chapter ix. 12, Isaiah xxix. 7, Ezekiel xix. 9, and with shurek at Job

xix. 6; there is a slight difference in meaning in these forms) =and allurements= (the root חרם is to destroy, and the noun signifies ‘a cursed thing’ as often as a ‘net;’ see Deuteronomy vii. 26, Joshua vi. 17) =her heart= (singular following plural; her heart then is in the nature of things which allure to destruction, a whole armoury of them, as it were, in her love) =and bonds= her =hands= (or ‘powers’); =good in the sight of Divine providence= (‘a real good is it in the sight of Divine providence’ is the meaning) =is deliverance from her= (emphatic), =but the erring one= (a full participle, which the LXX. note) =is taken by her= (emphatic).

27 Behold, this have I │ _Observe_, this have I found, saith the Preacher, │ discovered, and this is ¹_counting_ one by one, to │ what the Preacher announces, find out the account: │ one after another, so as to │ find out a wise experiment; 28 Which yet my soul │ but which I have longed for seeketh, but I find not: one │ without discovering: one man among a thousand have I │ single specimen of Humanity in found; but a woman among all │ a thousand I discovered; but those have I not found. │ a woman in all these I did not │ discover. ¹ _Or_, _weighing_ one thing │ after another to find out │ the reason. │

(27, 28.) =Observe this, have I found the speech of Koheleth= (it is usually said that אמרה is a feminine agreeing with קהלת, but קהלת was a king, and so certainly masculine. It has been proposed to write אמר ‎‏הקהלת, but this is another instance of the attempt to cut the knot by altering the text, besides in that case Koheleth would be generic. We must therefore fall back upon the usual meaning of feminines as the abstract of the masculines. Now, אמר is ‘to say,’ to ‘announce,’ and therefore the abstract will be ‘the announcement;’ this abstract, however, stands by itself, and is not joined closely to קהלת, as in that case it would have been אמרת. Attending then to these principles of grammar, the meaning will be, ‘observe this, I have found it, and announce it as Koheleth,’ an additional proof that here we have a personal experience of Koheleth’s) =one to one to find a wise result=, (that is collecting instance after instance, or trying one method after another so as to find the wise result, in contrast to the disappointing folly mentioned above) =which yet seeks my soul=, and =has not found= (the ‘not’ is emphatic, and denies that he has discovered it: experimental science did no more for him than moral); =a man= (אדם; we should have anticipated איש from the context, but אדם includes both sexes, so that we have a sarcastic equivoke) =a single one from a thousand have I found, but a woman in all these have I not found= (that is, that he could come to no general conclusion; only in his experience he had met with one man but not with one woman, the allusion being evidently to his thousand wives and concubines. From this individual history we are allowed to make our own conclusions. In the case of Solomon, it was his numerous wives which turned away his heart. He had apparently one or two male friends, such as Zadoc and Nathan, that he could trust. The word ‘found’ occurs seven times in its different forms――it is _all_ he could discover).

29 Lo, this only have I │ Only observe, this I have found, that God hath made man │ discovered, namely, that the upright; but they have sought │ Almighty has with respect to out many inventions. │ humanity done what is correct, │ but _they_ have sought out │ machinations without number.

(29.) =Only= (which standing first is emphatic: ‘This _alone_ is a real discovery, or a safe induction from my numerous trials’) =observe, this have I discovered, which= is that he has =made= even =the Deity with respect to the man= (_i.e._ ‘has done in regard to man,’ the LXX. notice this by σὺν τὸν ἄνθρωπον) =right= (or ‘correct,’ see 1 Samuel vi. 12, Proverbs xi. 3), =but they= (plural following singular――‘every one of them’) =seek devices= (plural abstract, and as it is used evidently in a sinister sense, we may translate ‘machinations’) =many= (masculine, notwithstanding the feminine plural, _i.e._ not many in the abstract, ‘but many a one’――all kinds of sinister plans to evade God’s right order, of which Solomon’s harem was a signal instance. He would have had more real enjoyment had he obeyed the rule at Genesis ii. 24, which assigns one man to one woman, and the spirit of that at Leviticus xxi. 1, which enjoins a Hebrew woman. This harem of strange women was at once Solomon’s most elaborate folly, bitterest disappointment, and saddest fall: it was an experiment in search of happiness, running counter to God’s just and right commands, and proved a most miserable failure; and the only conclusion which could be drawn from it was, that God’s way is invariably the best. The connexion with the following will be best understood if we consider it a reflection on his own failure).