Ecclesiastes - GA Barton - 1908.pdf

MAN'S HELPLESSNESS [CH.3i-> 5
103
revolving circle. Tyler compares Ovid, Metamorphoses, XV,
179 /-'
Even time itself glides on with constant progress
No otherwise than a river. For neither can the river pause,
Nor the fleeting hour; but as wave is urged by wave,
The earlier pushed by the one approaching, and it pushes the former,
So the moments similarly fly on and similarly follow,
And ever are renewed.
Qoheleth's figure is not, however, a river, but a circle. In this he
conceives of event as chased by event, until it is itself brought back
by God. Already], see on i 10 .
I 1 , pr] occurs in Heb.only in late books (Ne. 2 6 Es. 9" 3I and here).
and Zebakhim,
It is used frequently in the Mishna (see e.g., Erub., 67 ,
i 1 and 2 3 . The participle occurs in Ezr. io 14 Ne. lo , 35 31 and i3 , in the
sense of fixing calendar dates. The noun means a "fixed or appointed
time." Schechter conjectures that in the Heb. of BS. 4 20 , pnn nj; M3
should be pn ny ^3 (see above Introd. 11, i). The Greek of
BS., however, translates simply by Katpov. The root pt, having the
same general meaning, is found in Ar., Eth. and Aram. In some of
the dialects of the latter (Syr., Mand., Palmy rene and Samaritan), it is
zabna, or zibna. In As. it occurs as simanu. In the Aram, of
Daniel it occurs several times in the sense of "appointed time," see
16 - 21 7 -
Dn. 2 3 8
, etc.