The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 309

lit.ersry composition, DelitZBoh oompares the of the treatise beoe.uae it was not the German word for" author" (Sohrijtst,eller). genuine work of the celebrated Solomon, The notion of the mai;hal being similitude, the writer olaims attention to his produc- comparison, the writer's pondering and tion on the ground of its intrinsic qualities, ~earching were needed to discover hidden as inspired by the same wisdom which nnalog-ies. and, by means of the known and animated his great predecessor. familiar, to lead up to the more obscure and Ver. 11.-The words of the wise are ae nhslrnse. The Septuagint has a curious goads. The connection of this verse with nnd somewhat unintelligible rendering, Keil the preceding is maintained by the fact ()&5 Et,xvuicrera, K&o-µ,ov ,rapa{JoA~v, "And that the "acceptable words," etc., o.re words the ear will trace out the order of parables," of the wise, emanate from the same persons. "- hich Schleusner translates, "elegantes Herewith he proceeds to characterize them, llfi ra bolas.', with especial reference to his own work. Yer. 10.-The Preacher sought to find The goad was a rod with an iron spike, or out acceptable words; literally, words of sharpened at the end, used in driving oxen delight; >..6-yovs 8,>...fiµa.,-os (Septuagint); (see Judg. iii. 31; 1 Sam. xiii. 21; Ecclus. ,·erba utilia (Vulgate); so .Aquila, >..&yovs xxxviii. 25; Acts ix. 5). Words of wisdom xp,ia5. The word chephets, "pleasure," are called goads because they rouse to occurs in eh. v. 4; xii. l. Thus we have exertion, promote reflection and action, re- "stones of pleasure" (Isa.. liv. 12). He strain from error, impel to right; if they added the grace of refined diction to the hurt and sting, the pain which they inflict solid sense of his utterances. Plumptre is healthful, for good and not for evil. And reminds u, of the "gracious words" (>..&yo,s e.s nails fastened by the masters of assem- .,-~s xap•TOs, Luke iv. 22) which proceeded blies. The proposition "by" is an inter- from the mouth of him who, being t.he polation, and the sentence should run: And Incarnate Wisdom of God, was indeed like nails fastened [are] the, etc.-masmeroth, greater than Solomon. On the necessity of "nails," as in Isa. xli. 7. There is much a work being attractive as well as conform- difficulty in explaining the next words, ing to literary rules, Horace long ago wrote n\!lt?tl '?~~ (baale asuppoth). We have had (' Ars Poet.,' 99)- similar expressions applied to possessors in " Non satis est pulchra esse poemata; dnlcie. eh. x. 11, "lord of the tongue," and "lord sunto, of wings" (eh. x. 20); and analogy might Et quocunque volent e.uimum auditoris lead us to apply the phrase here to persons, o.gunto." and not things; but in Isa. xli. 15 we find a threshing-instrument termed "lord of "'Tis not enough that poems faultless be, teeth;" and in 2 Sam. v. 20 a town is called And fair; let them be tender too, and Boal-Perazim, "Lord of breaches;" so we clro.w must be guided by other considerations in The hearer by the cord of sympathy.'' our exposition. The Septuagint, taking the St. Augustine is copiona on thi& subject whole sentence together, and regarding baale in his treatise, 'De Doctr. Christ.;' thus ns a preposition, 1·enders, "As nails firmly (i r. 26): •• Proinde ille. tria, ut intelligant planted, (ot W"apa. -rwv <Tvv8eµd.-rr,,v i6&871<Tav /,c qui audiunt, ut delectentur, ut obediant, ...o,µ,vos ivos) which from the collections diam in hoe genere agendnm est, ubi tenet were given from one shepherd." Schleus- delectatio principatum. . . . Sed quia move- ner takes ot W"apa. -rwv <Tuv8•µd.-r"'v to mean, tur, si nescit quod dicitur? Ant quia tene- "Ii quibus munus de.tum erat collectionem tur ut audiat, si non delectatur?" And faciendi," i.e. the author, of collections. The tl.iat which wae written was upright, even Vulgate has, Verba ... qum per magiatrorum words of truth. The .Authorized Version, consilium data aunt a paslore uno. The with its interpolations, does not accurately "masters of assemblies" can only be the convey the sense of the original The sen- chiefs of some learned conclaves, like the tence is to be regarded a.s containing great synagogue supposed to exist in the phrases in apposition to the "acceptable time of Ezra and later. The clause would words" of the first clause; thus: "Koheleth then assert that these pundits are like sought to discover words of pleasure, and a fastened nails, which seems rather unmean- writiug in sincerity, words of truth.'' The ing. One might say that their uttered Seplua~int has, Keil 7•-ypr,,µµ,vov ,i,86nrros, sentiments became fixed in the mind as "a wriliog of uprightness;" Vulgate, et nails firmly driven in, but one could not conscl"ipsit sermones reetissimo8. The mean- properly say this of the men themselves. i[lg is that what he wrote he.d two che.rac- A late editor, Gietme.nn, suggests tho.t ttristics-it was sincere, that which he "lords of collection" may mean "brave really thought and believed, and it was men, heroes, gathered in line of battle," true obj~ctively. If any reader we.s dis- serried ranks, just as in Prov. xxii. 20 tile posed to cavil, and to depreciate the worth term ahaluhim, chariot-figiltera, chieftains, OH, XII. 1-14.] ECCLESIASTES ; OR, THE PREACHER. 305