Ecclesiastes 11:1

Cast thy bread upon the waters The book, as it draws nearer to its close, becomes more and more enigmatic, and each single verse is as a parable and dark saying. It is not to be wondered at, in such a case, that interpreters should, after their nature, read their own thoughts between the lines and so "find what they have sought." This precept accordingly has been taken by some commentators (e.g.Grätz) as recommending an unrestrained licentiousness. By others it has been raised almost to the level of the counsel which bids us "do good, hoping for nothing again, even to the unthankful and the evil" (Matthew 5:44-46; Luke 6:32-35). The latter is, it need hardly be said, infinitely more in accordance with the context and with the conclusion to which the writer is drawing near. Here again we find guidance in the parallelism of Greek thought. As Lowth pointed out (De Sac. Poes. Heb.x.) the words refer to the Greek proverbial phrase σπείρειν ἐπὶ πόντῳ ("to sow in the ocean") as indicating a thankless labour. So Theognis, v. 105,

Δειλοὺς δʼ εὖ ἔρδοντι ματαιοτάτη χάρις ἔστιν,

Ἴσον γὰρ σπείρειν πόντον ἀλὸς πολιῆς.

Οὔτε γὰρ ἄν πόντον σπείοων βαθὺ λήϊον ἀμῶς,

Οὔτε κακοὺς εὖ δρῶν εὖ πάλιν ἀντιλάβοις.

"Vain is thy bounty, giving to the base,

Like scattering seed upon the salt sea's plain;

Sowing the sea, thou shalt no harvest reap,

Nor, giving to the vile, reward shalt gain."

Other parallels are found (1) in the Aramaic version of the proverbs of Sirach "Cast thy bread upon the water and the land, and at last thou shalt find it again" (Dukes, Rabbin. Blumenl. p. 73). (2) In an Arabic proverb, the moral of a long legend narrating how Mohammed the son of Hassan had been in the daily habit of throwing loaves into a river, how the life of an adopted son of the Caliph Mutewekjil, who had narrowly escaped drowning by clambering to a rock, was thus preserved, and how Mohammed saw in this a proof of the proverb he had learnt in his youth "Do good; cast thy bread upon the waters, and one day thou shall be rewarded" (Diez, Denkwürdigkeiten von Asien, i. p. 106, quoted by Dukes, ut supra). (3) In a Turkish proverb, also quoted by Dukes from Diez, "Do good, cast thy bread upon the water. If the fish know it not, yet the Creator knows."

The writer holds himself aloof from the selfish prudence of the maxim of Theognis, and bids men not to be afraid "to cast their bread (the generic term stands for "corn," as in Genesis 41:54; Isaiah 28:28) even upon the face of the thankless waters." Sooner or later they shall reap as they have sown. Comp. 2 Corinthians 9:6-10. It is not without interest to note that this interpretation is adopted by Voltaire in his Précis de l'Ecclesiaste,

"Répandez vos bienfaits avec magnificence,

Même aux moins vertueux ne les refusez pas."

Other interpretations may be briefly noted, but have not much to commend them: (1) that the figure is drawn from agriculture, and that the corn is to be sown in a well irrigated field, but this gives a meaning precisely the opposite of the true one; (2) that it is drawn from commerce and commends a venturous spirit of enterprise like that of exporting corn, which is certain to bring profit in the long run; but this again, unless we make the venture one of benevolence, is foreign to the spirit of the context; (3) that it speaks of throwing cakes of bread upon the water, that float away and seem to be wasted; but this, though leading to the same result as the interpretation here adopted, and having the support of the Arab legend quoted above, lacks the point of the reference to the Greek proverb; (4) last and basest, the imagination of one interpreter mentioned above that the precept sanctions a boundless sensual indulgence.