The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 21

Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity eort" (St. Chryeostow, • Hom, xii. i11 (<'omp. eh. xii. 8). "Yanity" is hebe/., Ephes.'). which moo.us "breath," and is used meta- Vor. 3.-What proll.t hath a man of all hie . phoricRlly ~f anything transitory, frail, nn- labour which he taketh under the sun 1 Here : Batisfying. We have it in the proper nnme begins tho elucidation of the fruitlessness of Abel, an appropriate designation of the youth man's ceaseless activity. The word rendered whose life ""as cut short by a brother's "profit" (yith!-on) ie found only iu this murderous hand. "Vanity of vanities," book, where it occurs frequently. It meo.ns like "heaven of heavens" (1 Kings viii. 27), "that which remains over, advantage," "song of songs" (Cant. i. 1), etc., is cqnivR- .,,.,pu,.,.,la, as the LXX. tr1mslates it. As the lent to a superlative, "most utterly vain." verb and the substantive are cognate in the It is here nn exclamation, and is to be re- following words, they are better rendered, garded as the key-note of the whole subse- in all his laboul' ivhe1·ein he laboureth. So quent treatise, ""hich is merely the develop- Euripides (' Androm.,' 134) has, Ti µox.flo11 ment of this text Sepluitgint, µtt'l"<ttOTTjS : µoxB•'is, arid- ('.A..nd.' Fragm.: vii: '4), T~is p.ttTaroTt]TO,V; other Greek translators,· ,hµls , µoxBoy<Tt ,-,.6xBo~s· EiJ_'rux@_r J'Vll~ltff'Ollfl,' Man -ii.-µ/6wv, "vapour of vapours." For "saith" is Adam, the natural man, unenlightened the Vnlgate gives dixit; the Septuagint, by the grace of God. Unde1· the Bun is an ,hrev; but as there is no reference to any expression peculiar to this book (comp. vers. pre~ious utterance of the Preacher, the 9, 14; eh. ii. 11, 17, etc.), but is nc>t in- present is more suitable here. In affirming tended to contrast this present with a that" all is vanity," the writer is referring future life; it merely refers to what we call to human and mundane things, and dixects sublunary matters.. -The ,phrase is often not his view beyond such phenomena. •Such met with in the Greek po~ts. Eurip., a reflection is common in sacred and profane • Alcest.,' 151- . •1 : • • . • : • .cwxiti.ngs alike; such experience is universal • - ·• · - • .. 9 p (comp. Gen. x1vu. _; s. xx:x1x. · 5-7 ; xc. • rw6 ;,> clpl<T.-71 .-;;,., ti<p'. ~xllf' µ<i.J<pf;. 3-10; Jas. iii. 14). •• Pnlvis et umLra "By far the best of o:11 beneath tll,e sun." -sumns," says Horace (' Carm.,' iv. 7. 16. H , n· d, • ·• 44' " 0 curas hominum I O quantum est in rebus omer, •.. -~~- • .iv. - . inane I" (Persins, 'Sat.,' i 1). If Denn At ')'O.p· ~.,,.• ~•Mlf'. '7'.E''ll!"l ovp"11,;.a.,..,.ep&,,,.,., Plumptre is cor:rect in contending that the Na,ET1£ov.,., 1roll.11es•l,rixB011it.111 a.v6pr/,rrr,,v. Book of Wisdom was written to rectify the u Of all the cities occupied by man deductions which might be drawn -from .Beneath the sun and'llfarrycope of heaven." Koheleth, WI) may cont.cast the caution of ·-.· ,, • ,_ • .,: . ' _ (Co_ w_. o_er,)__ _ the o.pocryph3l writer, who predicates vanity, 1 ~ • not of all things, but only of the hope of the Theognis, 'P1ui:em,,' 1~7--:· • • ungodly, which he likens to dust, froth, and 'O11.-/3,os ob&~ls . smoke (see Wisd. ii. .1, etc.; v. 14). St. 'A116ptfi,roo11;-6,rot1obs "'1/11.,0-s ft'19opif. Paul (Rom. viii. 20) seems to have had ' - . •· • ,,·No' morb~l ma~ · Ecclesiastes in mind when he spoke of the • • • • • · · ' h 1 bl ·• creation being subjected to vanity (Tfi Onwhom,th~sunlooksdowp.is'r 91 y estt p.tt,a16-r11·n), as a consequence of the fall of In an analogous sense we find in other pas- man, not to be remedied till the final restitu- sages of Scripture the ter,ms !/·under heaven" tion of aU things. "But a man will say, If (ver. 13; eh. ii. 3; Exod. xvii. 1~; Luke xvii. all things are vain and ·vanity, :wherefore 24) and "upon the earth" (eh: viii. 14, 16; were they made? If they a.re God's works, Gen. viii. 17). ·: The.,interrogative form of how are they vain? But it is not the works -the verse conveys a strong, negative (oomp. of God which he calls vain. God· forbid I eh. vi. 8), like the Lord's word in Matt. 1tvi. Tbe heaven is not vain; the earth is not 26, "Wha.t shall a. man be profited, if he vain: God forbid I Nor the sun, nor the sha.11 gain tbe. whole,world, and forfeit his moon, nor the.stare, nor our own body. No; soul?" Tlie epilogue (eh. xii.13) furnishes all these are very good. Dut what is vain? a. reply t,o,the desponding inquiry. - Man's woiks, pomp, a.nd .vain-glory. These Ver. 4.-One generation pasaeth a.way, came not from the hand of God, but are of and another generation oometh. The trans- our own creating. And they are ve.in be- lation rather weakens the foroe of· the cau&e they have no ueeful end. . . . '£hat ie originl!-1, which is, a genllf'ation ,goeth, and callet.1 vain which is expected indeed to a g-,neration -cometh. Man is ·:only e. pil- ,possess value, yet possesses it not; that grim on earth; he soori-·•pe.eses.awo.y, and which men call empty, as when they speak • his place is occupied by others. Parallelisms of 'empty hopes,'_ and that which is fruit- of this sentiment will oocur to,every reader. •lesB. And generally that is called vain Thus Ben-Sira, "AU.flash waxeth old ns a which is of no use. Let us see, then, garment: for tho covolmnt from 1ho bogin- v,-hr;ther all human things are not of this uing is, Thou shalt die the cloath. As of the OH, I, 1-18.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. 3