Observations on Wisdom,

ECCLESIASTES, X.

Folly, and Riot. not to the swift-(2 Samuel, 18. 23;; spiritually Zepha-worthless exalted to dignity (Jeremiah, 17. 25;); and niah, 3. 19; Romans, 9. 16.). nor... battle to ... strong vice versa 2 Samuel, 15. 30.). 8. The fatal results to (1 Samuel, 17. 47; 2 Chronicles, 14. 9, 11, 15; Psalm 33. kings of such an unwise policy; the wrong done to 16. bread-livelihood. favour of the great. chance others recoils on themselves ch. 8. 9;; they fall into -seemingly, really Providence. But as man cannot the pit which they dug for others (Esther, 7. 10; Psalm "find it out" (ch. 2. 11,), he needs "with all might" to 7. 15; Proverbs, 26. 27.). Breaking through the wise use opportunities. Duties are ours; events, God's. 12. fences of their throne, they suffer unexpectedly themhis time-viz., of death ch. 7. 15; Isaiah, 13. 22.. Hence selves; as when one is stung by a serpent lurking in the the danger of delay in doing the work of God, as one stones of his neighbour's garden wall (Psalm 89. 12,), knows not when his opportunity will end (v. 10.. evil which he maliciously pulls down (Amos, 5. 19.), 9. net-fatal to them. The unexpected suddenness of the removeth stones-viz., of an ancient building. [WEISS.] capture is the point of comparison. So the second His neighbour's landmarks. [HOLDEN.] Cuts out from coming of Jesus Christ, "as a snare" (Luke, 21. 35.). the quarry. [MAURER.] endangered-by the splinters, evil time-as an "evil net," fatal to them. 13. Rather, or by the head of the hatchet, flying back on himself. "I have seen wisdom of this kind also," i.e., exhibited Pithy aphorisms are common in the East. The sense in the way which is described in what follows. is: Violations of true wisdom recoil on the perpetrators. [MAUKER. 14, 15. 2 Samuel, 20. 16-22.). bulwarks- 10. iron... blunt-in "cleaving wood" v. 9., answermilitary works of besiegers. 15. poor as to the ing to the "fool set in dignity" (v. 6,, who wants sharptemporal advantages of true wisdom, though it often ness. More force has then to be used in both cases; saves others. it receives little reward from the world, but force without judgment "endangers" one's self. which admires none save the rich and great. no man Translate, "If one hath blunted his iron." [MAURER.] remembered (Genesis, 40. 23.. 16. Resuming the senti- The preference of rash to judicious counsellors, which ment (ch. 7. 19; Proverbs, 21. 22; 24. 5.). poor man's entailed the pushing of matters by force, proved to be wisdom is despised-not the poor man mentioned in v. the "hurt" of Rehoboam 1 Kings, 12.). wisdom is profit15; for his wisdom could not have saved the city, had able to direct-to a prosperous issue. Instead of forcing "his words not been heard," but poor men in general. matters by main "strength" to one's own hurt (ch. 9. So Paul Acts, 27. 11.). 17. Though generally the poor 16, 18.). 11. A "serpent will bite" if "enchantment wise man is not heard v. 16,), yet "the words of wise is not used; "and a babbling calumniator is no better." men, when heard in quiet (when calmly given heed to, Therefore, as one may escape a serpent by charms as in v. 15,), are more serviceable than," &c. ruleth-as (Psalm 58. 4, 5,), so one may escape the sting of a calumthe "great king" (v. 14.). Solomon reverts to "the niator by discretion (v. 12.). [HOLDEN.] Thus, “without rulers to their own hurt" ch. 8. 9.). 18. one sinner, enchantment" answers to "not whet the edge" (v. 10,), &c.-(Joshua, 7. 1, 11, 12.). Though wisdom excels both expressing, figuratively, want of judgment. folly (v. 16; ch. 7. 19.), yet a "little folly (equivalent to MAURER translates, "There is no gain to the enchanter" sin can destroy much good," both in himself (ch. 10. 1; Margin, "master of the tongue') from his enchantJames, 2. 