Ecclesiastes 7:1 - Exposition

A good name is better than precious ointment. The paronomasia here is to be remarked, tob ahem mishemen tob . There is a similar assonance in So Ecclesiastes 1:3 , which the German translator reproduces by the sentence, "Besser gut Gerucht als Wohlgeruch," or," gute Geruche," and which may perhaps be rendered in English, "Better is good favor than good flavor." It is a proverbial saying, running literally, Better is a name than good oil . Shem , "name," is sometimes used unqualified to signify a celebrated name, good name, reputation (comp. Genesis 11:4 ; Proverbs 22:1 ). Septuagint, ἀγαθὸν ὄνομα ὑπὲρ ἔλαιον ἀγαθόν . Vulgate, Melius eat nomen bonum quam unguenta pretiosa . Odorous unguents were very precious in the mind of an Oriental, and formed one of the luxuries lavished at feasts and costly entertainments, or social visits (see Ecclesiastes 9:8 ; Ruth 3:3 ; Psalms 45:8 ; Amos 6:6 ; Wis. 2:7; Luke 7:37 , Luke 7:46 ). It was a man's most cherished ambition to leave a good reputation, and to hand down an honorable remembrance to distant posterity, and this all the more as the hope of the life beyond the grave was dim and vague (see on Ecclesiastes 2:16 , and comp. Ecclesiastes 9:5 ). The complaint of the sensualists in Wis. 2:4 is embittered by the thought," Our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance." We employ a metaphor like that in the clause when we speak of a man's reputation having a good or ill odor; and the Hebrews said of ill fame that it stank in the nostrils ( Genesis 34:30 ; Exodus 5:21 ; see, on the opposite side, Ecclesiasticus 24:15; 2 Corinthians 2:15 ). And the day of death than the day of one's birth. The thought in this clause is closely connected with the preceding. If a man's life is such that he leaves a good name behind him, then the day of his departure is better than that of his birth, because in the latter he had nothing before him but labor, and trouble, and fear, and uncertainty; and in the former all these anxieties are past, the storms are successfully battled with, the haven is won (see on Ecclesiastes 4:3 ). According to Solon's well-known maxim, no one can be called happy till he has crowned a prosperous life by a peaceful death; as the Greek gnome runs—

΄ήπω μέγαν εἴπῃς πρὶν τελευτήσαντ ἴδῃς

"Call no man great till thou hast seen him dead."

So Ben-Sira, "Judge none blessed ( μὴ μακάριζε μηδένα ) before his death; for a man shall be known in his children" (Ecclesiasticus 11:28).