The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 240

Nor yet favour to men of skill. "Skill" The experience which follows he recognized here docs not mee.n dexterity in handicrafts as an instance of worldly wisdom. To what ur 11,rte, but knowledge generBlly; e.nd the specie.I event he allndes is quite unknown. gnome says that reputBtion 11,nd influence do Probably the circumstance was familfar to not necess111rily accompe.ny the possession of his contemporaries. It is not to be con- knowledge and leBrning; knowledge is not sidered as an allegory, though of course it a certnin or indispense.ble mee.ns to fe.vour. is capable of spiritual application. The 811,ys the Greek gnomiat- event in Bible history most like it is the preservation of Abel-Beth-maachah by the T6x71s .,a 61171.,&11 ,rpd.-yµ.a..,', ob,c •Mov'Jl.la.s. counsel of the wise woman (whose name is "Not prudence mles, but fortune, men's forgotten) narrated in 2 Sam. xx. 15-22. affairs." And it seemed great unto me; Septuagint, Kal µ.e-y6.}o.71 lcr.,, ,rpos µ.<, "And it is great But time and ohs.nee happeneth to them all, before me." To my mind it appeared an We have had the word eth, "time," e.11 important example (comp. Esth. x. 3). through eh. iii. and elsewhere; but JI~~. Some critics who contend for the Solomonic rendered " cha.nee," is uncommon, being authorship of our book, see here an allegorical found only in I Kings v. 4 (18, Hebrew). reference to the foreseen revolt of J eroboa.m, Everything he.s its proper see.son appointed whose insurrection had been opposed by cer- by God, and man is powerless to control these tain wiae ate.teamen, but bad been carried arrangements. Our English word " chance" out in opposition to their counsel. Words- conveys e.n erroneous impression. What is worth considers that the apologue may be meant is rather " incident," such e.s o. illustrated by the history of Jernsalem, when oe.lamity, disappointment, unforeseen occur- great powers were arrayed against it in the rence. All human purposes are liable to be time of Isaiah, and the prophet by his prayers changed or controlled by circumstances be- and exhortations delivered it (2 Kings xix. yond man's power, o.nd incapable of explana- 2, 6, 20), but was wholly disregarded after- tion. A hand higher than man's disposes wards, nay, was put to death by the sou of events, and success is conditioned by superior the king whom he saved. But all tllis is laws which work unexpected results. nihil ad rem. As Pla.utus says, "Hiec Ver.12.-?de.n also knoweth not his time; quidem deliramenta loquitur." Vulgo.te, N~cit homo finem suum, under- Ver. 14.-There was a little city. The standiag "his time" to mean his death-hour; substantive verb is, as commonly, omitted. but it may include any misfortune or acci- Commentators h11,ve a.mused themselves with dent. 'l'he particle gam, "also," or " even," endeavouring to identify the city here men- belongs to" his time." Not only are results tioned. Thus some see herein Athens, saved out of mBn's control (ver. 11), but his life is by the counsel of Themistocles, who was in higher hands, o.nd he is never sure of a afterwards driven from Athens and died in dBy. As the fishes the. t are taken in an evil misery (Justin., ii. 12): or Dora., near Mount net, eto. The suddenness and unforeseen Carmel, besieged unsuccessfully by Antio- nature of calamities that befall men are chus the Great, B.o. 218, though we know here expressed by two forcible similes nothing of the circumstances (Poly b., v. 66); (comp. Prov. vii. 23; Ezek. xii. 13; xxxii. but see note on ver. 13. The Septuagint 3). Thus Homer (' Iliad,' v. 487)- talres the whole paragraph hypothetically, "Bewnre lest ye, a.a in the meshes caught "Suppose there was a little city," etc. Of some wide-sweeping net, become the Wl"igllt well compares the hi;torioa.l o.llusions prey to events fresh in the minds of his hearers Aud booty of your foes." mnde by our Lord in his pnrable of the pounds (Luke xix. 12, 14, 15, 27). So we (Derby.) may regard the present section ea e. pa.re.ble So a.re the sons of men snared in e.n evil founded on some historical fa.et well known time. Men 11,re suddenly overtaken by e.t the time when the book was written. A calamity, which they are totally unable to great king. The term points to soIUJ Per- foresee or provide against. Our Lord says sian or Assyrfan potentnte; or it mBy wenn (Luke xxi. 35) that the last day shall come merely a powerful generRl (see l Kings xi. as a snare on all that dwell in the earth 24; Job xxix. 25). :Built great bulwarks (comp. Ezek. vii 7, 12). against it. The Soptm1gint has xcfpa.,ca< Vera. 13-16.-Seotion 9. That wisdom, µ.e-ycfll.ovs, "grant palisades; " the Vulga.te, even when it does good service, is not always Eztruzitque munitiones per gyrum. Who.t nre meant ere embankments or mountls rewarded, is shown by an example. raised high enough to overtop the walls of Ver. 13.-This wisdom have I seen also the town, and to command the positions uf under the sun; better, ns the SeptuRgint, the besieged. For the so.me purpose wuu,ku TJ1id alao I saw to be wisdom under the sun. towers_ were also used (aoe Deut. u. io;  ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PRE.A.CHER. [on. 1x. 1-18.