The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 281

CHAPTER XI. to the conclusion reached at the end. s~ we adopt the first of the two explanation!! Approaching the ~nd of his treatise, Koho- mentione,) above. The bread in the Enst is leth, in view of apparent anomalies in Gotl's made in the form of thin cakes, which would moml gcJvernment, and the difficultks that float for a time if thrown into a stream; and ifit be objected that no one would be guilty meet man in his social and political relations, of such an irrational action as flinging bread proceeds to give his remedies for this stato into the water, it may be answered that this of things. These remedies are (I) bene- is just the point aimed at. Do your kind- ficence and active life (vers. 1-6); (2) joyful nesses, exert yourself, in the most unlikely quarters, not thinking of gratitude or return, light-heartedness (vers. 7-9); (3) piety but only of duty. And yet surely a recom- (ver. 10-ch. xii. 7). pense will be made in some form or other. Vers. 1-6.-Section 16.. Leaving alone Thou shalt find it after many days. Thi~ is unanswerable questions, man's duty 1md not to be the motive of our acts, but it will in the course of time be the result; and this happiness nre found in activity, especially in thought may be an encouragement. In the doing e.11 the good in his power, for he knows Chaldee Version of parts of Eeclesiasticus not how soon he himself may stand in need there is extant a maxim identical with our of help: This is the first remedy f01' the per- verse, "Strew thy bread on the water and plezitiea of life. The wise man will not on the land, and thou shalt find it at the end of days" (Dukes,' Rabb. Illumenl.,' p. charge himself with results. 73). Parallels have been found in mo.ny Ver. 1.--Cast thy bread upon the waters. quarters. Thus the Turk says, "Do good, The old interpretation of this passage, which throw it into the water; if the fish does found in it a reference to the pra.ctice in not know it, God does." Herzfeld quote11 Egypt of sowing seed during the inundation Goethe- of the Nile, is not admissible. The verb " Was willst du uutersuchen. shalacl, is not used in the sense of sowing or W ohin die l\iilcle fliesst ! scattering seed; it means "to cast or send Ins Wassel' wirf deine Kuchen; forth." Two chief explanations have been Wer wd,s wer sie genie,st ? " given. (1) As to sow on the water is equirnlent to taking thankless toil (compare "Wouldst thou too narrowly inquire tho Greek proverb, =e1r,Cpw1 i1rl 1ro11-r't'), the Whither thy kindness goe8 ! gnomo may be an injunction to do good Thy cake upon tl1c water cast; without hope of return, like the evangelical Whom it may feed who knows?" precept (l\fott. v. 44-46; Luke vi. 32-35). Voltaire pamph.raaes the passage in hia (2) It is 11. commercinl maxim, urging men 'Precis de l'EcclesiHste ' - to make ventures in trai!e, that they may receive 11, good return for their expenditme. " Repaudez vos bienfo.its avec magnific,,nce, In this case the ea.sting seed upon the waters M~me aux moins vertueux ne le8 rcfusez is a metaphorical expression for sending pas. merche.ndise a.cross the sea to diste.nt lands. Ne vous inforwez pas de leur rccouuois- This new is supposed to be confirmed by sa.nce; • the sto.tement concerning the good woman II est gr11nd, il est beau de fairo ,les in Prov. xxxi. 14, " She is like the mel'- ingmts." cbants' ships; she bringeth her brea1l from Vor. 2.-mva a portion to seven, and nlso fo1·;" and tho words of Ps. cvii. 23, "They to eight. This further explains, without any that go down to the sea in ships, U1at do metaphor, the injunction of beneficence in business in' i:reat waters." But one sees no ver. I. Give portions of thy ''bread" to nny reason why Kohcleth should suddenly tnrn number of those who nee,!. Delitzsch and to commerce e.n<l the tra<le of a, maritime others who interpret thu passage of w11,ritimo city. Such consider11,tions have no refercnco enterprise would see in it a rccomweud,\liuu to the context, nor to the geneml design of (like the proceeclin~ of Jucob, Gen. xxxii. the book. Nothing leads to the.m, nothing 16, etc.) not to risll: all at once, to divido comes of them. On the other ho.ncl, if we one's ventures into various ships. But the take the verse ns urging active benefioenco expression in the text is merely a mo,lc of as the safest e.nd best proceeding under enjoining unlimited benevolence. The num. men's present circumstances, we 111\vo a hers a.re purposely indefinite. Inst,\nces of maxim iu due a,ccordance with the spirit of tlii8 for~1 of 8peech are common enough (sou the rest of the work, and one '1hich conduces Prov. v1 16; xxx. 7-9, eto.; Amos i. 3. 276 ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. [CII, XI. 1-10,