Biblical
Reparatory and
Public Domain.
1857.].
The Book
of Ecclesiastes. 419
ART.
IV.--The Scope and Plan of the Book of Ecclesiastes.
William Henry Green
IN order to the proper understanding
of any treatise, it is
necessary to gain clear and correct ideas of its
scope and plan.
There
is no book of the Old Testament to which this remark
applies with greater force than Ecclesiastes,
and none in which
the neglect of it has been and must be attended
with more
serious injury to its exposition. Its proverbial
dress creates
a special need of taking comprehensive views of
the writer's
main design, and not being diverted from this by
cleaving too
anxiously to the tenor of each individual
expression. The ill
success of too many attempted expositions has
shown, that if
the clue thus furnished to all its intricacies and
windings be
not discovered or be lost sight of, the book
becomes a labyrinth,
within whose mazes the improvident adventurer is
hopelessly
entangled; and each verse becomes to him a new
passage lead-
ing to fresh perplexity,
however honestly and assiduously he
may labour upon its
interpretation. The general truths incul-
cated by proverbs of course
admit either of being taken in their
widest extent, or of receiving an indefinite number of
particular
applications. Which
of these expresses the precise intent of
the writer, in each individual case, can never be
learned from
the inspection of single sentences by themselves,
but only from
a discovery of the place which it holds in the
discussion of his
theme. And an erroneous view of this theme or of the
method
of its discussion, will necessarily involve
attaching meanings to
passages very different from those which they
were intended to
bear.
Another difficulty connected with that
just spoken of, and of
a like nature, arises from the absence of
particles in every case
to indicate the connection or the relation of
dependence which
the various sentences or paragraphs sustain to each
other. This
is partly due to the venerable simplicity of the
Hebrew language,
in which such particles do not abound, and with
which it agrees
better to suggest relations by the juxtaposition of
related ideas,
than formally and precisely to state them. It is
also partly
due to the proverbial style already referred to,
which charac-
420
The Scope and Plan of the [JULY
teristically delights to state
truths in the general and the
absolute, leaving their limitations and specific
relations to be
gathered from the connection in which they are adduced.
The inattentive and superficial reader might
infer from the
peculiarities now stated, and which
would be among the first to
attract his attention, that this book was
composed of loose and
detached sentences, without orderly consecution
or intimate
coherence. This mistaken view was in fact taken by
Grotius,
who supposed that Ecclesiastes contained no proper
discussion
of anyone theme, but a miscellaneous collection of
the varying
opinions of different sages upon topics connected
with human
happiness. He thus explained those contradictions
or diversi-
ties of judgment which he imagined to be found in
the book;
and likewise escaped the necessity of regarding any
sentiment
as authoritative or inspired which he was
disinclined to accept.
It
is but a slight modification of this opinion of Grotius
to
regard the book as a record of the various opinions
maintained
in a learned assembly or society presided over by
Solomon.
Another
view, which rises above this conception of a chaos of
discordant materials, and yet assumes the existence
of conflict-
ing sentiments in the book,
endeavours to reconcile these into
a common unity by the hypothesis of a dialogue
between two
voices, one that of an earnest but rash inquirer, the
other his
sage and experienced teacher, who endeavours to curb the hasty
impatience and inconsiderate views of the former,
and to incul-
cate upon him the lessons of
sobriety and heavenly wisdom.
But
the harmony of the sentiments here maintained can be
vindicated without the necessity of this theory,
which finds no
support from any intimations in the text itself.
The same
may be said of the opinion which supposes instead
of different
speakers, different states of mind in the same
speaker; who
begins the discussion in a tumult of doubt between conflicting
views, and speaks now under the influence of one, now
of
another, as they respectively obtrude themselves
upon him,
until at the close of the whole he ultimately reaches
clear and
settled convictions.
Among those who admit a single
theme consistently dis-
cussed, there is still a divergence as to what that
theme is,
arising principally from an undue predominance
being given to
1857] Book
of Ecclesiastes.
421
some one part of the book or class of passages in it,
instead of
each being held in its just subordination and
relations. Some
have paid too exclusive attention to what is said of
the vanity
of earthly pursuits. So Jerome, and after him the commenta-
tors of the middle ages,
generally made of it an argument for
the renunciation of the world and a life of
monasticism. So
in modern times Umbreit
thought it to be a treatise on the
chief good, which the author tinged with scepticism and gloom
endeavours to show is
unattainable. Others, looking solely at
such passages as declare. that
it is good for a man: to eat and
to drink and to enjoy life, have charged the
author with Epi-
curean sentiments, as though
worldly pleasure were in his
esteem the highest form of good, and what men should
chiefly
strive after. This view, and that first stated are
directly antag-
onistic and mutuallydestructive.
The author cannot teach both
that earthly pleasure is vanity and that it is the
chief good. The
book will be involved in endless complication and
self-contra-
diction upon either of these views. The only way
to harmonize
it is to suffer one class of statements to modify
and assist in
explaining the other. To him whose heart is
inordinately set
on earthly things, and who fancies that by
accumulating what
ever affords gratification, he can fill and satisfy
his' soul, every
thing will prove vanity as regards this impracticable
end which
he is seeking; for his desires invariably outrun
his acquisitions
his feverish toil is incompatible with serene
enjoyment; their
continued possession in the future is uncertain
and their loss" at
death inevitable. Still, he who knows how to use the world,
who contentedly and thankfully receives the good
things which
God
gives him, and without immoderate desires partakes of
them rationally and in obedience to the will of God,
will find
in them much real satisfaction. This life has a
positive value;
which should not be overlooked; and it is a lesson of
no small
consequence, how it may be rendered most peaceful
and happy.
