make not haste: "he that believeth shall not make haste (Isa. xxviii. 16).

as gold, etc.: there is a reminiscence of this in Hermas, Vis. iv. 3. So also Seneca lays much stress on the use of adversity. (Cf. Bacon's essays: "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity of the New.")

generations of old-viz. the men of the Old Testament. Cf. Ps. xxii. 4, 5, xxxvii. 25.

satisfied with his law: see chap. vi. in Taylor's Pirqe Aboth ("On the acquisition of Thorah ").

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The

§ 21. put not off: cf. the words of a medieval hymn, "Plena luctu | caret fructu | sera pœnitentia." wrath of the Lord: cf. xvi. 11; Exod. xxxiv. 7, Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, forgiving iniquity, and that will by no means clear the guilty."

§ 23. prudent, shrewd.

steps of his door: Prov. viii. 34.

meditate continually see Ps. i., Pirqe Aboth iii. 3.
establish thy heart: Ps. xxxi. 27 (P.B.V.).

as is the governor: cf. Prov. xxix. 12.

§ 24. judge no man happy: a commonplace in classical writers-e.g., Eurip. Troad. 509; Soph. O.T. 1528; Æsch. Ag. 928; Herod. i. 32; Ovid, Metam. iii. 135. opportunity of leisure: see Plat. Theat. 172E. As illustrating Jewish thought cf. Pirqe Aboth ii. 4,

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Say not, When I have leisure I will study; perchance thou mayest not have leisure "; ib. iv. 14, "Have little business, and occupy thyself in the Torah " (R. Meir).

§ 25. by lot: in Palestine brothers divided their patrimony by lot, probably till quite late times, as commentators have remarked. The use of the lot in these and similar cases was governed by the notion that the result coincided with the divine will: Hastings's D.B., vol. iii. (s.v.).

as the leaves: cf. the familiar lines in Hom. Il. vi. 146. § 26. The first two lines are supposed to be the words of the unbeliever. Why, says the sceptic, should we worry ourselves with a divine covenant (rather "decree ") which is so distant?

their rule-i.e., their sphere of activity. Cf. Ps. civ. 19; 1 Enoch ii. 1-3; Clem. Rom. Ep. ad Cor. xx. § 27. Wickedness not wisdom: for the writer knowledge and piety are convertible terms; so also are ignorance and godlessness. True wisdom is inseparable from piety (Fairweather, Background, p. 147). Cf. Plato, Protag. 357, 358.

§ 28. his light hath failed: Holmes remarks that on Jewish tombstones the ancient words are often found, May his light continue to shine."

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at rest the conception of the dead " resting "indicates some sort of belief in an after life; the doctrine of the future life in Ecclesiasticus is generally that of the Old Testament: Oesterley, Books of Apocr., p. 288.

seven days: the usual period of mourning among the Hebrews; cf. Gen. 1. 10; 1 Sam. xxxi. 13.

§ 29. taken captive—i.e., he will not fall under the sway of his tongue. There is a Jewish saying, "Life and death are in the hand of the tongue.'

swearing : the Christian rule is μὴ ὀμόσαι ὅλως, (Matt. v. 34), the force of which divines have endeavoured to mitigate, without success. James v. 12 (with Mayor nn.).

Cf.

§ 30. "Non ætate verum ingenio apiscitur (=is won) sapientia " is the dictum of Plautus (Trin. II. ii. 88). Cf. Wisd. iv. 8, 9.

§ 31. The first words of this section are quoted with approval in the Talmud. Sirach has numerous reflections on marriage relationship-e.g., in xxvi. continent, or well-instructed."

in ripe age

figure."

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another reading gives, "on a stately

§ 32. whisperer: cf. Prov. xvi. 28, xvii. 9; Coleridge, Christabel," Whispering tongues can poison truth." edge of the sword: Phocylides has this saw, ὅπλον τοι λόγος ἀνδρὶ τομώτερόν ἐστι σιδήρου = the tongue's a sharper weapon than the sword.

§ 33. care thereof: cf. St. Paul's words, undèv μepiμvâte (i.e., don't worry), Phil. iv. 6, with Matt. vi. 25. who is he? The pious rich man was evidently a rara avis then as now: Mark x. 23.

§ 34. no evil to the just: cf. Prov. xii. 21.

prepare said to the teacher.

bind up instruction: "the metaphor is from provisions for a journey that are packed up " (Edersheim). like a cartwheel, never at rest.

clay in the potter's hand: Rom. ix. 21. Browning makes a striking use of this metaphor of the potter in Rabbi ben Ezra, xxvi.-xxxii.

§ 35. send thy fear: Deut. ii. 25, xi. 25.

strange nations-viz., the Greeks.

let them know: the same universalistic spirit is seen in v. 17, very different from the later Pharisaic spirit of sharp hostility to the Gentiles: Oesterley, Books of Apocr., p. 338.

