THE
PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER;
AND BY THE
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
WITH
INTRODUCTIONS BY THE
VERY REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., DEAN OF CANTERBURY. RIGHT REV. H. COTTERILL, D.D., F.R.S.E. VERY REV. PRINCIPAL J. TULLOCH, D.D. REV. CANON G. RAWLINSON, M.A. REV. A. PLUMMER, M.A., D.D.
NEW EDITION.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NEW YORK 1907 PRINTED BY WJLLlAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDO:-; AND BECCLES.
CTise rigl,u if lrans/4#411 an4 o/ rejrotluction are reitrv&d.) 'l'HI!J
PULPIT COMMENTARY, };DJTED BY TUE
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER;
AND BY THB
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
ECCLESIASTES. (!!xpos{tfon BY REV. W. J. DE.A.NE, M..A.., RE'CTOR OF ASHEN.
~omilelics BY REV. T. WHITEL.A_ W, D.D.
~omllies b!:1 Fmious ~utbors. REV. PROF. J, ll. THOJ\ISON, M.A. REV. W. CLARKSON, B.J. REV. J. WILLCOCK, M.A., Il.D.
NEW EDITION.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NEW YOHK ECCLESIASTES ; OR, THE PREACHER. INTRODUCTION.
§ I. TITLE OF THE BooK.
THE book ie called in the Hebrew Koheleth, a title taken from its opening sentence, "The words of Koheleth, the son of David, King in Jerusalem." In the Greek and Latin Versions it is entitled' Ecclesiastes,' which Jerome elucidates by remarking that in Greek a person is so called who gathers the congregation, or eccl.esia. Aquila transliterates the word, KwAl0 ; what Symmachus gave is uncertain, but probably Ilapotp.Latrr17s, ' Proverb-monger.' The Venetian Greek has 'H. EKKA.1J1TLacrrpLa and 'H 'EKKA.1JCTLa(ovua. In modern versions the name is usually 'Ecclesiastes; or, The Preacher.' Luther boldly gives ' The Preacher Solomon.' This is not a satisfactory rendering to modern ears; and, indeed, it is difficult to find a term which will adequately represent the Hebrew word. Koheleth is a participle feminine from a root kahal (whence the Greek KaAEw, Latin calo, and English "call"), which means, "to call, to assemble," especially for religious or solemn pur- poses. The word and its derivatives are always applied to people, and not to things. So the term, which gives its name to our book, signifies a female assembler or collector of persons for Divine worship, or in order to addreEs them. It can, therefore, not mean " Gatherer of wisdom," " Collector of maxims," but" Gatherer of God's people" (1 Kings viii. 1); others make it equivalent to "Debater," which term affords a clue to the variation of opinions in the work. It is generally constructed as a masculine and with- out the article, but once as feminine (eh. vii 27, if the reading is correct), and once with the article (eh. xii. 8). The feminine form is by some accounted for, not by supposing Koheleth to represent an office, and therefore as used abstractedly, but as being the personification of Wisdom, whose business it is to gather people unto the Lord and make them a holy congregation. In Proverbs sometimes Wisdom herself speaks (e.g. Prov. i. 20), sometimes the author speaks of her (e.g. Prov. viii 1, etc.). So ECOLESIABTEB, b 506 ii INTRODUCTION TO
Koheleth appears now as the organ of Wisdom, now as Wisdom herself, supporting, as it were, two characters without losing altogether his identity. At the same time, it is to be noted, with Wright, that Solomon, as personi- fied Wisdom, could not speak of himself as having gotten moro wisdom than all that were before him in Jerusalem (eh. i. 16), or how his heart he.d great experience of wisdom, or how he bad applied his heart to discover things by means of wisdom ( eh. vii. 23, 25 ). These things could not be said in this character, and unless we suppose that the writer occasionally lost himself, or did not strictly maintain his assumed personation, we must fall back upon the ascertained fact that the feminine form of such words as Koheleth has no special significance (unless, perhaps, it denotes power and activity), and that such forms were used in the later stage of the language to express proper names of men. Thus we find Sophereth, "scribe" (Neh. vii. 5 7), and Pochereth, "hunter" (Ezra ii. 57), where certainly males are intended. Parallels are found in the Mishna. If, as is supposed, Solomon is designated Koheleth in allusion to his great prayer at the dedication of the temple (1 Kings viii. 23-53, 56-61), it is strange that no mention is anywhere made of this celebrated work, and the part he took therein. He appears rather as addressing general. readers than teaching his own people from an elevated position ; and the title assigned to him is meant to designate him, not only as one who by word of mouth instructed others, but one whose life a.nd experience preached a.n emphe.tio lesson on the vanity of mundane things. •
§ 2. AUTHOR U"D DATE.
The universal consent of antiquity attributed .the a.nthors}iip of Ecclesi- astes to Solomon. The title assnmed by the writer, " Son Qf. David, King in Jerusalem," was considered sufficient warrant for the assertion, and no suspicion of its uncertainty ever crossed the minds of co.p:imentators a.nd readers from primitive to medireval times. Whenever the book is referred to, it is always noted as a. work of Solomon. The Greek a.nd :Latin Fa.there a.like agree in this ma.tter. The four Gregories, Athaii.asius, Ambrose, Jerome, Theodoret, Olympiodorns, Augustine, and others, are here of one consent. The Jews, too, although they. ha.d some doubts concerning the orthodoxy of the contents, never disputed the authorship. The first to throw discredit upon the received opinion was. Luther, who, in his 'Ta.ble Talk,' while ridiculing the traditional view, boldly asserts that the work was composed by Sirach, in the time of the Maccabees. Grotins followed in the same strain. In his 'Commentary on the Old Testament' he nnhesi- fatingly denies it to be a production of Solomon, and in another place assigns to it a post-e:rilian date. These opinions attracted but little notice a.t the time; but towa.rde the close of the last century, three Germa.n 1:1ohola.rs, Doderlein, Jahn, and Schmidt, revived the objections urged by Luther and G1·otius, and henceforward a, continuous stream of criticism, opposed to the ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. iii