10) and in others. "Wisdom" must, from the ments, because the serpent bites before he can use antithesis to "sinner," mean religion. Thus typically, them; hence the need of continual caution. Ver. 8-10, the "little city" may be applied to the church (Luke, 12. caution in acting; v. 11, and following verses, caution 32; Hebrews, 12, 22;); the great king to Satan (John, 12. in speaking. 12. gracious-thereby he takes precaution 31;); the despised poor wise man, Jesus Christ (Isaiah, against sudden injury (v. 11.). swallow up himself 53. 2, 3; Mark, 6. 3; 2 Corinthians, 8. 9; Ephesians, 1. 7, Proverbs, 10. 8, 14, 21, 32; 12. 13; 15. 2; 22. 11.). 13. Illus8; Colossians, 2. 3.). trating the folly and injuriousness of the fool's words; last clause of v. 12. 14. full of words-(ch. 5. 2.), a man Ver. 1-20. 1. Following up ch. 9. 18. him that is in cannot tell what shall be-ch. 3. 22; 6. 12; 8. 7; 11. 2; reputation-ex. gr., David (2 Samuel, 12. 14;); Solomon Proverbs, 27. 1.). If man, universally (including the (1 Kings, 11.3; Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles, 18.; 19. 2;; wise man,, cannot foresee the future, much less can Josiah 2 Chronicles, 35. 22.). The more delicate the the fool; his "many words" are therefore futile. 15. perfume, the more easily spoiled is the ointment. labour . . . wearieth-(Isaiah, 55. 2; Habakkuk, 2. 13.). Common oil is not so liable to injury. So the higher a knoweth not how to go to the city-proverb for ignorance man's religious character is, the more hurt is caused by of the most ordinary mutters (v. 3;); spiritually, the a sinful folly in him. Bad savour is endurable in oil, heavenly city (Psalm 107. 7; Matthew, 7. 13, 14). but not in what professes to be, and is compounded MAURER connects v. 15 with the following verses. by the perfumer ("apothecary") for, fragrance. "Flies" The labour (vexation) caused by the foolish (injurious answer to "a little folly" (sin,), appropriately, being princes, v. 4-7,), harasses him who "knows not how to small (1 Corinthians, 5. 6); also, "Beelzebub" means go to the city," to ingratiate himself with them there. prince of flies. "Ointment" answers to "reputation" | English Version is simpler. 16. a child - given to (ch. 7. 1; Genesis, 34. 30.. The verbs are singular, the pleasures; behaves with childish levity. Not in years; noun plural, implying that each of the flies causes the for a nation may be happy under a young prince, as stinking savour. 2. (Ch. 2. 14.).__right-the right hand Josiah. eat in the morning-the usual time for disis more expert than the left. The godly wise is more pensing justice in the East (Jeremiah, 21. 12;; here, given on his guard than the foolish sinner, though at times to feasting (Isaiah, 5. 11; Acts, 2, 15.). 17. son of nobleshe slip. Better a diamond with a flaw, than a pebble not merely in blood, but in virtue, the true nobility without one. 3. by the way-in his ordinary course; Song of Solomon, 7. 1; Isaiah, 32, 5, 8.). in due season in his simplest acts (Proverbs, 6. 12-14.). That hech. 3. 1,), not until duty has first been attended to. "saith," virtually, that he" himself, &c. (LXX.). for strength-to refresh the body, not for revelry (inBut Vulgate,He thinks that every one (else whom he cluded in "drunkenness."). 18. building — lit., the meets) is a fool." 4. spirit-anger. yielding pacifieth-joining of the rafters, viz., the kingdom v. 16; Isaiah, (Proverbs, 15. 1.). This explains leave not thy place;" do not in a resisting spirit withdraw from thy post of duty (ch. 8. 3.). 5. as-rather, "by reason of an error." [MAURER and HOLDEN.] 6. rich-not in mere wealth, but in wisdom, as the antithesis to "folly" (for "foolish men") shows. So Hebrew, rich, equivalent to" liberal," in a good sense (Isaiah, 32. 5.). Mordecai and Haman (Esther, 3. 1, 2; 6, 6-11.). 7. servants upon horses-the

CHAPTER X.

