Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight; for you don’t know what evil will be on the earth.
If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be.
He who observes the wind won’t sow; and he who regards the clouds won’t reap.
As you don’t know what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child; even so you don’t know the work of God who does all.
In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening don’t withhold your hand; for you don’t know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be equally good.
Truly the light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to see the sun.
Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.
Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 That is, be liberal to the poor, and though…
That is, be liberal to the poor, and though it seem to be as a thing ventured on the sea, yet it shall bring thee profit.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Ecc 11:1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: for…
Ecc 11:1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
Ver. 1. Cast thy bread.] Thine own well gotten goods. Alms must not be given, said a martyr, {a} until it have sweat in a man’s hand. "Let him labour, working with his hands," saith the apostle, "that he may have to give to him that needeth." {Eph 4:28} And the bountiful man giveth of his bread to the poor, saith Solomon. {Pro 22:9} God hateth to have ex rapina holocaustum, a sacrifice of things got by rapine and robbery; {Amo 2:8} "With such sacrifices God is not well pleased." Wherefore, if thou hast of thine own, give; if not, better for thee to gratify none than to grate upon any, saith Augustine. When our Henry III (an oppressing prince) had sent a load of frieze {b} to the friar minors to clothe them, they returned the same with this message, that he ought not to give alms of what he had rent from the poor, neither would they accept of that abominable gift. {c} The Hebrew word signifying alms signifies properly justice, to intimate that the matter of our alms should be goods justly gotten. {d} Hence also the Jews call their alms box Kuphashel tsedaka, the chest of justice. Into this box or basket, if thou cast but bread (so it be thy bread), brown bread, such as thou hast, and then wait for the Lord, when he will return from the wedding with a full hand, thou shalt be fed supernae mensae copiosis deliciis, as one saith, with the abundant dainties of the heavenly table.
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Upon the waters.] Heb., Upon the face of the waters, where it may seem clearly cast away; as seed sown upon the sea, {e} or a thing thrown down Avon, as we say, no profit or praise to be had by it. Or upon the waters, i.e., upon strangers (if necessary) whom we never saw, and are never likely to see again. Or, "upon the waters," i.e., upon such as being hunger bitten, or hardly bestead, do water their plants, being fed "with bread of tears." {as Psa 80:5} To this sense Munster renders the words thus, Mitte panem tuum super facies aquas, sc., emittentes, Cast thy bread upon faces watered with tears; or, "upon the waters," upon the surface of the waters, that it may be carried into the ocean, where the multitude of waters is gathered together; so shall thine alms, carried into heaven, be found in the ocean of eternity, where there is a confluence of all comforts and contentments. Or, lastly, "upon the waters," i.e., in loca irrigua, upon grounds well watered - moist and fertile soil, such as is that by the river Nile, where they do but throw in the seed, and they have four rich harvests in less than four months; {f} or as that in the land of Shinar (where Babel was founded, Gen 11:1-9), that returns, if Herodotus and Pliny may be believed, the seed beyond credulity. {g}
For thou shalt find it after many days.] Thou shalt "reap in due time, if thou faint not": slack not, withdraw not thy hand, as Ecc 11:6. Mitre panem, &c., et in verbo Domini promitto tibi, &c., saith one; Cast thy bread confidently, without fear, and freely, without compulsion; cast it, though thou seem to cast it away; and I dare promise thee, in the name and word of the Lord, Nequaquam infrugifera apparebit beneficentia, {h} that thy bounty shall be abundantly recompensed into thy bosom. "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered himself." {Pro 11:25} {See Trapp on "Pro 11:25"} See also my Common Place of Alms. Non pereunt sed parturiunt pauperibus impensa, That which is given to the poor is not lost, but laid up. Not getting, but giving, is the way to wealth. {Pro 19:17} Abigail, for a small present bestowed on David, became a queen, whereas churlish Nabal was sent to his place.
{a} Acts and Mon., fol. 765.
{b} A kind of coarse woollen cloth, with a nap, usually on one side only; now esp. of Irish manufacture.
{c} Daniel’s Hist., 168.
{d} צדקה. - Buxtorf.
{e} Eις υδωρ οπιειν.
{f} Blunt’s Voyage, p. 37.
{g} Herod., lib. i. c. 193; Plin., lib. vi. c. 26.
{h} Greg. Thaum.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Cast thy bread upon the waters. Solomon having discovered…
Cast thy bread upon the waters. Solomon having discovered divers vanities, and amongst others the vanity of heaping up riches, he now teacheth us that it is our interest as well as duty, not so much to lay them up, as to lay them out in pious and charitable uses; and having taught us the true and best use of worldly things, for our present comfort and benefit, which is to enjoy them with a cheerful and contented mind, he now directs us to the best improvement of them, for our future and greater advantage; and having acquainted us with our duty towards our superiors, he now directs us in our carriage towards our inferiors, and especially to such of them as are poor. The sense of these words is either,
1. Cast thy seed (which is here called bread, as it is also Job 28:5; Isa 28:28, and elsewhere) beside (for so the Hebrew particle al is oft used) the waters, i.e. either by the river’s side, or in moist and waterish grounds, which usually are very fruitful. Or,
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2.
Cast (freely and liberally bestow)
thy bread (i.e. thy money or provisions, which are oft signified by the name of bread. By saying thy bread, he cautions us that we give away only that which is our own, and not that which is another’s; as they do who give either what they get from others by fraud or power, or what they owe to others, and are unable to pay, and so exercise charity to the hinderance of justice, or of the payment of their just debts)
upon the waters, i.e. upon those poor creatures upon whom, by reason of their unthankfulness or inability to make any returns to thee, it may seem to be as utterly lost as the seed which a man casts into the sea or river. This sense agrees much better,
1. With the words; for he doth not barely mention
the waters, ( for then the particle al might have been translated beside,) but the face, i.e. the surface or top, of the waters, in which and such-like cases al constantly signifies upon.
2. With the design and scope of the place, which is to persuade men to be liberal and charitable, notwithstanding the discouragements which they meet with in so doing, of which see the next clause, and the next verse.
Thou shalt find it; it shall not be lost, as covetous men, or thine own corrupt heart, may suggest, but it shall certainly be restored unto thee, either by God or by men, and that with great honour and advantage. This is added to prevent an objection, and to quicken us to the duty enjoined.
After many days; not immediately, but in due time, and when you least expect it. So you must be content to wait for it with patience, as the husbandman doth for the fruits of the earth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 7 Solomon had often, in this book, pressed it upon…
Solomon had often, in this book, pressed it upon rich people to take the comfort of their riches themselves; here he presses it upon them to do good to others with them and to abound in liberality to the poor, which will, another day, abound to their account. Observe,
I. How the duty itself is recommended to us, Ecc 11:1. 1. Cast thy bread upon the waters, thy bread-corn upon the low places (so some understand it), alluding to the husbandman, who goes forth, bearing precious seed, sparing bread-corn from his family for the seedness, knowing that without that he can have no harvest another year; thus the charitable man takes from his bread-corn for seed-corn, abridges himself to supply the poor, that he may sow beside all waters (Isa 32:20), because as he sows so he must reap, Gal 6:7. We read of the harvest of the river, Isa 23:3. Waters, in scripture, are put for multitudes (Rev 16:5), and there are multitudes of poor (we do not want objects of charity); waters are put also for mourners: the poor are men of sorrows. Thou must give bread, the necessary supports of life, not only give good words but good things, Isa 58:7. It must be thy bread, that which is honestly got; it is no charity, but injury, to give that which is none of our own to give; first do justly, and then love mercy. "Thy bread, which thou didst design for thyself, let the poor have a share with thee, as they had with Job, Job 31:17. Give freely to the poor, as that which is cast upon the waters. Send it a voyage, send it as a venture, as merchants that trade by sea. Trust it upon the waters; it shall not sink."
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2. "Give a portion to seven and also to eight, that is, be free and liberal in works of charity." (1.) "Give much if thou hast much to give, not a pittance, but a portion, not a bit or two, but a mess, a meal; give a large dole, not a paltry one; give good measure (Luk 6:38); be generous in giving, as those were when, on festival days, they sent portions to those for whom nothing was prepared (Neh 8:10), worthy portions." (2.) "Give to many, to seven, and also to eight; if thou meet with seven objects of charity, give to them all, and then, if thou meet with an eighth, give to that, and if with eight more, give to them all too. Excuse not thyself with the good thou hast done from the good thou hast further to do, but hold on, and mend. In hard times, when the number of the poor increases, let thy charity be proportionably enlarged." God is rich in mercy to all, to us, though unworthy; he gives liberally, and upbraids not with former gifts, and we must be merciful as our heavenly Father is.
II. The reasons with which it is pressed upon us. Consider,
1. Our reward for well-doing is very certain. "Though thou cast it upon the waters, and it seem lost, thou thinkest thou hast given thy good word with it and art likely never to hear of it again, yet thou shalt find it after many days, as the husbandman finds his seed again in a plentiful harvest and the merchant his venture in a rich return. It is not lost, but well laid out, and well laid up; it brings in full interest in the present gifts of God's providence, and graces and comforts of his Spirit; and the principal is sure, laid up in heaven, for it is lent to the Lord." Seneca, a heathen, could say, Nihil magis possidere me credam, quam bene donata - I possess nothing so completely as that which I have given away. Hochabeo quodcunque dedi; hae sunt divitiae certae in quacunque sortis humanae levitate - Whatever I have imparted I still possess; these riches remain with me through all the vicissitudes of life. "Thou shalt find it, perhaps not quickly, but after many days; the return may be slow, but it is sure and will be so much the more plentiful." Wheat, the most valuable grain, lies longest in the ground. Long voyages make the best returns.
2. Our opportunity for well-doing is very uncertain: "Thou knowest not what evil may be upon the earth, which may deprive thee of thy estate, and put thee out of a capacity to do good, and therefore, while thou hast wherewithal, be liberal with it, improve the present season, as the husbandman in sowing his ground, before the frost comes." We have reason to expect evil upon the earth, for we are born to trouble; what the evil may be we know not, but that we may be ready for it, whatever it is, it is our wisdom, in the day of prosperity, to be in good, to be doing good. Many make use of this as an argument against giving to the poor, because they know not what hard times may come when they may want themselves; whereas we should therefore the rather be charitable, that, when evil days come, we may have the comfort of having done good while we were able; we would then hope to find mercy both with God and man, and therefore should now show mercy. If by charity we trust God with what we have, we put it into good hands against bad times.
III. How he obviates the objections which might be made against this duty and the excuses of the uncharitable.
1. Some will say that what they have is their own and they have it for their own use, and will ask, Why should we cast it thus upon the waters? Why should I take my bread, and my flesh, and give it to I know not whom? So Nabal pleaded, Sa1 25:11. "Look up, man, and consider how soon thou wouldest be starved in a barren ground, if the clouds over thy head should plead thus, that they have their waters for themselves; but thou seest, when they are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, to make it fruitful, till they are wearied and spent with watering it, Job 37:11. Are the heavens thus bountiful to the poor earth, that is so far below them, and wilt thou grudge thy bounty to thy poor brother, who is bone of thy bone? Or thus: some will say, Though we give but little to the poor, yet, thank God, we have as charitable a heart as any." Nay, says Solomon, if the clouds be full of rain, they will empty themselves; if there be charity in the heart, it will show itself, Jam 2:15, Jam 2:16. He that draws out his soul to the hungry will reach forth his hand to them, as he has ability.
2. Some will say that their sphere of usefulness is low and narrow; they cannot do the good that they see others can, who are in more public stations, and therefore they will sit still and do nothing. Nay, says he, in the place where the tree falls, or happens to be, there it shall be, for the benefit of those to whom it belongs; every man must labour to be a blessing to that place, whatever it is, where the providence of God casts him; wherever we are we may find good work to do if we have but hearts to do it. Or thus: some will say, "Many present themselves as objects of charity who are unworthy, and I do not know whom it is fit to give it to." "Trouble not thyself about that" (says Solomon); "give as discreetly as thou canst, and then be satisfied that, though the person should prove undeserving of thy charity, yet, if thou give it with an honest heart, thou shalt not lose thy reward; which way soever the charity is directed, north or south, thine shall be the benefit of it." This is commonly applied to death; therefore let us do good, and, as good trees, bring forth the fruits of righteousness, because death will shortly come and cut us down, and we shall then be determined to an unchangeable state of happiness or misery according to what was done in the body. As the tree falls at death, so it is likely to lie to all eternity.
3. Some will object the many discouragements they have met with in their charity. They have been reproached for it as proud and pharisaical; they have but little to give, and they shall be despised if they do not give as others do; they know not but their children may come to want it, and they had better lay it up for them; they have taxes to pay and purchases to make; they know not what use will be made of their charity, nor what construction will be put upon it; these, and a hundred such objections, he answers, in one word (Ecc 11:4): He that observes the wind shall not sow, which signifies doing good; and he that regards the clouds shall not reap, which signifies getting good. If we stand thus magnifying every little difficulty and making the worst of it, starting objections and fancying hardship and danger where there is none, we shall never go on, much less go through with our work, nor make any thing of it. If the husbandman should decline, or leave off, sowing for the sake of every flying cloud, and reaping for the sake of every blast of wind, he would make but an ill account of his husbandry at the year's end. the duties of religion are as necessary as sowing and reaping, and will turn as much to our own advantage. The discouragements we meet with in these duties are but as winds and clouds, which will do us no harm, and which those that put on a little courage and resolution will despise and easily break through. Note, Those that will be deterred and driven off by small and seeming difficulties from great and real duties will never bring any thing to pass in religion, for there will always arise some wind, some cloud or other, at least in our imagination, to discourage us. Winds and clouds are in God's hands, are designed to try us, and our Christianity obliges us to endure hardness.
4. Some will say, "We do not see in which way what we expend in charity should ever be made up to us; we do not find ourselves ever the richer; why should we depend upon the general promise of a blessing on the charitable, unless we saw which way to expect the operation of it?" To this he answers, "Thou knowest not the work of God, nor is it fit thou shouldst. Thou mayest be sure he will make good his word of promise, though he does not tell thee how, or which way, and though he works in a way by himself, according to the counsels of his unsearchable wisdom. He will work, and none shall hinder; but then he will work and none shall direct or prescribe to him. The blessing shall work insensibly but irresistibly. God's work shall certainly agree with his word, whether we see it or no." Our ignorance of the work of God he shows, in two instances: - (1.) We know not what is the way of the Spirit, of the wind (so some), we know not whence it comes, or whither it goes, or when it will turn; yet the seamen lie ready waiting for it, till it turns about in favour of them; so we must do our duty, in expectation of the time appointed for the blessing. Or it may be understood of the human soul; we know that God made us, and gave us these souls, but how they entered into these bodies, are united to them, animate them, and operate upon them, we know not; the soul is a mystery to itself, no marvel then that the work of God is so to us. (2.) We know not how the bones are fashioned in the womb of her that is with child. We cannot describe the manner either of the formation of the body or of its information with a soul; both, we know, are the work of God, and we acquiesce in his work, but cannot, in either, trace the process of the operation. We doubt not of the birth of the child that is conceived, though we know not how it is formed; nor need we doubt of the performance of the promise, though we perceive not how things work towards it. And we may well trust God to provide for us that which is convenient, without our anxious disquieting cares, and therein to recompense us for our charity, since it was without any knowledge or forecast of ours that our bodies were curiously wrought in secret and our souls found the way into them; and so the argument is the same, and urged to the same intent, with that of our Saviour (Mat 6:25), The life, the living soul that God has given us, is more than meat; the body, that God has made us, is more than raiment; let him therefore that has done the greater for us be cheerfully depended upon to do the less.
5. Some say, "We have been charitable, have given a great deal to the poor, and never yet saw any return for it; many days are past, and we have not found it again," to which he answers (Ecc 11:6), "Yet go on, proceed and persevere in well-doing; let slip no opportunity. In the morning sow thy seed upon the objects of charity that offer themselves early, and in the evening do not withhold thy hand, under pretence that thou art weary; as thou hast opportunity, be doing good, some way or other, all the day long, as the husbandman follows his seedness from morning till night. In the morning of youth lay out thyself to do good; give out of the little thou hast to begin the world with; and in the evening of old age yield not to the common temptation old people are in to be penurious; even then withhold not thy hand, and think not to excuse thyself from charitable works by purposing to make a charitable will, but do good to the last, for thou knowest not which work of charity and piety shall prosper, both as to others and as to thyself, this or that, but hast reason to hope that both shall be alike good. Be not weary of well-doing, for in due season, in God's time and that is the best time, you shall reap," Gal 6:9. This is applicable to spiritual charity, our pious endeavours for the good of the souls of others; let us continue them, for, though we have long laboured in vain, we may at length see the success of them. Let ministers, in the days of their seedness, sow both morning and evening; for who can tell which shall prosper?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Cast thy bread upon the waters,.... As the wise…
Cast thy bread upon the waters,.... As the wise man had often suggested that nothing was better for a man than to enjoy the good of his labour himself, he here advises to let others, the poor, have a share with him; and as he had directed in the preceding chapter how men should behave towards their superiors, he here instructs them what notice they should take of their inferiors; and as he had cautioned against luxury and intemperance, he here guards against tenacity and covetousness, and exhorts to beneficence and liberality: that which is to be given is "bread", which is put for all the necessaries of life, food and raiment; or money that answers all things, what may be a supply of wants, a support of persons in distress; what is useful, profitable, and beneficial; not stones or scorpions, or what will be useless or harmful: and it must be "thy" bread, a man's own; not independent of God who gives it him; but not another's, what he owes another, or has fraudulently obtained; but what he has got by his own labour, or he is through divine Providence in lawful possession of; hence alms in the Hebrew language is called "righteousness": and it must be such bread as is convenient and fit for a man himself, such as he himself and his family eat of, and this he must cast, it must be a man's own act, and a voluntary one; his bread must not be taken and forced from him; it must be given freely, and in such a manner as not to be expected again; and bountifully and plentifully, as a man casts seed into the earth; but here it is said to be "upon the waters"; bread is to be given to such as are in distress and affliction, that have waters of a full cup wrung out unto them, whose faces are watered with tears, and foul with weeping, from whom nothing is to be expected again, who can make no returns; so that what is given thorn seems to be cast away and lost, like what is thrown into a river, or into the midst of the sea; and even it is to be given to such who prove ungrateful and unthankful, and on whom no mark or impression of the kindness is made and left, no more than upon water; yea, it is to be given to strangers never seen before nor after, like gliding water; so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "passing waters": or else to such who may be compared to well watered ground, or "moist ground", as Mr. Broughton renders it; where the seed cast will grow up again, and bring forth fruit, and redound to the advantage of the sower, as what is given to the poor does; they are a good soil to sow upon, especially Christ's poor, who are partakers of his living water, grace; see Isa 32:20; though it may be the multitude of persons to whom alms is to be given are here intended, which are sometimes signified by waters, Rev 17:15; as Ecc 11:2 seems to explain it. The Targum is,
"reach out the bread of thy sustenance to the poor that go in ships upon the thee of the water;''
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and some think the speech is borrowed from navigation, and is an allusion to merchants who send their goods beyond sea, and have a large return for them;
for thou shalt find it after many days; not the identical bread itself, but the fruit and reward of such beneficence; which they shall have unexpectedly, or after long waiting, as the husbandman for his seed; it suggests that such persons should live long, as liberal persons oftentimes do, and increase in their worldly substance; and if they should not live to reap the advantage of their liberality, yet their posterity will, as the seed of Jonathan did for the kindness he showed to David: or, however, if they find it not again in temporal things, yet in spirituals; and shall be recompensed in the resurrection of the just, and to all eternity. So the Targum,
"for after the time of many days, then thou shall find the reward of it in this world (so it is in the king's Bible), and in the world to come;''
see Luk 12:12. Jarchi instances in Jethro. Noldius (p) renders it "within many days", even before many days are at an end; for seed sown by waters in hot climates soon sprung up, and produced fruit; see Dan 11:20.
(p) Ebr. Concord. Partic. p. 155. No. 704.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–10 An exhortation to works of charity, ver. 1-6. An…
An exhortation to works of charity, ver. 1-6. An admonition to prepare betimes for death and judgment, ver. 7-10.
The waters - Freely and liberally bestow it upon the waters; upon those poor creatures, on whom it may seem to be as utterly lost, as the seed which a man casts into the sea or river. Find it - It shall certainly be restored to thee, either by God or men. This is added to prevent an objection, and to quicken us to the duty enjoyned. After - The return may be slow, but it is sure, and will be so much the more plentiful.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Give alms to all, 1-4.
CHAPTER XI
Give alms to all, 1-4.
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The works of God unknown to man, 5.
Diligence necessary, 6.
Prosperity frequently succeeded by adversity, 7, 8.
There will be a day of judgment, 9, 10.
NOTES ON CHAP. XI
Verse 1. Cast thy bread upon the waters] An allusion to the sowing of rice; which was sown upon muddy ground, or ground covered with water, and trodden in by the feet of cattle: it thus took root, and grew, and was found after many days in a plentiful harvest. Give alms to the poor, and it will be as seed sown in good ground. God will cause thee afterwards to receive it with abundant increase. The Targum understands it of giving bread to poor sailors. The Vulgate and my old Bible have the same idea. Send thi brede upon men passing waters.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 Ecc 11:1. Cast thy bread — That is, thy…
Ecc 11:1. Cast thy bread — That is, thy seed, which is here called bread, as it is also Job 28:5, and Isa 28:28, because the produce of it makes bread, and the husbandman could ill spare it, wanting it, perhaps, for bread for himself and family; upon the waters — That is, either by the rivers’ sides, or in moist and marshy ground, or even on the waters that cover it, where there might be little prospect of a crop. Solomon here probably alludes to the manner of planting rice in the eastern countries; for, as Sir John Chardin observes in his note on Isa 32:20, “They sow it upon the water; and, before sowing, while the earth is covered with water, they cause the ground to be trodden by oxen, horses, and asses, which go mid-leg deep; and this is the way of preparing the ground for sowing. And, as they sow the rice in the water, they transplant it in the water.” But, though Solomon alludes to this, it is evident he means in these words to inculcate liberality to the poor. As if he had said, Cast — That is, freely and liberally bestow; thy bread — That is, thy money, or provisions, or the necessaries of life, of whatever kind; upon the waters — Upon the poor, on whom thy bounty may at first, and for a time, appear to be lost. (as the seed does, which a man casts upon the waters,) through their unthankfulness or inability to make thee any returns: yet, thou shalt find it — It shall be restored to thee, either by God or men, more certainly than the rice or other seed corn, cast upon the marshy or watery ground, produces fruit in due season: after many days — The return may be slow, but it is sure, and will be so much the more plentiful the longer it is delayed. This clause is added to prevent an objection, and quicken us to the duty enjoined.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 7 The verse means: “Show hospitality, even though the corresponding…
The verse means: “Show hospitality, even though the corresponding return of hospitality to you may seem improbable; nevertheless, be hospitable in faith.” Compare Luk 14:13-14; Heb 13:2. Some interpreters (not unreasonably) understand by “bread” the seed from the produce of which bread is made. Seed cast upon the fertile soil flooded by the early rains would be returned to the sower in autumn with large increase.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 Waters. Sow thy seed where it may produce a…
Waters. Sow thy seed where it may produce a good crop. (Calmet) --- Be charitable to all, Luke vi. 30. Indiscrete faciendum bene. (St. Jerome) --- Assist those in distress, (Calmet) even though they may be ungrateful, or unable to make a return, Luke xiv. 12. (Tirinus) --- In this third part we are exhorted to serve God with perseverance. Of all virtues, the works of mercy avail most, Matthew xxv. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 C. The only true way to happiness in this…
C. The only true way to happiness in this world and the world beyond consists in benevolence, fidelity to calling, a calm and contented enjoyment of life, and unfeigned fear of God from early youth to advanced age
Ecc_11:1 to Ecc_12:7
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1. Of Benevolence and Fidelity to Calling
(Ecc_11:1-6)
1Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days. 2Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. 3If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. 4He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. 5As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. 6In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
2. Of a Calm and Contented Enjoyment of Life
(Ecc_11:7-10)
7Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun : 8But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. 9Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 10Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
3. Of the Duty of the Fear of God for Young and Old
(Ecc_12:1-7)
1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; 2While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: 3In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened. 4And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; 5Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears, shall be in the way, and the almond-tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: 6Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. 7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
[Ch. 11 Ecc_11:3.—יְהוּא. If it is allowable at all to vary from the text that has come down to us, this may be regarded as equivalent to שָם הוּא (comp. Ecc_1:5) “there is he,” there it is. It might easily arise in writing from the ear, the shewa sound being hardly perceptible. If we regard it as the future of the substantive verb היה, or הוה, with א for ה, it is not a Syriasm, since the future of the Syriac verb would be יהֶוֱא or rather נֶהְוֶא.—T. L.]
[Ecc_11:5.—כַּעְַצָים) with ellipsis of דֶּרֶךְ, equivalent to כררן עצמים.—T. L.]
[Ecc_12:3.—יָזֻעוּ. This is called Aramaic, but it is as much Hebrew as it is Aramaic or Arabic. The intensive form, ועוע, occurs Hab_2:7. It is one of those rarer forms that are to be expected only in impassioned writing, like this of Solomon, or in any vivid description. Its frequency or rarity would be like that of the word quake, in English, as compared with tremble. The rarer word [as is the case in our language] may be the older one, only becoming more frequent in later dialects according as it becomes common by losing its rarer or more impassioned significance.—T. L.]
[on the difference between יַלְרוּת and בְּחוּרוֹת Ecc_11:9 the words שַׁהְַרוּת Ecc_11:10, בָּטְלוּ Ecc_12:3, יָנֵאץ Ecc_12:5, יֵרָחֵק Ecc_12:6, and תָּרֶּץ and נָרוֹץ Ecc_12:5, see the exegetical and marginal notes.—T. L.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The close connection of verses 1–7 of the 12th chapter with chap. 11 is correctly recognized by most modern commentators; a few, as Hitzig and Elster, unnecessarily add to it also Ecc_12:8. A section thus extended beyond the limits of the 11th chapter concentrates within itself, as the closing division of the fourth and last discourse, all the fundamental thoughts of the book, and in such a manner that it almost entirely excludes the negative and skeptical elements of earlier discussions and observations [only that the words כֹּל־הֶבֶל return again in Ecc_11:8; comp. Ecc_11:10], and therefore lets its recapitulation very clearly appear as a victory of the positive side of its religious view over the gloomy spectre of doubt, and the struggles of unbelief (comp. Int. §1, Obs. 2). The entire section may be clearly divided into three subdivisions or strophes, the first of which teaches the correct use of life as regards actions and labor, the second concerns enjoyment, and the third the reverence and fear of God, with an admonition to these respective virtues.
2. First Strophe, first half. Ecc_11:1-3. An admonition to benevolence, with reference to its influence on the happiness of him who practices it. Hitzig, instead of finding here an admonition to beneficence, sees a warning against it, an intimation that we hope too much for the good, and arm ourselves too little against future evil; but every thing is opposed to this, especially the words and sense of Ecc_11:3, which see.—Cast thy bread upon the waters.—That is, not absolutely cast it away (Hitzig), nor send it away in ships (as merchandise) over the water (Hengstenberg), but “give it away in uncertainty, without hope of profit or immediate return.” The admonition is in the same spirit as that in Luk_16:9; Pro_11:24 f. The Greek aphoristic poets have the expression “to sow on the water;” as Theog., Sent. 105. Phocyllides[1] 142 c.
The entire sentence (most probably as derived from this source) is found in Ben Sira (Buxtorf, Florileg. Heb., page 171), and among the Arabians as a proverb: Benefac, projice panem tuum in aquam; aliquando tibi retribuetur (Diez, Souvenirs of Asia, II., 106).—For thou shalt find it after many days.—תִּמְצָאֶנּוּ is here clearly used in the sense of finding again.—בְּרֹב הַיָּמִים literally, “in the fullness of days, within many days.” Comp. Psa_5:6; Psa_72:7, etc. The sense is without doubt this: Among the many days of thy life there will certainly come a time when the seeds of thy good deeds scattered broadcast will ripen into a blessed harvest. Comp. Gal_6:9; 2Co_9:6-9; 1Ti_6:18-19; also Pro_19:17 : “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.”
Ecc_11:2. Give a portion to seven and also to eight.—That is, divide thy bread with many; for “seven and eight” are often used in this sense of undetermined plurality, as in Mic_5:4; comp. also “three and four,” Pro_30:15 ff.; Amo_1:3; Amo_2:1 ff.—Hitzig runs entirely counter to the text, and does violence to the usual signification of חֵלֶק saying: “make seven pieces of one piece, divide it so that seven or eight pieces may spring from it,” which admonition would simply be a rule of prudence (like the maxim followed by Jacob, Gen_32:8) not to load all his treasures on one ship, that he might not be robbed of every thing at one blow. This thought comports neither with the context nor with Ecc_11:6, where the sense is entirely different.—For thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.—That is, what periods of misfortune may occur when thou wilt pressingly need strength by community with others; comp. Luk_16:9.
Ecc_11:3. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.—Not that evil or misfortune “occurs from stern necessity, or in immutable course” [Hitzig, and also Hengstenberg, who here sees announced the near and irrevocable doom of the Persian monarchy], but exactly the reverse: let the good that thou doest proceed from the strongest impulse of sympathy, so that it occurs, as from a natural necessity, that rich streams of blessings flow forth from thee; comp. Joh_7:38; also Pro_25:14; Sirach 35:24; also the Arabian proverbs in the grammar of Erpenius, ed. Schultens, p. 424. Pluvia nubis co-operiens, dum dona funderet, etc.—And if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be.—This is apparently a parallel in sense to the second clause of Ecc_11:2, and therefore refers to the irrevocable character of the doom, or the Divine decree that overtakes man [Hitzig, Hengstenberg, etc.; also Hahn, who, however, translates the last clause thus: “One may be at the place where the tree falls,” and consequently be killed by it]. But it seems more in accordance with the text, and with the introduction [not with כִּי but with the simple copula וְ] to find the same sense expressed in this second clause as in the first, and consequently thus: “the utility of the tree remains the same, whether it falls on the ground of a possessor bordering it to the north or the south; if it does not profit the one, it does the other. And it is just so with the gifts of love; their fruit is not lost, although they do not always come to light in the manner intended” (Elster; comp, also Vaihinger and Wohlfarth, etc.). Geier and Rosenmueller are quite peculiar in the thought that the falling tree is the rich man, who is here warned of his death, after which he can do no more good deeds (similar to this are the views of Seb. Schmidt, Starke, Michaelis, etc.). יְהוּאa secondary Aramaic [2] form of יִחְיֶה and therefore literally equivalent to: “it will be, it will lie there;” for which consult Ewald, § 192 c, as well as Hitzig on this passage. There is no grammatical foundation for the assertion that it is a substantive to be derived from an obsolete verb יהא and explained by the word “break” [שָׁם יְהוּא “there occurs the break or fracture of the tree,” as says Starke].
3. First strophe, second half. Ecc_11:4-6. An admonition to zealous, careful, and untiring performance in one’s calling [μὴ ἐκκακεῖν, “not to faint,” as before he was warned ποεῖν τὸ καλὸν, to be earnest in well doing, Gal_6:9]. He that observeth the wind shall not sow.—A warning against timid hesitancy and its laming influence on effective and fruitful exertion. He whom the weather does not suit, and who is ever waiting for a more favorable season, misses finally the proper period for action. The second clause expresses the same admonitory thought regarding excessive considerateness.
Ecc_11:5. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her who is with child.—[Zöckler renders “way of the wind.” See the excursus appended, p. 150.—T. L.]—That is, as thou canst not comprehend nor see through the mysteries of nature. That the origin and pathway of the winds is in this regard proverbial, is shown by Joh_3:8 [comp. above, Ecc_1:6]. For the formation of the bones in the womb of the mother as a process peculiarly mysterious and unexplainable, comp. Psa_139:13-18.—Even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.—The “works” or action of God are, of course, His future dealing,[3] which is a mystery absolutely unknown and unfathomable by men; wherefore all success of human effort can neither be known nor calculated in advance. “Who maketh all;” for this comp. Amo_3:6; Mat_10:28-29, Eph_3:20, etc.
