ECCLESIASTES
of
the
book
is
the
frequency
with
which
a
despairing
sadness
alternates
with
a
calm
pious
assurance.
Many
have
seen
in
this
the
struggles
of
a
reUgiously
minded
man
halting
between
doubt
and
faith;
e.g.
Plumptre
compares
this
mental
conflict
with
Tennyson's
'Two
Voices.'
But
the
more
the
book
is
read,
the
more
the
reader
feels
that
this
is
not
so.
The
contrasts
are
so
sudden;
the
scepticism
is
so
despairing,
and
the
piety
so
calm
and
assured,
that
they
can
be
explained
only
on
the
assumption
of
interpolations
by
other
hands.
Moreover,
in
the
midst
of
the
despair
and
the
faith
there
are
scattered
proverbs,
somewhat
frigid
and
didactic,
often
with
no
relevance
to
the
context.
The
literary
history
of
the
writing
appears
to
be
as
follows:
(a)
The
gnomic
character
of
some
of
Koheleth's
remarks,
and
the
ascription
to
Solomon,
attracted
one
of
the
thinkers
of
the
day
whose
minds
were
dominated
by
the
idea
of
'Wisdom'
—
such
a
writer
as
those
whose
observations
are
collected
in
the
Book
of
Proverbs.
He
enriched
the
original
writing
with
proverbs
culled
from
various
sources,
(b)
But
that
which
attracts
also
repels.
The
impression
which
the
book
made
upon
the
orthodox
Jew
may
be
seen
in
the
Book
of
Wisdom,
in
which
(2'-')
the
writer
collects
some
of
Koheleth's
despairing
re-flexions;
and,
placing
them
in
the
mouth
of
the
ungodly,
raises
his
protest
against
them.
There
were
Uving
at
the
time
not
only
gnomic
moralizers.
but
also
men
of
intense,
it
narrow,
piety
—
men
of
the
tempei
after-wards
seen
in
the
Maccabees.
One
of
these
interpolated
observations
on
(i.)
the
fear
of
God.
(ii.)
the
judgment
of
God.
In
every
case
except
5'-'
[Heb.
4"-S5]
his
remarks
explicitly
correct
some
complaint
of
Koheleth
to
which
he
objected.
12"-
"
is
a
postscript
by
the
'wise
man,'
and
vv."-
"
by
the
pious
man.
The
additions
which
appear
to
be
due
to
the
former
are
46.
9-12
67.
9
71a.
4-12.
19
gl
917f.
101-3.
8-14a.
15.
18f.
12nf.,
and
to
the
latter
2»
3»>>-
"
S'-'
T's""-
*»>'■
"
&^-
'•■
s-
•»•
11-13
119b.
12la.
13f.,
4.
Koheleth's
reflexions.
—
(a)
His
view
of
life.
—
After
the
exordium
(1-2"),
in
which,
under
the
guise
of
Solomon,
he
explains
that
he
made
every
possible
attempt
to
discover
the
meaning
and
aim
of
life,
the
rest
of
his
writing
consists
of
a
miscellaneous
series
of
pictures,
illustrating
his
recurrent
thought
that
'
all
is
a
vapour,
and
a
striving
alter
wind.'
And
the
con-clusion
at
which
he
arrives
is
that
man
can
aim
at
nothing,
guide
himself
by
nothing.
His
only
course
is
to
fall
back
upon
present
enjoyment
and
industry.
It
is
far
from
being
a
summum
bonum;
it
is
not
an
Epi-curean
theory
of
life
;
it
is
a
mere
modus
vivendi,
'whereby
he
shall
not
take
much
account
of
the
days
of
his
lite
'
(5").
And
to
this
conclusion
he
incessantly
returns,
whenever
he
finds
life's
mysteries
insoluble:
2?i'-
S'^t.
22
517-19
gis
9'-io
111-10
(exc.
1"=)
12"'-'.
(6)
His
religious
ideas.
—
It
is
improbable
that
he
came
into
immediate
contact
with
any
of
the
Greek
schools
of
thought.
It
has
often
been
maintained
that
he
shows
distinct
signs
of
having
been
influenced
by
both
Stoic
and
Epicurean
philosophy.
Of
the
latter
it
is
difiBcult
to
discern
the
slightest
trace;
but
for
the
former
there
is
more
to
be
said.
But
there
is
nothing
at
which
a
thinking
Jew,
of
a
philosophical
temper
of
mind,
could
not
have
arrived
independently.
And
it
must
not
be
forgotten
that
even
Stoicism
was
not
a
purely
Greek
product
;
its
founder
Zeno
was
of
Phoenician
descent,
and
his
followers
came
from
Syria,
Cilicia
Carthage,
and
other
Hellenistic
(as
distinct
from
Hellenic)
quarters.
Koheleth
occupies
(what
may
be
called)
debatable
ground
between
Semitic
and
Greek
thought.
He
has
lost
the
vitahty
of
belief
in
a
personal
God,
which
inspired
the
earlier
prophets,
and
takes
his
stand
upon
a
somewhat
colourless
monotheism.
He
never
uses
the
personal
name
'Jahweh.'
but
always
the
descriptive
title
'
Elohim
'
(4
times)
or
'the
Elohim'
(16
times),
'the
deity'
who
manifests
Himself
in
the
inscrutable
and
irresistible
forces
of
Nature.
