But since fortune is capricious, do not risk thine all on a single venture. 'Ships are but boards, sailors but men' &c., as Shylock says. Divide thy merchandise, and so, if one vessel is wrecked or plundered, much may still be saved; or—another possible interpretation—store thy property in various hiding-places, so that, in case of some political revolution, thine all may not be taken from thee,—
Make seven portions, and also eight; for thou knowest not what
evil shall be upon the earth (or, the land) (xi. 2).
This is not, of course, the usual explanation of these two
verses, which are enigmas fairly admitting of more than one
solution. Most commentators understand them as recommending
beneficence, which ver. 2 requires to be of extensive
range, and which ver. 1 compares to cakes of bread thrown
upon the water, and gathered up no one knows by whom.
So perhaps (besides Rashi, Aben Ezra, Ginsburg &c.) Goethe
in the Westöstliche Divan
Was willst du untersuchen
Wohin die Milde fliesst!
Ins Wasser wirf dein Kuchen—
Wer weiss wer sie geniesst![1]
I do not think that this suits the context, which suggests activity and caution as the two good qualities recommended by Koheleth. But it is very possible that the proverb was a popular one which the author took up, giving it a fresh application.
Such is the author's parting advice to the elder part of his readers,—not very elevated, but not without a breath of courageous faith (xi. 5). Not that he has given up his advocacy of pleasure. Side by side with work, a man should cherish, even to the very last, all those sources of joy which God Himself has provided, remembering the long dark days which await him in Sheól. Then, at ver. 9, he addresses thequoted, with this proverb, from H. F. v. Diez by Dukes, Rabbinische Blumenlese, pp. 73-74. Comp. also the stories in the Midrash Koheleth on our passage.]
- ↑ But Goethe may have thought of the Turkish proverb, 'Do good, throw the
loaf into the water; if the fish knows it not, the Creator does,' or the story from
the life of the Caliph Mutewekyil [Mutawakkil?
