The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 23

,peculation in cl&Bsi0&l 1mtbors. Oommen• LXX. trnnsle.tes, "All words aro wcnrl- t.11tors cite Aristoph1mes, 'Clouds,' 1293- sorne;" i.e. to go through the whole cntalo~ne Aifr,., µ~v (so. r, 8d>-a'l"Ta.) obsi., ')'l')'Vf1'CII of such things as those mentioned in the 'E.,.•#•&,rra,v .. ~., 'lr01'Clµ~v .,..,._.(,.,,,, preceding verses would be e. laborious nnd unprofitable to.sk. The Tnrgum and many " The sea, though all the rivers flow therein, modern expositors approve this rendering, Waxeth no greater." But besides that, the word yaged implies Lucretius attempts to account for the fact, suffering, not cnusing, weariness (Deut. • De Rer. Nat.,' vi. 608- xxv. 18; Job iii. 17); the run of the sen- " Nunc ratio rcddunda, augmen quin nesciat tence is unnecessarily interrupted by such mquor. an assertion, when one is expecting n con- Principio mare mirantur non reddere majus clusion from tile instances given a.hove. Natnram, quo sit tantus decursus aquarum, The Vulgate has, cunclal res difficiles. The Omnia quo veniant ex omni tlumina part.e." i,ka, as Motnis has seen, is this-Man's life is constrained by the same laiv e.s his sur- This Dr. Busby thus versifies- roundings; he goes on his course subject to " Now in due order, Muse, proceed to show influences w4ich he cannot control; in spite Why the deep seas no augmentation know, of his efforts, be cBn never be independent. In ocean that such numerous stxeams dis- This conclusion is developed in suceetiding charge verses. In the presentverse the proposition Their waters, yet that ocean ne'er enlarge," with which it starts is explained by what etc. follows. All things have been the object of much labour; men have elaborately ex- No particular sea is intended, though some amined everything; yet the result is most have fancied that the peculiarities of the unsatisfactory, the end is not reached ; Dead Sea gave occasion to the thought in words cannot express it, neither eye nor tlie text. Doubtless the idea is general, and eo.r can apprehend it. This is the view of such as would strike every observer, however St. Jerome, who writes, "Non solum de litUe he might trouble himself with the physicis, sed de ethicis quoque scire diffi.cile reason of the circumstance (comp. Ecclns. est. Nee sermovalet explicare causae natu- ::d. 11 ). Unto the place from whence the ro.sque rerum, nee oculus, ut rei poscit dig- rivers come, thither they return again; nitas, iutueri, nee auris, institueute d0ctore, rather, unto the place tohitker the ri'IJers go, ad summam scientiam perveriire. Si enim thither they go again. As Wright and nuno 'per speculum videmus in renigm11te; Delitzsch observe, □,1i after verbs of motion et ex parte cognoscimus, et ex pitrte pro- ha.s often the siguifi~a.tion of;,!?~ ; and the pbcte.mus,' consequentcr neo licrmo potcst idea is that the streams continue to make explicare quod nescit; nee oculus in quo their wav into the sea with ceaseless itera- cmcutit, aspicere; nee auris, de quo dubitat, tion. The otl.ic·r rendering, wl1ich is sup- impleri." Delitzscb, Nowe.ck, Wright, and ported by the Vulge.te unde, seems rather others render, "All things a.re in restless to favour the Epicurean poet's solution of activity;" i.e. constant movement pervades the phenomenon. Lucretius, in the passage the whole world, e.nd yet no visible conclu- cited above, explains that the amount of sion is attained. This, however true, does water contributed by rivers is e. mere drop not seem to be the point insisted on by the in the ocee.n; that a vast quantity rises in author, whose intention is, as we have said, exhalations e.nd is spread far e.nd wide over to show that man, like nature, is confined the earth; e.nd that another large portion to a circle from which he cannot free him- finds its way back through the pores of the self; and though he uses all the powers with ground to tile bed of the sea. Plumptre which he is endowed to penetrate the enigma considers that this theory was known to of life and to rise superior to bis environ-· Koheleth, and was introduced by him here. ments, he is wholly unable to effect anything The rendering which we have given above in these matters. Man oannot utter it. lie would make this opinion untenable; it like- oa.nnot explain all things. Koh!Jleth does wise excludes the idea (though that, indeed, not affirm that ma.n can know notlliug, that may have been entertained by the Hebrews, he cnn nttain to no certitude, that renson Ps. civ. 10 and Prov. viii. 28) of the clouds will not t_each him to apprehend any truth; being produced by the sea and feeding the his contention is that the inner cnusc and springs. Thus Ecclus. xl. 11, "All thing-s meaning elude his faculties, tho.t his know- that are of the earth do turn to the earth ledge is concerned only with accidents and again; and that which is of the waters doth externals, and that there is still some depth return into the sea." which his powers cannot fo.thom. The eye Ver. 8.-All thing& are full of labour. is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled Taking the word dabar in the sense of with hearing. Use his sight os be may\ "word" (compare the Gre(•k ~'lip.a.), the listen to the son11ds around him, attend to C!it. r. 1-18.) ECCLESIAs►rES i OR, THE PREAUHER.