154

Orthographical Diversity.

PROVERBS

25. 2. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to SEARCH OUT a matter.

22. 20, 21. Have not I WRITTEN to thee excellent things, in counsels and knowledge, to make thee know the certainty of words of TRUTH.

ECCLESIASTES 12. 9, 10.

And moreover because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, and gave heed, and SEARCHED OUT, yea set in order many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words; and that which was WRITTEN was upright, even words of TRUTH.

Such orthographical

(G) Feminine Forms. varieties as the scriptio plena and the scriptio defectiva frequently co-exist in the same paragraph or sentence; and it is perhaps not too much to affirm that if any sound argument as to date could be based on such orthography, the argument would be not less applicable to the Proverbs of Solomon than to the Book of Ecclesiastes, the one book being on a par with the other in so far as this point is concerned. (Page 159, further on.)

The Hebrew Scriptures exhibit a similar usage with regard to masculine and feminine forms, the feminine being sometimes used interchangeably with the masculine, as has already been observed in the thirty-sixth page of this treatise. Analogous cases are met with in other languages. Thus the singular of the Latin dies is sometimes masculine and sometimes feminine. So likewise in the English of two and a half centuries ago, ere the possessive its had come into general use, his and her were sometimes used interchangeably, as in the authorised version of Matthew 24. 32, and Mark 13. 28, where the Greek aurns, which is

Feminine Forms.

155

common to both passages, is translated his in the one passage and her in the other :

MATTHEW 24. 32.

Now learne a parable of the figtree when his branch is yet tender, and putteth foorth leaues, yee know that Summer is nigh:

MARK 13. 28.

Now learne a parable of the figtree. When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaues, ye know that summer is neere :

It is in a similar way that some Hebrew nouns,

are used both ,צדק,עזר, מעון,מעגל, גבול,אמר such as

with and without the feminine termination, in a manner which seems to indicate that the is little if anything more than a mere orthographical variation quite unconnected with the question of date. Thus, for instance, while the masculine form appears in Proverbs 12. 12, and its plural in Ecclesiastes 7. 26, 9. 14, the feminine form appears in Ecclesiastes 9. 12. And while in Ecclesiastes I. 1, 2, 12, 12. 9, 10, nap is construed as a masculine noun, it is construed with the feminine л in 7. 27; unless indeed the suggestion be accepted that the л, instead of being affixed to D, ought here, as in 12. 8, to be prefixed, as the article, to nap. But be that as it may, it deserves special notice that, in so far as 7 and are concerned, variations precisely similar may be pointed out in Solomon's Proverbs, as, for instance, the masculine in 2. 9, 4. 11, 26, and the feminine form in 2. 15, 18, 5. 6, 21,-PTY and p in

איש אמונות in 20. 6, and איש אמונים,20 ,18 ,15 ,8 .18

in 28. 20; to which may be added DD in

156

Unobtrusive Coincidences.

I Chronicles 22. 3, and no in 2 Chronicles 3. 9. It thus appears that even in such minute particulars as these, the Book of Ecclesiastes coincides with the other Solomonic Scriptures.

Conclusiveness of the Evidence.

The multitude, variety, and character of the coincidences in style and phraseology which have been specified in this and the preceding divisions, seem much more than sufficient to prove the Solomonic authorship of Ecclesiastes. While indeed the frequent occurrence of the same words in two books claiming a common authorship, such as П and in Solomon's Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, deserves notice, yet the argument for identity of authorship is based, not on such verbal coincidences alone, but on these coincidences viewed in connection with, and as being copiously corroborated by, such manifold coincidences in phraseology and in characteristic uses of particular words as lie altogether beyond the scope of personation. Like on in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, σopía is similarly frequent in Ecclesiasticus; but this is nothing more than might be expected in a book written, as Ecclesiasticus was, in imitation of Solomon's writings. Obtrusive coincidences in phraseology likewise might, as has already been noticed in pages 84 to 88 and 113, be introduced by a personator claiming for his writings a fictitious. authorship. The verbal and phraseological re

Accumulation of Evidence.

157

semblances between the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Proverbs of Solomon however are essentially different in various respects from the resemblance of imitation, whether it be the imitation of an untruthful personator pretending that his work is what it is not, or the imitation of an honest admirer and follower like Jesus the son of Sirach, putting forth his own work as what it really is. Here, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, as was observed in the earlier part of this treatise, there is no imitation. In scope and structure and prominent phraseology the book is unique; and in its general tone and method of setting forth the topics discussed in it, it is to a great extent so unlike those other portions of Holy Scripture which are ascribed to Solomon, as to carry, on its very surface, a refutation of the personation theory. At the same time also, the points of resemblance between Ecclesiastes and the other Solomonic Scriptures are so manifold, and minute, and diversified, as to yield, in proof of the Solomonic authorship, a mass of evidence the cumulative force of which seems incontrovertibly conclusive.

This Book of the Taw shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to

all that is written therein.

Syntax of Conjunctions, Verbs, and

Pronouns.

Participles.

NOT reckoning participles used as mere nouns or nominatives to verbs, as, for instance, the participles in Ecclesiastes 10. 9, 11. 4, it may be observed that the use of participles independently of other verbs, to denote continuous actions or states of being, is not frequent throughout the Book of Ecclesiastes. Yet the introductory paragraph of the book derives a peculiar expressiveness from the superabundance of such participles in verses 4 to 7. Now this usage is so common throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, that the occurrence of it in several passages of Solomon's Proverbs cannot be pleaded as a special characteristic of the books ascribed to Solomon. Yet a comparison of Ecclesiastes 1. 4-7 with Proverbs II. 17-19, 12. 1, 14. 2, 31, 15. 32, 17. 9, 19, 25. 20, is sufficient to illustrate how thoroughly, in this particular, the style of Ecclesiastes coincides with the style of Solomon's Proverbs.