2. The earliest comment on the passage is that of Ben Sira, who. in a maxim of his, extant only in Chaldee, observes, " Strew thy bread upon the surface of the water and on the dry land, and thou shalt find it in the end of days." It will be observed in this earliest comment upon the verse that the difficulty of considering the verb to refer to sowing of seed was felt even at that time, and an attempt made to obviate it by translating the word in a sense in which it certainly occurs. Bishop Lowth in his work on Hebrew Poetry has explained the phrase as equivalent to the Greek expres- sion " to sow the sea." But the aphorism of Koheleth was not meant as an exhortation to engage in labour though apparently fruitless. Its signification is better conveyed in the Arabic pro- verb quoted from Diez by several commentators, " Do good, cast thy bread into the water, at some time a recompense will be made thee." Delitzsch observes that the same proverb has been natural- ized in Turkish, " Do good, throw it into the water ; if the fish does not know it, God does."
^ A very suitable parallel is quoted by Herzfeld from Goethe's Westostlicher Divan,
Was willst du untersuchen,
Wohin die Milde fliesst! Ins Wasser wirf deine Kuchen :
Wer weiss, wer sie geniesst!
A similar interpretation is found in Voltaire. Dukes gives in his note the following story, quoted from the Kabus by Diez (Denkwiirdigkeiten von Asien, 1 Th. p. 106 ff.), which, whether it be a fact or a fiction, well illustrates the meaning of the Arabic proverb : " The caliph Mutewekkil in Bagdad had an adopted son Fettich, of whom he was very fond. As the latter was bathing one day, he sank under the water and disappeared. The caliph offered a large reward to any one who should recover the boy's body. A bather was fortunate enough after seven days to dis- cover the boy alive in a cavern in a precipitous mountain by which
ECCLESIASTES xi. i 393
the river flowed. On investigation, the caliph ascertained that the boy was kept from starving by cakes of bread borne to him over the surface of the water, on which cakes was stamped the name of Mohammed ben Hassan, The caliph, having summoned Mohammed ben Hassan into his presence, asked him what induced him to throw the bread into the water. Mohammed ben Hassan replied that he had done so every day for a whole year in order to test the truth of the Arabic proverb already cited. The caliph, according to the story, was so pleased with his conduct that he made over to him on the spot five villages in the neighbourhood of Bagdad.^
3. The whole passage in which the text occurs seems to be a protest against that despondency and over-anxiety which are so apt to lower our generosity, and to relax our faithfulness to duty. Beneficence ought to look forward hopefully into the future ; but it ought not to be over-calculating. Beneficence without hope loses one of the springs of its energy. Beneficence without thought may cease to be beneficence in anything but the motive, and may positively injure where it desires to bless. But thought- fulness in well-doing is one thing ; anxious calculation is another thing. Such calculation is apt to rob us of hope, and to depress our energy. It is likely also to defeat its own ends. For there are limits to our powers of thought. We cannot with certainty forecast the future, or foretell the results even of our own actions. The ways of God are, many of them, mysterious. It is ours to sow; the harvest is with Him. No doubt we ought to sow as wisely as we can ; but we ought also to remember that, with all our wisdom, the harvest may be different from what we anticipate. If we begin to calculate too much, we shall calculate badly. Let us therefore do good "as we have opportunity," dealing with present claims rather than with future contingencies, acting with hopeful yet unselfish generosity, and with diligent and thoughtful yet unanxious beneficence. This seems to be the central lesson of the passage before us.
^ Give not only unto seven, but also unto eight, that is, unto more than many. Though to give unto every one that asketh may seem severe advice, yet give thou also before asking ; that is, where want is silently clamorous, and men's necessities not their
1 C. H. H. Wright.
394 GIVING AND RECEIVING
tongues do loudly call for thy mercies. For though sometimes necessitousness be dumb, or misery speak not out, yet true charity is sagacious, and will find out hints for beneficence. Acquaint thyself with the physiognomy of want, and let the dead colours and first lines of necessity suffice to tell thee there is an object for thy bounty. Spare not where thou canst not easily be prodigal and fear not to be undone by mercy ; for since he who hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Almighty rewarder, who observes no ides [when borrowed money was repaid] but every day for his payments, charity becomes pious usury, Christian liberality the most thriving industry; and what we adventure in a cockboat may return in a carrack unto us. He who thus casts his bread upon the water shall surely find it again ; for though it falleth to the bottom, it sinks but like the axe of the prophet, to rise again unto him.^