The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 303

tol'pretation, we should see in these"kee-pcre" q_uam in 1trce, mii'ifl.be nd usus necessarios et the mensrrvnnts who keep watch before the facti et colloct\ti sunt. Na11.1·oculi, tamqunm houso. These menials are appalled by the speculatores, alt.issimum locum obtinent; ex approach of the tempest, and quake. And quo plurinm conspicicutes, funganttir stiQ the strong men shall bow themselves. The munero." The dimness in the eye and the " nirn of power" arc the legs, or the bones failing in the powers of sight ore well ex- generally, whioh in the young 11re "as pillars pressed by the terms of the text. It is of marble" (Cant. v. 15), but in the old noted of Moses, as something altogether hecome feeble, slack, and bent. Delitzsch abnormal, that at a hnndred and, twenty quotes 3 M8.('.c. iv. 5, where we re11.d of a years of ago "his eye was not dim, nor his multitude of old men being driven merci- natural force abated" (Dent. xxxiv. 7). lessl~•, "stooping from 11.ge, and dragging Te.king tlie alternative interpretation, we their feet hcnvily along." In this elausc it must regard those thnt look out of tho is tliis stooping 11nd bending of the body windows as the ladies of the house, who that is noticed, when men are no longer have no mcninl work to do, and employ upright in st.'l.ture, "swifter than eagles," their time in go.zing idly from the lattices " stronger than lions" (2 Sam. i. 23; 1 (comp. Jndg. v. 28; 2 Sam. vi. 16; Prov. Cb.ron. xii. 8), fit for war and active employ- vii. 6). These "are darkened," they nro ment. It is therefore less appropriate to terror-stricken, their faces gather blackness see in the '' keepers" the legs, and in the (Joel ii. 6), or they retire into corners in terror "strong men" the arms. Otherwise, the of the storm. These women are parallel to latter are the masters, the wealthy and " the strong men" mentioned above; so that noble, in contradistinction to the menials the weather affects all of every class-men- before mentioned: both lords and servants servants nnd maidservants, lords end lo.dirs. are equally terrified at the approach of the Ver. 4.-The doors shall be shut in the tempest, or, as Wright would roy, at the streets. Hitherto the symbolism ho.s been touch of the sickly season (see on ver. 2). compa.rati vely easy to interpret. With this And the grinders cease because they are few. verse inextricable difficulties seem to nrise. The word for "grinders" is feminine (al Of course, in one.view it is natural that in uh.f,6ovcra,, "the grinding-women," Septna- the bitter weather, or on the appearance of· gint), doubtless because grinding wa.s a tempest, the doors towards the street ·should especially women's businr.ss (Matt. xxiv. be closed, and none should leave the house. 41). By them 11.1'0 meant the teeth, e.s we But what are meant by the doors in the speak of molars, though, of course, the term metaphorical house, the body of the aged here applies to all the teeth ; so the Greeks man? Jewish expositors understood them used the term ,,.oh.a, for the denfa molaru. to be the pores, or excretive apel'tures of These, becoming few in number and no the body, which lose their activity ln old longer continuous, cannot perform their age-'--which seems an unseemly o.llusiol1. office. Otherwise, the grinding-women Plnmptre will have them to be the organa leave their work or pause in their labours at which carry on the processes of sensation a.ml the approach of the storm, though one does nutrition from the beginning to the end; not quite see why they should be fewer than but it seems a forced metaphor to call these usual, unless the sickly season has pros- "double-doors." More natural is it to see trated most of their companions, or that many in the word, with its dual form, the month are too frightened to ply their task. Having, closed by the two lips. So a ps11lmist speaks therefore, harder work than usual, they stop of the mouth, the door of the lips (Ps. exli. at times to recruit themselves. But the 3; comp. Micah vii. 5). As it is only 'tho analogy rather breaks down here; one would external door of a house that could be em- be inclined to suppose that their decreased ployed in this metaphor, the addition, "in numbers would make them apply themselves [ or, 'towards'] the streets," is accounted for. more assiduously to their necessary occupa- When the sound of the grinding is low. 'l'ho tion. As the "keepers " in the former part sound of the grinding or the mill is weak o.nd of the verse were elaves, so these grinde1·s are low when the teeth have ce11sed to m11sti- ~laves, such oecnpation being the lowest cate, and, instead of the crunching nnd form of service (see Exod. xi. 5; Judg. xvi. grinding of food, nothing is heard but a 21; Job xx.xi. 10). Those that look out of munching and sucking. The falling in of the windows be darkened. These are the the mouth over the toothless gums is rep1·e- eyes that look forth from the cavities in sented as the olosiug of doors. To take tho which they axe sunk; they are regarded as words in their literal sense is to mo.ke 1hc ihc windows of the bodily structure, the author repeat himself, reiterating _what ho eydllJ!hes or eyelids possibly being deemed is supposed to have so.id before in speaking the lattice of the eame. Plumptre cites of the grinding-women-all labour is less- Cicero,' De Nat. Deor.,' ii. 140: "Sensns in- ened or stopped. The sound of grinding 1.erpretes ae nuutii rerum, in capite, tarn- betokened cheerfulness and pro.pel'ity; its 011, XU. 1-14.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. 200