Ecclesiastes 12
The division into chapters is unfortunate here, as this
verse is
closely connected with ver. 10 of the
preceding chapter.
1 “Remember now thy
Creator in the days of thy youth,” - Set God always
before thine eyes from thy earliest days; think who
made thee, and what thou
wast made for, not for self-pleasing only, not to gratify thy passions
which now
are
strong;
but that thou mightest
use thy powers and energy in accordance with
the laws
of thy being as a creature of God’s hands, responsible to Him for the
use of the
faculties and capacities with which he has endowed thee. The
word for “Creator” is the participle of the Verb barn, which is that
used in
Genesis 1:1, etc., describing God’s work. It is plural in
form, like
Elohim, the plural being that of majesty or excellence (comp are Job 35:10;
Isaiah 54:5). It is used here as an appellation of God,
because
the young
have to bethink themselves that all they are and all they have
COME FROM GOD! Such plurals are supposed by some to be
divinely
intended to adumbrate the doctrine of the Holy Trinity — a dark
saying
containing a mystery which future revelation should explain – “while
the
evil days come not, i.e. before they come. - αἱ ἡμέραι
τῆς κακίας
- ai haemerai
taes kakias - days of evil; -
Septuagint - (Matthew 6:34);
tempus afflictionis (Vulgate). The phrase refers to the grievances and
inconveniences of old age, which are further and graphically described
in
the following verses, though
whether the expressions therein used regard
literal anatomical facts, or are allegorical representations of the gradual
decay of the faculties,
has been greatly disputed. Probably both opinions
contain a partial truth, as will be noted in our Exposition. Ginsburg considers
that the allusion is not to the ills that in the course of time all flesh is
heir to,
but
rather to that premature decay and suffering occasioned
by the
unrestrained gratification of sensual passions, such as
(‘De Senect.,’ 9:29), “Libidinosa et intemperans adulescentia effetum
corpus
tradit senectuti” – but there is
nothing specially
in the text to support this
view, and it is most reasonable to see here generally
a figurative description
of decay, whatever may be the cause - “nor the
years draw nigh, when
thou shalt say, I have no
pleasure in them.” Ere the time comes when
a man shall say, “I have no pleasure in life.” Thus the aged Barzillai asks,”
Can I discern between good and evil? Can thy servant taste what I
eat,
or what I drink? Can I
hear any more the voice of singing-men and
singing-women?” (II Samuel 19:35).
Remember thy Creator (v. 1)
Ø
That man has a Creator. It would certainly
be strange if he
had not, seeing that
all things else have (Colossians
1:15-16).
(O how jealous is
they deny God’s claim on His – they would be the first to run to
the courts for protection as the Constitution states, but all the while,
promoting all kinds of behaviors that fly in the face of the Creator,
and refuse to Him what He has so graciously provided for them,
protection of their own ideas and works!!!!!!!!!!!!! - this is just one
of myriads of examples in the world today of foolish and hypocritical
thinking of thoughtless liberalism and/or so called
progressivism – CY –
2013). And that Creator is not man himself, since
he is
at best
a dependent creature (Genesis 3:19); or an
inferior divinity,
since there is none such
(II Samuel 7:22; Isaiah 44:6); but
o
GOD, the one living and true God (I Thessalonians 1:9), the
Almighty Maker of the universe (Genesis 1:1; Exodus
20:11;
Psalm 124:8; Isaiah 40:28;
Jeremiah 10:16), and therefore of
man (Genesis 1:26; Deuteronomy 4:32; Psalm 100:3; Acts
17:25-26, 28); and
o
JESUS CHRIST, the Image of the invisible God (II Corinthians
4:4; Colossians 1:15) and
the unbeginning Word of God (John 1:1),
by whom all
things were made (John 1:3), whether they be things
in heaven or on earth, visible or invisible (Colossians 1:16), and
therefore FROM WHOM MAN DERIVES HIS BEING!
Ø
That man originally knows God. That even in his
fallen condition he is
not entirely destitute of a
knowledge of God — not, perhaps, a knowledge
clear and full, but still real
and true — appears to be the teaching of
Scripture (Romans 1:21, 28) as
well as of experience, no man ever
requiring to argue
himself into a belief in God’s existence, though
many try to reason themselves out
of it.
Ø
That man may forget God. Moses was afraid lest
of so doing (Deuteronomy 6:12), in which case they would be no better
than the heathen
peoples around them (It is to this
that our culture is
falling today! –
CY – 2013 - Psalm 9:17). Practically this is
the world’s sin today (I John
4:8), and the sin against which Christians
have to guard (Hebrews 3:12). It is specially the sin against which
young persons should be warned,
that of allowing the thought of God to
slip out of their minds.
Ø
By thinking of His Person. A characteristic
of the wicked is that
God is not in all
their thoughts (Psalm 10:4); whereas a good
man remembers God upon his bed, and meditates
upon him in
the night watches
(Psalm 63:6).
Ø
By reflecting on His character. The Creator being
neither an
abstract conception nor an
inanimate force, but a living and
personal
Intelligence, He is also possessed of
attributes,
the sum of which compose
His character or name; and one who
would properly remember
Him must frequently permit his
thoughts to
dwell on these (Psalm 20:7), as David (Psalm
42:8) and Asaph (Psalm 77:3) did — on His
holiness, His
lovingkindness, His faithfulness, His truth, His wisdom,
His justice, ALL
OF WHICH HAVE BEEN REVEALED
IN JESUS CHRIST and so made much more
easily the subjects
of study.
Ø
By acknowledging His goodness. God’s bounties in providence and
mercies in grace must be equally
recalled and thankfully retained before
the mind, as David aptly said to
himself (Psalm 103:1-2 – “Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His
benefits.”) and protested
before God (Psalm 42:6). One who simply accepts God’s daily
benefits as the lower animals do, for consumption but not for
consideration, is guilty of forgetting God; who knows about,
but never pauses to
thank God for HIS UNSPEAKABLE
GRACE IN CHRIST, comes far short of what
is meant by
remembering his Creator.
Ø
By meditating in His Word. Those who lovingly
remember God
will not forget that He has
written to them in the Scriptures words
of grace and truth, and
will, like the good man of the Hebrew Psalter
(1:2), meditate therein day and night (See also Psalm 119:97, 99;
104:33-34). Where God’s Law, with its wise and holy precepts, is
counted as a
strange thing (Hosea 8:12), no further proof is
needed that God
himself is forgotten. (Let us sit up and take
heed! – CY – 2013). The surest evidence
that“no man
remembered the poor wise man” was found in this, that
his wisdom was despised, and
his words were not heard (ch.9:16).
Ø
By keeping His commandments. As Joseph’s
recollection of
Jehovah helped him to
resist temptation and avoid sin (Genesis 39:9),
so a sincere and loving remembrance of God will show itself
in
doing those things that are pleasing in His sight. When Christ
asked His disciples to remember Him, he meant them to do so,
not simply by thinking of
and speaking
about Him, or even by
celebrating in His honor a
memorial feast (Luke 22:19), but also
by doing
whatsoever He had commanded them (John
15:14).
Ø
Not then only. The remembrance of God is a duty which extends
THROUGHOUT
LIFE! No age can be exempted from it, as none is
unsuitable for it. The notion that religion, while proper enough for
childhood or youth, is neither
demanded by nor becoming in manhood,
IS A
DELUSION! The heart-worship and life-service of God and
Jesus Christ are incumbent upon,
needed by, and honorable to, old
as well as young.
Ø
But then firstly. The reasons will be furnished below; meantime it may
be noticed that Scripture
writers may be said to be unanimous in
recommending early piety; in teaching that youth, above all other
periods, IS
THE SEASON FOR SEEKING GOD!
o
Moses (Deuteronomy
31:13),
o
David (Psalm 34:11),
o
Solomon (Proverbs
3:1-2), and
o
Jesus (Matthew 6:33)
combine to set forth the
advantage as well as duty of giving one’s
early years to God and religion.
Ø Why remember
one’s Creator?
o
Because HE IS INFINITELY WORTHY of being
remembered.
o
Because He is entitled to be remembered on the
simple ground of
being Creator.
o
Because WITHOUT THIS
REMEMBRANCE
OF HIM, happiness is impossible here and
salvation hereafter.
o
Because the human heart is prone to forget Him,
and remembers
only His creatures andHis comforts.
Ø Why remember
Him in the way above specified?
o
Because any
remembrance short of that is incomplete,
insincere, formal,
external, and therefore
essentially
worthless.
o
Because the above is the sort of remembrance that is
demanded by
Scripture.
o
Because only such remembrance is worthy of being
presented to
God.
Ø Why remember
Him in youth?
o
Because youth, as the first portion of a man’s life,
IS DUE TO GOD!
o
Because youth, as the
formative period of life, is the most
important time
for acquiring religious habits
(Proverbs
22:6). (Being within 6 weeks of turning 70, I can
still
quote passages which I
learned in my youth – within the
last five years I have tried
to memorize Exodus 34:6-7,
but have not been able to
retain memorization of it! – CY –
2013)
o
Because youth, as the
happiest season in life, is the time in
which God can
most easily be remembered. Then
“the evil days” of”
§
business and
worry,
§
temptation and
sin,
§
affliction and
sorrow,
§
disease and
decay,
have not come; and the
soul, besides being comparatively
disengaged, is also in a mood for yielding to devout and
holy
impressions.
o
Because if God is
not remembered in youth He is apt to be
forgotten as we
age. (This mistake in life will not happen
if one would remember the 1st and 3rd Commandments
once a week [preferably every day]) – CY – 2013)
· LESSONS:
1. The real essence of religion — fellowship with God.
2. The dignity of man — that he is capable of such fellowship.
3. The responsibility of youth — for shaping all one’s
after-life.
4. The evanescence of earthly joys — all doomed to be eclipsed
by
the darkness of
evil days.
The Vanity and Glory of Youth (v. 1 with ch. 11:10b)
·
THE VANITY OF YOUTH.
There is an aspect in which it is true that
“childhood and youth are vanity.”
Ø
Its thoughts are very
simple; they are upon the surface, and there is no
depth of truth or wisdom in them.
Ø
Its judgments are very
mixed with error; it has to unlearn a great deal of
what it learns; the young will have to find, later on, that the
men of whom
and the things of which they have made up their minds are
different from
what they think now; their
after-days will bring with them much
disillusion, if not serious disappointment. Much that they see is
magnified to their view, and the colors, as they see them today, will
look different tomorrow.
Ø
Itself is constantly disappearing. Few things are more constantly
disturbing, if not distressing, us than the
rapid passage of childhood and
youth. Sometimes the
young life is taken away altogether — the flower is
nipped in the bud. But where life is spared, the peculiar beauty
of
childhood or of youth — its simplicity, its trustfulness, its docility,
its
eagerness, its ardor of affection, its unreserved delights, this is
perpetually
passing and “fading into the light of common day.” Yet is there —
and
it is the truer and deeper thought —
·
THE GLORY OF YOUTH.
Whatever may be said of youth in the way
of qualification, there is one thing that may be said for it
which greatly
exalts it — it may be wise with a profound and heavenly
wisdom, for it
may be spent in the fear and in the love of God (see Proverbs 1:7;
Job 28:28). To “remember
its Creator,” and to order its life
according
to that remembrance, is the height and the depth of human
wisdom.
