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Ecclesiastes 11:4-5 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

4 He that observeth H8104 the wind H7307 shall not sow; H2232 and he that regardeth H7200 the clouds H5645 shall not reap. H7114

5 As thou knowest H3045 not what is the way H1870 of the spirit, H7307 nor how the bones H6106 do grow in the womb H990 of her that is with child: H4392 even so thou knowest H3045 not the works H4639 of God H430 who maketh H6213 all.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 11

Commentary on Ecclesiastes 11 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verse 1

“Let thy bread go forth over the watery mirror: for in the course of many days shalt thou find it.” Most interpreters, chiefly the Talm., Midrash, and Targ.,

(Note: The Midrash tells the following story: Rabbi Akiba sees a ship wrecked which carried in it one learned in the law. He finds him again actively engaged in Cappadocia. What whale, he asked him, has vomited thee out upon dry land? How hast thou merited this? The scribe learned in the law thereupon related that when he went on board the ship, he gave a loaf of bread to a poor man, who thanked him for it, saying: As thou hast saved my life, may thy life be saved. Thereupon Akiba thought of the proverb in Ecclesiastes 11:1. Similarly the Targ.: Extend to the poor the bread for thy support; they sail in ships over the water.)

regard this as an exhortation to charity, which although practised without expectation of reward, does not yet remain unrewarded at last. An Aram. proverb of Ben Sira's ( vid ., Buxtorf's Florilegium , p. 171) proceeds on this interpretation: “Scatter thy bread on the water and on the dry land; in the end of the days thou findest it again.” Knobel quotes a similar Arab. proverb from Diez' Denkwürdigkeiten von Asien (Souvenirs of Asia), II 106: “Do good; cast thy bread into the water: thou shalt be repaid some day.” See also the proverb in Goethe's Westöst. Divan , compared by Herzfeld. Voltaire, in his Précis de l'Ecclésiaste en vers , also adopts this rendering:

Repandez vos bien faits avec magnificence,

Même aux moins vertueux ne les refusez pas.

Ne vous informez pas de leur reconnaissance -

Il est grand, il est beau de faire des ingrats