Bibelkommentare

“And again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold there the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and from the hand of their oppressors goeth forth violence; and they have no comforter.” Incorrectly Hahn: And anew I saw, - the observation is different from that of Ecclesiastes 3:16, though cognate. Thus: And again I saw, - the expression follows the syntactic scheme of Genesis 26:18; regarding the fut. consec. brought into view here and at Ecclesiastes 4:7. The second העשׁ is part. pass.; the first, as at Job 35:9, and also at Amos 3:9, is abstract ( i.e., bringing the many separate instances under one general idea) pluraletantum (cf. פּדוּיי , redemti , Isaiah 35:10; and redemtio, pretium redemtionis , Numbers 3:46); the plur. נע אשׁר need not appear strange, since even חיּים is connected with the plur. of the pred., e.g., Psalms 31:11; Psalms 88:4. דּמעת has, as at Isaiah 25:8 (cf. Revelation 21:4, πᾶν δάκρυον ), a collective sense. The expression כּח ... וּמיּד is singular. According to the most natural impression, it seems to signify: “and from the hand of their oppressors no power of deliverance” (carrying forward אין ); but the parallelism of the palindromically constructed verse (as at Ecclesiastes 1:6; Ecclesiastes 2:10; Ecclesiastes 3:16) excludes this meaning. Thus כּח is here once-nowhere else-used, like the Greek βία , in the sense of violence; Luzzatto prefers the reading וּביד , by which the expression would be in conformity with the linguistic usage; but also מיד is explained: the force which they have in their hands is, in going forth from their hands, thought of as abused, and, as taking the form of שׁד or חזקה . In view of this sorrow which men bring upon their fellow-men, life for Koheleth lost all its worth and attraction.

return to '

“And I saw all the labour and all the skill of business, that it is an envious surpassing of the one by the other: also this is vain and windy effort.” The היא refers to this exertion of vigorous effort and skill. The Graec. Venet., by rendering here and at Ecclesiastes 2:24 כּשׁרון , by καθαρότης , betrays himself as a Jew. With כּי , quod, that which forms the pred. follows the object. the min in mere'ehu is as in amatz min, Psalms 18:18, and the like - the same as the compar.: aemulatio qua unus prae altero eminere studet . All this expenditure of strength and art has covetousness and envy, with which one seeks to surpass another, as its poisoned sting.

return to '

There ought certainly to be activity according to our calling; indolence is self-destruction: “The fool foldeth his hands, and eateth his own flesh.” He layeth his hands together (Prov 6:10-24:33), - placeth them in his bosom, instead of using them in working, - and thereby he eateth himself up, i.e., bringeth ruin upon himself (Psalms 27:2; Micah 3:3; Isaiah 49:26); for instead of nourishing himself by the labour of his hands, he feeds on his own flesh, and thus wasteth away. The emphasis does not lie on the subject (the fool, and only the fool), but on the pred.

return to '

The fifth verse stands in a relation of contrast to this which follows: “Better is one hand full of quietness, than both fists full of labour and windy effort.” Mendelssohn and others interpret Ecclesiastes 4:5 as the objection of the industrious, and Ecclesiastes 4:6 as the reply of the slothful. Zצckler agrees with Hitz., and lapses into the hypothesis of a dialogue otherwise rejected by him. As everywhere, so also here it preserves the unity of the combination of thoughts. נחת signifies here, as little as it does anywhere else, the rest of sloth; but rest, in contrast to such activity in labour as robs a man of himself, to the hunting after gain and honour which never has enough, to the rivalry which places its goal always higher and higher, and seeks to be before others - it is rest connected with well-being (Ecclesiastes 6:5), gentle quietness (Ecclesiastes 9:17), resting from self-activity (Isaiah 30:15); cf. the post-bibl. רוּח נחת , satisfaction, contentment, comfort. In a word, nahath has not here the sense of being idle or lazy. The sequence of the thoughts is this: The fool in idleness consumes his own life-strength; but, on the other hand, a little of true rest is better than the labour of windy effort, urged on by rivalry yielding no rest. כּף is the open hollow hand, and חפן (Assyr. ḥupunnu ) the hand closed like a ball, the first. “Rest” and “labour and windy effort” are the accusatives of that to which the designation of measure refers (Gesen. §118. 3); the accus. connection lay here so much the nearer, as מלא is connected with the accus. of that with which anything is full. In “and windy effort” lies the reason for the judgment pronounced. The striving of a man who laboriously seeks only himself and loses himself in restlessness, is truly a striving which has wind for its object, and has the property of wind.

