All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is never filled. For what preeminence hath the wise over the fool? or what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living? (?) Better is the enjoyment of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

That which happeneth now hath been named already, and it is known what man shall be; neither may he contend with Him that is mightier than he. For though there be many words that increase vanity, what is man the better? For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

This section opens with various prudential maxims, which though they deal with religion are chilling and unconsoling. The writer's notion of God seems limited to his power. Men of deeper soul and nobler piety have also advocated few words in prayer, but for higher motives than Koheleth's.

The first words of the second paragraph seem to refer to the corruption which pervaded the kingdom (of which the Jews formed a province) from high to low. It is no good, says Koheleth, to marvel or grumble at it: it is inevitable.

At the end of the third paragraph there seems to be another interpolation. At any rate what succeeds to it joins on to what precedes it far better. If God gives a man tolerable enjoyment, he will not constantly call to mind the brevity of his transitory

life.

9. Sorrow and self-restraint.

A good name is better than good ointment,

And the day of death than the day of one's birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning,

Than to go to the house of feasting:

For that is the end of all men;

And the living can lay it to his heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter:

For with a sad countenance the heart is well.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning;
But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,

So is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.

SAGE ADVICE AND SOBER CAUTION

Oppression maketh a wise man mad;

And a gift destroyeth the heart.

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Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof:
And the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry;

For anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these?

For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance:

And by it there is profit to them that see the sun.

For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence:

But the excellency of wisdom is that it giveth life to them that have it.

Consider the work of God:

For who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful,

But in the day of adversity consider:

God hath made even the one as well as the other,

To the end that man should experience nothing at all hereafter.

The sad and sober cautiousness of Koheleth inclines him in some moods to throw cold water upon the very enjoyment which he had erewhile recommended as the best thing for man under the circumstances.'

The second paragraph opens suddenly. Some think a verse has fallen out. Oppression' seems to mean the power of using it. Tyrannical power ruins the moral and intellectual nature of the tyrant.

Koheleth is against any form of exaggeration or enthusiasm. The present is not worse than the past, just as the future will not be better than the present.

The third paragraph yields a somewhat reluctant admission to wisdom's value. No small part of it consists in recognizing and realizing the limitations of man, and in a right attitude of mind both in good days and evil. Koheleth appends the singular thought that God has made both kinds of days in order that (as the life in Sheol is destitute of either good or evil) man may gain his experience of both on earth. It is fair to add that translation and interpretation are alike uncertain.

§ 10. The golden mean.--All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness. Be not pious over much; neither make thyself over wise: why wilt thou ruin thyself? Be not over much wicked, neither be thou a fool: why shouldest thou die before thy time? It is good that thou shouldest take hold of the one; yea, also from the other withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall discharge himself of them all. (?)

Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten rulers who are in the city. There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth (always) good, and sinneth not. So take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee: for oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.

All this have I tried by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. That which is is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out? I turned and set mine heart to know and to search and to seek out wisdom and the reason of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and foolishness is madness: and I found more bitter than death the woman who is snares and her heart is a net, and her hands are as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her. Behold, this have I found, saith the Preacher, adding one to one, to find out the account: what my soul sought but found not is this: one man among a thousand have I found: but a woman among all those have I not found. Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

A strange and difficult section. The writer appears to advocate the proper or 'golden' mean. Exaggerated pretensions to piety are contemptible. Already that fatal 'hedge round the law,' with its myriad ordinances and restrictions which culminated in the so-called oral Law,' was steadily rising. To the spiritual pride, which in certain natures the hedge' tended to produce, Koheleth offers a healthy opposition. But he also warns his disciples from falling into the opposite error. The reasonable objection to a pretentious and exaggerated piety need not drive a man into libertinism and sin. 'Be not over much wicked' does not mean 'be rather wicked.' The phrase is ironical. In the eyes

WARNINGS AGAINST EXCESS

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of a self-righteous formalist one may indeed be wicked'; but the standards of a sane morality one must not transgress. On each of these rules: not too much piety, not too much 'wickedness,' let a man keep firm his hold.

In the second paragraph the connexion is obscure. Professor Bickell would put the verse about the universal frailty of man at the close of the whole.

In the third paragraph the harsh verses about women are regarded by Professor Haupt as interpolations. The last verse seems to refer the abundance of evil in human life to man putting his own resourcefulness of invention to evil uses. He uses this faculty for wily plottings and contrivances.

§ 11. Life's ironies.-Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom illumineth his face, but the stubbornfaced is hated. I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that because of the oath to God. Be not hasty to go out of his sight: (?) enter not in an evil matter; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. Seeing the word of a king is with power, and who may say unto him, What doest thou? Whoso keepeth the commandment shall experience no evil thing: and a wise man's heart knoweth that there is a time and judgement. For to every purpose there is a time and judgement, for the misery of man is great upon him. (?) For he knoweth not that which shall be: and how it will be, who can tell him? There is no man that hath power over the wind to retain the wind; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in war; neither shall riches deliver their

owner.

All this have I seen, as I applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun, at a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his hurt. And so I saw ungodly men honoured, and that too in the holy place, but those who had acted rightly had to depart and were forgotten in the city: this is also vanity. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore men have abundant courage to do evil. For I know that it even happeneth that a sinner doeth evil for a long time, and yet liveth long, while he who feareth before God is short-lived as a shadow. [Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, who fear before him: but it shall not be well

with the wicked, and like a shadow he shall not prolong his days, because he feareth not before God.] There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity. And so I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: and that may accompany him in his labour during the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

The section opens with prudential counsels about a safe relation to kings and despots. The connexion becomes soon very obscure. The verse, 'For to every purpose,' &c., is very doubtful. I forbear to suggest an explanation consistent with Koheleth or the context. Further on new instances of life's ironies are adduced. In the second paragraph we come upon a sentence which has apparently been edited' by some one who was shocked by Koheleth's plain speaking. What the Preacher probably wrote is given first (For I know' down to 'short-lived as a shadow '), and then in brackets how the Hebrew is now made to read. Thought and wording provoked Professor Bickell's critical suspicion, and he suggested the highly ingenious restoration of the original text, the translation of which is given above.

§ 12. One event to all and the moral thereof.-When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the travail that is done upon the earth, (for neither by day nor by night man seeth sleep with his eyes,) then I perceived that man cannot find out all the work of God, even the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. For all this I considered in my heart, and my heart saw it: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: yea, love also and hatred no man knoweth; everything before them is vanity. (?) For there is one event to all, to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth to swear. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the