296 IRISH THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY

ion, and gratitude." She goes on' " Thou didstadd the gift of an in-
estimable familiarity and friendship, in different manners offering that
most noble Ark of the Divinity, namely Thy divine heart, as the store
of all my delights, now freely giving, now as a greater sign of mutual
familiarity changing it for mine (illud mihi pro mea commlltaJldo)."
In the light of these facts, even if every detail should not be accepted
as authentic, it seems to be definitely established that the highest and
purest love of God is not in the will only, is not purely spiritual, but in
accordance with man's nature has its double .element, being partly spirit-
ual and partly physical. Moreover, the ex,perience of these great Saints
establishes the fact that the seat of the emotional element of love is the
human heart.
If we now turn to the question what was the love of Christ, we have the
means of a partial answer. sublime, however marvellous the
love of the Saints, it can never be made the measure of the love of Christ.
A lighted candle gives a more adequate idea of the light' and heat of the
sun than the love of the Saints, even all combined, can do of the love of
Christ .. Nonetheless, the thought of the love of these Saints can serve
to give us some conception, however remotely inadequate, of the love of
JesU3 Chr.ist.
. Now, it is true that the love we have been considering is the love
which had God for its object, and devotion to the Sacred Heart is dir-
ected to that Heart as the seat of Christ's love for us. But actually a
man's love of God is the measure of his love of man. There are two
commandments, regarding the love of God and regarding the love of man,
but there are not two virtues of love. It is with the same virtue of love
that we love God for His own sake and man because he is made in the
image and likeness of God and is redeemed by the Precious Blood of
Christ. If the love of God waxes strong, so does the love of man; and,
if the love of man wanes, so wanes also the love of God. Hence it is
that our conception of Christ's love of God carries with it some idea of
the intensity of His love of man. And thus we reach an answer, in-
adequate, of course, as every answer must be, to the question what was
and is the love of Christ's Sacred Heart for us.
EDMUND F. SUTCLIFFE, S.].
l
NOTES AND COMMENTS 297
The Meaning of Ecclesiastes
The opening verses of the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes as they are
rendered from the Hebrew by many exegetes read:
1. And remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth,
before the evil days come,
and the years draw nigh of which thou shalt say:
I have no pleasure in them;
2a. Before the sun be darkened and the light and the moon and the
stars,
2b. and the clouds return after the rain,
3a. Namely, in the day that the keepers of the house tremble,
3b. and the strong men are bent,
3c. And the grinders are idle, because they are few,
3d. and those that look through the lattices are darkened,
4a. and the doors are shut in the street,
4b. When the sound of the mill-stone is low,
4c. and the voice of the bird is thin,
4d. and all the singers cease;
5a. When they fear that which is high, ,
5b. and terrors are in the way,
5c. And the almond tree wears blossoms,
5d. and the grasshopper drags itself along,
5e and the caper-berry becomes inefficacious;
5f. Because the man is going to his everlasting home,
5g. and the mourners are going about in the street.
In 2b the word translated ' after' (Hebrew 'ahar) has sometimes the
secondary. meaning' with' 1. In 3c according to some critics the c1al!-se
'because they are few' should be translated' because they accomphsh
little.' They point out that the verb is ,not in the Qal but rather in the
Pi'el form2 In 4c the Hebrew reads' and he rises at the voice of the'
bird,' a reading that makes no good sense. <?ne must the
text is corrupt. Probably the most plausIble
(' is thin ') for yaqum l (' he rises at '). The rendenng of 4d IS that of
A. Bea4 The meaning of 5a may be that climbing is dreaded, or perhaps
, that which is high' (lit. ' from high ') is the heavens. In?c the trans-
lation 'wears blossoms' is very doubtful. The verb-pomted as the
imperfect of niph' al from a root na' ar---san mean .' is desJ?ised/ 'is
thrust aside.' In 5e the word rendered becomes mefficaclOus. also
means 'is broken.' In both cases it is pointed as the imperfect of
hoph'al (i.e. tuphar).
1 Cf. R. B. Y. Scott in JTS 50(1949)178.
2 Cj. A. L. \Villiams, Ecclesiastes, Cambridge 1922, p .. 143.
3 It cannot mean that an old man sleeps so badly that he rises at cock-crow,
because old people generally do not get up early.
