The next clause——‘Desire shall fail’——may be explained in the same way. The word תפר, the hiphil of פרר, has always the meaning to ‘break,’ ‘disannul’——see Numbers xxx. 13, Job xv. 4, and hophal, Zechariah xi. 11. Evidently Symmachus, with the reading διαλυθῇ ἡ ἐπίπονος, has preserved the true meaning; for by ἐπίπονος he has rendered the word אביונה, which occurs here only. Now we have no right to seek a strange signification for this word when fair sense can be made according to the ordinary derivations. אביון occurs frequently in the sense of ‘a poor person’——the root being אבה, ‘to wish,’ or ‘desire.’ Jerome translates, as we see——‘Et dissolvetur spiritus fortitudinis’——‘the spirit or breath of the brave is dissolved,’ which is ad sensum; so that we may take אביונה as simply an abstract of אביון, with the meaning of ‘wishfulness,’ or ‘longing.’ Thus the reading of the LXX. is explained: Capers are provocatives of desire or appetite, and hence their Hebrew name. The ἐπίπονος of Symmachus occurs only once again, at Isaiah liii. 3, where it represents the Hebrew מכאבות, ‘griefs’ (see Field’s most instructive note, Hexaplar in loc.). Thus we venture to offer the following as a probable explanation of this passage:——‘Besides, they look with dread on high, and great dismay is in the way, and the almond tree (as a symbol of anticipation) is despised, and the grasshopper (as a symbol of what is small and light) is burdensome, and the caper-berries (as the symbol of desires or longings) are scattered.’ In the last clause the metaphorical out-tops the literal meaning, as the Authorized Version renders, rightly abandoning the LXX. at this point.) For (or ‘so’) advances (הלך, recalling chapter i.) the man (in the ordinary technical meaning of humanity) to (‘towards,’ LXX. εἰς, in its primary sense of motion to a place) a house of his age (עלמו, having its ordinary sense of ‘the age,’ or αἰὼν, as the LXX. render. The Authorized Version’s ‘long home’ is a beautiful paraphrase: his ‘brief home’ is his house; his ‘long home’ his tomb), and go round in the street (which the LXX. render ἐν ἀγορᾷ, ‘in the market’) the mourners (those who mourn for the dead).
6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
or ever the silver line runs out, or the golden oil bowl is removed, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or wheel runs down at the well, or the dust returns to the earth where it was, or the spirit is returning to the Almighty, its giver;
(6. 7.) Until not (marking another break in the comparison) is loosed (according to the Kri, but this is only a conjecture of the Masorets; if correct, the niphal occurs here only, but the chetib, ירחק, means ‘to be far from;’ and thus the LXX. render by ἀνατραπῇ, ‘turned back,’ and this appears to be correct) a cord of the silver (the Hebrew idiom for our ‘the silver cord.’ If we understand this to mean the silver cord from which the lamp is suspended, we shall perceive the allusion), and is broken (תרץ, so far as the unpointed text is concerned, might be feminine third future Kal of רוץ, ‘to run’——see Genesis xxix. 12. The LXX. render by συνθλιβῇ, which occurs Sira xxxi. 14 only; but it also may be from רצץ——see Judges ix. 53. B. reads συντριβῇ; but this is an error, the origin of which is the similarity of the two words and the occurrence of them both in the same sentence), a bowl (גלת, used by Zechariah to denote the reservoir which contained the oil for the golden candlestick of the temple, Zechariah iv. 2, 3. The LXX. render ἀνθέμιον, which also occurs Exodus xxxviii. 16, ‘for the round ornaments;’ compare also Joshua xv. 19, Judges i. 15, where the word evidently signifies a reservoir for irrigation; גלה also occurs 1 Kings vii. 41, etc. If the ‘golden bowl of the lamp’ be taken as the most probable meaning, it will admirably suit the context), of the gold (the idea then is apparently that of a golden lamp bowl suspended by a silver cord; the lamp would be let down daily at least; the golden bowl would then run down and be taken away to be replenished); and is shivered (see Leviticus vi. 28 (21)) a pitcher upon (or over) the spring (occurs Isaiah xxxv. 7, xlix. 10, and is evidently a spring gushing out of the ground, as opposed to בור, which is a sunken well or cistern), and is run (but the word is niphal, and the LXX. render συντροχάσῃ, ‘run down to’) the wheel (with the article, because the special wheel is meant which stands over the cistern) towards (אל, the preposition is different) the well; and returns the dust upon the earth as it was, and the spirit is returning (both futures, but one written full, the other contracted; there is perhaps a slight distinction——one also follows, the other goes before, its verb) to (אל; LXX. πρὸς) the Deity who (but full relative, as compared with the contracted form above) gave it (feminine, to agree with רוח; but, as we have so often seen, this close agreement gives a peculiar meaning; it is especially the divine gift).
8 ¶ Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.
so——evanescence of evanescence, says the Preacher, the whole is evanescent.