The
enjoyment of life, which this book commends, is as far as
possible from a 'Wild and senseless revelry,
which it denominates
insane and profitless, ii. 1, 2; it is an enjoyment
which is con-
nected with doing good, iii.
12, and is indulged with a constant
recollection of the judgment of God,
xi. 9. Piety holds the key
to the chamber of happiness. There is no entrance
but by
422
The Scope and Plan of the [JULY
her aid. He who would really extract from the world
such
enjoyment as it is capable of affording, can only
do so by obe-
dience to her injunctions. Otherwise,
be a man's possessions
what they may, they will end in vanity and
emptiness. This
,is the aspect under which the happiness of men in
the present
life is here presented, and if this is Epicurean,
the whole Bible
is so too.
Others have given too exclusive prominence to
such passages
as i. 4-11, iii. 1-15, vii. 13, 14, ix. 11, in which
the fixed
and permanent order of things in the universe is
insisted upon,
and the regulation of everything is referred to the
will of God;
and they have hence drawn the conclusion th.at the book con-
tains fatalistic sentiments,
teaching the doctrine of an undeviat-
ing, inexorable fate, which
leaves no room for human freedom,
and allows no man to obtain profit from his labour. This fate
it is vain to think of resisting; man mus~ just submit and get
whatever good his present circumstances put
within his reach.
But
this is as much as the preceding a distortion of what is
here taught. It is indeed asserted that man is not
the un con-
trolled arbiter of his own fortune; not, however,
because he is
a creature of fate, but because he is a subject
of the Wise and
righteous government of God. The doctrine is not
that of fate,
but of
the theme here discussed. As we look upon the
world, every-
thing seems to be moving at random, or to be directed
by man's .
free will.' Men act as they please, and the
allotments distri-
buted to each bear no
manifest relation their respective cha-
racters. There is much that, superficially viewed, has
the
appearance of disordered confusion. But that this
is the real
state of the case is here emphatically denied. The
assertion is
made and the proof given, that instead of confusion
the most
perfect and beautiful order prevails. Whether
men see his hand
or not, God is guiding and directing all; and
everything is, as
respects hIS consummate
plan, Just as It should be. He has dis-
sociated sin and happiness; and
no man can alter that arrange-
ment so as to bring together
what have been thus divinely
separated. He who seeks for happiness in ways of
worldliness
and sin, seeks for what" by the very
constitution of the uni-
verse, cannot be.
1857] Book
of Ecclesiastes.
423
Too great prominence has again been sometimes
given to such
passages as iii. 17, v. 8, xi.
9, xii, 7, 14, and on the basis of
these the future state and the coming judgment have
been made
the grand lesson here inculcated, as though it were
the intention
of the writer to turn the thoughts of his readers
from, the seem-
ing inequalities of this
world to; the world to come, where all
shall be rectified or explained. The error in this
view is simply
that of limiting the discussion within too narrow a
range. The
future judgment is explicitly asserted, and is one of
the ele-
ments in the proper
presentation of the subject. But this is not
the sole view that is here' taken, nor the sole
answer which is
returned to the perplexing problem of human life.
It is most
unaccountable how some writers have been
able so utterly to
misconceive the teachings of this book as to deny to
its author
any confident persuasion of the immortality of the
soul, or any-
thing more than a hesitating admission of its
possibility. In
basing this opinion upon iii.19-21 and ix. 4-6, they
not, only
interpret these passages incorrectly even
altering, the text for
this purpose, as will be seen hereafter, but bring
them into irre-
concilable conflict, with such
passages as those referred to
above; a difficulty from which Knobel
endeavours to escape by
a German critic's ready weapon, the denial of the
genuineness of
xii.
9~14.
Attention has sometimes been directed to too
great an extent
to we seemingly miscellaneous character of the
proverbs, in
such passages as iv. 5, 6, 9-13,
v. l-7, vii. 1-9, 21, 22,
x. l-xi. 6, and the conclusion has hence been
drawn that the
design of the book. is to
give rules for the conduct of life, and
to teach wisdom in general. This goes to the extreme of ex-
tending the theme too widely, as the preceding
to that of unduly
restricting it. Its aim becomes thus too vague and
indefinite,
and the main drift of the discussion is lost sight
of. The writer
does not spread his thoughts over the whole range
of, human
action or the proprieties of life; but he has one
definite subject
before him, to which a proper treatment of the book
will show
that all his remarks are directed, and that with a
closeness of
argument and a clearness of presentation worthy
of the wise
king of
The problem really discussed is the seeming
inequalities of
424
The Scope and Plan of the [JULY
divine providence. These are here reconciled with the
justice
of God, as they are in the book of Job reconciled
with his mercy
and goodness. In other words, while Job had
especially to do
with the sufferings of the pious, Ecclesiastes contemplates
the
same subject chiefly from the side of the prosperity
of the
wicked. The difficulty to be explained is thus stated
by the
writer, vii. 15, "There is a just man that perisheth in his right-
eousness, and there is a wicked
man that prolongeth his life in
his wickedness." And viii.
14, "There is a vanity which is
done upon the earth; that there be just men unto
whom it hap-
peneth according to the work of
the wicked; again, there be
wicked men to whom it happeneth
according to the work of the
righteous." This apparent anomaly is shown
not to be incon-
sistent with the righteousness of
God's government. The posi-
tion taken and established
is, viii. 12, 13, "Though a sinner do
evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged, yet
surely I
know that it shall be well with them that fear God,
which fear
before him; but it shall not be well with the wicked,
neither
shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow;
because he
feareth not before God."
