│ │ │ Footnotes are identified in the text with a superscript │ │ number and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which │ │ they appear. │ │ │ │ Transcriber’s Notes are used when making corrections to the │ │ text or to provide additional information for the modern │ │ reader. These notes are identified by ♦♠♥♣ symbols in the │ │ text and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which │ │ they appear. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ A COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES RIVINGTONS London _Waterloo Place_ Oxford _High Street_ Cambridge _Trinity Street_ A COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES BY THE REV. THOMAS PELHAM DALE, M.A. LATE FELLOW OF SIDNEY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND RECTOR OF ST. VEDAST WITH ST. MICHAEL LE QUERNE, LONDON. דִּבְרֵי חֲכָמִים וְחִידֹתָם׃ יִרְאַת יְהוָה♦ רֵאשִׁית דָּעַת ♦ “יְחוָֹה” replaced with “יְהוָה” RIVINGTONS London, Oxford, and Cambridge 1873 TO JOHN HALL GLADSTONE, ESQ. PH. D. F.R.S. THROUGH WHOSE LIBERALITY IT SEES THE LIGHT, IS THIS WORK AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY The Author. PREFACE. THE following Commentary differs from many of its predecessors in the greater weight given to the interpretation of the LXX., and the closer investigation of their peculiar renderings. In many cases these strange renderings on the part of the LXX. are dismissed by commentators as simply errors. But this is not consistent with what true criticism ought to do. The LXX. is not only the oldest translation we have, but also the only one made when Hebrew was yet a living language. Its peculiar renderings then deserve our most serious attention. The investigation of them will fully reward the inquirer. This, then, is the cause of the special line of interpretation adopted in this Commentary.