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nor do

§ 36. where parables, etc.: another reading gives, they understand the proverbs of the wise." their thought is-viz., though their work is necessary for the good of the community, their thoughts are limited to the practice of their craft.

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§ 37. The reader is bidden to harbour no vain regrets for the dead. "A living dog is better than a dead lion " (Eccles. ix. 4).

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§ 38. every command, etc.: others read, “ and supply every need in due season."

the works of all flesh: cf. Heb. iv. 13, "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

nothing wonderful, "nothing small or petty with him (Box and Oesterley).

§ 39. through the words of God, etc.: cf. Ps. xxxiii. 6, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made "; and verse 9, 66 He spake and it was done." The same idea in Wisd. ix. 1; similarly in the opening of the fourth gospel. The Word (=Memra) is half personified, like Wisdom. For the word memra cf. Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, i. 47, 48. the deep and the heart: August. Conff. x. 2, "Cujus oculis nuda est abyssus humanæ conscientiæ," and his comment on Ps. xli. 8, "Si profunditas est abyssus, putamus non cor hominis abyssus ?" past and for to come: Isa. xlvi. 10.

he is all words not necessarily pantheistic in their meaning: Lightfoot on Col. i. 17.

§ 40. declaring prophecies, or "all-seeing in their prophetic power (Box and Oesterley). Men like Elijah and Isaiah were both prophets and statesmen.

§ 41. Chapter li. is an appendix to Ecclesiasticus. Much of it is formed of fragments reminiscent of passages in the Old Testament.

§ 42. from his habitation: Mic. i. 3.

Sinai, where the law was given, is to be the place of future judgement; cf. Deut. xxxiii. 2 (Charles). Watchers-i.e., the fallen angels (not “guardians " but "watchful ones," ¿yphyopo): Driver on Dan. iv. 13. melt like wax: from Ps. xcvii. 5. The world will be destroyed at the end of the world by fire.

behold, he cometh: this passage is quoted in Jude 14, 15.

hard things: cf. Dan. vii. 9.

§ 43. Modin, between Joppa and Jerusalem.

Simon, or Simeon: Josephus adds the family name
66 Hasmonean.”*

Maccabæus-viz., the Hammer. So Charles "Mar-
tel ": Burke, Hist. of Spain, vol. i. The_name
Maccabees was applied to all the kinsmen of Judas
and to all those who were in league with him.
holy city, as in Isa. xlviii. 2, lii. 1.

strangers

captivity: thousands of Jews perished or were sold as slaves, when Antiochus Epiphanes sacked Jerusalem in 170 B.C.

§ 44. Mattathias only lived long enough to see the beginnings of the movement for religious liberty.

none did stumble : cf. Ecclus. ii. 10 (above, § 19).
hundred forty and sixth year-i.e., 166 B.C.

§ 45. as a giant = hero.

burned up, put to the sword.

salvation, deliverance.

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as the will of God is in heaven: lit. as may be the I will in heaven." The divine name is avoided in this book. Like Alfred of England, Judas is the very "embodiment of the happy warrior so finely described by Wordsworth ” (Fairweather, Background, p. 115).

* The name—afterwards given to the Hasmonean dynasty— does not actually occur in the Maccabæan books.

§ 46. Gorgias: one of the three generals acting under the orders of Lysias, commissioned by his kinsman Antiochus to suppress the Jewish rebellion.

Emmaus (modern Amwas): about twenty-two Roman miles from Jerusalem. Not the Emmaus of Luke xxiv. 13. See Encyl. Biblica, s.v.

sea-purple: made from the sea shell called murex, found on the Phoenician coast.

blessed God: rather, " gave thanksgiving unto heaven " (=shamāyim): see on § 45.

§ 47. cleanse, from the idols put there by the heathen foes. repair=rededicate.

chambers of the priests: they served as storerooms: 1 Kings vi. 5.

blameless conversation: àμμovs="without blemish" -i.e., levitical purity (Oesterley).

stones of defilement, those which had formed the heathen altar.

Chisleu: roughly speaking, December.

§ 48. in the midst of all his glory-i.e., in addition to all his other titles to renown.

Gazara, the ancient Gezer: Bathsura, in S. Judæa. Simon was succeeded by his son John Hyrcanus, who was king and priest for just over thirty years -i.e., till his death in 105 B.C. See Bevan, Jerusalem under the High Priests.

§ 49. The story of the martyrdom finds an analogue in the account given, in Christian times, of the death of Symphorosa and her seven sons (Ruinart, Act. Mart. Sinc.: see Lightfoot, Ignatius2, i. 502-505). This story of the Maccabæan martyrs appears again in the concluding chapters of the fourth book of Maccabees (see Townshend's Introduction in Charles's Apocr. and Pseudepigr., vol. ii.).