was added at the final settlement of the Canon at the Synod of Jamnia, A.D. 90, and was intended as a conclusion not merely for Ecclesiastes, but for the entire body of Hagiographa. He thinks (but without any historical ground) that Ecclesiastes was added at that time to close the Canon. The correctness of this view depends partly on its author's interpretation of vv. 11, 12, partly on his definition of the object of the Synod of Jamnia (see Appendix.) The two former verses are condensed thus,
The words of the wise are like ox-goads, and the members of the
Sanhedrin are like firm nails, not to be moved. As for more than
these, beware, my son; of making many books there is no end.
The 'wise' spoken of, thinks Krochmal, are the authors
of the several books of the Hagiographa, and the warning in
ver. 12 is directed against the reception of any other books into
the Canon. Whether the Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes
were to be admitted, was, according to him, a subject of debate
at the Synod referred to.
But there is no necessity whatever for this interpretation of vv. 11, 12. The phrase, 'the words of the wise,' is not a fit description of all the books of the Hagiographa (of Psalms, Daniel, and Chronicles for instance), and the warning in ver. 12 more probably has relation to the proverbial literature in general, such as Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Wisdom of Sirach, or at least to the Book of Proverbs, to which Kleinert conjectures that Ecclesiastes once formed an appendix. There is nothing in the Epilogue to suggest a reference to the Canon. The 'many books' spoken of are probably such as did not proceed from thoroughly orthodox sources. We have absolutely no information as to Jewish literature outside the Canon. That there was a heterodox literature, has been inferred by Ewald from Jer. viii. 8, Prov. xxx. 1-4; it is also clear from several passages in the Book of Enoch. Tyler and Plumptre may possibly be right in seeing here an allusion to the incipient influence of Greek literature upon the Jews. This is at any rate more justifiable than to assume an arrangement of the Hagiographa with