3. 6; Amos, 9. 11.). hands-(ch. 4. 5; Proverbs, 6. 10.). droppeth - by neglect to repair the roof in time, the rain gets through. 19. Referring to v. 18. Instead of repairing the breaches in the commonwealth (equivalent to "building."), the princes "make a feast for laughter (v. 16,), and wine maketh their life glad (Psalm 104. 15,), and (but) money supplieth (answereth their wishes by supplying; all things," .e., they take bribes

Exhortation to the Young.

ECCLESIASTES, XII

The Whole Duty of Man.

age, in which all the powers are dormant,), whilst the 8-12. A summary of the first part. 13, 14. A summary other trees are flowerless. GESENIUS takes the Hebrew of the second. Vanity, &c.-Resumption of the sentifor flourishes from a different root, cast off; when the ment with which the book began (ch. 1. 2; 1 John, 2. 17.). old man loses his gray hairs, as the almond tree casts 9. gave good heed-lit., he weighed. The "teaching its white flowers. grasshopper-the dry, shrivelled, old the people" seems to have been oral; the "proverbs." man, his backbone sticking out, his knees projecting in writing. There must then have been auditories forwards, his arms backwards, his head down, and the assembled to hear the inspired wisdom of the Preacher. apophyses enlarged, is like that insect. Hence arose See the explanation of "Koheleth" in the Introduction the fable, that Tithonus in very old age was changed and ch. 1. (1 Kings, 4. 34.). that which was written, &c. into a grasshopper. [PARKHURST.) "The locust-rather, he sought) "to write down uprightly (or raises itself to fly:" the old man about to leave the aright') words of truth." [HOLDEN and WEISS.] body is like a locust when it is assuming its winged "Acceptable" means an agreeable style; "uprightly.. form, and is about to fly. [MAURER.] a burden-viz., truth," correct sentiment. 11. goads-piercing deeply to himself. desire shall fail-satisfaction shall be into the mind (Acts, 2. 37; 9. 5; Hebrews, 4. 123; abolished. For desire, Vulgate has "the caper tree," evidently inspired words, as the end of the verse provocative of lust; not so well. long home-Job, 16. proves. fastened-rather, on account of the Hebrew 22; 17. 13.). mourners- Jeremiah, 9. 17-20,), hired for genders, (The words) " are fastened (in the memory the occasion (Matthew, 9. 23.). 6. A double image to like nails." [HOLDEN.] masters of assemblies-rather, represent death, as v. 1-5, old age. (1.) A lamp of frail "the masters of collections (ie., collectors of inspired material, but gilded over, often in the East hung from sayings, Proverbs, 25, 1) are given (have published roofs by a cord of silk and silver interwoven; as the them as proceeding' [HOLDEN] from one Shepherd," lamp is dashed down and broken, when the cord viz., the Spirit of Jesus Christ [WEISS] Ezekiel, 37. breaks, so man at death: "the golden bowl" of the lamp 24.). However, the mention of "goads" favours the answers to the skull, which, from the vital preciousness English Version, "masters of assemblies,” viz., underof its contents, may be called "golden;" "the silver shepherds, inspired by the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter, 5. cord" is the spinal marrow, which is white and precious 2-4.). SCHMIDT translates, "The masters of assemblies as silver, and is attached to the brain. (2.) A fountain, are fastened made sure) as nails," so Isaiah, 22. 23. from which water is drawn by a pitcher let down by a 12. (Note, ch. 1. 18.). many books-of mere human comrope wound round a wheel; as, when the pitcher and position, opposed to" by these;" these inspired writings wheel are broken, water can no more be drawn, so life are the only sure source of "admonition." (over much) ceases when the vital energies are gone. The "foun- study-in mere human books, wearies the body, without tain" may mean the right ventricle of the heart; the solidly profiting the soul. 13. The grand inference of cistern," ," the left; the pitcher, the veins; the wheel, the whole book. Fear God-The antidote to following the aorta, or great artery. [SMITH.] The circulation creature-idols, and "vanities," whether self-righteousof the blood, whether known or not to Solomon, seems ness (ch. 7. 16, 18,, or wicked oppression and other evils to be implied in the language put by the Holy Ghost ch. 8, 12, 13,), or mad mirth (ch. 2. 2;7. 2-5,), or self-mortiinto his mouth. This gloomy picture of old age applies fying avarice (ch. 8. 13, 17,), or youth spent without God to those who have not "remembered their Creator ch. 11.9; 12. 1.). this is the whole duty of man-lit., this is in youth." They have none of the consolations of the whole man, the full ideal of man, as originally conGod, which they might have obtained in youth: it is templated, realised wholly by Jesus Christ alone; and, now too late to seek them. A good old age is a blessing through Him, by saints now in part, hereafter perfectly to the godly (Genesis, 15. 15; Job, 5. 26; Proverbs, 16. 1 John, 3, 22-24; Revelation, 22. 14.). 14. The future 31; 20. 29. 7. dust-the dust-formed body. spirit- judgment is the test of what is" vanity," what solid, as surviving the body; implying its immortality (ch. 3. 11.). regards the chief good, the grand subject of the book.

