CHAPTER 11
INTRODUCTION
your voice, and the one who has wings will tell what you have said.
CHAPTER 11
1 Cast your bread upon the running waters, for after a long time you will find it again. 2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be upon the earth.
3 If the clouds be full, they will pour rain upon the earth.
If the tree fall to the south or to the north, in whatever place it will fall, there will it be. 4 The person who observes the wind will not sow, and the person who considers the clouds will never reap. 5 As you know not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who is the maker of all. 6 In thy morning sow your seed, and in the evening let not your hand cease. For you do not know which may rather spring up, this or that.
And if both together, it will be the better.
7 The light is sweet, and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun. 8 If people live many years and have rejoiced in them all, they must remember the darksome time, the many days, which, when they shall come, the things past will be accused of vanity.
9 Rejoice, therefore, O youth, in your youth, and let your heart be in that which is good and walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. And know that God will bring you into judgment.
10 Remove anger from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh. For youth and pleasure are vain.
CHAPTER 12
1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the time of affliction comes and the years draw nigh of which you will say: They please me not.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
2 Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain. 3 When the keepers of the house will tremble and the strong men will stagger, and the grinders will be idle, in small number. And they that look through the holes will be darkened. 4 And they will shut the doors in the street, when the grinder's voice will be low. They will rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music will grow deaf. 5 And they will fear high things, and they will be afraid in the way. The almond tree will flourish. The locust will be made fat. The caper tree will be destroyed, because a human being will go into the house of his eternity, and the mourners will go round about in the street.
6 Before the silver cord is broken and the golden fillet shrink back and the pitcher be crushed at the fountain and the wheel be broken upon the cistern, 7 and the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, all things vanity.
9 And whereas Ecclesiastes was very wise, he taught the people and declared the things that he had done. And seeking out, he set forth many parables,10 which are profitable words, and he wrote words most right and full of truth. 11 The words of the wise are as goads and as nails deeply fastened in, which by the counsel of the masters are given by one shepherd.
12 More than these, my son, require not. Of making many books, there is no end, and much study is an affliction of the flesh.
13 Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse. Fear God and keep his commandments. This is the whole person. 14 And all things that have been done, God will bring into judgment for every error, whether it is good or evil.
INTRODUCTION
VARIATIONS BETWEEN BONAVENTURE'S TEXT
AND THE NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION
There are slight and major variations between Bonaventure's text and that of the NRSV. Among the slight variations are chapter divisions. In Ecclesiastes 1-3 and 10-12 the NRSV and Bonaventure's text begin and end the same.
However, in Ecclesiastes 4-9 they do not begin and end the same. For example, the NRSV has 16 verses in Ecclesiastes 4 whereas Bonaventure has 17 verses. Thus,
NRSV will commence Ecclesiastes 5:1 with what in Bonaventure's text is Ecclesiastes 4:17. Another slight variation is that the NRSV will call "the author" the Teacher
(Ecclesiastes 1:1, 2, 12; 12:9-10) where Bonaventure's text will call him Ecclesiastes. A final representative minor variation is that the editors of the NRSV have decided to set off as poetry certain passages in Ecclesiastes, e. g.,
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; 7:1-13. Bonaventure makes no such determination.
Our consideration of the major variations between Bonaventure's text and the contemporary inclusive language translation of the NRSV begins with the observation that the NRSV is based on a Hebrew text that has a number of difficult and rare words. Four times (2:8; 5:9;
8:10; 12:11) the NRSV has a footnote that reads "meaning of Heb(rew) uncertain." If the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain to contemporary translators, it stands to reason that it might also have been uncertain to Jerome in the fourth century. Thus, our first four examples feature those verses where the NRSV has the footnote: "meaning of Heb uncertain." The next two examples are representative of the theological problems that arise for Bonaventure because of Jerome's translation. I have put the major variations in bold type.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
FIRST EXAMPLE:
The NRSV of 2:8 reads: "I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines."