[The Unknown Way of the Spirit and of Life.—Ecc_11:5.—“As thou knowest not the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow,” etc. The words דֶּרֶךְ הָרוּחַ are rendered here by Zöckler, Stuart, and Hitzig, “the way of the wind.” There would be good reason for this from the verse preceding; but what follows points to the sense of spirit, although the word was undoubtedly suggested by what was said in Ecc_11:4 of the wind. The best way, however, is to regard the double idea of wind and spirit as being intended here, as in our Saviour’s language, Joh_3:8. About the words following there can be no mistake. The process described is set forth as the peculiar work of God, a Divine secret which human knowledge is challenged ever to discover. “Thou knowest not the way of the spirit” [רוּחִי Gen_6:3, “my spirit,” that I have given to man], “nor how the bones do grow,” that is, how that spirit, or life, reorganizes itself each time, clothes itself anew in the human system, making the bones to grow according to their law, and building up for itself a new earthly house in every generic transmission. This is the grand secret, the knowledge and process of which God challenges to Himself. Science can do much, but it can never discover this. We may say it boldly, even as Koheleth makes his affirmation, science never will discover this; for it lies above the plane of the natural; and in every case, though connected with nature, demands a plus power, or some intervention, however regulated by its own laws, of the supernatural. The Bible thus presents it as God’s challenged work [comp. Gen_2:7; Gen_6:3; Job_33:14; Psa_139:13; Jer_1:5], the same now as in the beginning when the Word of life first went forth, and nature received a new life power, or, rather, a rising in the old. The passage of life from an old organism to a new is as much a mystery as ever. We mean the transition from the last enclosing matter of the former, through the moment of disembodiment, or material unclothing (see note, Gen., p. 170), when it takes that last matter of the previous organization, or of the seed vessel, or seed fluid, and immediately makes it the commencing food, the first material it uses in building up the new house in which it is to dwell. In respect, too, to the mystery of supernatural origin, it is as much a new creation as though that unclothed and immaterial power of life [whether in the vegetable or in the animal sphere] had for the first time begun its manifestation in the universe. It is the same Word, sounding on in nature, or, as the Psalmist says, “running very swiftly,”—πνεῦμα νοερὸν, ἐυκίνητον, ἐυεργετικὸν, παντοδύναμον, πάσης κινήσεως κινητικώτερον, καὶ διὰ πάντων διήκον, διὰ τὴν καθαρότητα; Wis_7:23-24. It is the transmission, not merely of an immaterial power (though even as a power science can only talk about it or find names for its phenomena), but also of a law and an idea (νοερὸν as well as ἐνεργετικὸν, an intelligent working we may say) representing, in this dimensionless monad force the new life exactly as it represented the old in all its variety, whether of form or of dynamical existence,—in other words, transmitting the species, or the specific life, as that which lives on, and lives through, and lives beyond, all the material changes that chemistry has discovered or can ever hope to discover. Science may show how this life is affected in its manifestations by the outward influences with which it comes in contact, the changes that may seem to enter even the generic sphere, and it may thus rightly require us to modify our outward views in respect to the number and variety of strictly fundamental forms; but the transmission itself of the species (however it may have arisen or been modified) into the same form again of specific life, or the carrying a power, a law, and an idea, in a way that neither chemical nor mechanical science can ever trace,—this is the Divine secret towards which the Darwinian philosophy has not made even an approach. Its advocates know no more about it, than did the old philosophers who held a theory precisely the same in substance, though different in its technology. They talked of atoms as men now talk of fluids, forces, and nebular matter; but give them time enough, or rather give them the three infinities of time, space, and numerical quantity of conceivable forms, and they would show us how from infinite incongruities falling at last into congruity and seeming order, worlds and systems would arise, though their form, their order, and the seeming permanence arising from such seeming order, would be only names of the states that were; any other states that might have arisen being, in such case, equally entitled to the same appellations. Like the modern systems, it was all idealess, without any intervention of intelligence either in the beginning or at any stages in the process. It is astonishing how much, in the talk about the Darwinian hypothesis, these two things have been confounded,—the possible outward changes in generic forms, and the inscrutable transmission of the generic life in the present species, or in the present individual. The theory referred to is adapted only to an infinity of individual things, ever changing outwardly, and which, at last, fall into variety of species through an infinite number of trials and selections, or of fortunate hits after infinite failures. It makes no provision, however, for one single case of the transmission of the same specific life, either in the vegetable or the animal world. There it has to confess its ignorance, though it treats it sometimes as a very slight ignorance, soon to be removed. How pigeons, taken as an immense number of individual things, undergo an eternal series of outward changes,—how existing pigeons spread into varieties, by some being more lucky in their selections than others—all this it assumes to tell us. But in the presence of the great every day mystery, the wonderful process that is going on in the individual pigeon’s egg, invisibly, yet most exactly, typing the pigeon life that now is, it stands utterly speechless. One of its advocates seems to regard this as a very small matter, at present, indeed, not fully understood as it will be, but of little consequence in its bearing on the great scheme. It has its laws undoubtedly, but the principle of life, he maintains, is chemical,—that is, it is a certain arrangement of matter. Now this we cannot conceive, much less know. We are equally baffled whether we take into view the grosser (as they appear to the sense) or the more ethereal kinds of matter, whether as arranged in greater magnitudes, or in the most microscopic disposition of atoms, molecules, or elementary gases constituted by them. We may attempt still farther to etherealize by talking of forces, motions [motions of what ?] heat, magnetism, electricity, etc. They are still but quantities, matters of more or less. And so the modern chief of the positive school has boldly said: all is quantity, all is number; life is quantity, thought is quantity (so much motion); what we call virtue is quantity; it can be measured. And so all knowledge is ultimately mathematics, or the science of quantity. There is nothing that cannot, be reduced, in its last stages, to a numerical estimate. There is, moreover, just so much matter, force, and motion in the universe,—ever has been, ever will be. And there is nothing else. But how life, a thing in itself dimensionless, to say nothing of feeling, thought, and consciousness, can come out of such estimates is no more conceivable of one kind of matter, however moving, than it is of another. Still more do we fail to imagine how it can, in any way, be the result of figure, arrangement, position, quantity, or of σχῆμα, τάξις, θέσις as Leucippus and Democritus called their three prime originating causalities [see Aristot., Met. II. 4]. But so it is, they still continue to insist, though chemistry has searched long and could never find it, or even “ the way to its house,” as is said, Job_37:20, of the light. Prof. Haeckel, of Jena, in his Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte maintains “that all organized beings are potentially present in the first matter of the nebular system.” He looks upon “all the phenomena of life as a natural sequence of their chemical combination, as much as if they were conditions of existence, though the ultimate causes are hidden from us.” There may be some truth in what is said about conditions [for conditions are not causes], but it is the other remark that demands attention: “though the ultimate causes may be hidden from us.” Ho seems to regard this as a very slight circumstance, which ought to have little effect on the great argument of what calls itself the exact, and “positive philosophy.” There is yet indeed an unimportant break in the chain; a link or two is to be supplied; that is all, they would say. But what data have we for determining what is lacking before the full circuit of knowledge is completed ? A most important inquiry this: how great is the separation made by the unknown? Is it a few inches, or a space greater than the stellar distances? Is it a thin partition through which the light is already gleaming, or is it a vast chasm, compared with which any difference between the most ancient and the most modern knowledge is as nothing ? Is it something that may be passed over in time, or is it the measureless abyss of infinity which the Eternal and Infinite Mind alone can span? “ They are yet hidden from us,” he says. Is there the least ray of light in the most advanced science that shows us that we are even approaching this mysterious region of causality? Is there any reason to think that we know a particle more about it than Aristotle did, or those ancient positivists who talked of σχῆμα, τάξις, and θέσις, or any of those profound thinkers of old whose better reasoned atheism Cudworth has so fully refuted in his great work? And yet this professor of “exact science” talks of his monera, the prototypes of the protista, and how from these came neutral monera, and from these, again, vegetable and animal monera, just as freely as though he knew all about it from his inch of space and moment of time, or had not just admitted an ignorance which puts him at an inconceivable distance from that which he so confidently claims to explain. For it should be borne in mind that science has not merely failed to discover the principle of life, as “positive knowledge;” she cannot, even conceive it; she cannot form a theory of it which does not run immediately into the old mechanical and chemical language of number and quantity, out of which she cannot think, nor talk, without bringing in the supernatural, and that, too, as something above her province. After what is told us about the monera, etc., the writer proceeds to say: “ this once established, from each of the archetypes, we have a genealogy developed which gives us the history of the protozoan and animal kingdoms,” etc., as though any thing had been established, and he had not admitted his ignorance of a prime truth without which he cannot take a step in the direction in which he so blindly hastes. There is nothing new in this, in substance, though there may be much that is novel in form and technology. It is the old philosophy of darkness. It is as true of this modern school as it was of the old cosmologists of whom Aristotle first said it, ἐκ νῦκτὸς πάντα γεννᾴν, “that they generate all things out of Night.” This bringing every thing out of the nebular chaos through mechanical action and chemical affinities, and these grounded on nothing else than σχῆμα, τάξις, and θέσις, is nothing more than the Hesiodean generations, or the Love and Discord, the attractions and repulsions, of Empedocles. It is the pantogony of these old world builders, but without their splendid poetry.
“All organized beings in the first nebular matter,” and that from eternity! Then, of course, there has been no addition in time, no plus quantity, or plus power, or any plus idea combined with power; for that would be something which previously was not. Newton was in the toadstool; for what is not in cannot come out, or be developed; and so every toad-stool now contains a Newton; every fungus contains an academy of science, or a school of “positive philosophy.” The carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, or still earlier and more formless matter out of which this thinking arises, is there, only in a different τάξις and θέσις, perhaps. There has been no more addition to nature in the physical development of the rationalist commentator than in that of the כִּנִּים (Exo_8:17; Psa_105:31) or Egyptian lice, whose immediate production he regards as beneath the dignity of any supposed Divine or supernatural action. And so there can be no real or essential difference in rank. The kinnim were as ‘much in the first matter as the phosphorus that thinks in the brain of the theologian; they had as high and as old a place. The idea, too, of the kinnim was there, and all the machinery of their development; so that there was no saving of means or labor; their immediate genesis would cost no more, or be any more of a belittling work, than their mediate, or developed production. These insignificant creatures were provided for from all eternity. But providing means foreseeing, foreknowing; and language revolts. We cannot consistently talk atheism or materialism in any human dialect; God be thanked for such a provision in the origin and growth of speech. We can, indeed, say in. words, as one of the boldest of this godless school has said, ohne Phosphor kein Gedanke, “ without phosphorus no thought;” but then we must give up the word idea as, in any sense a cause originating; for there could be no idea antecedent to the phosphoric matter, or that order and position of it, out of which idea, or the development of thought, was to arise; that is, any idea of phosphorus before phosphorus. There is, then, nothing eternal, immutable, undeveloped, or having its being in itself, and to which, as an ideal standard, the terms higher and lower can be referred to give them any meaning. For all risings of matter, or form, to higher forms regarded as any thing else than simply unfoldings of previous matter, or previous arrangements of forces, are creations as much as any thing that is supposed first to commence its being as a whole; since more from less involves the maxim de nihilo, as well as something from nothing in its totality. If they were in that previous matter without a new commandment, a new word, and a plus activity accompanying it, then they are not truly a rising. They are no more, in quantity, than what they were; and quantity is all. Quality, according to Comte, is but a seeming; it is not a positive entity, but only σχῆμα, τάξις, and θέσις, an arrangement of matter. The potentiality, then, has all that there is, or can be, in any actuality. Even that inconceivable power which causes any potentiality to be thus potential, is, itself, only a potentiality included in the infinite sum of potentiality, which, as a whole, is also, in some way, caused to be what it is, and as it is. We say, in some way; for to say for some reason, would, at once, be bringing in a new word, and a new idea, utterly foreign to this whole inconceivable scheme. According to the other philosophy, Reason is “in the beginning,” ἐν ἀρχη̇ ἦν ὸ Λόγος (John 1.; Pro_8:22). But here reason is junior to matter, something developed, and which could, therefore, neither as intelligens nor as intellectum, be made a ground of that from which itself proceeds. We can never get out of this labyrinth; for the moment we bring in a plus quantity, or a plus activity, or a plus idea, or any thing seeming to be such, we only have a new causative potentiality, and that demanding another, which is potential of it, and so on ad infinitum; the infinity, too, not proceeding from the highest downward, but from the lowest state [or that which is next to nothing], as being the first possible manifestation of being in the universe of conceivable things. Again, it may be asked, why has not this infinite potentiality, in this infinite time, developed all things potential, so that pigeons should long since have become arch-angels, and our poor, earthly, dying race long since risen “to be as gods.” Or how, if we shrink from that, are we to avoid the converse conclusion, that the whole state of things now actual, now developed, is still infinitely low, and that the highest and best in the sphere of soul, and thought, and’ reason, is not only as yet undeveloped, but infinitely far in condition, and eternally far in time, from its true actuality,—if, in such a scheme, highest and best have any real meaning. It makes the lowest and most imperfect first, the best and perfect last, or at such an infinite distance that it may be said they never come. Religion and the Scriptures just reverse this. They put soul first, mind first, the Personal first, the all Holy, the all Wise, the all Righteous, the all Perfect, first, whilst every seeming imperfection contributes to the manifestation of the infinite excellency and infinite glory of the one separate personal God who is first of all and over all.
How poor the science of Koheleth, it may be said, and yet he has propounded here a problem having regard to one of the most common events of life, but which the ages are challenged to solve: “As thou knowest not the way of the spirit, or even how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the work of God who worketh all,”—אֶת־הַכֹּל the all, the great paradigm which He is bringing out in space and time [ch. Ecc_3:14], and for those moral and spiritual ends to which the natural, with all its changes, and all its developments, is’ at every moment subservient In one sense, indeed, it has no plus quantities. All is provided for in Him “ who is the A and the Ω, the First and the Last, the ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος, the Beginning and the End.” “All that God doeth is for the olam, the Great Eternity” [Ecc_3:14]. “Nothing can be added to it or taken from it;” but this, instead of excluding the supernatural, or shutting all things up in nature, necessitates the idea that there is a world above nature, a power, or rather an Eternal “Word [ἐν ᾦ τὰ πάντα συνέστηκε (Col_1:17)] in whom all things consist,” or stand together. This Word still speaks in nature. There, still abides its constant voice, קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה [1Ki_19:12], susurrus auræ tenuis, its “thin still voice,” that is heard “after the fire and the wind,” its שֶׁמֶץ דָּבָר “whisper word,” as Job calls it, Job_26:14; and then again there is the “going forth” of its “mighty thunder voice,” רַעַם גְּבוּרֹתָיו which “none but God can understand,” speaking in its great periodic or creative utterances, as it did of old, and as it shall speak again, when it calls for the “new heavens and the new earth,” giving to nature its new movement and its still holier Sabbath. It is this greater utterance that brings into the natural development its plus powers and plus ideas, not from any undeveloped physical necessity, but from a Divine fullness, not arbitrarily, but from its own everlasting higher law.
Throughout all the seeming nature there remains this mysterious, generative, life-giving process in the vegetable, the animal, and especially in the human birth, as a constant symbol of the supernatural presence, or of the old unspent creative force, still having its witness in continually recurring acts, ever testifying to the great Divine secret that baffles science, and to the explanation of which she cannot even make an approach.
There is an allusion to this mystery of generation, Psa_139:13 : “Thou didst possess my reins [claim them as thine own curious work], thou didst overshadow me in my mother’s womb.” So also in Psa_139:15 : “My substance was not hid from thee,”—עַצְמִי my bone, the same symbolic word that is here employed by Koheleth. In fact, it was ever so regarded by the earliest mind, as it must be by the latest and most scientific. Koheleth simply expressed the proverbial mystery of his day. It existed in the thinking and language of the most ancient Arabians; as is evident from the use Mohammed makes of it in the Koran. His mode of speaking of it shows that it was a very old query that had long occupied the thoughts of men. Hence his adversaries are represented as proposing it to him as a test of his being a true prophet (see Koran Sur. 17. 78): “They will ask thee about the spirit (ה ַבׁזֽ); say: the spirit is according to the command of my Lord, and ye have been gifted with knowledge but a very little way.” When he says “the spirit is by the command of my Lord,” he has reference to a distinction that was made (and very anciently it would seem) between the creation of spirit, and that of matter, or nature strictly. The latter was through media, steps, or growth, whilst spirit was immediate, by the command of God, according to the language of Psa_33:9, or the frequent expression in the Koran which so closely resembles it, ُהْ ַה, “be, and it was.” Al. Zamakhshari, in his Commentary, p. 783, 2, tells us that the Jews bid the Koreish ask Mohammed three questions—one about the mystery of “the cave and the sleepers,” one about Dhu l’ Karnein, and the third, this question about the spirit. If he pretended to answer them all, or if he answered neither of them, then he was no true prophet. He answered the first two, but confessed his ignorance of the human soul, as being something “the knowledge of which God had reserved to Himself.” Then he told them that there was the same reserve in their law (the Old Testament) which revealed to them nothing about the way of the spirit, דרך הרוח. If Mohammed knew any thing about the Bible (and there is but little reason in the contrary supposition), then it may bereasonably thought that in what is thus said of him by the Koranic commentator, he had reference to such passages as this of Ecclesiastes (compare also Ecc_3:21, מי ידע רוח, “ who knoweth the spirit,” etc.), or to the general reserve of the Old Testament respecting the soul, or in a more special manner to Gen_2:7; Gen_6:3, where there are ascribed to God the more direct creation of, and a continued property in, the human spirit. This would seem, too, from Psa_104:29, to be asserted, in some sense, even of the animal creation.—T. L.]
Ecc_11:6. In the morning sow thy seed.—The sowing of seed is here a figurative designation of every regular vocation or occupation, not specially of benevolence; comp. Job_4:8; Psa_126:5; 1Co_9:10-11.—And in the evening withhold not thine hand.—Literal, “towards evening” (לָעֶרֶב), i.e., be diligent in thy business from the early morning till the late evening, be incessantly active.—For thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that.—אֵי זֶה, not “what,” but “whether;” the expression refers, as it seems, to the double labor, that of the morning and that of the evening. “We are to arrange labor with labor, because the chances are equal, and we may therefore hope that if one fails, the other may succeed. God may possibly destroy one work—and who knows which ? (comp. Ecc_5:6); it is well if thou then hast a support, a second arrow to send” (Hitzig).—Or whether they shall both be alike good—i.e., whether both kinds of labor produce what is really good, substantial and enduring, or whether the fruit of the one does not soon decay, so that only the result of the other remains. כְּאֶחָד “together,” as in Ezr_6:20; 2Ch_5:13; Isa_65:25.
4. Second strophe. Ecc_11:7-10. Admonition to calmness and content, ever mindful of divine judgment, and consequently to the cheerful enjoyment of the blessings of this life.—Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. Hitzig correctly gives the connection with the preceding: The tendency of the advice in Ecc_11:1-6 (mainly in Ecc_11:6) to secure guaranties in life, is justified in Ecc_11:7. “Life is beautiful and worthy of receiving care.” Elster is less clear and concise: “Such an energy of mental activity (as that demanded in Ecc_11:1-6) will only be found where there is no anxious calculation about the result; but where man finds alone in the increased activity of his mental powers, (?) and in the intense striving after an eternal goal, his satisfaction and reward,” etc. The “light” here stands for life, of which it is the symbol. (Comp. Psa_36:9; Psa_49:19; Psa_56:13; Job_3:20). And so the expression: “ to behold the sun,” for which see not only Psa_36:9; Joh_11:9, but also passages in classic authors, e. g., Euripides, Iphig. in Aul. Ecc 1218: ἡδυ γὰρ τὸ φῶς βλέπειν; also Hippol. Ecclesiastes 4 : φῶς ὁρῶντες ὴλίου; Phoeniss: εἰ λεύσσει φάος.
Ecc_11:8. But if a man live many years. כִּי here greatly increases the intensity of thought (comp. Job_6:21; Hos_10:5); it is consequently to have no closer connection with the following אִם; comp. Pro_2:3; Isa_10:22, etc.—And rejoice in them all; [Zöckler renders: Let him rejoice in them all];[4] therefore daily and constantly rejoice, in harmony with the apostolic injunction, χαίρετε πάντοτε. See the “ Doctrinal and Ethical” to know how this sentence is to be reconciled, in Koheleth’s sense, with the truth that all is vanity, and at the same time to be defended against the charge of Epicurean levity.—Yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. כִּי is here the relative, not the causal ὅτι; comp. the Septuagint: καὶ μνησθήσεται τὰς ἡμέρας το͂υ σκότους, ο͂τι πολλαὶ ἔσονται. “ The days of darkness are those to be passed after this life in Scheol, the dark prison beneath the earth (Ecc_9:10), the days when we shall no longer see the pleasant light of the sun, or the period of death;” comp. Job_10:21, f.; Job_14:22; Psa_88:12, etc.—All that Cometh is vanity; that is, that cometh in this world; everything that exists in this life, consequently all men especially; comp. Ecc_6:4; Joh_1:9. Nevertheless the translation should not be in the masculine; the Septuagint is correct: πᾶν τὸ ἐρχόμενον, ματαιότης. The sense given by Vaihinger and Elster is too broad : “ All future things are vanity.” But even this is more correct than the Vulgate and Luther, who refer שֶׁבָּא to the past.
Moreover the clause is a confirmation of what precedes, though used without a connective, and therefore making a still greater impression.
Ecc_11:9. Rejoice, O young man in thy youth.—Here we again have a vividly emphatic omission of the connective. That which the previous verse recommended in general, is now specially addressed to youth as that period of life especially favorable to cheerful enjoyment, and therefore, in accordance with God’s will, especially appointed thereto. But the necessary check is indeed immediately placed upon this rejoicing, by the reminder of the duty to forget not that God will bring to judgment. בְּ in בְּיַלְדוּתֶךָ does not give the cause or object of rejoicing, but, as also in בִּימֵי in the following clause (comp. Isa_9:2), the period and circumstances in which it is to occur.—And let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, [5] For this expression comp. Ecc_1:17; Ecc_3:18; Ecc_7:25, etc. The heart delights the whole man in proportion as it itself is טוֹב, that is, of good cheer.—And walk in the ways of thine heart, i.e., in the ways in which it will go; follow it. Comp. Isa_57:17 and for the thought above Ecc_2:10.—And in the sight of thine eyes, i. e., so that thy observation of things shall form the rule for thy conduct, (comp. Ecc_3:2-8). This is in accordance with the K’ri בְּמַרְאֶה, which is attested by all versions and manuscripts; the ketib בְּמַרְאֵי which is preferred by Hengstenberg and others, would designate the multitude of the objects of sight as the rule for walking, which, as Hitzig correctly observes, would be an intolerable zeugma. We moreover decidedly condemn the addition of לֹא before בְּמַרְאֵה: “and not according to the sight of thine eyes,” as is found in the Codex Vaticanus of the Septuagint, and in the Jewish Haggada; for the passage in Num_15:39, that probably furnished the inducement to this interpolation, is not, when rightly comprehended, in antagonism with the present admonition; for quite as certain[6] as the allusion is there to amorous looks of lust, is it here, on the contrary, to an entirely innocent use of sight, and one well-pleasing to God.—But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment. Comp. Job_11:6. The judgment (מִשְׁפָּט) is very certainly not merely to be considered as one of this world, consisting of the pains of advanced age (Hitzig), described in Ecc_12:1, ff., or of human destinies as periods of the revelation of divine retributive justice in general (Clericus, Winzer, Knobel, Elster, etc.). The author rather has in view the “judgment” in the absolute sense, the great reckoning after death, the last judgment, as the parallels Psa_143:2; Job_14:3; Job_19:29, etc.,[7] incontestably show (comp. also Heb_9:27; Heb_10:27); the preludes of the final judgment belonging to this life come into view only as subordinate. Neither Ecc_11:8 of this chapter, nor Ecc_9:10 are opposed to this; for Koheleth in these teaches not an eternal, but only a long sojourn in Scheol. Our interpretation receives also the fullest confirmation in Ecc_3:17 as in Ecc_12:7; Ecc_12:14.
Ecc_11:10. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart. The positive command to rejoice, is here followed by the warning against the opposite of rejoicing כַּעַם “sorrow, dissatisfaction;” the Septuagint, Vulgate, Geier, etc., most unfittingly render it “anger,” just as the following, רָעָה which means “ evil, misfortune,” they render, “ wickedness,” (πονηρία, malitia). The recommendation to cheerfulness instead of sadness and melancholy (comp. Mal_3:14; Isa_58:3) is here clearly continued; comp. Ecc_9:7, ff. For בָּשָר in the second clause, comp. Ecc_5:6.—For childhood and youth are vanity. The figure (הַשַּׁחֲרוּת a later expression for שׁחר; comp. the Talmudic שַׁחֵרִית, and the thing compared(הַיַּלְדוּת also a later word) are here, as in Ecc_5:2; Ecc_7:1, connected by a simple copula. Koheleth would have written more clearly, but less poetically and effectively if he had said “for as the dawn of the morning so is the period of youth all vanity” (i.e., transitory, fleeting, comp. Ecc_7:6; Ecc_9:9).
[Koheleth’s Description of Old Age, chap. 12.—The imagery and diction of this remarkable passage show it to be poetry of the highest order; but it presents a very gloomy picture. Even as a description of the ordinary state of advanced life, it is too dark. It has no relief, none of those cheering features, few though they may be, which Cicero presents in his charming treatise De Seneclute. As a representation of the old age of the godly man, it is altogether unfitting. Compare it with the שֵׂיבָה טוֹבָה, the “good old age” of Abraham and David, Gen_15:15,1Ch_29:28, the serene old age of Isaac, the honored old age of Jacob, the hale old age of Moses and Joshua. See how Isaiah (Isa_40:30-31) describes the aged who wait upon the Lord: “The youths may faint and be weary, even the young men may utterly fail, but they who wait on Jehovah shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. A more direct contrast is furnished by the striking picture of aged saints, Psa_92:15 : They are like the grandæval cedars of Lebanon; “ planted in the house of the Lord, they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing” (more correctly, “still resinous and green”) evergreens; or, as Watts has most beautifully paraphrased it,
The plants of grace shall ever live;
Nature decays, but grace must thrive;
Time that doth all things else impair,
Still makes them flourish, strong and fair.
Laden with fruits of age they show,
The Lord is holy, just and true;
None that attend His gates shall find,
A God unfaithful or unkind.
Another very striking contrast to this is that picture which Solomon twice gives us in the Pro_16:31; Pro_20:29, “the hoary head a crown of glory when found in the way of righteousness.” But one supposition remains; the picture here given is the old age of the sensualist. This appears, too, from the connection. It is the “evil time,” the “day of darkness ” that has come upon the youth who was warned in the language above, made so much more impressive by its tone of forecasting irony. It is the dreary old age of the young man who would “go on in every way of his heart, and after every sight of his eyes,”—who did not “ keep remorse from his soul, nor evils from his flesh ”—and now all these things are come upon him, with no such alleviations al often accompany the decline of life. Such also might be the inference from the words with which the verse begins : “Remember thy Creator while the evil days come not” (עד אשר לא). It expresses this and more. There is a negative prohibitory force in the עד אשר: So remember Him that the evil days come not—“before they come,” implying a warning that such coming will be a consequence of the neglect. Piety in youth will prevent such a realizing of this sad picture; it will not keep off old age, but it will make it cheerful and tolerable, instead of the utter ruin that is here depicted.
Another argument is drawn from the character of the imagery. The general representation is that of the decay of a house, or rather of a household establishment, as a picture of man going to his eternal house, his בית עולם, ἀῑ̔δίον οἴκησιν. This earthly house (ἐπίγειος οἰκία, 2Co_5:1) is going to ruin, but the style of the habitation is so pictured as to give us some idea of the character of the inhabitant. It is not the cottage of the poor, nor the plain mansion of the virtuous contented. It is the house of the rich man (Luk_16:19) who has “ fared sumptuously (λαμπρῶς, splendidly) every day.” The outward figure is that of a lordly mansion,—a palace or castle with its “ keepers,” its soldiers, or “ men of might,” its purveyors of meal and provisions, its watchers on the turrets. It is a luxurious mansion with its gates once standing wide open to admit the revellers, now closing to the street. The images that denote these different parts of the body, the different senses or gates of entrance to the soul, are all so chosen as to indicate the kind of man represented. It is the eye that looked out for every form of beauty, the mouth (the teeth) that demanded supplies of the most abundant and delicious food. It is the ear that sought for “singing women,” כָּל בְּנוֹת הַשִּׁיר, the loudest and most famed of the “daughters of song.” And so, too, the appurtenances at the close of the description, the hanging lamps, the golden bowl, the costly fountain machinery all falling into ruin, present the game indications of character, and of the person represented.
Another very special mark of this may be traced in the expression וְתָפֵר הָאֲבִיּוֹנָה Ecc_11:5, rendered, “desire shall fail,” rather, “ shall be frustrated,” still raging but impotent. How characteristic of the old sensualist, and yet how different from the reality in the virtuous old age that has followed a temperate and virtuous youth! See how Cicero speaks of such failure of desire as a release, a relief, instead of a torment: libenter vero istinc, tanquam a domino furioso, profugi; De Senectute, 47. This view is rendered still stronger, if we follow those commentators who would regard אביונה as denoting an herb used for the excitement of failing desire: It shall fail to have its effect. The meaning seems plain, however, as commonly taken, and there is, perhaps, no good reason for departing from the etymological sense. Everything goes to show that Watts has rightly paraphrased the passage—
Behold the aged sinner goes,
Laden with guilt and heavy woes,
Down to the regions of the dead.
The soul returns murmuringly to God, as though with its complaint of the cruel and degrading treatment it had received from “the fleshly nature” “in the earthly house,” or as a wailing ghost “driven away” (see Pro_14:32), naked and shivering into the uncongenial spiritual sphere.
It is in view of such a life, and such a death, that we see the force of the closing exclamation—“ O vanity of vanities—all vanity !” As a finale to the life and death of the righteous, even if the writer, like Solon, had had reference only lo this world, it would have seemed inharmonious and out of place. If we regard it, however, as Solomon’s picture of himself repenting in extremis, then may we indulge a more cheerful hope in regard to its close, though still with the wail of vanity as its mournful accompaniment. One thing seems almost certain. Such a description as this, so sad, so full of feeling, must have been written by one who had had some experience of the situation described. There is a pathos about it that indicates personality, and a personal repentance. If so, no one is so readily suggested as the king of Israel, whose fall into sensuality and idolatry is so vividly described, 1 Kings 11, where the divine judgments upon him are also fully set forth. His repentance is not there mentioned, but it may be because this book of Koheleth, which he left behind him as his brief spiritual autobiography, contained such ample evidence of the fact.—T. L.].
5. Third strophe. Ecc_12:1-7. An admonition to fear God during youth, and not to leave his till old age, the period when approaching death announces itself through many terrors—here depicted in a series of poetical figures drawn from the various realms of nature and human life.—Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. For the plural בּוֹרְאִים see Ecc_5:8 preceding. The word “remember” (זכר) is, of course, a remembering with becoming reverence, as well as with a feeling of gratitude for the many blessings received. It is therefore substantially the same with the fear expressly recommended in Ecc_12:13, and in substance, at least, in Ecc_11:9, second clause.—While the evil days come not. Literally, “until not,” i.e.,“before;” just as in Ecc_11:2 and in the later recapitulation Ecc_11:6. The “evil days” and the “years” following are naturally the years of old age, of the period immediately preceding death, in contradistinction to the joyous period of youth.