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THE SONG OF SOLOMON.

INTRODUCTION.

HE Song of Solomon, called in the Vulgate and LXX., "The Song of songs," from the opening words. This title THE denotes its superior excellence, according to the Hebrew idiom: so holy of holies, equivalent to most holy (Exodus, 29. 37;); the heaven of heavens, equivalent to the highest heavens (Deuteronomy, 10. 14.). It is one of the five volumes (megilloth,) placed immediately after the Pentateuch in MSS. of the Jewish scriptures. It is also fourth of the Hagiographa ("Cetubim❞ writings,), or the third division of the Old Testament, the other two being the Law and the Prophets. The Jewish enumeration of the Cetubim is Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra (including Nehemiah,), and Chronicles. Its canonicity is certain; it is found in all Hebrew MSS. of scripture; also in the Greek LXX.; in the catalogues of Melito, bishop of Sardis, A.D. 170 (Eusebius, H.E. iv. 26,), and of others of the ancient Church.

Origen and Jerome tell us, that the Jews forbade it to be read by any until he was thirty years old. It certainly needs a degree of spiritual maturity to enter aright into the holy mystery of love which it allegorically sets forth. To such as have attained this maturity, of whatever age they be, the Song of songs is one of the most edifying of the sacred writings. Rosenmuller justly says, The sudden transitions of the bride from the court to the grove are inexplicable, on the supposition that it describes merely human love. Had it been the latter, it would have been positively objectionable, and never would have been inserted in the holy canon. The allusion to "Pharaoh's chariots" (ch. 1. 9,), has been made a ground for conjecturing, that the love of Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter is the subject of the Song. But this passage alludes to a remarkable event in the history of the Old Testament Church, the deliverance from the hosts and chariots of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. (See, however, note there.). The other allusions are quite opposed to the notion; the bride is represented at times as a shepherdess (ch. 1. 7,), "an abomination to the Egyptians" (Genesis, 46. 34;); so also ch. 1.6; 3. 4; 4. 8; 5, 7, are at variance with it. The Christian fathers, Origen and Theodoret, compared the teaching of Solomon to a ladder with three steps; Ecclesiastes, natural (the nature of sensible things, vain;): Proverbs, moral; Canticles, mystical (figuring the union of Christ and the Church.). The Jews compared Proverbs to the outer court of Solomon's temple, Ecclesiastes to the holy place, and Canticles to the holy of holies. Understood allegorically, the Song is cleared of all difficulty. "Shulamith" (ch. 6. 13.), the bride is thus an appropriate name, Daughter of Peace, being the feminine of Solomon, equivalent to the Prince of Peace. She by turns is a vinedresser, shepherdess, midnight inquirer, and prince's consort and daughter, and He a suppliant drenched with night-dews, and a king in His palace, in harmony with the various relations of the Church and Christ. As Ecclesiastes sets forth the vanity of love of the creature, Canticles sets forth the fulness of the love which joins believers and the Saviour. The entire economy of salvation, says Harris, aims at restoring to the world the lost spirit of love. God is love, and Christ is the embodiment of the love of God. As the other books of Scripture present severally their own aspects of divine truth, so Canticles furnishes the believer with language of holy love, wherewith