in Dante's Convito, which we have the poet's own authority for regarding as allegorical? And if we compare the rival theories with that which they attempt to displace, can it be said that Taylor's dirge-theory,[1] or Umbreit's storm-theory,[2] or that adopted by Wright from Wetzstein[3] is more suitable to the poem than the allegorical theory? Certainly the latter is a very old, if not the oldest theory, and on a point of this sort the ancients have some claim to be deferred to. They seem to have felt instinctively that the intellectual atmosphere of Koheleth (as well as of the Chronicler) was that of the later Judaism. The following story is related in a Talmudic treatise.[4] 'The Emperor asked R. Joshua ben Hananyah, "How is it that you do not go to the house of Abidan (a place of learned discussions)?" He said to him, "The mountain is snow (my head is white); the hoar frosts surround me (my whiskers and my beard are also hoary); its dogs do not bark (I have lost my wonted power of voice); its millers do not grind (I have no teeth); the scholars ask me whether I am looking for something I have not lost (referring probably to the old man feeling here and there)."'
Once more (see i. 2) the mournful motto, 'Vanity of vanities! saith the Koheleth; all is vanity' (xii. 8), and the book in its original form closes.[5] Did the author himself attach this motto? Surely not, if the preceding words on the return of the spirit to its God (see above, on iii. 21) are genuine, for, 152b] (Wright, Ecclesiastes, p. 262). The anecdote is given in connection with an allegoric interpretation of our poem.]
- ↑ Namely, that vv. 3-5 are cited from an authorised book of dirges (comp. 2 Chr. xxxv. 25). There seems, however, no assignable reason for separating these verses from the context. And how can the supposed mourners have sung the latter part of ver. 5?
- ↑ This supposes the approach of death to be described under the imagery of a gathering storm.
- ↑ Namely, that the evil days of the close of life are described by figures drawn from the 'seven days of death,' as the modern Syrians designate the closing days of their winter. In a native Arabic rhyme, February says to March, 'O March, O my cousin, the old women mock at me: three (days) of thine and four of mine—and we will bring the old woman to singing (another tune).' Wright, Ecclesiastes, p. 271; Delitzsch, Hoheslied und Kohelet, p. 447.
- ↑ Shabbath, 151b
- ↑ Dean Plumptre and Dr. Wright, however, make this the opening verse of the Epilogue. But between ver. 8 and that which follows there is no inner connection.
