The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 308

climly in nn immorte.lity, denied the person- the author, explain.iug his ete.nclpoint ancl 11lity of the eoul (see Eurip., • Suppl.,' 529 the object of the book, the great conclusion -534; Lucret., ii. 998, ,qq.; iii. 455, BqlJ,), to which it leads. Nor he.vo we e.ny opinion given. co~cemmg tl.to ndverse doctrines of crc·at1on1sm e.nd Vere. 9-11.-Koheleth e.s teacher of traducie.nism, though the terms used are wisdom. most c,onsistent with the former. God Ver. 9.-And moreover; 71:};); 1<al..-epu11T6v breathed into man's nostrils the breath of (Septuagint); rather, with the follow\ng life· when this departs, lie who gave '1/J beBides that. The Preacher was wise. rece'ives it; God "ge.thereth in" ma~'s If we render "because the Preacher was breE\th (Ps. civ. 29). TI.to clause, taken_ m wise," we are making an unnecessary state- this restricted sense, would say nothrng ment, as the whole book has demonstrated a.bout the soul the personal "I;" it would this fact, which goes without saying. Wh~t merely indicat~ the destination of the vital the writer here asserts is that Koheleth did breath; and mo.ny critics e.re content to s~e not merely possess wisdom, but had made nothing more in the w01·ds. But surely th is good use of it for the instruction of others. would be a feeble conclusion of tho author's The author throws aside his disguise, and wanderings; rather the sentence signifies speaks of his object in composing the book, that death releasing the spirit, or soul, from with a glance o.t the historical Solomon the. earthly tabernacle, places it in the more whom he had personated. That h~ uses tho immediate presence of God, tl.tere, as ~he third person in relation to himself 1s nothmg Taro·um paraphrases the passage, returru:ng uncommon in historical memoirs, etc. Thus to sfand in judgwent before its Creator. Daniel writes; and St. John, Thucydicles, Ver. 8.-It has been much questioned Xenophon, Cresar, mask their personality by wl.telher this verse is the conclusion of the dropping their identity with the author treatise or the commencement. of . t~e (comp. e.lso eh. i. 2; vii 2i). The e.ttesta- epilogue. For the fatter conclusion it is tion that follows is compared with that at contended that it is only natural that the the end of St. John's Gospel (xxi. 2!), and berdnnin"' of the final summing-up should is plainly intended to coufi·rm the authority st:i.t with the same words as the opening of of the writer and to enforce on the hearer the book (ob. i. 2); e.nd ~at thus the C?n- the convictio~ the.t, though Solomon hims~lf junction "and," with which ver. 9 b~gm~, did not co!llpose the work, it has every o)a11;11 is readily explained. But the treatise. 18 to receive attention, and possesses mtnns1c more artistically completed by regardrng valuo. He still taught the people know- this solemn utterance o.s the conclusion of ledge. As well os being esteemed one of the whole, ending witl.t the se.~e burden the company of sages, he further (o_d) took with which it bego.n-the nothmguess of po.ins to instruct his contempor~es_ (T3v earthly things. Kohcleth he.a laboured to 1£v8pw..-ov, Septuagint), to o.pply l.t1s WlSdom show this, he he.s pursued the ~hought from to educational purposes. Yee., he gave good beginning to end, through e.ltcircumstan°l:s heed. literally, lie 1oeighecl (like our word o.nd conditions e.nd he co.n only re-echo his "pon'der "); only thus used in this passage. mele.noholy re'rrain. Vanity of vanities, It denotes the careful examination of every saith the Preacher. He does not follow the fe.ct and argument before it was presented destiny of the immortal spiri~; it is no~ ~is to the publio. Sought out, and set in order purpose to do so; hie theme 1s tho frog1lity many proverbs. There is no ~opula._ in ~ho !lf mortol things, their unsatisfying nalurc, orio-inal; the weighing and the mveshgatton the impossibility of their securi~g man's iss~ecl in the composition of '' proverbs," happiness: so his voyoge lands hun at tho which term includes not only the wit and point whence 1.te set forth, tl.tough ho has wisdom of past e.ges in the form of pithy learned and taught faith in the interve.l. sayings and apophthegms, b~t also po.rabl~s, If e.11 is vanity, there is behind e.nd above truths in mete.phoricu.l gmse, riddles, rn- e.11 e. God of inflexible justice, who must do structione, allegories, etc., all_ those forms right, and to wl.tom wo may safely trust our whioh a.re found in the canomcul Book of co.reeandperplexities. Kohe!elh,"Preo.cher," Proverbs. The same word (mishle) is used here he.a the article, tlie Kolteleth, e.s if some here o.s in the title of that book. Koheleth, speoie.l reference w11s made to the meaning however, is not uecessarily reforrin~ to t~at of the nl\me-be who has been dobe.ting, or work (or to 1 Kings iv: 2ll, et~.), or 11uply~g ho.run"'uing, or guthering together, utters the.t he himself wrote 1t; he L'l only 12uttm_g finally his careful verdict. TI.tie is the forth his cle.iw to attention by showmg hi3 sentence of the ideal Solomon, who he.s patient assiduity in the pursuit of wisdom, given his experiences in the preceding e.nd how that he adopted e. particultu pRges. method of tee.chiug. For the idea contained Vere. 9-H.-TnE EPILOGUE. 'l'his con- in the verb taqm1, "to placo or muko tains some observatious commendatory of straight" (eh. i._ 15 vii, 13), applied to  304 ECOLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. [oH, XII, 1-14,