Knowledge, learning, cunning,
brilliancy, genius itself, is not so desirable
nor so admirable a thing as is this holy and heavenly wisdom. To know
God (Jeremiah 9:24), to
reverence Him in the innermost soul, to love
Him with all the heart (Mark
12:33), to be obedient to His
commandments, to be patiently and cheerfully submissive to His will, to
be
honoring and serving Him continually, to be attaining to His own
likeness in
spirit and character, — surely this is the glory of the highest created
intelligence of the noblest rank in heaven, and surely this is the glory of our
human nature in all its ranks. It is the glory of our manhood, and it is
the
glory of youth. Far more than any order of strength (Proverbs 20:29),
or than any kind of beauty (II Samuel 14:25), or than any
measure of
acquisition, does the abiding
and practical remembrance of its Creator and
Savior glorify our youth. That
makes it pure, worthy, admirable, inherently
excellent, full of hope and promise. We may add, for it belongs to
the text
as well as to the subject:
·
THE WISDOM OF YOUTH. “While the evil days come not,” etc.
Let the young live before God
while they are young; for:
Ø
It is a poor and sorry
thing to offer to God, to a Divine Redeemer, the
dregs of our days. To Him who gave Himself for us it becomes us to
give, not our wasted and worn-out, but our best, our freest and
freshest,
our purest and strongest self.
Ø
To leave the consecration of ourselves to Christ to the
time:
o
when faculty has faded,
o
when the power of discernment and appreciation has
declined,
o
when sensitiveness has
been dulled with long disuse,
o
when the heavenly
voices fall with less charm and interest on
the ear of the soul,
this is a most dangerous thing. To hearken and
to heed, to recognize
and to obey, in the days of youth is the one wise thing.
The Vanity and Glory of Youth (v. 1 with
latter part of ch. 11:10)
“childhood and
youth are vanity.”
Ø
Its thoughts are
very simple; they are upon the
surface, and there is no
depth of truth or wisdom in
them.
Ø
Its judgments
are very mixed with error; it has to
unlearn a great deal
of what it learns; the
young will have to find, later on, that the men of
whom and the things of
which they have made up their minds are different
from what they think now;
their after-days will bring with them much
disillusion, if not serious
disappointment. Much that they see is magnified
to their view, and the
colors, as they see them today, will look otherwise
tomorrow.
Ø
Itself is constantly
disappearing. Few things are more constantly
disturbing, if not distressing,
us than the rapid passage of childhood
and youth. (I am thankful that when I was young, I knew it and was
taught this verse “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy
youth while the evil days come not nor the
years draw nigh,
when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” Now, I
have, through God’s mercies, been retired for thirteen years and
for all practical purposes, the way time flies, am in a second childhood –
CY – 2013) Sometimes the young life is taken away altogether — the
flower is nipped in the bud. But
where life is spared, the peculiar beauty
of childhood or of youth — its
simplicity, its trustfulness, its docility, its
eagerness, its ardor of
affection, its unreserved delights, this is perpetually
passing and “fading into the
light of common day.” Yet is there — and
it is the truer and deeper
thought:
of qualification, there is one
thing that may be said for it which greatly
exalts it — it may be wise with a
profound and heavenly wisdom, for it
may be spent in
the fear and in the love of God (see
Proverbs 1:7;
Job 28:28). To “remember its Creator,” and to order its life
according
to that remembrance, is THE
HEIGHT AND DEPTH OF HUMAN
WISDOM! Knowledge,
learning, cunning, brilliancy, genius itself, is not so
desirable nor so
admirable a thing as is this holy and heavenly wisdom.
Ø
To know God (Jeremiah 9:23-24),
Ø
to reverence Him
in the innermost soul,
Ø
to love Him with
all the heart (Mark 12:33),
Ø
to be obedient
to His commandments,
Ø
to be patiently
and cheerfully submissive to His will,
Ø
to be honoring
and serving Him continually,
Ø
to be attaining
to His own likeness in spirit and character,
surely this is the glory of the
highest created intelligence of the noblest rank
in heaven, and surely this is
the glory of our human nature in all its ranks.
It is the glory
of our manhood, and it is the glory of youth. Far more
than any order of strength
(Proverbs 20:29), or than any kind of beauty
(II Samuel 14:25), or than any
measure of acquisition, does the abiding
and practical remembrance of its
Creator and Savior glorify our youth.
That makes it
pure, worthy, admirable, inherently excellent, full
of hope and
promise. We may add, for it belongs to the text
as well as to
the subject:
Let the young live
before God while THEY ARE YOUNG, for:
Ø
It is a poor and
sorry thing to offer TO GOD, OUR
DIVINE REDEEMER, the dregs of our days. To Him
who gave himself for us it
becomes us to give, not our wasted
and worn-out, but our best, our freest and freshest, our
purest and
strongest self.
Ø
To leave the
consecration of ourselves to Christ to the time
when faculty has faded,
when the power of discernment and
appreciation has
declined, when sensitiveness has been dulled
with long disuse, when
the heavenly voices fall with less charm
and interest on the ear
of the soul, — THIS IS A
MOST
PERILOUS THING! To hearken and
to heed, to recognize
and to obey, in
the days of youth is THE ONE WISE
THING!
Youthful
Religion (v. 1)
The Preacher spoke from a heart taught by long experience.
Himself
advanced in years, having enjoyed and suffered much, having long
observed the growth of human character under diverse principles and
influences, he was able to offer to the young counsel based upon
extensive
knowledge and deliberate reflection.
·
THE DESCRIPTION HERE GIVEN OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE.
Amplifying this terse and impressive
language, we may hear the wise man
addressing the youthful, and saying, “Remember that thou hast a Creator;
that thy Creator ever remembers thee; that He not only
deserves, but
desires, thy remembrance; that:
Ø
His character should be remembered with reverence,
Ø
His bounty with gratitude,
Ø
His Law with obedience and submission,
Ø
His love with faith and gladness,
Ø
His promises with prayerfulness and with hope.”
·
THE PERIOD HERE RECOMMENDED FOR THE RELIGIOUS
LIFE. Religion is indeed adapted
to the whole of our existence; and what
applies to every age of life, applies with especial force to
childhood and
youth.
Ø
Youth has peculiar
susceptibilities of feeling, and religion appeals to
them.
Ø
Youth has especially
opportunities of acquiring knowledge and
undergoing discipline, and religion helps us to use them.
Ø
Youth has abounding
energy, and religion assists us to employ this
energy aright.
Ø
Youth is a time of
great and varied temptations, and religion will enable
us to overcome them.
Ø
Youth is introductory
to manhood and to age; religion helps us so to live
when young that we may be
the better fitted for the subsequent stages of
life’s journey.
Ø
Youth may be all of
life appointed for us; in that case, religion can
hallow those few years which constitute the earthly training
and probation.
·
THE SPECIAL REASONS FOR ATTENDING TO THIS ADMONITION.
Ø
It is a tendency of human nature to be so absorbed in
what is present
to the senses as to overlook unseen and eternal realities.
Ø
Our own age is
peculiarly tempted to forget God, by reason of the
prevalence of atheism, agnosticism, and positivism (and by
worldliness living in a secular culture - CY - 2021)
Ø
Youth is especially in
danger of forgetting the Divine Creator, because
the opening intelligence is naturally interested in the world
of outward
things, which presents so much to excite attention and to engage
inquiry.
·
THE ADDITIONAL FORCE WHICH CHRISTIANITY IMPARTS
TO THIS ADMONITION. The figure of our blessed Lord Himself appears
to the imagination, and we seem to hear His winning but
authoritative voice
pleading with the young, and employing the very language of the
text. He
who said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me”
(Matthew 19:14).
He who, beholding the young inquirer, loved him, draws
near to every
youthful nature, and commands and beseeches that
reverent attention,
that willing faith, that
affectionate
attachment, which shall lead to a life
of piety, and to an immortality of
blessedness.
From this v.2 onwards there is great diversity of
interpretation. While some
think that the approach of death is represented under the
image of a storm,
others deem that what is here intended is first the
debility of old age, and
then, at v. 6, death itself, which two stages are described
under various
metaphors and figures.
2 “While the sun, or
the light, or the moon, or the
stars, be not darkened,” -
Under these figures the evil days spoken of above, the
advent and infirmities
of old age, are represented. It would be endless and
unprofitable to recount
the explanations of ‘the terms used in the following
verses. Every
commentator, ancient and modern, has exerted his ingenuity
to force the
poet’s language into the shape which he has imagined for
it. But, as we
said above, there are at least two distinct lines of
interpretation which have
found favor with the great majority of expositors. One of
these regards the
imagery as applicable to the effects of a heavy storm upon
a house and its
inmates, explaining every detail under this notion; the
other regards the
terms used as referring to the man himself, adumbrating the
gradual decay
of old age, the various members and powers that are
affected being
represented under tropes and images, Both interpretations
are beset with
difficulties, and are only with some straining and
accommodation forced
into a consistent harmony. But the latter seems to us to
present fewer
perplexities than the other, and we have adopted it here.
At the same time,
we think it expedient to give the other view, together with
our own, as
there is much to be said in its favor, and many great
writers have declared
themselves on its side. Wright supposes (and makes a good
case for his
theory) that Koheleth is
referring especially to the closing days of winter,
which in
are noted even now as the most sickly and dangerous of all
the year. The
approach of this period casts a dark shadow upon all the
inhabitants of the
house. The theory is partly borne out by the text, but,
like the other
solutions, does not wholly correspond to the wording. In
the present verse
the approach of old age, the winter of life, is likened to
the rainy season in
darkened by the withdrawal of that luminary, and neither
moon nor stars
appear - “nor the clouds return after the rain:” - i.e. one storm succeeds
another (Job 37:6). The imagery is intended to represent the abiding
and increasing inconveniences of old age. Not like the spring-time of life
and season, when sunshine and storm are interchanged,
winter and old age
have no vicissitudes, one dreary character invests them
both. The
darkening of the light is a common metaphor for sorrow and sadness
(see
Job 30:26; 33:28, 30; Ezekiel 32:7-8; Amos 8:9). The
symbolism of the details
in this verse has been thus elucidated: The diurnal lights
appertain to the soul,
the nocturnal to the body; the sun is the Divine light
which illumines the soul,
the moon and the stars are the body and the senses which
receive their radiance
from the soul’s effulgence. These are all affected by the
invasion of old age.
Some consider that this verse depicts the changes which
pass over the higher
and more spiritual part of man’s nature, while the
succeeding imagery refers
to the breaking up of the corporeal frame. We should say
rather that v. 2
conveys a general impression, and that this is then
elaborated into particulars.
According to the interpretation mentioned above, a
gathering tempest is here
depicted, the details of which are worked out in the
following verses.
The gradual decay which creeps over the body, the
habitation of
the spirit, is depicted under the figure of a house and its
parts (compare
Job 4:19; II Corinthians 5:1; II Peter 1:13-14).
3 “In the day when the
keepers of the house shall tremble,” - i.e. this is
the case when, etc. The hands and arms are
appropriately called the keepers
of
the house, for with them (as Volek quotes from
Galen) man ὁπλίζει καὶ
φρουρεῖ τὸ σῶμα παντοίως – hoplizei kai phrourei to soma pantoios -
arms and guards his
body in various ways). The shaking and
palsy of old men’s limbs are thus graphically described.
This would be one
of the first symptoms discerned by an observer. Taking the
alternative
interpretation, we should see in these “keepers” the menservants who keep
watch before the house (In the last half of my seventh
decade upon this
earth, I am beginning to see signs of this in myself – CY –
2013). These
menials are appalled by the approach of the tempest, and
quake – “and
the strong men shall bow themselves,” - The “men
of power” are the
legs, or the bones generally, which in the young are “as pillars of marble”
(Song of Solomon 5:15), but in the old become feeble,
slack, and bent.
