MOFFITT tn^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/dirgeofcohelethiOOtaylrich THE DIRGE OF COHELETH IN ECCLESIASTES XII, DISCUSSED AND LITERALLY INTERPRETED ' BY THE REV. C. TAYLOR M. A. FELLOW AND DIVINITY LECTURER, ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 14, HENRIETTA STREET, CO VENT GARDEN, LONDON: AND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 1874. HtQtfi u LEIPZIG, PRINTED BY METZGER & WITTIG. Preface. The quaint traditional view which finds in Eccl. XII. 2 — 7 an anatomy of the human frame has exer- cised a strange fascination over the minds of commen- tators and is accepted without misgiving by the latest critics. There survives however in places a feeling of dissatisfaction with the traditional view,, although the semiliteral rendering of Michaelis is now well nigh for- gotten even among the learned, and that of Umbreit — advocated in England by Dr. Ginsburg — is not un- reasonably thought to have received its deathblow in Gurlitt's weighty contribution to the Th, Studien und Kritiken for 1865. In the present essay an attempt is made to shew the inherent weakness of the Anatomical Rendering , and to establish in its place a Literal Rendering which re- gards verses % — 5 as a Dirge describing the state of 109220 IV Preface. a household or community on an occasion of death and mourning. From the ending of verse 5 : for the man passeth"^ to his eternal home^ and the mourners go about in the street — the inference is obvious that what precedes depicts the state of feeling prevalent on the day of mourning; and it will be found, I think, that of all known theories^ this — at first sight the most natural — is the only one which makes the various details at once consistent and significant. ^"^ The anatomical rendering is sometimes commended as containing poetry of the highest order, and indeed so elastic are its details that the amount of poetry which may be put into it is limited only by the fa- culty of the commentator; but there is a poetry like- wise in the literal rendering, having its counterpart in the prophet's description by natural images of the de- solation of a land : Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the milstones, and the light of the * inogevS-rj, LXX. The whole description might apply to imminent rather than present death, if these mourners could be thought of as looking out for employment, ** See p. 75. Preface. V candle. And this whole land shall be a deso- lation— where the several particulars correspond to Coheleth's description of the darkening of the ladies at the lat- tices, the falling of the sound of the mill, and the hushing of the daughters of song. The Dirge of Coheleth corresponds in outline with EzekieVs Lamentation for Pharaoh: Eccl. XII. 2—5. Ezek. XXXII. 7—9. Ere the sun and the light I will cover the heaven, and the moon and the stars and make the stars thereof be darkened, and the clouds dark; I will cover the sun return after the rain. with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. In the day when the keepers I will also vex the hearts of the house tremble. . . of many people^ for the man passeth to his when I shall bring thy eternal home, &c. destruction among the na- tions, &c. where in each case there is the same use of a well known figure, with the same transition to a literal statement of the way in which actual persons are per- turbed by the fate of the dead. The vexing of the hearts of many people is re- presented in detail by Coheleth. In that day the VI Preface. doorkeepers and the masters alike tremble: the maids cease from their work, and the mistresses from their amusements. Open house is not kept as heretofore, and the mill is no longer heard preparing food for the reveller: but the bird of evil omen raises his dirge, and the merry voice of the singing girl is silent. . . From the house the scene now changes to the garden, or to the country at large. Here also terror encom- passes the people. Lowering upon them from above and lurking at their feet, it deadens every sense: so that the almond -flower displeases, and the rem^ sounds dull, and the caperberry^ palls: because the man passeth to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the street. . . Or we may suppose this verse to describe a sympathetic affection of external nature, comparing, from the Dirge of King David: "Ye moun- tains of Grilboa, let there be no more dew ... for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away"» The whole passage may allude to some special time of public mourning ■^^, or may have been cited from an authorized book of "Dirges", such as were composed on the death of King Josiah and made "an ordinance in Israel". On verses 6, 7 I will only here remark that they * See note p. 71. ** Compare Joseph. Bell. Jud. III. 9. 5. Preface. VII form a distinct paragraph, and are not to be mixed up with what precedes. A glance at Section II will shew the uncertainty of the several points in the Anatomical Rendering, which is at best but an intermittent series of grotesque or repulsive comparisons. Lest I should seem to speak from prejudice, hear the apology of an anatomist: Zum Schlusse dieser poetischen Beschreibung des Alters und des Todes bemerke ich noch, dass, wenn wir an ihr keine durchgefuhrte Allegoric, sondern ein vou der unbildlichen Redeweise mehrfach durchge- brochenes Aggregat unvollstandiger Vergleichungen haben, dieses Verfahren nicht vorzugsweise unserem Verfasser, sondern fast alien biblischen Schriftstellern mehr oder weniger eigen ist. Herzfeld. But the fault may be not so much with Coheleth as with his interpreters, who have mistaken a Midrash for a primary rendering. Cambridge 1873. WOllKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. In Preparation. A NEW EDITION or BAR HEBEJII CHEONICON SYRIACUM (BRUNS AND KIRSCH, 1789) FROM THE BODLEIAN AND OTHER MSS. THE GEOMETEY OF CONICS. Second Edition. 