The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 286

"Vita nostra brevis est, brevi finietur, ment; but whether a resurrection is to pre- Yenit mors velooiter, rapit nos atrociter, cede this awful trial is left in uncertainty Nemini parcetur." here, as elsewhere in the Old Testament. It is not cpicureanism, even in a modified Cheyne and some other ol'itics consider this form, that is here encouraged. For moderate last clause to be an interpolation, because it 11nd Jnwf?-1 plea~ure Koheleth has always appears to militate against previous utter- uttered his sanction, but the pleasure is to ances; but this argument is unreasonable, be suoli as God allows. This is to be as the paragraph comes in quite naturally a.a accepted with all gratitude in the present, the needed conclusion, e.nd without it the as the future is wholly beyond our ken and section would halt e.nd be incomplete. A our control; it is all that is placed in our similar allusion is contained1in the epilogue power, and it is enough to make life more (eh. xii. 14). A corrector, who desired to ihan endurable. And then to temper un- remove all seeming contraclictions and dis- mixed joy, to prove that he is not recom- crepancies from the work, would not have mending mere sensuality, to correct any been satisfied wHh inserting this gloss, but ,nong im-pression which the previous utter- would have displayed his remedial.measured ances may have conveyed, the writer adds in other places. Of this proceeding, how- another thought, a sombre reflection which ever, no traces are discernible by an unpre- shows the religious conclusion to which he judiced eye. is working up. But know thou, that for all Ver. I0--0h. xii. 7.-Section 18. The these things God will bring thee into jndg- third remedy is piety, e.nd this ought to be ment (mishpat). It has been doubted what practised from one's earliest days; life is meant by" judgment," whether present or should be so guided as not to offend the future, men's or God's. It has been taken to mean-God will make thy excesses prove laws of the Creator e.nd Judge, and virtue scourges, by bringing on thee sickness, should not be postponed till the failure of pornrty, a miserable old age; or these dis- faculties makes plea.sure unattainable, and tresses come as tb e natural consequences of death closes the scene. The last days of youthful sins; or obloquy shall follow thee, the old man are beautifully described under and thou sbalt meet with deserved cenanre from thy fellow-men. Bnt every one must certain images, metaphors, and analogies. ieel that the solemn ending of this paragraph Ver. 10.-Therefore remove sorrow from points to something more grave and im- thy heart. The writer reiterates his advice portant than any such results as those men- concerning cheerfulness, and then proceeds tioned above, something that is concerned to inculcate ee.rly piety. Kaas, rendered with that indefinable future which is ever "sorrow," has been variously understood. looruing in the dim horizon. Nothing satis- The Septuagint has 6vµ.&v, the Vulgate fies the expected conclusion but a reference iram; so the margin of the •Authorized to the eternal judgment in the world beyond Version gives "anger," and that of the Re- the grave. Shadowy and incomplete as was vised Version" vexation," or "provocation.'' Koheleth's view of this great assize, hi, Wordsworth adopts this last mee.niug (re- sense of God's justice in the face of the ferring to 1 Kings xv. 80; xxi. 22; 2 King& anomalies of human life was so strong that xxiii. 26, etc., where, however, the significa- J,e can unhesitatingly appeal to the co11- tion is modified by the connection in which viction of a coming inquisition, as a motive the word stands), and paraphrases," Take for the guidance of action and conduct. heed lest you provoke God by the thoughts That in other passages he constantly appre- of your heart." Jerome affirms that in the. hends earthly retribution, as the Pentateuch term "anger" all perturbations of the mind taugl1t, and as his countrymen had learned are included-which seems rather forced. to expect (see eh. ii. 26; iii 17; vii.17, 18), The word is better !'endered, low spirits, is no argument that he is not here rising to moroseness, discontent. These feelings are n higher view. Rather, the fact that the to be put a.way from the mind by a cleliberate doctrine of temporal reward and punish- aot. Put away evil from thy flesh. Many ment is found by experience to fail in many commentators consider that the evil here cases (comp. eh. viii. 14) has forced him to named is physical, not moral, the author en- state bis conclusion tliat this life is not the joining hie young disciple to take proper end of everything, and that there is another care of his body, not to weaken it on the existence in which actions shall be tried, one hund by asceticism, nor on the other by jm;lice <lone, retribution awarded. The indulgence iu youthful luste. In this case stat8ment is brief, for he knew nothing more the two clauses would urge the removal of tli~n the fact, and could add nothing to it. what respectively affects the mind e.nd b~dy, His conception of the soul's condition in the inner and outer man. But the ~no1ent Sheol (bee eh. ix. 5, 6, 10) seems to point to versions a.re unanimous in regarding the 11•,me other state or period for this final judg- "evil" spoken of as moral. Thus the Scptu-  OII. XI, 1-10.J ~CCJLESIASTtS; OR, THE i>REACHE~.