4 A. Bea, Liber Ecclesiastae, Romae 1950, p. 25,
IRISH THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
Generally the passage 2-S is taken to be a picture of old age, but the
individual clauses have received a variety of interpretations. The
following is the exegesis most in favour with commentators:
2. Old age is compared to dark and wet winter weather; with advancing
senility life loses its brightness, its charm.
3. Arms-or perhaps, ribs-(' keepers of the house ') tremble in old
age; legs (' strong men ') are bent; teeth (' grinders ') cease to per-
form their ordinary work of masticating food; eyes (' those that
look through the lattices ') lose their sight.
4. The' doors in the street' are the ears closed to external sound, or
-according to another view-the lips closed in toothless old age.
The ' is the mouth; the voice coming from the mouth
is weak. 4e alludes to the piping voice of old age, and 4d to the
fact that the old people sing no more. According to another ex-
planation, however, 4ed mean that old people, because of the
deafness of old age, no longer hear the song of the bird or the voices
of the singers.
S. Old people suffer from giddiness (' they fear that which is high '),
and from timidity (' terrors are in the way') ; their hair is white
l
(' the almond tree wears blossoms ') ; their gait is halting (' the grass-
hopper drags itself along ') ; their palate languid (' the caper-berry
becomes inefficacious' -this fruit was a condiment).
In this interpretation of the whole passage the sense of verses 2-4 is
the metaphorical sense, of Sab the proper literal sense, of Sed the meta-
phorical sense, and of Sefg the proper literal sense.
A recent commentator, Buzy2 unhesitatingly rejects the above in-
terpretation, namely, that verses 2-4 describe the failing members of the
body, symbolically represented. He calls it the physiological-others
call it the anatomical-interpretation. The exegesis of the passage which
Buzy proposes may be summarized as follows:
2. As in the former interpretation.
3ab. Those courageous people who guard the homes of the rich, when
they advance in years, experience the tremors of old age; those too
who once were strong are bent in old age.
3e. The reference is to the women of the household who grind the corn
for the daily supply of bread, an irksome task which required strong
arms. With old age these women are no longer equal to the work;
they give up because they accomplish so little.
4a. The doors are closed; the aged and infirm have no social contacts.
4b. The upper mill-stone worked by a weary hand revolves slowly; the
loss of energy is a feature of old age.
4ed. Old people no longer pay attention to the song of the bird or the
joyous ditties that once thrilled them.
Sabcd. As in the former interpretation .
. 1 W. M. Thomson in The Land and the Book, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1913,
p. 300 says, " The point of the figure is doubtless the fact that the white blossoms
completely cover the whole tree, without any mixture of green leaves, for these
do not appear until some time after."
2 In Pirot-Clamer, La Sainte Bible, vol VI, Paris 1946, pp. 271 ft.
f
,
I
t
,
9
NOTES AND COMMENTS
299
Se. Buzy here adopts the translation' the caper-berry is broken,' and
understands it to mean that the fruit when ripe splits open and
lets the seed fallout. The allusion is to dissolution and death.
In Buzy's interpretation of the whole passage, therefore, verse 2 is
to be taken in the metaphorical sense, 3-Sb in the proper literal sense,
Scde in the metaphorical sense, and 5fg in the proper literal sense.
While Buzy's exegesis appears less forced and less fanciful than that
generally accepted, the alternation 9f the )Tletaphorical sense with the
proper literal sense is strange and can scarcely be regarded as satisfactory.
The view of a few earlier commentators 1 who held that the passage,
or part of it, is a description of a thunder-storm appears to be along
the right lines. While agreeing substantially with this view, one might
venture to put forward an interpretation of some of the individual
clauses which differs from theirs 2.
It seems that what the Sacred \Vriter had in mind was the last moments
of life and not the decay of old age. The words of 5fg imply this, viz
'Because the man is going to his everlasting home, and the mourners
are going about in the street.' In verse 1 he bids man to remember
his Creator in the days of his youth before old age comes, but in verses
2-S he bids him to remember his Creator before the hour of death arrives.
The author uses the imagery of a thunder-storm, a terrifying phenomenon
in the East, in order to depict the fear, the gloom and desolation which
grip the members of a household when one from antong them is about
to die or has just died. He describes facts literally, a raging storm and its
wake of destruction, with the object of portraying the hour of death.
This then would appear to be the correct exegesis of the verses:
2. The storm breaks over an Eastern city; light is darkened; thick
clouds pile up and obscure the sun.
