e. composed) "many proverbs." The word for "proverbs" is that which stands as the title of the Book of Proverbs, but it expresses, more than the English term does, the parabolic, half-enigmatic character which is characteristic of most sayings of this nature in the East, and as such is translated by "parables" in the LXX. here, and in the A. V. in Ezek. xx. 49; Ps. xlix. 4; Num. xxiii. 7, 18, 24 and elsewhere. The words have been pressed by some interpreters as a testimony to the Salomonic authorship, but it is obvious that though they fit in with that hypothesis, they are equally applicable to any one who followed in the same track and adopted the same method of teaching.

10. The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words] Literally, words of delight, or pleasure, as in chs. v. 4, xii. 1. The phrase reminds us of "the words of grace" (Luke iv. 22) which came from the lips of Him, who, as the Incarnate Wisdom of God, was, in very deed, greater than Solomon. The fact is stated as by way of apologia for the character of the book. The object of the teacher was to attract men by meeting, or seeming to meet, their inclinations, by falling in with the results of their own experience. We are reminded so far of the words of Lucretius:

"Nam veluti pueris absinthia tetra medentes,

Cum dare conantur, prius oras pocula circum
Contingunt mellis dulci, flavoque liquore,
Ut puerorum ætas improvida ludificetur
Labrorum tenus, interea perpotet amarum
Absinthî laticem, deceptaque non capiatur,
Sed potius tali pacto recreata valescat."

"As those who heal the body, when they seek
To give to children wormwood's nauseous juice,
First smear the cup's rim with sweet golden honey,
That infant's thoughtless age may be beguiled
Just to the margin's edge, and so may drink
The wormwood's bitter draught, beguiled, not tricked,
But rather gain thereby in strength and health."
De Rer. Nat. IV. 11-17.

written was upright, even words of truth. The words of the 11 wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. And 12

and that which was written was upright] The italics shew that the sentence is somewhat elliptical, and it is better to take the two sets of phrases in apposition with the "acceptable words" that precede them, even a writing of uprightness (i.e. of subjective sincerity), words of truth (in its objective sense). The words are, thus understood, a full testimony to the character of the book thus commended to the reader's attention.

11. The words of the wise are as goads] The general fact is, of course, stated in special connexion with the book which furnishes the writer's theme. They assert that its words also, sweet as they seem, are not without their sting, though, like the prick of the goad, it is for good and not for evil, urging men on to strong and vigorous labour in the fields of thought and action. The comparison was a natural one in any country, but we are reminded of what was said of the words of Pericles that his eloquence "left a sting (Kévтpov) in the minds of his hearers (Eupolis, quoted by Liddell and Scott, s.v. KÉVTρOV), and in part also of the Greek proverb, consecrated for us by a yet higher application (Acts ix. 5, xxvi. 14) that "it is hard to kick against the pricks," as applicable to resisting wisdom as well as to defying power (Esch. Agam. 1633, Pindar, Pyth. II. 173).

as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies] The word for "nails" is found in this, or a cognate form, with that meaning in Isai. xli. 7; Jer. x. 4; 1 Chron. xxii. 3; 2 Chron. iii. 9; and there is no adequate reason for taking it here, as some have done (Ginsburg), in the sense of the "stakes of a tent. The word "by" however is an interpolation, and the words taken as they stand would run as nails fastened are the masters of assemblies. The whole analogy of the Hebrew is against our referring the last words to any but persons, and we must therefore reject the interpretation that the "words of the wise are as goads, as fastened nails which are put together in collections" (Delitzsch). The "masters of assemblies "(not, as it has been rendered (Tyler) "editors of collections",) can be none else than the heads or leaders of a body of learned men, like the Great Synagogue of the traditions of the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, or the Sanhedrin of a later date. In "the fastened nail" we have a symbolism like that of Isai. xxii. 23; Ezra ix. 8, and seen also in the Rabbinic proverb, "Well for the man who has a nail to hang things on " (Dukes, Rabbin. Blumenlese, p. 121). In both these cases, it will be noted, the word refers to persons. It is the fitting emblem of fixity and permanence, and forms the natural complement to that of the goads. As it has been well put (Ginsburg), the two words express the several aspects of Truth as progressive and conservative.

which are given from one shepherd] The noun is used often in the O. T. both in its literal sense, and of kings and rulers as the shepherds

further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

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of their people (Jerem. ii. 8, iii. 15, xlix. 19, 1. 44; Ezek. xxxiv. passim), and of God as the great Shepherd of Israel (Ps. xxiii. I, 1xxx. 1, and by implication, Ezek. xxxiv. 23). We have to choose accordingly between the two latter meanings. The words either assert that all the varied forms of the wisdom of the wise come from God, or that all the opinions, however diversified, which are uttered by "the masters of assemblies, are subject to the authority of the President of the assembly. The first gives, it is believed, the most satisfactory meaning, and so taken, the words express the truth declared, without symbolism, in 1 Cor. xii. I-II. It was not, perhaps, without some reference to this thought, though scarcely to this passage, that our Lord claimed for Himself as the one true Guide and Teacher of mankind the title of the "Good Shepherd," and condemned all that had come before Him, assuming that character, as thieves and robbers (John x. 8, 11), and that St Peter speaks of Him as the "chief Shepherd" (1 Pet. v. 4) over all who exercise a pastoral office in the Church of Christ.