4?. ^d. DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO., CAMBRIDGE. ADDENDA ET C!OERT(IENDA. Umbreit's semiliteral rendering was published in 1818, and wns sub- sequently withdrawn. See p. 72. Read: El Beh^i {or Behku'ddin) Zohair, p. 12; eSSoj/, p. 19; Dhu'r Rommah, p. 26; 195 {for 175), p. 37; p. yKr^r\ . . . wine (/o/- iwne), p. 40; Lmid of Israel^ p. 48; warden {for merden), p. 65 ; rather {for nather), p. 72. Section I. The literal rendering. The literal rendering, already described in the Preface, contrasts not so much in form as in colouring with the semi -literal renderings to be noticed in sec- tion III, where their essential difference will be point- ed out. In the present section the literal rendering will be discussed in detail, some arguments of a general nature being deferred to the Conclusion. As regards particulars there will naturally be a repetition of much that has been written before; but it is the more necessary to discuss the several points at length, because the works which controvert the anatomical rendering are mostly out of print or not easily accessible. In the annexed translation, it is to be observed that the word olive (ver. 5) is introduced simply as a more familiar poetical word than caperherry^ which has authority in its fa- vour. I may remark also that I am very much in doubt about the first hemistich of verse 6, though convinced that the popular interpretation is unsatisfactory. 1 Some Read- ings of the Authorized Version. 1) the strong men bow themselves 2) grinders 3) because they are few, or (Marg) grind little. 4) he shall rise up at the voice of a bird 5) the almond flourishes 6) is a burden 7) desire fails 8) cord be loosed 9) bowl be broken 10) wheel 11) at Ecclesiastes XII. And remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth; JERU days of evil come and years draw nigh, wherein thou shalt say there is for me no pleasure. i:rje the sun and the light and the moon and the stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain. In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the men of power quake i), and the grinding - maids 2) cease when they have wrought a little, 3) and the gazers, at the lattices, are darkened. And doors are shut to the street, on the falling of the sound of the mill, and the bird rises to voice*), and all the daughters of song are subdued- When also they fear from on high and terrors are on the path, and the almond-flower displeases ^), and the grasshopper is dull, 6) and the olive palls; 7) for the man passeth to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the street. ERE the silver thread escape^), and the golden reel hasten^), or the pitcher be shattered upon the spring, and the bucket i*^) be broken into^^) the well. And the dust return upon the earth as it was, and the spirit return unto God who gave it. n-' nbnp : fan onn^b i^^x -rai^n "ii^i? D'lnDisn'i nn^ni nixni T^'a^n -fTrnn n']2r[ -iipTiJ '^3?T=;Tr ni'^a r^ p^tjn n';'rbi inapi i ronisn bip bsij?2 lissrn bipb D'^p^'i :-Tii&n niDSi bs ^nir^i -ipten viCD^i n?nn banp'^i i-abb n^s bi5 D'lijn -jbh "^s -'-ip pn^^ . / qosn ban pnn'] :?^ai2n b:? is "^^tsni -.nisin bs5 b5b5n p;i n-inws i^nijn b^ -isyn ntj^i t :n;n3 "i«s; n-ikbyin by; n^tp n^nnn V* 4 Verse 1. 2. I now proceed to discuss the passage in detail, pre- mising that it divides itself naturally into three distinct and separate paragraphs, each of which commences with an introductory ERE. The first paragraph (ver. 1) is wholly literal ; the second commences figuratively (ver. 2), and, as I interpret it, ends literally (ver. 3 — 5); the third also commences figuratively (ver. 6), and ends literally (ver. 7). Verse 1. b^b ITIJ^ IS?] While yet not, or briefly, Ere. The verse describes a time when the man^s youthful gladness has Jpft itlm^ but whfin dfi^tjhMsTint altog^Jieg3l 0Rjf (j^t ol^ ^Lo^ Because camels have had their nose reins attached^ and neighbours have parted from one another; and the raven of separation has cried out^ art thou mournful? The following, from the dirge of Abii Bekr el Dani in Ibn Khallikan, shews conclusively that that ''the daughters of song" "^ are not necessarily singing birds simply because they are mentioned in parallelism with "the bird'\ The ham. U^t ^'UiJi JjL;^! oUI Palaces that are void of their inhabitants, and wherein are only the deer that go round about what is standing of the images. The ham answers the gcHha'^'^ therein , and it is long since the singing girls answered the trilling finches. * "Here singing birds, as is evident from the parallelism and the whole scope of the passage" (Ginsburg). But the parallelism is one of contrast, to say nothing of the misuse of "niiu. ** The allusion here may be to a mythical bird which the an- cient Arabs supposed to come forth from the head of the slain ; but according to Freytag, the words used are applicable to the owl, or any bird of the night, and the parallelism rather favours this in- terpretation. Compare: "the satyr shall cry to his fellow" (Is. XXXIV. 14). Verse 4. 25 So in Coheleth: The bird rises to voice: The daughters of song are hushed; tte bird (Ps. CII. 6) being not improbably an owl. ^niS'''l] The daughters of song sink down, as regards voice. For the genders compare Esth. I. 20. '•.•••-:-: It : : • • t - t ; TlSn niDa bs] According to one opinion the "daugh- ters of song^' are singing birds. But the word I'^TJD seems to be used only of articulate song, being appli- cable for example to a song of David j but not to the song of a bird. The one passage which I find quoted on the other side helps to confirm this view. The passage in question is from Zephaniah, where the Piel of the corresponding verb is said to mean "howV^, of animals in the desert (Fiirst): "Both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing, bip TlitJ";, in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds" (Zeph. II. 14). But, as when it is said of an occasion of death and mourning, "the songs of the temple shall howl'' (Amos YIII. 3, 10), the whole force of the expression depends upon the contrariety of howling and singing, so in Zeph. II. 14 the expression I'TTttJ'i bip would be pointless but for the inapplicability of the term sing to the voices of the birds previously mention- ed. It is as if it were said that in the windows, the pleasant places of concourse , the only song should be the screech of the owl. I do not hesitate then to interpret the "daughters of song" of singing 26 Verse 4. 5. women "^^ such as are spoken of earlier in tlie same book : ^'I gat me men singers and women singers, D*'1'0 r\r\tl\ and the delights of the sons of men'' (Eccl.II. 8).