Bonaventure's text of 2:8 states: "I heaped together for myself gold and silver and the wealth of kings and provinces. I made for myself male and female singers and the delights of men and women, cups and vessels to serve and pour out the wine."
SECOND EXAMPLE:
The NRSV of Ecclesiastes 5:9 reads: "But all things considered, this is an advantage for a land: a king for a plowed field."
Bonaventure's text of 5:9 states: "Moreover, there is the king who reigns over all the land subject to him."
THIRD EXAMPLE:
The NRSV of Ecclesiastes 8:10 reads: "Then I saw the wicked buried; they used to go in and out of the holy place, and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity."
Bonaventure's text of 8:10 says: "I saw the wicked buried, who also when they were yet living were in the holy place and were praised in the city as people of just works.
But this also is vanity."
FOURTH EXAMPLE:
NRSV of Ecclesiastes 12:11 reads: "The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd."
Bonaventure's text of 12:11 states: "The words of the wise are as goads and as nails deeply fastened in, which
INTRODUCTION
by the counsel of the masters are given by one shepherd."
FIFTH EXAMPLE:
The NRSV of Ecclesiastes 5:6 reads: "Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words, and destroy the work of your hands?"
Bonaventure's text of same verse in Ecclesiastes 5:5 says: "Give not your mouth to cause your flesh to sin, and do not say before the angel: There is no providence, lest
God be angry at your words and destroy all the works of your hands."23
SIXTH EXAMPLE:
The NRSV of Ecclesiastes of 10:4 states: "If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post, for calmness will undo great offenses."
Bonaventure's text of 10:4 has: "If the spirit of the one who has power ascend upon you, leave not your place, because care will make the greatest sins to cease."24
In summary, as readers engage in a detailed comparison of Bonaventure's text with that of NRSV, they will find that both reflect the same original text. Yet there are unmistakable variations that will stop readers in their tracks.
It goes without saying that interpretations will vary depending on what text is read. While readers may lament the faulty nature of some of Bonaventure's text, which Jerome produced in one day, they must remember that this is the text that tradition handed on to him. For better or worse, he had to make sense of it.
23See #15 where Bonaventure addresses the issues arising from this verse.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
THE CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE OF BONAVENTURE'S
COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES.
As far as I can tell, there is only one English language commentator who even knows of the existence of Bonaventure's Commentary on Ecclesiastes. That commentator is Roland E. Murphy, who devotes two appreciative pages to it in the section of his commentary on "History of Interpretation."25 So my task is one that Ecclesiastes would have relished: to explain the unknown to the learned, to interest those who are looking for something new under the sun, and perhaps to tease wise contemporary commentators that there is nothing new under the sun, for Bonaventure grappled quite well with their exegetical issues some seven hundred and fifty years ago.
Those who are proficient in the historical critical method and use this method exclusively in their exegesis may learn little from Bonaventure. That is, one does not go to Bonaventure for insights on the meaning of obscure
Hebrew words, for he is commenting on the Latin text of the Vulgate. Bonaventure will give no hints as to the actual Sitz im Leben of Ecclesiastes, because he is content to follow the tradition that wise King Solomon was its author. While Bonaventure has fine individual comments about the literary structure of Ecclesiastes, he doesn't specifically ask the question about its literary genre.
24Bonaventure's theological issue in this verse will be: What really causes the greatest sins to cease?
25Roland E. Murphy, Ecclesiastes, Word Biblical Commentary 23A (Dallas: Word Books, 1992), li-lii. Murphy's treatment is largely indebted to Dominic V. Monti, "Bonaventure's Interpretation of Scripture in his
Exegetical Works" (Chicago: University of Chicago Dissertation, 1979), 83-104. Murphy and Monti were also influenced by the brilliant medievalist, Beryl Smalley, whose work on wisdom literature Murphy edited. See Medieval Exegesis of Wisdom Literature, 39-46.
