Flach sei der Hoffnung I Finch dem Glaul)en I TJnd Fluch vor alien der Goduld I Geister-Chor : Weh ! Weh 1
Du hast sie zerstort.
Die schone Welt,
Mit miichtiger Faust ,
Sie stiirzt, sie zerfallt :
£in Halbgott bat sie zerschla^n J
Wir tragen
Die Trummern ins Nicbts hinubflr,
Pnd klagen
ijber die verlome Schone.
Machtitrer
Der Erdensohne,
Pnichtiger
Baue sie wieder.
In deinem Busen baue sie aut 1
Over against this the following positive struc- ture is reared by one who supplemented tha poem (cf. C. Siegfried, 'Job' in Haupt's SBOT). He insists that, while Nature, especially in her ter- rible catastrophes, exhibits merely the working of Almighty power whose immensity overwhelms man (ch. 26), yet in her positive operations, in the variety of her creatures and their mode of life, she reveals an admirable law and order ; from which it follows that not merely brute force but also hidden wisdom interpenetrates and controls the life of nature (chs. 38-41). The depths of this wisdom are indeed beyond man's understanding (28'-"), but the analogy of the life of nature leads us to postulate a similar order for the moral world, although it is not in man's power to state its laws. Man luis left to him the essence of all wLsdom in the practical maxim of life — the fear of Jahweh and the avoiding of evil (26^). The theo- retical solutiou of the problem is thus given up in the Book of Job. Yet the standpoint of faith and of religion is maintained, as in Ec 12'"-. — Another solution is proposed in the Elihu speeches, but it
WISDOM
WISDOM
927
is opposfil to the whole tendency of tlie poem. These speeches trace tlie sullerin^s of the ri^'litcous to an aim on (Icxl'a part to purify them morall}', and to keep them from sin (33'"- -''-*' 30). The olijeet of buflering, that is to say, is here a pa;da- go^ic one.
(r) Ecclesiastes. — A complete breach with the position of Jewisli orthodoxy was reached in the ' Giundsclirift ' of this book (Q' ; cf. C. Siefifried in Xowack's Udlcum. z. AT, ' I'rediger and Holies- lied,' Uottinjien, 1898), embracing the following f)a.s.sa"es : H-2'-' "•>•"• 3'''"- ''■ '"• '»"-' 4'-*- '•''■ '^-" S""- 2-lli (Jl-7 ■Jlb-4. 1». 26-28 ga(. U. Ml. g2(. »(. JQS-? (gf / j_
p. 6tr. ). We tind here a pessimist pliitosophy radically divorced from Judaism and influenced mainly by Stoicism (cf. I.e. pp. 6-10). The buok \va.s glossed by an Epicurean Sadducee (Q-), to whom belong 3^= u""!" yn- is gio 9^- '■'"• '= lO" ll'"*"- a.. 10 i.2ib-7. (; c. p. 10 f.) ; further, by a haUiilm (Q'), who defends Wisdom against its disparagement by Q', and to whom are attributed 2"- '^ 4' 6'- "" 7"'- " 8' 9"-" lO'-*-'--" {I.e. p. 11); and, most notably, by a Jewisli liiisid {Q* ; I.e. p. 11 f.), who corrected the anti-Jewish views of Q'. To his hand we owe the passages: 2--"'-'^ 311. 13M7 417.51. 3-s. 61. 1. (jio-21
-13. 17. iJ-a. 29 82-8.11-18 Ql jp. 8b. 9b JO'*- ">, On tile
other hand, scattered interpolations (Q» ; I.e. p. 12), in the spirit of the old gnomic Wisdom, contain exhortations to a prudent conduct of life: 4""'-
52.lia.8.11 -la. 8. 6«. 7-10. 18. 2U-^ ()11 JQJ. 8-11, 10-18 Jll-4.8
A redactor (R') put together 1--12', and supplied this whole with the closing formula 12^ Then came particular additions : Urst epilogue 12^'-, which in- forms the reader as to the personality of Qoheleth anil removes the mask of king Solomon ; second epilogue 12'"-, which assumes an opposite attitude, one opposed to this Wi-^dom literature; and 12"'-, the work of a linal redactor (R-), who from tlie I'liari.saic standpoint alludes to a llnal future judg- ment, a doctrine with which Q* (3" 11"'') is not yet acijuainted {I.e. p. 12).
In the genuine parts of the poem the theme 'All is vanity ' is treated by tj' in a series of parallel arguments. In the first of these it is establislied that all that happens on earth exhibits an iron law of cycle, in which certain jiassing phenomena re- gularly recur (I''"). All man's ellorts to discover a reasonable ground for this arrangement come to nought (vv. '-■'"). Qoheleth assures us that he has tried all kinds of expedients to banish the pessi- mistic disposition produced by the above oh.serva- tion ; he has revelled in every species of enjoyment; he has given himself to the most laborious inven- tions. IJut all in vain (2'""). The attempt to tind consolation in the pursuit of Wisdom ('in- "''■ '"•) has likewise been a complete failure, so that he has ended in blank d(!s])air (vv. "•-"). — The second argument on the theme of 1' shows how the con- traries, which characterize all that liajipens on earth, prove all labour on man's part to be vain, liirth is followed by death, planting by rooting up, etc. (3'"). This law of nature, which alwajs de- stroys again what it has made (vv.'°- '-• '"), shows that there is no moral principle in the ordering of the world. Consequently there can be none in the ca.se of men either, for, as their existence is not essentially dillcrent from that of the beast, no more can their fate be difleicnt (3'°' '""'■"). Special arrangements for the good of man are im|>ossible in the plan of the universe. — The third argument (chs. 4. ')) isalreadj' interrupted by a number of in- terpolations. IJut the hand of Q' may still be recognized in 4i-<.6-8. i3-i» gut. n-i« ;„ ^1,^. complaint about human auflering, from which there is no escape, and which is yet so useless, and aliout the restless and yet fruitlc'ss labours of men. Isolated fragments o^ the following chapters (Siegfried, I.e. p. 22) contain complaints of Bimilor experiences.