CHAPTER 5

The question asked by Ecclesiastes is not, simply, `What is good?'  He is not merely probing into the

philosophical problem of what constitutes ultimate values, he is concerned to find an answer to the question of what

is good for a man IN THIS LIFE, especially remembering the vanity and vexation that are its normal accompaniments,

and also remembering its shadowy character.

His first answer focuses attention on the value of a `good name', which reveals that Ecclesiastes places morals

above goods; he anticipates the questions `What shall we eat? What shall we drink? and Wherewithal shall we be

A good name he declares is better than precious ointment and with this he heads a series of comparisons.

`The day of death (is better) than the day of one's birth'.

`It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting'.

`Sorrow is better than laughter'.

`It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools'.

`Better is the end of a thing than the beginning', and `The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit'.

If at the first reading these words should make us feel that Ecclesiastes must be the super-pessimist, let us

observe how many points of contact and agreement we find between these sentiments and the utterances of the Lord

in the Sermon on the Mount.

A GOOD NAME IS BETTER THAN PRECIOUS OINTMENT.

Let us note the literary peculiarities of this opening verse. The Hebrew sentence commences with the word tob

`good' and the word translated `precious' is the same as the word `good'. Another literary figure is employed called

paronomasia, where words of like sound are used to call the reader's attention to their deeper similarity. The

Hebrew word for `name' is shem; the Hebrew word for `ointment' is shemen. The complete sentence reads, Tob

shem mishshemen tob.

We must now have a clear image in our mind as to what the `precious ointment' signifies, otherwise we shall

miss the point. With us ointment generally indicates some healing and mollifying substance. In the East it has a

deeper and wider range of meaning. First let us notice the occurrences of the word in Ecclesiastes:

`A good name is better than precious ointment' (7:1).

`Let thy head lack no ointment' (9:8).

`Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour' (10:1).

In the Song of Solomon we have a parallel usage to that of Ecclesiastes 7:1 :

`Sweet is the odour of thy good ointments; thy name is as ointment poured forth' (1:3 Author's translation).

Another reference to ointments occurs in Song of Solomon 4:10 :

`How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine

ointments than all spices!'

The anointing oil which was used in the service of the tabernacle was composed of pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon,

sweet calamus, cassia and olive oil. The tabernacle and its vessels were anointed with it, as also was Aaron, the high

priest. The kings later were inducted into their high office as `the Lord's anointed'. Another who was anointed with

this holy ointment was the leper in the day of his cleansing. Esther 2:12 tells us that before the women entered into

the royal presence they were purified, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet odours.