(11.) The words of (but as דברי is repeated, we have ‘those words of’) wise men as goads (דברי חכמים כדרבנות; the play is manifest between דבר and דרב, but דרבנות occurs here only, note also its two accents, and the noun in a concrete form at 1 Samuel xiii. 21) and as nails (the particle of comparison being repeated, gives the idea ‘but as nails as well,’ but מַשְֹמְרֹות, spelt with the letter sin, occurs here only; only one instance of a piel participle of the very common verb שמר occurs, viz. Jonah ii. 8 (9), but the noun משמר is also quite common; see 1 Chronicles ix. 23, where למִשׁמָרוֹת occurs in the sense of ‘by wards’) planted masters of assemblies (אספה, occurs as a feminine noun Isaiah xxiv. 22; LXX. συναγωγὴν. This word has a curious history, which will further illustrate its meaning at this place. The reading of the Hexapla at Isaiah xxiv. 22 is: Οʹ. καὶ συνάξουσι ※ συναγωγὴν αὐτῆς ※ εἰς δεσμωτήριον καὶ ἀποκλείσουσιν εἰς ὀχύρωμα. Σ. καὶ ἀθροισθήσονται ἀθροισμὸν δεσμίου καὶ συγκλεισθήσονται εἰς συγκλεισμόν, showing a difficulty about the word which in the Hexapla is included between [♦]asterisks. Here the Peshito renders Koheleth by
‘masters of thresholds,’ and uses this same word at Exodus xii. 22, 23, and Deuteronomy vi. 9; hence they understood the allusion to be to the stake set across the entrance of the fold to prevent the cattle from straying out. That this reading will explain Isaiah xxiv. 22 is evident enough, and that it will explain this passage also will be seen if we look upon these goads as both compelling the oxen to labour, and, as the Syriac renders, forming the stakes which close the entrance to the lair); are given from a shepherd, one only (notice that אחד stands emphatically at the end of the sentence, and must mean, therefore, ‘the shepherd, who is the only one.’ This verse has greatly perplexed commentators: a diligent perusal of the ancient versions, and following the hint given by the Syriac above, will show us what is the real meaning. The LXX. read πεπυρωμένοι A¹. D. E. X., which A², B alter to πεφυτευμένοι, and which Aquila follows; probably πεπυρωμένοι was a misreading of πεπαρμένοι, from πάρω, ‘to infix;’ Symmachus reads πεπηγότες ‘constructed on,’ see Hebrews viii. 2. All the ancient Greek versions consider בעלי as a preposition, and render by παρὰ τῶν; the LXX. render אספות by συναγμάτων; B. συνθεμάτων; Aquila συνταγμάτων; Syriac Hexapla
; Symmachus συναχθέντων, otherwise συναντημάτων; Syriac