Ecc_11:2. While the sun, or the light,[8] or the moon or the stars be not darkened. The darkening of the sun and the light must here be synonymous with the diminishing and the saddening of the joys of life, as is experienced in advanced age. A more special interpretation of the sun and the light, as well as of the moon and the stars (only added to finish the description), is inadmissible, and leads to platitudes, as is the case with Glassius, Oeting, and F. W. Meyer, who think of the darkening powers of the mind or with Wedel, who would interpret the sun by the heart, the moon by the brain, the stars by the bowels(!), and the clouds and rain, even, by the catarrhal rheums of old age(!). Moreover the darkening of sun, moon and stars is a favorite figure for seasons of misfortune, punishment and judgment; comp. Jos_3:4; Jos_2:10; Amo_8:9; Isa_13:10; Eze_32:7; Act_2:20; Rev_6:12. The same is also found in classic authors, e.g., Catullus Ecc_8:3; Fulsere quondam candidi tibi soles; Martial Epigr. Ecc_5:20, Ecclesiastes 11 : Bonosque soles effugere atque abire sentit.—Nor the clouds return after the rain. That is, one calamity follows another, one season of misfortune begins where the other ceases. The rainy season, or winter, is therewith described, in contrast to the mere showers or passing thunder storms of summer. Old age is symbolized as the winter[9] (or autumn of life, as it has previously been termed the approaching night; comp. Job_29:3; where the mature age of man is designated as “ the days of autumn” (יְמֵי חֹרֶף). So we too sometimes speak of the evening, the autumn, and the winter of life.
Ecc_11:3-5. A more intimate figurative description of old age’s infirmity and proximity to death. This is here represented under the figure of a house whose inhabitants, formerly cheerful and animated, now become weak, inactive and sad. Umbreit and Elster condemn this view as harsh and devoid of taste, and consider the passage rather as a poetic description of the day of death, which is represented under the figure of a fearful tempest, see especially Gurlitt, Studien und kritiken, 1865, II., p. 331, ff. (comp. p. 27, preceding). Comp. also the subsequent remarks under the head of Doctrinal and Ethical.—In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble. The human body is often compared to a house [10] or a tent, e. g., Isa_38:12; Wis_9:15; Job_4:19; 2Co_5:1, ff.; 2Pe_1:13, f. So also in profane writings, e. g., in the Arabian poet Hariri, (Rueckert’s Ed., p. 293); in Virgil, Eneid VI., 734. The “keepers of the house” are the arms with the hands, that are intended to protect the body, but which become tremulous in aged persons. These are considered as outside of the house, but as closely belonging to it. For the use of the hands as protection and armor for the body, comp. Galen, de usu partium I., (4 Opp. ed. Kuehn T., III., p. 8).—And the strong men shall bow themselves. That is, evidently the legs, which in old age lose their muscular power; whilst in the young, strong man they may be compared to marble columns, (comp. Son_5:10), they now shrink and become feeble, and crooked. Comp. the “ crooked knees” of Job_4:4; the “weak knees” of Psa_109:24; “the feeble knees,” Isa_35:3; Heb_12:12; also 3Ma_4:5. “Men of strength,” is, on the contrary, a designation for valiant warriors: Jdg_20:44; 2Sa_11:16; 2Ki_24:16; and to these especially strong legs are very necessary: see Psa_147:10; 2Sa_1:23, etc.—And the grinders cease[11] because they are few. הַטּחֲֹנוֹת “the grinding maids” are to be construed as referring to the teeth, as is also shown by כִּי מִעֵטוּ “for they have become few,” and by the subsequent mention of the “sound of the mill,” i.e., of the human speech proceeding from the wall of the teeth (Ecc_11:4). The closeness of the comparison between human teeth and a mill is proved by the designation “grinders,”[12] for the molar teeth in many languages, e.g., in the Syriac (טחנות), in the Greek (μύλακροι μολοδοντες) in the Latin (molares). The feminine form is in allusion to the customof all antiquity, according to which female slaves performed the grinding with hand-mills (Exo_11:5; Job_31:10; Isa_47:2; Mat_24:41), and is also in harmony with the use of שֵׁן (tooth) as feminine, occurring in Pro_25:19.—And those that look out of the windows be darkened. These are the eyes,[13] that are here the more fittingly designated as הָרֹאוֹח נָּאֲרֻבּוֹת, becauseעַיִן the “eye” is feminine, and since the eyelids, in other passages compared to the threads of a net (Pro_6:25), are here clearly compared to the bars of a grate or to the grating (אֲרֻבּוֹת), and since also it was very natural to present the eyes, the most noble of all our organs, as the mistresses of the house, who look quietly out into the exterior world, but the teeth on the contrary as the servants or slaves. Comp. Cicero Tusc. I., Ecc 20: Oculi quasi fenestræ sunt animi; foramina ilia, quæ patent ad animum a corpore, callidissimo artificio natura fabricata est; also Lactantius, de opif. Dei, c. 8; Clemens, Stromata, VII., p. 685, §. See also the Cabalistic theory of the seven openings or doors of the head, of which the two sockets of the eyes are the most elevated and distinguished (Jezira, c. 4; comp. Talmud tract, Schabb. p. 152, Colossians 1; Buxtorf, Florileg. p. 320). Those looking out of the windows are said to be darkened with reference to the feebleness of sight in old persons, e. g., Isaac (Gen_27:1), Jacob (Gen_48:10), Eli (1Sa_3:2), Ahia (1Ki_14:4),etc.; comp. also Psa_119:23; Lam_5:17; Deu_34:7.
Ecc_11:4. And the doors shall be shut in the streets. Namely, the mouth[14] whose upper and lower lips are compared to the two sides or folds of a door (דְּלָתַיִם); comp. Psa_141:3; Mic_7:5; Job_41:6.נִּשּׁוּק literally, “on the street,” points to the function of the mouth as a means of communication with the outer world, whether by the reception of food or the sending out of words or other sounds. As the latter reference is not so close, and would anticipate the subsequent clause, we are doubtless to think of the mouth as the organ of eating, and the shutting of the doors as an allusion to the feeble appetite of old men, [in this Ewald id correct, in opposition to Knobel, Vaihinger, etc.]. Herzfeld and Hitzig are entirely too artificial: “ the lips of the toothless mouth cling together;” but Hengstenberg also says: “the shutting of the doors refers to the difficulty of hearing in old men, a common infirmity with them that would not be wanting here” (?!).—When the sound of the grinding is low. Zöckler translates: “the voice of the mill.” The mill is the teeth,† according to Ecc_11:3; its voiceis not, however, the noise caused by the chewing of food—which would be very harsh and unnatural (contrary to Ewald, et al.), but human speech breathed out, as it were, from the wall of the teeth [ἕρκος ὁδόντων], that voice which in old age usually becomes weaker and lower.—And he shall rise up at the voice of the bird. Zöckler translates: “and it seems like the voice of the sparrow.” Ewald and Hitzig are correct [in regard to the impersonal rendering of יָקוּם] with reference to Isa_29:24, where also a weak voice is compared to the low chirping, if not of the sparrow, at least of some other small birds. It is usually rendered (Sept., Vulg., Luther, Knobel, Vaihinger, etc.: “and he rises up at the voice of the birds,” i.e., in the early morning—which might also afford an allusion to the sleeplessness of old men. But it is more than doubtful whether קוּם לְקוֹל הַצִּפוֹר should express this sense of early rising. Instead of יָקוּם we should in that case have expected יֵעוֹר. And early rising is by no means a general custom of old men, and—what seems more weighty than all the rest—the context requires a reference to the low, whispering speech of old men; see the following clause. For קוּם לְ in the sense here given to it, comp. Zep_3:8; 1Sa_22:13.—And all the daughters of music shall be brought low, that is, all the songs in which the old man endeavors to join, but which he utters only with a trembling, and scarcely audible voice. The “daughters ” of a thing means in Hebrew style its special or specific announcement or utterance; comp. the Rabbinic בַּת קוֹל as well as the expression “ Son of fruitfulness,” Isa_5:1, etc. Hitzig is correct, and Hengstenberg substantially so, who understands by the “daughters of song” the qualities required in singing. But Knobel is arbitrary, who, with Herzfeld, sees in the singers only singing birds (according to which the failing here described would be the deafness of the old man); Vaihinger sees an allusion to the organs of singing; and, finally, Umbreit and Elster understand the passage to be about the low flight of birds, and their uneasy fluttering at an approaching thunder storm.
Ecc_11:5. The discourse continues to depend on בַיּוֹם שֶׁ at the beginning of the third verse, if not grammatically, at least logically.—Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high; i.e., of ascending an eminence which would be difficult on account of their sunken chests, and short breath; a remark in sympathy with what precedes concerning the feeble voice of old men. Nearly all modern commentators are correct on this point, as is now Ewald, who formerly translated: “ when they shall be afraid of the Lofty One,” that, is of God, the one supremely lofty.—And fears shall be in the way; namely, “threaten” them, “meet” them, who are too lame and weak easily too avoid such frights. For the abstract form of the plural חַתְחַתִּים, see Ewald, § 179, a.—And the almond tree shall flourish. Thus we must, without doubt, translate the words יָנֵאץ הַשָׁקֵד, for יָנֵץ (Hiphil of נצץ). For this compare Ewald, § 15, a.;§ 141, b. The almond tree bears its blossoms in the midst of winter,[15] and on a naked, leafless stem, and these blossoms (reddish or flesh-colored in the beginning) seem at the time of their fall exactly like white snow-flakes; (Bodenstedt, 1001 Days in the Orient, II., p. 237). In this way the almond blossom is a very fitting symbol of old age with its silvery hair, and its wintry, dry, barren and unfruitful condition. Ewald, Heiligstedt, Vaihinger, and Gurlitt, are correct; the first-named makes an appropriate reference to Philo, de vita Mosis iii. 22.—Hengstenberg’s view is too far-fetched in finding in the words (according to Jer_1:11) the wakefulness, or sleepless nights of hoary old age; whilst Schröder, Gesenius, Dietrich, et al., consider יָנֵאץ as intrans. Fut. Hiph. from נאץ, and render: “And the almond is despised” (by the toothless old man who cannot bite it); others undertake emendations, e.g., Gaab, who reads יִנָּאֵץ “is despised,” Hitzig, who points it יִנְאַץ and thus obtains the scarcely intelligible sense: “And the Almond tree refuses,” i.e., does not permit the weak old man to obtain its fruit (which is to be understood according to the analogy of the Son_7:9). Still others, finally, force an unusual sense on the word שָׁקֵד as Hahn, who understands and translates it “the waking,” referring it to the human mind; “ the waking one acquires pinions,” which is about equivalent to saying: “The previously half-wakened spirit is, in the moment of death, released unto clear life and full liberty” (against which explanation is the absence elsewhere of any Hiphil denominative הֵנֵץ from נוֹצָה “pinion”—And the Grasshopper shall be a burden (Zöckler renders “burdensome”), on account of its singing and chirping, or also on account of its hopping flight and creeping. חָגָב literally, “ locust,” but here more fittingly translated by grasshopper, because, in rendering, locust, it is most probably the comparative smallness, as in Isa_40:22; Num_13:31, which is mainly considered (as though we should say: “And the gnat becomes a burden, or the fly”). For יִכְהַּבֵּל(fut. Hithpa of סבל) “to become a burden,” comp. Gesenius in the Thesaurus. Kimchi is correct regarding this, and he is followed by Gurlitt, especially among modern authors, and approximately also by Gesenius and Hengstenberg, of whom, however, the former thinks of the burdensomeness of the locust as an article of food, whilst the latter prefers to have locust understood figuratively in the sense of influences hostile to life. The numerous remaining hypotheses are to be decidedly rejected; they are divided into two groups, according as they interpret the locust as a symbol of the old man himself, that is as to the form of his body, or seek to alter the sense of חָגָב by peculiar explanations. To the former group belong the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, etc., which agree in the signification that “ the locust becomes fat” (swells up), and understand the whole, though in opposition to the true signification of הסתבל as a biblical representation of the corpulency of old men; and 2. those of Luther, Geier, Vaihinger, etc., who explain locust to mean the crooked or bent skeleton and spinal column of man in old age, and therefore translate: “The locust is burdened;” and 3. that of Hitzig: “And the jumper permits himself to be carried,” i.e., the one formerly hopping merrily about can no longer walk: 4. that of Oetinger: “the locust becomes a burden to itself,” i.e., “drags its body about with difficulty; 5. those of Ewald, Heiligstedt, and Hahn, who agree in making locust point to the inner body, or to the mind of man (Ewald): and “ the locust rises,” namely to fly; Heiligstedt: “ et tollit se ad volandum locusta;” Hahn: “And the locust unburdens itself,” which is equivalent to our expression: “And the butterfly bursts its cocoon.” Among the second class we may count such illustrations as the Chaldaic, and that of Aben Ezra: “ when the ankle-bones become thick;” that of Bochart, “ when the bones of the legs become heavy; “and of Knobel: “and the breathing is a burden” (the last two on the basis of a peculiar signification of חגב derived from the Arabic).[16]—And desire shall fail, that is, when neither the appetite nor sexual desire can be excited by so strong a stimulant as the caper-berry. As אֲבִיּוֹנָה has the meaning of “Caper” (κάππαρις) by the testimony of the oldest translators as well as of the Rabbins (comp. Buxtorf, Lex Rabb. et Talm., p. 12, 2098), and as the use of the berries or buds of the caper-bush undoubtedly stimulate the appetite, and, according to the ancient oriental representation a voluptuous desire (comp. also Plutarch, Sympos., 6; Winer, Real Lexicon, Art. Caper), the correctness of this interpretation is not to be doubted, and Luther’s translation: “and all desire fails,” appears at least consonant with the sense. Varying interpretations: 1) Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic; Rosenmueller, Heiligstedt, Ewald, Vaihinger: “and the caper bursts,” i. e., the spirit presses forth as a kernel from the husk; 2. Vers. Veneta (παύση ἡ ὄρεξις) Abulwalid, Luther, Hengstenberg, etc.: “Since desire fails;” 3. Schmidt, Döderlein, etc.: “since the turtledove, the messenger of spring is despised;” 4. Hahn: “Since the poor one (fem, of אֶבְיוֹן) bursts forth,” i. e., since the imprisoned soul bursts its prison, its mortal coil, etc. Knobel, Hitzig, and Gurlitt are correct among the modern writers.—Because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. Clearly a parenthesis by which the previous description of the infirmities of age, especially that contained in the last three clauses, is strengthened by pointing to the imminent approach of death for the old man. Man passeth away, (הֹלֵךְ) i. e., he is on the point of going; comp. Gen_19:13-14, etc. “His long home” is the grave, from which there is no more return to earthly life (comp. Job_7:10; Psa_49:12; Isa_14:18, etc.). The same appellation is also found in Tob_3:6; Targ. Jonath. in Jes. 42:11; among the Egyptians (Diodorus Sic., Ecc 1:51). among the Arabians (Koran, Sur. 41:28) and the Romans (domus æterna; marmorea domus, Tibull. Carm., III., 2, 22).
[The Eternal House.
Ecc_11:5. בֵּית עלָמוֹ. Zöckler’s interpretation of this striking expression is scanty and misleading. It cannot, any more than Sheol, mean the grave simply. Without insisting upon the fact that the Hebrews had for that a distinct term (קֶבֶר), when nothing more was intended (see Bibelwerk Gen. 536), it may be said that the context almost immediately following is at war with such an idea. The expression here, had it stood alone, might have been regarded, perhaps, as a figurative one for extinction of all being. The “long home” might have been thought to denote the dark house of bodily dissolution and spiritual nothingness; though still it would be a question whether language, thus implying residence, permanence, and something like continuance of self-hood, could ever, even in figure, have arisen from such a nihility of conception. What is said, however, in Ecc_11:7, forbids it altogether. The being of man, though one and inseparable in personality, is there regarded as locally divided: “The dust goes down to the earth, the spirit returns unto God who gave it.” Now to predicate this residence of the dissolving dust alone does not satisfy the conception. The passage, Job_7:10, to which Zöckler refers, has no application, whatever; Isa_14:18 is only a highly figurative representation of the remains of monarchs, lying in state, or in their splendid mausoleums, and the בֵּית מוֹעֵד of Job_30:23, “the house of meeting,” or of “the assembly,” which he might more properly have cited, has the same meaning as in this place; and every argument against regarding it as the mere place of deposit for the decomposing remains, which are not man in any sense, is as applicable to the one place as to the other. There is equal difficulty in regarding it as any separate mansion of the spirit by itself. Neither can be said to be man, the personality, the self-hood, when separately viewed; and yet it is man himself that has gone to the house of his olam, or rather to his olamic house; since the pronoun in עֹלָמוֹ belongs to the whole compound taken as one epithet. God is spoken of as the מָעוֹן, “the dwelling-place” of His people (see Psa_90:1), but that cannot be the sense intended here; neither, on the other hand, can the “spirit’s return to God” be regarded as a pantheistic absorption, as Zöckler well shows. No theism was ever more clear of such an idea, or more opposed to Buddhism, whether in its ancient eastern, or its modern transcendental form, than that of the old Hebrews. Although in the Old Testament God is represented as אֱלֹהֵי רוּחוֹת (Num_16:22) “God of spirits,” yet it would seem to go even to the extremes in setting forth His distinct and incommunicable personality, His unapproachable holiness, that is, His separation from all things, and all beings, even the highest whom He has created, or to whom He has given being. As it cannot, therefore, apply separately, either to the soul or the body, the term beth-olam must denote something consistent with such a modified being of both. It is clear, then, that it cannot express locality, nor even duration as such, but a state of being, unknown except as obscurely defined in what follows (Ecc_11:7), though positive as a fact. This state of being is so called in distinction from the present being upon earth. Although the idea of place is thus excluded, yet the word בית is used as suggested by the previous figure of the decaying mansion. The “earthly house,” ἡ ἑπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία, is dissolved, and now man goes to the οἰκία αἰώνιος, the olamic house, not under the law of space and time, “the house not made with hands,”—whatever it may mean, whether the same as, or less than, Paul intends by the use of similar language. The term beth-olam, however it may have been suggested here, is in striking accordance with the corresponding classical Greek usage of οῑ̔κος ‘̔Αιδου (Homeric, δῶμ’ ’Αῖδαο, ’́Αϊδος δὸμος) representing the other world, or the other condition of being, as a house, a home, or abode, though unseen and unknown. This was its pure primary sense and usage, denoting state alone, though afterwards the poetry and mythology gave it scenery and locality. עולם here corresponds to Hades in etymological significance, as well as in its manner of usage. It is the hidden, the unmeasured, as that is the unseen. The idea of time, though in general inseparable, from עולם, is not here predominant. It certainly does not denote an absolute, endless eternity. And so another phrase, ἀΐδιος οἴκησις, as used in Greek (Diodorus, Xenophon, and Plato; see Gen. p. 587) is etymologically the unseen, though coming to be used for eternal, or æonian, through the near relation, and frequent blending of the Hadean and the æonian, or olamic conceptions.
The view, then, of this phrase בית עולם which is least liable to objection, or on which we can most safely rely, is that which is content with regarding it as simply the antithesis of this present worldly state of being. There is suggested the same rendering (world) which we have given Ecc_1:11; Ecc_3:11; Ecc_9:7. It is the other world in distinction from this, whether regarded as lying parallel or as succeeding. It is the house in which the dead (who yet have some unknown being) are to abide, while the world lasts (even this world) as we have rendered לעולם Ecc_9:7, in the Metrical Version.
Whilst the world lasts, no portion more have they,
In all the works performed beneath the sun.
In the same manner also, in our modern language, do we speak of this world, and the other world. We use the latter term in two ways; 1) as the great world, or olam, which, as a whole, is historically to succeed this as a whole that shall have passed away; or 2) as the world into which each individual goes at death,—as though the finishing with this were virtually the entrance into that, although its historical manifestation for all men collectively may yet be far remote. Our mode of speech has not come from the Bible,—certainly not from the English Bible,—for its general mode of translating עולם vaguely by forever and everlasting, and its avoiding the rendering world, are unfavorable to it. It is a thought born in the modern as in the ancient mind, and existing from the earliest ages. It was accompanied by no knowledge, yet none the less tenaciously held. It was the goal of the Patriarch’s pilgrimage idea. They were “going to Sheol”, to the other world, yet all unknowing as Abraham was, when, at the command of God, he went out from Mesopotamia: ἐξῆλθε μὴ ἐπιστάμενος πο͂υ ἔρχεται, Heb_9:8. So “went they out” (from this world), confiding in God, hoping “for a better country,” yet “not knowing whither they went,” or having the least conception, perhaps, of the mode of being that was to follow.
We are simply told of the fact: man goes to the olam, the beth-olam, to the other world, and there the Old Testament leaves him; and leaves the interpreter to give it as high or as low a sense as his spiritual-mindedness or lack of spiritual-mindedness may lead him to prefer. It speaks of it as a state, but throws no light upon it as a mode of being. It is not wholly a blank, but in almost everything we deem of highest worldly importance, it is set forth as the opposite of the present life. These images, however, of stillness, unknowingness, (not to say unconsciousness), inactivity, want of interest, in a word, lack of vitality, as we would call it, and which would seem to reduce it almost to an embryo existence (see Ecc_9:5, and note p. 129), may be because the impossibility of our conceiving it aright, and the consequent veil of reserve which the old Scripture throws over the whole subject, leaves little else to the picturing imagination than a description of negatives. Any premature development in the other direction might have falsely stimulated the fancy, and led the divinely guarded people of God into many of those wild conceptions which so deform the Heathen mythologies of Hades, or the world of the dead.
In respect to other great ideas, however, as connected with such a state, the Old Testament is by no means silent. In some places it would seem to speak of death as though it were the end of man, as indeed it is of life, like the present. But again, it sets forth duties to God and man that cannot be measured by time, a law for the spirit, so searching, so high and holy as to seem incompatible with a mere finite earthly animal being; it speaks of relations to Deity, of awful accountabilities, that have no meaning, or that greatly collapse in their significance, if there be not for man another olam, another and greater state of being, either in itself, or to which it is preparatory. It never turns aside to explain any such seeming inconsistencies. Sublime in its reserve, in its types and shadows, in its mere hints of a post-mundane human destiny, as in its clearest announcements, this most suggestive Old Scripture goes on its majestic way, fearing no charge of contradiction, taking no pains to make any explicit provision against Sadducean cavils, and leaving the matter wholly to that spiritual discernment which the Saviour manifested (Mat_22:23-33) against those who sought to entangle him with verbal and casuistical difficulties. One great truth of this kind stands prominently out. It is the idea of a judgment, somewhere, and at some time in the great æon of æons, the kingdom of God. This is especially the case in Koheleth, and all that is dark in the book is relieved by this one thought so firmly adhered to, so positively stated, so distinct in itself, or as a fact, yet so undefined in time, locality, and circumstance, as to make it extremely difficult for one who should demand attention to these in defending its consistency.—T. L.]
The mourners going about the streets, is a vivid description of the preparations for a great funeral, which are often made by his heirs for a mortally sick old man even before his decease. With this explanation, (agreeing substantially with Hitzig) it is not necessary, with Hengstenberg, to consider וְסָפְדוּ as relative future, and therefore to translate: “The mourners will soon go about.” For the mourning customs of the ancient Hebrews consult Amo_5:16; Isa. 15:33; Jer_9:16 ff.; Mat_9:23; Mat_11:17, etc.
Verses 6 and 7, following the description of hoary age, give that of his final end in death, and in such a way that the dissolution of the spiritual-bodily organism is first described in Ecc_11:6 in a variety of figures, and then literally or in accordance with its inner nature. In syntactical relation the two verses run parallel with Ecc_11:2, the construction there begun with עַד אֲשֶׁר לֹא “before,” “being taken up again.”—Or ever the silver cord be loosed—i. e., before the thread of life is ruptured. The thread of life is here designated as a silver cord, and not as a tent-cord (which keeps the tent from falling together, see Job_4:21; Isa_38:12), because the author imagines the living one, or rather his living organism, as a golden lamp hanging by a silver cord, as the sequel shows. Both figures, however, point, through the noble metals of which they speak, to human life as a valuable and noble possession; comp. the association of gold and silver in Pro_25:11.—Read יִרְחַק[17] discessit longe recessit (“gives way”), not יֵרָתֵק (“is unbound”), as the K’ri has it; nor יֵרָחֵק as it stands in the text, nor יִנָּתֵק [“is torn asunder] (Pfannkuche), nor יֶחֶרַק as Hitzig has it. These emendations are rendered unnecessary by the simplicity and perspicuity of the text.—Or the golden bowl be broken,—גֻלָּה is literally equivalent to גַל “fountain” (comp. Son_4:12 with Jos_15:19 and Jdg_1:15); in Zec_4:3 it signifies a vessel for oil, or an oil lamp, and is so to be considered here. The human body is therefore considered as a vessel in which is contained, as in a lamp, the oil, the blood, which is the supporter of the soul or of life [comp. Lev_17:14]. Like the precious oil of Zec_4:3, which is called “golden oil,” so “is the blood the noble, precious fluid in the human organism;” and with reference to it as the condition of life and health, the organism itself is called גֻלַּת הַזָּהָב “the golden bowl.” Hengstenberg and Hitzig both maintain that this expression of the author here seems to be materially affected and modified by this possage in Zec_4:2 ff.—And the pitcher broken at the fountain.—The pitcher [כַּד] is not identical with the golden bowl, and therefore a figurative designation of the whole body, but only of a special organ of it; of that one, namely, with which we draw air or breath, that is, nourish the body from the fountain of all life that surrounds it. The previous figure is now abandoned, or rather insensibly changed into one nearly allied to it; the burning flame of the golden lamp becomes the invisible inner flame of the process of respiration, whose physical organ is the lungs. Its destruction in death is figuratively described as the breaking (הִשָׁבֵר) of the pitcher at the fountain, from which it had hitherto daily drawn water,—wherein there clearly appears an amplification of the expression as compared with the preceding form; comp. שבר in Isa_42:3.—Or the wheel broken at the cistern.—Not a new figure, but only a more special illustration of the one just presented. The “wheel at the fountain” is the cistern wheel by which the bucket is raised or lowered, and cannot have a specific reference to any definite organ of the body, but symbolizes organic life itself in its continuous circle, just as “the wheel of birth” of Jam_3:6 (τρόχος τῆς γενέσεως) based probably on this passage. The cistern (הַבּוֹר) is not materially different from the fountain (מַכּוּעַ) and likewise means the air surrounding man and affording the most indispensable of all conditions of life, namely, breath; it does not mean the whole world, as Hengstenberg maintains, or the grave, as some others think.—אֶל־הַבּוֹר is moreover the same as עַל הַבּוֹר “at the fountain,” comp. 1Sa_20:25; 2Sa_2:9 ff. Observe also the passive נָוֹץ instead of the earlier active, תָּרֻץ; it means that the golden bowl “breaks,” as it were, of its own accord, as soon as the silver cord that holds it is loosed; but the wheel “is broken,” is destroyed at the same time with the whole machinery of life, by an act of violence operating from without.[18]—In oldercommentators there are many arbitrary physiological and anatomical interpretations of the respective points of the description: Melanchthon sees in the silver cord the nerves and sinews, in the golden fountain the heart, and in the pitcher at the fountain, the great vein over the liver; Praun [Physico- Anatomica Analysis, Cap. XII., Ecclesiastes] thinks the silver cord the lacteal vessel of the breast, and Witsius the golden bowl the brain, whilst Wedel makes it the heart, and Hottinger refers it to the gall. Since Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood, many have seen this pictured in the golden bowl as in the fountain (Jablonski, Hansen, Michaelis, Starke, Scheuchzer, etc.), and have mingled many strange things with it, e. g.: the pitcher is the liver (Witsius), or the lymph (Wedel), or the stomach (Hottinger), or the chyle (Praun, Scheuchzer); the wheel signifies the kidneys, urinary passages, and bladder (Wedel), or the peristaltic motions of the bowels (Scheuchzer), or the motion of the lungs (Sibel, Jablonski). Look especially at Starke on this passage, and also at the Exegetical monographs quoted on page 27.—Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was.—Namely, as dust; comp. Gen_3:19; Psa_104:29; Job_34:15, to which passages, especially the first named, Koheleth conforms in expression. For the form וְישֹׁב comp. Ewald, § 343 b.—And the spirit shall return unto God who, gave it.[19]—Namely, as the life-giving principle in the human organism, comp. Gen_2:7; Psa_104:30; Isa_42:5; Jer_38:16. This passage does not expressly affirm a personal immortality of the human soul, but it also does not deny it; for that the author is thinking of a pantheistic floating of the soul in the universal spirit, and that, “separated into individual existence, this particle of the Divine breath poured forth into the world by God will again be drawn to Him, and thus again unite with His breath, the soul of the world” (Hitzig)—all this, only rationalistic extravagance, can find in this passage. Koheleth’s earlier testimonies rather show him to have thought of the return of the spirit to God as an entrance into the presence and eternal communion of God, and not as an absorption by God. And the arrival of the departed ones into the dark Scheol separating them from Divine light and life, so depicted in chap. 9, evidently appears to him only a provisional and intermediate condition which will finally be followed by an eternal existence with God after that “judgment” (Ecc_11:9). Compare Vaihinger: “According to this the coming to God seems, in the conception of the Preacher, to be gradual, and the view in Psa_49:6 to have been in his mind, viz.: that the good will be liberated from Scheol, and, after being acquitted in the judgment, will live blessed in God, Psa_17:15, whilst the wicked will be cast back into Scheol after the judgment, and there eternally remain, Psa_49:15;[20] Luk_16:22 ff.” Hengstenberg says: “It is impossible that at the period of death the hitherto so marked difference between the just and the wicked will be suddenly effaced. The sharp earnestness with which the judgment of this world is every where announced, and especially in this book, decides against this. After all this, after the impressive emphasizing of the retributive justice of God, in which the entire book ends in 11:14, the return of the soul to God can only be that spoken of by the Apostle in 2Co_5:10; Rom_14:10; Heb_9:27. “It is noteworthy also that the Avesta, of all the religious documents of the ancient heathen the one which is most nearly allied to the Old Testament revelation, and most in harmony with it, contains an assertion quite similar to the one before us:“When the body dies here below, it mingles with the earth, but the soul returns to heaven.” (Bundehesch, p. 384.) Something allied to this is found in some of the Greeks, e.g., Phokyllides, Ποίημα νουθετικόν, and in Euripides’ Fragments [but more distinctly in the Drama of the Suppliants, Ecc 535: πνεῦμα μὲν πρὸς Αἰθερα (προς Δὶα) τὸ σῶμα δ’ εἰς γῆν.—T. L.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
(With Homiletical Hints.)
This section properly contains the net result of the religious speculation of the Preacher; and in it the positive ground thoughts of the entire book arrive at their fullest development, and most striking and definite expression. This is externally seen in the style, hitherto at times, languid, of prosaic latitude, and unharmonious, but now rising to the loftiest strains, and clothed with the richest figurative adornments. Chap. 10 had distinguished itself from the preceding by its greater wealth of figures and ingenious expressions; but now, from the very beginning of chap. 11, figure crowds on figure in a still more remarkable degree, until, in the introductory verses of the 12th chapter, or the third, strophe of this section, the figurative ornament of speech rises to a fullness of the most profound, vivid, and surprising comparisons, which here and there almost give the impression of excessive and tumid accumulation. And yet the single figurative expressions need only correct illustrations and fitting insertion into the combination of the whole, in order to stand justified against every suspicion of absence of taste or presence of excess, and to bring out into clearer light the object of the picture, viz., the many tribulations of age, the premonitions of approaching death, and finally the very process of life’s dissolution itself; all this, too, more vividly than is elsewhere in Holy Writ effected, at least in so restricted a space. It shows an imperfect comprehension of this most interesting and original of all the descriptions in the book, that several commentators, especially Umbreit and Elster, mistake the gradual progress of the described symptoms of dissolution from the commencement of senile feebleness till death, and, by means of an allegorical perversion, force on the details concerning old age as the forerunner of death (Ecc_11:3-5), a direct reference to death itself. The usual conception of these verses, according to which they describe the body of man, together with its organs, as they grow old under the figure of a household sinking into decay and dissolution, is precisely that which justifies the praise ever given to the author as the representative of a wisdom endowed with unusual penetration in the sphere of theological and anthropological research. That characterizing of Koheleth originating with Origen, and adopted by Hieronymus, giving to it the signification of a compendium of the physics of Solomon, (just as Proverbs contains the quintessence of his ethics, and the Song, the logic or dialectios of the wise king—comp. the General Introduction to the Solomonic writings) appears very especially justified by this passage; but this can only be the case when it is understood on the basis of the above developed, and only just comprehension of it as a description of the sad autumn and winter of the corporeal life of this world, and therewith as a foundation for the conception of human nature as a manifoldly significant image of the universe in general.
