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wheel broken at the cistern: these are exquisite symbols for the sudden and violent cessation of every-day functions. Compare the popular proverb: "The pitcher goes to the well once too often."-And the spirit return unto God who gave it: this by analogy with the previous line must be interpreted to mean no more than that the man becomes just what he was before he was born.

5. Literary 'Formula' in Ecclesiastes

One of the characteristic features of style in this book is the employment over and over again of certain phrases, which have the effect of 'formula': they are always used consistently, but the sense of each must be caught from the whole group.

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

All things are full of weariness.

All is vanity and a striving after wind.
This also was vanity.

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth.

It cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness.
There be many things that increase vanity.

Etymologically the word for 'vanity' is suggestive of breath or vapor. But the force of these formulæ is best appreciated by noting how the word occupies the position which in other Biblical philosophy is occupied by the word 'wisdom,' in the sense of the universal harmony or one-ness. Thus 'vanity' to this thinker connotes the failure to satisfy the reflective faculty. In this connection 'all' or 'all things' is suggestive: it is antithetic to the conception of a unity in the universe.

All that is done under heaven.

All the works that are done under the sun.

What it was good for the sons of men that they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

The work that is wrought under the sun.

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun.

Who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

Thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

All the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun.

(Many others)

The whole group of expressions, under the sun, or upon the earth, etc., make formulæ for the objective world, antithetic to the world of consciousness and reflection which fills the thought of the book. Another antithesis to these expressions is the following:

The work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.

The work of God who doeth all.

Consider the work of God. . . God hath even made [prosperity] side by side with [adversity].

These are formulæ, not for the phenomena, but for the underlying principles which are hidden, and (Ecclestiastes thinks) impossible to discover.

Another set of expressions are used to introduce distinct stages or steps in the reflective process.

I communed with mine own heart.

I said in mine heart.

I searched in mine heart how..

Then I looked.

And I turned myself to behold.

I returned, and saw.

All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto . . .

etc.

The following make an important group.

There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labour.

Who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

Nothing better for them than to rejoice and to get good so long as they live: and also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labour

is.

There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his works.

Good . . . and comely . .
labour.

Riches and wealth and

rejoice in his labour.

to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his

power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to

God giveth riches, wealth, and honour, so that he lacketh nothing for his soul
of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof.
Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun
than to eat and to drink and to be merry: and that this should accompany
him in his labour all the days of his life.

When all these passages are read together it becomes evident that the expression eat and drink is not used by this writer in the limited sense of indulging sensuous appetite, but as a formula for appreciation in the widest extent: some of these passages applying eat and drink to riches, to labor, and even to honor. A similar remark may be made as to mirth: the last quotation makes it an element of labor. As a fact, Ecclesiastes never dwells upon the revel, or the sensuous, by itself: all happy appreciation of life is treated as one.

6. Key Words in the Bible

There are certain characteristic words used in Scripture in a sense different from, or wider than, the modern usage. All these words have been explained where they occur; but it may be an assistance to the student to have attention called to them again.

Prophecy has not its modern sense of prediction; it means interpreting for Deity. [Fully discussed on page 144.]

Holy, Holiness, have sometimes the modern sense of the words (e. g., Isaiah's Call, page 181). But their main use in the O. T. is to express the separateness of Israel from the nations. Compare on page 499 note to page 308.

Righteousness has our modern sense of being right, but also the special sense of making right, vindicating right, almost an equivalent for salvation. Thus (in Zion Redeemed) Do righteousness: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Compare on page 487 note to page 196.

Judgment is the regular Biblical term for the modern word Providence.

The word covenant is a special term throughout the Bible for the relation between God and man. Compare pages 3, 9, 138.

The word Theocracy does not occur in the Bible; but the idea it stands for is the connecting link between all parts of Scripture. See page 472; and on page 500 end of note to page 342. The Kingdom of God on earth: this, in various phases of it, is the dominant thought of both O. T. and N. T.

7. Name of Deity

In the text of the Bible most English versions (but not all) follow an ancient custom of avoiding the frequent use of the special name of Deity (JEHOVAH), and substituting "The LORD " The exact usage could not be stated except in terms of the original Hebrew. But for practical purposes the reader may understand that "The LORD," or "The Lord GOD," spelled with capitals, represents the actual name of Deity. Spelled without capitals "The Lord" may apply to God, but is not the sacred name. The present work follows this usage so far as the text of the Bible is concerned; but uses "JEHOVAH" as title of a speaker in dialogue. [E. g. in Zion Redeemed.]

INDEXES

I. Connecting the Selections in this work with the Chapter and Verse arrange-
ment of ordinary Bibles

II. General Index.

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