12. And further, by these, my son, be admonished] Better, And for more than these (i.e. for all that lies beyond), be warned. The address "my son" is, as in Prov. i. 1, ii. 1, x. 15, that of the ideal teacher to his disciple. It is significant, as noted above, that this appears here for the first time in this book.

of making many books there is no end] The words, which would have been singularly inappropriate as applied to the scanty literature of the reign of the historical Solomon, manifestly point to a time when the teachers of Israel had come in contact with the literature of other countries, which overwhelmed them with its variety and copiousness, and the scholar is warned against trusting to that literature as a guide to wisdom. Of that copiousness, the Library at Alexandria with its countless volumes would be the great example, and the inscription over the portals of that at Thebes that it was the Hospital of the Soul (larpeîov uxns, Diodor. Sic. I. 49) invited men to study them as the remedy for their spiritual diseases. Conspicuous among these, as the most voluminous of all, were the writings of Demetrius Phalereus (Diog. Laert. v. 5. 9), and those of Epicurus, numbering three hundred volumes (Diog. Laert. x. 1. 17), and of his disciple Apollodorus, numbering four hundred (Diog. Laert. x. 1. 15), and these and other like writings, likely to unsettle the faith of a young Israelite, were probably in the Teacher's thought. The teaching of the Jewish Rabbis at the time when Koheleth was written was chiefly oral, embodying itself in maxims and traditions, and the scantiness of its records must have presented a striking contrast to the abounding fulness of that of the philosophy of Greece. It was not till a much later period that these traditions of the elders were collected into the Mishna and the Gemara that make up the Talmud. Scholars sat at the feet of their teacher,

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear 13 God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judg- 14

and drank in his words, and handed them on to their successors. The words of the wise thus orally handed down are contrasted with the 66 many books."

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much study is a weariness of the flesh] The noun for "study" is not found elsewhere in the O. T., but there is no doubt as to its meaning. What men gain by the study of many books is, the writer seems to say, nothing but a headache, no guidance for conduct, no solution of the problems of the universe. They get, to use the phrase which Pliny (Epp. VII. 9) has made proverbial, "multa, non multum." We are reminded of the saying of a higher Teacher that one thing is needful" (Luke x. 42). The words of Marcus Aurelius, the representative of Stoicism, when he bids men to "free themselves from the thirst for books" (Medit. II. 3), present a striking parallel. So again, "Art thou so unlettered that thou canst not read, yet canst thou abstain from wantonness, and be master of pain and pleasure (Meditt. VII. 8).

13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter] The word for "let us hear" has been taken by some scholars as a participle with a gerundial force, "The sum of the whole matter must be heard," but it admits of being taken as in the English version, and this gives a more satisfying meaning. The rendering "everything is heard," i.e. by God, has little to recommend it, and by anticipating the teaching of the next verse introduces an improbable tautology. The words admit of the rendering the sum of the whole discourse, which is, perhaps, preferable.

Fear God, and keep his commandments] This is what the Teacher who, as it were, edits the book, presents to his disciples as its sum and substance, and he was not wrong in doing so. In this the Debater himself had rested after his many wanderings of thought (ch. v. 7, and, by implication, xi. 9). Whatever else might be "vanity and feeding on wind," there was safety and peace in keeping the commandments of the Eternal, the laws "which are not of to-day or yesterday." for this is the whole duty of man] The word "duty" is not in the Hebrew, and we might supply "the whole end," or "the whole work," or with another and better construction, This is for every man: i.e. a law of universal obligation. What is meant is that this is the only true answer to that quest of the chief good in which the thinker had been engaged. This was, in Greek phrase, the pyov or "work" of man, that to which he was called by the very fact of his existence. All else was but a Tápeрyov, or accessory.

14. For God shall bring every work into judgment] Once again the Teacher brings into prominence what was indeed the outcome of the book; though, as history shews, the careless reader, still more the reader blinded by his passions, or prejudice, or frivolity, might easily

ment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

overlook it. The object of the writer had not been to preach a selfindulgence of the lowest Epicurean type, or to deny the soul's immortality, though for a time he had hesitated to affirm it, but much rather to enforce the truth, which involved that belief, of a righteous judgment (ch. xi. 9), seen but imperfectly in this life, with its anomalous distribution of punishments and rewards, but certain to assert itself, if not before, when "the spirit shall return to God who gave it" (verse 7). From the standpoint of the writer of the epilogue it was shewn that the teaching of Ecclesiastes was not inconsistent with the faith of Israel, that it had a right to take its place among the Sacred Books of Israel. From our standpoint we may say that it was shewn not less convincingly that the book, like all true records of the search after Truth, led men through the labyrinthine windings of doubt to the goal of duty, through the waves and winds of conflicting opinions to the unshaken rock of the Eternal Commandment.

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