Beneficent, prosperous, industrious, and cheerful labors in life, afford the strongest security for lasting happiness, and to this fundamental thought of the section, the description in question holds the double relation that, on the one hand, it is to present and confirm the preceding admonition to a cheerful enjoyment of the pleasures of life’s spring and summer, by reference to the contrast between these and the terrors of the autumn and winter of life, whilst, on the other hand, it is to present the basis for the farther admonition to that continual fear of God, which was necessarily to form the crowning termination and final goal of all the practical precepts of the author.—Comp. Ewald, p. Ecc 324: “The numerous tribulations of old age, and the mournful signs of approaching death, are described in the most striking figures, in order the more pressingly to admonish to a cheerful enjoyment of life at the proper period; but, at the same time, there appears most significantly the other truth by which the former receives its full light and correct limits, namely, that this very joy in life must not be blind and thoughtless, but thoughtful and conscious in remembrance of the eternal judgment over all things;—a truth which is indeed to be understood in every stern view of life, and which, therefore, has been only cursorily touched at an earlier period, (Ecc_3:12; Ecc_3:17; Ecc_8:12 ff.), but which is purposely alluded to here, in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding before the final close.”—In view of the fearful earnestness of this concluding reference to death and eternity, every suspicion of Epicureanism, or of a frivolous, skeptical, and materialistic disposition, as a background for the preceding counsels to enjoy life, must disappear; and this the more so, since that which precedes this admonition to enjoyment of life testifies clearly enough of the deep seriousness and purity of the author’s ethical views. For the admonition at the commencement of the 11th chap. (Ecc_11:1-3) which reminds us of that in Psa_112:9, counseling a profuse benevolence, mindful of no loss and of no gain, appears clearly as a true fruit of faith in a holy, just, and paternally loving God, but which could never spring from an Epicurean, skeptical, or fatalistic view of the world. The subsequent admonition to an unwearied fulfilment of our calling, unmindful of the future yet cautious and conscientious (Ecc_11:4-6), proceeds not from a dull, melancholy resignation, or a loathing despair of life, but simply and alone from a childlike yielding to the will of God, and obedient subjection to His counsels as the only wise. Indeed, even in the reference to the sweetness of light, and the loveliness of life under the sun, with which (in Ecc_11:7) he paves the way to that injunction to cheerful enjoyment, there is nothing in any way Epicurean, or that shows a one-sided, earthly, irreligious disposition. There is rather nothing expressed therein but the deep religious feeling of a pure joy in the beauty of the works of God, and an inwardly thankful appreciation of the proofs therein offered of His boundless goodness; a feeling that forms a contrast quite as opposite to all fatalism and gloomy atheistical materialism, as to every kind of moral levity, or thoughtless desire for enjoyment. See Elster, p. Ecc 125: “The deep feeling for the beauty and loveliness of life, which Koheleth expresses in this verse, shows us that it was not a bitter discontent based on a dull insensibility of the inward spirit; but his grief lies therein that with this deep feeling for beauty which human existence bears within itself, he painfully encounters, on the one hand, the fact that men are mutually cheating each other out of the real profit of life, whilst, on the other, he perceives that this existence is fleeting and transitory, and that he has foreclosed the hope of a future clearing up of human destiny because the view of a life after death seems to him utterly dark and uncertain (? ?).—The period which man is permitted to seize in the present, must now appear to him only so much the more important; and the only sure thing remaining to man must seem to him to be the holding fast of eternity by the highest activity in this particular period. Therefore to verse 8 there is again joined the admonition to pleasure, whose nature and character are clearly enough depicted in what precedes, as free from everything low and common, and rather as depending on the Most High and Eternal One.”
Add to all this the fact, that the author marks the youthful vivacity and cheerfulness of life, which he recommends, expressly as a disposition to be tempered and purified by the thought of the retributive justice of God (Ecc_2:9) and that there is ever present as the final aim of every earthly-human development (according to Ecc_2:7), an eternal sojourn of the immortal soul with a holy and just God—a thought which Elster in the passage just quoted is clearly wrong in denying (see the exegetical illustrations to this passage),—adding this, and there results from it most conclusively that character of his ethical wisdom which is in conformity with revelation, and indeed directly belonging to revelation. We see especially the divinely inspired and incomparable nature of the religious truths of this section, in which the devout meditation of the author has reached its highest point, and after vanquishing doubt and hostility, combines its positive results into a chain of the purest ethical maxims, and the most profound physicotheological observations.
Homily on the Entire Section: The fear of God is the foundation of all true virtue, and all lasting joys.—Or: The fear of the Lord is the beginning and end of all wisdom.—Or: Live so in thy youth that old age brings to thee not terrors, but only the desire of relief from the yoke of this earthly life, and the joyful hope of an eternal existence with God.—Or: Use the morning of thy life profitably, that its evening may be calm and blissful; sow good seed in the spring-time of thy life, that thou mayest have a good harvest in the autumn.
HOMILETICAL HINTS ON SEPARATE PASSAGES
Ecc_11:1-3. Luther (Ecc_11:1):—Be liberal whilst you can; use wealth in doing all the good in your power; for if you live long you shall receive a hundredfold.—Cartwright:—The universal instability of all things should excite you to munificence, whatever may happen in respect to you or the riches you may possess. Credit it for gain, whatever you may save from the flames and conflagration, as it were, by bestowing it upon the poor.—Starke (Ecc_11:2):—In giving alms we are not to look too closely at the worthiness of the individuals. God permits His sun to rise on the just and the unjust!—Von Gerlach:—Collect not thy treasures by gathering in, but rather by giving out, by a denial of self! Psa_112:9; 2Co_9:9.
Ecc_11:4-6. Hieronymus:—In season, out of season, the word of God is to be preached; and so without thought of clouds, or fear of winds, even in the midst of tempests, may we sow (the word). We are not to say this time is convenient, another unsuitable, since we know not what is the way of the Spirit that controls all.
Hansen:—In the distribution of his good deeds a man should not be too timorous; the left hand should not know what the right hand doeth.—Lange (Ecc_11:5):—One cannot know how much good God may effect for the perfection of the faith, even among the dissolute poor!—Starke (Ecc_11:6):—Do not delay thy amendment until an advanced age; begin early to fear God; thou wilt never repent of it. It is, however, better to repent even in age than to continue in one’s sins. But he who fears God from youth up, will find his reward so much the more glorious, Rev_2:10.—Hengstenberg (Ecc_11:6):—Be incessantly active. In seasons of destitution be so much the more active, because just then many things may miscarry. The more doubtful the result, so much the less should we lay our hands in our lap.
Ecc_11:7-8. Melanchthon:—Whilst God permits, reverently use His gifts; when He takes away, patiently submit; as Paul says, “Let the peace of God dwell in your hearts.”—Cramer:—Because man has a desire for natural light, and shuns darkness, he should, therefore, practice the works of light, and shun those of darkness. It is a piece of ingratitude that we think more of our past evil days than of the good ones. We must thank God for both: Job_2:10.—Hengstenberg:—However great are the sorrows of this life, however manifold its vanities, and sad its circumstances, it is nevertheless true that life is a good, and it is the office of the word of God to impress this truth when gloomy despondencey has gained the ascendency. Disgust of life is also sinful under the New Testament law. A pious spirit will find out the sunny side in this earthly existence, and rejoice in it with heart-felt gratitude.
Ecc_11:9-10. Luther:—When the heart is in a right state no joy will harm, provided only it be true joy, and not merely a corrupting mirth. Enjoy it, then, if there is any thing pleasant for the sight or hearing; provided you sin not against God.—Zeyss:—If thou wilt be preserved against the sadness of the world, thou must carefully guard thyself against its causes, i.e., the ruling sins and vices, and accustom thy heart to the genuine fear of God, Sir_1:17.—Wolle:—He who would rejoice in the best bloom of his youth, must become acquainted with the Lord Jesus betimes, the fairest among the children of men, and make his heart a temple of the Holy Spirit, Sir_51:18 ff.—Wohlfarth:—That your youth may gladly enjoy youth, that the tempter may not destroy its roses and cast it into endless woe, have God before your eyes, ye young men and maidens, and remember the serious words: Every one who forgets Him, He will summon to judgment.
Ecc_12:1-5. Luther:—Holy Writ calls consolation and happiness light, and tribulation darkness, or night. For boys, for youth, for manhood, there is joy. After rain comes the beautiful sunshine, i.e., although at times there may be tribulation, yet joy and consolation follow. But age has no joy; the clouds return after the rain; one misfortune follows another.—Cramer (Ecc_12:1):—Who would be devout must begin betimes; for it is unseemly to offer the dregs of life to God, after having given his blooming youth to the devil.—[Matthew Henry (Ecc_12:5):—Man goes to “his long home.” At death he goes from this world and all the employments and enjoyments of it. He has gone home; for here he was a stranger and a pilgrim. He has gone to his rest, to the place where he is to fix. He has gone to the house of his world, so some would render it; for this world is not his. He is gone to his house of eternity (Beth olamo). This should make us willing to die, that at death we go home; and why should we not long to go to our Father’s house? Ecc_12:6. Death will dissolve the frame of nature, and take down the earthly house of this tabernacle. Then shall the silver cord by which the soul and body were wonderfully fastened together be loosed, that sacred knot untied, and those old friends be forced to part. Then shall the golden bowl which held for us the waters of life be broken; then shall the pitcher with which we used to fetch up water, for the constant support of life, and the repair of its decays, be broken, even at the fountain; so that it can fetch up no more; and the wheel, all those organs that serve for the collecting and distributing of nourishment, shall be shattered, and disabled to do their office any more. The body has become like a watch when the spring has broken; the motion of all the wheels is stopped; they all stand still; the machine is taken to pieces; the heart beats no more, nor does the blood circulate.
Ecc_12:7 :—So death resolves us into our first principles. Man is a ray of heaven united to a clod of earth; at death these are separated, and each goes to the place whence it came.—T. L.]
Ecc_12:6-7. Luther:—It is not defined where the spirit goes, but only that it returns to God from whom it came. For as we are ignorant of the source whence God made the spirit, so also we know not whither (or to what) it returns. Comp. Hengstenberg: The view that the individual soul returns to God, is supported by the fact that it had its origin immediately from God. According to this passage, creationism must be true, although it is a truth which, for certain significant reasons that favor traducianism, can only be regarded as a partial, or one-sided one. It is important that the two apparently opposing views should be reconciled by something common to both.
Zöckler:—Not a few older theologians have endeavored to interpret this passage (Ecc_12:7) in the interest of a one-sided creationism; e g., Hieronymus, who says: “They are to be contemned who hold that souls are sown with bodies, and are born, not from God, but from the bodies of the parents. But since the flesh returns to earth, and the spirit to God who gave it, it is clear that God not man, is the parent of souls. To this the traducianist replies: Koheleth treats, in this verse, solely of the creation of the first man (or the first humanity)* and of his relation to God (and so, at least by intimation, Luther on this passage, and Cartwright in Hengstenberg, p. 258); but they are not able thereby to remove the partial creationistic sense of the passage. Compare Hengstenberg and Vaihinger.
Wolle:—Unblessed is the old age and death of those who grow old in the service of sin. On the contrary, a conscience kept pure from youth up, lightens and sweetens both the toils of age and the bitterness of death, Job_27:6.—Berleb. Bible:—Souls come from eternity into the world as to a stage. There they manifest their persons (their masks) their affections, and their passions, whatever is in them of good or bad. When they have, as it were, sufficiently performed their parts, they again disappear, and lay off the persons that they have represented, and stand, naked as they are, before the divine tribunal. Universal as is the decree that all men are to return to God, there is, nevertheless, a great difference in them. The most return to him as to their offended Lord; but some as to the All-merciful, their friend and father. Because then this coming to God is certain and unavoidable, it should be our most necessary care that we are every moment concerned as to how we may come to Him rightly.—Vaihinger:—The divine judgment of the life and conduct of men, as mentioned in Ecc_11:9, is only rendered possible by the personal return of the spirit to God. Therefore in youth must we think of our Creator, and live in His fear (Ecc_3:14; Ecc_5:7); for the spirit does not become dust with the body; it returns not to the universal force of nature, but because it is from God it returns to God, to be judged by Him, e g., either to be blessed or condemned.
*[There is a sense in which creationism may be held in respect to the animal, and even the vegetable life. It is not irrational, it is not unscriptural, to suppose that in every true genesis there is a going on of the old unspent creative power, or word, acting in a plane above the ordinary mechanical and chemical laws which God has given to nature. In a still higher sense may this be held of the human generation,—of the individual as well as of the first generic man (see Psa_139:13-16; Jer_1:4). And yet such a view is consistent with a doctrine of traducianism that connects every man with the first man, not by an arbitrary forensic decree, or appointment from without, but by a vital union, a psychological continuance of the same being, however great the mystery it may involve. There is a school of theologians who say that “in some way,” by God’s appointment, we are so connected with Adam that we sin “in consequence” of his sin, and suffer “in consequence” of his sin, though each succeeding human soul is born separate and pure. There is another school that brands this with heresy, or treats it as evasive, and claims for itself a higher orthodoxy on account of the use of the words “federal headship,” “imputation,” etc., whilst they equally affirm that Adam’s posterity are not morally guilty in respect to the first sin. It is a representative, a forensic guilt, though involving the most tremendous consequences. Any essential difference between these is not easily discerned. Both make it a matter of outward and arbitrary institution, as long as there is denied any such psychological and ontological connection between us and the first man as grounds this “federal headship” and “imputation,” as well as this “certain consequence as a fact,” on a remoter and deeper union. The first class of terms are very precious ones, and sustained by the figures and analogies of Scripture, but their meaning collapses, or becomes arbitrary, when we put nothing beyond them as a fact, however inexplicable that fact may be. Holding to such deeper union, we become, indeed, involved in a metaphysical mystery, but we get free from the moral mystery, which is a much more important thing.—T. L.]
Footnotes:
[1][The heathen sentiment of Phocyllides is as nearly the direct opposite of Solomon’s as language could express, although it contains the same phrase here: μὴ κακὸν εὖ ἔρξης σπείρειν ἐστιν ὠς ἐνὶ πόντῳ. “Do no favor to a bad man; you might as well sow in the sea.”—T.L.]
[2]See the text note.
[3][This is an unwarranted limitation. It refers evidently to God’s dealing in nature, present and past, as well as future; and especially to the mystery of generation.—T. L.]
[4] [Ecc_11:8. בְּכֻלָּם ישְׂמַח. To take this as an exhortation: “Let him rejoice,” etc., would not seem very congruous to what follows: “let him remember the days of darkness,” which is certainly not a joyful thought. Our English translators have inserted the conjunction: “and in them all rejoice,” which gives the spirit of the passage, although there is no ו in the Hebrew. The better way is to regard the particles כִּי and אִם as affecting both the futures, the second as well as the first, whilst the third, introduced by the conjunction, is the one exhortation of the sentence, to which the others are preparatory: “For if a man shall live many years, if he shall rejoice in them all,” or as it is elliptically, yet most literally, expressed in the Metrical Version—
Yet if a man live many years, in all of them rejoice,
The days of darkness let him not forget.
Or it may be the imperative style with the conditional aspect: let him live, let him rejoice, (that is, though he live, though he rejoice) yet let him remember, etc. In such a rendering there is no discord in the thought.—T. L.]
[5][Ecc_11:9. בְּחוּרוֹתֶיךָ, a rising upon the word יַלְדוּת childhood, as is seen by the parallelism. It is the period of commencing manhood. Its etymological sense would be the choice period of life, from בחר primary sense, that of exploring, proving (the keen eye), hence choosing, selecting that which is most precious. From this the idea of excellence, superiority. In the noun בָּחוּר, it is taken collectively for the youth, the choice young men, as in Isa_40:29, where, in the parallelism it is a rising on נְעָרִים, “the youths shall be weary, even the young men shall utterly fall.” Here it is an abstract noun in the fem, plural, to denote intensity. We have the masculine plural in the same way, Num_11:28. It is of the same form, in the masculine, with זְקֻנִים an intensive form to denote extreme feebleness of age. This is the direct opposite.—T. L.]
[6][How is it “certain,” unless it be that the hard necessities of this exegesis demand such an assertion? The two expressions are precisely alike, both in their letter and their spirit. There is nothing said, Num_15:39, about “amorous looks,” since the word זנִֹים applies to any evil desire, any going away after the eye (see Psa_73:27), and is often used of idolatry. The term מַרְאֶה, which is so much used of female beauty, suggests the idea here, more than any thing in the other passage. Everywhere else this kind of language, “following the heart,” the “desires of the heart,” “going after the eye,” the sense (compare Job_31:7), is used in malam partem, and to give it just the contrary sense here, as something “well pleasing to God,” is to abandon every safe guide in interpretation. See the remarks on the solemn and sorrowful irony of this passage, in connection with Ecc_9:7-9 : Note on the Alleged Epicureanism of Koheleth; p. 132.—T. L.]
[7][Still more striking allusions to such a judgment may be found Psa_1:5; Job_21:30, the יוֹם אֵיד, the יוֹם עֲבָרוֹת, the dies iræ (irarum) “to which the wicked are reserved;” as also to Psa_49:15, “the morning (לַבֹּקֶר) in which the just shall triumph.”—T. L.]
[8][Ecc_11:2. “Whilst the sun or the light.” This is not a tautology; nor does it mean the light as an element. That would be too abstract for such a writing as this. Aben Ezra gives a good interpretation in referring it to the morning light that precedes the sun rising. This is essentially the same with the light of the sun, but is phenomenally and poetically different.—T.L.]
[9][Ecc_11:2. “And the clouds return after the rain.” There is no need of regarding this as denoting the winter season. It represents the subjective state of the old man. In youth the sunshine is predominant. The cloudy days are little remembered. The sun is ever coming out, or as it is expressed in the beautiful language of 2Sa_23:4, it is ever נגַֹה מִמָּטָר, “clear shining after rain.” In old age, especially the old age of the sensualist, who has no spiritual sun to cheer him, it is just the reverse. The clouds seem ever coming back. It is all dark, or the intervals of sunshine seem brief and evanescent.—T. L.]
[10][Ecc_11:3. שֹׁמְרֵי הַבַּיִת, “The keepers of the house.” Hitzig recognizes the comparison, throughout, of the human body to a house, but he trifles when he says, that this is suggested by the mention of the rain in Ecc_11:2, and that the figure is used because a house is made of loam and white bricks that are dissolved and worn away by the showers. Every thing goes to show that there is had in view, rather, the decay of some lordly mansion, the richly furnished house of some Dives, “who had fared sumptuously every day,” or of a castle with its apparatus of war and luxury, as we have said p. 153.—T. L.]
[11] [Ecc_11:4. “When the sound of the grinding is low.” In Ecc_11:3 the טֹחֲנוֹת, or female servants who grind the meal in the rich mansion, undoubtedly represent the teeth; that is, the term is directly metaphorical. Here, on the other hand, הַטַּחֲנָה, the grinding, or the mill, is not so much metaphorical as illustrative. It is to be taken, therefore, in its primary sense as a fact showing the old man’s dullness of hearing. The most familiar and household sounds, such as that of the grinding mill, are faintly distinguished. The making it represent the mouth masticating, as a mill grinding, has given rise to a great many disagreeable and very unpoetical images, marring, as Stuart admits, the otherwise admirable propriety, or keeping, of the picture. The mill, it is said, is the old man’s collapsed mouth; the low sound of the grinding is the mumbling noise made by his feeble chewing, the “sinking daughters of song” are his feeble piping. Commentators seem to have vied with each other here in the exercise of their ingenuity. Some of these most unpoetical critics have referred the low grinding sound to the rumbling noises in the belly and stomach arising from poor digestion (see their names in Geier, also the commentators cited in Pole’s Synopsis). Stuart say truly: “none of these interpretations (whether referring to the chewing or the piping or the digestion) are very inviting,” and yet he is not prepared to give any other. He says well that “eating seems to be dispatched in the 3d verse, and there is an incongruity in supposing it to be again introduced here.” The incongruity is all the greater from bringing this lowest part of the human economy (even if it had not already had place enough) between the two noblest senses; for what follows (בנזת השיר), undoubtedly refers to the hearing; or else (which would indeed be most strange) there is no notice taken at all of this most important function. We would not hesitate, therefore, to refer this clause also to that sense. There is, too, a wonderful pictorial propriety in it, when we consider the important part which this grinding, and its constant sound, must have borne in an ancient wealthy mansion. From the want of outside mills, this domestic occupation was in continual demand for the daily provisioning; and, in a large house, or castle, it must have employed a great many servants. It was generally done by women, and to this our Saviour refers, Mat_24:41, Luk_17:35 : “Two women shall be grinding together.” They must have been constantly at work to supply the demand for bread at every meal. Day and night “the sound of the grinding” was heard, like that which proceeded from the tired and drowsy female slaves in the house of Ulysses; as described in the Odyssey XX., Ecc 109:
Αἰ μεν ἄρ’ ἄλλαι εὖδον, ἐπὲι κατὰ πυρὸν ἄλεσσαν,
Η‘ δὲ μί’ ὄυπω παύετ’, ἀφαυροτάτη δ’ ἐτέτυκτο,
Ἡ ῥα μυλην στήσασα, ἔπος φάτο, σῆιια ἄνακτι.
The rest had lain them down to sleep, their weary task was done;
One still kept on the ceaseless toil, the weakest of them all; When suddenly she stopped the mill, and spake aloud the sign.
The account is very touching. It is very late at night, and near the dawn. These poor wearied creatures, who had been grinding all day for the rapacious suitors, finish their long tasks, one after another, and lie down, overcome by fatigue and drowsiness, until one alone is left in her late hour of toil. In answer to the prayer of Ulysses, Zeus had given the signal thunder in the early cloudless sky. Startled at the sound she stops the mill, and hails it as a signal of deliverance, whilst Ulysses recognizes her words as an auspicious omen.
There was hardly any part of the day or night when this work was not going on with its ceaseless noise. It was, indeed, a, sign, then, that the senses were failing in their office (בָּטְלוּ), when this familiar, yet very peculiar, sound of the grinding had ceased to arrest the attention, or had become low and obscure.
When the hum of the mill is faintly heard,
And the daughters of song are still.
It is from this, too, that the words וְיָקוּם לְקוֹל הַצִּפּוֹר, which have been so much misunderstood, get their clearest exposition. יקום has for its subject, not the old man, but “the sound of the grinding,” the last grammatical antecedent, and it presents a contrast, as Hitzig says, with שפּל preceding, as well as with יִשַּׁחוּ following. “Though it rise to the sparrow’s note“—“attain unto,” as קום, with לְ following, is used Zep_3:8, 1Sa_22:13, Mic_2:8,— referring not so much to loudness, or volume of sound, as to that sharp, shrill noise which was ever ringing in the ears of others. Its real sound, shrill as the sparrow’s voice, is put in contrast with the dull droning sound that reaches the old man’s ears. What follows would seem to put this interpretation beyond doubt. The term daughter (בת) is used in Hebrew, not as Zöckler takes it, but to intensify, to give the very best of a thing. בְּנוֹת הַשִּׁיר, “daughters of song,” then, does not necessarily mean singers, though it may have that sense, but may be understood of “the loudest, songs,” or the loudest voices in the song. They are faintly heard; יִשַּׁחוּ they sink down. The sound they make to the old man is exactly represented by the same word, Isa_29:4, where we have also שפל used as it is here: “And thou shalt speak low out of the ground (שָׁפַלְתְּ תְּדַבֵּרִי) and thy speech shall sound low (תִּשַּׁח shall sink down) out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and shall whisper out of the dust.” See Metrical Version.—T. L.]
[12][Ecc_11:3. בָּטְלוּ, “The grinders fail.” It is rendered cease in our E. V. Zöckler, feiern, to rest, keep holiday. Gesenius, the same, feriati sunt. it is one of the words of this book reckoned to the later Hebrew. It is common, however, to all Shemitic tongues, and there is no reason why it should be regarded as either unhebraic, or as late in the Hebrew. Those who argue from its rare, or single, occurrence, should show that there is any other place in the scanty Hebrew writings we have, where it would have been more suited to the idea than the word or words used. The rendering of Zöckler and Gesenius would make it synonymous with שָׁבַת, but this is not its sense in the Arabic and Syriac, and an examination of passages would show how unsuitable it would have been as a substitute for שבת, to cease, rest, keep holiday, in any of the many places where the latter occurs. Its true sense is to fail, or rather, to be worn out, to become useless. It may, therefore, be regarded as an old Hebrew word, but as used in this place only, because it is the only one in which its peculiar sense was required.—T. L.]
[13] [Ecc_11:3. “And they who look out of the windows be darkened” (הָרֹאוֹת בָּאֲרֻבּוֹת). All agree that this means the eyes in respect to the body; but what does it stand for in the figure, or parallel representation of the mansion? To this Zöckler does not advert except in what he says about the “mistresses,” which is very inadequate and unpicturesque. His remarks, too, about the eyelids, and “the threads of a net,” with his reference to Pro_6:25, are fanciful prettinesses, which seem out of place in so serious yet so animated a description. The question is, what places and persons are meant? There is something here instructive of the character of the house that is pictured. As it had “its strong men,” its אנשי החיל, so these are the castle-watchers who look out from the turrets, or rather, at or by the turrets (בּ instead of מ). If we are to be governed by the gender of רֹאוֹת, we should think of women employed for that purpose, which would suit well enough,—the strong men being otherwise employed —but the gender may have been controlled by the thought of the thing represented, the eyes, which in Hebrew, are feminine. The word, ארבות, does not mean the ordinary windows of a house (חַלּוֹנִים), but some opening high up, in the roof, or in a turret. This is shown from all its uses, as in Gen_7:11; Gen_8:12, 2Ki_7:19, Isa_24:15, Mal_3:10, in all of which places it is rendered the windows of heaven (supposed openings in the sky) Hos_13:3, where it means chimneys, and Isa_9:8, where it is used diminutively for the openings in the dove houses. Here, therefore it must mean turret windows or openings, where the watchers are stationed, and this is in harmony with the usual sense of the verb ארב, to lie. in wait, to watch. There is a striking pictorial propriety in this which has led to similar representations by other ancient writers. “Thus” the sight (says Plato in the Timæus, 90 A), “as the noblest of the senses, is placed in the highest part” ἐπ̓ ἄκρῳ τῷ σώματι. So Cicero De Nat. Deorum, II., 140, Sensus autem, interpretes ac nuntii rerum, in capite, tanquam in arce, collocati sunt: “The senses, as interpreters and messengers of things without, are placed in the head as in a watch tower.” “And this,” he says, “is especially true of the eyes as watchers:” nam oculi, tanquam speculatores, altissimum locum obtinent, ex quo plurima conspicientes fungantur suo munere. Compare also Xenophon Memorabilia Lib. I., Ecc_4:11, where we have the same idea as in the well-known passage from Ovid Met. I., Ecc 85:
Os homini sublime dedit, cœlumque tueri,
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.—T. L.]
[14][Ecc_11:4. “And the doors shall be shut in the streets;” or rather, “the doors to the street” (the street doors) are shut (becoming shut, closing; see Metrical Version). The reference of this to the mouth, which began with Jerome, has been the occasion of much false interpretation, both here and in what follows. The dual number is just as applicable to the eyes and ears as to the lips. It agrees, therefore, far better with the whole context, to take it as Hengstenberg does, of the ears closing to sounds, or rather, of all the senses, as the avenues to the outer world. To say that this is too remote or abstract a sense for Koheleth, is to overlook the whole scope of this most thoughtful representation, and to fail in appreciating the spirit of its grand poetry. The old sensualist, he who had lived so much abroad, and so little at home, is shut in at last. Again, the language is inconsistent with the other and more limited view. With no propriety could the mouth be called the street door, through which the master of the house goes abroad: especially when regarded, as this interpretation mainly regards the mouth, in its eating or masticating function. It is rather the door to the interior, the cellar door, that leads down to the stored or consumed provision, the stomach, or belly. The word בַּשׁוּק whether we render it in the street, or to the street, would be altogether out of place in such a narrow view, and more especially since שׁוּק has such a wide meaning (platea, wide place, foras, abroad), comp. Ecc_5:5, Pro_7:5, Cantic. Ecc_3:2. —T. L.]
[15] [Ecc_11:5. וְיָנֵאץ הַשָּׁקֵד, Zöckler well defends here the old interpretation. The other mode of exegesis gives a poor and mean image, marring the poetry, and exceedingly farfetched as a supposed trait of old age; whereas the comparison of the hoary head to a flowering tree is very striking, as well as natural. The old man’s mouth, and eating powers had been treated of before (ad nauseam, we might say, if, with some critics, we allow a second reference to it in Ecc_11:4, as well as in Ecc_11:3), whilst it would indeed be a wonder if so marked a characteristic as the gray head had been wholly omitted. By changing the punctuation to יַנְאֵץ these critics would render it “the almond disgusts;” it is too hard a nut for the the old man’s teeth to crack; or “the almond disgusts,” because it is “sour grapes” to the old man; it grows so high he cannot get at it. For other incongruous imagery, see Hitzig and Stuart. In regard to the orthography, whilst רְאֵם for רֵם (see Num_23:22, Psa_39:6, Psa_22:22) presents a parallel to נְאֵץ or נֵאץ for נֵץ, the other view of יָנֵאץ for יַנְאֵץ is wholly unexampled. The objection from the color of the almond blossoms is well answered by Zöckler. These difficulties settled, what can be more striking than the metaphor! A good parallel to it is found in Sophocles’ Electra 42, where it is said of the Tutor,
Οὐ γάρ σε μὴ γήρα τε καὶ μακρῶ χρόνω
Γνῶσ’, οὐδ’ ὑποπτεύσουσιν, ὦδ’ Η’ΝΘΙΣΜΕΝΟΝ:
They’ll know thee not,
Through age and time thus blossomed;
Nor even have suspicion who thou art.
Some would explain this of the flowers and garlands he is supposed to wear as a messenger: but the critical reader must see that this would be altogether out of keeping with the circumstances, as there detailed, and especially with the sad message he was supposed to bear. The other objection, made by Bothe, that it would be a tautology with γήρᾳ (age), is very trifling. It is the very nature of poetry thus to intensify, and often by what would be tautology in prose. Wunder gives an explanation from Fr. Jacobsius, which refutes completely his own criticism, and that of Bothe. He cites examples that put the meaning of Sophocles beyond a doubt; as from Cyril c. Julian VI., p. 157, ὅτε λευκῇ πολιᾷ κατηνθισμένος; and another, where the same figure is applied to the beard, De Chryse senc Christodor. Ecphr. Ecc 90:
βαθὺς δὲ ὁι ἥνθεε πώγων.
Modern poetry has the same metaphor.—T. L.]
[16][Most of these hypotheses seem absurd, and all of them inconsistent with the simplicity and directness of the whole picture. After all, none of them seem so obvious as that which is given by some Jewish commentators, and suggests itself directly from our common English Version: namely, that it is a hyperbolical expression of feebleness. “He cannot bear the least weight.”—T. L.]
[17][The K’tib, or text as it stands in Niphal, יֵרָחֵק, is better, since it has something of a passive or rather deponent sense: “is parted”—“parts,” intransitively, or “parts itself,”—elongabitur. It is the idea of giving way from stretching, or attenuation. The other various readings and renderings, as Zöckler says, are useless.—T. L.]