The solution which is furnished is
twofold:--1. A proper estimate of men's fortunes
and of their
characters will show these inequalities to be much
fewer than
they appear to be. 2. There is a righteous
government to rec-
tify whatever inequalities
may temporarily exist.
It is most interesting to observe the harmony of
the grand
lessons inculcated by Job and by Ecclesiastes.
No two books
could well be more unlike in their style and method
of discus-
sion. The problem upon which
they are engaged is one of the
most perplexing of human life. They approach it,
too, from
quarters the most diverse. And yet the principles
which under-
lie their solutions are identical: The book of Job reconciles
the
sufferings of the pious by saying, (a) Their
afflictions though a
seeming evil are a real good. (b) The
perfections of God are
an ample security for the rectitude and goodness
of his dispen-
sations. Ecclesiastes says of the
prosperity of the wicked,
(a)
It yields no real good, but vanity and vexation of spirit.
(b)
The justice of God secures that all is and shall be right
under his holy government.
That the main design of this book has been
correctly stated,
1857.] Book
of Ecclesiastes.
425
shall be shown hereafter in detail. Before proceeding
to this,
however, it may be readily established in a
general way by the
testimony of the author himself. This is in the
first place given
in a formal manner at the close of the book, xii.
13, 14, "Let
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear
God and keep
his commandments; for this is the whole duty of
man," i. e., the
whole of his duty and destiny, his entire welfare,
all that con-
cerns him is centered here
and depends on this single thing.
"For
God shall bring every work into judgment with every
secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be
evil." In
other words, man's true welfare is only to be secured
by fearing
God
and obeying his will; for in spite of any present appear-
ances to the contrary, every
good deed, open or secret, shall be
divinely rewarded, and every evil deed divinely
punished. This
is given by the author as the final result of the
experience,
observations, and reasonings recorded in his book. And this is
precisely what has been already represented to be
its aim.
A second mode in which the writer declares
himself as to this
point, is by certain forms of statement which recur
again and
again from the beginning to the close. We cannot be
mistaken
in deducing from these the topic which is ever in
his thoughts,
and to whose illustration his whole argument is directed.
There
are two series of these statements; one of which
contains the
negative, and the other the positive view of his
subject. Their
combination will give a just conception of his idea.
The first
consists of those in which it is repeatedly
declared of all those
accumulations and sources of
gratification which men so eagerly
covet, and after which they so unceasingly toil, that
they are
vanity and pursuit of wind, (
are no real good, but constantly disappoint their
possessors of the
satisfaction which they had hoped by
this means to obtain. The
second series consists of those, in which it is
declared that there
is nothing better for a man than to, eat and to
drink, and to
enjoy the fruit of his labour;
and this is the gift of God to
them that please him. That this is not an Epicurean
sentiment,
has been already seen. The eating and drinking
which Solo-
mon commends, is not the
gratification of sensual appetite. To
eat and to drink, by a common figure in all
languages, denotes
to partake of what may he either pleasurable or
painful. Comp.
VOL. XXIX.--NO. III. 54
426
The Scope and Plan
of the [JULY
Ps. xxxiv. 8, xxxvi. 8;
Heb. vi. 4, 5; Job xxi. 20; Matt. xx.
23.
Here the connection determines it to refer to what is plea-
surable. In
ii. 24, iii. 13, v. 18, "to eat and to
drink" is
explained by the parallel phrase, "to enjoy
good," and in iii.
22,
"to rejoice," stands as its equivalent. In ii.
25, "Who can
eat more than I" certainly does not mean who
is a greater
glutton, but who has more sources of
gratification at his com-
mand? And in v.19, vi. 2, to eat riches, wealth, and honour,
can only mean to enjoy them. The meaning of this
class of
passages then is, that enjoyment, pleasure,
happiness is a greater
good than all these vain acquisitions which are
attended with so
little satisfaction. And enjoyment is God's gift to
them that
are pleasing in his sight. We thus reach once more
the theme
before propounded. Outward prosperity may be in
possession
of the wicked; but this is empty and
unsubstantial. It does
not necessarily confer happiness. This is only for
the good.
The
scope of the book being thus settled, we proceed to con-
sider its plan. It is of
course conceivable that the writer might
discuss his theme without any orderly
arrangement or methodi-
cal disposition of parts. He might merely give
expression to
his reflections upon it as they spontaneously
occurred to him
or were suggested by accidental association,
without aiming to
govern himself by any strict logical sequence. Some
have
maintained that this is the case with the book of
Ecclesiastes.
It
is so with another book of Solomon's, the Proverbs. It is to
some extent the case with other books of the Old Testament
as
well as with admired productions of uninspired
genius. And it
would cast no reflection upon the ability or
excellence of this
book to admit the same thing here.
Others have been of the opinion that the writer
had a general
plan in his mind, which he followed in the main, yet
not so
strictly but that he has indulged upon occasion
in considerable
digressions. Others have thought that there was a
plan origin-
ally, but it has been obscured by negligent
transcription and .
derangement of the text; and attempts have been made
by
transpositions and re-arrangement to
restore it to its supposed
original form and thus bring to light its proper
plan; but the
results have been as unsatisfactory as the
procedure was unau-
thorized and the premises groundless.
