CAST thy bread ¹upon the │ CAST thy bread on the face
waters: for thou shalt find it │ of the waters: for in the
after many days. │ multitude of the days――thou
│ wilt find it.
¹ _Hebrew_ upon the face of │
the waters. │
XI. (1.) =Cast thy bread upon the face of the waters, for in the
multitude of the days thou shalt find it.= (This passage is usually
taken as an exhortation to liberality. Hengstenberg however understands
it to refer to ships and their cargo of grain. ♦Zöckler refers to
Proverbs xi. 24 for a similar sentiment, and Luke xvi. 9; the idea is
clearly that of an unexpected return).
♦ “Zökler” replaced with “Zöckler” for consistency
2 Give a portion to seven, │ Give a share all round, and
and also to eight; for thou │ to some one else beside, for
knowest not what evil shall be │ thou dost not know what sort of
upon the earth. │ mischief shall be in the earth.
(2.) =Give a portion to seven, and also to eight= (see Job v. 19, Micah
v. 4 (5), for similar idioms; it is equivalent to our ‘everybody, and
some one else’), =for not dost thou know what shall be mischief upon
the earth.=
3 If the clouds be full of │ IF the clouds are FULL of
rain, they empty _themselves_ │ rain, they empty themselves
upon the earth: and if the │ upon the earth; and if falls
tree fall toward the south, or │ the tree by the south [wind] or
toward the north, in the place │ by the north――the place where
where the tree falleth, there │ the tree _falls_ is just where
it shall be. │ it will be.
(3.) =If they are full the clouds= (עב is the thick vapour that appears
and disappears) =rain= (גשם is the storm rain which does mischief or
good according to circumstances, see chapter xii. 2) =they cause to
empty= (clouds do not always prognosticate rain; and even if they
should, a storm may do mischief rather than good); =and if is falling
a tree in the south=, or =if= either =in the north= (‘_if_’ is hence
emphatic) =the place where= may =fall= (contracted relative) =the tree=
(now with the article, for it is the falling tree spoken of above)
=there it will be= (the unusual form יהוא has troubled the commentators
much: Moses Stuart pronounces the א to be otiose, which is not
explaining the form at all. But may not the following be a sufficient
explanation?――הוא in this book is used in the sense of the existence of
an object: might not Koheleth coin a verb by adding the י of the
present tense, with the idea, ‘makes itself be’?――compare also Joshua
x. 24, Isaiah xxiii. 12, where this otiose א occurs; the rendering of
the LXX. by ἔσται shows how they understood it, and so also the Syriac
and Vulgate. The whole sentence is ironical, when the tree has really
fallen, then we know which way it fell. The Masoretic accentuation of
this passage is peculiar――we should naturally have expected them to
have divided the verse into two clauses, at יריקו, ‘they empty,’ instead
of which the greatest pause occurs at ‘north’ בַּצָּפ֑וֹן, but this method of
reading renders the irony of the passage; the verse will then stand
thus:――‘If the clouds are full of rain they will empty themselves
upon the earth, and so if the tree should incline to the south, or if
it should incline to the north――the place where it falls is where it
really will _be_.’ The accentuation is rhetorical rather than logical,
and the Masorets have shown great taste in their pointing).
4 He that observeth the wind │ Looking at the wind one does
shall not sow; and he that │ not sow, and gazing into the
regardeth the clouds shall not │ clouds one does not reap.
reap. │
(4.) =Regarding wind! not does= one =sow= (impersonal), =and looking
into clouds neither is one reaping= (we must attend to the precise form
of the words in this sentence in order to gather the true nature of the
sarcasm hidden in it; the LXX. have clearly marked these forms in their
rendering).
5 As thou knowest not what │ Just as thou art not one who
_is_ the way of the spirit, │ knows the way of the spirit,
_nor_ how the bones _do grow_ │ how the bones are in the womb
in the womb of her that is │ of the pregnant: just so thou
with child: even so thou │ knowest nothing with respect
knowest not the works of God │ to the working of the Almighty,
who maketh all. │ who is working out the whole.
(5.) =As thou art not one who knows what is the way of the spirit,
like the bones in the womb of the pregnant, just so, thou dost not
know, with respect to the working of the Deity, Who is He that= (full
relative) =performs with regard to the whole.= (The LXX. render the
first part ἐν οἷς οὐκ ἔστιν γινώσκων, ‘among whom none knows,’ taking
no notice of the pronoun _thou_. Did they read the כ at the end of אינך
as beginning the following word? That the sentence is equivocal, and
that this equivoke helps the general drift of the passage is not to be
doubted.) The subject now returns to the previous train of argument,
which directs man to do his duty in submission to the inscrutable ways
of Providence.
6 In the morning sow thy │ In the morning sow the seed
seed, and in the evening │ thou oughtest, and to the
withhold not thine hand: │ evening do not withhold thy
for thou knowest not whether │ hand, for THOU canst not tell
¹shall prosper, either this │ if it shall succeed, whether
or that, or whether they both │ this or another, or if all of
_shall be_ alike good. │ it shall be alike good.
