Ecclesiastes

“ Who sifts for us the speeches of Job, and enables us to treasure up as divine truth what he utters in one verse, while we reject the next as Satanic ravings? Who gives the preacher authority and accuracy of aim to pounce on a sound text in Ecclesiastes, while wisdom and folly toss and roll over one another in confusingly rapid and inextricable contortions? ”

“ With regard to the Book of Ecclesiastes itself, the writer must confess himself homo unius libri; for some years past all his Hebrew and Greek studies have been devoted to the investigation of the meaning of this one book in the Sacred Canon, and all his conclusions must be taken with the reservation that they apply, directly, to this one book alone. Such a concentration of effort may be expected to produce results which might not be arrived at by a far wider and more extensive research, just as a few rays of sunlight concentrated by a small lens will burn where the sun himself will only warm. ”

“ So Bishop Gray: “he endeavours to illustrate the insufficiency of earthly enjoyment; not with design to excite in us a disgust to life, but to influence us to prepare for that state where there is no vanity.” Ecclesiastes may justly be considered as a sequel to the Book of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes, according to a modern author, is a dialogue in which a man of piety disputes against a libertine who favoured the opinions of the Sadducees ”

“ ECCLESIASTES (Heb. קהלת‎, Kohelet, “Koheleth”; Sept. ἐκκλησιαστής; Jerome concionator) , one of the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament (see Wisdom Literature) . The book, as it stands, is a collection of the discourses, observations and aphorisms of a sage called Koheleth, a term the precise meaning of which is not certain. The Greek ecclesiastes means one who takes part in the deliberations of an assembly (ecclesia) , a debater or speaker in an assembly (Plato, Gorgias, 452 E) , and this is the general sense of the Hebrew word. ”

“ The writer of Ecclesiastes asked the question which the world has been asking ever since: 'Who knoweth what is good for a man in this life, all the days of this vain life which he passeth as a shadow?' You young people are asking, 'Who will show us any good?' Here is the answer—Faith in Christ and obedience to Him; that is the good part which no man taketh from us. ”

“ The search for the summum bonum, the quest of the Chief Good, is the theme of the Book Ecclesiastes. Naturally we look to find this theme, problem, this "riddle of the painful earth," distinctly stated in the opening verses of the Book. It is stated, but not distinctly. For the Book is an autobiographical poem, the journal of the Preacher's inward life set forth in a dramatic form. "A man of ripe wisdom and mature experience, he takes us into his confidence. ”

“ The poetical merit of the version of Ecclesiastes does not appear to us of the first order. The inevitable shortcoming of all Protestant exposition of the Holy Scripture is most patent in the commentary on the Canticles, the most difficult and mysterious book in the sacred canon. It is the divine text-book of mystical theology, and can be understood and expounded only by a man deeply versed in the science of the saints, such as St. John of the Cross, whose spiritual canticles are a most perfect imitation and reproduction of the inspired songs of Solomon. ”

“ Eyre and Spottiswoode’s Variorum Bible may enable the student to do for himself what I have not done. As for Ecclesiasticus, the light which Prof. Bickell’s and Dr. Edersheim’s researches are sure to throw on the text may enable me some day to recast the section on this book; at present, I only offer this as an illustrative sequel to the section on Proverbs. It should be added that the canonicity of Ecclesiasticus is handled in conjunction with that of Ecclesiastes at the close of the part on the latter book.
The interest of Job and Ecclesiastes is of a far deeper and more varied kind. ”

“ I have already lamented the labor it has cost our Rays, Tourneforts, Linnes, Buffons, Willoughbys, Swammerdams, and Bloschs, to regain those sciences which possibly were possessed in their highest degree by the Israelitish king, and which, alas! are all lost, except a few traces in the book of Ecclesiastes, if that work can be traced to so remote an age as that of Solomon.
10. As a moral philosopher the author of the book of Ecclesiastes occupies no mean rank. ”

“ Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon.
Ecclesiastes.
Name. The Hebrew word means preacher and refers to or signifies one who calls together and addresses assemblies.
The Personal or Human Element. Such expressions as "I perceived," "I said in my heart," "I saw," etc., indicate that it is not the will of God that is developed but a man is telling of his own ventures and utter failure. ”

“ "Ecclesiastes calls you the All-powerful; the Maccabees call you the Creator; the Epistle to the Ephesians calls you liberty; Baruch calls you Immensity; the Psalms call you Wisdom and Truth; John calls you Light; the Books of Kings call you Lord; Exodus calls you Providence; Leviticus, Sanctity; Esdras, Justice; the creation calls you God; man calls you Father; but Solomon calls you Compassion, and that is the most beautiful of all your names." ”

“ Any roll in which there are written eighty-five letters like the portion, “And it came to pass when the Ark set forward,” renders the hands unclean. All sacred Scriptures render the hands unclean. The Canticles and Ecclesiastes render the hands unclean. R. Judah says, “Canticles render the hands unclean, but Ecclesiastes is in dispute.” R. José says, “Ecclesiastes does not render the hands unclean, but the Canticles are in dispute.” ”

“ Some of the passages, as already noted, are closely parallel to parts of the book of Ecclesiastes. The religious appeal of the precepts is to Egyptian polytheism, while that of Proverbs is to Hebrew monotheism.
6. A Parallel to Ecclesiastes.
The following striking parallel to a passage in Ecclesiastes is taken from a tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic, [580] written in the script of the time of Hammurapi, about 2000 B. C.
Since the gods created man, [581]
Death they ordained for man,
Life in their hands they hold. ”

“ I Ecclesiastes was king over Israel in Jerusalem,
1:13. And I proposed in my mind to seek and search out wisely concerning all things that are done under the sun. This painful occupation hath God given to the children of men, to be exercised therein.
1:14. I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity, and vexation of spirit.
1:15. The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite. ”

“ Declared, with all his grand discoveries recent, That he himself felt only 'like a youth Picking up shells by the great ocean—Truth.' Ecclesiastes said, 'that all is vanity'- Most modern preachers say the same, or show it By their examples of true Christianity: In short, all know, or very soon may know it; ”

“ But to be made partakers of this table is itself to begin to have life. For when he says in another book, which is called Ecclesiastes, "There is no good for a man, except that he should eat and drink," [485] what can he be more credibly understood to say, than what belongs to the participation of this table which the Mediator of the New Testament Himself, the Priest after the order of Melchizedek, furnishes with His own body and blood? For that sacrifice has succeeded all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were slain as a shadow of that which was to come ”

“ Read what I have written upon the epistle to the Ephesians, read my other works, particularly my commentary upon Ecclesiastes, and you will clearly see that from my youth up I have never been terrified by any man’s influence into acquiescence in heretical pravity. ”

“ Even Agnosticism, in so far as it is the confession of the inadequacy of every interpretation of the universe, finds despondent yet still earnest expression in Ecclesiastes, and humble, hopeful expression in Job ”

“ Distinctly a wise man;—wise, for he gives that unequivocal proof of wisdom, in that he cares for others. It is the wise who ever seek to "win souls," "to turn many to righteousness." "Because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge." No cynic is Ecclesiastes. His sympathies are still keen; he knows well and truly the needs of those to whom he ministers: knows too, how man's wretched heart ever rejects its own blessing; so, in true wisdom, he seeks "acceptable words": endeavoring to sweeten the medicine he gives, clothes his counsel in "words of delight" (margin) . ”

“ Ecclesia, e-klē′zi-a, n. a popular assembly, esp. of Athens, where the people exercised full sovereignty, and all above twenty years could vote: applied by the Septuagint commentators to the Jewish commonwealth, and from them to the Christian Church.—adj. Ecclē′sial.—ns. Ecclē′siarch, a ruler of the church; Ecclē′siast, the preacher—Solomon formerly considered as the author of Ecclesiastes: an ecclesiastic; Ecclē′siastes, one of the books of the Old Testament, traditionally ascribed to Solomon; Ecclesias′tic, one consecrated to the church, a priest, a clergyman.—adjs. ”

