Глава 5

Eccl.5:1–2. Do not be hasty with your tongue, and let not your heart be in a hurry to utter a word before God; because God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few. For just as dreams come from many worries, so the voice of a fool is known from many words. Do not be in a hurry with your lips, and do not let your heart be in a hurry to utter a word before the face of God, because God is in heaven, and you are on earth. Therefore, let not your words be many, for a dream will come with many worries, and the voice of the foolish with many words. Many people think that in this place it is suggested that we should not promise anything before God rashly, and without weighing our strengths, should not make such vows that we cannot fulfill. For God is present with us, and although He is apparently in heaven and we are on earth, He nevertheless hears what we say, and from many words our folly is exposed. Others, explaining better, argue that this suggests that we should not think about God more than we can in word or thought, but should be aware of our weakness - that as far as heaven is from earth, so far is our thought from His nature, and that therefore our words should be restrained. For just as one who is busy with many worries often imagines what he is thinking about as if in delirium, so one who wants to think too much about the Divine falls into foolishness. Or this: our words should therefore not be numerous, because what we think we know, we see as if through a dark glass, fortune-telling, and what we are sure of, we imagine as in a dream. When we say too much, it will be clear to us that the end of our reasoning is unreasonableness. For we cannot avoid sin by speaking too much. Eccl.5:3–4. When you make a vow to God, do not hesitate to fulfill it, because He does not favor fools: what you promised, fulfill. It is better for you not to promise than to promise and not fulfill. When you make a vow to God, do not hesitate to pay it, since there is no favor towards fools. Whatever you promise, fulfill it. It is better not to make a vow than to promise and not fulfill. The simple meaning requires no explanation. It is better not to promise than not to fulfill what was promised: for those who do not fulfill their vows are displeasing to God and are considered among the foolish. In the words: “there is no favor towards fools” - it is implied: “God”, in accordance with the word of the apostle: “it was not the will that I should come to you now” (1 Cor. 16:12). If we want to say something more important, then the Christian is commanded here so that he fulfills his faith with deeds and does not become like the Jews, who, making vows and saying: “Every word that the Lord says, will we do” (Ex. 24:3), worshiped idols, and, having tortured slaves and stoned them, finally killed the Son of the Householder himself. So, it is better to weigh a dubious decision for a long time than, being easy in words, to be difficult in deeds. For a servant who knows the will of his master and does not fulfill it, “will be beaten many times” (Luke 12:47). Eccl.5:5. Do not allow your lips to lead your flesh into sin, and do not say before the Angel [of God]: “This is a mistake!” Why should you do anything so that God would be angry at your word and destroy the work of your hands? Do not let your lips lead your body into sin. And do not say before the angel that this is ignorance, lest the Lord be angry at your word and destroy the works of your hands. The Jew thought like this: what you cannot do, do not promise, for words do not go to the wind, but by the approaching angel, which is inherent as a companion to everyone, they are immediately brought to the Lord, and you, who think that God does not know what you have promised, provoke Him to anger, so that all your deeds will be destroyed. In the words: “Do not let your mouth lead your body into sin,” he (i.e., the Jew), carefully turning over the particle “not,” understood the meaning as if Ecclesiastes had said: “Do not let your mouth lest you sin.” But it seems to me that there is another meaning here - that those who complain about the shortcomings of the flesh are exposed and say that due to the weakness of the flesh they are forced to do what they do not want, in accordance with the words of the Apostle: “I do this not as much as I will, but I do not want,” and so on. (Rom.7:19). So, do not look for empty excuses, do not give your flesh a reason to sin, and do not say: it is not I who sin, but the sin living in my flesh. The words: “do not say before the angel that this is ignorance,” Aquila, rendering the Hebrew word segaga, instead of “ignorance,” translated: άκούσιον, that is, “involuntary.” For if, he says, you say this, then you are challenging God, as the author of evil and sin, to become angry and take away from your hands everything that you apparently have that is good. And truly, if you reason like this, then God gives you over to a depraved mind to do indecent things. Eccl.5:6. For in many dreams, as in many words, there is much vanity; but fear God. For in many dreams, and vanity and words, I am very much. But fear God. And the Jews interpret this passage as follows: Do not do what has already been mentioned above, and do not gullibly believe