"Within the Christian Church, the divine inspiration of Ecclesiastes, the Proverbs, and the Song of Solomon was denied by Theodorus of Mopsucstia. In recent times, the accusers of Ecclesiastes have been August!, De Wette, and Knobel ; but their accusations are based on mere misunderstandings. Thej' are especially as follows: (1.) The author is said to incline towards a moral epicurism. All his ethical admonitions and doctrines tend to promote the comforts and enjoyments of life. But let us consider al)ove all what tendency and disposition it is to which the author addresses his admonition, serenely and contentedly to enjoy God's gifts. He addresses this admonition to that specula- tion which will not rest before it has penetrated the whole depth of the inscrutalile councils of God; to that murmuring which bewails the badness of times, and quarrels with (iod about the sufferings of our ter- rene existence ; to that gloomy piety which wearies itself in imaginary good works and external strictness, with a view to wrest salvation from God; to that av- arice which gathers, not kno\\ing for whom ; making the means of existence our highest aim ; building upon an uncertain futurity which is in the hand of (iod alone. When the author addresses levity he speaks quite otherwise. For instance, in cli. vii, '.\ 4, " It is better to go to the house of mourning tlian to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men: and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than
ECCLESIASTES
31
ECCLESIASTES
laivhtar, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise man is in the house of mourning, Ijut the lieart of fools is in the house of mirth." The nature of the joy recommended bv the author is also misunderstood. Unrestrained merriment and giddy sensuality belong to those vani- ties which our author enumerates. He says to laugh- ter, Thou art mad, and to joy, AVhat art thou doing? He says, ch. vii, 5, G, '' It is lietter to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool ; this also is vanity." That joy which he recommends is joy in God. It is not the op- posite, but the fruit of the fear of God. How insepa- ralile these are is shown in passiiges like ch. v, G ; vii, 18 ; iii, 12 : "I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life;" and in manj^ similar passages, but especially ch. xi, 9, 10, and xii, 1," Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy j'outh," etc. In reference to these passa- ges Ewald saj's (p. 18G), " Finally, in order to remove every doubt, and to speak with perfect clearness, he directs us to the eternal judgment of God, concerning all the doings of man, and inculcates that man, in the midst of momentary enjoyment, should never forget the whole futurity, the account and the consequences of his doings, the Creator and the Judge." Ewald adds (p. 227), in reference to the conclusion, " In order to obviate every possible misunderstanding of this writing, there is, ver. 13, once more liriefly indicated that its tendency is not, by the condemnation of mur- muring, to recommend an unbridled life, but rather to teach, in harmony with the best old books, the fear of God, in which the whole man consists, or that true singleness of life, satisfying the whole man, and which comprehends everj'thing else that is truly human. It is verj^ necessary to limit the principle of J03' which this book recommends again and again, in various wa^'s and in the most impressive manner, and to refer this joy to a still higher truth, since it is so liable to be misunderstood. (2.) It is objected that in his views concerning the government of the world tlie author was strongh' inclined to fatalism, according to which everything in this world progresses with an eternally unchangeable step ; and that he by this fatalism was (3.) misled into a moral scepticism, having attained on his dogmatical basis the conviction of the inability of man, notwithstanding all his etforts, to roach his aim. However, this so-called fatalism of our author is noth- ing else but what our Lord teaches (Matt, vi, 25) : 'Take no thought,' etc. And as to the moral scepti- cism, our author certainly inculcates that man with all his endeavors can do nothing ; but at the same time he recommends the fear of God as the never-failing means of salvation. Man in himself can do nothing, but in God he can do all. It is quite clear from ch. vii, IG, 18, where both self-righteousness and wisdom, ■\>'hen separated from God, are described as equally de- structive, and opposite to them is placed the fear of God, as being their common antithesis, that our au- thor, l)jr pointing to the sovereignty of God, did not mean to undermine morality: 'He that feareth God comes out from them all.' If our author wei-e given to moral scepticism, it would be impossible for him to teach retribution, wliich he inculcates in numerous passages, and which are not contradicted by others, in which he says that the retriliution in individual cir- cumstances is frequently ol)scure and enigmatical. "Where is that advocate for retribution who is not com- pelled to confess this as well as our author? (4.) This book has given offence also, by ch. iii, 21, and similar passages, concerning immortality. But the assertion that there is expressed here some doubt concerning the immortality of the soul is based on a wrong gram- matical perception. The n cannot, according to its punctuation, be the interrogative, but must be the ar-