The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 24

the instmclione or profeRsed teachers, man 6µ.ol\<ryouµlvou, 1ta.l JL'l3evbs 1'Mou ,ra.woii /,.M' mnkcs no reu.l u.dvance in knowledge or the ~ TUJJI a.u'TWJI Iv riili• rii li,o,1(1jtTfl /Sv-rl#V, mysteries in which he ie involved; the Ver. 10.-Is there· any thing whereof it pnru.clox is incxplicu.ble. We hu.ve, in Prov. may be so.id, Bee, this is new 1 The writer xxvii. 20, "Bheol u.nd Abu.ddon are never conceives that objection may be taken to his entisfied; Bnd the eyes of man are never statement e.t the end of the preceding verse, entistied." Plumptre quotes Lucretius's ex- so he proceeds to reiterate it in stronger pression (ii. 1038)," Fessus satiate videndi." terms. "Thing" is dahar (see on ver. 8). •• Remember," says Thomas a Kempis (' De Septue.gint, "He who shall speak aud say, Iruitnt ..' 'i. 1. 5), "the proverb, that the eye Behold, this ie new," sca1. Where is lie? is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with Vulgate, "Nothing is new under the sun, hearing. Endeavour, therefore, to withdraw nor is e.ny one a.hie to say, Lo I this is fresh." thy heart from the love of visible things, The apparent exceptions to the rule are mis- and to transfer thyself to the invisible. For ts.ken inferences. It bath been already of they that follow· their sensuality do stain old time, which was before us. In the vast their conscience and lose the grace of reone of the past, recorded or unrecorded, God." the seeming novelty bas alreaclybeen known. • Ver. 9._:,The thing that hath been, it is The discoveries of earlier time are forgotten, that which shall be. The LXX. and the and seem quite new when revived; but Vulgate render the first clauses of the two closer investigation proves their previous part~ of the verse in both cases interroga- existence. tively, thus: "What is that which bath Vet. 11.-There is no remembrance of been? The very thing which shall be. former things; rather, of former men-per- And what is that which bath been done? sons who lived in former times. AB things The very thing which ebe.11 be done." are considered novel only because they had What has been affirmed of phenomena in been forgotten, so we men ourselves shall the material world is now affirmed of the pass away, and be no more remembered, events of man's life. They move in on Bailey, 'Feetus ' - o.nalogous circle, whether they a.re concerned " Adversity, prosperity, the grave, with actions or morals. Plumptre sees here Play e. round go.me with friends. On eome an anticipation or e. reproduction of the Stoic the world doctrine of e. ;ecurring cycle of events, such as Virgil mentions in his fourth •Eclogue'- He.th shot its evil eye, and they are passea From honour and remembrance; and a •• Magnus ab inlegro s11Bclorn.m ne.scitur stare ordo," eto. Is e.11 the mention of their no.mes receives; But Koheleth is speaking merely from ex- And people know no more of them thlln perience, and is indulging in no philosophi- they know cal speculatioM. There is no new thing The shapes of olonds e.t midnight a year under the sun, The Vulge.te transfers this hence." ofause to the next verse, which, indeed, sup- Neither shall there be e.ny remembrance of ports !he assertion. l!'rom clllssical authors things that are to oome with those that shall commentators he.ve culled examples of the oome after; rather, a11d eue11 of later gll'lle- same thought. Thus Tocitus, • Aune.I.,' iii. rations that shall be there will be no remem- 55, "Nisi forte rebus cunotis inest qnidam brance of the-111 with those that shall be in tlrn vclut orbis, ut quern e.d modum temporum afte-r-time. Wright quotes Mnrcus Aurelius, vices itr1 morum verle.ntur." Seneea, who has much to ee.y on this subject. Thus: • Epi~t.,' xxiv., "Nullius rei finis est, sed in cap. ii. 17, "Postuumous fa.me is oblivion;" orbem nexn aunt omnie.; fugiuut ac sequun- cop. iii. 10, "Every man's life lies all with- tur. , .. Omuia transeunt ut revertantur, in tho prcsen t; for the past is spent and uihil uovi video, nihil novi fa.cio. Fit ali- done with, and the future is uncertain; " quando et hujus rei ne.usea." M. Aurelius, cap. iv. 33, "Those words which were for- 'llledit.,' vi. ::17, "He thnt sees the present merly current and proper are now become has seen all things, both that which has obsolete a.ad barbarous. Alas I this is not been from everlasting and that which shall e.11: fa.me t,,rnishee in time, too, and men be in the future. All things a.re of one birth grow out of foshion e.s well as le.ngunge. nnd one form." Again, vii. I, •• There is Those celebrated names of anoieut story aro nothina new; all things a.re common and antiquated; those of later date hove the quickly over;" xii. 26, "Everything thBt same fortune; and those of present celebrity comes to pass was always so coming to pass, must follow. I epee.k this of those who have and will to.kc ple.ce ngain." Justin Martyr, been the wonder of their e.ge, and shined 'Apol.,' i. 57, has, perhaps, e. ~eminis?en~e with unusual lustre; but ns for tho rest, they of this pnsae.ge when ho wntes, Ou "Ya.P are no sooner dend than forgotten" (comp. IE~oC"a.JHJI Ociva.rov· rov mlvn,s &iro9a.vew Wisd. ii. 4). (On the keen desire to live ill 6 ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. Cou. 1. 1-18.