(When I first started noticing this (at 54 years of age) I
went to the doctor
and was later diagnosed with a peripheral neuropathy – at
first I was depressed
but then I concluded that I would have rather had God in my
life for 54
years as it was than an
eternity without Him! Two verses of the Bible
really helped me during this period. [1] “Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need
of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye
might receive
the promise.” - Hebrews 10:35-36 – and [2] The Lord “delighteth
not
in the strength of the horse: He taketh not
pleasure in the legs of a
man. The Lord taketh pleasure in
them that fear Him, in those
that hope in His mercy.” -
Psalm 147:10-11 – I give this example
because of the issue of the legs – CY – 2013 – “and the
grinders
cease because they are few,” - The word for “grinders” is feminine (αἱ ἀλήθουσαι
– hai alaethousai - the grinding-women -Septuagint),
doubtless
because grinding was especially women’s business (Matthew
24:41). By them
are meant the teeth, as we speak of molars, though,
of course, the term
here applies to all the teeth; so the Greeks used the term μύλαι f– mulai –
for the denies molares.
These, becoming few in number and no longer
continuous, cannot perform their office – “an those that
look out of the
windows be darkened.”
These are the eyes that look
forth from the cavities in which they are sunk; they are
regarded as the
windows of the bodily structure, the eyelashes or eyelids
possibly being
deemed the lattice of the same. The dimness in the eye and
the failing in the
powers of sight are well expressed by the terms of the
text. It is noted of
Moses, as something altogether abnormal, that at a hundred
and twenty
years of age “his eye
was not dim, nor his natural force abated”
(Deuteronomy 34:7).
4 “And the doors shall be
shut in the streets,” - Hitherto the symbolism
has been comparatively easy to interpret. With this verse
inextricable
difficulties seem to arise. Of course, in one view it is
natural that in the
bitter weather, or on the appearance of a tempest, the
doors towards the
street should be closed, and none should leave the house.
But what are
meant by the doors in the metaphorical house, the body of
the aged man?
Jewish expositors understood them to be the pores, or
excretive apertures
of the body, which lose their activity in old age — which
seems an
unseemly allusion. More natural is it to see in the word,
with its dual form,
the mouth closed by the two lips. So a psalmist speaks of
the mouth, the
door of the lips (Psalm 141:3; compare Micah 7:5). As it is
only the external
door of a house that could be employed in this metaphor,
the addition, “in [or,
‘towards’] the
streets,” is accounted for – “when the sound of the grinding is
low,” – The sound of
the grinding or the mill is weak and low when the teeth have
ceased to masticate, and, instead of the crunching and
grinding of food,
nothing is heard but a munching and sucking. The falling in
of the mouth
over the toothless gums is represented as the closing of
doors. To take the
words in their literal sense is to make the author repeat
himself, reiterating
what he is supposed to have said before in speaking of the
grinding-women
— all labor is lessened or stopped. The sound of grinding
betokened
cheerfulness and prosperity; its cessation would be an
ominous sign (see
Jeremiah 25:10; Revelation 18:22) “and he shall rise
up at the voice of the bird,” - This is a very
difficult sentence, and has been
very variously explained. It is usually taken to mean that
the old man sleeps
lightly and awakes (for “rises up” may mean no more than
that) at the
chirp of a bird. The objection to this interpretation is
that it destroys the
figurative character of the description, introducing
suddenly the personal
subject. Of course, it has another signification in the
picture of the terror
stricken household; and many interpreters who thus explain
the allegory
translate the clause differently. Thus Ginsburg
renders, “The swallow rises
to shriek,” referring to the habits of that bird in stormy
weather. But there
are grammatical objections to this translation, as there
are against another
suggestion, “The bird (of ill omen) raises its voice.” We
need not do more
than refer to the mystical elucidation which detects here a
reference to the
resurrection, the voice of the bird being the archangel’s
trumpet which calls
the dead from their graves. Retaining the allegory, we must
translate the
clause, “He [or, ‘it,’ i.e. the voice] rises to the
bird’s voice;” the old man’s
voice becomes a “childish treble,” like the piping of a
little bird. The
relaxation of the muscles of the larynx and other vocal
organs occasions a
great difference in the pitch or power of tone (compare
what Hezekiah
says, Isaiah 38:14, “Like
a crane or a swallow so did I chatter,” though
there it is the low murmur of sorrow and complaint that is
meant) - “and all
the daughters of music shall be brought low.” “The
daughters of song”
are the organs of speech, which ere now humbled and fail,
so that the man
cannot sing a note. Some think that the ears are meant, as
writes, Et obsurdescent
omnes filiae carminis, which may have some such
notion. Others arrive at a similar signification from
manipulation of the
verb, thus eliciting the sense — The sounds of
singing-women or songbirds
are dulled and lowered, are only heard as a faint,
unmeaning murmur.
This exposition rather contradicts what had preceded, viz.
that the old man
is awoke by the chirp of a sparrow; for his ears must be
very sensitive to
be thus easily affected; unless, indeed, the “voice of the
bird” is merely a
note of time, equivalent to early cock-crowing. We must not
omit Wright’s
explanation, though it does not commend itself to our mind.
He makes a
new stanza begin here: “When one rises at the voice of the
bird,” and sees
here a description of the approach of spring, as if the
poet said, “When the
young and lusty are enjoying the return of genial weather,
and the concert
of birds with which no musician can compete, the aged, sick
in their
chambers, are beset with fears and are sinking fast.” We fail
altogether to
read this meaning in our text, wherein we recognize only a
symbolical
representation of the old man’s vocal powers. It is obvious
to cite
Juvenal’s minute and painful description of old age in
‘Sat.,’ 10:200, etc.,
and Shakespeare’s lines in ‘As You Like It’ (act 2. sc. 7),
where the
reference to the voice is very striking-
“His big,
manly voice,
Turning
again toward childish treble, pipes
And
whistles in his sound.”
Cox paraphrases, "The song-birds drop silently into their nests," alarmed
at the tempest.
5 “Also when they shall be
afraid of that which is high,” - There is
no “when” in the original, which runs, “Also, or yea, they
fear on high.”
“They” are old men, or, like the French on, “people”
indefinitely; and the
clause says that they find difficulty in mounting an
ascent, as the Vulgate
renders, Excelsa quoque timebant. Shortness of
breath, asthmatic
tendencies, failure of muscular power, make such an
exertion arduous and
burdensome, just as in the previous verse a similar cause rendered
singing
impossible. The description is now arriving at the last
stage, and
allegorizing the closing scene. The steep ascent is the via
dolorosa, the
painful process of dying, from which the natural man
shrinks; for as the
gnome says —
Τοῦ ζῇν γὰρ οὐδεὶς
ὡς ὁ γηράσκων
ἐρᾷ
Tou zaen gar oudeis
hos ho gnraskon era
“None
dotes on life more than the aged man.”
The old man is going on the appointed road “and fears
shall be in the
way,” or, all sorts
of fears (plural of intensity) are in the path; as in his
infirm condition he can walk nowhere without danger of
meeting with
some accident, so analogously, as he contemplates his end
and the road he
has to travel, “fearfulness and trembling come upon him, and horror
overwhelms him” (Psalm 55:5) – “and the almond tree shall flourish,” –
or, is in blossom. The old man is thus figured from
the observed aspect
of this tree. It blossoms in winter upon a leafless stem,
and its flowers, at
first of a pale pink color, turn to a snowy whiteness as they
fall from the
branches. The tree thus becomes a fit type of the arid,
torpid-looking old
man with his white hair. So Wright quotes Virgil, ‘AEneid,’ 5:416 —
“Temporibus geminis canebat sparsa senectus;”
though there the idea is rather of mingled black and grey hair than of ahead
of snowy whiteness. Canon Tristram
(‘Nat. Hist. of the Bible,’ p. 332),
referring to the usual version of this clause, adds, “But
the better
interpretation seems to be, that as the almond blossom
ushers in the spring,
so do the signs referred to in the context indicate the hastening
(shaked,
‘almond,’ meaning also ‘hasten’) of old age and death.” Plumptre adopts
the notion that the name of the tree is derived from a stem
meaning “to
watch,” and that thus
it may be called the early-waking tree (see
Jeremiah 1:11), the enigmatic phrase describing the
wakefulness that
often attends old age. But this seems a refinement by no
means justified by
the use of the word. The versions are unanimous in
translating the clause as
the Authorized Version. Thus the Septuagint, ἀνθήσῃ τὸ ἀμύγδαλον –
anthaesae to amugdalon – the almond tree shall blossom - Vulgate,
fiorebit amygdalus. (So Verier. and the Syriac.) Wright takes this clause
and the next to indicate the opening of spring, when nature
reawakens
from its winter sleep, and the dying man can no longer
respond to the call
or enjoy the happy season
- “and the grasshopper shall be a burden,” –
Chagab, rendered “grasshopper” here and Leviticus 11:22; Numbers
13:33,
etc., is rightly translated “locust” in II Chronicles 7:13. It is one of the
smaller species of the insect, as is implied by its use in
Isaiah 40:22,
where from the height of heaven the inhabitants of earth
are regarded as
chagabim. The clause is usually explained to mean that the very
lightest
burden is
troublesome to old age, or that the
hopping and chirping of these
insects annoy the querulous senior. But who does not see
the incongruity
of expressing the disinclination for labor and exertion by
the figure of
finding a grasshopper too heavy to carry? Who would think
of carrying a
grasshopper? The
Septuagint gives, καὶ παχυνθῇ
ἡ ἀκρίς - kai
pachunthae hae akris – and the
grasshopper shall be a burden –
the Vulgate, imping, uabitur
locusts, “the locust grows fat. Founded on
this rendering is the opinion which considers that under
this figure is depicted
the corpulence or dropsical
swelling that sometimes accompanies advanced life.
But this morbid and abnormal condition could not be
introduced into a typical
description of the usual accompaniments of age, even if the
verb could be rightly
translated as the Greek and Latin versions give it, which
is more than doubtful.
Some Jewish interpreters consider that under the term
“locust” is
meant the loins or hips, or caput femoris,
which is thus named” because it
includes in itself the mechanism which the two-membered foot for
springing, placed at an acute angle, presents in the
locust.” The poet is
thought to allude to the loss of elasticity in the hips and
the inability to bear
any weight. We cannot agree to the propriety of this
artificial explanation,
which seems to have been invented to account for the
expressions in the
text, rather than to be founded on fact. But though we
reject this
elucidation of the figure, we think Delitzsch
and some others are right in
taking the verb in the sense of “to move heavily, to crawl along.” “The
locust crawls,” i.e. the old man drags his limbs
heavily and painfully along,
like the locust just hatched in early spring, and as yet
not furnished with
wings, which makes its way clumsily and slowly. The analogy
derives
another feature from the fact, well attested, that the
appearance of the
locust was synchronous with the days considered most fatal
to old people,
namely, the seven at the end of January and the beginning
of February. So
we now have the
figure of the old man with his snow-white hair, panting
and gasping, creeping painfully to his grave. One more trait is added – “and
desire shall fail:” - The word rendered “desire”
(אֲבִיּונָה) is found nowhere
else in the Old Testament, and its meaning is disputed. The
Authorized
Version has adopted the rendering of some of the Jewish
commentators
(and that of Venet.,
ἡ ὔρεξις – hae urexis - , but, according to Delitzsch,
the feminine form of the noun precludes the notion of an
abstract quality, and the
etymology on which it rests is doubtful. Nor would it be
likely that, having
employed symbolism hitherto throughout his description, the
writer would
suddenly drop metaphor and speak in unfigurative
language. We are,
therefore, driven to rely for its meaning on the old
versions, which would
convey the traditionary idea. The
Septuagint gives, ἡ κάππαρις – hae
kapparis - and so the Vulgate, capparis,
by which is designated the caper
tree or berry, probably the same as the hyssop, which is
found throughout the
East, and was extensively used as a provocative of
appetite, a stimulant and
restorative. Accordingly, the writer is thought here to be
intimating that
even stimulants, such as the caper, affect the old man no
longer, cannot
give zest to or make him enjoy his food. Here, again, the
figurative is
dropped, and a literal, unvarnished fact is stated, which mars the
perfection
of the picture. But the verb here used (parar)
is capable of another
signification, and is often found in the unmetaphorical sense of “breaking”
or “bursting;” so the clause will run, “and the caper berry
bursts.”