We must take the text
1857.] Book of Ecclesiastes. 427
as we find it, which there is no reason to believe
has been
corrupted. The deficiency of arrangement which has
been
alleged, does not exist; and the alterations
which have been
proposed are not improvements. There is a clear and consistent
plan in the book of Ecclesiastes, which needs no
changes nor
mutilations in order to its discovery; one in fact
of the most
strictly logical and methodical kind. Not only is the argument
we conducted, conclusive and complete, but its
various points
are so admirably; disposed, its divisions so regular
and its differ-
ent parts so conformed in structure,
as to give evidence, that the
whole was carefully considered and well digested before it was
put together. This differs' perhaps from; the prevailing
opinion;
but we are convinced; that , they who complain, of
a want of
method, haerent in cortice.
It would be tedious and confusing to enumerate
in; all their
details the various divisions proposed by
different commentators.
Very
many of them, however diverse in their minor subdivisions,
will be found to rest ultimately upon the same
essential scheme,
the division or the book into two parts or grand
leading sections.
These
are sometimes made unequal by assigning four chapters
to the first and eight to the second; at other
times equal, so that
each contains six, chapters; The principle assumed
as the basis
of the division is in either" case the same,
that the first contains
the theoretical and the second the practical
portion of the sub-
ject; the first establishes
the vanity of earthly things, and the
second the duties and obligations which this involves,
and how
man should demean himself in this vain world. There
is so far
a foundation for these schemes, that the tone of
the book does
become more hortatory and practical as it approaches
its close;
but the line of separation between its doctrine and
exhortation
is not so sharply defined as to render such a
division between
them practicable, as is shown in fact by the divided
sentiment
of those who undertake it. Hitzig's
division into three parts
of four chapters each, appears to be a lame
attempt to mediate
between the views already recited.
The most satisfactory division is, in our
judgment, that into
four parts, which was proposed by Vaihinger in the," Studien
und Kritiken," for 1848, and has
since been adopted by Keil
and others. It is a modification of that of Ewald, (whom Heilig-
428
The Scope and Plan
of the [JULY
stedt follows,) which is
itself an improvement upon that of J
Koster, all
of whom assume the same number of sections. "His
scheme is the following, viz.
II. iii.
1-v. 20.
III. vi.
1-viii. 15.
IV. viii.
16-xii. 14.
It
has a sanction of an external kind, inasmuch as it seems
to be indicated by the writer himself, winding up
each part by
a formal statement of the conclusion of his
argument, which in
the first three is given in almost identical terms.
This is the
more worthy of note, as Solomon has indicated the
divisions "of
his Song in a precisely similar way by the
recurrence of a
refrain. Its full justification depends upon its
being shown that
it is coincident with the actual course of the
discussion, and
that every part, without forcing or the assumption
of arbitrary
senses, fits into the scheme thus presented. Vaihinger was
prevented from exhibiting this in a satisfactory
manner by
his predilection for strophes of equal length, into
which he
fancied the whole to be in the most precise
manner subdivided.
This
encumbered his view and rendered it too artificial; while
his too zealous pursuit of a merely mechanical
regularity led
him to lose sight of the proper divisions of the
thought and of
that regular structure which actually does exist.
Each section
contains, in addition to a brief conclusion,
three subdivisions,
not counted off into precisely the same number of
verses, but
with entire freedom as to length, and arising out of
the nature
of the subject discussed. Of the four principal
sections the first
and second are preliminary, the third contains the
main body of
the argument, and the fourth is supplementary.
The first and second sections/are intended to pave
the way
for the discussion proper, by presenting facts and reasonings,
upon which the considerations alleged for the
settlement of the
question at issue are then based. The first section, chaps. i.
and ii., contains a preliminary argument from Solomon's
own
experience, designed to show that happiness is not
in man's
own power; that all his striving and toiling,
though it may
surround him with every source of gratification
his heart can
desire, is powerless to give that gratification
itself. After
1857.] Book
of Ecclesiastes.
429
announcing, i. 1, the
author, he proceeds to state his theme,
i. 2, 3, the vanity of men's toil and
acquisitions; they cannot
yield the happiness so confidently expected from
them. To the
illustration of this theme he now
proceeds. He first, i. 4-11,
lays down the postulate essential to the validity of
any general
deductions from an individual experience of the
uniformity of
sequences in the world, where the same phenomena
are con-
stantly repeating themselves.
The earth, with its established
laws, abides through every shifting generation. The
sun, the
wind, the rivers in their constant motions, maintain
their uni-
formity. The same is true, ver. 8, of every thing; one would
never have done' telling, seeing, hearing the
numberless exam-
ples of like purport. The
thing that hath been, it is that which
shall be. There is nothing new. Things will happen in
all
time to come just as they have done in the past;
though there
is too little disposition to remember and profit
by the lessons
of experience.
Having thus established the universality and
permanence of
uniform sequences in the world, he proceeds to
state his own
experience with its results. The same results must,
from the
principle just laid down, follow. in every like case; whence he
is warranted in drawing from these premises the
universal con-
clusion at which he is aiming.
His experience is given first in
general, i. 12-18, and
then with more detail, ii. 1-11. The
general account of it is rendered more emphatic py its repeti-
tion in precisely the same
form, vs.12-15, vs. 16-18. He
describes first his favourable
situation for trying a satisfactory
experiment, ver. 12, ver. 16, he was a king, and superior to all
former dwellers in
ver. 17 a, he tested everything, whether wise or
foolish; the
result, vs. 14 b, 15, vs.17 b, 18, it was all empty
and unsatis-
factory. There was in everything he attempted
something
crooked that could not be made straight, or
deficient that could
not be rendered complete. There was always
something to
render the unalloyed happiness that he sought,
unattainable;
and that something could not be got rid of, for it
arose from a
vice inherent in earthly things. He then goes on,
ii. 1-11,
to specify more particularly some of the methods
in which he
sought happiness but failed to find it; merriment,
conviviality,
430
The Scope and Plan of the [JULY
splendid buildings, fine grounds, retinues,
wealth, music. In
fine, he surrounded himself with everything his
heart desired;
and yet surveying it all while still in the secure
possession of
it, he found it emptiness and vanity. It did not
yield him
happiness.