* Although the strength of the allusion in the "voice of the bird'' is to its being a sound of evil omen, we may still say that it comes into notice all the more for the falling of sound of the mill; and may then superadd its second and more important contrast with the festive sound of music. Its double significance, as (1) a sound of evil omen, which (2) becomes clearly audible owing to the general hush, may be not in- aptly illustrated from Marmion V. 20: The moon among the clouds rose high, And all the city hum was by. Upon the street, where late before Did din of war and warriors roar. You might have heard a pebble fall, A beetle hum, a cricket sing^"^. An owlet flap his boding wing On Giles' steeple tall. It is a common artifice to express silence by the audibility of slight st)unds. The following curious illu- stration is from a description of the desert by Dhu Rem mail : * It makes no great difference whether we say musicians or instruments of music. ** The contrast between "The merry cricket" and the boding owl serves also to illustrate "the grasshopper &c. (ver. 5). Verse 4. 5. 2f There is a humming of the djinns by night in its pre- cincts, like the sighing of the tree *»,,Cwu»x when the wind bloios. I am indebted to Hassoun Effendi for the above illustration; as also for the following _, relating to the Ajib, from the same poet Dhu Kemmah: A devious little valley in the midst of which its ham at the end of the night utters cries of the bereaved. Lastly, to repeat from the Preface, verse 4 may be thus paraphrased: Open house is not kept as heretofore And the mill is no longer heard preparing food for the reveller. But the bird of evil omen raises his dirge. And the merry voice of the singing girl is silent. After this, no further mention occurs of the house and its inmates. Verse 5. 05] Also. This emphatic word extends the area of the description, marking a transition from ^^the house" to the garden, or to the country at large, according as tr^l is applied to a particular house, or used generi- cally. As was suggested in the Preface, we may con- sider that a distinct class of people is now described. It should be noticed that the anatomists fail to make much of the word D3I, when they say: ^^ Moreover they are afraid of ascending eminences on account of their 28 Verse 5. weak limbs and short breath, and they are too lame easily to avoid the frights which might meet them on a level road^'— no great advance on what had been said (?) before about the incapacity of their limbs &c." Not to say too much on this point, I will merely remark that I prefer a rendering which gives a distinct emphasis to the D^. ':\1 «ni5'!Q] They ie2iV from on high, and terrors are on the path. ]12 indicates the source of fear. In Hebrew we say to fear from or from the face of a thing, where in English the verb without , a preposition following would suffice. D'^rininn is a ana^ Xeyo^evoVj but its meaning is not disputed : it is taken in the sense terrors, according to an acknowledged usage of the verb nnH. But the question arises, what is the significance of the contrast, from on high . . . on the path? Now it is a common mode of expressing extension, totality, and the like, to make mention of limits which are in some sense or other opposite, such as Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end; behind and before; hands and feet; in the heaven above or in the earth beneath. I suppose the last example to indicate the sense in the passage discussed. The scene lies in the field or garden, as the expressions almond S^c. suggest. The people are oppressed by a pervading dread : the ^^terrors of deatV^ have fallen upon them. To express this more forcibly a symmetrical contrast is used, and it is said that the terror not only lowers upon them from above but lurks also beneath their feet. This form of ex- pression, as used both of pleasure and its opposite, is well illustrated by the following citations: Verse 5. ' 29 ''And I will bring them into gardens of pleasant- ness, and they shall eat from above them and from beneath their fee f^ {Cor an Y. 70). ''Say, he it is that hath power to send upon you punishment from above you and from beneath your feeV^ [Cor an VI. 65). "They shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness'' (Is. VIII. 21, 22). According to these analogies the clauses discussed may be taken as expressing more fully that "Terrors shall make him afraid on every side'''' (Job XVIII. 11). Before proceeding to discuss in detail the next three clauses, it may be well to notice the argument from their par- allelism. 1. With regard to the first verb Y^'^*^> ^^ ^^ disput- ed whether it is to be taken in a good sense or a bad sense; but its parallelism with two verbs which signify to grow heavy and to fail respectively, seems to indi- cate that the bad sense is the more suitable. 2. Comparing the three substantives we may infer in like manner that the second, which is rendered "grasshopper", is to be taken in a good sense. 30 Verse 5. 3. Since nS'T'ni< relates to the sense of taste^ and ^Ip© probably to that of sight, we may conjecture for the sake of completeness that n:\n relates to the sense of hearing, and therefore denotes the grasshopper with reference to its voice. 7^T!^^ According to some this is a future Hiphil from f 12 or *}^2D to flourish, with an inserted X not be- longing to the root; but Gesenius and others make it a Hiphil from "j^XD sprevit, with an unusual pointing. In any case there is some difficulty about the form; but the parallelism, as suggested above, seems to indicate that the bad sense is the most suitable, and hence that the word is most likely to be from the root y^^, al- though some take it from 1^13, in the sense aushluhen. As regards the pointing, some prefer to alter to the Kal form. So Herzfeld, who quotes Deut. XXXII. 19, fijp']^ TTpr ^y::], "And when the Lord saw it, he ab- horred them!\ But perhaps the simplest change, if change be required"^, would be to read in the piel fS5p1 (Ps. LXXIV. 10). The Plel is used transitively 'in 2 Sam. XII. 14: "because by this deed, nSiC: "j^^?, thon hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme". The usage of HSifp shews that the root f fi<3 may afford a suitable sense in the passage discussed. Compare: "Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and HSiJS: for the children are come to the birth, and there is riot strength to bring forth" (2 Kings XIX. 3); where nnS ai"' is also nSi^D Oi"^. So in Coheleth, where a TTsl Di"' is * We might suppose the present pointing to have arisen from accidental assimilation to that of 1|5T1J. Verse 5. 