3. Lightning flashes and thunder peals, sending terror into the hearts
of all, of the police who guard the houses of the wealthy, of the
strong men of the city (lit. 'the strong men bend themselves;'
i.e. cower before the storm), of the women whose hands have
forgotten their task of grinding, and into the darkened faces of
those who peep timidly through their latticed windows.
4. Doors are shut against the wind and the rain, the sound of the
mill-stone and the song of the bird are hardly heard; merry-
makers are terrorized into silence.
Sab. Men fear the heavens out of which the storm is raging; there
are terrors out of doors.
Scde. In the wake of the storm the earth lies battered and torn; the
almond tree is thrust aside; the caper-shrub (not the berry) is
broken; and even the least thing that moves, the grasshopper,
has felt the power of the storm.
1 Among them were F. Umbreit and C.' Ginsburg; cf. C. H. H. \Vright, The
Book of Kolzeleth, London 1883, p. 249.
2 Ginsburg, for example, thought that 5de referred to certain kinds of food, once
favourite dishes, which, by reason of the terror inspired by the storm, are no longer
attractive, .
300
IRISH THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
!o repeat the.n, I believe that in Ecclesiastes 12 : 2-5 the inspired
wnter uses the Imagery of a thunder-stonn with the object of setting
the fear, melanch?ly and desolation which grip a household upon
whIch death has cast Its shadow.
It may be, too, that 12 : 6 also is part of the stonn allegory. The
verse reads :
Before the. silver cord be snapped
l
and the golden bowl be broken2,
and the pttcher smashed at the fountain and 'the wheel be broken into
the ctstern.
All commentators
3
find here a series of metaphors portraying sudden
It .may be, however, that the sacred writer intended to con-
tmue the lIteral description of the destruction wrought by the stonn.
1 Reading, with many modem scholars, yinniiteq.
2 Reading weteros: cf. A. Bea, op. cit., p. 26.
MICHAEL LEAHY
3 Cf. e.&,. The Five Megilloth, ed. A. Cohen. The Soncino Press 1946. The
note on verse reads (p. 188) : "V;Te have presented in highly figurative language
fl descnptlOn of the body's dissolutioIl,," . . . .
BOOK REVIEWS
MELANGES JULES LEBRETON. Recherches de Science Religieuse, xxxix
(1951/2), 15 Rue Monsieur, Paris. 2 vols. Price 1500 francs per
volume.
The articles contained in these two volumes are a tribute from friends,
colleagues and fonner pupils, presented to Fr. Lebreton to mark the
sixtieth anniversary of his life in religion. The distinguished scholar to
whom this handsome tribute is offered is probably best known as the
author of La Vie et l' Enseignement de Jesus Christ and Les Origines du
Dogme de la Trinite. He has also collaborated in the monumental
Histoire de l' Eglise of Fliche and Martin, and from 1928 to 1945 directed
Recherches de Science Religieuse which he had helped to found in 1910.
In other departments too the work of Father Lebreton has won wide-
spread recognition. It was a happy thought of the Professors of the
Institut Catholique where Father Lebreton taught for nearly forty years,
and of the directors of the Review with which he has been so closely
associated, to publish this collection of essays in honour of the jubilarian
whose labours have borne fruit in so many different fields.
In the Preface to vol. I, Monsignor Blanchet speaks eloquently of the
qualities which distinguish Father Lebreton's work.' Some sixty authors
have paid their personal tribute to him by contributing articles of vary-
ing length which are arranged under the headings, Antiquite, Ancien
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or of the titles of articles contributed would run to .undue length. It
is evidence of the esteem in which Father Lebreton and his work are held
that so many experts have readily co-operated in honouring him; the
variety cif themes treated is an indication of the wide range 'of his studies.
While some of the contributions deal with topics which will be of interest
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that everyone will find much of interest and value in this collection.
The high standard of the articles is in keeping with the names of the
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an eminent scholar and writer.
JOHN A. O'FLYNN
QUAESTIONES SELECTAE EX EPISTULIS S. PAULI. By P.F. Ceuppens, O.P.
Marietti, Turin, 1951. Pp. x +234.
LA SACRA BIBBIA : LE EPISTOLE DI S. P AOLO AI ROMANI, AI CORINTI E
AI GALATI. By Mons. Vincenzo Jacono. Marietti, Turin, 1951.
Pp. xii+582.
In the most recent of the series of text-books which he has made
available for students of theology, Father Ceuppens turns his attention
to the teaching of St. Paul. An introductory section of some twenty