CHAPTER VII.

│ SECTION IV. _continued.―― │ Providential Paradoxes leading │ up to the conclusion, Fear God._ │ A GOOD name _is_ better than │ (1.) GOOD is a name, (2.) good precious ointment; and the day │ more than spikenard’s fame; and of death than the day of one’s │ a deathday is better than one’s birth. │ birthday.

VII. (1.) =Good= is =a name, above ointment good= (there is an alliteration here which gives great pungency to the sentence. The Masorets commence this paragraph with a large letter. The Jews have discovered many mysteries in these letters, but here, perhaps, it is sufficient reason to allege that a new division of the subject begins); =and= the =day= (but without the article) of =the death above= the =day of his birth= (equivalent to one’s birth, for there is no nominative expressed. Some have remarked that the second clause being connected by a conjunction with the first, is to be looked upon as containing a consequence of the fact stated in the first; which is quite true if not pressed too far. Possibly the idea might be presented thus――

All the ointment’s costly fame Is not so good as a good name, And thus it comes that dead saints die In odour of sweet sanctity).

2 ¶ _It is_ better to go to │ (3.) Good is it to go to the the house of mourning, than to │ house of mourning, rather than go to the house of feasting: │ to go to the house of feasting; for that _is_ the end of all │ because therein is the end men; and the living will lay │ of every human thing, and the _it_ to his heart. │ living should lay it to his │ heart.

(2.) =Good= is it =to go to the house of mourning, more than to go to the house of feasting, in which= (full relative) =is= (emphatic) =the end of all the man= (the end of all humanity generally: every real biography is a tragedy and ends with a death), =and the living= one =will give it to his heart.=

3 ¹Sorrow _is_ better than │ (4.) Good is disappointment laughter: for by the sadness │ above laughter; for by spoiling of the countenance the heart │ the features the heart is is made better. │ improved. │ ¹ _Or_, anger. │

(3.) =Good= is =vexation= (the vexation of disappointment――see chapter i. 18, references) =above laughter; for in= the =evil= (concrete, and therefore an evil or distortion) of =the faces= (plural, but פנים is so generally, as the face is double) =is bettered= (a _pe. jud_ verb, with double _jud_) the =heart=. I think the equivoke here is, ‘the worse one looks, the better one gets.’

4 The heart of the wise _is_ │ That heart of the wise which is in the house of mourning; but │ in the house of the mourning, the heart of fools _is_ in the │ when the heart of the befooled house of mirth. │ is in the house of mirth.

(4.) =The heart= of =wise ones= (as ‘heart’ is repeated again, it gives the idea of ‘that heart’ spoken of before. This, however, as occurring in a new clause containing a fresh sentiment, must not be pressed too far) is =in= the =house of mourning, and= the =heart of befooled ones in= the =house of rejoicing.= This aphorism is very suggestive: the heart of the wise is improved in the house of sadness; fools, or rather befooled ones, who are mistaken with their own joy, are improved in the house of feasting, but it is an improvement in evil. This equivoke the rendering of the LXX. preserves.

5 _It is_ better to hear the │ (5.) Good is it to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a │ rebuke of the wise, more than man to hear the song of fools. │ that any should hear the song │ of the befooled.

(5.) =Good= is it =to hear= the =rebuke= of a =wise one= (גערת occurs in this book here only, but at Proverbs xiii. 1, 8, xvii. 10), =above= a =man= (_i.e._ any one) =hearing a song= of =befooled ones= (the hiphil form is here especially to be noticed, ‘many befooled ones sing;’ as Jeremy Taylor says, ‘We commonly enter singing into the snare.’ Ginsburg would amend this passage by relegating the איש to the first clause; but this is to miss the point, which is, that ‘it is better to listen to a wise rebuking, than for _any one_ to hear the song of the befooled’).

6 For as the ¹crackling of │ For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so _is_ │ thorns under a pot, so is the the laughter of the fool: │ cackling of the befooled――and this also _is_ vanity. │ besides, it is evanescent. │ ¹ _Hebrew_ sound. │

(6.) =For as= the =voice of the thorns under the pot= (there is both alliteration and equivoke here, the root סור having the meaning, ‘to turn aside,’ ‘be crooked,’ etc., and סר, ‘displeased,’ 1 Kings xx. 43, xxi. 4) =so= (the word ‘so’ is somewhat emphatic, as standing alone) =a laugh= of =the befooled= (generic), =also this is vanity= (_i.e._ an instance of evanescence).

7 ¶ Surely oppression maketh │ Yet affliction makes false a a wise man mad; and a gift │ wise man’s hope, and destroys destroyeth the heart. │ the heart of his purpose.

(7.) =For the oppression= (generic, ‘the affliction of life’) =makes mad= (poel future, occurs Job xii. 7, Isaiah xlii. 5; compare also