31 described, the root yb^'2, whatever be its precise mean- ing, is appropriate. Assuming then that yn^T^ comes from y«3, we may understand, either 1. that the almond causes aversion; which would be an emphatic way of expressing that it has lost its charm and no longer pleases; or 2. that the almond refuses, fails to produce its blos- soms; the sense being that external nature is represen- ted as mourning. In 2 Kings XIX. 3, nsjijp UV is a day of failure, when '^there is not strength to bring forth.'' For the present I shall adbpt the former mean- ing; the latter will be more particularly considered in the sequel. ^gtjn] The almond, with reference to its blossom; although some take it of its fruit. It is characteris- tic of the almond that it flowers early: "Ex his quae hieme, aquila exoriente, concipiunt fiores, prima omnium floret amygdala mense Januario'* (Plin. H. N. 66, 25). In accordance with this is the play on ^pTD to watch in Jer. I. 11, 12: "And I said, I see a rod of an al- mond tree. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen, for I will hasten my word to perform it, ^iriwb '^nn^ b'S^ i:x "I'pii'/' where Rashi and others de- scribe the almond as ITlsb^i^n bDb Dllp nns i^'^Sinb irittTS. The almond may then be taken as a harbinger of spring, or a spring blossom. Spring is a time of cheer- fulness, and its flowers, are a source of delight: "Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes, let no flower of the spring"^ escape us'' (Sap. Sol. II. 7). r^ The reading aegog is found for eagog. 32 Verse 5. ^^For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear in the earth" (Cant. IV. 11. 12). On the almond specially compare the verses of Ibn Tamim, /^; ^ ^' ;^' /^;' Flower of the almond, thou comest to us a prince of all flowers; verily the, days are so adorned by thee that thou art as it were a smile upon the face of nature. ^ But in a time of sadness the things which should give pleasure fail to please: ^'the almond causes aver- sion": the spring blossom has no charm. So it is a mockery to sing songs to a heavy heart (Prov. XXV. 20); and strong drink is bitter to them that drink it (Is. XXIV. 9), "When grief has taken away the capacity of enjoyment. See also Daschak, zur Botanik des Talmud, p. 88. where, after an allusion to the use of the almond as a ^'Symbol der Zeugungskraft'^ in Indian mythology, and to its spiritual significance in connexion with the call of Jeremiah to the prophetic office, and with the blos- soming of Aaron's rod (Num. XVII. 23), it is added that, "Der Mandelbaum ist auch das Bild der morali- schen Hoffnung &c.", and the following expressive lines are quoted : * Lit. mouth of the world, or fortune. The word Ajd\ points to the early blossoms of the almond ; so too does *UJJ|, a smile being thought of as introductory to a laugh. Verse 5. 33 Dem Hoffnungstraum von schonrer Zeit Der auf des Elends Stirn ergliiht Die Mandelbliithe ist geweiht Die an dem kahlen Zweige bliiht [Maare). But in this day of mourning the very symbol of hope looses its charm. bsipp'^l'] The hagab or grasshopper grows heavy or makes itself a burden: its voice instead of giving pleasure is felt to be troublesome. Compare el Hariri's JUiJuCwwf ijjjj the deeming his shadow to be heavy. In this time of mourning the most pleasant sound no longer pleases. It is a mockery to sing songs to a heavy heart (Prov. XXV. 20). Compare Amos VIII. 3; Job XXX. 31. nann] It appears from the parallelism that we must dismiss such meanings as ''the devouring locust^', and take hagab as above in a good sense. The allusion is probably to the Tirri^, the voice of which was much admired by the ancients. There may at first sight ap- pear to be an objection to making hagab or dxQig mean rerri^j but from some of the illustrations given below it would appear that axglg and vkm^ were sometimes used without much discrimination; and if axgig might stand poetically for tettl^j there is no difficulty in sup- posing that the Hebrew equivalent of clxQig might stand for T^TTl^. For the following valuable illustration from the poetical works of Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Cambridge M. S.^ Gg. 3. 30. pp. 72, 3), 1 am indebted to R. L. * The poem quoted, and some others, have been edited, but very inaccurately, by von Lengerke. 3 34 Verse 5. Bensly Esq., who has restored the sense of the sixth line by his obviously sound conjecture |-^q-c (for ]-^ax)), a word which occurs in 2 Sam. XII, 31; 1 Chron. XX. 3; and is a Syriac form of collaria. hho \:^ .v^9? |.^9o| pZUk y_caaJ f"'^'^ rr^?<=> .1990^ qXd (o£wI09 llo:^? IjNn —laOO ,P7 «<'.5'« I'l'' =='^ 4 ^••=.. ^ .po^? ]j^Q-i^ r:^V^^^ ^1 .^ > n>1 ^^^ .p_ ^^^ I'v^^^ l?'<^-^ f^^w^OS wS]o On the Rose. Lo Nisan hath come and breathed consolation to the afflicted. And with flowrets hath clothed hill and field in glory. At the nuptials of the rose it hath invited and gathered the flowers as guests, And prepared the way that the bridegroom may go forth from the chamber. Verse 5. 35 Like brides lo I the flowers of the field are adorned, And have gotten deliverance from the strong bands of winter. ^ Lo! the tongue of the rkm^ is loosed and she"^"^ ever sings, And on the ^r/fxara of the narcissus and the myrtle pipes to the rose. Lo! the lilies like brides from the xoircoveg, Come forth adorned and exulting in the splendour of colours. Lo the rerri^ is beside herself in love of the lilies. And pipes poetry to the rose in the midst of the gardens. Here the chirp of the reTzc^ assumes prominence as a symbol of a time which brings consolation to the afflicted. Contrariwise in Coheleth the afflicted refuse to be comforted by the voice of the tstti^. Over the word ^oa^^ in line 11 a later hand has written "^ «^V^^ ^ i. e. the nightingale (Persian). It is remarkable that the T€rTi| was commonly classed with song birds. Bar Bahlul s. v. gives the meaning ^_ii^ -jLbJI, a kind of bird. The locust was also called \yJua£. and ficrns. Symmachus in rendering Jer. VIII. 7 * This illustrates Job XXXVIII. 31, according to one inter- pretation: "canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" ** Feminine, although generally the male xeiii^ is spoken of as the singer. 