CHAPTER XI.
DOES KOHELETH CONTAIN GREEK WORDS OR IDEAS?
We now begin the consideration of the question, Are there any well-ascertained Græcisms in the language and in the thought of this obviously exceptional book? That there are many Greek loan-words in Targumic and Talmudic, is undeniable, though Levy in his lexicon has no doubt exaggerated their number. G. Zirkel, a Roman Catholic scholar, was the first who answered in the affirmative, confining himself to the linguistic side of the argument. His principal work,[[394]] Untersuchungen über den Prediger (Würzburg, 1792), is not in the Bodleian Library, but Eichhorn’s review in his Allgemeine Bibliothek, vol. iv. (1792), contains a summary of Zirkel’s evidence from which I select the following.
(a) יָפֶה, in sense of καλός ‘becoming’ (iii. 11, v. 17). This is one of the Græcisms which commend themselves the most to Grätz and Kleinert. The former points especially to v. 17, where he takes טוב אשר יפה together as representing καλὸν κἀγαθόν (comp. Plumptre on v. 18). The construction, however, is mistaken (see Delitzsch). The second אשר indicates that יפה is a synonym of וטב ‘excellent.’ The notion of the beautiful can be developed in various ways. The sense ‘becoming,’ characteristic of later Hebrew, is more distinctly required in iii. 11.
(b) ‘In the clause לָמָּה חָכַמְתִּי אֲנִי אָז יֹתֵר (ii. 15) the words אָז יֹתֵר must signify ἔτι μᾶλλον: quid mihi prodest majorem adhuc sapientiæ operam dare?’ But the demonstrative particle אז means, not ἔτι, but ‘in these circumstances’ (Jer. xxii. 15). Its position and connection with יתר are for emphasis. The fact of experience mentioned makes any special care for wisdom unreasonable.
(c) ‘עֳשׂׂות טוֹב (iii. 12) is a literal translation of εὖ πράττειν.’ This is accepted by Kleinert and also by Tyler. The very next verse seems to explain this phrase by ראה טוב (comp. v. 17); certainly the ethical meaning is against the analogy of ii. 24, iii. 22, and similar passages. But should we not, with Grätz and Nowack, correct רְאוֹת טוב in iii. 12?
(d) ‘כִּי הָאֱלֹהִים וגו (v. 19) must mean, God gives him joy of heart. ענה “respondere” seems to have borrowed the meaning “remunerari” from ἀμείβεσθαι, which has both senses. The ancient writer of the book thought thus in Greek, ὅτι θεὸς ἀμείβεται (αὐτὸν) εὐφροσύνῃ τῆς καρδίας.’ Zirkel forgets Ps. lxv. 6. See however Delitzsch.
(e) הֲלָךּ־נֶפֶשׁ (vi. 9) = ὁρμὴ τῆς ψυχῆς [M. Aurelius iii. 15]. But the phrase is idiomatic Hebrew for ‘roving of the desire.’
(f) יֵצֵא אֶת־כֻּלָּם (vii. 18). ‘The Hebrew writer found no other equivalent for μέσην βαδίζειν.’ But unless he borrowed the idea (that of cultivating the mean in moral practice), why should he have tried to express the technical term?
(g) כִּי־זֶה כָּל־הָאָדָם (xii. 13). ‘A pure Græcism, τοῦτο παντὸς ἀνθρὼπου.’ But how otherwise could the idea of the universal obligation to fear God have been expressed? Comp. the opening words of iii. 19.
To these may be added (h) ביום טובה (vii. 14) = εὐημερία (see however xii. 1); (i) the ‘technical term’ טור (i. 13, ii. 3, vii. 25) = σκέπτεσθαι [but good Hebrew for ‘to explore’]; (k) פתגם (viii. 11) = φθέγμα; (l) פרדם (ii. 15) = παράδεισος (see above).