his heart can commune with his Lord; and portrays the intensity of Christ's love to him; the affection of love was created in man to be a transcript of the divine love, and the Song clothes the latter in words; were it not for this, we should be at a loss for language, having the divine warrant, wherewith to express, without presumption, the fervour of the love between Christ and us. The image of a bride, a bridegroom, and a marriage, to represent this spiritual union, has the sanction of Scripture throughout: nay, the spiritual union was the original fact in the mind of God, of which marriage is the transcript (Isaiah, 54. 5; 62. 3; Jeremiah, 3. 1, &c.; Ezekiel, 16. and 23.; Matthew, 9. 15; 22. 2; 25. 1, &c., John, 3, 29; 2 Corinthians, 11. 2; Ephesians, 5, 23-32, where Paul does not go from the marriage relation; to the union of Christ and the Church, as if the former were the first; but comes down from the latter as the first and best recognised fact, on which the relation of marriage is based; Revelation, 19. 7; 21. 2; 22 17.) Above all, the Song seems to correspond to, and form a trilogy with, the 45th and 72d Psalms, which contain the same imagery: just as Psalm 37. answers to Proverbs; and Psalm 39. and 73. to Job. Love to Christ is the strongest, as it is the purest, of human passions and therefore needs the strongest language to express it: to the pure in heart the phraseology, drawn from the rich imagery of Oriental poetry, will not only appear not indelicate or exaggerated, but even below the reality. A single emblem is a type: the actual rites, incidents, and persons of the Old Testament, were appointed types of truths afterwards to be revealed. But the allegory is a continued metaphor in which the circumstances are palpably often purely imagery, whilst the thing signified is altogether real. The clew to the meaning of the Song is not to be looked for in the allegory itself, but in other parts of Scripture. "It lies in the casket of revelation an exquisite gem, engraved with emblematical characters, with nothing literal thereon to break the consistency of their beauty." [Burrowes.] This accounts for the name of God not occurring in it. Whereas in the parable the writer narrates, in the allegory he never does so. The Song throughout consists of immediate addresses either of Christ to the soul, or of the soul to Christ. "The experimental knowledge of Christ's loveliness, and the believer's love, is the best commentary on the whole of this allegorical Song." Leighton.] Like the curiously wrought Oriental lamps, which do not reveal the beauty of their transparent emblems until lighted up within, so the types and allegories of Scripture," the lantern to our path," need the inner light of the Holy Spirit of Jesus to reveal their significance. The details of the allegory are not to be too minutely pressed. In the Song, with an Oriental profusion of imagery, numbers of lovely sensible objects are aggregated, not strictly congruous, but portray. ing jointly by their very diversity the thousand various and seemingly opposite beauties which meet together in Christ. The unity of subject throughout, and the recurrence of the same expressions (ch. 2. 6, 7; 3. 5; 8. 3, 4; 2. 16, and 6. 3; 7. 10; 3. 6; 6. 10; 8. 5) prove the unity of the poem, in opposition to those who make it consist of a number of separate erotic songs. The sudden transitions, ex. gr., from the midnight knocking at a humble cottage to a glorious description of the King, accord with the alternations in the believer's experience. However various the divisions assigned be, most com

Introduction.

