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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ecclesiastes 8:2 - 8:2
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The faithfulness of subjects, Koheleth says, is a religious duty: “I say: Observe well the kings' command, and that because of the oath of God.” The author cannot have written Ecc 8:2 as it here stands; אֲנִי hovers in the air. Hitzig reads, with Jerome, שֹׁמֵר, and hears in Ecc 8:2-4 a servile person speaking who veils himself in the cloak of religion; in Ecc 8:5-8 follows the censura of this corrupt theory. but we have already remarked that Ecc 8:2 accords with Rom 13:5, and is thus not a corrupt theory; besides, this distribution of the expressions of the Book of Koheleth between different speakers is throughout an expedient resting on a delusion. Luther translates: I keep the word of the king, and thus reads אֶשְׁרֹּ; as also does the Jer. Sanhedrin 21b, and Koheleth rabba, under this passage: I observe the command of the king, of the queen. In any case, it is not God who is meant here by “the king;” the words: “and that because of the oath of God,” render this impossible, although Hengst. regards it as possible; for (1) “the oath of God” he understands, against all usage, of the oath which is taken to God; and (2) he maintains that in the O.T. scarcely any passage is to be found where obedience to a heathen master is set forth as a religious duty. But the prophets show themselves as morally great men, without a stain, just in this, that they decidedly condemn and unhesitatingly chastise any breach of faith committed against the Assyrian or Chaldean oppressor, e.g., Isa 28:15; Isa 30:1; Eze 17:15; cf. Jer 27:12. However, although we understand mělěk not of the heavenly, but of an earthly king, yet אֶשְׁמֹר does not recommend itself, for Koheleth records his experience, and derives therefrom warnings and admonitions; but he never in this manner presents himself as an example of virtue. The paraenetic imper. שְׁמֹר is thus not to be touched. Can we then use ani elliptically, as equivalent to “I say as follows”? Passages such as Jer 20:10 (Elst.), where לאמר is omitted, are not at all the same. Also Eze 34:11, where הנני is strengthened by ani, and the expression is not elliptical, is not in point here. And Isa 5:9 also does not apply to the case of the supposed ellipsis here. In an ingenious bold manner the Midrash helps itself in Lev 18 and Num 14, for with reference to the self-introduction of royal words like פרעה אני it explains: “Observe the I from the mouth of the king.” This explanation is worthy of mention, but it has little need of refutation; it is also contrary to the accentuation, which gives Pashta to ani, as to רְאֵה, Ecc 7:27, and לבַד, Ecc 7:29, and thus places it by itself. Now, since this elliptical I, after which we would place a colon, is insufferably harsh, and since also it does not recommend itself to omit it, as is done by the lxx, the Targ., and Syr., - for the words must then have a different order, המלך פי שְׁמֹר, - it is most advisable to supply אָמַרְתִּי, and to write אָםַ אני or אני אָםַ, after Ecc 2:1; Ecc 3:17-18. We find ourselves here, besides, within an I section, consisting of sentences interwoven in a Mashal form. The admonition is solemnly introduced, since Koheleth, himself a king, and a wise man in addition, gives it the support of the authority of his person, in which it is to be observed that the religious motive introduced by ו explic. (vid., Ewald, §340b) is not merely an appendix, but the very point of the admonition. Kleinert, incorrectly: “Direct thyself according to the mouth of the king, and that, too, as according to an oath of God.” Were this the meaning, then we might certainly wish that it were a servile Alexandrian court-Jew who said it. But why should that be the meaning? The meaning “wegen” because of, which is usually attributed to the word-connection עלדֳברת here and at Ecc 3:18; Ecc 7:14, Kleinert maintains to be an arbitrary invention. But it alone fits these three passages, and why an arbitrary invention? If עַל־דְּבַר, Psa 45:5; Psa 79:9, etc., means “von wegen” on account of, then also על־דברת will signify “propter rationem, naturam,” as well as (Psa 110:4) ad rationem. שְׁב אֱל is, as elsewhere שׁב יה, e.g., Exo 22:10, a promise given under an appeal to God, a declaration or promise strengthened by an oath. Here it is the oath of obedience which is meant, which the covenant between a king and his people includes, though it is not expressly entered into by individuals. The king is designated neither as belonging to the nation, nor as a foreigner; that which is said is valid also in the case of the latter. Daniel, Nehemiah, Mordecai, etc., acted in conformity with the words of Koheleth, and the oath of vassalage which the kings of Israel and Judah swore to the kings of Assyria and of Babylon is regarded by the prophets of both kingdoms as binding on king and people.