Septuagint, καὶ διασκεδασθῇ
ἡ κάππαρις -
kai diaskedasthae hae
kapparis - Vulgate, dissipabitur capparis. The fruit of this plant, when overripe,
bursts open and falls off — a fit image of the
dissolution of the aged frame,
now ripe for the tomb, and showing evident tokens of
decay. By this interpretation
the symbolism is maintained, which perhaps is
further illustrated by the fact that the
fruit hangs down and droops from the end of long
stalks, as the man bows his
head and stoops his back to meet the coming death. (Compare
“Thou
shalt
come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn
cometh in his
season.” - Job 5:26 – CY – 2013) – “because (ki) man goeth to his
long home,” - This and the following clause are
parenthetical,
v. 6 resuming the allegory. It is as though Koheleth said — Such is
the
way, such are the symptoms, when decay and death are
approaching; all
these things happen, all these signs meet the eye, at
such a period. “His
long home;” εἰς οϊκον αἰῶνος αὐτοῦ - eis oikon aionos autou – his
everlasting home - (Septuagint), “to the
house of his eternity,” “his
everlasting habitation,” i.e. the grave, or Hades. Compares Job 10:21;
30:23. So Psalm 49:11 (according to many versions), “Their graves are
their houses for
ever.” The σκηναὶ αἰώνιοι – skaenai aionioi –
everlasting habitation - of Luke 16:9 are a periphrasis for life in heaven.
Diodorus Siculus notes that the Egyptians
used the terms ἀίδιοι οϊκοι –
aidioi oikoi – and ἡ
αἰώνιος οἴκσις
- hae ainonios oiksis
– eternal
house
or home - of Hades (2. 51; 1. 93). The
expression, “domus eterna,”
appears at
Christian inscriptions; and the Assyrians name the world or
state beyond
the
grave “the house of eternity” (‘Records of the Past,’ 1:143). From the
expression in the text nothing can be deduced concerning Koheleth’s
eschatological views. He is speaking here merely
phenomenally. Men live
their little span upon the earth, and then go to what in
comparison of this is
an eternity. Much of the difficulty about αἰώνιος – aionios – everlasting –
would be obviated if critics would remember that the
meaning of such words
is conditioned by the context, that e.g. “everlasting” applied to a mountain and
TO GOD cannot be
understood in the same, sense – “and the mourners
go
about the streets:” - This can hardly mean
that the usual funeral rites have begun;
for the death is not conceived as having already taken place;
this is reserved
for v. 7. Nor can it, therefore, refer to the relations and
friends who are
sorrowing for the departed. The persons spoken of must be
the mourners
who are hired to play and sing at funerals (see II Samuel
3:31;
Jeremiah 9:17; 34:5; Matthew 9:23). These were getting
ready to ply their trade,
expecting hourly the old man’s death.
6 “Or ever” - i.e. before,
ere (ad asher lo). The words recall us to
vs. 1 and 2, bidding the
youth make the best use of his time ere old age
cuts him off. In the present paragraph the final dissolution is described
under two figures – “the silver cord be loosed, or the
golden bowl be
broken,” - This is evidently one figure, which would be made plainer
by
reading “and” instead of “or,” the idea being that the lamp
is shattered by
the snapping of the cord that suspended it from the roof.
But there are
some difficulties in the closer explanation of the
allegory. The “bowl”
(gullah) is the
reservoir of oil in a lamp (see Zechariah 4:3-4), which
supplies nourishment to the flame; when this is broken or
damaged so as to
be useless, the light, of course, is extinguished. The
Septuagint calls it
τὸ ἀνθέμιον
τοῦ χρυσίον – to anthemion tou chrusion – the golden
bowl - the
Vulgate, vitta aurea,
“the golden fillet,” or flower ornament on
a column, which quite sinks the notion of a light being
quenched.
The “cord” is
that by which the lamp is hung in a tent or a room.
But of what in man are these symbols? The general
break-up of life
is here delineated, not the progress of destruction in
certain organs or parts of
the human frame. The cord is what we should call the thread
of life, on which
hangs the body lit by the animating soul; when the
connection between these is
severed, the latter perishes, like a fallen lamp lying
crushed on the ground.
In this our view the cord is the living power which keeps
the corporeal substance
from failing to ruin; the bowl is the body itself thus
upheld. The mention of gold
and silver is introduced to denote the preciousness of man’s life and nature.
But the analogy must not be pressed in all possible
details. It is like the parables,
where, if defined and examined too closely, incongruities
appear. We
should be inclined to make more of the lamp and the light
and the oil,
which are barely inferred in the passage, and endeavor to
explain what
these images import. Koheleth is
satisfied with the general figure which
adumbrates THE DISSOLUTION
OF MATERIAL FABRIC BY
THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE PRINCIPLE
OF LIFE! What is
the immediate cause of this dissolution, injury, paralysis,
etc., is not handled;
only the rupture is noticed and its fatal result. Another image to the same effect,
though pointing to a
different process, is added – “or the pitcher be broken
at the fountain, or (and)
the wheel broken at (in) the cistern.” The picture
here is a deep well or cistern with an apparatus for
drawing water; this apparatus
consists of a wheel or windlass with a rope upon it, to
which is attached a bucket;
the wheel fails, falls into the well, the bucket is dashed
to pieces, and no water
can be drawn. It is best to regard the two clauses as
intended to convey one
idea, as the two at the beginning of the verse were found
to do. Some
commentators, not so suitably, distinguish between the two,
making the
former clause say that the pitcher is broken on its road to
or from the
spring, and the latter that the draw-wheel gives way. The
imagery, points
to one notion which would be weakened by being divided into
two. The
motion of the bucket, the winding up and down, by which
water is drawn
from the well, is an emblem of the movements of the heart, the
organs of
respiration, etc. When these cease to act, life is extinct.
The fraction of the
cord and the demolition of the bowl denoted the separation
of soul and
body; the breaking of the pitcher and the destruction of
the wheel signify
the overthrow of the bodily organs by which vital motion is
diffused and
maintained, and the man lives. The expressions in the text
remind one of
the term, “earthen
vessel,” applied by Paul (II
Corinthians 4:7) to
the human body; and “the
fountain of life,” “the water of life.”
so
often mentioned in Holy Scripture as typical of the grace
of God and the
blessedness of life with Him (see Psalm 36:9; Proverbs
13:14; John 4:10, 14;
Revelation 21:6).
7 “Then shall the dust
return to the earth as it was:” - rather, and
the dust return, etc.
— the sentence begun above being still carried on to
the end of the verse. Here
we are told what becomes of the complex man
at death, and are thus led to the explanation of the allegorical
language
used throughout. Without
metaphor now it is stated that the material body,
when life is extinct, returns to that matter out of which
it was originally
made (Genesis
2:7; 3:19; compare Job 34:15; Psalm 104:29). So
Siracides calls man “dust and ashes,” and asserts that all things
that are of
the earth turn to the earth again (Ecclesiasticus.
10:9; 40:11). Soph., ‘Electra,’
1158 —
Ἀντὶ φιλτάτης`
´Μορφῆς σποδόν τε καὶ σκιὰν ἀνωφελῆ
Anti philtataes
Morphaes spodon te kai skian anophelae
“Instead of thy dear
form,
Mere dust and idle
shadow.”
Cornelius a Lapide quotes a
remarkable parallel given by Plutarch (‘Apol. ad
Apollon.,’ 110) from Epicharmus,” Life
is compounded and broken up,
and again goes whence it came; earth indeed to earth, and
the spirit to
upper regions.” – “and the spirit shall return unto God
who gave it.” –
Or, for the spirit — the clause being no longer
subjunctive, but speaking
indicatively of fact. In the first clause the preposition “to” is עַל, in the
second אֶל, as if to mark the distinction
between the downward and the
upward way. The
writer now rises superior to the doubts expressed in
ch.3:21 (where see note), “Who knoweth the
spirit of man,
whether it goeth upward,” etc.?
It is not that he contradicts himself in the
two passages, as some suppose, and have hence regarded v. 7
as an
interpolation; but that after all discussion, after
expressing the course of his
perplexities, and the various phases of his thought, he comes to the
conclusion
that there is a future for the individual soul, and that it
shall be brought into
immediate connection with A PERSONAL
GOD! There is here no thought of its
being absorbed in the anima mundi, i
n accordance with the heathen view, which, if
it believed dimly in an immortality,
denied the personality of the soul, have we any opinion given concerning the
adverse doctrines of creationism and traducianism
(origin of the soul), though the
terms used are most consistent with the former. God breathed into man’s
nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7), when this departs, HE WHO GAVE
IT RECEIVES IT! God “gathereth in” man’s breath (Psalm 104:29).
The clause, taken in this restricted sense, would say nothing
about the soul,
the personal “I;”
it would merely indicate the destination of the vital breath;
and many critics are content to see nothing more in the
words. But surely this
would be a feeble conclusion of the author’s wanderings; rather the sentence
signifies that death, releasing
the spirit, or soul, from the earthly tabernacle,
places it in the more immediate presence of God, there, as the Targum
paraphrases the passage, returning
TO STAND IN JUDGMENT
BEFORE ITS CREATOR!
Old Age and
Death (vs. 2-7)
By a natural transition, a striking antithesis, youth
suggests to the mind of
the
Preacher the condition and the solemn lessons of old age. How
appropriately does a treatise, dealing so fully with the occupations,
the
illusions, the trials, and the moral significance of human life,
draw to a
close by referring expressly to the earlier and the later periods by which
that life is bounded!
·
THE BODILY SYMPTOMS OF AGE. These are, indeed, familiar to
every observer, and are described with a picturesqueness
and poetical
beauty which must appeal to every reader of this passage. It is
enough to
remark that the decay of
bodily power, and the gradual enfeeblement of the
several senses, are among the usual accompaniments
of advancing years.
·
THE MENTAL SYMPTOMS OF AGE. Reference is naturally made
especially to the effect of bodily enfeeblement and infirmity upon
the
human emotions.
Ø
The emotions of desire
and aspiration are dulled.
Ø
The emotions of
apprehension, self-distrust, and fear increase.
·
THE NATURAL TERMINATION OF OLD AGE. There is no doubt
that there are old persons of a sanguine temperament who seem
unable to
realize the fact that they are approaching the end of their
earthly course.
Yet it does not admit of doubt
that the several indications of senility
described in these verses are:
Ø
reminders of the end,
Ø
premonitions of the
dissolution of the body, and
Ø
of the entering upon a new and altogether different state of
being.
·
THE OPPORTUNITIES AND SERVICES OF AGE.
Ø
There is scope for the
exercise of patience under growing infirmities.
Ø
There is a call to the
acquisition and display of that wisdom which the
experience of long years is particularly fitted to
cultivate.
Ø
The aged are
especially bound to offer to the young an example of
cheerful obedience, and to encourage them to a life of piety
and
usefulness.
