5 Also when they shall be afraid H3372 of that which is high, H1364 and fears H2849 shall be in the way, H1870 and the almond tree H8247 shall flourish, H5006 and the grasshopper H2284 shall be a burden, H5445 and desire H35 shall fail: H6565 because man H120 goeth H1980 to his long H5769 home, H1004 and the mourners H5594 go about H5437 the streets: H7784
Thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 Consider H995 ye, and call H7121 for the mourning women, H6969 that they may come; H935 and send H7971 for cunning H2450 women, that they may come: H935 And let them make haste, H4116 and take up H5375 a wailing H5092 for us, that our eyes H5869 may run down H3381 with tears, H1832 and our eyelids H6079 gush out H5140 with waters. H4325 For a voice H6963 of wailing H5092 is heard H8085 out of Zion, H6726 How are we spoiled! H7703 we are greatly H3966 confounded, H954 because we have forsaken H5800 the land, H776 because our dwellings H4908 have cast us out. H7993 Yet hear H8085 the word H1697 of the LORD, H3068 O ye women, H802 and let your ear H241 receive H3947 the word H1697 of his mouth, H6310 and teach H3925 your daughters H1323 wailing, H5092 and every one H802 her neighbour H7468 lamentation. H7015
And G2532 he cometh G2064 to G1519 the house G3624 of the ruler of the synagogue, G752 and G2532 seeth G2334 the tumult, G2351 and them that wept G2799 and G2532 wailed G214 greatly. G4183 And G2532 when he was come in, G1525 he saith G3004 unto them, G846 Why G5101 make ye this ado, G2350 and G2532 weep? G2799 the damsel G3813 is G599 not G3756 dead, G599 but G235 sleepeth. G2518
For he seeth H7200 that wise men H2450 die, H4191 likewise H3162 the fool H3684 and the brutish person H1198 perish, H6 and leave H5800 their wealth H2428 to others. H312 Their inward H7130 thought is, that their houses H1004 shall continue for ever, H5769 and their dwelling H4908 places to all H1755 generations; H1755 they call H7121 their lands H127 after their own names. H8034 Nevertheless man H120 being in honour H3366 abideth H3885 not: he is like H4911 the beasts H929 that perish. H1820 This their way H1870 is their folly: H3689 yet their posterity H310 approve H7521 their sayings. H6310 Selah. H5542 Like sheep H6629 they are laid H8371 in the grave; H7585 death H4194 shall feed H7462 on them; and the upright H3477 shall have dominion H7287 over them in the morning; H1242 and their beauty H6697 H6736 shall consume H1086 in the grave H7585 from their dwelling. H2073
And forty H705 days H3117 were fulfilled H4390 for him; for so are fulfilled H4390 the days H3117 of those which are embalmed: H2590 and the Egyptians H4714 mourned H1058 for him threescore and ten H7657 days. H3117 And when the days H3117 of his mourning H1068 were past, H5674 Joseph H3130 spake H1696 unto the house H1004 of Pharaoh, H6547 saying, H559 If now I have found H4672 grace H2580 in your eyes, H5869 speak, H1696 I pray you, in the ears H241 of Pharaoh, H6547 saying, H559 My father H1 made me swear, H7650 saying, H559 Lo, H2009 I die: H4191 in my grave H6913 which I have digged H3738 for me in the land H776 of Canaan, H3667 there shalt thou bury me. H6912 Now therefore let me go up, H5927 I pray thee, and bury H6912 my father, H1 and I will come again. H7725 And Pharaoh H6547 said, H559 Go up, H5927 and bury H6912 thy father, H1 according as he made thee swear. H7650 And Joseph H3130 went up H5927 to bury H6912 his father: H1 and with him went up H5927 all the servants H5650 of Pharaoh, H6547 the elders H2205 of his house, H1004 and all the elders H2205 of the land H776 of Egypt, H4714 And all the house H1004 of Joseph, H3130 and his brethren, H251 and his father's H1 house: H1004 only their little ones, H2945 and their flocks, H6629 and their herds, H1241 they left H5800 in the land H776 of Goshen. H1657 And there went up H5927 with him both chariots H7393 and horsemen: H6571 and it was a very H3966 great H3515 company. H4264 And they came H935 to the threshingfloor H1637 of Atad, H329 which is beyond H5676 Jordan, H3383 and there they mourned H5594 with a great H1419 and very H3966 sore H3515 lamentation: H4553 and he made H6213 a mourning H60 for his father H1 seven H7651 days. H3117
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 12
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 12 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 12
Ec 12:1-14.
1. As Ec 11:9, 10 showed what youths are to shun, so this verse shows what they are to follow.
Creator—"Remember" that thou art not thine own, but God's property; for He has created thee (Ps 100:3). Therefore serve Him with thy "all" (Mr 12:30), and with thy best days, not with the dregs of them (Pr 8:17; 22:6; Jer 3:4; La 3:27). The Hebrew is "Creators," plural, implying the plurality of persons, as in Ge 1:26; so Hebrew, "Makers" (Isa 54:5).
while … not—that is, before that (Pr 8:26) the evil days come; namely, calamity and old age, when one can no longer serve God, as in youth (Ec 11:2, 8).
no pleasure—of a sensual kind (2Sa 19:35; Ps 90:10). Pleasure in God continues to the godly old (Isa 46:4).
2. Illustrating "the evil days" (Jer 13:16). "Light," "sun," &c., express prosperity; "darkness," pain and calamity (Isa 13:10; 30:26).
clouds … after … rain—After rain sunshine (comfort) might be looked for, but only a brief glimpse of it is given, and the gloomy clouds (pains) return.