3* 36 Verse 5. has rirri^ xccl ayovg. In a translation of the Fables of ^^Sophos", i. e. Aesop, fi^nS'^S DIDU""!: several times occurs for rhrri^. In Arabic, the word ^y which is used of musical and pleasant sounds, is applied to the locust [Lane)) but I^ have i^ot met with any passages which would serve as illustrations. Numerous illustrations might be adduced from the Greek. As regards fables relating to the T€TTt|, see those numbered 65, 172, 337, 399—401 in Karl Halm's Aesopic collection. The last of these occurs in a ver- sified form ampng the fables of Babrius.^ The rkm^ having begged food of the ant in winter, ri ovv k^oieiq, (p^ai, rco S'iQEi tovtco-, ovx ^oy^oXal^ov, aXka SieriXovv addiv. yskdaag 8' 6 f^VQfii]^, tov re hvqov kyxXuwVj Xsvfjiwvog OQ/oVj cpiialVy u &sQovg rjaccg. The Anacreontic ode slg rixTiya deserves to be quoted at length. It stands thus in Bergk^s text: 6t£ Sev§oi(ov hn axgcov oliyriv Sgoaov TteTicoxcog ^ccailsvg oTtcog aaidsig' 6a ydg hari xuva Tidvra, OTioaa ^liitetg kv dygolg, ^(anoaa (pegovaiv ojqcci. 6v dh (fiXla yecogyooVj dnq fji7]dev6g xi ^Xccktcov * Compare the Latin of Phaedrus. Verse 5. 37 av §^ TlfJitOg ^QOTOlGlV, &eQ6og ylvxvg ngocpyri^g' (fiXkovai fiev ere Movaai, cpiXiei de 0oifiog avrcg, XiyvQTjv S* 'ddcQxev oi^i]v' to 8h yjJQccg o'v ae teiqh (Tocpe, yr^ysvTJg, (pi kv five, , ccTicc&^g, dvuLuoaaQxe ' GX^^ov el OeoTg ofioiog. The following illustrations (see Fritzsche's Theocri- tus) may be added: timyog knel tvya (figregov uSeig. Theocr. Id. I. 148. ^urgaxog 8h nor' axgidag mg rig ^QtaSw. Theocr. Id. VII. 41. ccxQig, ifjLwv ccTidri^iia Tiodiov, naganvO^iov vitvov, dxglg, (XQOvgccirj Movaa, kr/vntregvye, aVTOcpvhg fii^T^fia Xvgag Meleagr. Anth. Pal. VII. 175. TO evnvovv rov Tonov wg uyani^rov xal acpodga ?jdi>' ^egivov re xal Xiyvgov vTiiixei rro tcuv rerTiycov xoQ(p. Plat. Phaedr. 230, C. ccSeiv Xeyovrav ol rimyeg, ukXa bi dt'iQia ^ofx^eX, Aristot. Hist. An. IV. 9. yriQU'C S^ Ttolefioio TieTtavfxevot. ccXV ciyoQtjTai kG&Xoi, xerriyeaaiv koixoreg, oire xcc&' vlf]v devSgeq) k(peL,6fievoi oTtcc leiQioeaaav Islatv. II II. 151-3. 38 Verse 5. Illustrations from the Latin are less numerous. One has already heen given from Phaedrus. To this add, from the fable. Cicada et noctua, , Dormire quia me non sinunt cantus tui, Sonare cithara quos putes Apollinis, &c. In VirgiFs Culex 151 the ''argutae cicadae" are mentioned in connexion with the *'dulcia carmina" of birds. The epithet ^^querulae" in Georg III. 328 does not describe the grasshopper's note as unpleasant. See Culex 149. In one place we find ^'raucis cicadis", which may seem to imply that their sound was held to be unpleasant : O crudelis Alexi, nihil mea carmina curas? .Nil nostri miserere? mori me denique coges. Nunc etiam pecudes umbras et frigora captant; Nunc virides etiam occultant spineta lacertos; Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus aestu Allia serpyllumque herbas contundit olentes: At mecum raucis, tua dum vestigia lustro, Sole sub ardenti resonant arbusta cicadis. Eel. II. 6. But this exactly illustrates the proposed interpre- tation of 3:\nn bnno"', since it is a person in an un- happy frame of mind to whom the cicada sounds hoarse. ^isni] It fails (hiph. from 1"1S) viz. to attract ap- petite. n^l'^liilin] /) xdnnagiq LXX. Gesenius and others make the word mean primarily ^^concupiscentia, cibi et Veneris" (from n3b5 to desire), and secondarily capparis, this berry being supposed to act as an aphrodisiac. But as Rosenmiiller remarks, the passage quoted from Plutarch Sympos VI, nollol rwv aTioaircoVj hXaiav ok- Verse 5. 39 fidSa Xau^avovreg y xdnnaQiv ysv(rc(uepoi, ra^ecog avi- Xa^ovj xai nag^Gnjaavro t))v oqb^iv, shews nothing more than that the berries spoken of were regar- ded as stimulating the appetite for food; and it has also denied that a suitable meaning could be de- rived from nnfi<, consentire. As regards the form of the word "omnino simile non exstat." In later Hebrew miai'^nbC (see Buxtorf) stands for ^^Baccae, minuti arhorum JructiiSj ut lauri, olivae, corni, myrti^ et similium.^' It is ' used also of caper^^me^^ in contrast with the husk O'^nSp, thus: T^D'^iDpn nx bDi«i n^iai'^nNn n&5 pnir, abjicit baccas^ et comedit corticei\ On the vinum capparinum, we read that '^Ejus usus fuit olim in confectione suffitus aro- matici sacri. R. Salomon tradit, Vinum capparinum esse in quo cappares conditae sunt: alii volunt, Kappa- ris esse nomen proprium loci ubi vinum provenit ge- nerosissimum et fortissimum." It it appears then that the caper may be regarded as a delicacy, or relishy which appeals likewise by its fragrance to the sense of smell. The rendering caper is very suitable to the context, but, in the translation I have used olive as a more familiar poetical symbol, not without regard to, the fact that this meaning appears from Buxtorf's testimony to be actually admissible. a^55»l Tjbn "'S] Because the man — i\\^Q lord of the pa- lace above described, but having no longer any supe- riority over common men — is yoing, or according to the LXX, has gone, iiobi? rr^la bs<] to the house of his eternity, eig xov almviov TOTiov (Tobit III. 6)^ to the "house appointed for all living" (Job XXX. 23), in contrast with the 40 Verse 5. house which he is leaving, or has left. In Syriac, f^"^^ L^a£) is used to denote a sepulchre. See Wright's Apocr. Acts p. |.aic. 'M ^^illOl] It is more natural to take this of mour- ners who are actually employed, than of mourners waiting to be hired. See Jer. IX. 17, 18. I suppose the preceding verses to describe the state of feeling while the mourners go about In this verse it is said first of all that there is a pervading awe, and it is added that the sense of enjoyment is taken away. The almond flower, prized for its beauty and its promise of brighter days : the rixTi^, so grateful to the ear of the ancients : the caperberry, appealing by its pungent taste to the palate, and perhaps also by its fragrance to the sense of smell — one and all have lost their charm. It ^ is as if it were said that no pleasure was derived from such a scene as that described in Cant. II. 11 — 13: ''For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds (?) is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell." It is after the manner of Eastern poets, when de- scribing scenes of pleasure, to make specific allusions to the several senses. This practice is illustrated in a striking way by a line cited by Mr. Lane from Halbet el-Kumeyt, Chap. XI. Mr. Lane thus writes: "All the five senses should be gratified. For this reason an Arab toper, who had nothing, it appears, but iwne to enjoy, exclaimed — Ho! give me wine to drink; and tell me. This is wine. Verse 5. 