Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Pengkhotbah 1:16

In the first response, Elihu explains his previous silence. He had thought that the foundations of knowledge were sense-perception and experience and so he had hidden amongst the baggage (1Samuel 10:22), away from the elderly debaters. They had been studying the subject for years, becoming familiar with wisdom and knowledge (Ecclesiastes 1:16) with the passage of time.⁷If the source of true knowledge is sense-perception and experience, then its acquisition is just a matter of making sufficient observations over a long enough period of time. Accordingly, the older you are the more true knowledge you should have acquired.

THIS IS THAT THE ETERNAL SPOKE, SAYING: ‘THROUGH THEM THAT ARE NIGH UNTO ME I WILL BE SANCTIFIED.’ “Where had He spoken this? In the verse, and [the Tent] shall be sanctified ‘bichvodi’ (by My Glory).⁶⁴Exodus 29:43. Do not read the word as bichvodi (by My Glory) but bimechubodai (through My honored ones). Moses said to Aaron: ‘My brother Aaron, I knew that this Sanctuary was to be hallowed by those who are beloved of the Holy One, blessed be He, and I thought that it would be either through me or through you. Now I see that your sons were holier⁶⁵In Rashi: “greater.” than I and you.’” Thus the language of Rashi, based on the interpretation of our Rabbis. But if so, the verse, and [the Tent] shall be sanctified ‘bichvodi’⁶⁴Exodus 29:43. means “that it will become holy in the eyes of all the people through my honored ones, and they will know that I dwell therein.”
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra also wrote: “This is that the Eternal spoke, saying, means: G-d had already told me that He would show His sanctity through those that were near to Him. This is similar in meaning to the verse, You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.⁶⁶Amos 3:2. And when I will show them this holiness of Mine, then I will become glorified before all the people and they will fear Me.” But if this is so, then this is a statement not written [in the text], that G-d informed Moses of His ways and that such is the nature of His attribute!
In my opinion there is no need for all this. For by way of the plain meaning of Scripture, the expression “G-d spoke” refers to His decrees, His thought, and the manner of His ways, and the term “speaking” is used with reference to all these [in humans]. Thus: I spoke with my own heart,⁶⁷Ecclesiastes 1:16. means “I reflected on this thought.” And this is ‘hadavar’ that Joshua did circumcise,⁶⁸Joshua 5:4. means “this is ‘the cause’ why Joshua did so.” ‘Al d’var’ (because of) the money.⁶⁹Genesis 43:18. Similarly, And let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the Eternal hath spoken,⁷⁰Ibid., 24:51. means “as He hath decreed.” Likewise: In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite built Jericho; with his firstborn he laid the foundation thereof, and with his youngest son Segub he set up the gates thereof; according to the word of the Eternal, which He spoke by the hand of Joshua the son of Nun.⁷¹I Kings 16:34. Here too, it does not mean “which G-d spoke,” since we nowhere find that He did say so, but “which He decreed.” Cf. the words of Joshua (Joshua 6:26). Thus Moses said here: “This incident is that which G-d decreed, ‘saying to His heart': Through them that are nigh unto Me I will be sanctified so that they should not break forth into My sanctity; and before all the people I will be glorified, so that they treat My dwelling-place with respect.”

ראה ראיתי, “I have indeed seen, etc.” In this verse we encounter three references to G’d’s awareness of what had been happening to the Jewish people. Each awareness mentioned is more specific and more encompassing than the previous one. G’d begins by speaking about what He has seen; He continues describing what He has heard; finally He describes the result of what He has seen and heard as “I have become intimately aware,” ידעתי את מכאוביו, “I have become intimately familiar with its pains.” According to what we read here the sensation of seeing something is not as powerful a tool to awaken responses as is hearing something. Only a combination of seeing and hearing is a truly powerful tool to arouse compassion. It is a fact that when one observes something without hearing any sound it is difficult to truly understand what the picture means. Similarly, if one hears sounds without seeing what causes these sounds, one also cannot form a coherent idea of what one has heard. One needs to both hear and see something in order to be able to evaluate these phenomena. The Bible uses the expression ראיה or שמיעה on different occasions as substitutes for the word הבנה, understanding. For example, we are told that a people whose language we do not “hear” is one that we do not understand (Deut. 28,49). The same is true of “seeing” unaccompanied by “hearing.” This is what Solomon said in Kohelet 1,16לבי ראה , “my heart has seen.” If someone has understood something only with his heart this is not comparable to someone’s understanding which was based on seeing and hearing it first.