In addition to the unsatisfactory nature of
these things in
themselves, the brevity of their possession, and
the uncertainty
of what shall become of that which has been
accumulated with
iso much pains and toil,
are alleged, ii.12-23, as fresh reasons
for disappointment and vexation. Solomon had tried
his expe-
riment under circumstances as favourable as any man could have,
ver. 12, and yet he found that whatever might be
the intrinsic
superiority of wisdom over folly, it could not
preserve from
death, which would consign him to oblivion, vs.
13-17, and
hand over all his acquisitions, so painfully
accumulated, to no
one knows whom, vs. 18-23. And yet, for such a good
as this,
so unsatisfactory, so fleeting, and so precarious,
men will toil
and make themselves miserable all their days.
The conclusion from this experience of his own
is drawn,
vs. 24-26. Translated as it is in the .common
version, ver. 24
yields a good sense, and is conformed to iii. 12, 13,
22, v. 18,
viii.
15. The meaning would be, that enjoyment or happiness
is a better thing than all these unsatisfying
accumulations which
have been described, and which men toil so to
obtain. The
precise form of the conclusion in the original
Hebrew is, how-
ever, slightly different. The word rendered
"better," is not
properly in the comparative degree. It should be
read, "Good
is not in man (i. .e. within his power or control) that he should
eat and drink, and that he should make his soul
enjoy good in
his labour." Man has
not the ability in himself to extract
enjoyment from his acquisitions. The ability to
enjoy, which is
quite distinct' from the possession of things to be
enjoyed, is the
gift of God. Solomon's experience is conclusive upon
this
point; for no man could go beyond what he did. As
enjoyment
is the gift of God, he assigns it only to the
good; but to the
wicked he gives the empty and vexatious toil of
accumulating
what shall afterwards be converted to the uses of
the good.
This point thus proved from Solomon's personal
experience
is in the second section, chaps. iii.-v., proved again from current
1857.] Book
of Ecclesiastes.
431
facts of observation. He here passes from what he had
himself
done and felt to what he had seen. The structure of
the argu-
ment is precisely the same
as before. ..There is first a postulate
essential to its validity, iii. 1-15, then the
facts observed,
iii.
16-iv. 16, then reasonings upon them, v. 1-17, and
finally
the conclusion, v. 18-20. The uniform sequences of
the first
postulate are in the second, to meet the
exigencies of this new
argument, traced to their source in the all-embracing
and admi-
rable plan of God. He has a
scheme in which every event, and
all the multifarious actions of men, with the time
of their occur.,.
rence, are definitely arranged.
This scheme is, ver. 11, a beauti-
ful one, though from their
prevailing worldliness men do not
comprehend it. (So the English
version. It is probable, how-
ever, that this verse ought to be translated,
"He hath set eter-
nity in their heart, because
no man can find out the work that
God
maketh from the beginning to the end;" i. e., He gives
men an idea of the vastness and eternity of his
plan from their
very incapacity to comprehend the whole of it.)
Human wel-
fare consisting, ver. 12,
in happiness and goodness is, ver. 13,
constituted the gift of God by this, ver. 14, permanent' and
unalterable plan, whose aim is to lead to piety, and
which,
v.
15, embraces within itself that uniformity of sequence before
insisted on.
He next proceeds to allege various facts, of
constant occur-
rence in the world, upon
which his argument is to be con-
structed. The first is, ill. 16,
unrighteousness in halls of jus-
tice. It is so grievous an
anomaly, that tribunals which are
looked to for the rectifying of abuses existing
elsewhere, should
themselves originate injustice from which there
appears to be no
appeal; and this seems to be so serious an exception
to his grand
doctrine, that justice rules in the world and
happiness attends
right-doing, that he pauses to give its explanation
before adduc-
ing the other facts which
he has to allege. His postulate ensures,
ver. 17, that this seeming inequality shall be
rectified by God's
future judgment, though meanwhile its existence is
temporarily
permitted, vs. 18-21, to prove men and to exhibit
to them their
frailty; for, however they may tyrannize over
each other, death
shall level them with the brutes. And yet how few
consider
their immortal nature, in which their real eminency
lies? The
432
The Scope and Plan of the [July
conclusion previously drawn is valid, therefore,
even in this case,
ver. 22, happiness, which requires no crime in
order to its attain-
ment, is better than the
gains of the unjust judge, which he
can no longer enjoy (b hxr)
after death.
We are certainly not disposed to yield to those
who would
alter the text of iii. 21, so as to change its
assertion of man's
immortality into an expression of doubt, "Who knoweth whe-
ther the spirit of man goeth upward, etc.," for the mere sake of
Imaking the writer contradict himself, and
express a sentiment
unworthy of his inspiration.
The remaining facts alleged are, iv. 1-3, oppressions so
grievous as to make life a burden; vs. 4-6, the
envy attendant
upon success, which is an argument not for idleness
but for mode-
ration; vs. 7-12, the selfish toil of the solitary,
unmindful of
the advantages to be derived from society;
vs.13-16, the tem-
porary nature of the most
brilliant rewards of wisdom, illus-
trated by the case of one who
raised himself by wise conduct
from poverty to a throne, and yet who, after all,
formed one in
the endless procession of mankind unremembered and unpraised.