[18] [Zöckler’s general comment here is judicious and safe. Attempts to be more particular are apt to mislead into fanciful error. And yet there remains the impression from the whole, and especially from the evident particularity in the first four verses, that certain parts or functions of the body are directly intended by the golden bowl, the bucket at the spring, and the wheel at the cistern. The ancients had more knowledge of the human anatomy than we give them credit for. The Egyptians must have learned much from their continual processes of embalming. It would appear also from Homer’s minute and varied descriptions of wounds, and especially in passages from Aristotle and Plato that show even a scientific knowledge of the human system. There is, for example, a passage of some length in the Timæus, extending from 70 B to 76 E, containing quite a full description of the more vital internal parts and their uses, with some things much resembling what we find her. In the assigning, too, of different spiritual powers and affections to different parts of the body, as though it were a kind of civil corporation, the author of the Timæus reminds us of John Bunyan and his town of Mansoul. Solomon s golden bowl, too, is suggested, when we read in the Timæus how the θεῖον σπέρμα the “divine seed” of life was moulded into a round shape, and made the ἐγκέφαλος, or brain: and there are other things about the fluids and their περίοδοι, or circulations, that call up what is here said about the wheel and the fountain. Neither is there to be ridiculed and wholly rejected the idea which some have entertained that Solomon referred to the circulation of the blood. We need not suppose that he had anticipated Harvey’s great discovery; but the general idea that the human system had its period [or, to use Aristotle’s language before quoted, p. 46, that every organism was in the nature of a cycle, something going round and returning into itself] was a very early one. It came not so much from scientific or inductive observation, as from a sort of a priori thinking: so it must be; to constitute a living, or even an organic thing, there must be some such going round and round, to keep it from running out or perishing. It was this mode of thinking that showed itself in language, as in the Rabbinic גלגל תולדות and the τροχὸς γενεσεως, the “wheel of generation” of Jam_3:6, to which. Zöckler refers.
As a lesson, however, to those who are inclined to be extravagant here, nothing can be more judicious than the remarks of Maimonides in the Preface to his More Nevochim, where he tells those who would demand a minute explanation of every part of a mashal or parable— such, for example, as Pro_7:6-23—that “they will either miss the general thought, or get wearied in seeking particular illustrations of things that cannot be explained, and thus utterly fail in their vain attempt to get from the writer what perhaps never came into his mind.”
On the whole, therefore, we cannot expect to get a much better interpretation of this passage than that early one given by Jerome: Funiculus autem argenti candidam hanc vitam, et spiramen quod nobis de cœlo tribuilur, ostendit; Phiala quoque aurea animam significat, quæ illuc recurrit unde descenderat, etc.: “The silver cord denotes the pure life and respiration [inspiration] which was given to us from heaven; the golden bowl also means the soul which returns whence it had descended; the breaking of the bucket at the fountain, and the shattering of the wheel at the cistern, are enigmatical metaphors of death; for as when the bucket which is worn out ceases to draw, and the wheel by which the waters are raised is broken, the flow of the water is in tercepted,—so also when the silver cord (of life) has parted, the stream of vitality returns back to its fountain, and the man dies.”
There must, however, be kept in mind the general parallel with the rich mansion of the voluptuary; and in this aspect the golden bowl is undoubtedly the lamp depending from the ceiling by the silver cord, as is described in the Æneid I. 726.
Dependent lychni laquearibus aureis
Incensi, et noctem flammis funalia vincunt;
and which finally wears out and gives way. So the fountain and the cistern are the costly and curious water-machinery which such a mansion required for domestic drinking, and for irrigation. All is pictured as now in ruin, or going to ruin, like the curious circulating machinery of the human body with which it is compared. In regard to the reading of the text, we cannot do better than to retain the K’tib יֵרָחֵק and, pointed as it is, in the Niphal. From the sense of distance comes easily that of elongation (elongabitur), and thence of giving way, or parting. The words מַבּוּעַ and בּור although they differ etymologically, are probably chosen only for the sake of variety.—T. L.]
[19][Compare Ecc_3:21, and the marginal note, page 71, on the expression, “who knows the spirit of man that goeth up,” etc.—T. L.]
[20][See the remarks on this passage Psa_49:15—and the בקר, “the morning,” or dies retributionis, in the Introd to Genesis 1, Bibelwerk, Genesis, page 142, and marginal note.—T. L.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–10 portion--of thy bread.
portion--of thy bread.
seven--the perfect number.
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eight--even to more than seven; that is, "to many" (so "waters," Ecc 11:1), nay, even to very many in need (Job 5:19; Mic 5:5).
evil--The day may be near, when you will need the help of those whom you have bound to you by kindnesses (Luk 16:9). The very argument which covetous men use against liberality (namely, that bad times may come), the wise man uses for it.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–10 1. Cast thy bread upon the waters — This…
1. Cast thy bread upon the waters — This metaphor is to be explained from the form of eastern loaves, which from all time have been thin and flat, and float off like shingles on a stream. The “bread” passes from sight and reach swiftly, and apparently beyond recovery, like our hard tack not soaking and falling apart readily, and may be sometimes recovered far down the stream. The scope of this verse is hypothetical, or of a supposed case. “Though one cast his bread upon the surface of a stream, he may, though long after, find it again.” That is, an investment, whether of toil, of benevolent giving, or good doing, which shows little promise of being remunerative, may in the end prove extremely advantageous. This prepares us for the precept next following.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–10 1. Cast thy bread upon the waters] The book,…
1. Cast thy bread upon the waters] The book, as it draws nearer to its close, becomes more and more enigmatic, and each single verse is as a parable and dark saying. It is not to be wondered at, in such a case, that interpreters should, after their nature, read their own thoughts between the lines and so “find what they have sought.” This precept accordingly has been taken by some commentators (e.g. Grätz) as recommending an unrestrained licentiousness. By others it has been raised almost to the level of the counsel which bids us “do good, hoping for nothing again, even to the unthankful and the evil” (Mat_5:44-46; Luk_6:32-35). The latter is, it need hardly be said, infinitely more in accordance with the context and with the conclusion to which the writer is drawing near. Here again we find guidance in the parallelism of Greek thought. As Lowth pointed out (De Sac. Poes. Heb. x.) the words refer to the Greek proverbial phrase σπείρειν ἐπὶ πόντῳ (“to sow in the ocean”) as indicating a thankless labour. So Theognis, v. 105,
Δειλοὺς δʼ εὖ ἔρδοντι ματαιοτάτη χάρις ἔστιν,
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Ἴσον γὰρ σπείρειν πόντον ἀλὸς πολιῆς.
Οὔτε γὰρ ἄν πόντον σπείοων βαθὺ λήϊον ἀμῶς,
Οὔτε κακοὺς εὖ δρῶν εὖ πάλιν ἀντιλάβοις.
“Vain is thy bounty, giving to the base,
Like scattering seed upon the salt sea’s plain;
Sowing the sea, thou shalt no harvest reap,
Nor, giving to the vile, reward shalt gain.”
Other parallels are found (1) in the Aramaic version of the proverbs of Sirach “Cast thy bread upon the water and the land, and at last thou shalt find it again” (Dukes, Rabbin. Blumenl. p. 73). (2) In an Arabic proverb, the moral of a long legend narrating how Mohammed the son of Hassan had been in the daily habit of throwing loaves into a river, how the life of an adopted son of the Caliph Mutewekjil, who had narrowly escaped drowning by clambering to a rock, was thus preserved, and how Mohammed saw in this a proof of the proverb he had learnt in his youth “Do good; cast thy bread upon the waters, and one day thou shall be rewarded” (Diez, Denkwürdigkeiten von Asien, i. p. 106, quoted by Dukes, ut supra). (3) In a Turkish proverb, also quoted by Dukes from Diez, “Do good, cast thy bread upon the water. If the fish know it not, yet the Creator knows.”
The writer holds himself aloof from the selfish prudence of the maxim of Theognis, and bids men not to be afraid “to cast their bread (the generic term stands for “corn,” as in Gen_41:54; Isa_28:28) even upon the face of the thankless waters.” Sooner or later they shall reap as they have sown. Comp. 2Co_9:6-10. It is not without interest to note that this interpretation is adopted by Voltaire in his Précis de l’Ecclesiaste,
“Répandez vos bienfaits avec magnificence,
Même aux moins vertueux ne les refusez pas.”
Other interpretations may be briefly noted, but have not much to commend them: (1) that the figure is drawn from agriculture, and that the corn is to be sown in a well irrigated field, but this gives a meaning precisely the opposite of the true one; (2) that it is drawn from commerce and commends a venturous spirit of enterprise like that of exporting corn, which is certain to bring profit in the long run; but this again, unless we make the venture one of benevolence, is foreign to the spirit of the context; (3) that it speaks of throwing cakes of bread upon the water, that float away and seem to be wasted; but this, though leading to the same result as the interpretation here adopted, and having the support of the Arab legend quoted above, lacks the point of the reference to the Greek proverb; (4) last and basest, the imagination of one interpreter mentioned above that the precept sanctions a boundless sensual indulgence.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 (1) In this section the preacher is drawing to…
XI.
(1) In this section the preacher is drawing to a close, and he brings out practical lessons very different from those which views of life like his have suggested to others. From the uncertainty of the results of human effort, he infers that we ought the more diligently to make trial of varied forms of exertion, in order that this or that may succeed. From the instability of human happiness, he draws the lesson that we ought to enjoy freely such happiness as life affords, yet with a temperate and chastened joy, and mindful of the account we shall have to render. The most popular explanation of Ecc_11:1 is, that the figure is taken from the casting of seed on irrigated lands, as, for instance, in Egypt before the waters of the Nile have subsided; and that the duty of beneficence is here inculcated. We are to sow our benefits broadcast, and be assured we shall have a harvest of reward. It is easier to raise objections to this interpretation than to improve on it. That the word translated “bread” is sometimes used in the sense of seed corn, see Isa_28:28; Isa_30:23; Psa_104:14. It is objected that the words “cast on the waters” are, literally, “send over the face of the waters,” the word “send” being nowhere else used in the sense of sowing. It has been remarked that in the East bread is used in the shape of light cakes, which would float on water; and the text has been understood as directing the casting of such cakes into a running stream—an irrational proceeding, not likely to occur to any but one to whom this text might have suggested it, and not offering ground for expectation that he who so cast his bread would find it again. It has been less absurdly proposed to understand the text as advising maritime enterprise; but the word “bread” does not harmonise with this explanation. There is nothing else in the book according with such advice; and the next verse, about “the evil that shall be upon the earth,” shows that the writer was not thinking of the dangers of the sea. I believe, therefore, that Ecc_11:6, which speaks distinctly of the sowing of seed, is the best commentary on the present verse, which means, cast thy seed, even though thou canst not see where it will fall. Possibly the application of the figure is not to be restricted to acts of beneficence; but the next verse may lead us to think that these are primarily intended, and to these especially the encouragement at the end of the verse applies; for in other cases this book gives a less cheerful view of the possible success of human plans.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–10 Approaching the end of his treatise, Koheleth, in view…
Approaching the end of his treatise, Koheleth, in view of apparent anomalies in God"s moral government, and the difficulties that meet man in his social and political relations, proceeds to give his remedies for this state of things. These remedies are
(1) beneficence and active life (vers. 1-6);
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(2) joyful light-heartedness (vers. 7-9);
(3) piety (ver. 10) . (Ecc_12:7)
Vers. 1-6. Section 16. Leaving alone unanswerable questions, man"s duty and happiness are found in activity, especially in doing all the good in his power, for he knows not how soon he himself may stand in need of help. This is the first remedy for the perplexities of life. The wise man will not charge himself with results.
Cast thy bread upon the waters. The old interpretation of this passage, which found in it a reference to the practice in Egypt of sowing seed during the inundation of the Nile, is not admissible. The verb shalaeh is not used in the sense of sowing or scattering seed; it means "to cast or send forth." Two chief explanations have been given.
(1) As to sow on the water is equivalent to taking thankless toil (compare the Greek proverb, Speirein ejpintw), the gnome may be an injunction to do good without hope of return, like the evangelical precept (Mat_5:44-46; Luk_6:32-35)
(2) It is a commercial maxim, urging men to make ventures in trade, that they may receive a good return for their expenditure. In this case the casting seed upon the waters is a metaphorical expression for sending merchandise across the sea to distant lands. This view is supposed to be confirmed by the statement concerning the good woman in Pro_31:14, "She is like the merchants" ships; she bringeth her bread from far;" and the words of Psa_107:23, "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do Business in great waters." But one sees no reason why Koheleth should suddenly turn to commerce and the trade of a maritime city. Such considerations have no reference to the context, nor to the general design of the book. Nothing leads to them, nothing comes of them. On the other hand, if we take the verse as urging active beneficence as the safest and best proceeding under men"s present circumstances, We have a maxim in due accordance with the spirit of the rest of the work, and one which conduces to the conclusion reached at the end. So we adopt the first of the two explanations mentioned above. The bread in the East is made in the form of thin cakes, which would float for a time if thrown into a stream; and if it be objected that no one would be guilty of such an irrational action as flinging bread into the water, it may be answered that this is just the point aimed at. Do your kindnesses, exert yourself, in the most unlikely quarters, not thinking of gratitude or return, but only of duty. And yet surely a recompense will be made in some form or other. Thou shalt find it after many days. This is not to be the motive of our acts, but it will in the course of time be the result; and this thought may be an encouragement. In the Chaldee Version of parts of Ecclesiasticus there is extant a maxim identical with our verse, "Strew thy bread on the water and on the land, and thou shalt find it at the end of days" (Dukes, "Rabb. Btumenl.," p. 73). Parallels have been found in many quarters. Thus the Turk says, "Do good, throw it into the water; if the fish does not know it, God does." Herzfeld quotes Goethe
Was willst du untersuchen, Wohin die Milde fliesst! Ins Wasser wirf deine Kuchen; Wer weiss wet sie geniesst?
Wouldst thou too narrowly inquire Whither thy kindness goes! Thy cake upon the water cast; Whom it may feed who knows?
Voltaire paraphrases the passage in his "Precis de l"Ecclesiaste
Repandez vos bienfaits avec magnificence, Meme aux moins vertueux ne les refusez pas. Ne vous informez pas de leur reconnoissance; Il est grand, il est beau de faire des ingrats.
Vers. 1-6.
Bread upon the waters; or, rules and reasons for practicing beneficence.
I RULES. Beneficence should be practiced:
1. Without doubt as to its result. One"s charity should be performed in a spirit of fearless confidence, even though the recipients of it should appear altogether unworthy, and cur procedure as hopeless and thankless an operation as "casting one"s bread upon the waters" (ver. 1), or "sowing the "sea" (Theognis).
2. Without limit as to its distribution. "Give a portion to seven, yea even unto eight" (ver. 2); that is, "Give to him that asketh, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away". (Mat_5:42) Social economics may, bug the sermon on the mount does not, condemn indiscriminate or promiscuous giving. One"s bread should be cast upon the waters in the sense that it should be bestowed upon the multitudes, or carried far and wide rather than restricted to a narrow circle.
3. Without anxiety as to its seasonableness. As "he that observeth the wind will not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap" (ver. 4), so he who is always apprehensive lest his deeds of kindness should be ill-timed is not likely to practice much beneficence. The farmer who should spend his days in watching the weather to select just the right moment to plough and sow, or reap and garner, would never get the one operation or the ether performed; and little charity would be witnessed were men never to give until they were quite sure they had hit upon the right time to give, and never to do an act of kindness until they were certain the proper, objects to receive it had been found.
4. Without intermission as to its time. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand" (ver. 6). Who would practice beneficence as it should be practiced must be as constantly employed therein as the husbandman is in his agricultural operations. Philanthropy is a sacred art, which can only be acquired by pains and patience. Intermittent goodness, charity performed by fits and starts, occasional benevolence, never comes to much, and never does much for either the giver or receiver. Charity to be efficient must be a perennial fountain and a running stream. (1Co_13:8) The charitable man must be always giving, like God, who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, etc., (Mat_5:45) and who giveth unto all liberally. (Jam_1:5)
II REASONS. Beneficence should be practiced for the following reasons:
1. It is certain in the end to be recompensed. (Ver. 1.) The kindly disposed individual, who fearlessly casts his bread upon the waters by doing good to the unkind and the unthankful (Mat_5:45; Luk_6:35) may have a long time to wait for a return from his venture in practical philanthropy; but eventually that return will come, here on earth, in the inward satisfaction that springs from doing good, perhaps in the gratitude (or, it may be, the temporal and spiritual elevation) of those who experience his kindness, hereafter in the welcome and the glory Christ has promised to such as are mindful of his needy brethren on earth. (Mat_25:40)
2. No one can predict how soon himself may become an object of charity. As surely as the clouds when full of rain will empty themselves upon the earth, and a tree will lie exactly in the place where it falls (ver. 3), so surely will seasons of calamity, when they come, descend on rich and poor alike; yea, perhaps strike the wealthy, the great, and the good with strokes which the indigent, the obscure, and the wicked may escape. Hence the bare consideration of this fact, that bad times may come not only depriving one of the ability to practice beneficence, but rendering one a fit subject for the same (the latter of these being most likely the Preacher"s thought) should induce one to be charitable while he may and can. This may seem a low, selfish, and unworthy ground on which to recommend the practice of philanthropy; but does its meaning not substantially amount to this, that men should give to others because, were bad times to strip them of their wealth, and plunge them into poverty, they would wish others to give to them? And how much is this below the standard of the golden rule? (Mat_7:12)
3. No amount of forethought will discover a better time for practicing beneficence than the present. As no one knows the way of the wind, (Joh_3:8) or the secrets of embryology (Psa_139:15) in both of which departments of nature, notwithstanding the discoveries of modern science, much ignorance prevails so can no one predict what kind of future will emerge from the womb of the present (Pro_27:1; Zep_2:2) or what shall be the course of providence on the morrow. Hence to defer exercising charity till one has fathomed the unfathomable is more than merely to waste one"s time; it is to miss a certain opportunity for one that may never arrive. As today only is ours, we should never cast it away for a doubtful to-morrow, but "Act in the living present, Heart within and God o"er head." (Longfellow.)
4. The issues of beneficence, in the recipients thereof, are uncertain. That an act of charity, or deed of kindness, whensoever done, will prosper without fail in the experience of the doer thereof, has been declared (ver. 1); that it will turn out equally well in the experience of him to whom it is done is not so inevitable. Yet from this problematical character of all human philanthropy as to results should be drawn an argument, not for doing nothing, but for doing more. Art atrabiliar soul will conclude that, because he is not sure whether his charity may not injure rather than benefit the recipient, he should hold his hand; a hopeful and happy Christian will feel impelled to more assiduous benevolence by reflecting that he can never tell when his kindly deeds will bear fruit in the temporal, perhaps also spiritual, salvation of the poor and needy. "The seed sown in the morning of life may bear its harvest at once, or not till the evening of age. The man may reap at one and the same time the fruits of his earlier and later sowing, and may find that both are alike good" (Plumptre).
LESSONS.
1. "As therefore ye have opportunity, do good unto all men". (Gal_6:10)
1. Weary not in well-doing. (Gal_6:9)
2. Take no thought for tomorrow. (Mat_6:34)
3. Cultivate a hopeful view of life. (Pro_10:28)
Vers. 1-6.
Conditions of success in business.
I THE MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED.
1. Enterprises not free from hazard. "Cast thy bread upon the waters," meaning, "launch out upon the sea of business speculation." The man who would succeed must be prepared to venture somewhat. A judicious quantity of courage seems indispensable to getting on. The timid merchant is as little likely to prosper as the shrinking lover.
2. Prudence in dividing risks. "Divide the portion into seven, yea, eight parts," which again signifies that one should never put all his eggs into one basket, commit all his goods to one caravan, place all his cargo in one ship, invest all his capital in one undertaking, or generally venture all on one card.
3. Confidence in going forward, The agriculturist who, is always, watching the weather the wind and regarding the clouds (ver. 4) will make but a poor farmer; and he who is constantly taking fright at the fluctuations of the market will prove only an indifferent merchant. In business, as in love and war, the man who hesitates is lost.
4. Diligence and constancy in labor. The person who aims at success in business must be a hard and. incessant, not a fitful and intermittent, worker. If a farmer, he must sow betimes in the morning, and pause not until hindered by the shades of night. If a merchant, he must trade both early and late. If an artisan, he must toil week in and week out. It is "the hand of the diligent" that "maketh rich". (Pro_10:4)
II THE MOTIVES TO BE CHERISHED.
1. The expectation of a future reward. Thou shalt find it thy bread after many days." Such enterprises, though attended with risk, will not all fail, but will generally prove successful not immediately, perhaps, but after an interval of waiting, as the ships of a foreign merchant require months, or even years, before they return with the desired profits.
2. The anticipation of impending calamity. As no man can foresee the future, the prudent merchant lays his account with one or more of his ventures coming to grief. Hence, in the customary phrase, he divides the risk," and does not hazard all in one expedition.
3. The consciousness of inability to forecast the future. Just because of this illustrated in vers. 3 and 5 the man who aspires to prosper in hisundertakings dismisses all overanxious care, and instead of waiting for opportunities and markets, makes them.
4. The beige of ultimately succeeding. Though he may often fail, he expects he will not always fail; hence he redoubles his energy and diligence. "In the morning he sows his seed, and in the evening withholds not his band," believing that in the end his labors will be crowned with success.
Learn:
1. That business is not incompatible with piety.
2. That piety need be no hindrance to business.
3. That each may be helpful to the other.
4. That both should be, and are, a source of blessing to the world.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1, 2.
Works of charity.
There can be little doubt that these admonitions apply to the deeds of compassion and beneficence which are the proper fruits of true religion. Especially in some conditions of society almsgiving is expedient and beneficial. In times of famine, in cases of affliction and sudden calamity, it is a duty to supply the need of the poor and hungry. At the same time, the indiscriminate bestowal of what is called charity unquestionably does more harm than good, especially in a state of society in which few need suffer want who are diligent, frugal, temperate, and self-denying. But there are many other ways in which benevolence may express itself beside almsgiving. The Christian is called upon to care both for the bodies and for the souls of his fellow-men to give the bread of knowledge as well as the bread that perisheth, and to provide a spiritual portion for the enrichment and consolation of the destitute.
I THE NATURAL EMOTION OF BENEVOLENCE IS RECOGNIZED AND HALLOWED BY TRUE RELIGION. It may be maintained with confidence that sympathy is as natural to man as selfishness, although the love of self is too often allowed by our sinful nature to overcome the love of others. But when Christ takes possession, by his Spirit, of a man"s inner nature, then the benevolence which may have been dormant is aroused, and new direction is given to it, and new power to persevere and to succeed in the attainment of its object.
II RELIGION PROMPTS TO A PRACTICAL EXPRESSION OF BENEVOLENT FEELING. Too often sympathy is a sentimental luxury, leading to no effort, no self-denial. The poet justly denounces those who, "Nursed in mealy-mouthed philanthropies, Divorce the feeling from her mate the deed." But the spirit of the Savior urges to Christ-like endeavor, and sustains the worker for men"s bodily, social, and spiritual good. The bread must be cast, the portion must be given.
III BENEVOLENCE MEETS IN ITS EXERCISE WITH MANY DISCOURAGEMENTS. The bread is cast upon the waters. This implies that in many cases we must expect to lose sight of the results of our work; that we must he prepared for disappointment; that, at all events, we must fulfill our service for God and man in faith, and rather from conviction and principle than from any hope of apparent and immediate success.
IV A PROMISE IS GIVEN WHICH IS INTENDED TO URGE TO PERSEVERANCE. What is, as it were, committed to the deep shall be found after the lapse of days. The waters do not destroy, they fertilize and fructify, the seed. Thus "they who sow in tears shall reap in joy." In how many ways this promise is fulfilled the history of the Christian Church, and even the experience of every individual worker for God, abundantly show. In places and at times altogether unexpected and unlikely, there come to light evidences that the work has been cared for, watched over, and prospered by God himself. He does not suffer the efforts of his faithful servants to come to naught. The good they aim at, and much which never occurred to them to anticipate, is effected in God"s time by the marvelous operation of his providence and his Spirit. "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. T.
Ver. 1.
Encouragement to Christian toilers.
The lesson of this verse, if the figure be dropped, may be expressed thus: Act upon principles and not upon likelihood.
I A SIMILITUDE. The good we give to men when we preach and teach Divine truth, when we exercise Christian influence, is seed fruit-bearing seed. It is a blessed, but a sacred and serious, occupation to sow the seed of spiritual life.
II A DIRECTION. Christian sowers! Cast your bread even upon the waters.
1. Even upon an unkindly soil.
2. Even in an unpromising season.
3. Liberally, though at the cost of self-sacrifice.
4. Constantly, even though it seems that the sowing has been long carried on in vain.
5. Bravely and hopefully, although the calculating, shortsighted world deride your efforts.
III A PROMISE. After lapse of days you shall find the bread you have dispersed.
1. What is cast abroad is not destroyed.
2. Neither is it lost sight of.
3. It shall, perhaps after many days, be found again.
It may be in time; it shall be in eternity. Then "he that soweth and he that reapeth shall rejoice together. T.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-4, 6.
Incentives to Christian work.
These are not the words of some Very young man who has much fervor and little experience; they are those of one who has known the disappointment and disenchantment of life. They come, therefore, with the greater force to us. We gather from them
I THAT IT IS WELL WORTHWHILE TO SPEND OUR WHOLE STRENGTH IN LOVING SERVICE. "Cast thy bread upon the waters scatter the precious bread-corn, drop it into the flood; that is not the actof a. fool, but of a wise man. "Give a portion to seven;" ay, go further than even that in your liberality spend your whole strength in that which is good and beneficent, lavish your resources, let there be a generous overflow rather than a cool calculation in your service; and this whether you are acting as a citizen, as a neighbor, or as a member of the Church of Christ.
II THAT, IF WE ARE WISE, WE SHALL LET OUR VERY IGNORANCE STIMULATE US TO EXERTION. Is it worthwhile to. sow when we cannot be sure that we shall ever reap? Since we do not know what evil may come in a week era day, had we not better turn the seed of the sower into bread for the eater? No; let our ignorance concerning the future be rather an incentive to activity. Say not, "I do not know what changes may come upon the earth; how little my labors may prove to be profitable; who will appreciate my devotion, and who will be unresponsive and ungrateful; therefore I shall suspend my exertions." Say rather, "I cannot tell what is coming; how soon I may be rewarded; how short may be the term of my life and of my opportunity here; I must therefore lose no time and waste no strength; I must do whole-heartedly all that is in my power. Because I cannot tell which of my words will fall like water on the rock, and which like seed upon the fertile soil, whether the morning or the evening labors will be rewarded, therefore I will do my best; perhaps this present effort I am now making may be the very one which has in it the seed of a glorious harvest." Thus our very ignorance may stimulate us to holy and fruitful action.
III THAT WE SHOULD NOT ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE DISTURBED BY THE UNSYMPATHETIC FORCES ROUND US. If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth without any regard to our necessity for fine weather; the tree will fall this way or that, according to the wind, whomsoever or whatsoever it will crush by its weight. The forces of nature are quite unsympathetic. Feebleness may incapacitate or death may take away our most efficient fellow-laborer; the changes that affect our human lives may reduce our means or remove our agents, or even close our agencies; but we must not be daunted, nor must we stay our hand on this account. The full mind, like the full cloud, must pour itself forth, and may do so in words and ways we do not like; the man, like the tree, must take the line toward which he strongly inclines, and this may be one that traverses our tastes and wishes, Never mind! We are not to let our good work for Christ be arrested by such incidental difficulty as that. We are to "quit us like men, and be strong," and we are to triumph over such hindrances as these.
IV THAT WE ARE NOT TO BE IN ANY HURRY FOR THE HARVEST. The seed we cast "shall be found after many days." The husbandman hath "long patience," waiting for the fruits of the earth. The history of the noblest men is one long sermon on the blessedness of patience. It says to the Christian pilgrim and workman, "Work and wait; work diligently, intelligently, devoutly, then wait prayerfully and hopefully. Be not surprised, much less distracted, because the harvest is still far in the future; in due season you will reap, if you faint not. C.
HOMILIES BY J. WILLCOCK Vers. 1-6.
Provision for the future.
Fruitless though many of the quests had been on which the Preacher had set out, lost though he had often been in the mazes of barren and withering speculation, something he did succeed in gaining, which he now places on record among the concluding sentences of his book. Though truth in its fullness is out of man"s reach, the path of duty is plain; essential wisdom may never be discovered, but some practical lessons for the guidance of life, which after all are what most we need, are to be won from the search. Perhaps to many minds these may seem commonplace. It may be thought that after all the bustle of the enterprise, after all the zeal and energy expended in carrying it through, the gain is small. Surely some new thing of greater value might have been brought out of the far-off one of philosophy and speculation than the counsels given here to be beneficent and active, since a time may come when we shall need the help of others, and the harvest may far exceed all our expectations. But from the very nature of the case such murmurings are unreasonable. No new thing can be brought to light in the moral world. Conscience proclaims the same duties age after age; and all that is left to him who would advance the cause of righteousness is to give clearer utterance to the voice of God in the heart, to show the imperative claims of duty, and in some instances to suggest new and weighty motives for obedience to them. None need, therefore, scorn the simple terms in which the Preacher sums up the practical lessons he would have us lay to heart. There is nothing novel or wonderful in what he says, but probably those epithets would be fairly applicable to the change that would be produced in our lives if we obeyed his counsels. There is a close connection between verse and verse in this section (vers. 1-6), but a formal division of it into logical parts is impracticable. The Hebrew or Oriental mind had a different mode of ratiocination from ours. We may, however, note the stages in the current of thought.
I In vers. 1, 2a THE PRACTICE OF BENEVOLENCE TOWARD OTHERS is commended to us a benevolence that is generous and profuse. "Cast thy bread," he says, "upon the waters." "Do not be afraid of showing kindness, even where thou seest no prospect of result or return; let the fiat cake of bread, the type of food to the hungry, aid to the needy, float down the stream of life. Thou wilt find one day that thou hast hit the mark, won some grateful heart" (Bradley). His words remind us of the counsel in the Gospels "to do good, hoping for nothing again, even to the unthankful and the evil" (Mat_5:44-46; Luk_6:32-35)
Repandez vos bienfaits avec magnificence, Meme aux moins vertueux ne les refusez pas. (Voltaire, "Precis de l"Ecelesiaste. )
Let many experience your beneficence, says the Preacher; confine it not within narrow limits. He speaks of seven or eight, according to the Hebrew manner of indicating an indefinite but large number. (Mic_5:5) His specification is not to be taken literally, any more than our Lord"s "seventy times seven" as indicating the literal number of times we are to forgive. (Mat_18:22)
II A MOTIVE TO BENEFICENCE is laid down in ver. 2b. "For thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth." In the time of prosperity remember that a day of calamity and suffering may come, when the succor of the friends you have made may be of great service. Bad as men are, there are numerous instances of a grateful love recompensing benefits received long ago, which perhaps even the benefactor has long forgotten. "Peradventure for the good man some would even dare to die." No one can tell what vicissitudes of fortune are in store for him; and therefore it is prudent to make some provision in the present against a day of adversity. The same teaching is found in the parable of the unjust steward. (Luk_16:1-9) These who spend some of their wealth in doing deeds of kindness and mercy (Luk_14:12-14) are described as laying up treasure in bags that wax not old, as providing for themselves friends who will, when this life is over, welcome them into everlasting habitations. To some this may seem but a sordid motive to benevolence; it may seem to turn that virtue into a kind of refined selfishness. But, after all, there is nothing unworthy in the motive. "Self-love is implanted in man"s nature, and men who themselves affect to despise such a motive are often themselves, with all their professed loftiness of aim, actuated by no higher objects than those of pleasure, fame, or advancement" (Wright).
