The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 260

tue monnrcb, is primarily in the mind of persons have been Slludenly raised io emi- Iha w1·itcr, though, of course, it is quite true nence, mistresses and favourites loaded with th11t the submission of tho former might dignities, and oppression of the rich has save Urn ruler from the commission of some been systematically ptll'sned. wrong. Ver. 7.-I have seen servants upon horses. Ver. 5.-Koheleth gives his person11l ex- A further description of the effect of tho perienceofappnrentconfusion in the ordering tyrant's perversion of equity. Such an a.llu- of state affairs. There is an evil which I sion could not have been made in Solomon's have seen under the sun. Power gets into reign, when the importation of horses was the h11nds of an unwise man, and then errors quite a new thing (l Kings x. 28). Later, are committeu and injustice reigns. As an to ride upon horses was a distinction of the error which proceedeth from the ruler. The nobility (Jer. xvii. 25). Thus Amaziah's ;;i here is caph veritatis, which denotes not corpse was brought on horses to be buried comparison, but resemblance, the idealiza- in the city of Da.vid (2 Chron. xxv. 28); tion of the individual, the harmony of the Mordecai was honoured by being taken rouud particular with the general idea. The evil the city on the king's own steed (Esth. vi. 8, which he noticed appeared to be (he does etc.). l'rincea walking as servants upon tha not affirm that it is) a mistake caused by earth. " Princes " ( ear::m) ; i.e. master~, the ruler; it so presented itself to his mind. lords. Some take the expressions here as The caution observed in the statement may figurative, equivalent to "those who are be owino- partly to the tacit feding that worthy to be princes," aud "those who nre such blots occasioned difficulties in the view fit only to be slaves;" but the literal is th.i taken of the more.I government of the true interpretation. Commentators quote world. He does not intend to refer to what Justin (xii. 3) says of the Parthians, God under the appellation "Ruler." The "Hoe denique discrimen inter servos liberos• Septuagint renders, 'nr d«:oJuwv l{,jll.0ev, que, quod servi pedibus, liberi non nisi equis "As if it came involuntarily;" Vulgate, to incedunt." Ginsburg notes that early tra- much the samo effect, Quasi per errorem vellers in the East record the fact that eyrediem. The idea here is either that the Europeana were not allowed by the Turks evil is one not produced by any intentional to ride upon horses, but were compelled action of the ruler, but resulting from human either to use asses or wa.lk on foot. In some imperfection, or that what appears to be a places the privilege of riding upon boraeback mistake is not so really. But these inter- we.a permitted to the consuls of tile gTeu.t pretations aro unsuitable. Those who au.here powers-an honour denied to all strangers to the Solomouic authorship of our book see of lower deareo. Among the Greeks aud hero II prophetic intimation of the evil of Romans the0 possession of a. horse with its Jerobonm's rule, whioh evil proceeded from war-trappings implied .a certain amount of the sins of Solomou himself and his son wealth and distinction. St. Gregory, treat- Rehoboam. (So Wordsworth, Motais, etc.) ing of this passage (' Moral.,' x.x.xi. 43), aays, Ver. 6.-Folly is set in great dignity, "By the name horse is understood temporal and the rich sit in low ple.oe. This is an dignity, as Solomon witnesses. . . . For inst11nco of the error intimated in the pre- every one who sins is the servant of sio, and ceding verse. A tyrannical ruler exalts servants are upon horses, when sinnus are iucompoleut persons, unworthy favourites, elated 'with the diguities of the present life. to "great heights" (lv i1,j,eu, µE-ycl.71.oi,, Sep- But princes walk 11s servants, when no honour tuagint), ns it is literally-puts them into exalts many who are full of tho dignity of eminent positions. "Folly" is l\bstre.ct for virtue~, but when the greatest misfortuno concrete, " fools." .And the rich sit in low hero presses them down, as though un- place. "The rich" (ashirim) are not simply worthy." those who have wealth, however obtaiued, hut men of noble birth; lLpxa,o,rll.ouTo<, as Vera. 8-11.-Section 13. Various pro- Plumptre appositely notes, persons of ances- verbs e:i:pressing the benefit of prudence aml tral wealth, who from natural po"ition might caution, and the danger of folly. The con- he looked upon ns rulers of men. Such men nection with what bus precetl.ed is not closely woulu seek eminent stations, not from base motives of gain, but from au honourable marked, but is probably to be found in the ambition ; o.nd yet they are often alighted bearing of the m11xims on the conduct of by unworthy princes and kept iu low est11to the wise man who has incurred the resent- (comp. I Sam. ii. 7, 8; Prov. xix. 10; Ecclus. ment of a ruler, and might be incliued tu xi. 5, 6). The experience mentioned in this disaffe~tion and revolt. They are inten- and the following verses could sce.rcoly h11ve been Solomon's, though it !ins been always tionally obscure aud capable of a double common enough ia the Eust, where the most ;ense-a necessary precaution if the writer sl.urtl iug changes have been made, the lowest 1 Ii ved under Pcrsi11u ,It spot:1. 252 ECCLESIAS'i'BS; OR, 'I'HE l>REACHEU. Ccn. x. 1-2D.