In proceeding to reason upon the facts now
stated, he first,
v. 1-7, utters a caution against being seduced to
irreligion, to
a neglect of religious duty, or to inconsiderate
language reflect-
ing upon God's providence
by such contemplations. In regard
to the case of oppression, which was the first
that had been
alleged, he appeals, ver.
8, to the fact that there is always a
tribunal higher than those by whom it is
perpetrated, to which
appeal may be made, and ultimately, as the highest of
all, there
is the tribunal of God. Ver.
9 continues the same thought, and
should be rendered, "Moreover a profit to the
land in all is a
king served by the field," (i.
e., land. Comp., field of Zoan, Ps.
lxx. 12,
43.)
Good government by a supreme officer, to whom
respect and obedience are yielded, is a great
blessing to a coun-
try. It is a source of .the rectification of abuses
such as those
described. These wrongs, which are acknowledged to
exist,
find redress therefore in a superior government,
human or
divine.
In respect to the other cases alleged,
considerations are
adduced, vs.10-17, freshly confirming the truth
to which they
point, of the unsatisfying nature of human toil and accumu-
1857.] Book
of Ecclesiastes.
433
lations. The first is, ver. 10, to the insatiable, character of
human desire, which always outruns acquisition,
however great
that may be. The second, ver.
11, that wealth is consumed by
others more than by its owners.. The third, ver. 12, that it
occasions disquiet of mind. The fourth, vs. 13-16,
that its
possession is uncertain and brief. Its owner may
lose it by
"evil travail," 'by some unfortunate enterprise. He will cer-
tainly be stripped of the
whole at death, and leave the world as
naked as he entered it. And yet for so empty a good
as this
he will, ver. 17, spend
all his days in painful and distressing
toil.
The conclusion is, vs. 18-20, that not riches
but enjoyment
is the thing to be desired. The capacity to enjoy
is independ-
ent of, and additional to
worldly accumulations, and is the gift
of God. He to whom God gives it, shall not
distress himself
with frequent recollections of past sorrows, or
anxious solicitude
for the future. The condition of this gift has been
stated before,
ii.
26, and is not here repeated. Men may be striving after it
all their days and never attain it, if they do riot
seek it in that
way in which, according to his uniform plan, he
chooses to bestow
it. Happiness and goodness are by him linked
together. And
only they who possess the latter can gain the
former.
Having settled this preliminary point, both by
his own experi-
ence and observation, he is
now prepared in the third section, vi. 1,
viii.
15, to grapple with the main question. He has shown, but
without stating as yet to what he means to apply
it, that enjoyment
is preferable to worldly accumulations, that it
does not necessarily
result from them, but is the gift of God, and its
bestowment is
regulated by his grand and beautiful plan. The
next step, and
this constitutes the central portion of the whole
book, is to apply
this to the explanation of the inequalities of
divine providence.
Three
considerations are adduced as furnishing the solution of
this perplexing problem, so that we have, as in the
preceding
sections, three divisions and a conclusion. The
inequalities in
question may be explained,
1. vi. I-vii. 15, by a just estimate of men's
outward fortunes.
2. vii. 16-29, by a just estimate of their characters.
3. viii. 1-14, by a
reference to government, human and
divine, which will sooner or later distribute
evenhanded justice.
VOL. XXIX.-NO. III. 55
434
The Scope and Plan of the [July
In relation to the fortunes of men it is shown,
chap. vi., that
prosperity may not be a good. For a man may have, wealth
and honour and everything
he wishes, and yet never have any
enjoyment of them. The same is true of other forms
of out-
ward good, numerous children and long life, which
even putting
the case In the most extravagant and exaggerated
form, may
yield no pleasure. Human desires are insatiable. The advan-
tage of the wise over the
fool is, that he knows that the sight
of the eyes is better than the wandering of the desire;
he con-
tents himself with what he has in actual possession,
Instead of
allowing his desires to rove unsatisfied after
unattained good.
This
incapacity of worldly things to yield enjoyment is, ver.10,
permanent and unalterable fact, because resting
upon the
ordinance of God. As man is mere man, he cannot
contend
with nor set aside that connection between earthly
things and
dissatisfaction which the Almighty has
established. Hence,
vs.
11, 12, if external prosperity in so many cases only increases
what is empty and unsatisfying, what real good or intrinsic
advantage is there in it? In point of fact, no man knows in
his ignorance of the future, whether outward
prosperity will be
an actual good to him or not.
Having thus presented one side of the subject,
that prosperity
is not always nor necessarily a good, he goes on,
vii. 1-14, to
state the converse, that adversity or affliction is
not necessarily
an evil, but may be, and often is, a greater good
than pros-
perity itself. This is
expressed by bringing together a number
of proverbs, showing, vs. 1-4, that scenes of
sadness, and, vs.
5,
6, what may occasion present pain, may prove more salutary
in their effect than festivity and mirth. Ver. 7, "Oppression
maketh a wise man mad;"
the opportunity or the habit of
oppressing others will turn the head of the best of
men. Such
elevation so abused will be no advantage, but the
most serious
spiritual injury. "And a gift, i. e. one received as a bribe by
a person exercising judicial functions, "destroyeth the heart,"
blinds or corrupts the understanding. It is better, vs. 8, 9, to .
wait the issue of God’s dispensations than an impatiently
to fret
and find fault with them, or, ver.
