Ecclesiastes 12:10

The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words Literally, words of delight, or pleasure, as in chs. Ecclesiastes 5:4; Ecclesiastes 12:1. The phrase reminds us of "the words of grace" (Luke 4:22) which came from the lips of Him, who, as the Incarnate Wisdom of God, was, in very deed, greater than Solomon. The fact is stated as by way of apologiafor the character of the book. The object of the teacher was to attract men by meeting, or seeming to meet, their inclinations, by falling in with the results of their own experience. We are reminded so far of the words of Lucretius:

"Nam veluti pueris absinthia tetra medentes,

Cum dare conantur, prius oras pocula circum

Contingunt mellis dulci, flavoque liquore,

Ut puerorum ætas improvida ludificetur

Labrorum tenus, interea perpotet amarum

Absinthî laticem, deceptaque non capiatur,

Sed potius tali pacto recreata valescat."

"As those who heal the body, when they seek

To give to children wormwood's nauseous juice,

First smear the cup's rim with sweet golden honey,

That infant's thoughtless age may be beguiled

Just to the margin's edge, and so may drink

The wormwood's bitter draught, beguiled, not tricked,

But rather gain thereby in strength and health."

De Rer. Nat. iv. 11 17.

and that which was written was upright The italics shew that the sentence is somewhat elliptical, and it is better to take the two sets of phrases in apposition with the "acceptable words" that precede them, even a writing of uprightness (i.e.of subjective sincerity), words of truth (in its objective sense). The words are, thus understood, a full testimony to the character of the book thus commended to the reader's attention.