Commentary on Ecclesiastes by Saint Jerome of Stridon, Presbyter, addressed to Paula and Eustochium.
Latin Text from public domain Migne Editors, Patrologiae Cursus Completus.
Translated into English using ChatGPT.
Table of Contents
Preface
I remember about five years ago when I was still in Rome, reading Ecclesiastes of the holy Blesilla, in order to provoke her to contempt for this world, and to consider everything she saw in the world as worthless. She asked me to explain the obscure parts, like a commentator, so that she could understand what she was reading without me. Therefore, since she was suddenly taken from us by death before our work was finished, and since we, O Paula and Eustochium, did not deserve to have such a partner in our lives, I was struck dumb with such a wound. Now, I am in Bethlehem, a more noble city, and I return that memory and gratitude to both her and to you. By way of introduction, I must point out that I have followed no one's authority, but have rather adhered to the custom of the Seventy Interpreters, while translating from the Hebrew. Only in those places where they differed little from the Hebrew text. Occasionally, I have also consulted Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, so as not to discourage the reader with excessive novelty, or, on the other hand, to pursue the streams of opinions, contrary to my own conscience, by disregarding the source of truth.
(Chap. I.)
(Chapter 1.) The words of the Son of David, the King of Jerusalem. The Scriptures most clearly teach that he was called Solomon by three names: peaceful, that is, Solomon (); and Ididia (), that is, beloved of the Lord; and what is now called Coeleth (), that is, Ecclesiastes. However, Ecclesiastes is called in the Greek language, which means gathering, that is, gathering the Church, which we can now call the preacher, because he speaks to the people, and his speech is not directed specifically to one, but generally to all. Moreover, he was called peaceful and beloved of the Lord because there was peace in his kingdom and the Lord loved him. For both the forty-fourth and the seventy-first psalms are titled as beloved and peaceful. Although they pertain to the prophecy of Christ and the Church, surpassing the happiness and strength of Solomon; nevertheless, they were written according to the history of Solomon.
Therefore, he published three volumes according to the number of words: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. In Proverbs, he teaches about little things and instructs about duties through sentences. Therefore, his speech is frequently repeated to his son. In Ecclesiastes, he instructs a man of mature age, so that he does not consider anything in worldly matters to be perpetual, but rather temporary and short-lived, as we see everything. Finally, when the man is already consummated and has surpassed the age, he unites him with the bride in the embrace in the Song of Songs. For unless we first abandon vices and renounce the vanities of the world, preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ, we cannot say: \"Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth\" (Cant. I, 1). Not far from this order, philosophers instruct their followers: first teaching ethics, then interpreting physics; and those whom they see to have made progress in these, they lead on to logic.
And it should also be noted that the titles of the author's books are different. For in Proverbs it is noted: Proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel. But in Ecclesiastes: Words of the Teacher son of David, king of Jerusalem: for it is unnecessary here to mention Israel, which is found incorrectly in Greek and Latin manuscripts. And in Song of Songs neither son of David nor king of Israel or Jerusalem is prescribed, but only Song of Songs of Solomon. For just as the Proverbs and the simple instruction pertain to the twelve tribes and to all of Israel, and just as the contempt of the world only befits the metropolitans, that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so the Song of Songs is specifically suitable to those who desire only heavenly things. It pertains to beginners, and to those making progress, and it is the authority that will rightfully claim the dignity of a father and the kingdom of its own. However, for the perfect ones, where the disciple is taught not by fear but by love, their own name is enough, and they are an equal teacher, and they do not know themselves to be king. These (things) for now according to the letter.
