Ecclesiastes 11:1 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Cast thy bread upon the waters— Cast thy corn before the waters, for thou shalt find it, &c. Desvoex observes, the true design of this verse is so plainly pointed out by the context, that interpreters could not avoid seeing that it is an exhortation to benevolence and liberality; yet few of them understood the letter of the metaphor wherein that exhortation is in a manner wrapped up; and the Chaldee paraphrast would not even allow it to be a metaphor; but, through a very extraordinary synecdoche, made the surface of the water to mean poor sailors, whose ships sail on that surface. It has been observed by several interpreters, that in these words, cast thy לחם lechem, upon the face of the waters, לחם, which is generally translated bread, may as well be translated corn: besides other places, where it has that signification, no other construction can be put on it, Isaiah 28:28 nor in this place neither, if we consider that Solomon makes use of a proverbial metaphorical sentence, which must have a known, rational, literal sense, independently of the remoter moral application. But to cast one's bread upon the surface of the waters, where it must be either devoured by the fish, or diluted to nothing, before the waves leave it upon the shore, would be a very odd way of providing for futurity; and I doubt whether one who would try the experiment could find his bread again after many days. But the case is quite otherwise with respect to seed thrown upon the surface of an inundation: When the waters subside, the corn which remains in the mud grows, and is found again many days after, at the time of harvest. This is a very rational construction of Solomon's words, which the judicious Bishop Lowth, in his 10th Prelection, thinks may be illustrated from Psalms 104:14. But there is another, which, if I am not mistaken, has the advantage of being better connected with the other proverbial sentences, wherein the author has in a manner wrapped up his exhortation; and to which, for that reason, I have given the preference in my translation. The words פני על al peni, upon the faces, are often employed for לפני lipni, before the faces, to signify, in presence of, or over against; and the two phrases appear to be synonimous in that sense, by comparing Exodus 14:2 with Numbers 33:7. They are so likewise in some places, especially Genesis 32:21 and 2 Samuel 15:18 in the signification of before, with respect to time. Now, why should not המים עלאּפני al-peni hammaiim, in the passage before us, be rendered, Before the rainy season? Corn thrown at that time in the ground, which in hot climates is then like dust, may be looked upon as thrown away; and if you consider nothing but the impossibility of its thriving without moisture, it is very natural that you should wait for the wind which will bring clouds and rain (Ecclesiastes 11:4.). But the prudent husbandman knows, that in time of drought the clouds are filling, and that as soon as they are full they must pour down rain upon the earth (Ecclesiastes 11:3.): therefore he sows the seed in expectation of a crop, which he is not to see immediately, but only after many days. This kind of prudence is that which Solomon recommends with respect to the poor, as may be seen by the whole context.