TO EVERY THING THERE IS A SEASON. The men who weigh things by employing logic
1 say that the "seasons" refer
2 to the word "man" [mentioned in the previous chapter] (2:26).
3 Our verse teaches that man must do things in their season.
4 However, their interpretation is contradicted by what Kohelet notes at the beginning and at the end of his list of things for which there is a season. It is first contradicted by [
there is] a
time to be born,
and a time to die (Kohelet 3:2).
5 It is then contradicted by
He (God) hath made everything beautiful in its time (Kohelet 3:11).
6
Some say that the 28 seasons that are mentioned in our chapter7 correspond to the 28 forms of the stars in the sphere of the constellation in which the moon is seen every month.8 This interpretation also is nonsense.9
The correct interpretation of our verse is:
there is a season and a time for everything [that occurs]
under the heaven.
10 For when the constellation of stars which begets ceases to exist,
11 then so does that which it gives birth to. When the arrangement of the stars that enriches is renewed [then a person will become wealthy].
12 The reverse is also the case.
13 For the seasons are set.
14 When the season comes around,
15 the person moves to what has been prepared for him.
16 A person's movements are like the movements of "the form."
17 Compare,
Surely man walketh as a mere form (Ps. 39:7).
18Therefore, Scripture goes on to say
ach hevel yehemayun (for vanity they gather an abundance) [ibid]).
19
The meaning of
yehemayun (an abundance) (ibid.) is,
they gather wealth.
20 Yehmayun is similar to the word
hamon (abundance) in
than the abundance of many wicked (Ps. 37:16), and to the word
hamon (abundance) in
nor he that loveth abundance, with increase (Kohelet 5:9). And the completion of the verse, which reads
And knoweth not who shall gather them21 (Ps. 39:7) is the proof that
yehemayun means, they gather wealth.
22
1. Philosophers. Hebrew anshei shikkul ha-da'at.
2. Literarily, are connected.
3. The previous verse speaks of man. This verse continues this train of thought. It says that there is a season (a time) for a man to do certain things.
4. According to these philosophers, a person should do things when they have the opportunity to do them since they may never receive another opportunity. For example, if a person does not succeed in bearing children while they can, a time may come when it will be impossible for them to do so. [Ibn Ezra proceeds to suggest that the philosophers' interpretation is contradicted by the continuation which says that not everything is in man's control.]
5. This begins the list of seasons. It is not in one's hand to determine the time when he will be born. It is similarly not in his hand to determine when his life will come to a natural end.
6. He refers to God and not to man. We thus see that our verse relates to God. It teaches that God has created the world in such a way that to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
7. Literally, these twenty-eight seasons.
8. The stars in the sphere of the constellations that form the background for the movement of the moon are divided into 28 sections. Each section has a configuration of stars. These sections form the background for the path that the moon takes every month. These configurations influence what happens on earth. See S. Sela, Astrology and Biblical Exegesis in Abraham ibn Ezra's Thought (Hebrew), Bar Ilan University, Israel, 1999. p. 310, foot note 46.
9. This interpretation, like the one that ties verse 1 to the word "man," is nonsense. Ibn Ezra rejects this interpretation because he believes that all the stars influence what happens on earth, not only those that form the 28 sections through which the moon travels (R. Mordecai Sha'ul Goodman, Sefer Kohelet im Pirushei Ibn Ezra, Mosad Harav Kook, Jerusalem, 2012).
10. There is a fixed and determined time for everything that will occur under the heaven.
11. It changes.
12. If a person is born when the moon is located at the renewal of a constellation producing wealth, he will be wealthy.
13. If a person is born when the moon is located at the decline of a constellation producing wealth, his wealth will decline.
14. Ibn Ezra's interpretation of our verse.
15. When the time that is fixed by the stars comes around.
16. When the time that is fixed by the stars for something to happen comes, then what is destined to fall upon a person does so.
17. Hebrew tzelem.
18. Translated according to Ibn Ezra. Ibn Ezra appears to be referring to the following interpretation of "form" which he offers in Psalms 39:7. He there writes: "The form… refers to the arrangement of the planets with regard to the upper stars. This arrangement does not last for even one moment." Ibn Ezra explains that “man walketh as a mere form” means that man's life follows the arrangement (form) of the heavenly bodies. When they change so does his fortune. See Abraham ibn Ezra's Commentary on the First Book of Psalms. Translated and annotated by H. Norman Strickman. Boston 2009, p. 291.
19. Translated according to Ibn Ezra
20. According to Ibn Ezra yehemayun means, they gather an abundance of wealth.
21. Their wealth.
22. Ibn Ezra interprets Ps. 39:7 as follows: Surely man walketh as a mere shadow; surely for vanity they gather wealth (yehemayun); he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.