SOLOMON'S SONG.

Introduction. mentators have observed four breaks (whatever more they have imagined,), followed by four abrupt beginnings (ch. 2. 7; 3.5; 5. 1; 8. 4.). Thus there result five parts, all alike ending in full repose and refreshment. We read (1 Kings, 4. 32) that Solomon's songs were "a thousand and five." The odd number five added over the complete thousand, makes it not unlikely that the "five" refers to the Song of songs, consisting of five parts.

It answers to the idyllic poetry of other nations. The Jews explain it of the union of Jehovah and ancient Israel, the allusions to the temple and the wilderness accord with this; some Christians, of Christ and the Church; others, of Christ and the individual believer. All these are true; for the Church is one in all ages, the ancient typifying the modern Church, and its history answering to that of each individual soul in it. Jesus "sees all, as if that all were one, loves one, as if that one were all." "The time suited the manner of this revelation; because types and allegories belonged to the old dispensation, which reached its ripeness under Solomon, when the temple was built. [Moody Stuart,]“The daughter of Zion at that time was openly married to Jehovah;" for it is thenceforth that the prophets, in reproving Israel's subsequent sin, speak of it as a breach of her marriage covenant. The songs heretofore sung by her were the preparatory hymns of her childhood: "the last and crowning 'Song of songs' was prepared for the now mature maiden against the day of her marriage to the King of kings." [Origen.] Solomon was peculiarly fitted to clothe this holy mystery with the lovely natural imagery with which the Song abounds; for "he spake of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall" (1 Kings, 4. 33.). A higher qualification was his knowledge of the eternal Wisdom or Word of God (Proverbs, 8.,), the heavenly bridegroom, David, his father, had prepared the way, in Psalm 45. and 72.; the son perfected the allegory. It seems to have been written in early life, long before his declension; for after it a song of holy gladness would hardly be appropriate. It was the song of his first love, in the kindness of his youthful espousals to Jehovah. Like other inspired books, its sense is not to be restricted to that local and temporary one in which the writer may have understood it: it extends to all ages, and shadows forth everlasting truth (1 Peter, 1. 11, 12; 2 Peter, 1. 20, 21.).

"O that I knew how all thy lights combine, and the configurations of their glorie,

Seeing not only how each verse doth shine, but all the constellations of the storie,”—Herbert.

Three notes of time occur. [Moody Stuart.] (1.) The Jewish Church speaks of the Gentile Church (ch. 8. 8.), towards the end; (2) Christ speaks to the apostles (ch. 5. 1,), in the middle; (3.) The Church speaks of the coming of Christ (ch. 1. 2,), at the beginning. Thus we have, in direct order, Christ about to come, and the cry for the advent; Christ finishing his work on earth, and the last supper; Christ ascended, and the call of the Gentiles. In another aspect, we have: (1.) In the individual sout, the longing for the manifestation of Christ to it, and the various alternations in its experience (ch. 1. 2, 4; 2. 8; 3. 1, 4, 6, 7) of His manifestation; (2) The abundant enjoyment of His sensible consolations, which is soon withdrawn through the bride's carelessness (ch. 5. 1-3, &c.,), and her longings after Him, and reconciliation (ch. 5. 8-16; 6. 3, &c.; 7. 1, &c.;); (3.) Effects of Christ's manifestation on the believer, viz., assurance, labours of love, anxiety for the salvation of the impenitent, eagerness for the Lord's second coming (ch. 7. 10, 12; 8, 8-10, 14).

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