himself above law and discipline: Why wilt thou destroy thy life before the time by suffering vice to kill thee (Psa 34:22), and by want of understanding ruin thyself (Pro 10:21)?[1]
Verse 18
Ecc 7:18 “It is good that thou holdest fast to the one,” - viz. righteousness and wisdom, - and withdrawest not thy hand from the other, - viz. a wickedness which renounces over-righteousness and over-wisdom, or an unrestrained life; - for he who fears God accomplishes all, i.e., both, the one as well as the other. Luther, against the Vulg.: “for he who fears God escapes all.” But what “all”? Tyler, Bullock, and others reply: “All the perplexities of life;” but no such thing is found in the text here, however many perplexities may be in the book. Better, Zöckler: the evil results of the extreme of false righteousness as of bold wickedness. But that he does not destroy himself and does not die before his time, is yet only essentially one thing which he escapes; also, from Ecc 7:15, only one thing, אבד, is taken. Thus either: the extremes (Umbr.), or: the extremes together with their consequences. The thought presents a connected, worthy conclusion. But if ěth-kullam, with its retrospective suffix, can be referred to that which immediately precedes, this ought to have the preference. Ginsburg, with Hitzig: “Whoso feareth God will make his way with both;” but what an improbable phrase! Jerome, with his vague nihil negligit, is right as to the meaning. In the Bible, the phrase ה ... יחא, egressus est urbem, Gen 44:4, cf. Jer 10:20, is used; and in the Mishna, יצא את־ידי חובתו, i.e., he has discharged his duty, he is quit of it by fulfilling it. For the most part, יצא merely is used: he has satisfied his duty; and יצא לא, he has not satisfied it, e.g., Berachoth 2:1. Accordingly יחא - since ěth-kullam relates to, “these ought he to have done, and not to leave the other undone,” Mat 23:23 - here means: he who fears God will set himself free from all, will acquit himself of the one as well as of the other, will perform both, and thus preserve the golden via media.
- ↑ An old proverb, Sota 3a, says: “A man commits no transgression unless there rules in him previously the spirit of folly.”
