* J. R. Illingworth, Divine Transcendence, 205.
ECCLESIASTES ix. lo . 387
reaper " who Dever sits down to rest, holds on its way. We see it. We know it. We are sure that this will happen to ourselves. We stand as if upon precipitous ground, slipping away. And this brief, uncertain life is all the time we have to sow the good seeds of eternity. It was upon this that the Jewish writer fixed his mind. It seemed to him but reasonable that, in the presence of death, which in other passages he pictures as so uncertain in its advent, men should cease trifling with time. It was this truth of natural religion that made him hopeful that they would be persuaded to put their whole strength into what they did, realizing that they might never have the chance to do it again in this life, and that after death there was neither work nor device. And surely with this solemn thought do the years speak as they roll on to eternity ; and he into whose heart their voice enters, and who does not silence it, he it is who will be found giving to worthy work his best strength and his unconquerable patience.
^ Life to the pessimist is but a series of pains to be experienced. To the giddy, thoughtless pleasure-seeker it is so much or so little opportunity for the gratification of selfish desires. To some it is more than this. It is a series of opportunities for doing good, and we must make haste to use them all, because our time will soon be up, and we must away to see whether we have carried out God's programme. Remember this ; think upon it ; not with morbid feelings of fear, but because the time is so short, let us live while we live. Let us work while it is yet day, for when the day has completed its course, work unaccomplished must remain undona^
^ G. H. Morgan, Modem Knighls-ErraiUf 191,
Giving and Receiving.
Literature.
Askew (E. A.), The Service of Perfect Freedom, 225.
Bradley (G. G.), Lectures on Ecclesiastes, 190.
Cox (S.), The Book of Ecclesiastes (Expositor's Bible), 247.
Deane (W. J.), in The Pulpit Commentary, 275.
Finlayson (T. C), The Meditations and Maxims of Koheleth, 239.
Hamilton (J.), The Royal Preacher, 197 {Works, iii. 190).
Hodgson (A. P.), Thoughts for the King's Children, 132.
Houchin (J. W.), The Vision of God, 107.
Jerdan (C), Manna for Young Pilgrims, 152.
Matheson (G.), Thoughts for Life's Journey, 231.
Pattison (T. H.), The South Wind, 197.
Plumptre (E. H.), Ecclesiastes, 204.
Stanford (C), Central Truths, 194.
Thomson (E. A.), Memorials of a Ministry, 110.
Thomson (J. R.), in The Pulpit Commentary, 284.
Watkinson (W. L.), Studies in Christian Character, ii. 234.
Wilson (S. L.X Helpful Words for Daily Life, 123.
Wright (C. H, H.), Ecclesiastes in Relation to Modern Criticism and
Pessimism, 223. Christian World Pulpit, xxxviii. 120 (W. J. Hocking). Church of England Pulpit, xli. 121 (C. A. Jones). Churchinan's Pulpit : Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity, xiii. 465 (C.
J. Vaughan). Twentieth Centwry Pastor, xxxiii. 13 (J. S. Maver).
W
Giving and Receiving.
Cast thy bread upon the waters : for thou shalt find it after many days.— Ecdes. xi. I.
1. Theke is considerable difference of opinion as to the sense of this verse of Ecclesiastes. The old interpretation which found in it a reference to the practice in Egypt of sowing seed during the inundation of the Nile is not admissible. The verb shalach is not used in the sense of sowing or scattering seed ; it means " to cast or send forth." But there are two other explanations of the passage for which much can be said.
(1) The view which Delitzsch has taken is a modification of that formerly held by Martin Geier, J. D. Michaelis and others — namely, that Koheleth recommends the practice of the prudent merchant, who sends for his merchandise in ships, which go over the face of the waters to distant lands, with the expectation that on their return he will receive his own with an increase. This view is supposed to be confirmed by the statement concerning the good woman in Prov. xxxi. 14, " She is like the merchants' ships ; she bringeth her food from afar," and the words of Ps. cvii. 23, " They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters." But one sees no reason why Koheleth should suddenly turn to commerce and the trade of a maritime city. Such con- siderations have no reference to the context or to the general design of the book. Nothing leads to them, nothing comes of them.
(2) The favourite explanation is that the verse inculcates a liberal charity — " Give your bread to any who chance to need it, and you will at some distant time receive a reward." If we take it so, we have a maxim in due accordance with the spirit of the rest of the work, and one which conduces to the conclusion reached at the end. The bread in the East is made in the form of thin cakes, which would float for a time if thrown into a
392 GIVING AND RECEIVING
stream ; and, if it be objected that no one would be guilty of such an irrational action as flinging bread into the water, it may be answered that this is just the point aimed at. Do your kindnesses, exert yourself, in the most unlikely quarters, thinking not of gratitude or return, but only of duty. And yet surely a recom- pense will be made in some form or other.