A GENTLE CYNIC.*
Tins " gentle cynic " of whom Dr. Jastrow writes is the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes. But why ' gentle' 1 " will surely be the thought of every intending reader as he stares in surprise at so unexpected a title. It is hardly possible, or so it seems to the present writer fresh from re-reading the Scriptural text, to imagine a more bitter view of life than is offered by Koheleth for our contemplation. We say " hardly possible" because the book as it stands does not altogether preclude hope ; does, as it were, admit that, while by outward evidence the ways of God to men are unjustifiable, there may be an answer to the riddle somewhere to be found ; does even at moments suggest that in his inmost soul man is conscious of a solution which he cannot put into words. Dr. Jastrow, however, has come to a very different conclusion. He believes, indeed he dogmatically asserts, that we do not owe these glimpses of light to the author of the book at all. They are all, he thinks, added by later com- mentators anxious to bring the book into line with the tradition of its Solomonic authorship, and to supply it with sufficient moral and religious sentiments to assure its place within a sacred collection. For this view he brings forward little actual evidence.
The acid which he applies to the book for its disintegration is of the nature of literary criticism. Could such a man, he asks, be so inconsistent ? He proceeds, therefore, to make Koheleth agree with himself by cutting down the work ascribed to hint by one-quarter. Koheleth then becomes—in his opinion—the Omar Khayyam of Israel, an amiable man who has grown old gracefully, enamoured of life despite its sorrows :-
"Life appears to him to be a big game of ' chasing after wind,' and he does not hesitate to say so and to try to prove his thesis in a series of charming and witty talks. He does not want to be taken too seriously and would smile at the thought of being regarded as the exponent of any system of philosophy. He is a dilettante in philosophy and a free lance in religion. He has no especial interest in Judaism, except as the religion which he sees around him. ' Work and Play '—may be taken as the motto of the book. Do both as well as you can, but do not regard either as the aim of life. There is no aim. There is merely life, and life is there to be enjoyed or it is entirely wasted. Retain your sense of humor so that you may not grow morose when you contemplate the ills and sorrows in the world. When you get into a particularly pessimistic mood—smile at the world, not with a bitter smile, but with a suggestion of irony."
But surely all this is more bitter than gentle. Dr. Jastrow, we must hasten to add, can quote some very great names in
confirmation of his opinion. Renan speaks of Ecclesiastes as " the only amiable book written by a Jew." Before such a critic the plain man must speak in a whisper ; but he will not be prevented from exclaiming under his breath : " Truly the Biblical critics pass understanding !"
It is not surely a gentle or amiable philosophy which likens mankind to " fishes that are taken in an evil net," however much truth there may be in the comparison. The man who said that " a living dog is better than a dead lion," for " the living know that they shall die : but the dead know not any-
thing " ; who " said of laughter, It is mad : and of mirth, What doeth it ? " was hardly an apostle of sweetness. The preacher was not inspired simply by a grave view of life—he spoke out of the bitterness of his heart when he lamented the certainty of " the grave, whither thou goest," in which lie apparently in
equal forgetfulness good men, bad men, and beasts. Like all intense pessimists, he discourses upon the rarity of good men. There are, however, he admits, a few, one in a thousand perhaps, but he hastens to modify even this admission. Among women he has not found this proportion ; he has seen none. (We cannot help wondering whether our Lord had this passage in mind, and was consciously reversing a judgment of Solomon, when he suggested that the unjust bear to the just a proportion of one in a thousand.) True, this wise man of old was not hard- hearted. The tears of the oppressed and the strength of the
*A Gentle cynic. By Morris Jostrow, jun.; P5.1)., LL.D. London: J. H. Liortai•ott Co. [9s. noLl
oppressor filled him with grief. The passage in which he bewails their lot is a touching one ; but the Old Testament teems with such passages. It does not constitute its author a more lovable man than many, we might almost say than any, of the Old Testament prophets. Such gleams of hope and such human inconsistency as appear in the passionate utterance of sub- conscious faith—" Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God "—is of course struck out by the blue pencil of his latest critic, who regards it as a commonplace of a commentator. Like the " conclusion of the whole matter," it savours to him of pedantic orthodoxy.
Purged of its supposed additions, our author supplies us with a new translation of the text. It does not differ very materially from the Authorized Version, and is the least interesting part of his irritating but thought-provoking book. Now and then, as in the following instance, he throws much light on an obscure passage. The Authorized Version runs thus : I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour." Dr. Jastrow has it thus : " And I considered that all toil and all honest work is merely due to man's zeal against his neighbour "—a truly cynical view of competition as it existed then and exists now. Our translator does not confine his version to what he regards as the original book. He translates all the portions which he looks upon as commentary, placing them in an appendix in their entirety and dealing with them in copious notes.
Biblical criticism has become a science, but it can never be an exact science, a fact which will always strengthen the ordinary man in his own opinion. To the mind of the present writer, the cynic who set down his experience of life in the Book of Ecclesiastes, and who confessed to his moments of faith no less frankly than to his hours of sceptical disillusionment, lives. To make him into a consistent philosopher it is necessary to kilt him, and to transform his book from a human document into a mere treatise.
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