Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

"Go, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for long ago hath God accepted thy work. Let thy garments be always white; and let not oil be wanting to thy head. Enjoy life with a wife whom thou lovest through all the days of thy vain life, which He hath given thee under the sun - through all thy vain days: for that is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherewith thou weariest thyself under the sun. All that thy hand may find to do with thy might, that do; for there is not work, and calculation, and knowledge, and wisdom, in the under world, whither thou shalt go." Hengstenberg perceives here the counterpart of the spirit; on the contrary, Oetinger, Mendelssohn, and others, discover also here, and here for the first time rightly, the utterance of an epicurean thought. But, in fact, this לך down to שׁ הולך is the most distinct personal utterance of the author, his ceterum censeo which pervades the whole book, and here forms a particularly copious conclusion of a long series of thoughts. We recapitulate this series of thoughts: One fate, at last the same final event, happens to all men, without making any distinction according to their moral condition, - an evil matter, so much the more evil, as it encourages to wickedness and light-mindedness; the way of man, without exception, leads to the dead, and all further prospect is cut off; for only he who belongs to the class of living beings has a joyful spirit, has a spirit of enterprise: even the lowest being, if it live, stands higher in worth, and is better, than the highest if it be dead; for death is the end of all knowledge and feeling, the being cut off from the living under the sun. From this, that there is only one life, one life on this side of eternity, he deduces the exhortation to enjoy the one as much as possible; God Himself, to whom we owe it, will have it so that we enjoy it, within the moral limits prescribed by Himself indeed, for this limitation is certainly given with His approbation. Incorrectly, the Targ., Rashi, Hengst. Ginsb., and Zckl. explain: For thy moral conduct and effort have pleased Him long ago - the person addressed is some one, not a definite person, who could be thus set forth as such a witness to be commended. Rather with Grotius and others: Quia Deus favet laboribus tuis h. e. eos ita prosperavit, ut cuncta quae vitam delectant abunde tibi suppetant. The thought is wholly in the spirit of the Book of Koheleth; for the fruit of labour and the enjoyment of this fruit of labour, as at Ecc 2:24; Ecc 3:13, etc., is a gift from above; and besides, this may be said to the person addressed, since 7a presupposes that he has at his disposal heart-strengthening bread and heart-refreshing wine. But in these two explanations the meaning of כּבר is not comprehended. It was left untranslated by the old translators, from their not understanding it. Rightly, Aben Ezra: For God wills that thou shouldst thus to [indulge in these enjoyments]; more correctly, Hitzig: Long ago God has beforehand permitted this thy conduct, so that thou hast no room for scruples about it. How significant כבר is for the thought, is indicated by the accentuation which gives to it Zakef: from aforetime God has impressed the seal of His approbation on this thy eating with joy, this thy drinking with a merry heart. - The assigning of the reason gives courage to the enjoyment, but at the same time gives to it a consecration; for it is the will of God that we should enjoy life, thus it is self-evident that we have to enjoy it as He wills it to be enjoyed. Ecc 9:8 The white garments, לבּנים, are in contrast to the black robes of mourning, and thus are an expression of festal joy, of a happy mood; black and white are, according to the ancients, colour-symbols, the colours respectively of sorrow and joy, to which light and darkness correspond. (Note: Cf. Shabbath 114a: "Bury me neither in white nor in black garments: not in white, because perhaps I may not be one of the blessed, and am like a bridegroom among mourners; not in black, because perhaps I may be one of the blessed, and am like a mourner among bridegrooms." Semachoth ii. 10: Him who is outside the congregation, they do not bury with solemnity; the brothers and relatives of such must clothe and veil themselves in white; cf. Joma 39b. Elsewhere white is the colour of innocence, Shabbath 153a, Midrash under Pro 16:11; and black the colour of guilt, Kiddushin 40a, etc.) Fragrant oil is also, according to Pro 27:9, one of the heart-refreshing things. Sorrow and anointing exclude one another, Sa2 14:2; joy and oil stand in closest mutual relation, Psa 45:8; Isa 61:3; oil which smooths the hair and makes the face shine (vid., under Psa 104:15). This oil ought not to be wanting to the head, and thus the perpetuity of a happy life should suffer no interruption. Ecc 9:9 In Ecc 9:9 most translators render: Enjoy life with the wife whom thou lovest; but the author purposely does not use the word האשּׁה, but אשּׁה; and also that he uses חיּים, and not החיּים, is not without significance. He means: Bring into experience what life, what happiness, is (cf. the indetermin. ideas, Psa 34:13) with a wife whom thou hast loved (Jerome: quaecunque tibi placuerit feminarum), in which there lies indirectly the call to choose such an one; whereby the pessimistic criticism of the female sex, Ecc 7:26-28, so far as the author is concerned, falls into the background, since eudaemonism, the other side of his view of the world, predominates. The accus. designation of time, "through all the days of the life of thy vanity (i.e., of thy transient vain life)," is like Ecc 6:12, cf. Ecc 7:15. It is repeated in "all the days of thy vanity;" the repetition is heavy and unnecessary (therefore omitted by the lxx, Targ., and Syr.); probably like והדרך, Psa 45:5, a ditto; Hitzig, however, finds also here great emphasis. The relative clause standing after the first designation of time refers to "the days which He (האלהים, Ecc 9:7) has granted under the sun." Hu in Ecc 9:9 refers attractionally to חלקך (Jerome: haec est enim parts), as at Ecc 3:22; Ecc 5:17, cf. Ecc 7:2; היא of the Babyl. is therefore to be rejected; this enjoyment, particularly of marriage joys, is thy part in life, and in thy work which thou accomplishest under the sun, i.e., the real portion of gain allotted to thee which thou mayest and oughtest to enjoy here below. Ecc 9:10 The author, however, recommends no continual dolce far niente, no idle, useless sluggard-life devoted to pleasure, but he gives to his exhortation to joy the converse side: "All that thy hand may reach (i.e., what thou canst accomplish and is possible to thee, Sa1 10:7; Lev 12:8) to accomplish it with thy might, that do." The accentuation is ingenious. If the author meant: That do with all might (Jerome: instanter operare), then he would have said bechol-kohhacha (Gen 31:6). As the words lie before us, they call on him who is addressed to come not short in his work of any possibility according to the measure of his strength, thus to a work straining his capacity to the uttermost. The reason for the call, 10b, turns back to the clause from which it was inferred: in Hades, whither thou must go (iturus es), there is no work, and reckoning (vid., Ecc 7:25), and knowledge (דּעתו) (Note: Not ודעת, because the word has the conjunctive, not the disjunctive accent, vid., under Psa 55:10. The punctuation, as we have already several times remarked, is not consistent in this; cf. דּעתו, Ecc 2:26, and וערב, Psa 65:9, both of which are contrary to the rule (vid., Baer in Abulwald's Rikma, p. 119, note 2).) and no wisdom. Practice and theory have then an end. Thus: Enjoy, but not without working, ere the night cometh when no man can work. Thus spake Jesus (Joh 9:4), but in a different sense indeed from Koheleth. The night which He meant is the termination of this present life, which for Him, as for every man, has its particular work, which is either accomplished within the limits of this life, or is not accomplished at all.