·
THE CONSOLATIONS OF AGE.
great beauty, has set forth the peculiar advantages and
pleasures which
belong to the latest stage of human life. The Christian is at
liberty to
comfort himself by meditating upon such natural blessings as
“accompany
old age,” but he has far fuller and richer sources of
consolation open to
him.
Ø
There is the happy retrospect of a life filled with
instances of God’s
compassion, forbearance, and loving-kindness.
Ø
And there is the bright
anticipation of eternal blessedness. This is his
peculiar prerogative. As the outer man perisheth, the inner man is
renewed day by day. (II
Corinthians 4:16) The earthly tent is
gradually
but surely taken down, and this process suggests that he should look
forward with calm confidence and hope to his speedy occupation of
the
“house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (ibid. ch. 5:1)
It has been much questioned whether this next verse (v.8)
is the conclusion of the
treatise or the commencement of the epilogue. For the
latter conclusion it is
contended that it is only natural that the beginning of the
final summing-up should
start with the same words as the opening of the book
(ch.1:2); and that thus the
conjunction “and,”
with which v. 9 begins, is readily explained. But the treatise
is more artistically completed by regarding this solemn
utterance as the conclusion
of the whole, ending with the same burden with which it
began — THE
NOTHINGNESS OF EARTHLY THINGS! Koheleth has labored
to show
this, he has pursued the thought from beginning to end,
through all circumstances
and conditions, and he can only re-echo his melancholy
refrain.
8 “Vanity of vanities, saith the
Preacher;” - He does not follow the
destiny
of the immortal spirit; it is not his purpose to do so; his
theme is the fragility of
mortal things, their
unsatisfying nature, the impossibility of their securing
man’s happiness: so his voyage lands him at the point
whence he set forth,
though he has learned and taught faith in the
interval - “all is vanity.”
If all is vanity, there is behind
and above all a God of inflexible justice,
who must do right,
and to
whom we may safely trust our cares and
perplexities. Koheleth,” Preacher,”
here has the article, the Koheleth,
as if some special reference was made to the meaning of the
name — he who
has been debating, or haranguing, or gathering together,
utters finally his careful
verdict. This is the sentence of the ideal Solomon, who has
given his experiences
in
the preceding pages.
Death, its Meaning and its Moral (vs. 5-7)
Whatever be the true interpretation of the three preceding
verses, there is
no
doubt at all as to the Preacher’s meaning in the text; he has death in his
view, and he suggests to us —
·
ITS CERTAINTY. Childhood must pass into youth, and youth into
prime, and prime into old age — into the days which are bereaved
of
pleasure (v. 1); and old age must end in death. Of all the illustrations which
human life presents to us, the last one is that of “the
mourners going about
the streets.” Other
evils may be shunned by sedulous care and unusual
sagacity, but death is the
evil which no man may avoid.
·
ITS MEANING.
What does death mean when it comes?
Ø
It means a shock to those that are left
behind. The mourners in the street
express in their way the sadness which is afflicting the hearts of
those
who weep within the walls. Here and there a death occurs which
disturbs
no peace and troubles no heart. But almost always it comes with a shock
and an inward inexpressible
pain to those who are bereaved. Even in old
age the hearts of near
kindred and dear friends are troubled with a keen
and real distress.
Ø
It means separation. Man “goes
to his long home.” They who are left go
to their darkened home, and he who is taken goes to his long
home, to
dwell apart and alone, to revisit no more the familiar places,
and look no
more into the faces of his friends. They and he henceforth must
dwell
apart; the grave is always a very long distance from the old
home.
Ø
It means loss. The loss of the beautiful
or the useful, or of both
together. “Our life may have been like a golden lamp suspended by
silver
chains, fit for the palace of a king, and- may have shed a
welcome and a
cheerful light on every side; but even the durable costly chain
will be
snapped at last, and the beautiful ‘bowl be broken.’ Our
life may have
been like ‘the bucket’ dropped by village maidens into the
village
fountain, or like the ‘ wheel’ by which water is drawn from the
village
well, — it may have conveyed a vital refreshment to many
lips; but the
day must come when the bucket will be shattered on the marble
edge
of the fountain, and the timeworn wheel drop into the well”
(Cox).
The most beautiful life vanishes from our sight; the most useful
life
is taken away.
Ø
It means dissolution. “The
dust shall return to the earth as it was.”
Our
body, however fair and strong it may be, however trained, clothed,
adorned, admired, must return to “dust and ashes,” must be
resolved
into the elements from which it was constructed.
Ø
It means departure. “The spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” This
is by far the most solemn view of death. At death we “return to God”
(see
Psalm 90:3). Not, indeed, that we are ever far from him (see Acts
17:27; Psalm 139:3-5). We stand and live in His very near presence.
Yet does there come an hour —
the hour of death — when we shall
consciously stand before our Divine Judge, and when we shall learn
from
Him “our high estate”
or our lasting doom (II Corinthians
5:10). Death
means departure from the sphere of the visible and
tangible into the close
and conscious presence of the eternal God.
·
ITS MORAL.
The one great lesson which stands out from this
eloquent description is this: Be the servant of God always; take care to
know Him and to serve Him at the end, by learning of Him at
the beginning,
and serving Him throughout your life. Remember your Creater in youth,
and He will acknowledge you when old age is lost in death, and
death has
introduced you to the judgment scene. Happy is that human soul that
has
drawn into itself Divine truth with its earliest intelligence,
and that has
ordered its life by the Divine will from first to last; for then
shall the end of
earth be full of peace and hope, and the beginning
of eternity be full of joy
and of glory.
The Last Scene of All
or,
Man Goeth to His
Long Home (vs. 2-8)
Ø
The decay of man’s higher faculties. “Or ever the sun, and the light,
and the moon, and the stars be darkened, and the clouds
return after
the rain” (v. 2). We may see:
o
In the sun an emblem
of man’s spirit, elsewhere compared to the
lamp of Jehovah (Proverbs 20:27), and described by Christ as
“the light that
is in thee” (Matthew 6:23), and in its
light a
symbol of the spirit’s activity of
apprehension — thought,
memory, imagination, etc.
o
In the moon a figure
for the animal soul, “by means of which the
Spirit becomes the
principle of the life of the body (Genesis 2:7),”
and which as the weaker
vessel (it, according to Hebrew ideas,
being regarded as female,
while the spirit is male) is comforted
by the spirit (Psalm 42:6).
o
In the stars an
allegorical representation of the five senses, by
which the soul has
cognizance of the outer world, and the light
of which is dim and feeble
in comparison with that of the soul
and spirit, or of the
reason and intelligence of man.
o
In the clouds that return
after the rain, a materialized picture of
those calamities and
misfortunes, sicknesses and sorrows,
“which disturb
the power of thought, obscure the
consciousness, and darken the mind,” and which,
though leaving man for a while,
return again after a season
without permitting him
long to experience health.
Ø
The failure of man’s bodily powers. Picturing man’s
corporeal frame as
a house, the Preacher
depicts its ruinous condition as old age approaches.
o
The keepers of
the house tremble. The aged person’s arms,
which bring to the house
(of the body) whatever is suitable for it,
and keep away from it
whatever threatens to do it injury, now,
touched with
infirmity, shake, so that they are
able neither to
grasp securely, to hold
fast and. use, nor actively to keep back
and forcibly avert evil.
o
The strong, men
bow themselves. The legs, of young
men like
marble pillars (Song of
Solomon 5:15), are in aged persons
loose, feeble,
and inclined to stoop.
o
The grinders, or the grinding-women,
cease. That these are the
molars, or teeth, which
perform the work of mastication,
is apparent; so is the
reason why they are not now at work, viz.
because in aged persons they are few.
o
Those that look out of
the windows are darkened. The eyes,
called by
become dim, and as a consequence the soul’s eyes, which
look through the body’s
eyes, lose their power of perception.
o
The doors are shut in
the street. These are probably the lips,
which in old age are
usually closed and drawn, because the
teeth have
disappeared. (But I have noticed that many keep
the mouth open, possibly a
sign of stress – also consider
the ears and not hearing as
well as we used to - CY – 2013)
o
The sound of the
grinding is low. The noise made by an old man
in mastication is that of a
low munching, he being unable any more
to crack, crunch, or break
his food.
o
One rises up at the
sound of a bird. So timid and
nervous, and
so light a sleeper, is the
old man, that if even a bird chirps he
awakes, and, being put off
his rest, is obliged to rise. (I trust
that this is not universal for “soHe giveth His beloved sleep.” -
Psalm 127:2 – CY – 2013)
o
The daughters of music
are brought low. Not so much the old
man’s powers of singing are
diminished, his once strong and
manly treble having become
so feeble and low as to be scarcely
audible (Isaiah 38:14), as the old man, like Barzillai (II Samuel
19:35), has now no longer
an ear for the voice of singing-men
and singing-women, so that
to him as a consequence “the
daughters of song” must
lower their voices, i.e. must
retire so as no longer to
disturb him, now so feeble as to be
“terrified by the twittering of
a little bird.”
o
That which is high
causes fear (v. 5). To the old man “even a little
hillock appears like a high
mountain; and if he has to go a journey
he meets something that
terrifies him” (Targum, ‘Midrash’).
Decrepit old men “do not venture
out, for to them a damp road
appears like a very morass, a
gravelly path as full of neck-breaking
hillocks, an undulating path as
fearfully steep and precipitous,
that which is not shaded as
oppressively hot and exhausting”
(I should think also a fear of
falling as the bones are so
brittle – uneven terrain, climbing
on ladders or chairs, etc.
CY – 2013)
o
The almond tree
blossoms. An emblem of the winter of age,
with its silvery white
hair.
o
The grasshopper is a
burden, or the grasshopper drags itself
along, the old man resembling
a grasshopper, drags himself
along with difficulty.
o
The caper-berry fails.
The appetite, which this particular
condiment is supposed to
stimulate, ceases; the stomach
can no more by means of it
be roused from its dormant
and phlegmatic condition.
So low and feeble is he
that no quinine or
phosphorus can help him now.
o “Desire shall fail.” Romance is gone. You can try to act as if
you are just as young as you were, but you don’t fool anyone.
I remember listening to an evangelist who had married a young
girl. He hopped on the platform, jumped in the air, and said,
“I’m just as young as I ever was.” He wasn’t fooling anybody
but himself, and he died shortly
after that. (J.
of the organs of the body).
Ø
The loosening of the silver cord, and the breaking of the
golden
bowl.
o
The figure. A golden bowl or lamp suspended from the roof of
a house or tent by a silver
cord, through the sudden snapping of
which it, the golden bowl
or lamp, is precipitated to the ground,
thus extinguishing
its light.
o
The
interpretation. The silver cord is the spinal cord,
the
golden bowl, the brain. “The functioning of the brain decreases
in its efficiency as one gets older, and at death it ceases to
function at all.” (J.
Ø The breaking
of the pitcher at the fountain, and of the wheel at the
cistern.
o
The image. That of a pitcher, which is used for letting down by
a rope or chain into a well
or fountain, becoming shivered at the
fountain’s side through the
sudden breaking down of the wheel
during the process of drawing water. (“The pitcher is the lungs.
“The pitcher is broken at the fountain”. The wheel is the heart—
“the wheel broken at the cistern.” It is no longer pumping blood
through the body. All of this is a picture of the deterioration of
old age leading to death. Life cannot be sustained without the
functioning of
these organs. – J.
o
The significance. The action of the lungs and the heart, the
one of which like a pitcher
or bucket, draws in the air-current
which sustains life, and
the other of which pumps up the blood
into the lungs; or the
wheel and the pitcher may be the breathing
apparatus, and the pitcher
at the fountain the heart which raises
the blood (We are “ fearfully made and wonderfully made.” -
Psalm 139:14).
