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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ecclesiastes 8:15 - 8:15
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“And I commended joy, that there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and enjoy himself; and that this accompanies him in his labour throughout all the days of his life, which God hath given him under the sun.†We already read the ultimatum, 15a, in a similar form at Ecc 2:24; Ecc 3:12, Ecc 3:22; cf. Ecc 5:17. With ×”×•Ö¼× ×™Ö´×œÖ° either begins a new clause, and the fut. is then jussive: “let this accompany him,†or it is subordinate to the foregoing infinitives, and the fut. is then subjunctive: et ut id eum comitetur. The lxx and other Greeks translate less appropriately indicat.: καὶ αὐτὸ συμπÏοσεÌσται αὐτῷ. Thus also Ewald, Hengst., Zöckl., and others: and this clings to him, which, however, would rather be expressed by לו יִתְרוֹן ×•×”×•× or וה חֶלְקוֹ. The verb לוה (R. לו, to twist, to bend) does not mean to cling to = to remain, but to adhere to, to follow, to accompany; cf. under Gen 18:16. The possibility of the meaning, “to accompany,†for the Kal, is supported by the derivatives לְוָיָה and לִוּוּי (particularly לְוָיַת המתי×, convoy of the dead); the verb, however, in this signification extra-bibl. is found only in Pih. and Hiph.
(Note: Vid., Baer in Abodath Jisrael, p. 39.)