III OUR IGNORANCE OF THE FUTURE FORBIDS OUR KNOWING WHAT EVIL WILL COME UPON THE EARTH. (Ver. 2b.) The world is governed by uniform laws; both good and evil are subject to them. As it is an invariable law of nature that at a certain point the clouds that are filled with rain begin to discharge their load upon the earth, and no human power can seal them up, and as it is an invincible law that the forest tree must fall before the blast, when the force with which it resists the "fury of the wind is insufficient to save it from overthrow, so the future is shaped by laws which man cannot control, and it is a mark of prudence to be prepared for any contingencies. The tempest which deluges the earth with rain, and levels the monarchs of the forest with the ground, can neither be foreseen nor averted by man; neither can the future, whether it be charged with prosperity or adversity. The interpretation of ver. 3 as teaching that the fate of man is forever fixed at death is utterly indefensible; there is nothing whatever in the text to indicate that the writer had any such thought in his mind. And one may say, in passing, that the teaching in question can have very little foundation, when it is principally, if not altogether, founded upon a misinterpretation of this passage. Why the advocates of the doctrine, which in itself is repulsive to our ideas of reasonableness and justice, should make so much of an obscure metaphor in the Book of Ecclesiastes, and shut their eyes to the historical statement 1Pe_3:18-20, which is decisive upon the point in question, is difficult to understand. No outcry about the obscurity of the latter passage can annul the plain statement of fact in it, viz. that Christ after his death went and preached the gospel to the spirits of those who were overtaken by the flood in the days of Noah. Uncertainty as to the future should not, however, lead to present inactivity (ver. 5). We are not to allow taking thought for the morrow" (Mat_6:25) to hinder our doing good today; that would be as absurd as the conduct of the farmer if he were to put off from day to day the sowing or reaping of his fields because of wind or rain, until the time for sowing or for reaping had passed away. Some risk we must run in our undertakings; and if some opportunities come to us without any seeking or effort on our part, we can make others for ourselves by the exercise of our good sense, energy, or tact. "The conditions of success cannot be reckoned on beforehand; the future belongs to God, the all-conditioning" (Delitzsch). This is the idea contained in ver. 5. Two examples are given of processes of nature which are familiar to us all, but the ways and working of which are hidden from our knowledge; they are the course of the wind (not the "spirit, as in the Authorized Version), which "bloweth where it listeth", (Joh_3:8) and the formation of the babe "in the womb of her who is with child." These secrets being in nature, it is not wonderful that the methods of the Divine government cannot be searched out by human wisdom or ingenuity, that the ways of God should be inscrutable and past finding out. "Even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
IV THE CALL TO BENEFICENT ACTIVITY IS REPEATED. (Ver. 6.) "Since the future rests in the power of One who arranges all things, but who does not act arbitrarily, and since a finite being cannot unravel the secrets of the Infinite, man should act faithfully and fulfill energetically his appointed task" (Wright). The teaching is the same as in Ecc_9:10, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;" In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good" (ver. 6). In the morning of life be active; slumber not through its decline. Use well the gifts of youth; use, too, the special gifts of age. Thou knowest not which shall bear good fruit; it may be both." As men sow, they reap; the greater their exertions, the wider the area they cultivate, the richer usually is their harvest. The whole precept, says Plumptre, "is a call to activity in good, not unlike that of him who said, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is called today: the night cometh, when no man can work"; (Joh_9:4) who taught men to laborin the vineyard, even though they were not called to begin their work till the eleventh hour, when it was toward evening, and the day far spent" (Mat_20:1-16) J.W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt…
Ecc_11:1
Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.
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Cast thy bread upon the waters
This saying takes us to the banks of the Nile, where, every year, as the flood subsided, while the level lands were still all ooze and mud, the farmer went forth, and, without any ploughing, just cast the grain over the mud, and, simply trampling it in with his flocks of goats, knew that he should find it after many days in those fruitful harvests which made
Egypt the granary of the ancient world. Only, mark what it means. It is not a mere lesson of sowing. It is not cast thy seed upon the waters. It is cast thy bread--cast of thy bread-corn, that which you might use for bread--cast that on the waters, spare even of that to sow for the days to come. You see, it is a lesson not merely of sowing, but of self-denial and self-restraint in order to sow. There is a lesson here which is always needed, but which was never, perhaps, more needed than to-day. For, if I mistake not, the marvellous advances of our age, the quickening of the whole speed of life, have had this effect--to produce a sort of eager impatience and eagerness for the utmost immediate results, a remorseless sort of draining of the present of everything that can be got out of it. People want to make all their harvest into bread--yes, or into cake, if it can be--are not willing to forego any of it for seed, or to be put into the sinking fund of the future. Why, look at this even in what one may call the using up of life itself. All this marvellous advancement of our age should have given people--even the hardest-worked and busiest--a little more leisure for simple, happy living--living for its own sake. I asked a dressmaker once ii the invention of the sewing-machine had not lightened her labour. Not in the least, she replied. Ladies only want so much the more work putting on to their dresses; and so they take just as long making as ever. Is not that a good deal true, all through life? Every gain of time has been used up right away m new wants--none of it saved for those quieter uses and higher uses which would be the seed of a nobler, fuller future. You see illustrations of this in every direction. You see it in trade and the various material arts of life. In the older times it was the ambition of a business man to establish a business,--a concern that might stand, a business that his sons might be proud to take up and maintain the prestige of it. But such an ambition involves some foregoing of present advantage; and that is where modern life is so weak. Besides, men do not look to their sons to take up their business as they used to do. If they are successful their sons will hardly need any business! So what able men try to do is to make the utmost possible for a few years; and, to do this, there cannot be much sparing of bread-corn to cast on the waters, not much restraint in the use of opportunity. They must just drive the keenest trade they can, wring the last cent out of all dealings. It is all this excessive living for to-day: men havent patience, they havent faith, for the steadier, slower business which would build up character and reputation and last into long years to come. Or take another illustration, in the houses which are everywhere being built about our cities, for the housing of this hand-to-mouth generation. The building of a house was a serious business in our grandfathers time. What strong foundations they laid! What massive timbers you find in those old houses! Something to last, there! But now--well, to begin with, there is not the same desire to have a house; there is not the same idea of living steadily on in one place. So houses are built less solidly, but more showily. It seems to me that it is not houses only, but the whole fabric of society which is being built up thus flimsily and temporarily. Look at literature. There is such a demand as never in the world before for light sketches, superficial reading. It is not any lasting good that men want from books, but an hours excitement or relaxation. These are some of the conspicuous ways in which the hand-to-mouth spirit of the time is shown. But the thing, to take to heart is this: that it appears in these greater ways, because it is in common fire in all sorts of lesser things. You see it in home life, in society, in the education of children. The greatest lack of modern society, I do believe--all through, from children up to grown men and women--is thoughtful self-restraint, the willingness to forego the gratification of to-day for the sake of the days to come. People will go to the opera, even if they dont know how they will pay next weeks board-bill--yes, often enough, even if they cant pay last weeks! Now, if there is one thing which our religion ought to teach us, it is this spirit I have been trying to show the need of--of living not just for to-day, but for days to come, of casting ones bread upon the waters--the spirit of patient, thoughtful permanence in life and doings. Why does the law stand in that noble emphasis at the beginning of the Hebrew religion? Simply, that is the first thing--thoughtful obedience and self-restraint. So spare even of thy bread-corn to east upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days. Yes I we shall find it. I do not believe we ever sow for future life; I do not believe men ever exercise a noble reserve in the use of comfort or luxury, or put their manhood into thoughtful efforts for mankind, without finding the harvest of it after many days, perhaps--yet still they find it, and, after the law of Gods true harvest, thirty or sixty or a hundred-fold. So with all pleasures, all indulgences--use them not to the uttermost, not as many as ever you can get hold of: let your principle in such things be a noble reserve. And, in all work, faith and patience! (Brooke Herford.)
Uninviting work
This passage may be regarded as an invitation to work of a special kind--work not likely to be popular, but, nevertheless, essential.
I. It is a call to unappreciated work. Our bread is to be cast upon the waters. We are to render service--service that often costs much--to thankless people. We must be content to work when our work is unacknowledged, unrequited--nay, when it is despised. Much of the highest, painfulest service wrought for the good of men--work of brain and heart--is least appreciated. Let us work in the spirit of a noble faith and consecration, knowing that what we give and suffer will be lightly esteemed among men, and knowing also that it will be accepted before God and become immortal in the life of the world.
II. It is a call to unobtrusive work. Seed sown on the waters suggest silent forms of service. Mark the way of the Master. In all His work there was an utter absence of theatricality and advertisement. Said His brethren: If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world. How truly human such a request, as it all was lost that was not shown! But Christ declined the tempting publicity. He sowed the bread of heaven on dark waters So softly that history hardly noticed Him or His sowing. Did not our Lord, in following this course, intend to teach His people that the establishment of His kingdom would depend most of all upon modest evangelism? And, indeed, ever since Christs day His cause has chiefly grown out of noiseless, unobtrusive work. The history of the Christian Church wonderfully corresponds with geological history; it is the history of the snowflake, the demonstration of the prevailing efficacy of modest personal sacrifice and influence. All tourists love to tell of the cataract of Niagara, of its thunder, foam and rainbows; but, after all, cataracts like Niagara do little for the fertility of the world. The thousand little streams that go softly in the grass fill the earth with fruit and beauty.
III. It is a call to unpromising work to sow the seed upon the waters looks hopeless; little good seems likely to come of such toil and sacrifice. So work for the worlds good sometimes seems sadly unpromising; the giving of money, time, influence, feeling, seem only like ploughing the sands, throwing treasure into the sea. But we must hope in hopeless work, or what to the carnal eye looks like hopeless work. The most unpromising ground sometimes yields the richest results. The finest grapes in the world are not grown on fat soil, but on sand deserts and barren shingle that would not afford nourishment to a patch of oats; and the lover of man not rarely gets his richest clusters on the most unpromising ground. It has often been so with the missionary. Who, looking at ancient Britain, would have thought that it would become the vineyard of the Lord? It is often thus in families--the careless, undutiful children turning out the parents strength and joy. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Faith and duty
There are in this book aspects of truth that we are very apt to forget, an emphasis put upon certain out-of-the-way duties that are as essential to a proper, natural, and religious life as those doctrines and principles that we bring to the forefront of our evangelical preaching. Prudence is a virtue, but a man may be too prudent. Economy is an excellent habit, but a man may by penuriousness spoil his fortunes as much as if he were a spendthrift. There is a certain audacity in business, in love, and in religion that is essential to success. There is a certain scattering that brings increase, and there is a withholding more than is meet that tends to poverty. It is true of the world, it is true of the Church; true of your body, true of your fortune, true of your soul. Cast thy bread upon the water. Put your money into a number of ventures; do not be too timid, do not be too cautious; use a large-hearted, statesmanlike breadth and liberality in your enterprise and in your activity, and in the end your bread will come back to you--it will come back in large and wide profit. Again, in your benevolence, in your readiness to help a partner or a client, or even to do a good turn to a poor neighbour, do not be calculating just whether you must do it or whether you must not. Ecclesiastes says, Give to the seventh, do a good turn to the eighth. And it appeals to common sense. Do not call it unevangelical, do not call it selfish. There is a reasonable recognition of the law that connects causes and effects, results and those forces and actions that lead to them, that is of the very essence of nature, and it is perfectly justifiable that a man should look to it. Says Ecclesiastes: If you go always looking at the clouds, if you are always peering out to see where the cats-paw wind is coming, you will never sow your field, and you will never reap. You had better sow every year. Sow when the spring looks black; sow when the early summer seems to forecast a stormy autumn; sow year by year--that is the right thing to do. Some years you will lose, but at the end, when your life is done, you will have made a large gain, a great profit. Yes; there is a looking at that part and side of the world that is out of our control, that God holds in His own hands, that paralyzes human endeavour; and the Book of Ecclesiastes warns us, as men of the world, as men of religion, against concerning ourselves with Gods share in the transaction. Send your ships there and there, send them far and wide over the world, and in the end--that is your wisdom--leave the results to God. Do your duty at Gods bidding. Strike out into the world; sow on all waters, cast your bread far and wide; do good deeds here, do them there, and in the end you will reap a rich harvest. It is not difficult to gel people to make up their minds to be good; the real difficulty is to get them to carry it out. Nothing more easy than to stir men and women to start well in life; the job is to keep them going on. It is not just the first volley of cannon-balls against the fortification that will break the wall down; it is keeping at it day after day till the breach is made and the stronghold can be taken. You know what momentum is. Aye, a man has got to be good; he has to speak the truth to-day, to-morrow, the day after, the week after that, and on and on, if he is going to form within himself such a mass of light and honourableness that men may speak as if some great and noble monument had fallen: That mans word was better than his bond; that man never spoke a dishonest, untruthful word. Oh, the power of momentum! the thinness, the weakness, and the poverty-stricken character of that goodness that comes in gushes, and then steps in fragments, in shreds and patches! What is it that makes our goodness so broken, so interrupted, so parenthetical? I think the commonest and chief cause is that we do good upon impulse, not upon principle. We set out to do right, riding upon a great wave of ardent emotion, not upon a serious, calm; earnest determination of will. A great many of us make another mistake. We misunderstand a wise principle; we say to ourselves that we ought to calculate profit, that we ought to look out for results; and so, mistaking this fact that we ought to choose to do our goodness in the wisest and likeliest way, we mistake that wise habit of prudence, judgment, and we turn it into a petty trafficking attempt to secure certainty that every little thing we niggardly do is going to bring us a definite and special return. Now, you cannot do that in business. Fancy a farmer aa he goes across the field sowing corn, taking it out grain by grain, and saying, I wonder whether this grain will be eaten up by a bird, whether this will rot in the ground; I do not know, and therefore I will not sow it. That would be about as silly as to be always calculating whether the penny you put into the plate is going to convert a heathen, or whether that Bible is going to convert a sinner, or whether going to that meeting will do any definite good. My friend, you have got to sow in faith, with a great prodigal generosity. Blessed those busy lives that are always at it, always working--working when it promises well, working when it promises ill, standing in the pathway of duty, of Divine service, in the pathway of blessing to others, in the pathway of certain blessing to themselves! It is not easy to be good; it is terribly hard to keep on doing right; you get awfully tired of it, and then you wonder and think that you cannot be really good when you are so sick of being so self-sacrificing, so sick of forgiving that brother or sister that always irritates you, and you feel that you really ought to get a little rest from it, to take an interval of not being good; and then you turn upon yourself and upbraid yourself. Not a bit of it, my friend. There is nothing more fatiguing and wearisome than being good. It is a crucifying of oneself to be good. How could it be but that you should be weary many a day? St. Paul says, Be not weary, because he knows you will feel it,--Be not weary in well doing; if you are weary keep on doing right; if you faint not, in the end you shall reap. Lift up thy heart and do not faint. In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou canst not tell whether shall prosper, this or that, or whether, since all rests at last with the great, big-hearted, loving God, both alike, beyond your very utmost dreams and hopes, shall be prosperous. (Prof. Elmslie.)
Excitements to missionary effort
The text applies to all attempts which are made to benefit the immortal part of man. In our charities towards the soul, we have need of patience; and it is evident that spiritual benefit is chiefly here intended. I wish to direct your attention to some of the important objects which the text places before us.
I. A large and liberal benevolence is enjoined upon us. Selfishness is at once the degradation, and part of the misery, of our nature. It shuts up some of the finest feelings of which we are capable. That which has separated man from God has also separated man from man. The doctrine of stewardship is peculiar to our religion. This is a fine principle which the Gospel has brought to light: it teaches us that, though God is the fountain of all good, He has made creatures the instruments of good to man.
II. Some motives to the exercise of benevolence.
1. Here is a motive addressed to our hope. What appalling spectacles presented themselves to the view of the missionary who first trod our Shores! He listened to the din of noisy festivals; he beheld obscene and lascivious rites; he saw the effect of the whole system of worship on the wretched people by whom he was surrounded; but he cast in the seed; and has it not been found after many days? You, with your religious assemblies, your faith in God, your love to our Lord Jesus Christ, your hope in heaven--you are proofs that seed cast upon the waters may be found after many days. Oh, then, go on: future ages shall call you blessed; and the glorious results of your labour shall be found in that day, when they shall come from the east, and the west, etc.
2. A motive addressed to our prudence and foresight: Thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. This may apply, first, to ourselves. Who can tell how near evil may be to us, how near may be sickness, how near the final call of death? Well, then, cast your bread upon the waters. If your tongues must be so soon employed in groaning and in complaints, let them now, at least, be employed for God. But let us view the subject on a larger scale. The prospect of evil has always been a motive for exertion to good men. They have endeavoured to meet the coming evil by laying up a store. The apostles, in the midst of their great and Successful exertions, prophesied a fatal apostasy. It might be supposed that this would have operated to check their exertions. But they acted on the principle of the text; they cast their bread upon the waters: they gave a portion to seven, and also to eight: they spread the seed freely and largely; and, amidst a great apostasy, seed sprang up, of which we are now some of the pleasing fruit.
3. A motive drawn from the fitness of the thing. If the clouds be full of rain, etc. Like the clouds in the spring of the year, which require no great effort to make them pour forth their waters, but tremble at the lightest breeze, and impart their living springs to the earth; so let Christian men be to the thirsty soils of this parched world.
4. A motive drawn from the consideration of human mortality. If the tree fall toward the south, etc. If those who are now within our reach, if those who are now in darkness, be not benefited by an application of the means God has given us in His providence, a great gulf will soon be fixed, over which no pity, no exertion, can step. How important it is to do the work of the day in the day I to cast our bread upon the waters! to give a portion to seven, and also to eight! to sow our seed in the morning and in the evening! We are dying, and the world is dying around us!
III. Several objections are implied in the text.
1. The first seems to be, that the opportunity is not favourable to such exertions (Ecc_11:4). What then? Are we to withhold the seed, or to sow it? We are to sow it--to sow it in faith--faith in the commission of Christ, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature: faith in the promise of the Saviour, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world: faith in the irreversible covenant, Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and all these dark, ferocious savages, all these unwholesome, inhospitable climes, yea, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
2. A second objection seems to be that, even if we apply ourselves to works of this kind, very frequently the manner in which God carries on His work is very different from the conceptions which we had formed (Ecc_11:5). God acts not by any mans plans, but leaves it to us to say, Thou knowest not the works of God.
3. A third objection is, that there will be a partial failure. Thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that. Part of the seed will perish. We admit this; it is a fact that part of the seed will perish, and that the condemnation of men is increased by the hearing of the Gospel. But what is your duty? Why, as to yourselves, it is to give the more earnest heed to the things that you have heard, lest at any time you should let them slip: and, as to others, to do all you can to give effect to the administration of the Gospel, by renewed exertions, and by more fervent prayers.
IV. Some reasons for diligence and constancy.
1. The first reason is taken from the quality of the seed (Ecc_11:6). The seed you sow is good. The seed hero referred to is that of bread, in which mans vitality, nourishment and strength all seem to be bound up. So in the Word of God there is all that, can bless and dignify man here, and prepare him for everlasting glory.
2. Consider the small portion of the world which, after all, has been sown with this blessed seed.
3. Remember that you all, without exception, have it in your power still more largely to promote this good work. (R. Watson, M. A.)
The poor mans portion
I. The duty recommended. In general it is, to do good with our property. It is the glory of true religion that it inspires and inculcates a spirit of benevolence. Christ went about doing good.
1. That with which we do good must be our own. Cast thy bread. As there are some who withhold more than is meet, so there are others who, from ostentation, give what is not their own.
2. We are to do good liberally. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight. It is a great, obstacle to many, and a Common objection, that cases are so numerous.
3. For the sake of doing good we should deny ourselves. Thy bread. It is a notion of many that they are required to give only superfluities; but this is treating God and the poor with only a dogs portion--the crumbs, as it were, which fall from their table. Emulate the Churches of Macedonia (2Co_8:1-24.), whose deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality.
4. We are to do good, notwithstanding discouraging appearances in Providence. Give as the Lord hath prospered you, and leave another day or another year to take care for itself.
II. The motives by which this duty is enforced.
1. The reward which awaits you. Thou shalt find it again. What, we do for the poor is not, thrown away, though it may seem to be so. It is sowing the seeds of immortality, and, if done right, we shall find it, though it may be many days first. God so orders it, that merciful men meet with mercy in this life, and their children after them (Psa_112:2); and who knows what ours may need? Or, if we never find it here, we shall find it in a dying hour, and still more at the judgment (Mat_25:31-46). Yea, it will add to our joy hereafter, else it could not be called laying up treasure in heaven.
2. The impending ills that threaten us. Thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. Covetousness would turn this to another use: We know not what we shall want; we must every one look to himself. No! that which you now possess may be taken from you: foes may consume it, floods may sweep it away, enemies may invade it, or internal changes may strip you of your all. Do good while you have it, in your power--by and by you may be unable.
3. The design of God in affording us what we have--not that it may be hoarded, but communicated. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth. Inanimate nature is brought in to provoke us. We are but stewards after all, and must give account of our stewardship.
4. The near approach of death, when all our opportunities will be for ever at an end. (A. Fuller.)
Sowing on the waters
This line contains a noble principle, which admits of many applications; we shall select one, and apply it to the Christian instruction of the young.
I. The charge is, Cast thy bread upon the waters!
1. Its first reference is to seed, for this is what is meant by bread. Seed supplies poetry with a fit figure to illustrate anything mean which gives existence to anything magnificent. A seed is but a solitary grain, or a soft, and trembling flake of vegetation; yet from the seed gushes the bright flower--from the seed starts the towering tree--from the seed springs the bread of life. Now, the seed is the Word of God. Christ supplies it. Christ, writes John Milton, gives no full comments, or continued discourses, but speaks oft in monosyllables, as a Master scattering the heavenly grain of His doctrine, like pearls, here and there, requiring a skilful and laborious gatherer.
2. A second reference in the charge is to the sowing: cast the seed. Weeds are self-dispersive, and have a frightful facility of growth; but fruits are Gods blessing on labour. A distinction has been made between a radical reformer and a seminal reformer. The one strikes the axe at the roots of evil; the other sows the seeds of good. The first mode of action, though often a necessity, is frequently connected with disadvantage; for, in tearing up the ravelled roots of an ancient grievance, growing in a tangled place, we may rend and wither delicate interlacings that we wish to live; but sowing seed disturbs nothing--injures nothing; frets no weakling--startles no alarmist; and works a change the most complete, by a process soft as the flush of spring, and noiseless as the laws of nature. Work while it is called to-day; sow ideas, sow truths, sow thoughts suggested by Gods own Spirit, whose blossoms will soon make the wilderness rejoice, and solitary places glad.
3. The third reference in the charge is to the place where the seed is to be cast: Cast it upon the waters. As the seed fell on the soft and porous soil beneath the water, your hints may drop into yielding and receptive natures. Part with your most precious knowledge, then; venture to sow it in faith on the waters of thought; it may find a lodgment, dart the fibres of life in secrecy, and in due time reappear in those practicalities which most beautify and bless the world.
II. THE PROMISE, Thou shalt find it after many days. Thou shalt find it; therefore you may be at first inclined to think it lost;--after many days; therefore you need not be strengthless with the chill of discouragement if it should not be found at once. Here and there the spiritual life may spring and mellow early, but in most instances its appearance will be after many days. While you speak in agony to save, you may seem speaking to vacancy--the young spirit is not listening--it is far away in chase of a merry fancy. Yet when, after many days, that boy reaches some crisis of being, the sudden remembrance of this very word may startle him as if a sweeping spectre spoke, and save him from a crime.
III. What effects should this charge and this promise have on our faith and practice?
1. We must aim to sow the right seed. We should make unceasing search for this till we find it, and be anxious not to fall into a mistake with reference to such a primary condition of success. What, then, is the right seed? It appears to be this alone--teaching in its history and its connections the fact that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners.
2. We should aim at the best way of teaching. The main and master principle is love. The secret of Dr. Arnolds ascendency as a teacher was the love that charmed his pupils into friends. Shining through many natural disqualifications for teaching, love will enlighten and enchant. Love will also, more than anything else, tend to overpower what disqualifies, and create efficiency. It will set mind in motion. It will endow the plain-tongued man with heavenly eloquence.
3. We should aim to look to the right quarter for success. We are not to forget that God gives the increase, and that man alone, like the cypher alone, is nothing. He is not able to manufacture a single seed, nor to give it a particle of vitality, but only to sow it.
4. We should aim to use the right rule for estimating success. It is true that Bread cast upon the waters will be found after many days: but these words contain no assurance that it will be found on earth. It may not reappear in the earthly lifetime of the sower, but, as an unseen spirit, he may watch it spring from age to age. (C. Stanford, D. D.)
Certainties and uncertainties
I. There are certainties and uncertainties in reference to God.
1. God worketh all. His wisdom plans, His power executes, and His love reigns over all.
2. The method is unknown.
II. There are certainties and uncertainties in reference to providence.
1. Mans agency is subordinate. There are things certain belonging to man as the subject, minister, interpreter, symbol of God and of Providence.
(1) Activity is the distinction of man.
(2) The world must go back unless man will work.
2. Man must work according to certain laws. Cast thy bread upon the waters, etc. It is not certain you shall reap all you sow, but it is absolutely certain you cannot reap unless you sow.
III. There are certainties in reference to society. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, etc.
1. That men have certain moral and spiritual duties to discharge.
2. That the latent evil of the human heart is liable to explosion.
Conclusion:--
1. Cultivate as much as possible your thinking powers.
2. Let not She uncertainties connected with Providence tempt you either to indolence or to despondency.
3. Work in faith through the power of God. (Caleb Morris.)
The social agency of good men
All men, whatever their creed, character, or conduct, have a social agency. No man liveth unto himself. The text indicates the kind of agency that a thoroughly good man exerts upon his race.
I. Divinely trustful. Faith in God and His eternal laws is the mainspring in all the efforts of a good mans life. He is ruled by principles, not by results. He looks, not at the things that are temporal, but at those things that are eternal: he walks, not by sight, but by faith.
II. Eminently beneficent. What he gives out is not stones or chaff, but bread, corn, the life of the world. Like a seed--
1. His every act has life in it. His every effort is an embodiment of a living conviction. The efforts of others are mere chaff.
2. His every act has propagating power in it. It is a seed that will germinate, multiply. One really good act has proved the seed of millions of noble efforts.
3. His every act has a helpful power in it. It supplies moral bread for the world.
III. Inevitably remunerative. Thou shalt find it after many days. The reward will not come at once. You cannot force moral vegetation. But, though slow, it will come. Thou shalt find it. A good man, says Carlyle, is ever a creative mystic centre of goodness. A good thing done 3,000 years ago works now, and will work through all endless times and years. No good effort has ever been lost, or ever can be. It is a Divine incarnation, and more imperishable than the stars. (Homilist.)
Bowing on the waters; or, the reward of unselfish beneficence
I. A precious deposit. That which is to be parted with is not seed merely, but bread, i.e. in an anticipative and inclusive sense. If the husbandman would have increase he must sow again in faith, and commit himself to a watchful Providence. In commerce, too, it is exemplified: a man invests in land or in bonds which have no present market value; but his business sagacity tells him they will have in the course of years, and if he himself may not benefit by the venture, his son will. The capital the manufacturer sinks in plant, etc., has the same significance. It is in the realm of ideas, in fact, that the saying is most manifestly verified. The thinker stakes his reputation, comfort, life even, upon the realization of his doctrines, which are the most cherished embodiment of his spirit.
II. An uncertain receptacle. Upon the waters. The text seems to encourage an almost wanton openhandedness in beneficence. Is it so? If there is one phase of traditional alms-giving which the modern spirit deprecates more than another, it is its indiscriminateness. We not only desire to certify to ourselves the fitting objects of our compassion, but to follow them into the actual surroundings of their daily life, that the ultimate aim of our assistance may be secured. When the starving man has been relieved, modern charity inquires whether any fault in the social system deprived him of his share of natures bounty, any unjust advantage taken by the strong over the weak, any rudeness or want of culture in himself wrecking his virtue and his habits of thrift. To this we have to reply that--
1. Neither this nor any other Scripture forbids inquiry. It would, on the contrary, be true to the genius of Christianity to satisfy ourselves as far as possible that our alms is well bestowed, and that it is given in such a way as to secure the utmost advantage to the recipient.
2. When every practicable security has been taken charitable help and spiritual service will still be attended with much uncertainty. The methods of the mathematician are not applicable to Christian enterprise to any appreciable extent. No one can pretend to be an infallible reader of char-actor.
3. It is often the duty of the Christian to work and to give even when he cannot be certain as to results.
III. A certain return.
1. After many days--a sober promise, but true to the law of Moses. Even in this life, according to the Decalogue, the reward was at least to begin. Late or soon it is sure to come to all who are earnest and unselfish. God never loses sight of our work of faith.
2. Shall find--therein consists the romantic interest of the spiritual venture. What will it be for some who have laboured in the Church on earth with scarce any visible result, but whose welcome to heaven will be from the tips of one born here and another born there through services that seemed without fruit! (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Spiritual efforts not lost
There can be nothing clearer from the Bible than that, though man can deserve nothing from the Creator, so that his best actions, if tried by their own worth, would procure him only wrath, nevertheless he will be tried by his works, and receive a recompense of which those works shall determine the extent. God, in His infinite condescension and love, has resolved to deal with us as though we had been able to deserve at His hands; proportioning what He bestows be what we have done in His cause, though all the while it is only as a free gift that we receive the least of those elements which constitute future happiness. And when this principle has been settled--the principle that, though we cannot merit from God, our actions are to decide our condition--we may speak of good works as hereafter to be rewarded, because they are as inevitably to regulate our portion as though that portion were a recompense in the strictest sense of the term. And if, then, it be lawful to speak of reward, we may certainly speak of the bread cast upon the waters as found after many days. It will very frequently happen that we have no moans whatever of ascertaining that any beneficial results have been produced by our most earnest and disinterested labours; and it is quite possible, moreover, that no such results have yet followed, and that none will follow. The utmost which many of the most devoted servants of God can affirm when they come to die is, that they have been diligently casting bread upon the waters. They have received no testimony of the usefulness of the bread which they have thus east--no testimony that the examples they have set, the exhortations they have uttered, the Bibles they have distributed, have been instrumental to the adding a single member to the visible Church. And are they on this account to conclude that they have made a wholly fruitless outlay of zeal and exertion? It were indeed a most erroneous impression. The attempt to benefit others, even if it spring from a pure love to God, may utterly fail, as far as its professed objects are concerned; but it cannot fail to be beneficial to ourselves. And when at the last those who have gladly spent and been spear in the service of God, and whose toils and sacrifices have never been sweetened by the knowledge that they were effectual in accomplishing the ends for which they were endured--when these men shall receive their portion from their Judge, there will be given the most effectual demonstration that God is not unrighteous to forget their work of labour and love. To every man will be allotted a recompense, to every sacrifice a compensation. But we have thus only vindicated the statement of our text on the extreme supposition, namely, that our labours to do good are so wholly ineffectual, that they produce no advantageous results to those whose benefit was their object. And we call this the extreme supposition, because we believe that ordinarily where God has prompted to exertion and to sacrifice He crowns them with some measure of success, though He may not always allow that success to be known. The quantity of good wrought by this or that agency is commonly amongst those secrets which only the future can unfold. And we can believe that this unfolding will be one of the most surprising and animating transactions of the last judgment. The minister who has been oppressed up to his dying hour by the melancholy conviction that his warnings, his entreaties, his expostulations, have been lost on his congregation, may be hailed by many, as the instrument of their conversion. And parents who have had to struggle with that heaviest of trials, the ungodliness of children, and who have not had the least ground to hope that their remonstrances and tears and prayers have wrought any effect upon their reprobate offspring, they may be met hereafter by the sons or the daughters whose contempt of religion entered as iron into their souls, but into whose hearts their admonition had sunk notwithstanding the apparent insensibility. Now, this naturally leads to our taking that view of the text which is practically of the greatest importance. We wish you to regard the text as a promise--a promise which is admirably fitted to guard you against becoming weary in well-doing. When considered under this point of view, the words are of extraordinary value, for they just meet that feeling of despondency which those who labour for God are often tempted to entertain. It is evident that we might apply the words to every endeavour to benefit our fellow-men by imparting to them that bread which came down from heaven. The text contains a decisive assertion that such endeavours shall not be unavailing. But, at the same time, by speaking of many days, it warns us alike against impatience and despondency. And it should lead us, in every case in which there seems to be no result from our labours, to examine whether we have faithfully complied with its precept; whether there have been diligence in casting the bread; and whether it has really been bread that we have east. Of course if there have been a defect in either of these particulars, it is no marvel that the promise has not been made good, and we cannot but think it in a high degree probable that much of the apparent failure in the fulfilment of this promise must be traced to non-compliance with its conditions. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
After many days
It does not seem to be a very lofty precept in the Preachers sense of it. He does not intend by it what we might mean by Christian charity, but rather a doing what you can with your own interests in view. Make your kindness a sort of investment. Be kind in every way you can, even in most unlikely ways, because they may turn out unexpectedly to be profitable to yourself. But we shall take the precept in a higher light, in the light of our Lords teaching, as when He said, for example, He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.
