The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 256

for possible fe.ilure and disappointment. So full and varied is his experience of iife that ho has useful counsels for all classes of men. Some need the spur and others the curl,. Some would from timidity hang back and lose the chances of usefulnes11 which life gives; others are so self-confident and sanguine that they need to be warned of the dangers and difficulties which their wisdom and skill may not succeed in overcoming. Plans may be skilfully constructed and every effort made to carry them into effect, bnt some unforeseen cause may defeat them, some circumstance which could not have been provided against., may bring about failure. Tho Preacher records the observatiom he had made of instances of failure to secure success in life, and gives an explanation of how it is that the strenuous efforts of men are so often baffled. L THE PHENOMENA OBSERVED. (Ver. 11.) Five instances of failure are enumerated: the swift defeated in the race, the strong in battle, the wise unable to make a 1i velihood, the prudent remaining in poverty, the gifted in obscurity. In none of the cases is the fault to be traced to the want of faculties or abilities of the kind needed to secure the end in view, or to a half-hearted use of them. The runner endowed with swiftness might reasonably be expected to be first in at the goal, the strong to be victorious in fight, the wise and prudent to be successful in acquiring and amassing riches, the clever to attain to reputation and influence. It is taken for granted, too, that there is no omission of effort; for if there were, the cause of failure would easily be discovered. But the phenomena being noted as extraordinary and perplexing, we are to understand that in none of the cases observed is there anything of the kind. And it is implied that while those who fulfil all the conditions of success sometimes fail, those who do not sometimes succeed. The phenomena referred to are familiar to us all. We have known many who have begun life with the fairest promise, and who have apparently, without any fault of their own, failed to make their mark. The impression they have made upon us has convinced us that they have ability enough to win the prizes in life; but some- how or other they fail, and remain in obscurity. And, at the same time, others whose abilities are in our opinion of a commonplace order come to the front, and succeed in gaining and keeping a foremost place. :::I. 'l'HE EXPLANATioN OF THE MATTER. (Ver. llb.) "Time and chance happeneth to them all." There need to be favourable circumstances as well as the possession and use of the requisite faculties, if success is to be won. The time must be propitious, and give opportunities for the exercise of gifts and abilities. "There arc favourable and unfe.vournble times in which men's lot may be cast; and such times, too, may occnr alternately in the experience of the same individual. A man of very inferior talent, should he fa.II on a favourable time, may succeed with comparntive ease; whereas, in a time that is not propitious, abilities of the first order cannot preserve their possessor from failure and disappointment. And even the same period may be advantageous to one description of business, and miserably the reverse to another; and it may thus be productive of prosperity to men who prosecute the fo1mer, and of loss and ruin to those engaged in the latter; although the superiority in knowledge, capacity, and prudence may be all, and even to a great degree, on the losing side" (Wardlaw). At first sigh~ it might seem as if the explanation given of the reason why the race is not always to the swift, or the battle to the strong, were based on a denial of the Divine providence, nnd unworthy of a place in the Word of God. But this opinion is considerably moJifiell, if not contraJicted, if we find n reference, as we may fairly do, in the worJ "time" to the statements in eh. iii., that there are" times and seasons," for all things are appoiuteJ by God himself. An<l so far from the conclusion here announced by our author being a solitary utterance, out of harmony with the general teaching of Scripture, we may find many parallels to it; e.g. "The Lord saveth not with sword nn<l spear: for tho liattle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands" (1 Sam. xvii. 47). "Son;o trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the Name of the Lord onr God" (Ps. xx. 7). "There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength" (Ps. xxxiii. 16). Probably the unfavouruble impression of which I have spoken arises from the ideas suggested by the word "chance" in our English Version, which does not convey exactly the meaning of the Hebrew pega'. It is e. word only found twice in Scripture, here and in 1 Kings v. 4, and means a stroke. The general idea is that of ad~ersity ~r disappointmen~ infli~ted by_ a higher power, and nQt merely that of something accidental or fortuitous interfering with  ECCLESiASTES; on, TI4E PREACHER. [en. 1~. 1-1~.