INTRODUCTION
But those whose methods are eclectic may learn much from Bonaventure. I single out four areas for consideration.
With regard to the book's structure Bonaventure follows Hugh of St. Victor in stating that there is a clear structure in Ecclesiastes consisting of: Heading, a treatise of three parts, and an epilogue. The three parts concern the three vanities: vanity brought about by change, by sin, and by punishment due to sin.26
Relative to the question of canonicity I note that Bonaventure devotes four of his thirty-four quaestiones to analyses of literary and methodological issues. At times these analyses have a distinctive contemporary flavor. For example, Bonaventure does not flee away from the question that agitates commentators and those who encounter the book of Ecclesiastes in liturgy, that is, how did this book of pessimism and impertinent interrogation ever get into the canon? I beg my readers' indulgence for quoting a long section from question three of Bonaventure's Quaestio #1. Bonaventure raises an objection: "What the author says in the name of fools is to be rejected. But it is not clear when he is speaking in his own name or in the name of another. Therefore, one does not know what is to be heeded in this book and what is to be rejected. So the teaching of this book leads to error. But since canonical books should purge error, this book should be taken from the canon." Bonaventure's reply is similar to that of commentators who maintain that the epilogue of Ecclesiastes made the preceding twelve and a half chapters orthodox: "It is to be said in reply that one side of an argument is not known until the argument has been resolved, because only in the solution do we find out what is to be accepted and what is to be rejected. Thus, I say that Ecclesiastes con26 See the Table of Contents for more detail.
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
tinues with his argument until the end of the book where he gives his solution when he says in 12:13-14: "Let us all together hear the conclusion of the discourse. Fear God … and know that God will bring you to judgment for every error." In this conclusion Ecclesiastes condemns every opinion of the foolish, the carnal, and the worldly. So in this last statement he is speaking in his own name, but what he rejects is spoken in the name of others. Hence the book cannot be understood without paying attention to all of it."
With respect to issues of theodicy Bonaventure may have some helpful approaches for us twenty-first century folks. I refer specifically to the small question four of his
Quaestio #8 where he probes the meaning of Ecclesiastes 2:17: "I was weary of my life when I saw that all things under the sun are evil." Bonaventure counters this scriptural quotation with another: Genesis 1:31 states: "God saw all the things God had made, and they were very good."
Bonaventure resolves this contradiction between scripture passages by appealing to Romans 7:12: "The law is holy and the commandment good."27 His point is that wicked or grace-less people can turn what is good into something that is death-dealing. He comments: "But on occasion the commandment can be deadly and death-bearing for any who are without grace. . . .For Wisdom 14:11 reads: 'The creatures of God are . . . a temptation . . . and a snare for the feet of the unwise.' And Sirach 39:32 states: 'All these things . . . will be turned into evil for the ungodly and sinners.'"
I am of the opinion that in Bonaventure's commentary we see Ecclesiastes redivivus, for Bonaventure, too, has to 27For an insightful article on biblical contradictions see Nils Astrup
Dahl, "Contradictions in Scripture" in his Studies in Paul: Theology for the Early Christian Mission (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1977), 159-177.
INTRODUCTION
struggle mightily with the tradition he inherited and with which he didn't agree. Simply put, the tradition going back to Origen dictated that the purpose of Ecclesiastes is to instill contempt for the world. In his Introduction and especially in Quaestio #1 Bonaventure contends with this viewpoint, which was contrary to his theological position that creation speaks eloquently of God. We have just seen in the previous point about theodicy that Bonaventure preserves the goodness of creation by assigning blame to the unwise and sinners who abuse creation. Franciscan men and women, who have been nourished on Bonaventure's Itinerarium Mentis in Deum,28 which accentuates creation as God's footprints, may want to walk in Bonaventure's shoes as he struggles with the message of a canonical book that tradition said proposes a different view of creation.29
28See Bonaventure's Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, ed. by Philotheus Boehner and Zachary Hayes, Works of St. Bonaventure II/Revised and Expanded (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications,
2002).