1. No work done in Christs name is ever in vain. The tenor of all Scripture is in harmony with that. Gods word shall not return unto Him void. And Jesus said that the giver even of a cup of cold water in His name should not be without his reward. The great waste of loving labour in human history, labour spent on unworthy causes, has often been remarked upon. Mark Rutherford gives as an instance the love and sacrifice that were lavished on the Jacobite cause. The devotion to that cause on the part of many was wonderful. The Jacobite songs still live because they breathe a fervour of loyalty and a strength of attachment which were vividly real in their day. But the cause is a lost one. It is all loves labour lost, and it is pathetic to think of the waste of love connected with it. Not so is it with the cause of Christ. What an amount has been spent on that cause in the course of the ages! What an amount of sacrifice made and suffering borne and loving labour endured! Useless, fruitless, we might have said many a time and oft. But not one of Christs countless followers would have recalled one jot or tittle of it all--not in the midst of their toil and travail, not in their final hour, and not assuredly now when they stand around the throne. From the very first it brought to them an immediate return in soul-satisfaction. It brought what the world could neither give nor take away. It was a saying of Cromwells that he goes furthest who knows not where he is going. It is not business-like to know not whither you are going, and he is not likely to go far who should enter upon business in that fashion. But in the spiritual realm it is different. The great thing there is to follow the Divine leading, and to sow even though it be in tears, trusting Him, who gives the command, that all will be well, and that in His own good time there shall come a reaping time of joy.
2. The text suggests to us also the blessing that may be hid in delay. It is not best for our spiritual life that we should always get immediate returns for our labours. The transaction which is done to-day, and whose results can be pocketed to-morrow, is not usually of the kind that gives strength and beauty to the character. Macaulay objected to school-prizes because the reward was too immediate. The true reward of hearty study comes to be realized only after many days. Is it not so also in business? The man who prospers too easily is not likely thereby to develop the finest type of character. In spiritual work immediate and abundant reaping tends sometimes to be productive of spiritual pride, to a mans own undoing and to the undoing, probably, of the work itself. The noblest Christians are those who most markedly have in their patience won their souls. (J. S. Mayer, M. A.)
Cast thy bread upon the waters
Some think that this image is borrowed from sea-trading. The merchant sent his ship over the waters, he lost sight of it altogether, and in those days the quickest passage on record was unknown. Solomon had a navy, and once in three years it returned, bringing gold and silver, apes and peacocks. The merchant of that period had to wait long, to scan the horizon oft, before he was greeted with the sight of his returning barque. So if we do good to men, it is like launching some precious craft on the deep, which at best must be long before its return gladdens the eye. And some of the work we do seems specially doubtful, and calls for exceptional patience; it is not so much as if we sent a ship to India or China, but rather as if we put our heart and treasure into a fleet which must dare the dark and icy seas of the North Pole. But even then it shall return. Thou shalt find it after many days. Your work shall not be unavailing, your barque shall not be shipwrecked. To do any work with ardour and thoroughness and perseverance we must have a strong assurance that it will succeed, and in the noblest work we have that assurance. The seed that was sown generations ago is bearing fruit to-day, and it shall be so once more with the seed we sow. The ship we send forth with trembling, that is never reported from any foreign port, that is never spoken with by a passing sail, that sends no message in sealed bottle on the waves, that is frozen fast in abysses of frost and darkness, shall nevertheless return, bringing treasure beyond all ivory, pearls, or gold. On celestial cliffs we shall hail argosies that we fitted out and sent over stormy seas. Every kind word, every unselfish act, every true prayer, tells, and tells deeply, abidingly. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 7 Ecc_11:1. Cast thy bread upon the waters.] “Bread,” rendered…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Ecc_11:1. Cast thy bread upon the waters.] “Bread,” rendered in Isa_28:28, “bread corn.” It has been supposed that there is an allusion to the manner of sowing the seed-corn of the rice plant during the time of the flooding of the fields. But it is doubtful whether this kind of grain was cultivated in Judea in the times of Solomon. The peculiarity of Egyptian agriculture may have suggested this image, where the seed is sown literally “upon the waters” before the inundation of the Nile has subsided. Perhaps the writer had no peculiar usage of agriculture in his mind, but by a bold figure represents a free-handed benevolence which does not too nicely calculate cost and results.
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Ecc_11:2. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight.] “Seven and eight” and similar combinations are often used in the sense of undefined plurality. (Mich. Ecc_5:5, Pro_30:15, Amo_1:3.) The meaning here is clear: seven must not be the limit, but rather “seven and more.”
Ecc_11:3. And if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.] This figure is suitable to represent the idea of irrevocable Divine judgments overtaking man; but it may be doubted whether it requires that idea. The more probable signification, and more suitable to the theme of these verses, is given by Lange: “The utility of the tree remains the same, whether it falls upon the ground of a possessor bordering it to the north or to the south; if it does not profit the one, it does the other. And it is just so with the gifts of love; their fruit is not lost, although they do not always come to light in the manner intended.”
Ecc_11:5. The way of the spirit.] Lit. The way of the wind. The same word signifies both wind and spirit. The double meaning may be taken as most in harmony with the latter part of the verso. We cannot track and discover all the mysteries of nature. (Joh_3:8.) Nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child.] The formation of man’s physical nature in the womb has always been regarded as peculiarly mysterious. (Psa_139:13-16.)
Ecc_11:6. And in the evening with-hold not thine hand.] Lit. “towards evening.” Be diligent both early and late. Either this or that.] Either the labour of the morning or of the evening.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Ecc_11:1-6
THE PRECEPTS OF BENEVOLENCE
Benevolence is goodness considered, not as an internal state, but as an active habit. As such, it needs the direction of principles and rules, otherwise this genial impulse may degenerate into softness, and fail in various ways of producing the highest possible good. Precepts and rules are but the true method of performing any work or duty when that method is interpreted in language. Benevolence has its precepts.
I. Learn to Venture Much. (Ecc_11:1.) We are not certain that our kindest works shall have their proper effect, either in winning the gratitude or securing the permanent benefit of others. In the moral. as well as in the natural, world, there is an appearance of waste and failure. Yet the impulse of benevolence must not from hence be discouraged, nor wait for the time of action till it has the fullest assurance of success. We must learn to venture much, for we have often to cast our seeds of kindness “upon the waters,” not knowing whither they will be carried, often, too, with as little prospect of reaping any ultimate good as if we scattered them upon the barren foam of the sea. The prospect of immediate success must not be our motive. We have to act upon a higher and a nobler principle.
1. We must learn to do good for its own sake. It destroys the nobility of goodness if we are anxious to ascertain what profit we shall have. Moral action that depends entirely upon the spur of reward only belongs to the lowest degrees of spiritual life. The angels do all for love and nothing for reward. The highest virtue is bold to act, indulges in the liberties of a free spirit, and is contented with the luxury of doing good.
2. We must have faith in the imperishableness of good deeds. It is true that the promise of immortality is only to the doer himself. “He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1Jn_2:17.) Much of his work must perish, tainted as it is with human infirmity, and imperfect. Yet all that is of sterling value in it shall abide. Good deeds springing from the fount of purity and unselfishness can never die. They are preserved for ever in the favourable remembrance of God. Even in the present life we are permitted to see some of the fruits and rewards of them. The long delay of their due recognition and recompense may discourage us, but if we are faithful and unwearied in duty we shall see fruit “after many days.”
3. We must consider that the issues and rewards of our life are with God. In allowing our goodness freely to spend itself, we are imitating the property of our Heavenly Father, and we may safely leave with Him our keeping and our reward. He knows all the issues of the good man’s life, and all the riches of his sure recompense in eternity. These are greatly hidden from us here; therefore, in the meantime, we must learn the uses of that faith which ventures all. Venture is the very soul of the religious life—the attitude of the righteous towards the great things of God yet to be revealed; and the spirit of it penetrates all the forms of duty.
II. Do not adopt a Quantitative Standard of Duty. (Ecc_11:2.) We must not order our benevolence by a cold, arithmetical law. If the purpose to bless seven candidates for our good offices be the limit we have set to our charity, that limit should not be so final and irreversible as to prevent us from extending our kindness yet to another, if he also stands in need of our favour.
1. True goodness is above the tyranny of minute maxims and rules. That portion of moral conduct which consists in doing good to others has its own laws; but these are wide. Like the laws of nature, they are general and all-pervading. They cannot be represented by a severe and formal code, which does not rise above the letter, and knows nothing of that generous and free spirit of goodness which giveth life. The loving heart disdains the suggestions of that austere and cynical spirit of economy which says, “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” (Joh_12:5.) The highest goodness acknowledges no law but the law of love.
2. True goodness often secures a grateful return of favours. “Thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.” It is, therefore, wise and prudent to create an interest beforehand, so that we may have succour in the day of calamity. We know not what disaster may cast us upon the kindness of others. Let us, therefore, by the deeds of love, make them our friends now. There is a reward which comes to the good man from society. In the time of prosperity he needs it for his encouragement; but in the time of adversity, it may be his very health and life.
3. True goodness has always some beneficial results. (Ecc_11:3.) Through the ingratitude of mankind, and the moral perversity that is in the world, our good deeds may often seem to fail. Yet they will have some grateful issue—some precious results which cannot altogether die. These may fall out in quite a different direction from the course of our expectation. In any way, there will be benefit and blessing. The utility of the tree is not destroyed whether it falls to the north or to the south. In any case it will be a profit to some one.
III. Do not Act by Constraint. (Ecc_11:3.)
1. The constraint of law can never produce the highest goodness. It is possible for a man to do the deeds of kindness, not so much from love as from a sense of right. In the same proportion as he acts herein from any external constraint does he fail to rise to the true nobility of goodness. “The quality of mercy is not strained.”
2. The only constraint should be that of love. If the clouds be “full of rain” they must burst in showers of blessing upon the earth. They are the natural image of a heart that can hold out no more, that blesses by a sweet constraint, and in doing good to others relieves itself. The highest natures are not ashamed to own the gracious necessity under which they are laid by love.
IV. Be not Over-Cautious. (Ecc_11:4.) He who is always watching with nervous anxiety the wind and rain, and must have the most perfect conditions before he begins his work, can only meet with but poor success. There is a certain boldness about true feeling that does not wait till all is clear and perfectly ascertained. In the uncertainties of the present life, there is a moral obligation to act upon imperfect evidence, upon assurances whose solidity is not quite beyond a doubt. The impulse of affection and love will often carry a man beyond the warrant of the logical understanding. He who is timid and hesitating cannot accomplish much god. It is best to follow the promptings of the generous heart, whithersoever they will lead, without waiting for that assurance of certainty which is never perfectly given to man in this life. In moral action, over-refinements arc dangerous—they are impracticable. Therefore, he who waits for action till the most complete conditions favour him may have long to wait, and must suffer many disadvantages.
1. He must lose many opportunities of doing good. If a man does not attempt the duty lying immediately before him, the opportunity may slip away for ever. He must be poor in good works who makes too careful a selection of what he shall do.
2. Such delay tends to paralyse effort. Caution is a valuable principle when used to secure accuracy in moral conduct, and to enable a man to walk surefootedly in this present life. But over-caution amounts to a disease, relaxes the sinews of effort, and impairs the moral force. He who puts off the doing of good actions, from time to time, loses the healthfulness which a vigorous activity would give him, and in the end scarcely accomplishes anything.
V. Be Earnest and Untiring. (Ecc_11:6.) Earnestness and perseverance are the sure conditions of ultimate success. The holy examples of all the wise and good, and the solemn verities amidst which we now live, alike enforce these upon us. This earnestness and untiring devotion to every good work implies—
1. A wide and varied action. It extends throughout every part of our working time—from “morning” till “evening.” It is distributed over an ample field, and embraces opportunities on every side. It implies—
2. A surer and more plentiful reward. If we sow with a liberal and diligent hand, some seeds will be sure to spring up. We may be discouraged by the appearance of a waste of power. God may destroy some of the seeds we sow, but He will preserve others. The work of the morning, or the work of the evening, may perish, yet we may fondly hope that one of them, at least, will succeed. In any case, the diligent worker shall see some profit of his labour. Then, too, the success may happen to be very great. “Thou knowest not … whether they both shall be alike good.” The law still holds in every case, “He that soweth plentifully shall reap plentifully.”
VI. Consider that God often Hides from Us the Success of Our Work. (Ecc_11:5.) It is not possible for us to know the full extent of the impressions we make upon the minds and hearts of others. The good seed we sow may be borne very far, and quite beyond our observation and knowledge ripen into precious fruit. God, in this thing also, does hide Himself. Our works, as well as the deepest things of our soul, are laid up with Him, awaiting that Judgment which shall make all things manifest. The labours of love cannot be fully reckoned up in this world. This ignorance of the whole cause of our success is—
1. A necessity of our present condition. Man is still the greatest mystery to himself. The delicacy of the human spirit is such that it is impossible to say how far it is affected by the words and acts of another. In our present imperfect stage we cannot have full light either upon the reasons of God’s dealings, or upon the issues of our conduct. This ignorance, in both cases, may be a necessary discipline. It is suitable to a life of faith, and for perfecting the grace of humility.
2. It is analogous to our ignorance of nature’s mysteries. We can observe the effects and direction of the wind, but cannot tell “whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.” (Joh_3:8.) We have no faculty to observe where the wind arises, and where it breathes out its last gasp. In like manner we are ignorant of the mystery of organic life—most notably of human life. Science can do much in classifying facts and reducing them to general laws, but cannot arrive at the ultimate mystery. How our physical nature is developed in the darkness of the silent womb, and prepared for the light and work of life, is still inexplicable to us. If we are ignorant of what is so intimately connected with ourselves, how can we presume to know all the work that God is doing in the world? Let us stand in awe and reverence before the depths of Divine knowledge, which conceal so much from our most piercing sight. Enough for man to know, that there is duty to be done, there are safe principles to act upon, and all faithful workers are sure of reward.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecc_11:1. Suppose that you are in the South Sea Isles, where the bread-fruit grows, and that by chance, or on purpose, you scatter some of its precious bunches on the sea. At the moment you may feel that they are lost; but, should the winds and waters waft them to one of those reef islands with which such seas are thickly studded, the wandering seeds may get washed ashore, and beneath those brilliant suns may quickly grow to a bread-fruit forest. And should some disaster long years after wreck you on that reef, when these trees are grown and their clusters ripe, you may owe your sustenance to the bread which you cast on the waters long ago. Such is God’s husbandry. Do the right deed. Do it in faith, and in prayer commend it to the care of God. And though the waves of circumstance may soon waft it beyond your ken, they only carry it to the place prepared by Him. And whether on an earthly or heavenly shore, the result will be found, and the reaper will rejoice that he once was a sower [Dr. J. Hamilton].
In the eyes of mere economists and calculators, many deeds of love may seem but a reckless waste, and the hope of any real advantage or fruit of them a vain presumption. But the same God who gives to the good man the impulse of duty also gives him his faith. Thus he learns to work beyond the warrant of appearances, and to leave his reward with God.
The seeds of goodness, scattered by a loving hand in the most unpropitious circumstances, may yet become the life of many.
In the course of history, the corruptions of the Church have grown so great that the times required bold men who would venture to cast their seeds of truth upon the waters that, to common eyes, only seemed to give them sepulchre. An ocean of prejudices, prescriptive authority, venerable fictions, and worldly interests, was ready to swallow up their truth. But the seeds they sowed found nourishment and the favour of heaven; they have ripened into successive harvests, and have become the life and rejoicing of many.
The ingratitude of men may seem unprofitably to engulf the labours of love, yet those labours cannot entirely fail of reward. The least possible result is, that they return with blessing into the bosom of the doer.
Ecc_11:2. Miss no opportunity of performing kind actions. Though you should have bestowed your bounty on seven—on a number which you might deem sufficient—should an eighth present himself, do something for him also, for you know not what evil shall be upon earth. You know not in this world of mutation how soon you may be the pensioner instead of the almoner. You know not how soon you may be glad of a crust from those who are at present thankful for your crumbs. Beneficence is the best insurance [Dr. J. Hamilton].
We are not in danger of erring on the side of large bounty. Our natural selfishness inclines us rather to keep within the mark than to go beyond it.
The best use we can make of the talents committed to us is by their means to secure friends.
In the time of our prosperity we may not perceive what stores of love our kindness has caused to be laid up for us. It needs the occasion of our calamity to unlock them.
We can store up mechanical energy, so that it remains quiescent till such time as we have need of it for effective work. In like manner we can store up for ourselves the energy of love in the hearts of men, and in the day of our distress it will become a power to bless and save.
In what opposite ways may the same consideration be applied? The very circumstance which Solomon here urges as a reason for present and generous liberality, the covetous worldly-minded man pleads as an apology for hoarding. I know not, he says, “what evil may come upon the earth.” I must, therefore, take good care of what I have got. Who can tell but I may otherwise come to dependence, and die poor myself? A prudent precaution to prevent our becoming a burden upon others in the time of age and infirmity, is by no means to be condemned. But it is an awful perversion, when the apprehension of future possibilities is made an excuse for griping avarice. How much more noble the use that is made, by the spirit of God, of our ignorance of the future! Instead of withholding from others on this ground, says Solomon, rather give while you have to give, and give liberally: lose not the precious opportunity; “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” Enjoy, then, the pleasure of present beneficence [Wardlaw].
Ecc_11:3. As the clouds are formed, not as an end, in themselves, but that they may water the earth, so God bestows His bounties upon men that they may bless others.
The good heart owns no necessity but that of its own loving nature.
A cloud full of rain, and yet leaving the earth beneath it parched and desolate, would be an anomaly in the natural world; and is not a griping, narrow-souled, selfish rich man an anomaly of the same kind? God has given him the means of making “his very paths drop fatness.” … In what manifest opposition, then, to the ways and to the will of God does such a man live, when no drop of this plenteous rain is emptied upon the thirsty earth! when he lives only to hoard and heap up his accumulating treasures; or to lay them out only for the gratification of his own vanity and ambition, or of his sensual ease and pleasure? Such a man is a kind of monstrosity in the moral world—fit to be the object of no other feelings than those of contempt and pity on the part of his fellows; and certain to inherit the displeasure and wrath of Him, whose tender mercies are over all His works [Buchanan].
Our bounty can never be entirely lost. If we do good in all directions, we shall find the reward of it in some direction, though not, perhaps, where we had most looked for it.
Though there be discretion required in charity to know the worth of the persons on whom it is bestowed (Psa_112:5), yet where the intention of the giver is honest, and endeavours to discern what manner of persons they are to whom he gives, though he may be mistaken, and let his charity fall upon the worst, his reward shall be no less than if it fell upon the better sort; for thus also may this similitude be turned into an argument for charity, as holding forth the certainty of the reward thereof, whether the objects of it be good or bad [Nisbet].
Ecc_11:4. It is easy to find excuses for the neglect of our duty.
Timidity is a source of moral weakness. Trembling caution can accomplish very little. There is a dauntlessness about faith which does not wait till all is most favourable.
If we are never to do an act of kindness till we are perfectly sure that it will not be abused, and that it will really and fully accomplish the purpose we intend by it, we shall never perform any such act at all. If I am never to give an alms until I know the whole history, past and future, of the individual who is to receive; if I am never to befriend one who is in difficulty and distress till I can be positively assured that he will prove himself worthy of it; if I am never to bestow my money on any undertaking for promoting the temporal or spiritual welfare of my fellow-men till I have infallible proof that there shall be no mistake committed in the management of it, and that it shall effect all the good which its authors are looking for and aiming at, I may as well resolve at once to do nothing in the way of spending my worldly substance for the interests of religion or humanity at all [Buchanan].
Certainty is not attainable in the business of common life, therefore men are content to act upon probabilities. Why should they require more in moral duties?
The great preachers of the Gospel have had the courage to sow the seed of the Word when the temper of the time seemed altogether unfavourable. They did not wait till all were willing hearers.
Ecc_11:5. The way of the human spirit from the Creator’s power to the consciousness of life, thought, and feeling, and the manner of its strange union with this material frame, are mysteries of which human knowledge can give no perfect account. We can no more determine the ultimate facts of it than we can distinctly mark the place of the rising and expiring of the viewless wind.
The old mystery of life, which has puzzled the thoughtful in all ages, still returns. God retains the secret as a standing challenge to man.
Throughout all the seeming nature there remains this mysterious, generative, life-giving process in the vegetable, the animal, and especially in the human birth, as a constant symbol of the supernatural presence, or of the old unspent creative force, still having its witness in continually recurring acts, ever testifying to the great Divine secret that baffles science, and to the explanation of which she cannot even make an approach [Dr. T. Lewis, in Lange].
Let us apply ourselves to the duty lying near us, and for the assurance of reward and success be content to know that there is an invisible power, accomplishing in secret and in darkness the will of heaven.
Our spirits might well faint amidst all the discouragements of duty, were we not assured that somewhere there is perfect knowledge and never-failing power. This is the stable centre of the soul.
Ecc_11:6. We cannot calculate beforehand the success, in special instances, of our labours to do good. The result will, doubtless, show that there has been some waste of power. But this should not discourage us.
We may be tempted to try nothing by the morbid apprehension of failure. The better course is to calculate on some of our attempts failing; and on this account, that we may have the greater probability of succeeding in some, to make them the more numerous; whilst, at the same time, we bring to bear upon every one of them the entire amount of prudence and forethought we possess, that, as far as lieth in us, we may ensure a favourable issue to them all [Wardlaw].
For sowing—for doing well, every time serveth; and who knoweth which shall do best in the acceptance of God, and in the advancing of our blessedness? Be, therefore, diligent and sow continually. It is not in sowing as it is in buying and selling; in those, things are done by weight and by measure; but in sowing? there is a scattering abroad in a free and full manner. Wherefore, when it is said of the righteous man, “He hath dispensed, he hath given to the poor,” Theodoret noteth upon it, “He imitateth those that sow their seed abundantly, scattering it about in hope of filling their hands again” [Jermin].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 This text is generally regarded as an exhortation to…
Ecc 11:1
This text is generally regarded as an exhortation to charity, in that restricted sense of the word in which it is equivalent to almsgiving. But it is plainly capable of a far wider extension. It represents by a very striking figure the duties and the consequent hopes of every one of us in every one of our relations towards God and towards man.
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I. The text teaches the lesson of obedience to present duty and of patience as to the future result. There is a sowing which is done by each one of us for himself: a sowing to the flesh or else a sowing to the Spirit; and according as our sowing is of the one kind or the other, so will our harvest be one of happiness or of misery. Now we can all understand that to sow to the Spirit is a thing which requires great patience. If we look only at the immediate result, we must be disappointed. It is only "after many days"—"in due season," as St. Paul expresses the same thought—that we shall reap if we faint not.
II. One great part of this sowing to the Spirit consists in our conduct towards God, the other in our conduct towards one another. (1) Suppose that one of you sets himself heartily to seek God. God never led you to expect that a few hours’ or a few days’ anxiety would set at rest for ever your prospect of salvation. He bids you seek Him, and He assures you that in due time He will be found of you. He bids you trust in His guidance, even when He is unseen. Let your comfort be in every time of hope deferred the animating and stirring exhortation on which we have dwelt: "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." (2) Withhold not the word that aims at a brother’s good. It may well be spoken humbly, cautiously, reluctantly, gently; if not, it will lose its influence, and will be wrong in you. You may believe to the very end that it was all in vain; and yet in the sight of a God who sees the heart that one word may have been the turning-point for an immortal soul between life and death. Infinite will be the joy hereafter of having been instrumental but partially, but remotely, in the salvation of but one soul. "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days."
C. J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 509.
I. The charge is, "Cast thy bread upon the waters." (1) Its first reference is to seed, for this is what is meant by "bread." "The seed is the word of God." Only from the lips of Christ and from those whose utterances were instinct with the light of Christ’s own Spirit do we obtain those gleanings of precious and suggestive thought which God will vitalise and make the seeds of heaven. (2) A second reference in the charge is to the sowing: "Cast" the seed. Weeds are self-dispersive, and have a frightful facility of growth; but fruits are God’s blessing on labour. The winds of circumstance may float and scatter the thistledown of sin; but the hand of intelligence and piety must sow the seed of truth. (3) The third reference is to the place where the seed is to be cast: "Cast it upon the waters." As the seeds fell on the soft and porous soil beneath the water, your hints may drop into yielding and receptive natures.
II. The promise: "Thou shalt find it after many days." "Thou shalt find it;" therefore you may be at first inclined to think it lost. "After many days;" therefore you need not be strengthless with the chill of discouragement if it should not be found at once. "That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die." It must pass through the action of some kind of mental chemistry; it must mix with other influences; it must long unfurl and ramify in mystery and silence: and you are not to faint because you are unable to reap in sowing-time.
III. What effects should this charge and this promise have on our faith and practice? (1) We must aim to sow the right seed. The right seed appears to be this alone: teaching in its history and its connections the fact that "Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners." (2) We should aim at the best way of teaching. (3) We should aim to look to the right quarter for success. (4) We should aim to use the right rule for estimating success. (5) Let us aim to obey this message from God in our daily sphere of life.
C. Stanford, Central Truths, p. 315.
References: Ecc 11:1.—New Manual of Sunday-school Addresses, p. 271; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 351; Homiletic Magazine, vol. viii., p. 199; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 343; J. Hamilton, The Royal Preacher, p. 197. Ecc 11:1-6.—R. Buchanan, Ecclesiastes: its Meaning and Lessons, p. 391; T. C. Finlayson, A Practical Exposition of Ecclesiastes p. 239. Ecc 11:1-10.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 222.
Ecc 11:3
I. In the first proverb in chap. xi.—"Cast thy bread upon the waters," etc.—do we not see, no less than in the parable of the sower, the common work of man as a tiller of the ground turned into the symbol and token of his life as an heir of God’s kingdom? The words of the Preacher say to each man in the common daily tasks in which his life is spent, to each in his vocation and ministry, Do that which is right and true always; let acts of kindness be scattered freely. The seed never fails of fruit somewhere or at some time. The harvest may be a long way off, yet after many days thou shalt find.
II. The next verse gives in part the interpretation of the parable, in part presents a new one. "Give a portion to seven;" yes, and if an eighth appear at thy gate, send him not away empty: let him be a welcome guest to thee. Do good not according to the measure which thou appointest to thyself, but to the opportunities that God gives thee.
III. The text is in perfect harmony with this teaching. Before, there was the earnest call to well-doing; here the man who would use his life rightly and be what God meant him to be is warned against the perils of the overanxious, over-reflective temper. All the great thinkers of the world tell us, as with one voice, that the future which God appoints will come, for good or evil, joy or sorrow; that it is unwise in any man to anticipate the worst. Let him do the right thing at the present hour, and then he has done all that in him lies to make his path clear, and he may leave the rest to God. No temper is more fatal to energy, manliness, usefulness, than this of anxiety and fear.
E. H. Plumptre, Kings College Sermons, p. 40.
References: Ecc 11:3.—J. Baldwin Brown, Pulpit Analyst, vol. iii., p. 189. Ecc 11:4.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 292; H. P. Liddon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 163. Ecc 11:5.—Ibid., vol. x., p. 55.
Ecc 11:6
This text lays a general command upon us all that each in his vocation and calling should, as part of the work of every day, watch for and make use of every possible opportunity of helping those around him in the way to godliness, and, like St. Andrew in the early times of the Gospel, of bringing his brother to Jesus.
I. There are no such things as trifles in the life of a Christian. What we call trivial occasions are the very occasions which the precepts and examples of Scripture would have us turn to account. We must carry our religion about with us, so that its light shall be always shining before men, in such sort as that they shall see it sanctifying our business, and hallowing our pleasures, and pervading our whole character. God’s law is not to be "hidden," not to be "far off;" but it is to be kept very nigh, "in thy mouth and in thy heart." So ran the command; and the reason of the injunction was added: "in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it."
II. Jesus Christ never missed an opportunity. He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. Men might hear Him gladly, or they might walk no more with Him; they might hear, or they might forbear: but He was so on the watch to draw them to Him that no chance was lost. The more we shrink from trying to lead others to good, the less we are like Christ.
F. E. Paget, Helps and Hindrances to the Christian Life, vol. ii., p. 85.
References: Ecc 11:6.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 276; Parker, City Temple, vol. i., p. 10; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 266.
Ecc 11:7
I. Good-temper is the result of a well-ordered character, in which each quality is so tempered as to act well with the rest, and to minister to the rightful and easy activity of the whole. It may be born with a man in whom the elements are kindly mixed; but for the most part it has to be won. And we can only win it by daily sacrifice of the impulsive, impertinent, and selfish demands of our different qualities, appetites, and passions to be first. If we work at this quietly, we shall get our character into harmony; and the result of that is good-temper, sunlight in heart and home.
II. There is another thing which goes with good-temper. It is that freedom is given to each member of the house to grow and express their growth in acts and words, freedom within the limits necessary for the pleasure and good of the rest. We are bound not only to prefer one another, but also to prefer them "in honour:" that is, to try and find out what each in the household does best, and therefore enjoys most; to find out in doing what things they will most shine and delight others, and to help them towards these things; to suppress ourselves in order that we may be able to make others appear in honour, and be better liked, reverenced, and loved by ourselves and all. This is true courtesy. It is its very flower; it is the essence of Christ’s teaching set to music in daily life.
III. If you would have sunlight in your home, see that you have work in it, that you work yourself and set others to work.
Nothing makes moroseness and heavy-heartedness in a house so fast as idleness. What said Christ? "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Sunlight comes with work.
IV. The same results that follow sunshine in nature follow its moral image in a home. In such a home there is: (1) light; we see things as they are, and in their right relations. (2) Colour. The smallest flower shines, and enjoys, and expands in sunlight; the smallest child gives forth its special colour, and scent, and charm, and good in a home which is warm and bright with love.
This is the picture and these are the causes of a sunny home. Truly its light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold its sun. The light that lights it is the same light that enlightens the life of God. His sunlight is love and work; and if we would abide with Him, we must love and we must work.
S. A. Brooke, The Spirit of the Christian Life, p. 204.
Reference: Ecc 11:7.—F. O. Morris, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 214.
Ecc 11:7-8
To most men there is something very hopeless about these words, a hopelessness with which too many of us are familiar. The tone is like that of some clever, old, hardened, unloving man of the world, who says to the young, and the aspiring, and the sanguine, "Ah, it is all very well, hope, and romance, and doing wonders, like infantine diseases a painful necessity; you will soon grow out of them. There is nothing worth caring for very much; and you will soon be old and done for, and then the grave. Vanity of vanities!" This is indeed a gospel of despair. I do not think it is good teaching for the young; and more still, I do not think its prophecies need to be fulfilled. To a large extent we may decide what our old age may be.
