Ecclesiastes - GA Barton - 1908.pdf

144
ECCLESIASTES
The world often hates its greatest men and makes marks of them.
In one sense it is not good to be ahead of one's time. 17. Be not
excessively wicked}. Some interpreters, as Del., hesitate to admit
that Qoheleth really implies that one may sin to a moderate degree.
That, however, is what he undoubtedly implies. It is true that
he was led into this statement by the necessity of an antithesis,
but there is no reason to believe that the thought was repugnant
to him. Nor be a fool]. Righteousness and wisdom are to Qo-
heleth kindred terms, while wickedness and folly form a counter-
balancing couplet. Why shouldst thou die before thy time?}. In
spite of the fact that Qoheleth had seen many men prolong their
lives in their wickedness (vs. 15), he recognizes that debauchery
ends in premature death. 18 a . This . . . thai refer to " righteous-
ness" and ''wickedness" of the two preceding verses. Qoheleth
here sums up his thought, advising
the avoidance of extremes in
either righteousness or wickedness. Cf. Horace, Virtus est
medium viatorum et utrimque reductum (Epist. I, 18, 9), and
Ovid, Medio tutissimus ibis (Met. II, 137).
18 b . For he thatf&rs God shall be quit in regard to both}. This is
a gloss added by some orthodox Jew, probably a Chasid. 19. Wisdom
strengthens the wise]. It is impossible to find any intelligent
connection for this verse with the preceding context. It is un-
doubtedly an interpolation by the glossator who was interested
in proverbs (so Gr., Sieg., McN. and Ha.). Ten rulers]. Gins.,
Ty. and Plumtre took " ten" as a round number, Delitzsch thought
it referred to some definite situation, such as the archons at Athens.
Wright, with more probability, compares the Mishna (Megilla,
i 3
),
which says that " every city is great in which there are ten men of
leisure." The idea here is similar, 'only the "men of leisure" are
represented as "rulers."
20. For there is not a righteous man in the earth}.
This connects
with vs. i8a, from which it is now separated by two interpolations,
and gives the reason for it. It is a quotation from i K. 8 46 . There
is -no good reason for regarding the vs. as a gloss, as Siegfried and
Haupt do. 21. The words which they speak}. "They" is indefinite,
referring to men in general. The way in which men talk about
one another is further proof that all sin. Lest thou hear thy servant