│
¹ _Hebrew_ shall be right. │
(6.) =In the morning sow thy seed= (with את, ‘sow that seed which you
ought to sow,’) =and to the evening= (note the change of preposition,
it renders this passage a better introduction to what is to follow:
there is a reference to the evening of life) =do not withhold thy
hand= (compare chapter vii. 18, where את is used with this verb, and
observe the difference in meaning), =for it is not thou who knowest=
(a repetition of this clause from the preceding verse) =whether= (but
compare 1 Kings xxii. 24, and 1 Samuel ix. 18, showing that the meaning
with זה is ‘what way’ or ‘how,’) =succeeds= (see chapter x. 10 and
references) =the this or this, or if both of them as one= (ἐπὶ τὸ
αὐτό ‘to the same,’ LXX.) =good= (plural; sowing is no doubt taken
generically as a type of human labour, performed in expectation of a
future harvest, and the Preacher directs us to do our appointed work in
patience, and from morning till evening, _i.e._ the whole day through,
sure of a good result. The morning or the evening sowing will, one or
other, perhaps both, succeed; the transition to what follows is quite
natural).
7 ¶ Truly the light _is_ │ Yes, sweet is the light, and
sweet, and a pleasant _thing │ a good to the eyes the sight of
it is_ for the eyes to behold │ the sun;
the sun: │
(7.) =And sweet= (but the participial form ‘sweetened’ is not to be
altogether overlooked; thus, ‘is sweetened’) =the light, and a good to
the eyes to behold= (_i.e._ to have sight of) =the sun=, (for life _is_
a blessing, and this is a reply to the equivocal ‘I said in my heart’
of chapter iii. 18 and iv. 3).
8 But if a man live many │ yet if man lives to the very
years, _and_ rejoice in them │ longest limit of his days, in
all; yet let him remember the │ all of them he may rejoice, and
days of darkness; for they │ remember with respect to the
shall be many. All that cometh │ days of darkness that they
_is_ vanity. │ shall be many too: all that is
│ coming is evanescent.
(8.) =For if the years are many= (that is, if his years are as long as
they can be) =the man= (humanity generally) =in all of them rejoices=
(but as the noun stands before the verb, it is emphatic, and in this
case, as the verb is preceded by בכלם, is potential――‘may rejoice’),
=and remembers with regard to days of darkness= (that is, forgetfulness,
the days when he is forgotten, and also of sorrow or sadness, for both
meanings are combined) =for the many= (repeating the above, with the
sense, then, ‘for very many also,’) =will they be, all which may come=
(‘every coming event’ that is, as the contracted relative shows) =is
vanity= (evanescent).
9 ¶ Rejoice, O young man, in │ Rejoice, O choice young man,
thy youth; and let thy heart │ in the days of thy youth, and
cheer thee in the days of thy │ let thy heart do thee good in
youth, and walk in the ways of │ the choice days of thy youth,
thine heart, and in the sight │ and walk in ways of thy heart
of thine eyes: but know thou, │ and sights of thine eyes, and
that for all these _things_ │ know how, on account of all
God will bring thee into │ these things thou shalt be
judgment. │ summoned of the Almighty to
│ judgment.
(9.) =Rejoice, young man= (but בחר has the sense of ‘_choice_,’ and
this is to be remembered here) =in thy youth= (but ילדות occurs here
only; see however Psalms cx. 3, which the Masorets point יַלְדֻתֶךָ; this
word is the abstract of the word ילד, which means ‘to beget;’ hence the
exact meaning of ילדות would be ‘productions’), =and cause good to thee=
let =thy heart in days of thy choosings= (for בחורות also occurs only
here and chapter xii. 1, and youth therefore is so designated, because
it is a time of choice), =and walk in ways of thy heart, and seeings
of thine eyes; and know how, upon all these, thou art caused to come=
of =the Deity into judgment.= (The LXX. have here the gloss ἄμωμος――‘in
the ways of thine heart _blameless_;’ but the Syriac Hexaplar notes
this gloss with an asterisk, so that it is clearly not entitled to any
weight; it was no doubt a subsequent addition to the text, because the
meaning was not seen, as indeed it cannot be, without a reference to
the double meanings of the Hebrew words.)
10 Therefore remove ¹sorrow │ Put away disappointment from
from thy heart, and put away │ thine heart, and purge away
evil from thy flesh: for │ mischief from thy flesh, for
childhood and youth _are_ │ childhood and early
vanity. │ expectations are evanescent.
│
¹ _Or_, anger. │
(10.) =And put away disappointment= (כעס, chapter i. 18, references)
=from thy heart, and pass away evil from thy flesh; because the
producings and the dawnings= (שחרות occurs here only; for the meaning
of the root see Job vii. 21, Psalms lxxviii. 34, Proverbs xiii. 24. So
the meaning of the word here is ‘early seekings,’ which the LXX. render
_ad sensum_ by ἡ ἄνοια, ‘the ignorance;’ and the Syriac by (‡ Syriac
phrase) ‘because childhood and not to know’) =is vanity= (singular;
‘each one is so,’ as a plural precedes). That the passage is ironical
we cannot doubt, but it is good advice, even the very best, as it
stands. Youth is the time of choice, the time of productions, or, if
one will――and the expression will preserve an equivoke similar to that
in the text――_conception_; but this time is evanescent. We choose our
path in life when young, but then we cannot go back. He who changes his
calling once rarely succeeds in it, and never if he chooses twice.