10, to contrast the real or
imaginary discomforts of the present with the
pleasures of the
past, as though a condition less agreeable were
therefore worse.
1857.] Book
of Ecclesiastes.
435
This
is not a wise view of the case, for, vs. 11, (marg.)
12,
there is something better than outward good, and
which may
be furthered by affliction. Besides, vs; 13, 14, affliction is the
appointment of God, which ma~ cannot alter; and it
and pros-
perity are distributed in the
manner that they are "to the end
that man should find nothing after him," that
he may not
anticipate the future, but may be kept in a state
of constant
dependence and trust in God for whatever lies
beyond the pre-
sent; which would not be so much the case if there
were some
evident rules for the distribution of good and
evil. Whence it
is, ver. 15, that men
often seem in the divine allotments to be
treated irrespective of their characters, the
just man perishing
in his righteousness, and the wicked prolonging
his life in his
wickedness. This, then, is the first consideration
adduced
for the settlement of this difficult enigma. The
perishing of
the one may not be in reality the evil that it is
supposed to be,
nor the prolongation of the life of the other the
good that it is
imagined. So that while
their fortunes, viewed externally,
appear to be in contrast with their characters, if we
but pene-
trate beneath the surface the
opposition will disappear.
The second. consideration
is drawn, vii. 16-29, from the
character of men. Those whom we suppose to be
suffering
unjustly, may not be so good as we think they
are. Conformity
to the preceding might lead us to expect a
converse to this
argument also, but it does not admit of one. When
bad men
prosper, it is not because they are inwardly
better than they
outwardly appear. There is, ver.
16, an excess of seeming
righteousness, or of what passes for
it in the estimate of its
possessor and of others, which will as surely and
as justly be
visited with destruction as, ver.
17, the opposite extreme of
wickedness. That the caution, not to be
"righteous overmuch,"
cannot mean that there is danger of possessing too
much real
piety, is apparent not only from the absurdity of
such a senti-
ment in itself, its
opposition to other passages in this book
where piety is inculcated without any such limit, and
the incon-
gruity of such an utterance
from an inspired writer; but also,
from ver. 18, where the
fear of God is declared to be an effectual
preservative against this extreme,
as well as its opposite. What
precise form of religious excess Solomon had in
his mind, it
436
The Scope and Plan of the [JULY
may not be easy to determine, as he does not more
precisely
define it. It may have been purposely left indefinite,
with the
view of covering all such pseudo-religious
manifestations, as
Pharisaical
ostentation, sanctimoniousness and self-righteous
conceit, censoriousness of others, multiplied
acts of uncom-
manded will-worship, &c.
Wisdom will, ver. 19, be a surer
protection against all such errors and excesses
than ten valiant.
captains with their armies would be to a city.
Besides the fact already stated, that much which
passes under
the guise of piety is not really such, but is as
punishable as
grosser acts of sin; It 18 added, vs. 20-22,
that none are fault-
less in deed and word, as every man's heart must
assure him
with regard to himself; and, vs. 23-29,
notwithstanding the
original uprightness of man's nature, the truly
virtuous and
good are as one in a thousand. Whether the abandoned
woman,
ver. 26, is spoken of with the view of instancing a
particular
sin of great enormity, or whether she is, as some
suppose, the
personification of folly or sin in
general, ensnaring men by its
meretricious charms, the sense of
.the entire passage is not
affected.
A right application of the considerations
already urged will
doubtless remove a large proportion of the apparent
inequali-
ties of providence. Those which still remain are
provided for
by the third consideration, viii. 1-14, of the existence. of a
righteous government. After bestowing, ver. 1, a passing com-
mendation on the wisdom which can
solve such perplexing
enigmas as this, and can dissipate the gloom
which they occa-
sion, he proceeds, vs. 2-5,
to refer to the righteous a wards of
human government. The obligation of obedience to its
authority
is attended with a divine sanction. Persistence in
evil provokes
its penalties, good conduct escapes them. The doctrine
is pre-
cisely that of Rom. xiii. 1-5.
It is not that human govern-
ments are never unjust and
oppressive; the contrary is admitted
and provided for, ver. 9.
But the administration of justice is
the design for which they are ordained of God and
instituted
amongst men; this is the professed end of those
who conduct
them; and in spite of every perversion this is to a
considerable
degree really accomplished.
From human government, considered as rectifying
disorders,
1857.] Book
of Ecclesiastes.
437
he passes in the last clause of ver. 5, to God's supreme control,
employing language similar to that used, iii. 1,
of the same sub-
ject, only adding to his
previous announcement that God has a
time for everything in his admirable plan, the fact
which is
of equal consequence here, that he has
"judgment" likewise.
Everything
is harmoniously disposed precisely at. the right
time, and all is equitably administered upon
principles of
.justice. The meaning of ver.
6 is obscured by an improper
rendering of its particles. Instead of "because. . . there-
fore," it should read "for . . for." God's harmonious and
equitable administration is not productive of
misery to men.
But
the greatness of human misery, man's utter ignorance of
the future, his inability to resist the assaults of
death or to
escape from peril by his wickedness, are so many
proofs that
the sovereign control of all things is vested not
in his hands, but
in those of God, whose sway must be well-ordered
and just.
Rulers
inflicting injury upon their subjects, ver. 9; the
wicked
honoured (with burial,) ver. 10; the righteous maltreated, (lit.
they who have done right must go from the holy place
and be
forgotten. in the city,)
and such delays of justice, ver. 11, as
encourage men in their transgression, do not
prevent but that,
vs.