I. "Truly the light is sweet." Yes, to those who have once known what it is, otherwise not. For in practical life, whether we deal with the realm of faith or of morals, we still find men contented dwellers in the darkness. They go on in life with the morals and the religion of their class, with a morality and religion deeply unintelligent. They go on with the work of life, and a Sunday church if quite convenient; and they reach their ambition; and they place their children; and life thins off to the end; and they are dull and drowsy, for the night is spreading over them, and they have had no religious intention to be the light of their light.
II. As in the matter of faith and opinion we need at least one interpretative principle to make us know where we are, so in practice we need one definite intention if the gloom of practical irreligion is to be driven away. That which strikes one in the phenomenon of conversion, wherever it occur, as universally present, is the concentration of the mind to one point, and the new force which comes of the concentration. A man ceases to wander aimlessly in a fog, scarcely hoping to get anywhere, unless it be to heaven when he no longer can be here—get to heaven by unintentionally stumbling into it in the dark. He now knows what he means, he now sees his object, and the path lies straight before him. And so we say that a man has "found peace;" and his character grows strong; and the consistent, well-knit life manifests the workings of a grace Divine.
III. But if men choose darkness rather than light in the matter of religious practice, equally true is it that they do so in the matter of religious faith and thought. The attitude of most men towards a new thought or a new side of an old thought is that of impatience and repugnance; they will not bear to hear it expressed and explained, but drown it in cries more forcible than intelligent. "This man speaketh blasphemy," said men of Christ; and to many a voice of God the same response has been made.
IV. From Christ we learn a rule of life, and that rule is conscientiousness. And from Christ we gain a saving light of faith for these dark days; and it is that "God is good, and His mercy endureth for ever." This light is sweeter and better far than the cynicism of disappointed age; it is a light for youth in its gladness, and for the strong man in the plenitude of his powers, and it is indeed a saving light as we feel our way to the sanctuary of the tomb.
W. Page-Roberts, Law and God, p. 52.
Ecc 11:7-9
I. Notice the reality of the contrasts presented in life. Full as life is of pathetic meanings, we are often strangely insensible to them. We may not regard them with indifference, but we fail to realise them. Life is made up of the endless play and vicissitude of circumstance, often rising into a tragic pathos. Men and women are apt to be engrossed with their own little share of life. They are unable to conceive life as a whole even in their own case, its breadth of shadow as well as of light, or how the one is meant to fit into the other, and harmonise the whole to a higher meaning than it would otherwise have. They are content with the passing hour, especially if it be an hour of enjoyment. They feel that the light is sweet, and that it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun; and beyond this their thoughts do not carry them. It is needless to say that this is an essentially irreligious frame of mind, barely a rational one. The Preacher warns us to look ever from the present to the future, from the light to the darkness, and even from the opening portals of life to a judgment to come.
II. And this points to the second and still higher view of life suggested in the text. It is not merely full of vicissitudes which should always awaken reflectiveness; but below all its vicissitudes, and behind all its joys and sorrows alike, there lies a law of retribution which is always fulfilling itself. It is only when we rise to this view of life that we rise to a truly moral or religious view of it. We must realise that all the moments of life have a Divine meaning, that they are linked together by spiritual law, and are designed to constitute a spiritual education for a higher sphere. This is the true interpretation of the judgment which God has everywhere set up against life, and especially against its festive moments, as the most dangerous and self-absorbing. The light is acknowledged to be good, and life, pleasant. The young man is acknowledged in his natural freedom. His heart is allowed to cheer him in the days of his youth, and he may walk in the ways of his heart and the sight of his eyes. Life is good and to be enjoyed; yet it is always grave, and the account is always running up against it. The true view is at once earnest and genial, bright yet always thoughtful, looking to the end from the beginning and forecasting the future, yet without anxiety, in the experience of the present.
J. Tulloch, Some Facts of Religion and of Life, p. 232.
Reference: Ecc 11:7-10.—R. Buchanan, Ecclesiastes: its Meaning and Lessons, p. 407.
Ecc 11:9
(with Php 4:4)
We may accept these words as in very deed the counsel of the Preacher, as embodying the wisdom which he had learned from God. As such they assert a truth in which all of us, whether young or old, have some share.
I. They tell those who are called to the work of teaching or of guiding youth that all systems of education which tend to repress or coerce its natural elasticity are at variance with the Divine order as well as with man’s nature.
II. Again, I read in the Preacher’s words a warning against a fault into which as we advance in life we are all liable to fall. We allow the cares and anxieties of middle age to possess us wholly; we are careful and troubled about many things. The grave responsibilities of duty or the eager striving after wealth are dominant in us; and we lose our capacity for enjoyment, and become intolerant of the overflowing life of joy which for us has passed away. And so we lose the blessings which God designed for us in making youth the season of enjoyment and clothing it with so much grace and brightness.
III. But the chief lesson of the words is for those to whom they are addressed. The young man is told that he is to rejoice in his youth. That is God’s gift to him; and he should neither reject it by yielding to dark, sullen, moody thoughts, nor waste it in thoughtless profusion, nor defile it by acts of sin.
IV. There are, however, memorable words that accompany this counsel—words which have sometimes been allowed to darken and overshadow it, but which we must not on that account ignore: "Know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." That cheerfulness and joy of thine does not exempt thee from the great law of retribution which runs through the whole order of man’s life. These words are designed to regulate and purify that which, in the absence of that remembrance, so soon overpasses its right bounds and becomes tainted with evil.
E. H. Plumptre, King’s College Sermons, p. 1.
Ecc 11:9
Was this a strain of savage irony? Was it the mocking wail of one who had done all these things in the very worst sense you can put upon them, and found out, in unspeakable bitterness of heart, what came of it all? Looking before the text and after it, thinking of the general scope and tendency of the whole book of Ecclesiastes, one would say that all the text conveys is this great truth, which we all find out as we grow older, that the reckoning always comes. There is no harm in rejoicing in hopeful youth; God made youth for that. Only remember for steadying and sobering, not for saddening, that the reckoning will come; that through all these things you are sowing, and that you will reap by-and-bye.
I. Solomon was right in this sense, that for all enjoyment, ay, for all you do, for hard work, and privation, and trial too, the reckoning comes, the painful reckoning; for all these things God will bring you into judgment as for the enjoyments of your early days: and the reckoning may be a very heavy one. Even where the present frost is not the direct outcome of the past sunshine, no more sorrowful experience can be known by any human heart than the awful blankness which is expressed by the one word "gone." To have had and to have lost—that is Solomon’s judgment in the text.
II. But you will not escape the reckoning, go which way you may. Rejoice or not rejoice, God will bring you into judgment. We must through much tribulation enter into what home soever we may reach at the last. The text does but tell us that the troubles tend to increase towards the journey’s end. There is but one choice we can make, and be sure we shall never repent; it is the choice of Christ, the choice of life and good in Him. Make that choice. As for every other choice you make, you will have to enter into judgment for it. But this will abide the trial of that great day.
A. K. H. B., From a Quiet Place, p. 1.
I. There are perhaps two senses in which a portion of these words might be understood. (1) It may mean that youth is the appointed season of joy and gladness, and that God will have it made so. It may say, Rejoice, O young man—for it is God’s will—in the days of thy youth. Only remember, amidst thy mirth and gladness, that coming judgment which will one day take account of all. (2) Or the sense may be not so much in the spirit of encouragement as of warning. If thou rejoice in thy youth so as to resign thyself without check or reserve to its pleasures, then know thou that, bright as earth may seem to thee, full of joys and tolerant of forgetfulness, yet in due time for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
II. Each of these interpretations has a just and true meaning. "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth." God will have it so. If youth were not a season of joy, of few cares and abounding pleasures, who would live to old age? nay, who would be fit for the burden and heat of life’s middle day? Rejoice then while you may. But if thou wilt forget God and enshrine thyself in the sanctuary which was built and furnished for Him, then take with thee this thought, to be thy counsellor if thou wilt, thy scourge if thou wilt not: that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment; and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
C. J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 523.
What is the Christian application of the words, "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth "?
I. They may warn those who have the care of youth not to lay too much on the young. Sadden not the hearts which God would not make sad. Let there be at least one period of life on which the memory may rest hereafter gladly, a fountain from which the heart may perpetually renew its faith that unalloyed happiness is not unattainable.
II. Let the young believe, what all experience shows, that it is possible to rejoice in youth and at the same time to remember judgment. For pleasure is not life, but the reflex and incidental evidence to us of the life that is there. And while there are most certainly springs of gladness, which may prove hereafter to be the means of enriching life, let the heart which thinks it can discern such blessings be very careful in the use of them. How much may depend on the strength or weakness shown in this, the experienced alone can tell.
III. Let the young rejoice in youth, for it is the beginning of all things; it has possibilities which may well seem infinite. The strain, the conflict, the dust and strife, the heat and burden of the day, are to come afterwards; meanwhile the young are gathering strength in abundant leisure, that in the evil day they may be able to stand. Let us see that it is strength that they are gathering, and not weakness, and then we will not grudge them the brightness of moments which we can never know again.
IV. Let not the young be too ready to imagine that they are able to stand alone and to be a law unto themselves. It is one of the purest sources of joy in youth that it has the power of leaning upon an example, of looking up with reverence to another. It has the belief in human goodness unimpaired. It would be a sad thing if the disintegration of society were to proceed so far, that even this feeling should lose its freshness.
V. It would be wrong to forget that there are some to whom youth is not a time of joy, to whom their first severe trials come at a time when they are least able to bear them, a time when to feel sorrow is to think it impossible ever to smile again. It would be mockery to teach them to rejoice, perhaps even to speak to them of joy. But in fact life is full of compensations; and though the traces of early sorrow may long remain, yet it may have opened depths within them which long afterwards may become a source of truest blessing.
L. Campbell, Some Aspects of the Christian Ideal, p. 134.
We interpret this verse as a simple precept, containing no irony, nor bitterness, nor threatening, but merely an injunction to Christian joy in youth—Christian joy in youth limited, tested, and directed by the prospect of judgment. When we turn to St. Paul to know the principles on which we are to make our rejoicing a Christian one, we find that in the passages in which he urges the duty of rejoicing he puts forward two principal reasons of joy. The one is in the Epistle to the Philippians: "Rejoice in the Lord;" and the other in the Epistle to the Romans: "Rejoicing in hope." Consider how these grounds of Christian rejoicing affect the young.
I. "Rejoice in the Lord." The familiar phrase "in the Lord" is one which really contains very deep and solemn meaning. It signifies that Christians are, in some signal and mysterious manner, "in Christ." Being in Him, they must stand fast in Him; being in Him, they are alike in Him, whether they are alive on the earth, standing fast in Him, or whether they sleep in Him. In Him they thank God acceptably; in Him it is their life to be. We then are in Christ, and St. Paul tells us that we are to rejoice therein: "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, Rejoice;" "Rejoice that ye are in the Lord, and being in the Lord, rejoice." This rejoicing belongs to the young Christian as fully as to the old. If he has not yet had the time or opportunity for great advances towards Christian perfection, at least he is less far removed from the days of his baptismal innocence. Grace is yet unclouded by inveterate sin. His heart is still open to the freshness of early lessons, to the depth of first impressions, to the heartiness of childish duty. Thus he may rejoice in his youth, and let his heart naturally cheer him in the days of his youth.
II. "Rejoicing in hope." The hopes which are the ground of Christian joy are: (1) the hope that our present state of privilege and blessing "in the Lord" shall continue to us while we live, and (2) that in the final judgment we shall be received to the fulness of that inheritance of which we are heirs already. Hope might almost be called the natural privilege of youth. The loving and happy Christian hope often shines as brightly in infant and youthful hearts as even in mature and aged saints. If it be less of a deliberate and reflective feeling, it is more spontaneous and simple, insomuch that many a child who has been early trained to know God, His constant presence, His power, and His love, leans upon Him and trusts Him with the same unhesitating hope and cheerful confidence with which he trusts his earthly parents.
G. Moberly, Sermons at Winchester College, p. 209.
References: Ecc 11:9.—F. W. Farrar, In the Days of thy Youth, p. 89; G. Dawson, Sermons on Daily Life and Duty, p. 105; W. Spensley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 20; J. Sherman, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 97. Ecc 11:9, Ecc 11:10.—R. Dixon, Penny Pulpit, No. 631; B. Jowett, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 204; J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King, p. 406. 11—C. Bridges, An Exposition of Ecclesiastes, p. 263. 11, 12—G. G. Bradley, Lectures on Ecclesiastes, p. 123.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v9 Ecc 11:9; Ecc 12:1.
Ecclesiastes
A NEW YEARS SERMON TO THE YOUNG
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Ecc 11:9; Ecc 12:1.
This strange, and in some places perplexing Book of Ecclesiastes, is intended to be the picture of a man fighting his way through perplexities and half-truths to a clear conviction in which he can rest. What he says in his process of coming to that conviction is not always to be taken as true. Much that is spoken in the earlier portion of the Book is spoken in order to be confuted, and its insufficiency, its exaggerations, its onesidedness, and its half-truths, to be manifest in the light of the ultimate conclusion to which he comes. Through all these perplexities he goes on ‘sounding his dim and perilous way,’ with pitfalls on this side of him and bogs on that, till he comes out at last upon the open way, with firm ground under foot and a clear sky overhead. These phrases which I have taken are the opening sentences and the final conclusion on which he rests. How then are they meant to be understood? Is that saying, ‘Rejoice, O young man! in the days of thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes,’ to be taken as a bit of fierce irony? Is this a man taking the maxims of the foolish world about him and seeming to approve of them in order that he may face round at the end with a quick turn and a cynical face and hand them back their maxims along with that which will shatter them to pieces-as if he said, ‘Oh, yes! go on, talk your fill about making the best of this world, and rejoicing and doing as you like, dancing on the edge of a precipice, and fiddling, like Nero, whilst a worse fire than that of Rome is burning’? Well, I do not think that is the meaning of it. Though there is irony to be found in the Bible, I do not think that fierce irony like that which might do for the like of Dean Swift, is the intention of the Preacher. So I take these words to be said in good faith, as a frank recognition of the fact that, after all we have been hearing about vanity and vexation of spirit, life is worth living for, and that God means young people to be glad and to make the best of the fleeting years that will never come back with the same buoyancy and elasticity all their lives long. And then I take it that the words added are not meant to destroy or neutralise the concession of the first sentence, but only to purify and ennoble a gladness which, without them, would be apt to be stained by many a corruption, and to make permanent a joy which, without them, would be sure to die down into the miserable, peevish, and feeble old age of which the grim picture follows, and to be quenched at last in death. So there are three words that I take out of this text of mine, and that I want to bring before my young friends as exhortations which it is wise to follow. These are Rejoice, Reflect, Remember. Rejoice-the fitting gladness of youth; reflect-the solemn thought that will guard the gladness from stain; remember-the religion which will make these things ever last.
First of all ‘Rejoice.’ Do as you like, for that is the English translation of the words, ‘Walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes.’ Buoyantly and cheerfully follow the inclinations and the desires which are stamped upon your nature and belong to your time of life. All young things are joyful, from the lamb in the pastures upwards, and are meant to be so. The mere bounding sense of physical strength which leads so many of you young men astray is a good thing and a blessed thing-a blessing to be thankful for and to cherish. Your smooth cheeks, so unlike those of old age, are only an emblem of the comparative freedom from care which belongs to your happy condition. Your memories are not yet like some-a book written within and without with the records of mourning and disappointment and crosses. There are in all probability long years stretching before you, instead of a narrow strip of barren sand, before you come to the great salt sea that is going to swallow you up, as is the case with some of us. Christianity looks with complacency on your gladness, and does not mean to clip the wing of one white-winged pleasure, or to breathe one glimmer of blackness on your atmosphere. You are meant to be glad, but it is gladness in a far higher sense that I want to secure for you, or rather to make you secure for yourselves. God delights in the prosperity and light-hearted buoyancy of His children, especially of His young children. Ah! but I know there are young lives over which poverty or ill-health or sorrows of one kind or another have cast a gloom as incongruous to your time of life as snow in the garden in the spring, that pinches the crocuses and weighs down young green beech-leaves, would be. And if I am speaking to any young man or young woman at this time who by reason of painful outward circumstances has had but a chilling spring and youth, I would say to them, ‘don’t lose heart’; a cloudy morning often breaks into a perfect day. It is good for a man to have to ‘bear the yoke in his youth,’ and if you miss joy, you may get grace and strength and patience, which will be a blessing to you all your days. For all that, the ordinary course of things is that the young should be glad, and that the young life should be as the rippling brook in the sunshine. I want to leave upon your minds this impression, that it is all right and all in the order of God’s providence, who means every one of you to rejoice in the days of your youth. The text says further, ‘Walk in the ways of thine heart.’ That sounds very like the unwholesome teaching, ‘Follow nature; do as you like; let passions and tastes and inclinations be your guides.’
Well, that needs to be set round with a good many guards to prevent it becoming a doctrine of devils. But for all that, I wish you to notice that that has a great and a religious side to it. You have come into possession of this mystical life of yours, a possession which requires that you must choose what kind of life you will follow. Every one has this awful prerogative of being able to walk in the way of their heart. You have to answer for the kind of way that is, and the kind of heart out of which it has come. But I want to go to more important things, and so with a clear understanding that the joy of youth is all right and legitimate, that you are intended to be glad, and to feel the physical and intellectual spring and buoyancy of early days, let us go on to the next thing. ‘Rejoice,’ says my text, and it adds, ‘Reflect.’ It is one of the blessings of your time of life, my young friends, that you do not do much of that. It is one of your happy immunities that you are not yet in the habit of looking at life as a whole, and considering actions and consequences. Keep that spontaneity as long as you can; it is a good thing to keep. But for all that, do not forget this awful thing, that it may turn to exaggeration and excess, and that it needs, like all other good things, to be guarded and rightly used. And so, ‘Rejoice,’ and ‘walk in the sight of thine eyes’; but-’know that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment.’ Well, now, is that thought to come in {I was going to say, like a mourning-coach driven through a wedding procession} to kill the joys we have been seeming to receive from the former words? Are we taking back all that we have been giving, and giving out instead something that will make them all cower and be quiet, like the singing birds that stop their singing and hide in the leaves when they see the kite in the sky? No, there is no need for anything of the sort. ‘For all these things God will bring thee to judgment’: that is not the thought that kills, but that purifies and ennobles. Regard being had to the opinions expressed at various points in the earlier portion of this Book, we may be allowed to think of this testimony as having reference to the perpetual judgment that is going on in this world always over every man’s life. A great German thinker has it, in reference to the history of nations, that the history of the world is the judgment of the world, and although that is not true if it is a denial of a physical day of judgment, it is true in a very profound and solemn sense with regard to the daily life of every man, that whether there be a judgment-seat beyond the grave or not, and whether this Preacher knew anything about that or no, there is going on through the whole of a man’s life, and evolving itself, this solemn conviction, that we are to pass away from this present life. All our days are knit together as one whole. Yesterday is the parent of today, and today is the parent of all the tomorrows. The meaning and the deepest consequence of man’s life is that no feeling, no thought that flits across the mirror of his life and heart dies utterly, leaving nothing behind it. But rather the metaphor of the Apostle is the true one, ‘That which thou sowest, that shalt thou also reap.’ All your life a seed-time, all your life a harvest-time too, for the seed which I sow today is the seed which I have reaped from all my former sowings, and so cause and consequence go rolling on in life in extricable entanglement, issuing out in this, that whatever a man does lives on in him, and that each moment inherits the whole consequence of his former life. And now, you young men and women, you boys and girls, mind! this seed-time is the one that will be most powerful in your lives, and there is a judgment you do not need to die to meet. If you are idle at school, you will never learn Latin when you go to business. If you are frivolous in your youth, if you stain your souls and soil your lives by outward coarse sin here in Manchester in your young days, there will be a taint about you all your lives. You cannot get rid of that brave law that ‘Whatever a man sows, that, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, an hundredfold, that shall he also reap’-the same kind, but infinitely multiplied in quantity. Let me therefore name some of the ways in which your joys or pleasures, as lads, as boys and girls, as growing young men and women, will bring you to judgment. Health, that is one; position, that is two; reputation, that is three; character, that is four. Did you ever see them build one of those houses they make in some parts of the country, with concrete instead of stones? Take a spadeful of the mud, and put it into a frame on the wall. When it is dry, take away the frame and the supports, and it hardens into rock. You take your single deeds-the mud sometimes, young men!-pop them on the wall, and think no more about it. Ay, but they stop there and harden there, and lo! a character-a house for your soul to live in-health, position, memory, capacity, and all that. If you have not done certain things which you ought to have done, you will never be able to do them, and there are the materials for a judgment. That is going on every moment, and especially is it going on in the region of your pleasures. If they are unworthy, you are unworthy; if they are gross, and coarse, and low, and animal, they are dragging you down; if they are frivolous and foolish, they are making you a poor butterfly of a creature that is worth nothing and will be of no good to anybody; if they are pure, and chaste, and lofty, and virginal and white, they will make your souls good and gracious and tender with the tenderness and beauty of God.
But that is not all. I am not going to travel beyond the limits of this present life with any words of mine, but as I read this final conclusion in this Book of Ecclesiastes, I think I can perceive that the doubts and the scepticisms about a future life, and the difference between a man and a beast which are spoken of in the earlier chapters, have all been overcome, and the clear conviction of the writer is expressed in these twofold great sayings: ‘The spirit shall return unto God who gave it, and the words with which He stamps all His message upon our hearts, the final words of His book’; ‘God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing.’ And I come to you and say, ‘I suppose you believe in a state of retribution beyond?’ I suppose that most of the young folk I am speaking to now at all events believe that ‘Thou wilt come to be our judge,’ as the Te Deum has it; and that it is this same personal self of mine that is to stand there who is sitting here? God shall bring thee into judgment. Never mind what is to come of the body, the quivering, palpitating, personal centre. The very same self that I know myself to be will be carried there. Now, take that with you and lay it to heart, and let it have a bearing on your pleasure. It will kill nothing that deserves to live, it will take no real joy out of a man’s life. It will only strain out the poison that would kill you. You turn that thought upon your heart, my friends. Is it like a policeman’s bull’s-eye turned upon a lot of bad characters hiding under a railway arch in the corner there? If so, the sooner you get rid of the pleasures and inclinations that slink away when that beam of light strikes their ugly faces, the better for yourselves and for your lives. ‘Rejoice in the way of thine heart and, that thy joy may be pure, know that for all this God will bring thee into judgment.’
And now my last word, ‘Remember God,’ says my text. The former two sayings, if taken by themselves, would make a very imperfect guide to life. Self-indulgence regulated by the thought of retribution is a very low kind of life after all. There is something better in this world, and that is work; something higher, and that is duty; something nobler than self-indulgence, and that is self-sacrifice. And so no religion worthy the name contents itself by saying to a man, ‘Be good and you will be glad’; but, ‘Never mind whether you are glad; be good at any rate, and such gladness as is good for you will come to you, and you can want the rest.’ ‘Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth.’ Recall God to your thoughts, and keep Him in your mind all the day long. That is wonderfully unlike your life, is it not? Remember thy Creator; shift the centre of your life. What I have been saying might be true of a man, the centre of whose life was himself, and such a man is next door to a devil, for, I suppose, the definition of devil is ‘self-engrossed still,’ and whosoever lives for himself is dead. Don’t let the earth be the centre of your system, but the sun. Do not live to yourselves, or your pleasures will all be ignoble and creeping, but live to God. ‘Remember.’ Well, then, you and I know a good deal more about God than the writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes did-both about what He is and how to remember Him. I am not going to content myself by taking his point of view, but I must take a far higher and a far better one. If he had been here he would have said ‘Remember God.’ He would have said, ‘Look at God in Jesus Christ, and trust Him and love Him; go to Him as your Saviour, and take all the burden of your past sin and lay it upon His merciful shoulders, and for His dear sake look for forgiveness and cleansing; and then for His dear sake live to serve and bless Him. Never mind about yourself, and do not think much about your gladness. Follow in the footsteps of Him who has shown us that the highest joy is to give oneself utterly away. Love Jesus Christ and trust Him and serve Him, and that will make all your gladness permanent.’ There is one thing I want to teach you. Look at that description, or rather read when you go home the description which follows my text, of that wretched old man who has got no hope in God and no joy, feeble in body, going down to the grave, and dying out at last. That is what rejoicing in the days of thy youth, and walking in the ways of thine own heart, come to when you do not remember God. There is nothing more miserable on the face of this earth than an ill-conditioned old man, who is ill-conditioned because he has lost his early joys and early strength, and has got nothing to make up for them. How many of your joys, my dear young friends, will last when old age comes to you? How many of them will survive when your eye is no longer bright, and your hand no longer strong, and your foot no longer fleet? How many of them, young woman! when the light is out of your eye, and the beauty and freshness out of your face and figure, when you are no longer able for parties, when it is no longer a pastime to read novels, and when the ballroom is not exactly the place for you,-how many of your pleasures will survive? Young man! how many of yours will last when you can no longer go into dissipation, and stomach and system will no longer stand fast living, nor athletics, and the like? Oh! let me beseech thee, go to the ant and consider her ways, who in the summer layeth up for the winter; and do ye likewise in the days of your youth, store up for yourselves that which knows no change and laughs at the decay of flesh and sense. A thousand motives coincide and press on my memory if I had words and time to speak them. Let me beseech you-especially you young men and women of this congregation, of some of whom I may venture to speak as a father to his children, whom I have seen growing up, as it were, from your mothers’ arms, and the rest of you whom I do not know so well-Oh! carry away with you this beseeching entreaty of mine at the end. Love Jesus Christ and trust to Him as your Saviour; serve Him as your Captain and your King in the days of your youth. Do not offer Him the fag end of a life-the last inch of the candle that is burning down into the socket. Do it now, for the moments are flying, and you may never have Him offered to you any more. If there is any softening, any touch of conscience in your heart, yield to the impulse and do not stifle it. Take Christ for your Saviour, take Him now-’Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Life After All is Worth Living
Life After All is Worth Living
1-3. Fulfil the duty of beneficence, knowing that results are in the hands of God.
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1. Cast thy bread, etc.] show kindness, even where a return is least to be expected. A blessing in some sort, although it may be long delayed, will result. There is perhaps a reference to the sowing of seed on irrigated land.
2. Give a portion, etc.] be not niggardly or calculating in the bestowal of favours. You know not when you may need them yourself.
3. The fixed laws by which the world is governed. Where the tree falleth, etc.] There is no reference here to the state of man after death.
4-6. Man's knowledge is limited, while God's purposes are inscrutable. Winds, clouds, and the whole ordering of nature are His. Submit to His decrees, and do thy daily part, leaving the issue to Him.
7-9. Existence has its pleasures, but its span is brief. Youthful enjoyment is commended, provided it be such as need not dread God's judgment.
8. RV 'Yea, if a man live many years, let him,' etc. The remembrance that life is brief is to be itself a motive for enjoyment while it is possible.
9. Rejoice, O young man] Youth is naturally cheerful. Be it so. But there must be present that which shall check excess, viz. the knowledge that the Divine Judge will mark and punish sinful indulgence; not always in this life (for cp. Ecc_8:14), but, if not, then beyond the grave.
10. Childhood and youth] RV 'youth and the prime of life.' Vanity] i.e. fleeting.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. Proverbs concerning man’s work(Ecc 11:1-6)
CHAPTER 11
1. Proverbs concerning man’s work(Ecc 11:1-6)
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2. The vanity of life (Ecc 11:7-10)
Ecc 11:1-6. These continued proverbs concern the work of man and begin with exhortations to charity and are followed by the wise acknowledgement that no one knows the works of God, who is the maker of all. All this knowledge is within the compass of the natural man.
Ecc 11:7-10. After these philosophic proverbs he comes back to his former finding--vanity. So to speak he sums up life in one verse, “Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.” It is a great thing to have life. A different strain from his despondency, when life seemed not worth living. Alas! there is another “but.” “But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.” Yes, let him enjoy himself in the present, but there is “a dead fly in the ointment” Ecc 10:11). There is looming up the dark future; days of darkness are coming for him--it is the grave, and human reason, philosophy, science nor anything else can bring light into this baffling darkness. “All that cometh is vanity!” Thank God, through revelation we know that those who believe His revelation, and believe on Him, whom God has sent, who is the propitiation for our sins, who conquered death and the grave--for such, “all that cometh is glory!”
Is it sarcasm that follows? He calls upon the young man to rejoice in his youth. Have a good time! Walk in the ways of thine heart, that heart out of which nothing but evil can come, and in the sight, not of the all-seeing eye of God, but of thine eyes. Do as you like! Follow my previous advice--be not righteous overmuch; be not too wicked; follow the middle road and enjoy yourself. Then comes a weighty sentence, “but know thou that for all these things God shall bring thee to judgment.” But is not this revelation? Can the reason of man discover that such will be the case? Reason does know the law in nature “that whatsoever a man sows that he shall also reap.” Reason beholds this law working not only in nature, which teaches man many things, but also in history, so that the philosopher can say, “the history of the world is the judgment of the world.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 7 Practicing Benevolence
Practicing Benevolence
v. 1. Cast thy bread upon the waters, in practicing benevolence freely, without the hope of profit or immediate return, Mat 5:46-47; Luk 6:35-38; for thou shalt find it after many days, God will return a rich harvest at the time appointed by Him, Gal 6:9-10; 2Co 9:6-9; 1Ti 6:18-19.
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v. 2. Give a portion to seven and also to eight, ready to dispense charity to many; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth, when the tables may be turned by some misfortune, and the giver himself may find himself in need of help.
v. 3. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, when periods of misfortune are due to happen, evil will come in full measure; and if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. Just so it is with gifts of benevolence: their fruit is not lost, although they do not always come to light in the manner intended. Or, as Luther says, man is like a tree which is bound to fall one way or the other, and will be judged according to the way he falls in death.
v. 4. He that observeth the wind, in timid anxiety and hesitation, shall not sow, for while he waits for favorable weather, he misses the proper period for action; and he that regardeth the clouds, with the same over-anxious watchfulness, shall not reap. The Christian must sow the seed of good works regardless of the promise of returns.
v. 5. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, or of the wind, concerning whose various vagaries men are just as puzzled as ever, in spite of the progress made by the science of meteorology, Cf Joh 3:8, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, in the mystery of creation or generation, Psa 139:14-15, even so thou knowest not the works of God, who maketh all, the works of His almighty power are unfathomable by the mind of finite men.
v. 6. In the morning sow thy seed, in all the works of one’s regular occupation, but especially in acts of benevolence and charity, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, not growing weary in the appointed tasks and in well-doing, Gal 6:9-10, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, the blessing may rest upon the early or upon the late labor, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good, both producing substantial and enduring good. The conduct advised by the author, therefore, is that of steady faithfulness in the appointed tasks.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 6, 9 Send out your bread on the waters, for you…
Send out your bread on the waters, for you will find it again after many days
Possible meanings are 1) this is a metaphor that means a person should be generous with his possessions and will then receive generously from others , or 2) that a person should invest his resources overseas and will make a profit from it. (See: Metaphor)
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Share it with seven, even eight people
Possible meanings are 1) to share your possessions with many people, or 2) to invest your resources in multiple places.
seven, even eight people
"7, even 8 people." This is an idiom that means "numerous" people. AT: "numerous people" or "multiple people" (See: Numbers and Idiom)
what disasters are coming on the earth
Disasters happening is spoken of as if disasters were something that come to a place. Here "on the earth" may imply that these disasters happen to the person who is commanded to share. AT: "what disasters may happen in the world" or "what bad things may happen to you" (See: Metaphor and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the clouds are full of rain
"the clouds are dark with rain"
empty themselves on the earth
"empty themselves on the ground"
toward the south or toward the north
Here "south" and "north" represent any direction. AT: "in any direction" (See: Merism)
translationWords
bread
water
earth
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 9, 10 11:1-6 All profitable activity involves risk. We must act…
11:1-6 All profitable activity involves risk. We must act as wisely as we can and trust God for the result.
11:1-2 We should invest rather than hoard our resources, even if we cannot control the results.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.