The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 25

the me!nory of p0sterity, see Ecch1s. xxxvii. ment by which ho canied on his resc:i.rcbes, 26; xhv. 7, eto.) whicll were directed, not merely to the col- Ver. 1-2-oh. vi. 12.-Division I. PROOF lecting of facts, but to investigo.ling thl) causes and conditions of things. Concerning OF THE VANITY OF EARTHLY TIIIN'Gs }'ROM all things that -e.re done nuder heaven ; i.e. PER:lO~AL EXPERIENCE AND GENEllAL OB· men's actions and cond,uct, politico.I, socio.I, SERYATIO!'!. and privatelifo. We have ''uudedhe sun" in Yers.12-18.-Seotion 1.. Vanity of strifling ver. 9, and again in ver. 14. Here there is no for 10i8dom and lcnoioledge. question of physical mo.lters, the phenomena of the materio.l world, but only of human Yer. 12.-I the l'reacher was king over circumstances aud interests. This sore Israel in Jerusalem. liohelcth relates his travail (rather, this is a sore travail that) own experience as ling, in accordance with God hath given to the sons of man to be his assllillption of the person of Solomon. exercised therewith.: The word rendered The use of the past tense in this verse is "travo.il" C,:]l/, inyan) ocours often in thiii regarded by many as strong evidence against book (e.g. oh .. iL 23, 26,. etc.), and nowhere the Solomonio authorship of the book. " I else in the Old Testament. The ea.me roo~ have been king" (not "I have become king,". is found iu the word translated "exercised;" as Gratz would translate) is a statement hence Wl'ight. hae, ,-,It is· a woeful exercise introducing the supposed speaker, not as a which God ho.s given to the sons of men reigning monarch, but as one who, in time wherewith to exercise themselves." If we past, ei..ercised sovereignty. Solomon is keep_ to the word'' travo.il," we.may rende~, represented as spe:i.kiug from the grave, and "to travail therein." It implies distracting recalling tbe past for the instruction of business, engrossing occupation. Septuagint, his auditor,;. In a similar manner, the 1r•p1cr1racrµ.ov; Vulgate, occupationem. Mau autlrnr of the Book of Wisdom (viii. 1-13) feels himself constrained .to· make this speaks in his impersonation of Solomon. laborious investigation, yet the result is most That king himself, who reigned without unsatisfactory, as the next verse shows.. interruption to his death, could not have " God" is here .Elohim, aud so throughout spoken of .himself in the terms used here. the book, the name Jehovah (the God of the He lost neither his throne nor his power; covenant, the God of Israel) never. once and, therefore, the expression cannot be occurring. Those who r,egard Solomon as paralleled (as Mr. Bnllock suggests) by the the author of Jhe book O.()coµnt for this on complaint of Louis XIV., unsuccessful in the plea that the king, in his latest years,· war and weary of rule, "When I was king:• reflecting sadly on hie biicksliding and foll, Solomon rediTJi'DtU is introduced to give shro.nk from uttering with his polluted lips weight to the succeeding experiences. Here the adorable Name once so often used witll is 0ue who had every and the most favour- filial reverence and. beloved. But the true. o,1le opportunity of seeing the best side of reo.son is found in the design of Koheleth, things; and yet his testimony i8 that e.ll is which was to set forth, not so much Isro.cl's' vanity. In the acquisition of wisdom, the position· under th_e covenaut, as the con- contrast between the advantage of learned ditiou of man in the face of the G0tl of leisure and the interruptions or a laborious nature. The idiosyncro.sies and peculiar life is set forth in Ecclus mviii. 24, etc. features of the chosen people are not the: King oDer Israel. The expression indicates subject of bis e~suy; _he deals with a wider· a time before the di viBion of the kingdom .. sphere; his theme is man in his relation to We have it in I Sam.. xv. 26, and occasionally Divine providence; and for this power ho else:1, here. The usual phrase is "King of rises that name,. common a.like to the true. Israel." (For in JeNLBalem, see on ver. 1.) and false religions, Elohim, applied to the. Ver. 13.-I gave my heart (ver. 17; eh. Supreme Being by believers and idolaters. : vii. 25; Dan. x. 12). The heart, in the Ver. 14.-Here is the result of this eX:ami- Heb!'eW conception, was the seat, not of the natiou of bumo.n actions. I have seen all affections orily, but of the understanding the works that are done UD.der the &Illl. In: and intellectual faculties generally. So the his varied experience nothing had escapecl expression here is equivalent to "I applied his notice. And behold, all is vanity and m_y mind." To seek and search out. The vu:ation of spirit; reuth ruach; afllictio two words are not synonymous. The former apiritus (Vulgate) ; 1rpoaipecr,s 1r11e6µ.a7os, verb (ciiJ, darash) implies penetrating into "choice of spirit," or," wind" (Septuo.gint); the dept~ of an object before one; the other 110µ.11 avlµ.ov (Aquila and Theodotion); {Jou,c11° worcl (ilr-', tur) taking a comprehensive sur- cris avlµ.o~, "feeding on wind" (Syminachus). vey of matters further away; so that iwo This Iaet translo.tion, or " striving after rueth0ds and scopes or investigation are wind," seems to be most o.greeable. to the_ signified. lly wisdoD) ; iv "II cro,piq; (Se1,1.u- etymology of the word mJ17, which, except llgiot). Wiadom was the m<,a,ns or ina!ru- in this book (eh. ii. 11, 17, 26, etc ), oocuri cu. 1, 1-18.) ECOLESIAE!'l'ES;. OR, THE PHEACHER. 7