12, 13, the most exact justice shall be meted out to all.
This
shall be the case notwithstanding the apparent contrariety
of the fact, ver. 14,
that the fate of the wicked sometimes seems
to befall the just, and vice versa. The enigma is
now solved,
as far at least as a solution is practicable. The
considerations
adduced embrace all that can be offered in its
explanation. The
section is accordingly brought to a close, ver. 15, by the stand-
ing formula which these reasonings have served freshly to con-
firm, that enjoyment is the best thing which earth
affords.
That
serene enjoyment which is the portion only of the good,
is to be preferred above all those accumulations
which the
wicked may possess, and which men are tempted to do
wickedly
in order to obtain.
The fourth section,
viii.
16-xii. 14, is, as has been before
said, supplementary to the preceding. It does not
re-open the
argument, which is not finished, but is occupied
with the removal
of discouragements and the enforcing of practical
lessons. We
have, as in former cases, three divisions and a
conclusion. The
438
The Scope and Plan of the [JULY
remaining mystery of this subject need be no
obstacle to human
joy, viii. 16-ix. 9, nor
to the most strenuous activity, ix..l0-
xi.
6, while in both their joy and their activity men should be
mindful of death and judgment, xi. 7 -xii. 8.
The conclusion
follows, xii. 9-14.
After all that can be said toward their
explanation, there are
yet, viii. 17, insolvable
mysteries in divine providence. No one
can tell, ix.l, by God's
treatment of particular individuals, whe-
ther they are objects of his
love or hatred, ver. 2, the good and the
bad appear to fare alike, vs. 3-6, the existence of
sin and death
involve the most perplexing mysteries. But this,
vs. 7-9,
should prevent no one from enjoying life with a
constant sense
of the divine favour.
Nor is it any obstacle to the most energetic
action, ver. 10,
but the reverse. When it is said that "there
is no work, nor
device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither
thou
goest," it is manifest
that this is no denial of a future state of
intelligent activity, any more than, vs. 5, 6, where
the meaning
is more fully explained by saying that the dead
"have no more ,
a portion for ever in anything that is done under
the sun," i. e., in
this world. Men should labour
with their might. It is true,
vs.
11, 12, that the results attained do not always correspond
with what might be expected from the means employed.
And
yet on the whole and .as a general rule, ix..13-x.
20, wisdom
is advantageous and folly is ruinous. And, xi. 1-6, this
general certainty, even though no positive
assurance of a suc-
cessful result can be attained
in each individual case, is a suffi-
cient warrant and incitement
to vigorous exertion.
The advantages of wise action are first
illustrated, ix. 13-16,
by the case of a city delivered by a poor wise man
from the siege
of a powerful king. The same thought is then
exhibited in a
series of apothegms to the close of chap. x. This passage, it
will be perceived; is directed to precisely the same
point with
the entire book of Proverbs. And it is observable
to what an
extent the style of the two books is here identical,
possessing
the same terse brevity and the same lack of
connection between
the individual sentences, while all conspire to
teach the same
general truth. The attempt to force a more
intimate connection
upon this passage than the writer designed or than
its nature
1857.] Book
of Ecclesiastes.
439
will allow, has resulted in the strangest
misinterpretations.
Thus
because rulers are referred to, vs. 4-7, and again, vs. 16,
17,
and ver. 20, it has been quite common for
interpreters to
insist upon explaining all the intermediate verses in
reference
to the same subject. So vs. 8-10 are made to teac4
the evils
resulting from premature or ill-concerted attempts
to throw off
the yoke of bad government; and ver.
18, the injury arising to
the edifice of the state from negligent rulers,
whose revels and
avarice are supposed to be described, ver. 19. Upon the
wretched government, under which it is thus (with
the help of
viii. 2-5, perverted to precisely its opposite
sense, and ver. 17
being pronounced spurious, as inconsistent with the
context)
made out that the author must have lived, is based
the conclu-
sion that this could not
have been written by Solomon. Our
answer to which is, that the argumentation has about
as much
connection with the text as Geier's
notion that the times spoken
of, iii. 2-8, are the seven periods of the church
militant.
The propriety and even necessity of acting upon
a general
presumption, without demanding particular
certainties, is vari-
ously illustrated, xi. 1-6.
Even where there seems so little
antecedent likelihood of return as in casting bread
upon the
waters, it should be done in the hope of finding it
after many
days. The possibility of some time needing their
assistance, is
a reason for making friends everywhere by
benevolent action.
When
the clouds are full, they empty themselves upon the earth,
it may be sometimes uselessly on the rock or on
barren land,
yet on the whole the benefit .is immense. So a tree
may fall
this way or that, on one man's land or another's,
but it will be
likely in any case to do somebody good. If a man were
to
insist on certainties, or even on having always the
most favour-
able conditions prior to his acting, he would never
do anything.
"He
that observeth the wind, shall not sow; and he that
regardeth the clouds shall not
reap." As, therefore, we neither
understand God's natural, nor his providential
operations, the
only proper course is to be diligent in right
action; some of it
will succeed, even if all does not.
After placing death and the coming judgment
before its
readers as a solemn fact which should never be
lost sight of
amid their pleasures, and which should influence all
their con-
440
The General Assembly
[JULY
duct, the book is brought to a formal close. The
conclusion of
the entire discussion is stated to be: Fear God and
keep his
commandments; for this is the whole
welfare of man; for God
shall bring every work into judgment, with every
secret thing,
whether it be good or whether it be evil.
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