dreams. When, during your night's rest, various visions appear to you, your soul will be indignant with various fears or agitated by dreams: you despise all these sleepy visions and fear only God alone. For whoever believes in dreams will give himself over to vanities and lewdness. Otherwise: Since I said and commanded: do not let your lips lead your body into sin and look for various excuses: now I add that in the dream of this life and in that image of the cloud shadow in which we live, we can find many things that seem plausible to us and justify our sins; Therefore, I ask you to beware of one thing: do not think that God is not with you, but fear Him and know that He is present in all your deeds, and that you, gifted with free will, are not forced to do what you do, but do it voluntarily. Eccl.5:7–8. If you see in any area oppression of the poor and violation of justice and truth, then do not be surprised at this: because the high is watched over by the highest, and above them there is an even higher; the superiority of the country as a whole is the king who cares about the country. If you see in the country oppression of the poor, robbery in court and injustice, then do not be surprised at this matter: because the high one watches the high one, and above them there is a higher one, and there is more land in everything than a king in the cultivated field. The tunic of Christ, woven from above, could not be divided even by crucifiers; He ordered the one from whom the Savior had cast out demons to go dressed in the robes of the apostles. Therefore, we will try not to tear the robe of our Ecclesiastes and not arbitrarily sew together sackcloth of opinions from here and there, but must maintain the same composition of reasoning and follow the same meaning and order. Above he said: “Do not say in front of an angel that this is ignorance, lest God be angry at your word,” etc., and spoke out against those who denied that human affairs are governed by Providence. And since an objection arose against this suggestion: why do the righteous suffer offense, why are unjust courts committed all over the world and there is no God the giver of bribes? Now, in addition, he allows what could be objected to - he allows it, saying: if you see the offense of the poor, who is declared blessed in the Gospel, if you see that things are not done with truth, but with violence: then do not be surprised, and don’t let it seem like something to you or new. For God, high above high, sees this, Who has placed His angels over the judges and kings of the earth, angels who, of course, can prevent unrighteousness, and on earth have more power than any human power. But since He postpones judgment until the end and the end of the world, when, after the harvest is ripe and the inhabitants come, He commands the wheat to be separated and the tares to be put on fire: therefore He now waits and postpones the judgment until the field of this world is cultivated. That the field means the world, the Lord explained this in the parable of the tares and the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30,36-43). Eccl.5:9–10. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, and he who loves wealth will not profit from it. And this is vanity! As property multiplies, those who consume it also multiply; and what good is it for the one who owns it: except to see with his own eyes? He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, and he who loves wealth will not enjoy it. But this is also vanity. For with the multitude of blessings I have and those who eat them, what is the benefit to him who has them, except that he sees them with his own eyes? Wherever we put “silver”, according to the reciprocity of the Greek word, we can also put “money”: for άργυριον means both. And Tullius says that those who had a lot of “peculia”, that is, livestock, were first called rich (“pecuniosos”). This is what wealth was called in ancient times; but little by little, in an improper meaning, this word is transferred to another concept. So the miser is portrayed here - that he is never satisfied with wealth and the more he has, the more he desires. And Flaccus expresses the same thought by saying: “The eternally stingy man is in need”; and the noble historian (Sallust), expressing that “avarice does not decrease either from poverty or abundance.” So, says Ecclesiastes, wealth brings no benefit to the one who owns it, except perhaps that he looks at what he has. For the more wealth he has, the more servants he will have who eat up the wealth he has collected. But he only looks at what he has, and cannot use more than what is needed to support one person. Eccl.5:11. Sweet is the sleep of a worker, you never know how much he eats; but the rich man's satiety does not allow him to sleep. Sweet sleep is for the worker, you never know how much he eats. And the rich man's satiety does not allow him to sleep. We are again talking about a rich man and a miser, and he is compared to a worker who sleeps without caring whether he eats a little or a lot. The latter, after hard work and fatigue, digests any food and enjoys a pleasant sleep; and the rich man, satiated with a luxurious table, torn here and there by restless thoughts, cannot sleep from excessive consumption of drinks