Furthermore, according to spiritual understanding: peaceful and beloved by God the Father, and our Churchman is Christ; who, demolishing the middle wall and abolishing enmities in the flesh, made both one, saying: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you (John 14:27). Concerning whom the Father said to the disciples: This is, he said (Matthew 3:17), my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear him, who is the head of the whole Church: Not to the synagogue of the Jews, but to the multitude of the Gentiles speaking, the king of the living stones of Jerusalem; not of that Jerusalem, of which he himself says: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets (Matthew 23:37); and: Behold, your house will be left to you desolate (ibid., 38): but of that Jerusalem, by which he forbids swearing; because it is the city of the great king. Here is the son of David, to whom the blind men in the Gospel cried out: Have mercy on us, son of David (Matthew 9:27); and the whole crowd resounded with one voice: Hosanna to the son of David (Matthew 21:9). In short, the word of God does not come to him as it did to Jeremiah and the other Prophets, but because he is rich, and king, and mighty (he is indeed the Word and wisdom, and the other virtues), he speaks words to the men of the Church: he hints at words to the Apostles, of whom it is sung in the Psalm: Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world (Psalm 19:4). Therefore, some people believe that we are enticed by this book towards pleasure and indulgence. However, on the contrary, everything that we perceive in the world is declared to be empty. We should not eagerly pursue those things which, while possessed, will ultimately perish.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. If all that God has made is very good, how is everything vanity, and not only vanity, but also vanity of vanities? Just as in the Song of Songs, among all songs, an excellent song is shown; so in the vanity of vanities, the magnitude of vanity is shown. Something similar is written in the Psalm: Nevertheless, all is vanity, every living man (Psalm XXXVIII, 6). Man's life is vanity; therefore, in death, vanity of vanities. In Exodus, we read about the glorified face of Moses, which the children of Israel could not look upon. Paul the Apostle compares this glory to the glory of the Gospel and says it is not glory: 'For that which was glorified is not glorified in this part, by reason of the excellent glory' (2 Corinthians 3:10). Therefore, we can say that heaven, earth, seas, and all that is contained within this world may be considered good in themselves, but when compared to God, they are worthless. And how, if seeing the little flame of a lamp, I would be content with its light, and later, when the sun rises, I would not perceive what was shining, and I would also see the lights of the stars being covered by the sun's light: in this way, looking at the elements and the manifold variety of things, I indeed admire the magnitude of the works; but reflecting that all things pass away, and the world grows old with its end, and that God alone always is what He was, I am compelled to say not once, but twice: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. In Hebrew, the phrase 'vanity of vanities' is written as 'Abal Abalim'. Except for the Septuagint translators, all have similarly rendered it as 'vapor of vapors' or 'vapors'. We can also refer to it as the vapor of smoke and thin air, which quickly dissipates. Therefore, from this word, transience and nothingness of the universe are shown. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. Perhaps because creation is subject to vanity, it groans, struggles, and awaits the revealing of the sons of God. And now we know in part and prophesy in part. All things are in vain until what is perfect comes.
What remains for a man in all his toil, for which he toils under the sun? After the general sentence that all is vanity, it begins with humans: that they in vain sweat in the labor of this world; gathering riches, educating children, striving for honor, constructing buildings, and in the midst of their work being suddenly taken by death hear: Fool, this very night your soul will be demanded from you: and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? (Luke 12:20) Especially since they bring nothing with them from all their work, but return to the ground naked from where they were taken.
One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever. As one dies, another is born; and as you see those whom you have seen, you begin to see those whom you have not seen. What is more vain than this vanity, that the earth remains, which was made for the sake of humans: and even the human, the master of the earth, suddenly dissolves into dust? Otherwise, the first generation of the Jews fades away, and a generation from the gathered nations takes its place: but the earth remains as long as, with the Synagogue receding, the whole Church enters in. For when the Gospel has been preached in the whole world, then the end will come. But with the coming of the consummation, heaven and earth will pass away. And notably, it does not say: the earth stands in ages, but in the age. Furthermore, we praise the Lord, not in one age, but in ages of ages.
The sun rises, and the sun sets, and it leads to its place, and it rises again there. The sun itself, which was given to mortals for light, indicates its own destruction every day with its rising and setting. After it has dipped its burning wheel in the ocean, it returns to the place from which it came through unknown paths to us: having completed the circle of the night, it quickly breaks forth again from its chamber. For that reason, following the Vulgate edition, it leads to its place, while in Hebrew it is written as Soeph (), which Aquila interprets as εἰσπνεῖ, that is, breathes in. But Symmachus and Theodotion object, namely because the sun returns to its place and breathes from where it had previously departed. However, all of this is done in order to teach that, through the changes of time and the rising and setting of the stars, human life slips away and perishes while it remains ignorant. Otherwise, the Sun of justice, in whose wings there is healing, rises for those who fear God and cuts down the false prophets at noon. And when it has risen, it draws us towards its place. To the Father, namely. For He came for this purpose, to lift us up from earth to heaven and to say, 'And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.' (John 12). It is not surprising, therefore, that those who believe are drawn to the Son, since even the Father Himself draws them to the Son; for no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them. (John 6:44). Therefore, this sun, which we have said sets for some and rises for others, once killed Jacob, the patriarch, when he was leaving (or returning) from the holy land, and again rose for him when he entered the land of promise from Syria. (Genesis 28). Then Lot also, since (Al. when) he had gone out of Sodom and came to the city, which, in order to hasten, had been commanded to him, went up to the mountain, and the sun went out over Segor.
He goes towards the south, and turns towards the north: the spirit goes by turning, and the spirit returns to its own circles. From this we can estimate that during the winter time the sun runs to the south, and during the summer it is close to the north, and does not have its beginning during the autumn equinox: but first, when the zephyr wind breathes, everything bursts forth in the time of spring. But as he says: the spirit goes by turning, and returns to its own circles, whether he called the sun itself the spirit, which animates, breathes, thrives, and completes its yearly orbits in its course, as the poet says (Aeneid. III):
Meanwhile, the great sun revolves around the year: and elsewhere (Georgics II).
And the year rolls around in its own footsteps; either because of the shining globe of the moon and the stars of Titania.