29For an excellent treatment of sight as temptation and sight as contemplative delight, see Suzannah Biernoff, Sight and Embodiment in the Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002).
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Introduction #1-13 On the fourfold cause of this book #14 Questions 1 Jerome's Prologue to his Commentary on Ecclesiastes The Heading: Ecclesiastes 1:1
Chapter 1 The heading #1-2 Five Questions 2 The Treatise: Ecclesiastes 1:2-12:7
Ecclesiastes 1:2 Introductory matters #3-8 Part I:
Ecclesiastes 1:3-3:15
Proof of the vanity of being subject to change #9-10 Ecclesiastes 1:3-2:26
The vanity of changeable nature from the point of view of change #11 Ecclesiastes 1:3-11 Changeableness in the being of creatures #12
Ecclesiastes 1:3-7 The vanity of changeability according to the existence of things in the world #13-22
Five Questions 3 Ecclesiastes 1:8-11 The vanity of the changeability of things according to their existence in the human mind #23-26 Four Questions 4 Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26
From reflecting on the double vanity in things he declares and reprimands his curiosity
#27
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:3 Curiosity in philosophy Ecclesiastes 1:12-15 Curiosity in the study of natural phenomenon #28-35 Two Questions 5 Ecclesiastes 1:16-2:3
Curiosity in the study of morality #36-39 Chapter 2 Ecclesiastes 1:16-2:3
Curiosity in the study of morality (continued) #1-5 Two Questions 6 Ecclesiastes 2:4-26 Curiosity as it pertains to wealth and pleasure #6
Ecclesiastes 2:4-8a Curiosity and the acquisition of riches #7-13 Ecclesiastes 2:8b-10 Curiosity about pleasures #14-18 Four Questions 7 Ecclesiastes 2:11
He blames his curiosity for the vanity he found #19-20 Ecclesiastes 2:12-17 He blames his curiosity in learning wisdom
#21-25 Four Questions 8 Eclesiastes 2:18-26 Rebuke of his curiosity over the works of human industry that lead to wealth #26-32
Chapter 3 Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 The vanity of changeable nature from the viewpoint of time #1 Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 The variety of times #2 Ecclesiastes 3:1
Changeableness of things in time in general #3
INTRODUCTION
Two Questions 9 Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 Changeableness of things in time in particular
#4 Ecclesiastes 3:2-3 Times with beginnings and endings #5-9 Ecclesiastes 3:4-5a Variety of times in the state of things #10-13
Ecclesiastes 3:5b-7a Kinds of time with respect to use #14-18 Ecclesiastes 3:7b-8 Kinds of time with regard to speech #19-26
A Question 10 Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 Our curiosity is blamed #27-30 Ecclesiastes 3:14-15 The unchangeability of divine work #31-32
A Question 11 Part II:
Ecclesiastes 3:16-7:23
Proof of the vanity of sin and the remedy against it #33 Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:16
The vanity of sin #34 Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 Vanity of malice in rulers #35-42 Two Questions 12 Chapter 4 Ecclesiastes 4:1-6 Vanity of malice in subjects #1-6 Four Questions 13 Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 Vanity of avarice #7-13 A Question 14 Ecclesiastes 4:13-16
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
Vanity of imprudence #14-21 Ecclesiastes 4:17-7:23
Triple remedy against triple vanity #22 Ecclesiastes 4:17-5:8
The remedy against the vanity of malice #23 Ecclesiastes 4:17