return to '

“Better are two together than one, seeing they have a good reward in their labour.” By hashshenaim , the author refers to such a pair; haehhad is one such as is just described. The good reward consists in this, that each one of the two has the pleasant consciousness of doing good to the other by his labour, and especially of being helpful to him. In this latter general sense is grounded the idea of the reward of faithful fellowship:

return to '

“For if they fall, the one can raise up his fellow: but woe to the one who falleth, and there is not a second there to lift him up.” Only the Targ., which Grהtz follows, confounds אילו

(Note: With Munach and Rebia in one word, which, according to the masora, occurs in only four other places. Vid., Mas. magna under this passage, and Mishpete hateamin 26 a.)

with אילוּ ; it is equivalent to אוי לו , Isaiah 3:9, or הוי לו , Ezekiel 13:18. Haehhad is appos. connecting itself to the pronominal suff., as, e.g., in a far more inappropriate manner, Psalms 86:2; the prep. is not in appos. usually repeated, Genesis 2:19; Genesis 9:4 (exceptions: Ps. 18:51; Psalms 74:14). Whether we translate שׁיּפּל by qui ceciderit (Ecclesiastes 11:3), or by quum ceciderit (Jerome), is all one. יקים is potential: it is possible and probable that it will be done, provided he is a טוב חבר , i.e., a true friend ( Pirke aboth, ii. 13).

return to '

“Moreover, if two lie together, then there is heat to them: but how can it be warm with one who is alone?” The marriage relation is not excluded, but it remains in the background; the author has two friends in his eye, who, lying in a cold night under one covering (Exodus 22:26; Isaiah 28:20), cherish one another, and impart mutual warmth. Also in Aboth de-Rabbi Nathan, c. 8, the sleeping of two together is spoken of as an evidence of friendship. The vav in vehham is that of the consequent; it is wanting 10 a, according to rule, in haehhad , because it commonly comes into use with the verb, seldom ( e.g., Genesis 22:1) with the preceding subj.

return to '

“And if one shall violently assail him who is alone, two shall withstand him; and (finally) a threefold cord is not quickly broken asunder.” The form yithqepho for yithqephehu , Job 15:24, is like hirdepho , Hosea 8:3 = hirdephehu , Judges 9:40. If we take תקף in the sense of to overpower, then the meaning is: If one can overpower him who is alone, then, on the contrary, two can maintain their ground against him (Herzf.); but the two אם , Ecclesiastes 4:10, Ecclesiastes 4:11, which are equivalent to ἐάν , exclude such a pure logical εἰ . And why should תקף , if it can mean overpowering, not also mean doing violence to by means of a sudden attack? In the Mishnic and Arab. it signifies to seize, to lay hold of; in the Aram. אתקף = החזיק , and also at Job 14:20; Job 15:24 ( vid., Comm.), it may be understood of a violent assault, as well as of a completed subjugation; as נשׂא means to lift up and carry; עמד , to tread and to stand. But whether it be understood inchoat. or not, in any case האחד is not the assailant, who is much rather the unnamed subj. in יתקפי , but the one (the solitarius ) who, if he is alone, must succumb; the construction of hithqepho haehhad follows the scheme of Exodus 2:6, “she saw it, the child.” To the assault expressed by תקף , there stands opposed the expression נגד עמד , which means to withstand any one with success; as עמד לפני , 2 Kings 10:4; Psalms 147:17; Daniel 8:7, means to maintain one's ground. Of three who hold together, 12 a says nothing; the advance from two to three is thus made in the manner of a numerical proverb ( vid., Proverbs, vol. I p. 13). If two hold together, that is seen to be good; but if there be three, this threefold bond is likened to a cord formed of three threads, which cannot easily be broken. Instead of the definite specific art. הח הם , we make use of the indefinite. Funiculus triplex difficile rumpitur is one of the winged expressions used by Koheleth.

return to '