Ecclesiastes - GA Barton - 1908.pdf

48
ECCLESIASTES
conclusion to be drawn from them had been stated at the end of
ch. 3. Ch. 4 13 - 16 sets forth the vanity or transient nature of popu-
larity as exhibited in the history of two young unnamed kings.
The statement suggests that the acme of human glory is even more
vain than other forms of human activity.
In ch. 5 1 - 7
Qoheleth offers us his most extended remarks upon re-
ligion. The two glosses (5" and 7j_) on dreams do not seriously
interrupt the flow of his thought. He had in ch. 3 revealed his
conception of God as a powerful being, who keeps man in ignorance
(3 11 emended text), and who has circumscribed man in the inex-
orable meshes of fate, so that man may fear him. Now Qoheleth
goes on to counsel obedience, reverence, and a faithful performance
of one's covenants with God. His conception of God is dark,
but such religion as he has is sincere. Qoheleth has no tolerance
for shams, nor sympathy with the glib worshipper who in a mo-
ment of fright will covenant with God for anything, if only he may
escape the impending danger, and then go his way and forget it
when the danger is past. What in his view the real function of re-
ligion was, he does not tell us, but he does insist that such religious
practices as one engages in should be reverent and sincere.
8 9
In ch. 5 -6 Qoheleth returns again to the subject of oppression,
which in every Oriental country, as in every despotism, is so pain-
ful an element in life. He first observes that in a country ruled by
a hierarchy of officers oppression is to be expected, though a king
is on the whole an advantage, and then passes to the consideration
of the various kinds of oppression which grow out of the love of
money. In the course of this discussion he more than once 18
(5
19
2 6 3
) reiterates his theory, that the one ray of light on life is to eat
and drink and gain what enjoyment one can, without wearing one's
self out in useless labor. This is transient (vain, 6 9 but there is
),
nothing better.
These thoughts lead Qoheleth in ch. 6 10 - 12 to revert to the theme
1 - 14
of ch. 3, the contrast between puny man and fate. In
ch^ y Qoheleth
introduced a few proverbs which enforced his point of view.
These the Hokma glossator has considerably amplified with proverbs
which have no bearing on the question in hand.
Then, as though the indictment against the order of the world