Ecclesiastes 7:26

"And I found woman more bitter than death; she is like hunting-nets. and like snares is her heart, her hands are bands: he who pleaseth God will escape from her; but the sinner is caught by them." As א ושׁ, Ecc 4:2, so here וּם א gains by the preceding אני וסבּותי a past sense; (Note: With reference to this passage and Pro 18:22, it was common in Palestine when one was married to ask מצא או מוחא = happy or unhappy? Jebamoth 63b.) the particip. clause stands frequently thus, not only as a circumstantial clause, Gen 14:12., but also as principal clause, Gen 2:10, in an historical connection. The preceding pred. מר, in the mas. ground-form, follows the rule, Gesen. 147. Regarding the construction of the relative clause, Hitzig judges quite correctly: "היא is copula between subj. and pred., and precedes for the sake of the contrast, giving emphasis to the pred. It cannot be a nomin., which would be taken up by the suff. in לבהּ, since if this latter were subject also to מץ, היא would not certainly be found. Also asher here is not a conj." This הוּא (היא), which in relative substantival clauses represents the copula, for the most part stands separated from asher, e.g., Gen 7:2; Gen 17:12; Num 17:5; Deu 17:15; less frequently immediately with it, Num 35:31; Sa1 10:19; Kg2 25:19; Lev 11:26; Deu 20:20. But this asher hu (hi) never represents the subj., placed foremost and again resumed by the reflex. pronoun, so as to be construed as the accentuation requires: quae quidem retia et laquei cor ejus = cajus quidem cor sunt retia et laquei (Heiligst.). מצוד is the means of searching, i.e., either of hunting: hunting-net (mitsodah, Ecc 9:12), or of blockading: siege-work, bulwarks, Ecc 9:14; here it is the plur. of the word in the former meaning. חרם, Hab 1:14, plur. Eze 26:5, etc.…

Solomon had given many proofs and instances of the vanity of this world and the things of it; now, in this chapter, I. He recommends to us some good means proper to be used for the redress of these grievances and the arming of ourselves against the mischief we are in danger of from them, that we may make the best of the bad, as 1. Care of our reputation (Ecc 7:1). 2. Seriousness (Ecc 7:2-6). 3. Calmness of spirit (Ecc 7:7-10). 4. Prudence in the management of all our affairs (Ecc 7:11, Ecc 7:12). 5. Submission to the will of God in all events, accommodating ourselves to every condition (Ecc 7:13-15). 6. A conscientious avoiding of all dangerous extremes (Ecc 7:16-18). 7. Mildness and tenderness towards those that have been injurious to us (Ecc 7:19-22). In short, the best way to save ourselves from the vexation which the vanity of the world creates us is to keep our temper and to maintain a strict government of our passions. II. He laments his own iniquity, as that which was more vexatious than any of these vanities, that mystery of iniquity, the having of many wives, by which he was drawn away from God and his duty (Ecc 7:23-29).

7:26 a seductive woman: Cp. Prov 5; 6:20–7:27.