The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 26

clsewhero only in the Oho.Jdee portion of to connect it with what follows, e.nd to cc,n- Bz,l\ (v. 17; vii, 18). , Whichev!lr •sense. is. fi)1e tbe clai18e to one idea; time: "l have takon, the import is much t,be same. Wh&t obtained great and over greater wisdom"- is implied is the unsubstrmtial an<J un- I have continually added to my stores of satisfying nature of humnn labours and knowleclge and experience. Than all they endeavours. :Many compare Hos, xii. 2, (above all) that have been before me in "Ephraim feedeth on.windt and Isa. xliv. (over) J'eruealem. Who are the rulers 20, «Ho feedeth on nshee." ln contrast, alluded to? Solomon himself was only tlw perhaps,. to this, constantly recurring com- seconcl of the Israelite kinga who reigneJ plaint, the author of the Book of Wisdom thern ; of the Canaanite princes who may te11ches that mnrmw·ing is unprofitable e.ncl have me.de that their capital, we have no blasphemous (Wisd,. i. 11), Bailey, in knowledge, nor is it likely that Solomon • Festus,' sings- would compare himself with them. The · Targum bas altered the approved reacling, " Of all life's aims, what's .worth the thought a.ml gives," Above all the wise men that wei·e we waste ori't ?' ' ' in J trusalem before roe." The reading, "in How mean, how miserable, se.ems ·every [instead of• over'] Jerusalem," has intleerl care I • • • some manuscript 11,uthority, and is confirmed How doubtful, too; the system of the mind I •by the Septnagint, Vulgate, and Syriac, but And ·then the ceaseless, ch11hgeless, hope- it. is evidently a correction of the text by • less roun.d • . • critics who so.w the difficulty of the autho- Of weariness, and heartlessness, and woe, rize.d wording. Mota.is and others aasert A1~~e~ce, aHd vanity I Yet t~ese make tbnt the preposition in the Masoretic text, The life, n(!east, I witness, if .not feel. ''ll (al), often means" in," as well as" over," ·No matter, ·we ~r~ foimortal." • • when the reference is to an elevated spot; e.g. Isa. xxxviii. 20; Hos. xi. 11. But even , Ver. 15.-That whiQh is crooked cannot be· grr1ntiog this; we are still uncertain who made straight.. This is intended as e. con- are the persons meant. Commentators point firmation of ver, 14. • By the utmost exercise to Melchizedek, Adonizedek, and Araunah of his powers and faculties man cannot among rulers, ancl. to Ethau, Heman, Chalcol, change the course of events; he is con- and D1\l'de. (1 Kings iv. 31) among sages. stantly met by anomalies which he can But we know nothing of the wisdom of the neither explain nor rectify (comp. eh. :vii.13). former, and there is no bngible reason why The above is probably e. proverbial saying. the latter· should be designated" before me Knobel quotes Suidas: EilAD11 li:y1<0}1.011 obae-· in Jerusalem." Doubtless the words point ,,"OT' op9011. The Vulg&te takes the whole to a succession of kings who had reigned in maxim as. applying only to more.ls: "Per- Jerusalem, and 'the writer, involuntarily, verse men are hardly corrected, and the perhaps, betrays his nesumed character, in- number of fools is infinite." So too the volving 110 excusable e.nuchronism, while Syriac rmd Targum. 'l.'he Septuagint rightly giving to the personr1ted monarch a. position as the Authorized Version, The writer is which :could not belong to the historical not referring merely to me.n's sins and de- Solomon. Yea, my heart had great experi- lin.qu13ncje~,_ bu~ 4>Jhe perplexities in,wh4cb enoe of (hatl& seen. ab1mdantly, 1<cm1o ,ro}l.o he i!l.ncls himself mvolved, and extr1cat1on Venetian) wisdom and Jmowledge. 1'1;?".liJ' from which is 'impracticable: That whioh used adverbially qualifies the word before is wanting oamlot be nutnbered. •The· word it, "he.th seen." 'l'he heart, as we h:.1.ve j\i9r:i; "lose;· defeat," is li.,raf }l.e-yJµ.evor, in observed (ver. 13), is cor.sidered the sent of the Old Testament. •. • We cannot reqkon the intellectue.l life. In saying tho.t the where there is nothing to count: no ski!I in bea.rt hatb seen wisdom, the writer merms arithmetio Will avail to Diu.ke tip for e. sub- that his mind bas taken it in, apprehended stantial deficit. So nothing man c11n du is and appropriated it (comp. eh. viii. 16; Job able -to remedy the ·anomalies by whioh ·he· ' iv. 8). • Wisdom and knowledge; cliokmal, is surroun1led;or to supply the defects whioh nnd daat/1; •(To,Pittv 1eal -yvG,,rcv (Septuagint), are pressed upon his notice. '• the former regarding the ethical and prac- Ver.16.-Koheleth now arrives at bis'fust tice.l side, the latter the speculative, which conolueion, that wisclom is vanity. I oom- leads to the other (oomp. Isa. xniii. 6; m.11!led with mill.II own heart, The expres- Rom .. xi. 33). eion suggests, as it we,:e, an interll!l,l dialogue, Ver. 17.-And I gave m.y heart. He re- as' tho Greek Venetian puts it, .t.1di\.e-yµ.a1 itemtes the expression in order to emphasize ,-yw ~1,., -rff Kap8lq. µ.ou ( comp. oh. ii. l, 15). his enrnestness e.ud energy in the pursuit of Lo, I am oome to great estate. If this qe wisdom. And knowing, 11s St. Jerome sll.ys, taken by itself, it makee Kobeleth sper1k of that" contrariis coutrariu intclliguntur," he llis power and majesty first, and of his pro- studies the opposito of wisdoir., and learns gress in wisdom 11fterw11rds; but it is best the truth by contrasting it witb error. And 8 ECCLESIASTES; OR, 'l'HE PREACHER, [cu. 1. 1-18.