Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/646

624 024 ECCLESIASTES One of the causes which have contributed to obscure the design of this book is the name Ecclesiastes. This title Preacher, which ascribes to Solomon an office foreign to the Old Testament, has been given to it by the Septuagint and Vulgate in accordance with a Jewish tradition, and has been adopted alike by the pre- and post-Reformation authorized versions of the Scriptures. The Jewish tradition in question is to be found in the Midrash Rabba on Eccl. i. 1, where we are told that &quot; Solomon was called Coheleth = Ecclesiastes, because his discourses were delivered in the Cahal = Ecclesia.&quot; Hence the title in the Alexandrian ver sion, which was followed by the Latin Authorized Version, and is reproduced in Wycliffe s Bible &quot; the boc of Ecclesiastes, that is to sey, boc of talker to the people.&quot; Hence, too, Luther s title Prediger, which is followed in our first printed English Bible &quot; the boke of the Preacher, otherwyse called Ecclesiastes&quot; (Coverdale, 1535), and which is perpetuated in our Authorized Version. This title, however, is contrary to the grammatical form of the word Coheleth, as well as to the usage of the root from which it is derived. It lias arisen from a desire on the part of the Jewish synagogue to exhibit Solomon in the garb of a penitent confessing his sins, and, by detailing his bitter experience, warning the people publicly to avoid the thorny path he has pursued and walk in the ways of righteousness. Laudable as this desire is, it perverts the historico-exegetical import of the book, and is contradicted by the signification of the name. Coheleth is the participle feminine Kal of kdhal, which primarily means to call, to call together, to collect, to assemble. The verb occurs about forty times in the Hebrew Bible, and is invariably used for assembling or gathering people together, especially for religious worship. Hence the name means a collectress, or an assembleress of people into the presence of God, a female gatherer of an assembly to God* This meaning of the name is fully confirmed by another Jewish tradition, which is embodied in the Midrash Yalkut (Eccl. i. 1), and is exhibited in the ancient Greek versions of Aquila and Symmachus. Chapter i. 12 tells us that Solomon is meant by this designation, since he was the only son of David who was king over Israel in Jerusalem. The feminine and symbolic appellation arises from the fact that in chapter vii. 27 of this very book Solomon is depicted as personified Wisdom, who appears herself in Prov. i. 10, viii. 1, &c., as Coheleth, or the female gatherer of the people. This symbolic name is, moreover, intended to indicate the design of the book itself, and to connect Solomon s endeavours here with his work recorded in 1 Kings viii. Solomon, who in 1 Kings viii. is described as gathering (^np 11 ) the people to hold communion with the Most High in the place which he erected for this purpose, is here again represented as the gatherer (r6np) of the far-off people of God. As he retains his individuality, he sometimes describes his own experience, and sometimes utters the words of Wisdom, whose organ lie is. The design of this book, as indicated in the symbolic title of its hero, is to gather God s people, who were led astray by the inexplicable difficulties in the moral govern ment of the world, into the community of God. Coheleth shows them the utter insufficiency of all human efforts to obtain real happiness that it cannot be secured by wisdom, pleasure, industry, wealth, and prudence, but that it consists in the calm enjoyment of our lot, in resignation to the dealings of Providence, in the service of the Most High, and in looking forward to a future state of retribution, when all the present mysteries shall be solved, and when the Pdghteous Judge shall render to every man according to his deeds, whether they be good or evil. Instead of writing an elaborate metaphysical disquisition to refute the various systems of happiness which the differ ent orders of mind and the different temperaments had con structed for themselves, Solomon is introduced as narrating his painful experience in all his attempts. He shows how he had vainly striven to divert the longings of his soul by various experiments, and the only solution which can pacify the perplexed mind when contemplating the unfathomable dealings in the moral government of the world. The theme or problem of the book is given in chapter i. 2-11. On the assumption that there is no hereafter, and that the longing soul is to be satisfied with the things here, Coheleth declares all human efforts to satisfy the longings of the soul to be utterly vain (chap. i. 1, 2), since conscious man is more deplorable than unconscious nature, for he must speedily quit this life, whilst the earth abides for ever (4): the objects of nature depart and retrace their course again, but man disappears and is for ever gone (5-11). In corroboration of the allegation in the prologue, and to show the utter failure to satisfy the cravings of the soul with mere temporal pleasures, Coheleth tells us that, with all the resources of a great monarch at his command (chap. i. 12), he applied himself assiduously to discover by the aid of wisdom the nature of earthly pursuits, and found that they were fruitless (13-14), since they could not alter destinies. Hence, when he reflected upon the large amount of wisdom which he had acquired, he came to the conclu sion that it is utterly useless (16-17), for the accumulation of it only increased his sorrow and pain (18). Wisdom having failed, Coheleth resolved to try pleasure, to see whether it would yield the desired happiness, but he soon found that this too was vain (chap. ii. 1), and hence denounced it (2). After procuring every imaginable pleasure (3-10) he found that it was utterly insufficient to impart lasting good (11). He then compared wisdom with pleasure, the two experiments he had made (12); and though he saw that the former had a decided advantage over the latter (13, 14a), still he also saw that it does not except its possessor from death and oblivion, but that the wise man and the fool must both die alike and be forgotten (146-16). This melancholy thought made him hate both life and the wealth which he had acquired by wisdom and industry, and which, to aggravate matters, he perchance might leave to a reckless fool (17-21). It convinced him that man has nothing from his toil but wearisome days and sleepless nights (22, 23), and that there is therefore nothing better for man than to enjoy himself (24a). Soon, however, he found that this too is not in the power of man (246, 25). God gives this power to the righteous and withholds it from the wicked, and it is after all only transitory (2). Having shown the failure of wisdom, knowledge, and enjoyment to calm tho distracted mind which broods over the problem that, whilst the objects of nature depart and re trace their steps, again man vanishes and is for ever for gotten, Coheleth now shows the vain efforts of industry to satisfy the restless longings of the soul. All the events of life are immutably fixed (chap. iii. 1-8); labour is therefore fruitless (9). Even the regulations to human labour which God has prescribed in harmony with this fixed order of things man in his ignorance often mistakes (10, 11). Nothing is therefore left but the enjoyments as one finds them. But this, too, as has already been shown, is a gift of God (12, 13), who has fixed everything to make man feel his utter dependence on and fear the Lord (14, 15). The success of the wicked does not militate against this conclusion, for there is a day fixed for righteous retribution (16, 17). But even if all terminates here, and man and beast have the same destiny (17-21), this only shows all the more that the enjoyment of life is our only portion