At
the
same
time
EDEN,
GARDEN
OF
he
never
Commits
himself
to
any
definitely
pantheistic
statements.
He
has
not
quite
lost
his
Semitic
belief
that
God
is
more
than
Nature,
for
His
action
shows
evidence
of
design
(3"-
'«
«
B'^''
7"
8"
11').
More-over,
God's
work
—
the
course
of
Nature
—
appears
in
the
form
of
an
endless
cycle.
Events
and
phenomena
are
brought
upon
the
stage
of
life,
and
banished
into
the
past,
only
to
be
recalled
and
banished
again
(1*-"
315).
And
this,
for
Koheleth,
paralyzes
all
real
effort;
for
no
amount
of
labour
can
produce
anything
new
or
of
real
profit
—
no
one
can
add
to,
or
subtract
from,
the
unswerving
chain
of
facts
(I's
S'-s-
"»■
7");
no
one
can
contend
with
Him
that
is
mightier
than
he
(e'").
And
he
gains
no
relief
from
the
expectation
of
Messianic
peace
and
perfection,
which
animated
the
orthodox
Jew.
There
are
left
him
only
the
shreds
of
the
religious
con-victions
of
his
fathers,
with
a
species
of
'natural
re-ligion'
which
has
fatalism
and
altruism
among
i
s
ingredients
5.
The
value
of
the
book
for
us
lies
largely
in
its
very
deficiencies.
The
untroubled
orthodoxy
of
the
pious
man
who
corrected
what
he
thought
was
wrong,
the
moral
aphorisms
of
the
'wise
man,'
and
the
Welt-schmerz
of
Koheleth
with
his
longing
for
Ught,
were
each
examples
of
the
state
of
thought
of
the
time.
They
corresponded
to
the
three
classes
of
men
in
1
Co
V"
—
the
'scribe'
(who
clung
faithfully
to
his
accepted
traditions),
the
-wise
man,'
and
the
'searcher
of
this
world.'
Each
possessed
elements
of
lasting
truth,
but
each
needed
to
be
answered,
and
raised
to
a
higher
plane
of
thought,
by
the
revelation
of
God
in
the
Incarnation.
A.
H.
M'
Neile.
ECCLESIASTICUS
—See
Apocrypha,
§
13.
ECLIPSE.—
See
Sun.
ED.
—
In
the
Hebrew
(and
also
in
the
Greek)
text
of
Jos
2234
the
name
given
by
the
two
and
a
half
tribes
to
the
altar
erected
by
them
on
the
east
bank
of
the
Jordan
has
dropped
out.
Our
English
translators
have
filled
the
gap
by
inserting
Bd
as
the
name
of
the
altar
in
question.
For
this
they
have
the
authority
of
a
few
MSS.
The
location
of
this
altar
on
the
east
bank
of
the
Jordan
is
required
by
the
whole
tenor
of|the
narrative.
The
west
bank
is
suggested
by
v.^"
in
its
present|form,
and
maintained
also
by
RV
in
v.",
by
a
translation
of
doubtful
admissibility,
'
in
the
forefront
of
the
land
of
Canaan,
mi
the
side
thai
per-taineth
to
the
children
of
Israel.'
EDDINUS.
—
One
of
the
'holy
singers'
at
Josiah's
passover
(1
Es
1").
In
the
parallel
passage
2
Oh
35"
the
corresponding
name
is
Jeduthun,
which
is
read
also,
contrary
to
MS
authority,
by
AV
in
1
Esdras.
The
text
of
the
latter
is
probably
corrupt.
EDEN.—
2
Ch
29"
SI",
a
Levite,
or
possibly
two.
It
is
not
certain
that
Eden
is
the
true
form
of
the
name:
LXX
has
Jodan
in
the
first,
Odom
in
the
second
passage.
When
it
transliterates
Eden
elsewhere
it
is
usually
in
the
form
Edem.
J.
Taylor.
EDEN,
CHILDREN
OF.—
The
people
occupying
Bit-Adini
(2
K
19".
Is
3712;
for
Ezk
27^3
see
Canneh).
See
Eden
[House
of).
Telassar
(2
K
19'^)
may
perhaps
be
TU
Bashir
of
the
inscriptions.
J.
Tatlor.
EDEN,
GARDEN
OF.—
Gn
2f
.
relateshow
God
planted
a
garden
in
the
East,
in
Eden.
A
river
rose
in
that
land,
fiowed
through
the
garden,
and
then
divided
into
four
streams.
Within
the
enclosure
were
many
trees
useful
for
food;
also
the
tree
of
life,
whose
fruit
conferred
immortality,
and
the
tree
of
knowledge,
which
gave
power
to
discriminate
between
things
profitable
and
things
hurtful,
or,
between
right
and
wrong.
The
animal
denizens
were
innocuous
to
man
and
to
each
other.
When
the
first
man
and
woman
yielded
to
the
tempter
and
ate
of
the
tree
of
knowledge,
they
were
expelled,
and
precluded
from
re-entering
the
garden.
In
this
account
Gn
2'"-"
3^^-
^
seem
to
be
inter-polations.
But
the
topographical
data
in
2'"-"
are
of
especial
importance,
because
they
have
supplied
the
