young, and in measured distichs intreats them to enjoy life while they may.
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth,
and let thy heart gladden thee in the flower of thine age;
and walk in the ways of thy heart
and according to the sight of thine eyes;
And banish discontent from thy heart,
and put away evil from thy flesh:—
for youth and the prime of life are vanity.
Between lines 4 and 5 we find the received text burdened with a prosaic insertion, which is probably not due to an after-thought on the part of the writer, but to the anxiety of later students to rescue the orthodoxy of the book. The insertion consists of the words, Rabbinic in expression as well as in thought, 'But know that for all this God will bring thee into the judgment.'[1] It was the wisdom of true charity to insert them; but it is our wisdom as literary students to 'banish discontent' with the discord which they introduce by restoring the passage to its original form.
At this point Koheleth turns away from the young to those (presumably) of his own age. Again there are traces at least of a series of distichs which must once have stood here, but either the author or one of his editors, or both, have so far worked over them that the series is no longer perfect. The first suspected instance of this 'overworking' occurs at the very outset. 'Remember thy Creator in the flower of thine age,' are the opening words of Koheleth's second address. They are usually explained as taking up the idea of the last judgment expressed at the close of xi. 9. 'Since God,' to quote Dr. Ginsburg's paraphrase, 'will one day hold us accountable for all the works done in the body, we are to set the Lord always before our eyes.' The importance of this passage, when thus interpreted, is manifest. It suggests that Koheleth had struggled through his many difficulties to an assured doctrinal and practical position, and that it is not mere rejoicing, but 'rejoicing in the Lord,' that Koheleth recommends in xii. 1—*
- ↑ What judgment? Present or future (i.e. after death)? The latter gives a more forcible meaning (comp. iii. 17, xii. 14).