The spirit within nourishes: infused throughout the limbs, it moves and mingles with the great body; it speaks not of the annual course of the Sun, but of its daily paths. For it travels in an oblique and broken line from south to north, and thus returns to the east. In another way: when the Sun runs through the south, it is closer to the Earth; when it runs through the north, it is raised high. Therefore, perhaps for those who are constricted by the cold of winter and tribulations (for evil burns upon the Earth from the north) this Sun of justice is closer to them; but for those who dwell in the northern part and are deprived of summer heat, it moves far away and returns through its own circles from whence it came. For when it draws all things to itself, and illuminates all with its rays, there is a restoration of the principal thing, and God is all in all. Symmachus interpreted this passage as follows: It goes to the south and goes around to the north; the wind goes as it walks, and it returns through the things it went around.
All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place from which the rivers come, there they return again, in order to go away. Some people think that the fresh waters that flow into the sea are either consumed by the scorching sun from above or that they are the nourishment of the salty sea. Behold our Ecclesiastes, the creator of these waters, he says that they return to the heads of fountains through hidden veins, and from the abyssal womb they always boil up at their beginnings. But the Hebrews think that by a metaphor the names of torrents and seas are signified concerning men, because they return to the land from which they were taken; and they are called torrents, not rivers, because they quickly fall away, yet the land is not filled with the multitude of the dead. Moreover, if we ascend to higher things, rightly do the troubled waters return to the sea from which they had stood still. And, if I am not mistaken, nowhere is a torrent read without the addition in a good sense. For you will give them to drink from the stream of your delights, as it is said with the addition of delights (Psalm 35, 9). And on the other hand, the Savior is handed over to the stream of Cedron (John 18, 1). And during the time of persecution, Elijah hides by the stream of Chorath, which itself also dries up (1 Kings 17, 3). But the insatiable sea is not filled, just as in Proverbs the daughters of the leech (Proverbs 30, 15).
Not every man is capable of speaking profound words. The eye is not satisfied by seeing, and the ear is not filled by hearing. It is difficult not only to know about physical things, but also about ethical things. Neither words can explain the causes and natures of things, nor can the eye, as the dignity of the thing demands, look at them, nor can the ear, with the teacher instructing, reach the highest knowledge. For if now we see in a mirror in enigma, and know in part and prophesy in part, consequently neither words can explain what it does not know; nor the eye, in which it is blind, see; nor the ear, about which it doubts, be filled. At the same time, it should be noted that all words are serious and must be learned with great effort, contrary to those who think that knowledge of the Scriptures comes to them easily and without effort.
What is that which has been? It is that which will be. And what is that which has been made? It is that which will be made. And not everything new is under the sun. It seems to me, from what he has previously mentioned, about the generation and generation, the mass of the earth, the rising and setting of the sun, the course of rivers, the size of the ocean, and all that we learn either through thought, sight, or hearing, to speak universally, that there is nothing in the nature of things that has not already existed. For from the beginning of the world both men and women are born and die, and the earth is balanced upon the waters, and the sun rises and sets. And to not go through more, and to fly for the birds, and to swim for the fishes, and to walk for the land creatures, and to crawl for the serpents, it is granted by God the craftsman. What similar saying to this the Comic poet says:
Nothing is said that has not been said before. (Terence, in the Prologue of Eunuchus).
When my teacher Donatus was explaining this verse: 'Pereant, inquit, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt.' But if nothing new can be said in words, how much more in the administration of the world, which was so perfectly made from the beginning that God rested from His works on the seventh day! I read in a certain book: If everything that has been made under the sun already existed in past ages before it was made, and man was already made after the sun was established: therefore, man existed before it was made under the sun. But it is excluded, that by this reasoning, both beasts and mosquitoes, and small and large animals, were said to have existed before the sky. Unless perhaps it responds to this, it is shown from the consequences that the speech is not about other animals, but about the human Ecclesiastae. For he says: Not everything new under the sun, that speaks and says: Behold, this is new. But animals do not speak, only humans do: if animals were to speak and say that something is new, and the sentence could be dissolved, then nothing new would be under the sun.
Is there any word of which it is said, 'See, this is new': it has already been in the ages which were before us. Symmachus translated this more clearly: Do you think that there is anyone who can say, 'See, this is new', and it has already happened in the world that existed before us. But it agrees with what has gone before, that nothing new is made in the world: nor is there anyone who can exist and say, 'Look, this is new', for indeed everything that he thinks is new has already been in previous ages. Nor should we suppose that the signs, wonders, and many other things that happen by the will of God in the world have already happened in earlier centuries; and that Epicurus has found a place, who asserts that the same things happen and will happen through countless cycles, in the same places and through the same causes. Otherwise, both Judas would have often betrayed and Christ would have suffered many times for us, and other things that have happened and will happen would also repeat themselves in the same cycles. But it must be said that by the foreknowledge and predestination of God, those things have already happened which are future. For those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, they already existed in previous ages.