3. keepers of the house—namely, the hands and arms which protected the body, as guards do a palace (Ge 49:24; Job 4:19; 2Co 5:1), are now palsied.
strong men … bow—(Jud 16:25, 30). Like supporting pillars, the feet and knees (So 5:15); the strongest members (Ps 147:10).
grinders—the molar teeth.
cease—are idle.
those that look out of the windows—the eyes; the powers of vision, looking out from beneath the eyelids, which open and shut like the casement of a window.
4. doors—the lips, which are closely shut together as doors, by old men in eating, for, if they did not do so, the food would drop out (Job 41:14; Ps 141:3; Mic 7:5).
in the streets—that is, toward the street, "the outer doors" [Maurer and Weiss].
sound of … grinding—The teeth being almost gone, and the lips "shut" in eating, the sound of mastication is scarcely heard.
the bird—the cock. In the East all mostly rise with the dawn. But the old are glad to rise from their sleepless couch, or painful slumbers still earlier, namely, when the cock crows, before dawn (Job 7:4) [Holden]. The least noise awakens them [Weiss].
daughters of music—the organs that produce and that enjoy music; the voice and ear.
5. that which is high—The old are afraid of ascending a hill.
fears … in the way—Even on the level highway they are full of fears of falling, &c.
almond … flourish—In the East the hair is mostly dark. The white head of the old among the dark-haired is like an almond tree, with its white blossoms, among the dark trees around [Holden]. The almond tree flowers on a leafless stock in winter (answering to old age, in which all the powers are dormant), while the other trees are flowerless. Gesenius takes the Hebrew for flourishes from a different root, casts off; when the old man loses his gray hairs, as the almond tree casts its white flowers.
grasshoppers—the dry, shrivelled, old man, his backbone sticking out, his knees projecting forwards, his arms backwards, his head down, and the apophyses enlarged, is like that insect. Hence arose the fable, that Tithonus in very old age was changed into a grasshopper [Parkhurst]. "The locust raises itself to fly"; the old man about to leave the body is like a locust when it is assuming its winged form, and is about to fly [Maurer].
a burden—namely, to himself.
desire shall fail—satisfaction shall be abolished. For "desire," Vulgate has "the caper tree," provocative of lust; not so well.
long home—(Job 16:22; 17:13).
mourners—(Jer 9:17-20), hired for the occasion (Mt 9:23).
6. A double image to represent death, as in Ec 12:1-5, old age: (1) A lamp of frail material, but gilded over, often in the East hung from roofs by a cord of silk and silver interwoven; as the lamp is dashed down and broken, when the cord breaks, so man at death; the golden bowl of the lamp answers to the skull, which, from the vital preciousness of its contents, may be called "golden"; "the silver cord" is the spinal marrow, which is white and precious as silver, and is attached to the brain. (2) A fountain, from which water is drawn by a pitcher let down by a rope wound round a wheel; as, when the pitcher and wheel are broken, water can no more be drawn, so life ceases when the vital energies are gone. The "fountain" may mean the right ventricle of the heart; the "cistern," the left; the pitcher, the veins; the wheel, the aorta, or great artery [Smith]. The circulation of the blood, whether known or not to Solomon, seems to be implied in the language put by the Holy Ghost into his mouth. This gloomy picture of old age applies to those who have not "remembered their Creator in youth." They have none of the consolations of God, which they might have obtained in youth; it is now too late to seek them. A good old age is a blessing to the godly (Ge 15:15; Job 5:26; Pr 16:31; 20:29).
7. dust—the dust-formed body.
spirit—surviving the body; implying its immortality (Ec 3:11).
8-12. A summary of the first part.
Vanity, &c.—Resumption of the sentiment with which the book began (Ec 1:2; 1Jo 2:17).
9. gave good heed—literally, "he weighed." The "teaching the people" seems to have been oral; the "proverbs," in writing. There must then have been auditories assembled to hear the inspired wisdom of the Preacher. See the explanation of Koheleth in the Introduction, and chapter 1 (1Ki 4:34).
that which is written, &c.—rather, (he sought) "to write down uprightly (or, 'aright') words of truth" [Holden and Weiss]. "Acceptable" means an agreeable style; "uprightly … truth," correct sentiment.
11. goads—piercing deeply into the mind (Ac 2:37; 9:5; Heb 4:12); evidently inspired words, as the end of the verse proves.
fastened—rather, on account of the Hebrew genders, (The words) "are fastened (in the memory) like nails" [Holden].
masters of assemblies—rather, "the masters of collections (that is, collectors of inspired sayings, Pr 25:1), are given ('have published them as proceeding' [Holden]) from one Shepherd," namely, the Spirit of Jesus Christ [Weiss], (Eze 37:24). However, the mention of "goads" favors the English Version, "masters of assemblies," namely, under-shepherds, inspired by the Chief Shepherd (1Pe 5:2-4). Schmidt translates, "The masters of assemblies are fastened (made sure) as nails," so Isa 22:23.
12. (See on Ec 1:18).
many books—of mere human composition, opposed to "by these"; these inspired writings are the only sure source of "admonition."
(over much) study—in mere human books, wearies the body, without solidly profiting the soul.
13. The grand inference of the whole book.
Fear God—The antidote to following creature idols, and "vanities," whether self-righteousness (Ec 7:16, 18), or wicked oppression and other evils (Ec 8:12, 13), or mad mirth (Ec 2:2; 7:2-5), or self-mortifying avarice (Ec 8:13, 17), or youth spent without God (Ec 11:9; 12:1).
this is the whole duty of man—literally, "this is the whole man," the full ideal of man, as originally contemplated, realized wholly by Jesus Christ alone; and, through Him, by saints now in part, hereafter perfectly (1Jo 3:22-24; Re 22:14).
14. For God shall bring every work into judgment—The future judgment is the test of what is "vanity," what solid, as regards the chief good, the grand subject of the book.