Ø
Of the body. “The dust returns to
the earth as it was” (v. 7). As the
body came forth from the soil,
so to the soil it reverts (Genesis 3:19).
Ø
Of the soul. “The spirit returns
unto God who gave it.” Whatever
may have been the
Preacher’s opinion at an earlier period (ch.3:21),
he was now decided as to
three things:
o
that man
had a spirit, as distinguished from a body;
o
that this
spirit, as to origin, PROCEEDED FROM
GOD (Genesis 2:7; Job 32:8); and
o
that on separating from the body it did not cease to be,
but ascended to
Him from whom it came — not to be
reabsorbed into the Divine essence,
as if it had originally
emanated therefrom, but to preserve in God’s presence
an independent existence,
as the Targum translates,
“The spirit will
return to stand in judgment before
God who gave it
to thee.”
the streets” (v. 5).
Ø
Sorrowing for the departed. Probably the
Preacher describes either
the professional mourners
who go about the streets, in anticipation of the
dying man’s departure, ready to
offer their services the moment he
expires, or the actual
procession of such mourners following the dead
man’s funeral to its place of
sepulture. Still, it is permissible to
think of the deceased’s
relatives, who, like Abraham mourning for Sarah
(Genesis 23:2), and Martha and
Mary for Lazarus (John 11:31),
give expression to their sadness
by going about the streets in the garb of
sorrow.
Ø
Exciting the sympathy of the living. This is one reason
why private
griefs are paraded in public. The heart in times of weakness,
such as those
occasioned by bereavement,
instinctively craves the compassion of others,
to whom, accordingly, it appeals
by the visible cerements of woe.
Ø
The mercy of God as
seen in the gradual approach of death.
Ø
The wisdom of
improving the seasons of youth and manhood.
Ø
The solemn mystery of
death.
Ø
The duty of preparing
for a life beyond the grave.
Ø
The lawfulness of
Christian mourning.
THE EPILOGUE (vs. 9-14)
This contains some observations commendatory of the author,
explaining his
standpoint and the object of the book, the great conclusion
to which it leads.
Koheleth as teacher of
wisdom (vs. 9-11)
9 “And moreover,” - וְיֹתֵר; καὶ περισσόν – kai perisson – further –
Septuagint); rather, with the following שֵׁ, besides that – “because
the Preacher
was wise,” - If we render “because
the Preacher was wise,” we are making an
unnecessary statement, as the whole book has demonstrated
this fact, which goes
without saying. What
the writer here asserts is that Koheleth did
not merely
possess wisdom, but had made good use of it for the
instruction of others.
The author throws aside his disguise, and speaks of his
object in composing the
book, with a glance at the historical Solomon whom he had
personated.
That he uses the third person in relation to himself is
nothing uncommon in
historical memoirs, etc. Thus Daniel writes; and St.John, Thucydides,
Xenophon, Caesar, mask their personality by dropping their identity
with
the author (compare also ch.1:2; 7:27). The attestation
that
follows is compared with that at the end of John’s Gospel
(John 21:24),
and is plainly intended to confirm the authority of the
writer, and to
enforce on the hearer the conviction that, though Solomon
himself did not
compose the work, it has every claim to receive attention,
and possesses
intrinsic value – he still taught the people knowledge. As well as being
esteemed one of the company of sages, he further (od) took pains to
instruct his contemporaries (τὸν ἄνθρωπον - ton anthropon – the
people - Septuagint),
to apply his wisdom to educational purposes
-
“yea, he gave good heed,” - literally, he weighed
(like our word “ponder”);
only thus used in this passage. It denotes the careful examination of every fact
and argument BEFORE IT WAS PRESENTED TO THE PUBLIC! -
“and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.” There is no copula in the
original; the weighing and the investigation issued in
the composition of “proverbs,”
which term includes not only the wit and wisdom of past
ages in the form of pithy
sayings and apophthegms, but also
parables, truths in metaphorical guise, riddles,
instructions, allegories, etc., all those forms
which are found in the canonical Book
of Proverbs. The same word (mishle)
is used here as in the title of that book.
Koheleth, however, is not necessarily referring to that work
(or to I Kings 4:29,
etc.), or implying that he himself wrote it; he is only
putting forth his claim
to attention by showing his patient assiduity in the
pursuit of wisdom, and
how that he adopted a particular method of teaching. For
the idea
contained in the verb taqan,
“to place or make straight” (ch.1:15;
7:13),
applied to literary composition, Delitzsch
compares the German word for” author”
(Schriftsteller). The notion
of the mashal being similitude,
comparison, the writer’s
pondering and searching were needed to discover hidden
analogies, and, by means
of the known and familiar, TO LEAD UP TO
THE MORE OBSCURE
AND THE ABSTRUSE.
10 “The Preacher sought to
find out acceptable words:” - literally,
words of delight; λόγους θελήματος
– logous thelaematos – acceptable
words – (Septuagint);
verba utilia (Vulgate);
so
logous chreias. The word chephets,
“pleasure,” occurs in ch.5:4; 12:1. Thus
we have “stones of
pleasure” (Isaiah 54:12). He added the grace of refined
diction to the solid sense of his utterances. We are reminded of the “gracious
words” (λόγοις τῆς χάριτος - logois taes charitos -- saying of grace; gracious
words) Luke 4:22) which proceeded
from the mouth of Him who, being the
Incarnate Wisdom of God, was indeed greater than Solomon – “and that
which was written was upright, even words of truth.” The
Authorized Version,
with its interpolations, does not accurately convey the sense of the original. The
sentence is to be regarded as containing phrases in apposition to the “acceptable
words” of the first clause; thus: “Koheleth
sought to discover words of pleasure,
and a writing in sincerity, words of truth. ‘The Septuagint
has, kai καὶ
γεγραμμένον
εὐθύτητος – kai gegrammenon euthutaetos – that which was written blamelessly -
a
writing of uprightness; Vulgate, et conscripsit sermones
rectissimos. The
meaning
is
that what he wrote had two characteristics:
If any reader was disposed to cavil, and to depreciate the
worth of the treatise
because it was not the genuine work of the celebrated
Solomon, the writer claims
attention to his production on the ground of its intrinsic
qualities, as inspired by the
same wisdom which animated his great predecessor.
A
Model Preacher (vs. 9-10)
·
A WISE MAN.
Ø
Possessed of secular knowledge. Gathered as precious
spoil from all
departments of human learning and experience. As much of this sort of
wisdom as possible; the more of it the better. All knowledge can
be
rendered subservient to the preacher’s art, and may be utilized by
him
for the instruction of his hearers.
Ø
Endowed with heavenly wisdom. If that, much more
this, is indispensable
to an ideal preacher. The wisdom that cometh from above as
much
superior to that which springeth from
below as heaven is higher than
earth, and eternity longer than time. A preacher without the
former
wisdom may be rude; without the latter he must be ineffective.
·
A DILIGENT STUDENT. Like
Koheleth, he must ponder, seek out,
and set in order the truth he desires to communicate to
others; like
Timothy, he must give attendance
to reading (1 Timothy 4:13). In
particular, he should be a student:
Ø
Of the sacred Scriptures. These divinely inspired
writings, being the
principal source of heavenly wisdom accessible to man (II Timothy
3:16), should be the preacher’s vade mecum (handbook), or constant
companion.
Ø
Of human nature. Having to deal directly with this, in the way of
bringing to bear upon it the teachings of Scripture, he ought to
acquaint
himself accurately with it, by a close and patient study of it in
himself and
others. Much of a preacher’s efficiency is derived from his
knowledge of
the audience to which he speaks.
Ø
Of the material creation. Like Job (37:14), David (Psalm 8:3; 143:5),
and Koheleth (ch.
7:13), he
should consider the works of God.
Besides having much to tell him
of God’s glory (Psalm 8:1; Romans
1:20), the physical universe can
impart to him valuable counsel
of a moral kind concerning man and his duties (Job 12:7;
Proverbs
6:6; Matthew 5:26).
·
A SKILLFUL TEACHER. As
Koheleth taught the people
knowledge, as Ezra caused the people to understand the reading
(Nehemiah 8:8), as Christ
according to His Word taught such as
listened to Him (Mark 10:1), as the apostles taught the things of
the Lord to
their hearers (Acts 4:2; 11:26; 18:25), so must a model preacher
be an
instructor (1 Timothy 3:2; 4:11; 6:2; II Timothy 2:2). To be this
successfully, in addition to the wisdom and study above described,
he will need four kinds of words.
Ø
Words of truth. These must constitute the burden of his discourse,
whether oral or written. What he publishes to others must be
objectively
true, and no mere guesswork or speculation. Such a word of
truth was
the Law of God in the Hebrew Scriptures (Psalm 119:43), and is the
gospel or the doctrine of Christ in the New Testament (Ephesians
1:13;
Colossians
1:5; II Timothy 2:15; James 1:18).
Ø
Words of uprightness. Whether he writes or speaks, he must do so
sincerely, with perfect integrity of heart, “not handling the Word of God
deceitfully” (II Corinthians 4:2),
but teaching out of honest personal
conviction, saying, “We believe, therefore do we speak”
(ibid. v. 13).
Ø
Words of delight. Selected and intended, not to gratify the hearer’s
corrupt inclinations and perverted tastes, or minister to that
love of
novelty and sensation which is the peculiar characteristic of
itching
ears (II Timothy 4:3), but to set forth the truth in such a way as to win
for it entrance into the hearer’s heart and mind. For this purpose the
preacher’s words should be such as to interest and
sway the listener,
arresting his attention, exciting his imagination,
instructing his
understanding, moving his affections, quickening, his
conscience,
and impelling his will.
Dullness, darkness, dryness, deadness, are
inexcusable faults in a preacher.
11 “The words of the wise
are as goads,” - The connection of this
verse with the preceding is maintained by the fact that the
“acceptable
words,” etc., are words of the wise, emanate from the same
persons.
Herewith he proceeds to characterize them, with especial
reference to his
own work. The goad was a rod with an iron spike, or
sharpened at the end,
used in driving oxen (see Judges 3:31; I Samuel 13:21; Acts 9:5). Words of
wisdom are called goads:
·
because they
rouse to exertion,
·
promote
reflection and action,
·
restrain from
error,
·
impel to right;
if they hurt and
sting, the pain which they inflict is healthful, for
good and not for evil - “and as
nails fastened by the masters of
assemblies,” - The proposition “by” is an interpolation, and the sentence
should run: And like nails fastened [are] the, etc. —
masmeroth, “nails,”
as in Isaiah 41:7. There is much difficulty in explaining
the next words,
בַּעַלִי אַסֻפות
- baale
asuppoth). We
have had similar expressions applied
to possessors in ch.10:11, “lord of the tongue,” and “lord
of wings” (ch.10:20);
and analogy might lead us to apply the phrase here to persons, and not things; but
in Isaiah 41:15 we find a threshing-instrument termed “lord
of teeth;” and in
II Samuel 5:20 a town
is called Baal-Perazim, “Lord of breaches;” so we must
be guided by other
considerations in our exposition. The Septuagint, taking the
whole sentence
together, and regarding baals as a
preposition, renders, “As nails
firmly planted, (οι{ παρᾶ τῶν συνθεμάτων
ἐδόθησαν ἐκ ποιμένος
ἑνός –
hoi para ton sunthematon edothaesan ek poimenos
enos – which
from the
collections were given from one shepherd.”
