ECCLESIASTES, THE BOOK OF, one of the three canonical volumes, the other two being Pro verbs and the Song of Songs, which have come doevn to us by tradition as the production of Solo mon the son of David.
I. The Title of the Book and its Signification.— This book is called in Hebrew r+rip, Coheleth, after its hero, who calls himself by this name. The name occurs seven times in this book, three times in the beginning (i. 1, 2, 12), three times at the end (xii. 8, 9, so), and once in the middle of it (vii. 27), and is an appellative, as is evident from the fact that it has the article in xii. 8, and more espe cially from its being construed with a feminine verb in vii. 27.
The signification of thrlp will best be seen from an analysis of its form, and the meaning of its root.
It is participle feminine Kat, from Srir? kindred with 517, Greek raXico, Latin calo, and our English word call, which primarily signifies to call, then to call together, collect, to assemble, and is INVARIABLY used for assembling or gathering people, especially for religious worship, as may be seen from the follow ing references to the passages where the verb oc curs—EX. xxii. 1 ; xxv. I ; Lev. viii. 3, 4; Num. i. 28 ; viii. 9 ; x. 7 ; xvi. 3, 19 ; xvii. 7 ; xx. 2, 8, to ; Deut. iv. to ; xxi. z8 ; Josh. xviii. ; xxii. 12 ; Judg. xx. ; 2 gam. xx. 4 ; Kings viii. 1, 2i xii. 21 ; 1 Chron. xiii. 5 ; xv. 3 ; xxviii. 1 ; 2 Chron. V. 2, xi. ; xx. ; Esth. vii. ; ix. 2, 16, 18 ; Jer. xxvi. 9 ; Ezek. xxxviii. 7, 13 ; Job xi. to. So also its de rivatives, and nirlpn without exception, denote assemblies or gatherings of people. Accordingly r1515 signifies a collectrers or assem bleress of people into the presence of God, a female gatherer of the community to God. That Solomon is meant by this designation is evident from the fact that he was the only son of David who was king of Israel in Jerusalem (vide i. 1, 22). He has this feminine and symbolic appellation because he personifies wisdom (comp. vii. 27) who appears her self in Prov. 2, to; viii. I, etc., as Coheleth, or the female gatherer of the people ; and because it is both descriptive of the design of the book and con nects Solomon's labours here with his work re corded in I Kings viii, Solomon, who in i Kings viii. is described as gathering the people to hold communion with the Most High in the place which he erected for this purpose, is here again re presented as the gatherer (1+0) of the far-off people to God. It must, however, be borne in mind that though Solomon is animated by and re presents wisdom, he does not lose his individuality. Hence he sometimes describes his own experience (comp. i. 26, 27 ; ii. 9, 12 ; vii. 23, etc.), and sometimes utters the words of Wisdom, whose organ he is : just as the apostles are sometimes the organs of the Holy Ghost (comp. Acts xv. 28).
Against the common rendering of ;4r11 by preacher or Ecclesiastes,—which is derived from the lIidrash, where we are told that Solomon obtained this title because his discourses were delivered be fore the congregation (71P1 MR)), hence the Sept. eranstao-Ths, the Vulg. ecclesiastes; St. Je rome's explanation Ixanomarip Grercosermone ap pellatur qui ortum, i.e., ecclesiam (mg-regal (Com ment. in loco), Luther, Coverdale, the Geneva Bible, the Bishops' Bible, the A. V., and many modem Commentators, and which is supported by Desvceux, Gesenius, Knobel, Herzfeld, Stuart, etc., who account for the feminine gender by saying that persons holding certain ranks and offices are desig nated in Hebrew by feminine and abstract is to be urged-2. The verb 5Ey does not at all include the idea of preaching. 2. It ascribes
to Solomon the office of preacher which is no where mentioned in the Bible, it is too modern a title, and is quite inconsistent with the contents of the book. 3. It destroys the connection between the design of the book, and the import of this sym bolic name. Moreover, a. Coheleth is neither a name of rank nor of office, but simply describes the act of gathering the people together, and can, therefore, not come within the rule which the ad vocates of the rendering preacher or Ecclesiastes are obliged to urge. b. The construction of the femi nine verb with it in vii. 27, is utterly incompatible with this view. c. Abstracts are never formed from the active participle; and d. There is not a single instance to be found where a concrete is first made an abstract, and then again taken in is personal sense. The other explanations of Coheleth, viz., Gatherer or Acquirer of wisdom, and Solomon is called by this name because he gathered much wis dom (Rashi, Rashbam, etc.); Collector, Compiler, because he collected in this book divers experience, views, and maxims, for the good of mankind (Gro tius, Mayer, Mendelssohn, etc.) ; Eclectic, bCXEK TIK65, a name given to him by his father because of his skill in selecting and purifying from the systems of different philosophers the amassed sentiments in this book (Rosenthal); Accumulated wisdom, and this appellation is given to him because wisdom was accumulated in him (Ibn Ezra); The lee-ImPed, the Gathered Soul, and it describes his re-admission into the church in consequence of his repentance (Cartwright, Bishop, Reynolds, Granger, etc.) ; The Penitent, and describes the contrite state of his heart for his apostacy(Coccejus, Schulten, etc.); An assembly, an academy; and the first verse is to be translated The sayings of the academy of the son of David' (Doderlein, Nachtigal, etc.) ; An old man ; and Solomon indicates by the name Cohe leth his weakness of mind when, yielding to his wives, lie worshipped idols (Simonis, Lex. Heb. s. v. Schmidt, etc.); Exclaiming voice, analogous to the title assumed by John the Baptist ; and the words of the inscription ought to be rendered, 'The words of the voice of one exclaiming' (de Dieu); Sophist, according to the primitive signification of the word, which implied a combination of philosophy and rhe toric (Desvceux); Philosopher or Moralist (Spohn, Gaab, etc.); The departed spirit of Solomon intro duced as speaking throughout this book in the form of a shadow (Augusti, Einleit in d. A. T., p. 24o) ; and Coheleth is the feminine gender, be cause it refers to VD) the intellectual soul, which is understood (Bashi, Rashbam, Ewald, etc.), it is to shew the great excellency of the preacher, or his charming style which this gender indicates (Lori nus, Zirkel, etc.), because a preacher travails, as it were, like a mother, in the spiritual birth of his children, and has tender and motherly affection for his people, a similar expression being found in Gal. iv. 29 (Pineda, Mayer, etc.), it is to describe the infirmity of Solomon, who appears here as worn out by old age (Mercer, Simonis, etc.) ; it is used in a neuter sense, because departed spirits have no specific gender (Augusti), the termination n is not at all feminine, but, as in Arabic, is used as an auxesis, etc., etc., etc., we believe that the simple enumeration of these views will tend to shew the soundness of the interpretation we defend, and at the same time indicate the history of the interpreta tion of this book.