The remedy against disobedience #24-25 Chapter 5 Ecclesiastes 5:1-6 The remedy against foolish speech #1-8 Ecclesiastes 5:7-8 The remedy against wrong thinking #9-10 Four Questions 15 Ecclesiastes 5:9-6:7
The remedy against avarice #11 Ecclesiastes 5:9-11 Despise riches, for they do not enrich their owners #12-16 A Question 16 Ecclesiastes 5:12-19 Riches are to be despised, because often they are not handed on to heirs #17-24 Four Questions 17 Chapter 6 Ecclesiastes 6:1-7 Avarice is to be despised because riches often go to strangers #1-9 Three Questions 18 Ecclesiastes 6:8-7:23
The remedy against the vanity of imprudence #10 Ecclesiastes 6:8-7:1
The method for acquiring wisdom #11 Ecclesiastes 6:8-11 Learning useful matters and leaving
INTRODUCTION
aside what is hidden #12-16 Chapter 7 Ecclesiastes 7:1
Do not search out the sublime #1 Three Questions 19 Ecclesiastes 7:2-23 Sources of wisdom that provide a remedy against the vanity of foolishness #2 Ecclesiastes 7:2-7 Five instructions on temperance #3-10 Two Questions 20 Ecclesiastes 7:8-10 Instructions on constancy #11-14 Two Questions 21 Ecclesiastes 7:11-16 Instructions on prudence #15-20 Three Questions 22 Ecclesiastes 7:17-23 Instructions about justice #21-29 Five Questions 23 Part III:
Ecclesiastes 7:24-12:7
The vanity of being subject to punishment #30 First Section: Ecclesiastes 7:24-12:1
Occasions of sin #31 Ecclesiastes 7:24-8:8
The vanity of propensity #32 Ecclesiastes 7:24-29 The finding of concupiscence #33 Ecclesiastes 7:24-26 The search for concupiscence #34-37 Ecclesiastes 7:27-30a The finding of concupiscence #38-41
ST. BONAVENTURE'S COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
Two Questions 24 Chapter 8 Ecclesiastes 7:30b-8:7
The remedy of wisdom against concupiscence #1-12 Three Questions 25 Ecclesiastes 8:9-12:1
The second occasion of sin: the vanity of feeling secure #13 Ecclesiastes 8:9-10:7
The vanity of security #14 Ecclesiastes 8:9-9:10
Security arises from what is seen as a lack of just retribution #15 Ecclesiastes 8:9-13 The exaltation of the wicked #16-21 Two Questions 26 Ecclesiastes 8:14-15 How the vanity of security arises from seeing the plight of the good #22-25 A Question 27 Ecclesiastes 8:16-9:10
Security arises from confusion between the good and the wicked and becomes a principle of pleasure #27 Ecclesiastes 8:16-9:3
How security arises from the confusion between thegood and the wicked #28-31 Chapter 9 Ecclesiastes 8:16-9:3
How security arises from the confusion between thegood and the wicked (continued)
#1-5 Three Questions 28 Ecclesiastes 9:4-10
INTRODUCTION
Pleasure arises from the feeling of security #6-20 Four Questions 29 Ecclesiastes 9:11-10:7
A sense of security arises from what seems to be a lack of guidance by Providence #21
Ecclesiastes 9:11-13 The lack of order in general #22-27 Two Questions 30 Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:7
The lack of order in particular #28 Ecclesiastes 9:13-15 The putting down of the wise #29-38 Ecclesiastes 9:16-10:3
The approval of the person so despised #39-42 Chapter 10 Ecclesiastes 9:16-10:3
The approval of the person so despised (continued) #1-4 A Question 31 Ecclesiastes 10:4-7 The promotion of the foolish #5-11 A Question 32 Ecclesiastes 10:8-11:10
The remedy against the vanity of security #12 Ecclesiastes 10:8-20 The remedy against security arising from a seeming lack of divine providence #13 Ecclesiastes 10:8-11 The defect in government when an evil ruler is promoted #14-18 A Question 33 Ecclesiastes 10:12-15 The defect in government when a foolish ruler is promoted #19-27 Ecclesiastes 10:16-20