Schleusher
takes οι{ παρὰ τῶν συνθεμάτων to
mean, “Ii quibus munus
datum
erat collectionem faciendi,”
i.e. the author, of
collections. The Vulgate has,
Verba… quae per magistrorum consilium data sunt a pastore uno. The
“masters of
assemblies” can only be the chiefs of some
learned conclaves,
like the great synagogue supposed to exist in the time of
Ezra and later.
It seems best to
take the word translated “assemblies”
as denoting collections,
not of people, but of proverbs; and the compound phrase
would thus mean
proverbs of an excellent character, the best of their sort
gathered together in writing.
Such words are well compared to nails; they are no longer
floating loosely about,
they are fixed in the
memory, they secure other knowledge,
and, though they are
separate utterances, they have a certain unity and purpose.
Nails are often used
proverbially as emblems of what is fixed and unalterable – “which
are given from
one shepherd.” All these words of the wise, collections,
etc., proceed from one
source, or are set forth by one authority. Who is this
shepherd? Some say that he is
the archisynagogus, the
president of the assemblies of wise men, to whose
authority all these public utterances are subjected. But we
do not know that
such supervision existed or was exercised at the time when Koheleth
wrote; and, as we saw above, there is probably no reference
to any such
assemblies in the passage. The
“one
shepherd” is doubtless JEHOVAH,
who is called the
Shepherd of Israel, who feeds His people like a flock, etc.
(see Genesis 48:15; 49:24; Psalm 23:1; 80:1). The appellation is
here used as concinnous with the
thought of the ox-goad, intimating that
God watches and leads His people like a tender shepherd and
a skilful
farmer. This is an important claim to inspiration. All
these varied
utterances, whatever form they take, whether his own or his
predecessor’s,
are outcomes of wisdom, and
proceed from Him who is only wise,
Almighty God. It
is no disparagement of this work to imply that it is not
the production of the true Solomon; Koheleth
is ready to avow himself the
writer, and yet claims a hearing as being equally moved by
heavenly
influence. It is like Paul’s assertion (I Corinthians
7:40), “I
think
that I also have the
Spirit of God.”
he
Religious Thinker and Teacher (vs. 9-11)
The author of this book was himself a profound thinker and
an earnest
teacher, and it is evident that his great aim was to use his gifts
of
observation, meditation, and discourse for the enlightenment and the
spiritual profit of all whom his words might reach. Taught in the
quiet of
his
heart by the Spirit of the Eternal, he labored, by the presentation of
truth and the implant of piety, to promote the religious life
among his
fellow-men. His aim as he himself conceived it, his methods as
practiced by
him
in his literary productions, are deserving of the attentive consideration
and
the diligent imitation of those who are called upon to use thought and
speech for the spiritual good of their fellow-creatures. Words
are the
utterance of the convictions and the desires of the inner nature,
and when
spoken deliberately and in public they involve a peculiar
responsibility.
·
THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER SHOULD BE THE
EXPRESSION OF WISDOM. They should not be thrown off carelessly,
but should be the fruit of deep study and meditation. For the
most part,
they should embody either original thought, or thought which
the teacher
should have assimilated and made part of his own nature, and
tested in his
own individual experience. They should be the utterance of
knowledge
rather than of opinion; and they should be set forth in the order
which
comes from reflection, and not in an incoherent, desultory, and
unconnected form.
·
THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER SHOULD BE
WORDS OF UPRIGHTNESS. In order to this they must be the utterance
of sincere conviction; they must harmonize with moral intuitions;
they must
be such as consequently appeal to the same conscience in the
hearer or
reader, which approves them in the speaker or writer. Crafty
arguments,
specious and sophistical appeals, sentimental
absurdities, do not fulfill these
conditions, and for them there is no place in the
Christian preacher’s
discourses, in the volumes of the Christian author.
·
THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER SHOULD BE
WORDS OF PERSUASIVENESS. The author of Ecclesiastes commends
“proverbs” and
“words of delight.” Harshness, coldness,
contemptuousness, severity, are unbecoming to the expositor of a religion
of compassion and love. A winning manner.,
a sympathizing spirit,
language and illustrations adapted to the intelligence, the habits,
the
circumstances of auditors, go far to open up a way to their hearts. No
doubt there is a side of danger to this requirement; the
pleasing word may
be the substitute for the truth instead of its vehicle, and
the preacher may
simply be as one that playeth upon a
very pleasant instrument. But the
example of our Lord Jesus, “the great Teacher,” abundantly shows how
winning, gracious, condescending, and touching language is
divinely
adapted to reach the hearts of men.
·
THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER SHOULD BE
CONVINCING AND EFFECTIVE. The goads that pierce, the nails that
penetrate and bind, are images of the language of him who beateth not the
air. Let the aim be kept steadily before the eye, and the mark
will not be
missed. Let the blow be delivered strongly and decisively, and
the work
will be well done.
Ø
The understanding has
to be convinced,
Ø
the conscience
awakened,
Ø
the heart touched,
Ø
the evil passions
stilled,
Ø
the endeavor and
determination aroused;
and the Word is, by the accompanying energy of the Spirit of
God,
ABLE TO EFFECT
ALL THIS! “Who is sufficient for these things?”
(II Corinthians 2:16)
·
THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER MAY BE THE
MEANS OF RELIGIOUS, SPIRITUAL, IMPERISHABLE BLESSING.
If his word be the Word of God,
who commissions and strengthens every
faithful herald and ambassador, then he may comfort himself with
the
promise, “My Word shall not return unto me void; it shall
accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent
it.”
(Isaiah 55:11)
In the last three verses the author warns against
profitless study, and gives the
final conclusion to which the whole discussion leads.
12 “And further, by these,
my son, be admonished;” - rather, and
what is more than these, be warned. Besides all that has been said, take
this additional and important caution, viz. what follows.
The clause,
however, has been differently interpreted, as if it said,
“Do not attempt to
go beyond the words of the sages mentioned above; or, “Be
content with
my counsels; they will suffice for your instruction.” This
seems to be the
meaning of the Authorized Version. The personal address,
“my son,” so
usual in the Book of Proverbs, is used by Koheleth in this place alone. It
does not necessarily imply relationship (as if the
pseudo-Solomon was
appealing to Rehoboam), but
rather the condition of pupil and learner,
sitting at the feet of his teacher and friend – “of
making many books there
is no end;” - This
could not be said in the time of the historical Solomon,
even if we reckon his own voluminous works (I Kings
4:32-33); for
we know of no other writers of that date, and it is
tolerably certain that
none existed in
referring to extraneous heathen productions, of which, in
our view, there is
no evidence that he possessed any special knowledge.
Doubtless many
thinkers in his time had treated of the problems discussed
in his volume in a
far different manner from that herein employed, and it
seemed good to
utter a warning against the unprofitable reading of such
productions.
Juvenal speaks of the insatiable passion for writing in his
day (‘Sat.,’ 7:51)
“Tenet insanabile multos
Scribendi cacoethes et aegro in corde senestit;”
which Dryden renders:
“The
charms of poetry our souls bewitch;
The curse
of writing is an endless itch.”
As in taking food it is not the quantity which a man eats,
but what he
digests and assimilates, that nourishes him, so in reading,
the rule, Non
multa, sed multum,
must be observed; the gorging the
literary appetite on
food wholesome or
not impedes the healthy mental process, and produces
no intellectual
growth or strength. The obvious lesson drawn by spiritual
writers is that Christians should make God’s Word their
chief study,
“turning away
from the profane babblings and oppositions of the
knowledge which
is falsely so called” (I Timothy 6:20).
For as St.
Augustine says (‘De Doctr.
Christ.’), “Whereas in Holy Scripture you will
find everything which has been profitably said elsewhere,
to a far greater
extent you will therein find what has been nowhere else
enunciated, but
which has been taught solely by the marvelous sublimity and
the equally
marvelous humility of the Word of God.”- “much study is
a weariness of
the flesh.” The two clauses in the latter part of the verse are
co-ordinate.
Thus the Septuagint, Τοῦ ποιῆσαι
βιβλία πολλὰ οὐκ ἔστι
περασμὸς καὶ μελέτη
πολλὴ κόπωσις ("weariness") σαρκός.– Tou poiaesai biblia polla ouk
esti
perasmos kai meletae pollae koposis - The word for
“study” (lahag) is not
found elsewhere in the Old Testament, nor in the
Talmud, but the above meaning is sustained by its
connection with an
Arabic word signifying “to be eager for.” The Vulgate (like the Septuagint)
renders it meditatio. You
may weary your brain, exhaust your strength, by
protracted study or meditation on many books, but you will
not necessarily
thereby gain any insight into the problems of the universe
or guidance for
daily life. Marcus Aurelius dissuades from much reading:
“Would you
examine your whole composition?” he says; “pray, then let
your library
alone; what need you puzzle your thoughts and over-grasp
yourself?”
Again, “As for books, never be over-eager about them; such
a fondness for
reading will be apt to perplex your mind, and make you die unpleased”
(‘Medit.,’ 2:2,
3, Collier).
The Function of the Teacher (vs. 9-12)
1. The wise man,
because he is wise (v. 9), teaches. There is no better,
no
other thing that he can do, both for his own sake and for the sake of his
fellow-men. To know and not to
speak is a sin and a cruelty, when men are
“perishing for lack of knowledge.” To know and to speak is an elevated
joy
and a sacred duty; we cannot but speak the things we have learned of
God, the truth as it is in Jesus. (Acts 4:20; Ephesians 4:21)
2. The wise man also takes what measures he can to
perpetuate the truth
he
knows; he wants to preserve it, to hand it down to another time; he
therefore “writes down the words with truth and
uprightness” (v. 10); or,
if
he cannot do this, he labors to put his thought into those parabolic or
proverbial forms which will not only be preserved in the memory of
those
to
whom he utters them, but can be readily repeated, and will become
embedded in the traditions and, ultimately, into the literature of
his country
(v. 9).
3. The wise man restrains
his literary ardor within due bounds (v. 12).
Otherwise he not only causes a drug in the market, but
seriously injures his
own
health. He knows it is better to do a little and do that thoroughly, than
to
do much and do it hastily and imperfectly. But what is the teacher’s
function, his sacred duty, as related to the people of his charge
or his
acquaintance?
·
TO SEARCH DILIGENTLY FOR THE TRUTH. It is for him “to
ponder and seek out,” or to “compose with care and thought”
(Cox’s
translation). Divine truth, in its
various aspects and applications, is
manifold
and profound; it
demands our most patient study, our most reverent
inquiry; we should gain help
from all possible sources, more particularly
should we seek it from the
Spirit and from the Word of God.
·
TO INTEREST AND TO CONSOLE. The Preacher sought to find out
“acceptable” or
“comfortable” words — “words of delight” (literally). This
is not the main duty of the teacher, but it is one to which
he should
seriously address himself.
Ø
A teacher may be
speaking in the highest strain, and may be uttering the
deepest wisdom, but if his words are unintelligible and,
therefore,
unacceptable, he will make no way and do no good. We must speak in the
language of those whom we address. Our thoughts may be far higher
than
theirs, but our language must be on their level — at any rate, on
the level
of their understanding.
Ø
The teacher will do
wisely to spend much time and strength in
consoling; for
in this world of trouble and sorrow no words are more often
or more urgently needed than “comfortable words.”