41 for on drinking, his sight and smell and taste and touch would all be affected; but it was desirable that his hearing should also be pleased/' According to the foregoing interpretation, the al- mond flower, the t^tt^I, and the caperberry are repre- sented as unattractive to the senses of the mourner. According to another interpretation, already alluded to, the figure is that of a sympathetic mourning of external nature, the syniptoms whereof would be such as are described in Habak. III. 17: '^the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall huit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, &c." So Coheleth may intend to describe the "merry cricket" as losing his briskness, and a blight as falling on the choicest of fruits and flowers. The idea of the mourning of external nature is presented in a highly wrought form in the lines pre- ceding those already quoted from the Dirge of Abu Bekr el Dani. It is there said that, "Now that thou art gone, the moon no longer keeps his station in the sky, nor does the sun culminate smilingly at noonday. The rain weeps for thee, and the wind rends her robes, &c.'' Compare, in a somewhat different senses "In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrai- ned the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed : and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him" (Ezek. XXXI. 15). But there is no great difference between the two ways of applying the expressions under discussion. According to one interpretation the natural objects in question are said to be themselves affected: according to the other tne natural objects remain as before, but 42 Verse 5. 6. the mourners are in such a frame of mind that they derive no pleasure from them. There is a like difference between Amos VIII. 3 (or Job XXX. 31), on the one hand, and Prov. XXV. 20 on the other. In the one case, the "songs of the temple howl", and cease 1o be what they were: in the other case, the songs are un- changed, but the "heavy heart" takes no pleasure in them. In the dirge of Coheleth, it is of comparatively slight importance whether ver. 5 be taken subjectively or objectively, the essence of the proposed interpreta- tion being the same in either case. Verse 6. ^b "Mi^^ 15?] The third stage in the description now commences. vlpsn bnn ptlT] There is great difficulty in deter- mining the exact nature of the figure employed in this verse. The idea of the falling and breaking of a lamp is in itself unsatisfactory, and there are also ver- bal difficulties in the way of its adoption. As regards details, many commentaters read pHT, following the •^^p, and they assign to this a meaning in accordance with the vulgate rendering: "antequam rumpatur funi- culus argenteus''. The verb occurs once only^ viz in- Nab. III. 10: n^'pTn ^pni rrhr^'y bsi, "and all her great men were bound in chains"; and it has to be assumed that the word in Coheleth has the opposite meaning, entketten. Some who are dissatisfied with this suppose the true reading to be prr, while Tobiah ben Eliezer and others take ptT\ as a collateral form of pnD, the meaning in either case being to break. But the break- Verse 6. 43 ing of the ''silver cord"^ which, if the imag'e be from a lamp, may be assumed to be metallic — perhaps Pli^5 ]£u»Q^, funiculus ferri, such as we find elsewhere spoken of in connexion with hanging lamps — would be an extraordinary occurrence, and very unsuitable as a type of natural death. For this reason alone the po- pular interpretation might well be rejected, to say no- thing of the difficulty of arriving at the desired mean- ing break. Of modern writers Zockler reads, according to the nTD, pni*), in the sense give way. The dvaTQanij TO GxoivLOv of the LXX appears to have been derived from the reading of the ITD. Supposing the true mean- ing to be that the silver cord lengthens out, or re- moves to a distance, it is still a matter of conjecture in what way this meaning is to be applied. , The ''giv- ing ' way" of a lamp-chain is not a biblical image of death, and cannot be said to resemble the mere ex- tinction of a lamp — a figure which is frequently em- ployed. It is more probable that the allusion is in some way to the process of weaving or spinning, which took a prominent place amongst indoor employments (Prov. XXXI. 13), and is therefore suited to stand in parallelism with the subsequent allusions to the spring and icell, which were centres of outdoor work and life. If we suppose the allusion to be to some delicate kind of work with choice materials, we shall have no diffi- culty in explaining the "silver cord or thread." The lengthening out, or coming to an end, or breaking off of the thread of life is a sufficiently familiar image (Is. XXXVIII. 12; Job VII. 6; Ovid. Her. 12, 4). It re- mains to be considered whather the silver cord is to be taken alone or in connexion with what follows. 44 Verse 6. nn-TH n55 T^"^in^] J. D. Michaelis in his Deutsche Uebersetzung des Alien Testaments, mit Anmerkungfn fur JJngelehrte, renders this clause and the preceding: "ehe der Silberstrick wieder zusammen gekettet, und die giildene Kugel der Lampe wieder gebessert wird;" and he adds by way of explanation: '^die Kette bricht^ die Kugel lallt zu Boden, und wird beschadigt, dies ge- schieht im Tode, aber der Werkmeister bessert die zer- brochene Lampe_, und stellet sie von neuem wieder auf, dies ist ein Bild des Lebens nach dem Tode." This extraordinary interpretation is truer to the image sup- posed to be employed than the view now generally adopted. It has been remarked that the metallic sus- pender of a lamp would be very unlikely to break:' it may be added that the "golden bowl" of the lamp might fall and not be so damaged but that a little mending would set it right again. Gesenius attempts to elude the difficulty by assuming that the bowl and the cord are not metallic : "Similitudo petita est a lampade e materia fragili facta, sed deaurata, e funi- culo argenteo (h. e. serico cum fills argenteis) pendente, et abruptio fili mortem significat". But we have no right to assume that the gullah, if a, lamp-bowl, would be non-metallic (Exod. XXV. 31 sqq.; Zech. IV. 2; Rev. I. 11); and independently of this there remains the objection that Coheleth is describing the death which is common to all, and would therefore not have used so strange and exceptional a figure as the falling and breaking of a costly and carefully tended piece of furniture. It is in the nature of lamps to burn out or be extinguished, but not to fall and be broken. Lastly, it has not been made out that yWi could be taken intran- Verse 6. • 45 sitively or passively in the sense he broken. The meaning of ^r^l in Is. XLII. 4 is disputed. It is natural to take yyr\ as the future of "J^ll, to run^ but the meaning of TO^ (LXX dv&euiov) is more doubt- ful. In Zech IV. 3 it is used of the bowl of a lamp: in I Kings VII. 41 of the capitals of columns : in Josh. XV. 19 of springs of water. Rejecting these significations, I conjecture that n'^il may mean much the same as b'^ba, their common root denoting roundness in form or motion. The latter word occurs in the fol- lowing contexts: * 'the two leaves of the one door were folding, D'^b-'ba" (1 Kings VI. 34); "his hands are 'ib-'b^l nnj" (Cant. V. 14), where the meaning is not quite certain. '^ There were white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen, y^2 "'bina, and purple to silver rings, CjOD ""b^bil b:^, and pillars of marble" (Esth. I. 6). In the second and third of these passa- ges b'lb^, being parallel with "1^12?, mighty denote some- thing cylindrical. Again, the passage from Esther is the more appropriate as an illustration, because in it bin and b'lbs are mentioned together, like bin and nbH in Coheleth. Perhaps b^bj^ should be rendered roller j and nba reel; we might then taken y^^r\ to mean run or spin round, the word being applicable to rapid mo- tion, circular or otherjvise. The hurried motion of the spinning wheel typifies life hastening to its close : ''My days are swifter than a weaver^s shuttle, Jilfi5 ""S^, and are spent without hope'' (Job VII. 6). In Job IX. 25 it is said: ''my days are swifter than a f^" (lit. runner), where the comparison suggests that yn may be another name for ^*1X; in corroboration of which it may be remarked that the Greek word for wheel, 46 " Verse G. TQOxog, means literally a runner. At any rate it may be said that the use of f "n^ is not unfavourable to the supposition that nb;\ signifies a reel, or some kind of wheel. We may either suppose the spinning of the reel to be — as indeed it most probably is — a complete figure like that in Job VII. 6; or we may connect it in some way with what is said of the ^^silver cord", thus when the thread escapes or comes to an end — viz. at the completion of the spinning — the wheel, being released from the strain put upon it, spins round rapidly. The image would thus be from the running down, as we should say, of the machinery employed.- Or perhaps Slblj (= a roll, rh^yd) may denote the fabric which falls off when the work is ended (Is. XXxVlII. 12). So in Job VII. 6 5i^i5 is sometimes said to denote not the shuttle but the texture. We should expect some diffi- culty in dealing with what may be technical terms in spinning or weaving; but, to speak generally, it is ad- mitted that a metaphor from such operations would be according to analogy, while on the other hand there is no example of anything like the metaphor from the breaking of a costly lamp as applied to natural death. Moreover, it is by no means certain that the '^silver cord" and the ^^golden gullah^^ are to be taken in con- nexion with one another. On the contrary, the paral- lelism favours the idea that this first hemistich, like the second, contains two distinct though analogous figures; and if this be the case it is sufficiently obvious that the lamp-theory would have to be given up, and, I think, almost equally obvious that that the metaphor in bnn is from the thread used in spinning. Verse 6. 47 ^S "iSIBri] The shattering of a common pitcher^ is on the contrary a recognized Biblical image. Some have attempted to establish a connexion between the two hemistichs of ver. 6; but it is evident that there are two sets of figures, the one relating to the ^'plea- sant vessels" of the more delicate indoor employments, and the other to the ruder out door life of the drawers of water. Compare: '"'and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up : he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels" (Hos. XIII. 15); ''The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter" (Lam. IV. 2. See 2 Tim. II. 20). The breaking of the pitcher is a general figure, i. e. it symbolizes the destruction of the mans whole life, not of any particular member of his body (Jer. XVIII. '6; Is. XXX. 14; Ps. II. 9). 'J^:2n2n b::?] The pitcher is shattered ovei- the yilti, by which is meant a spring appearing at the surface of the ground, as opposed to the deep "well" next spoken of. Compare the reduplication — "spring'^, "fountain" — in Hos. XIII. 15. babatj y"^'})] This figure is a variation on that of the shattered pitcher, but there is some difficulty in determining its precise meaning. I should conjecture from the parallelism that b^b^ denotes the vessel which in a nin or well corresponds to the ID of a "spring". According to this conjecture it would denote a bucket, with reference to its rounded form. A similar applica- tion of the root appears in ribabs, ''^cranium, a figura Compare the contrast in Levit. VI. 28. -48 ^^erse 6. globo simili dictum"; while the word itself in later Hebrew means a sphere. The use of f2l fits in with this hypothesis. It denotes a less complete breaking than -QTO, with which it contrasts in ^^UtT^ ^^ "f^T^ nSp (Is. XLIT. 3. see Ezek. XXIX. 7). In the present context it might describe the wearing out of the bucket (attached to a simple rope) by friction against the side of the well. The usual interpretation is that blk''^ is a wheel which was used in drawing water from the well; but it is doubtful whether such an apparatus was in use at the time and place of writing, whatever they may have been. Elsewhere in the Old Testament there is no corresponding allusion, and even in the New Testament the winding apparatus is not recognized : "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep" (Joli. IV. 11). In the Desert of the Exodus, p. 389, there is a woodcut of the well of Beersheba, and it is remarked ; "the Bedawin, to whom the Scriptures are unknown, still point with pride to the great work which their father Ibrahim achieved; and, as they draw water from it for their flocks, the ropes that let the buckets down still glide along the same deep furrows in the masonry by which the Patriarch^s servants let down theirs." To the same effect see Tristram^s Land of Sinaij p. 373. Nachtigal assigns some importance to the question when he writes : "In Absicht des Rades der Cisterne vergleiche man die Abbildung des persia- nischen Brunnenrads in Shawns Beschreibung der Reise durch die Barbarey und die Levante. Vielleicht konnte man aus diesem "Had der Cisterne" eher als aus den persischen Worten, die man in diesem Buche zu finden glaubt, auf eine spate Verfertigungsperiode desselben. Verse 6. 49 oder doch einiger Theile schliessen. In andern hebrai- schen Biichern finden wir nemlich nur Beschreibungen von einfachen Cisternen ; und so konnte man vermuthen, dass die Israeliten diese kiinstlichen Vorrichtungen erst in den neuen Verbindungen kennen lernten, in welche sie durcli ihren Aufenthalt* in den babylonischen Lan- dern kamen. Doch kannten sie diese schon seit Salo- mons Zeiten/n But whatever date be assigned to Eccle- siastes, the difficulty to some extent remains (Joh. TV. 11). Even if it were granted that a wheel was in use, we might suppose b^b^ to mean not the machinery for winding but the thing moved by it (Ps. LX XXIII. 4), i. e. either the bucket or the water drawn up by wind- ing. I doubt whether an injury done to the wheel itself is a natural image of a man^s death. Here again Michaelis finds an allusion to life after death : ^^der Eimer, mit dem man das Wasser heraufzog, zerbricht, aber das Werk wird wieder hergestellt: so stirbt der Mensch, un^ Gott giebt ihm ein zweites Leben". Cer- tainly the breaking of the wheel does not express an irretrievable loss. The simile wanted is more like that of "broken cisterns, that can hold no water^' (Jer. II. 13) ; or burst bottles from which the wine is lost (Mark. II. £2). Compare 2 Sam. XIV. 14: "For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again". The breaking of the wheel so that water can no more be drawn, does not make a good parallel to the returning of the spirit to God. The pouring back of water once drawn, whether from the wearing out of the bucket or otherwise, is a jnore suitable idea. "^i3•^ b^l The bucket is broken towards ^ or in 4 50 Verse 7. such a way that its contents are poured back into, the ivell. '^1 ITIJ^I] There are cases in which bi< and b^ are used indiscriminately; but the parallelism suggests that they are here used accurately. The body returns b^ upon'^ the earth as it was, like the pitcher which is shattered visibly upon or over the spring : while the spirit returns to God who gave it, like the contents of the bucket which are poured back bi< into the hid- den depths of the well (Prov. XX. 5): ''Unto the place from which the rivers come, thither they return again'' (Eccl. I. 7). But to conclude, I think it clear that the ima- ges in Q^ are of an altogether different kind from the image or images in 6*. In 6** there are two ana- logous but distinct images, the one referring to a spring,^ the other to a well : hence the parallelism leads us to infer that 6" also comprises two distinct images. If so, it may be assumed that the „silver cord" is simply the familiar image of the thread of life, and that the meaning of the obscure gullah is in some way ana- logous. * Like nnton "^iB b», Ezek. XXXII. 4. ^' Compare Jud. IX. 53 for the use of "jrHi. This properly be- longs to 'J^l'n, but see the lexicons. Section 11. The Anatomical rendering. The anatomists not unirequently state the principle of their rendering as follows: — ''Corporis senilis fragilitatem sub perpetua allegoria domus ante oculos ponit, quae concussis et labefactatis fundamentis manifesta dat ruinae signa^' (Rosenmiiller). They then proceed to cite passages which describe the body as tov ^wov frxyvog, and omit to notice that their rendering does not really correspond with the il- lustrations adduced. The fabric of the house is but slightly alluded to, the attention being concentrated on its inhabitants. If the house itself is mentioned it is only subordinately, in the expression housekeepers: the windows are not directly mentioned, but only the lookers out at the windows: even the doors ^ as I ven- ture to think, merely symbolize by their being closed the exclusion of visitors: but at any rate they are not represented as off their hinges or in any way damaged: nor is the faintest allusion to the dilapidation of the house anywhere to be found. That which makes the 4* 52 . • The Anatomical rendering. staple of Coheleth's description is the condition of the household as distinct from the fabric, and the real que- stion is whether the individual body was likely to have been described as a collection of grinding -maids ^ lookers out of window^ and the like. We might indeed cite the fable of the contention between the belly and the limbs, where the latter, which are described as persons, com- plain that they have to work while the belly reaps the fruit of their labour; or again, Cicero's: ^^Sensus autem, interpretes ac nuntii rerum, in ca- pite tamquam in arce mirifice ad usus necessaries et facti et collocati sunt. Nam oculi tamquam speculato- res altissimum locum obtinent, ex quo plurima conspi- cientes fungantur suo munere" (De Nat. Deor. II. 140); which is the best illustration of any detail in the ana- tomical rendering that has been adduced. But although the eyes may be called speculatores , it does not follow conversely that speculatores in any given context means eyes; and it should be borne in mind that it is this converse form which requires illustration in the passage discussed. The question is not whether Coheleth is likely to have said directly that the eyes are like look- ers out of window, but whether by the bare mention of 'y\ nii ^ ^13 ^ lb '05 10 AW liAY9 'B4-2PM '^'"i^^'^SS *IF «.p5^««fi" 21A-50m-9,'58 (6889sl0)476B General Library ^ University of California Berkeley UNIVERSITY, O^ CAUFORNIA UBRARY ^-i^^'vur,^-