The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 262

gint Vnticnn, K,d .,,.,p(,r,rw, -r<i, &v6p) oJ concerned with the contrast between the worda ,rocpla, "And the ndvnnta.go to ma.n is not and acts of the wise, and the worthless prating wieclom." But ma.nuscripts A n.nd O rea.d, and useless lahours of the fool. Ka} 11'<pl,r,rw, -roii &vSplou O'ocpla: Vulga.te, Post industriam sequetur sapientia, " After Ver. 12.-The words of a wise man's indu8try shall follow wisdom." mouth are gracious; literally, are grace Ver. I 1.-'fhe lo.st proverb of this little (x&pis, Septuagint); i.e. they not only are series shows the necessity of seizing the pleasiog in form a.nd manner, but they con- right opportunity. Surely the serpent will cilio.te favour, produce e.pprobo.tion and bite without enchantment. The Autho- good will, convince o.nd, what is more, pcr- rized Version is not quite correct. The snade. So of our blessed Lord it was said, particle CN, with which the verse begins, is "All bare him witness, and wondere,l at l1cre conditiono.1, o.nd the rendering should the gracious worJs (Tois ,\6-yo,s -rii< xap,,.o,) l>o, If the serpent bite, etc.; the o.podosis which proceeded out of his month" (Luke comes in the next clause. The idea. ie iv. 22; comp. Ps. xiv. 2). In distinction taken up from ver. 8. If one handles e. from the unready 111an, who, like the snake- serpent without due precaution or without charmer in tho preceding 'l"erse, suffers by ]mowing the secret of charming it, one will reason of his untimely silence, the wise suffer for it. The taming o.nd charming man uses his speech opportunely and to of poisonous snakes is still, a.a heretofore, good purpose. (A different result is given pra.ctised in Egypt e.nd the Ee.at. Who.t i11 eh. ix. 11.) But the lips of a. fool will tbe secret of this power is hns not been swallow up himself. This is a stronger ex- accurately determined; whether it belongs pression than "ruin" or ''destroy." Speak- especially to persons of acerto.in idiosyncrasy, ing without due forethought, he compromises whether it is connected with certain words or himself, says what he has shamefully to intonations of the voice or musical sounds, withdraw, a.nd brings punishment on his we do not know. Of the existence of the own head (comp. Prov. x. 8, 21; xviii. 7). power from remote antiquity there co.n be "Pri!'a 11'apcl 1<a1pov ~up8~v ava-rplw .. /3lov. no question. Allusions to it in Scripture "Untimely speech has ruined many a life." nro common enough (see Exod. vii. 11; Ps. !viii. 5; Jer. viii. 17; Ecclus. xii. 13). If Ver. 13.-The beginning of the words of n serpent before it is charmed ie dangerous, his mouth is foolishness. A confirmation of who.t then? The Authorized Version affords the Inst clause of tho preceding \·ersc. The no sensible e.poilosis: And a babbler is no fool speaks according to his nature. '' As better. The words rendered " babbler" snith the proverb of.the ancients, Out of the (baal halliulwn) are literally "master of the wicked cometh forth wickedness" (I Sam. tongue," and by them is meant the 111'ao,86s, xxiv. 13; comp. Prov. xv. 2; Isa. xxxii. 6). "the serpent-charmer." The clause should As soon as he opens his mouth he utters nrn, Tlten there is no use in the charmer. If folly, unwisdom, silliness. But he does not tho man ie bitten before he has time to use stop there. The end of his talk is misohievone his charm, it is no profit to him tho.t he madness. By the time he has finished, he hns tbo secret, it is too late to employ it ha.a committed himself to statements that when the mischief is done. This is to shut are worse tho.n silly, that are presumptuous, tho sto.ble door after the steccl is stolen. frenzied, indicative of mental and more.I de- 'rho maxim enforces the warning agniust pmvity. Intemperate language a.bout the being too lute; the greatest skill is useless secrets of God's providence and the moral unkas applied at the right moment. The government of the world may be intended. Scptungint translates vii-tually o.s above, Some think that tho writer is still a.llnding "If o. serpent bites when not oharmcll (Iv to dangerous tnlk ooncerning a tyrannical au ,i118up1,r,,rji), then there is no advantage to ruler, seditious proposals, secret conspimcies, tho charmer (-rip ,.,,.4ao11-r1)." The Vulgate etc. The text itself does not confirm such llepnrts from the context, rendering, Si notion with any certainty. inordeat serpens in silentio (i.e. probo.bly Ver. 14.-A fool also is full of words. "uncha.rmed" ), nihil eo minus habet qui The word for "fool" here ie sak.ll, which occ,.1,lte detrahit, "He is nothing better who implies o. dense, confused thinker. Above slunde1·s secretly," which St. Jerome thus the word wo.s kesil, which denotes rather explains: the serpent nnd the slanderer a.re the self-oonfidence of the dull and stupill olilrn, for as the serpent stealthily infuses man. Moreover the fool mullipliem words. its poison, so the secret slanderer pours his He not ouly speaks foolishly, but he says venom into another's breast. too much (oomp. eh. v. 2). It is not mere loquncity tha.t is here predicated of the fool V ors. 12-15.