The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 155

The·" good" is the enjoyment of life spoken the deeper, more spiritual. and therefore of iu var. 8 (see on oh. ii I). The specified more lllSting _kind of joy." But no such time seems to refer to the age of the contra.st ia intendecl; the writer would never pntriarohs, none of whom, from Adam to have uttered such a truism as that deep, Noah, reached ha.If the limit a.saigned. Do spiritual joy is not to be obtained by sensual not all go to one place 1 viz. to Sheol, the pleasure; and, a'! Delitzach points out, in grave (oh. iii. 20). If a. long life were spent some passages (e.g. Prov. xvi. 26; Isa. v. 14; in ea.Im enjoyment, it might be preferable to xxil!i, 8) " mouth " in one sentence corre- a short one; but when it is pa.seed amid sponds to "soul" in another. The soul is ea.re a.nd annoyance a.nd discontent, it is no considered as the seat of the appetitive better than that which begins and ends in faculty-emotions, desires, etc. 'fhis is nothingness. The grave receives roth, and never satisfied (eh. i. 8) with what it has, there is nothing to_ choose between them, at but is always craving for more. So Horace least in this point of view. Of life as in affirms that a man rightly obtains the appel- itself e.· blessing, a discipline, e. school, Kohe- lation of king,'' aviclum domando spiritum," leth says nothing here; he puts himself in by subduing his spirit's cravings (' Carm.,' the place of the discontented rich man, .and ii 2. 9). appraises life with his eyes. On the com- Ver. 8.-For what hath the wise more mon destiny that a.we.its peer and peasant, than the fool 1 i.e. What advantage bath rich end poor, happy and sorrow-laden, we the wise man over the fool ? Th is verse can all remember utterances old and new. confirms the previous ono by nn interrogative Thus Horace, 'Ce.rm.,' ii. 3. 20- argument. The same labour for support, the same unsatisfied desires, belong to all, " Diveene prisco ilatus ah !nacho, wise or foolish ; in this respect intellectual Nil interest, an pauper et ipfime. gifts have no superiority. (For a similar De gente sub divo moreris, interrogation implying nn emphatic denial, Victime. nil misera.ntis Orci see eh. i. 3.) What hsth the poor, that u Omnes eodem cogimur." knoweth to walk before the living l 'l'ho Septuagint gives the verse thus: "OT, Tls Ovid, • Met.,' x. 33- ...,pl,r,r«a (A, a,~•) Tqi ,rocprp U'R'~p Tdv 6.cppavm; "Omnia. debentur vobis, paullumque more.ti lh&TI 6 'R'EV'IIS oi6, ,ropeuBijva, 1<aT<vavT1 Tijs Serius e.ut citius sedom propere.mus ad ("'ijs, "For what advantage hnth the wise unam. man over the fool? since tho poor man knows Tendimus hue omnes, hmo est domus how to walk before life?" Vulg11te, Q,tid ultimo.." habet amplius sapiens a stulto? et q1tid pau- "Fate is the lord of all things; soon or lnte per, nisi ut pergcit illuc, ubi est vita? "Aud To one a.bode we speed, thither we e.11 what hath the poor man except that he go Pursue our way, this is our fino.l home." thither where is life?" Both these versions regard C';r1CI as used in the sense of" life," and Vere. 7-9.-Section 10. Desir6 is insati- that tile life beyond the grave; but this idea able; men a.re always striving after enjoyment, is- foreign to the context; ancl the expres- but tiley never gain their wish completely- sion must be rendered, ns in the Authorized which fortifies the old conclusion that man's Version, "the living.'' The interpretation of tho olnuse ho.a much exercised critics. happiness is not in his own power. Plumptre adheres to tlrnt of Bcrustein a.nu Ver. 7.-All the labour of man is for his otilers, "What auvnntago bath the poor mouth; i.e. for self-preservation and enjoy- over him who knows how to walk before the ment, ea.ting and drinking being tiiken as living?" (i.e. the muu of high birth or station, a type of the proper use of earthly blessings who lives in public, with the eyes of men (comp.eh. ii. 24 ; iii. 13, etc.; Pa. cxxviii. 2). upon him). The pool' ilas ilia oe.res and The sentiment is general,and does not refer unsati,fied desires ns much as the m!\n of specially to the particular person described culture 11,nd position. Poverty offers no above, though it carries on the iclcn of the un- protection ngo.inst such assaults. Ilut the satisfactory result of wealth. Luther trans- exprcs,ion, to lmo,o how to ioalk before the lates strangely and erroneously, "To every living, means to unclcrstand and to follow the man is work allotted according to his correct path of lifo; to know how to behave measure." Such an idea is entirely foreign properly and uprightly in tile intercoun1e to the context. And yet the appetite is not with one's fellow-men; to have what tlie :lllled. The word rendered " appetite " is French call savoir vivre. (So Volek.) The nepheah, "soul," and Zockler contends that question must be completed thus: "What '"mouth' and 'soul' stand in contrast to ea.oil advantage hns the discreet and properly con- otiler as representatives of the purely sensual ducted poor man over the fool?" Nono, ut and therefore tio.nsitory enjoyment (comp. least in this respect. Tile poor ro,m, even Job xii. U; Prov. xvi. 26) e.s compared with though he be well versed in the rule of life, 14.0 ECCLESIASTES ; OR, THE PREACElER.