5 Also of that which is high they are afraid, And of the low places in the way, And the almond-tree is despised, And the grasshopper is become a burden, And want is increased, For man is going unto his home age-during, And the mourners have gone round through the street.
If I wait -- Sheol `is' my house, In darkness I have spread out my couch.
For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, And `to' the house appointed for all living.
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come, And they hasten, and lift up for us a wailing. And run down our eyes do tears, And from our eyelids do waters flow. For -- a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: How have we been spoiled! We have been greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because they have cast down our tabernacles. But hear, ye women, a word of Jehovah, And your ear receiveth a word of His mouth, And teach ye your daughters wailing, and each her neighbour lamentation.
A crown of beauty `are' grey hairs, In the way of righteousness it is found.
All that thy hand findeth to do, with thy power do, for there is no work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom in Sheol whither thou art going.
and he cometh to the house of the chief of the synagogue, and seeth a tumult, much weeping and wailing; and having gone in he saith to them, `Why do ye make a tumult, and weep? the child did not die, but doth sleep;
And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `What art thou seeing, Jeremiah?' And I say, `A rod of an almond tree I am seeing.'
and he saith, `My son doth not go down with you, for his brother `is' dead, and he by himself is left; when mischief hath met him in the way in which ye go, then ye have brought down my grey hairs in sorrow to sheol.'
The beauty of young men is their strength, And the honour of old men is grey hairs.
For he seeth wise men die, Together the foolish and brutish perish, And have left to others their wealth. Their heart `is': Their houses `are' to the age, Their tabernacles to all generations. They proclaimed their names over the lands. And man in honour doth not remain, He hath been like the beasts, they have been cut off. This their way `is' folly for them, And their posterity with their sayings are pleased. Selah. As sheep for Sheol they have set themselves, Death doth afflict them, And the upright rule over them in the morning, And their form `is' for consumption. Sheol `is' a dwelling for him.
Both the gray-headed And the very aged `are' among us -- Greater than thy father `in' days.
and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days. And the days of his weeping pass away, and Joseph speaketh unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, `If, I pray you, I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father caused me to swear, saying, Lo, I am dying; in my burying-place which I have prepared for myself in the land of Canaan, there dost thou bury me; and now, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and return;' and Pharaoh saith, `Go up and bury thy father, as he caused thee to swear.' And Joseph goeth up to bury his father, and go up with him do all the servants of Pharaoh, elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and the house of his father; only their infants, and their flock, and their herd, have they left in the land of Goshen; and there go up with him both chariot and horsemen, and the camp is very great. And they come unto the threshing-floor of Atad, which `is' beyond the Jordan, and they lament there, a lamentation great and very grievous; and he maketh for his father a mourning seven days,
then it hath come to pass when he seeth that the youth is not, that he hath died, and thy servants have brought down the grey hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to sheol;
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.