-Seotion H. The mention though that is one of his cho.ro.cteristios, but: of " the master of the tongue" in ver. 11 as _the rest of the_ verse shows, the pro.ting of le11ds ll1e o.uthor ,o introdqce ~ome maxims thrngs abot\t wl)1cb he ~Qows nothing. Ho  ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. [cu. x. 1-20. •- -- - ·---------------------------- t.alks as though he knew everything nnd turns to the theme mentioned in vers. 4-7, there were no limitation to human cognition. and spel\ks of folly in one ,oho holds t116 posi- A man cannot tell what shall be. Aud yet, tio11 of king, and tho need of wisdom and or nlt.hough, no man can really predict the fntur,'. 'l'he fool speaks confidently of such prudence in the subjects of an unworthy rnler. things, and thereby proves his imbecility. Ver. 16.-Woe to thee, 0 land, when thy Imtes.d of" what shall be," the Septuagint king is a ohild I "Child " is naar, whioh hns, TI ,,-b y,voµ,vov ,eel ,,-C Tb /iy/,µ,vov, ""That term included any 11ge up to manhood. Some hns been and what shall be;" the Vulg·ate, interpret the word here, rui ..-air in Greek, Q11id ante se juerit, "What has been before in the sense of "slave," controsting it with him." Thie reading was introduced pro- "the son of nobles " in the followiug verse. bnbly to obviate a seeming tautology in the But it can hardly signify more thon servitor, fo\lowiag clause, And what shall be after attendant; and in ver. 7 the antithesis to him, who can tell! But this clause has a "prinoe" is ebed, not flaar. The child in different signification from the former, and the present case is a youthful, inexperienced presents a closer definition. The future ruler, who does not realize his responsi- intended may be the result of the fool's in- bilities, and is the tool of evil advisers. considerate language, which may have fatal What particular instance, if any, Koheleth and lasting consequences; or it may refer had in view it is impossible to Eay. Of to the visitation of his sins upon his children, course, many expositors see o. reference to in accordance mth the denunciation of Dent. Reboboam, whom, at forty years of age, his v. 9; nix. 20-22 ; or it may include the own son Abijah coils naar (2 Chron. xiii. 7), life beyond the gra:re. The uncertainty of and who was certainly childish in his con- the future is a constnnt theme; see ob. iii. duct (1 Kings xii. 1-14). Hitzig connectd 22; n.11, 12; vii.14; viii.17; and compare the passage with the reign of Ptolemy Christ's parable of the rich fool (Luke xii. Epiphanes, who was but five years old at 16-20), and St. James's warning in his the death of his father, B.o. 205, the reins Epistle (iv. 13-16). of government being assumed by Agathocles Ver. 15.-The _labonr of the foolish and his sister Agathoclea, who occasioned wea.rieth every one of them, beoanse he serious disasters to the land. To support knoweth :not how to go to the city. A this opinion, the date of oar book has to be transition from plural to singular is here considerably reduced (see Introduction). made, The 'IDO'Tk of foo1.a =rieth him that It is best to take the gnome as a general ki,wu,eth not, etc. "' Fools' work" signifies, expression, like that in Isa. iii. 12, "As for perhaps, the vain speculations about Provi- my people, children are their oppressors, dence which Koheleth constantly condemns ; and women rule ove1· them." Thy princes or at any rate, -all vain and objectleas toil eat in the morning, Eating here implies and trouble. Not to know the way to the fee.sting and banqueting, beginning the city is probably a proverbial saying expres- day with sensual enjoyment instead of such sive of groBB ignorance concerning the most honest work as attending to state matters, ob-vious matters. How should one, who administering justice, et<I., ns becomes good fails in the knowledge open to all experi- rulers. None but profligates would thus ence, be able to investigate and give an spend the early morning. "Theae are not opinion a.bout abstruse qnestions ( comp. Isa. drunken, ae ye suppose : seeing it is but x:xxv. 8) ? For the last clause other inter- the third hour of the day," says St. Peter, pretations have been proposed, euch as, the repudiating the charge of intoxication (Acts fool knows not how to transact public busi- ii. 15). " Woe unto them," cries Isaiah ness (wl.Jieh is introducing a modern idea): (v. 11), ''-that rise up early in the morn- the oppressed peasant knows not the way ing, that they may follow strong drink I" to the town where he might obtain redress; Even the heathen censured such debauchery. he is so foolish that he does not nnderstand Cicero thus abuses Antonius: "At quam wLere lie may find patrons whom he may multoa dies in ea villa turpissime es pcr- bribe to plead his cause: he is an Essene, bacchatus. Ab hora tertia bibeuatur, ludc- who avoids cities; he· cannot make his way batur, • vomebatur" (' Pllilipp.,' ii. 41). to the new Jerusalem, the city of God. Cur tins (v. 7. 2) reprehends" de die convi via Bnt these artificial explanations are to be inire." The Greeks had a proverb to rejected, while the simple interpretation denote abnormal Eensuality, 'Acp' -1,µlpas given above is plainly consistent with the ,r{pflJI. context. The lesson is not to meddle with Ver. 17.-Blessed art thou, 0 laud, when things too high, especially when you ere thy king is the son of :nobles ! oujua re:i: ignorant of tile commonest matters. A flObiliB eat (Vulgate); ulbr h,•u9tpow, "son little wisdom would prevent endless and of free men" (Septuagint)'. Some would useless trouble. regard "son of nobles"··as_a periphmsis Vers. 16 -20.-Section 15. Kobeleth re- expressive of cbarnctcr, equ1valtmt to the OB. X, 1-20.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. 255