“ They will see more clearly than before how the heavens declare the glory of God. But there will remain obscurity and uncertainty enough to teach them humility in his presence. For “God hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to the consideration of the sons of men, so that man cannot find out the work which God hath made, from the beginning to the end.” This was true when the inspired Ecclesiastes wrote, and is still, and must ever be, true. The history of the progress of physical sciences is practical, tangible evidence of it. ”

“ I. Not to perplex our readers with the various expositions of the word Choheleth, the title of the book in the original, (for in truth we can find none better or more significant than that commonly received, viz., Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher) , let us now come to the book itself. Nothing can be more interesting than the subject it treats of, to wit, the chief or sovereign good which man, as a rational and accountable being, should here propose to himself. Every human creature, it is certain, naturally aims at happiness ”

“ Therefore, ‘be not righteous overmuch, [289] neither pretend to be exceedingly wise; why wilt thou ruin (lit. desolate) thyself?’ (vii. 16) . Some, no doubt, as the Soferim or Scripturists, had tried it, but they had only succeeded in making their lives ‘desolate,’ without any compensating advantage. Nor can we say that Ecclesiastes had given up theistic religion. He does not indeed 201believe in immortality and a future judgment, and is thus partly an exception to the rule of Lucretius,
... ”

“ Already for several years, I had received the doctrines of the Bible: I had become a theologian of the true primitive Church. I cannot, however, say that as yet I was a firm believer, since I had not abiding in me the spirit of the Gospel of Christ; which is neither the fruit of our reading, nor the work of our own intellect, but is given us immediately from God. I was a Christian in mind, but not in heart. If Christianity, as some suppose, were a mere opinion, a belief, it would suffice, in order to become a Christian, to admit the truth of the Scriptures. ”

“ To these prophecy says, “If ye be willing and hear me, ye shall eat the good things of the land;” [206] proving that choice or refusal depends on ourselves. The apostle designates the doctrine which is according to the Lord, “the wisdom of God,” in order to show that the true philosophy has been communicated by the Son. Further, he, who has a show of wisdom, has certain exhortations enjoined on him by the apostle: “That ye put on the new man, which after God is renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth. Neither give place to the devil. ”

“ Theology is not above Christianity: the Christian Church is in many respects the best practical exposition of the Christian Religion. Facts are still the most powerful, the most solid, the most stubborn guides in the mazes of speculation and casuistry; they cut through difficulties which arguments cannot overturn; they overturn theories which will surrender to nothing else. Ecclesiastical History is thus, as it were, the backbone of Theology. ”

“ We get at what they think of themselves by the names they use: they are "disciples," pupils of the Divine Teacher; "believers," trusting His God; "brethren," embodying His spirit toward each other; "saints," men and women set apart to the one purpose of forwarding the Kingdom; "of the Way," with a distinctive mode of life in the unseen and the seen, following Jesus, the Way. They called themselves the Ecclesia—the called out for God's service; the Household of Faith—insiders in God's family, sharers of His plans ”

“ We include in "ecclesiastical history" the life of the most insignificant bishop or the most wicked of popes, not the life of the wisest of philosophers or the most Christian of kings. But such a limitation is as untenable in fact as it is untrue in theory. The very stones of the spiritual temple cry out against such a profanation of the rock from which they were hewn. If the Christian religion be a matter not of mint, anise, and cummin, but of justice, mercy, and truth ”

“ The picture of the word would not be complete, had we not, after the Epistles which regulated the Church, as subsisting among the Gentiles, not only the practical account of the Apostasy, as in Jude, 2 Peter, 2 Timothy, 2 Thessalonians, &c., but the moral judgment of the Church, as passing from the state noticed in the epistles,—evidences that Christ never lost sight of it, and that when it ceased to be a manifestative place of His presence—His Epistle—he takes His place and title in the throne, whence all things are governed—“the same yesterday, to day, and for ever;” ”