and from heat in the stomach due to indigestion of food. Further, since by sleep we also mean the general outcome from this life: then better will be the peace of the one who now works and strives in good deeds according to his strength, than the wealth of those about whom it is written: “Woe to you who are rich, for you are worthy of your consolation” (Luke 6:24). Eccl.5:12–16. There is a painful illness that I have seen under the sun: wealth saved by its owner to his detriment. And this wealth perishes from accidents: he gave birth to a son, and he has nothing in his hands. Just as he came out naked from his mother’s womb, so he goes away as he came, and will take nothing from his labor that he could carry in his hand. And this is a serious illness: as it came, so it goes away. What good does it do him to work for nothing? And all his days he ate in the dark, in great irritation, in grief and annoyance. There is the worst disease that I have seen under the sun - wealth saved by the owner to harm him. And this wealth perished in the worst misfortune. And he gave birth to a son, and there is nothing in his hands. Just as he came out of his mother’s womb, so he will return naked as he came, and will take nothing from his labor so that it goes into his hands. And this is the worst evil, that just as it came, it leaves. What advantage will he have if he worked for the wind? And all his days he will eat in darkness, and in the greatest indignation, and in illness, and in anger. Connecting the subsequent with the previous, Ecclesiastes depicts a rich man who cannot use his wealth himself and often suffers disasters because of it, nor does he leave what he has collected to his heir; but both he and his son, just as they came naked, will return naked to the earth, and nothing from their labors will follow them. Isn’t this the worst evil - to be tormented by worries because of wealth, to work in acquiring property with melancholy, with groans, with irritation, in litigation, and to work in vain when this wealth disappears, when when we die we cannot take them with us? This is a simple interpretation. But if we rise higher, then, it seems to me, Ecclesiastes speaks of philosophers or heretics who accumulate a wealth of teachings for their own harm, and neither their inventors themselves can receive any benefit from them, nor can they leave lasting fruit for their followers; but they themselves and their disciples return to the land and lose this wealth according to the will of Him who said: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and destroy the understanding of the prudent” (1 Cor. 1:19). For, truly, just as they came out of the womb of their mother, that is, the perverted and contrary church, about which it is written: “And Jerusalem which is on high is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26), so they will go away naked, having labored in vain. They are exhausted “by trial” (Ps. 63:7) and are carried about by every wind of doctrine and have no light, but in darkness they devour their sacraments. They are always in sickness, always in anger, storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath and not having a merciful God. Eccl.5:17–19. Here’s something else that I found good and pleasant: to eat and drink and enjoy good things in all his labors, as someone works under the sun all the days of his life that God has given him; because this is his share. And if God gave wealth and property to any person, and gave him the power to use them and take his share and enjoy from his labors, then this is the gift of God. The days of his life will not be long in his memory; that is why God rewards him with the joy of his heart. This is what I saw as good, what is best - to eat and drink, and to see pleasure in all the labor that (man) worked under the sun, in the number of days of his life that God gave him; for this is his portion. But every person to whom God gave wealth and property and deigned him to eat from them and take his share and rejoice in his labor is a gift from God. For he will remember little of the days of his life, because God entertains his heart with joy. He says that in comparison with the one who uses his property in the darkness of worries, and with the great sorrow of life collects transitory wealth, the one who uses the present is better. For here there is at least a little pleasure in use, but there are only great worries. And he gives reasons why the ability to enjoy wealth is a gift from God. Because, he says, he will remember little about the days of his life, for God entertains him in the joy of his heart: he will not be sad, he will not be tormented by thoughts, entertained by joy and real pleasure. But - better, according to the Apostle (1 Cor. 10:3), to understand here the spiritual food and spiritual drink given by God and to see the good in all our work: for with great labor and feat we can contemplate true good. And this is our lot, that we rejoice in our work and deeds. And although this is good, however, until Christ appears as our life, this is not yet complete good. And therefore God will remember a little about the days of our life. And it should be noted that here the word περισπασμός is taken for the better, as entertainment with spiritual and true joy.