·
TO RETAIN. “The words
of the ‘masters of assemblies’ are like
stakes (nails) which the shepherds drive into the ground when
they pitch
their tents;” i.e. they are instruments of fastening or
of securing; they act
as things which keep the cords in their place, and keep the
roof over the
head of the traveler. It is one function of the Christian teacher
— and a
most valuable one — so to speak that men shall retain their
hold on the
great verities of the faith,
Ø
on the true and real Fatherhood of God,
Ø
on the atonement of Jesus Christ,
Ø
on the openness of the kingdom of heaven to every seeking
soul,
Ø
on the
blessedness of self-forgetful love,
Ø
on the offer of eternal life to all who believe, etc.
·
TO INSPIRE. At other
times the Preacher’s words are “as goads” that
urge the cattle to other fields. To comfort and to secure is
much, but it is
not all that they who speak for Christ have to do. They have
to illumine
and to enlarge men’s views, to shed fresh light on the sacred
page, to invite
those that hear them to accompany them to fields of thought
hitherto
untrodden, to induce them to think and study for themselves, to unveil the
beauties and glories of the wisdom “that remains to be revealed,”
to inspire
them with a yearning desire and with a full purpose of heart to
enter upon
works of helpfulness and usefulness; he has to “provoke
them to love and
to good works.” (Hebrews
10:24)
·
“
Ø
Pushed to excess,
it becomes hurtful to the body. “Much
study is a
weariness to the flesh,” and
as a consequence, reflexively, injurious to the
mind.
Ø
Pursued in moderation, it first enlightens
the understanding, next
quickens the whole spiritual nature, and finally tends to stimulate
the
health of the body. “A man’s wisdom maketh
his face to shine”
(ch. 8:1).
·
“WRITING MAKES A CORRECT MAN.” If professional authorship
in the Preacher’s day was a nuisance, much more is it so in
ours. Yet in
book-writing lie advantages as well as disadvantages. If, on the one
band,
the multiplication of books often signifies nothing more than
an
accumulation of literary rubbish, and a terrible infliction to those
who must
read them, on the other hand it
secures the preservation and distribution of
much valuable knowledge; while if the knowledge is not valuable, the
formal deposition of it in a book, which may be quietly consigned
to a
library, secures that it shall not roam at large, to the
disquieting of peace-
loving minds. But, apart from the multiplication of volumes, the
habit of
setting down one’s thoughts in writing is attended by distinct
advantages.
It promotes:
Ø
Clearness of thought. One who intends to write, more especially for the
information of his fellows, must know what he purposes to say. The
effort
of putting one’s ideas on paper imparts to them a
definiteness of outline
they might not otherwise possess.
Ø
Order in arrangement. No writer will, voluntarily, fling his thoughts
together into a confused heap, but will strive to render them as
clear and
luminous as possible. If for no other reason than this, the
practice of
preparing for public speech by means of writing is to be commended.
Ø
Brevity in expression. If brevity is the soul of wit, and verbosity the
garment of dullness, then the sure way of attaining to the former,
and
avoiding the latter, is to write.
·
“SPEAKING MAKES A READY MAZE.” “The words of the wise
are as goads, and as nails.” Though designed to apply to the wise man’s
“written
words,” the clause may be accepted as correct also with reference
to his “spoken words.” Like the former, the latter are
as goads and nails.
Ø
They stimulate. The words of a practiced speaker, always supposing him
to be a wise man, incite the minds and quicken the hearts of
his hearer.
The true preacher should be progressive,
not only in his own discovery
of truth, but in conducting his hearers into fresh fields of
instruction,
leading them out into “regions beyond,” causing them to “forget
the things that are behind, and reach forward unto those
things that
are before” (Philippians 3:13) persuading them to “leave the first
principles of Christ, and to go on unto perfection.” (Hebrews
6:1)
Ø
They abide. They lodge themselves in the understanding and
affections so firmly that they cannot be removed. (God’s work
by the Holy Spirit - CY - 2021)
Facility in arousing and fixing
conviction can only be attained by diligent and wise cultivation of
the art of speech.
The
Scholar’s Sorrow (v. 12)
In these closing paragraphs of his treatise the writer reveals
his own
feelings, and draws upon his own experience. It is interesting to
observe
how
largely study was pursued and literature cultivated at the remote
period when this book was written; and it is obvious to remark
how far
more strikingly these reflections apply to an age like our own, and to a
state of society such as that in which we live. The diffusion of
education
tends to the multiplication of books and to the increase of the
learned
professions; whilst growing civilization fosters the habit of introspection,
and
consequently of that melancholy whose earlier and simpler symptoms
are
observable in the language of this touching passage.
·
STUDY AND LITERATURE ARE A NECESSITY OF EDUCATED
HUMAN NATURE.
As soon as men begin to reflect, they begin to
embody their reflections in a literary form, whether of poetry or
of prose.
A native impulse to verbal
expression of thought and feeling, or the desire
of sympathy and applause, or the calculating regard for
maintenance, leads
to the devotion of ever-growing bodies of men to the literary
life.
Literature is an unmistakable
“note” of human culture.
·
STUDY AND LITERATURE ARE, BROADLY SPEAKING,
PROMOTIVE OF THE GENERAL GOOD. The few toil that the many
may profit. Knowledge, thought, art, right feeling, liberty,
and peace, are
all indebted to the great thinkers and authors whose names are
held in
honor among men. Doubtless there are those who misuse their gifts, who
by their writings pander to vice, incite to crime, and
encourage irreligion.
(In our day pornography
- CY - 2021) But the bulk of literature, proceeding
from the better class of minds, is rather contributive to the furtherance of
goodness and of the best interests of
men. Books are among the greatest
of human blessings. (Even God has sent us HIS BOOK! - CY - 2021)
·
STUDY AND LITERATURE HAVE BEEN CONSECRATED TO
THE SERVICE OF RELIGION. We have but to refer to the Hebrew
Scriptures
themselves in proof of this. There is
nothing more marvelous in
history than the production of the Books of Moses, the Psalms, and
the
prophetic writings, at the epochs from which they date. Lawgivers,
seers,
psalmists, and sages live yet in their peerless writings; some of
them
inimitable in literary form, all of them instinct with moral power.
The New
Testament furnishes a yet more
marvelous illustration of the place which
literature holds in the religious life of humanity. Men have sneered
at the
supposition that a book revelation could be possible; but their sneers
are
answered by the facts. Whatever view we take of inspiration, we are
constrained to allow for human gifts of authorship. To make up the
sacred
volume there are “many books,” and every one of them is the fruit
of
“much study.”
·
STUDY AND LITERATURE ARE CULTIVATED AT THE
EXPENSE OF THE EXHAUSTION AND SORROW OF THE
PRODUCER AND STUDENT.
Ø
There is weariness of
the flesh arising from the close connection
between body and mind. The brain, being the central physical organ
of
language, is, in a sense, the instrument of thought; and,
consequently,
brain-weariness, nerve-exhaustion, are familiar symptoms among the
ardent students to whom we are all indebted for the discovery,
the
formulation, and the communication of truth and knowledge.
Ø
But there is a mental
sorrow and distress which deeper thinkers cannot
always escape, and by which some among them are oppressed. The
vast
range of what in itself can be known is such as to strike
the mind with
dismay. Science, history, philosophy, etc., have made progress so
marvelous, that no single finite mind can embrace, in the course of
a life
of study, however assiduous, more than a minute department,
so as to
know all of it that may be known; and a highly educated man Is
content
“to
know something of everything, and every thing of something.
Ø
Then beyond the realm
accessible to human inquiry lies the vaster realm
of what cannot be known — what is altogether outside our ken.
Ø
It must be borne in
mind, further, that, whilst man’s intellect is limited,
his spiritual yearnings are insatiable: no bounds can be set to his
aspirations; his nature is akin to
that of GOD HIMSELF! Thus it is
that sorrow often shades the scholar’s brow, and that to the
weariness
of the flesh there is added the sadness of the spirit, that
finds, in the
memorable language of Pascal, the larger the circle of the known,
the vaster is the circumference of the unknown that stretches
beyond.
The teaching of
the whole book is now gathered up in two weighty sentences.
13 “Let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter:” - The
Revised Version gives, This is the end of the matter;
all hath been heard.
The Septuagint has, Τέλος λόγου
τὸ πᾶν ἄκουε – Telos logou to pan
akoue – the end
of the matter, the sum,
hear thou;” Vulgate, Finem
loquendi pariter omnes
audiamus.
Another rendering is suggested,
“The conclusion of the matter is this, that [God] taketh knowledge of all things;”
literally, “everything is heard.” Perhaps the passage is
best translated, The end
of the matter, when all is heard, is this.
The first word of this verse, soph,
“END” is printed in the Hebrew text in large characters, in order to draw
attention to the importance of what is coming. And its significance is
rightly
estimated. These two verses
guard against very possible misconception,
and give the author’s real and mature conclusion. When this is
received, all
that need be said has been uttered - “Fear God (ha-Elohim),
and keep His
commandments:” - This injunction is the practical result of the whole
discussion. Amid the difficulties of the moral government
of the world,
amid the complications of society, varying and opposing
interests and
claims, one duty remained
plain and unchanging — the duty of
PIETY AND OBEDIENCE!
- “for
this is the whole duty of man.”
The Hebrew is literally, “This is
every man,” which is explained to
mean,
“THIS IS EVERY MAN’S DUTY!” Septuagint, Ὅτι τοῦτο πᾶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος -
Hoti touto pas ho anthropos – this
is the whole duty
of man - Vulgate,
Hoc est enim omnis homo. For this
man was made and
placed in the world; this is his real object, the chief good which he has
to seek, and WHICH ALONE WILL SECURE CONTENTMENT
and HAPPINESS! The obligation is put in the most
general terms as
applicable to the whole human family; for God is not the
God of the
Jews only, but of Gentiles also (Romans 3:29). The
great duty just named
is here grounded upon the
solemn truth of A FUTURE JUDGMENT!
God “hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge
the world in
Righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof
He
hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
Him
from the dead” (Acts
17:31).
14 “For God shall
bring every work into judgment,”
- It will
then be seen
whether this obligation has been “ATTENDED TO OR NOT!” The
judgment has already been mentioned (ch.11:9); it is here
more emphatically set
forth as a certain fact and a strong motive
power. The old theory of earthly
retribution had been shown to break down under the
experience of practical life;
the anomalies which perplexed men’s minds could only be
solved and remedied
by a future judgment under the eye of the OMNISCIENT AND UNERRING
GOD! - “with every secret thing,” - The Syriac adds, “and manifest thing.” The
Septuagint renders, “with EVERYTHING that
has been overlooked” — a very
terrible, but true, thought. The doctrine that the most secret things
shall be revealed in
the dies irae is
often brought forward in the New Testament, which makes
plain the personal nature of this final investigation,
which the earlier
Scriptures invest with a more general character (see Luke
12:3; Romans 2:16;
14:12; I Corinthians
4:5). So this wonderful book closes with the
enunciation of a truth found nowhere else so clearly defined
in the Old
Testament, and thus opens the way to the clearer light shed upon the awful
future by the revelation of the gospel.
The Conclusion of the Whole Matter
or
The Whole Duty of Man
Ø
The fear of God. Not servile or guilty, but
o
reverential, such as the Divine
greatness and glory are fitted
to inspire (Deuteronomy
28:58; Psalm 89:7; Matthew 10:28;
Hebrews 12:28);
Ø
filial, such as a child might cherish towards a parent (Psalm
34:11;
Hebrews 12:9).
Ø
The service of God. Not that merely of external worship (Deuteronomy
6:13; Psalm 96:9; Hebrews
10:25), but that of inward devotion
(John 4:24), which
expresses itself in the homage of the heart and life,
or in the keeping of God’s
commandments — in particular of the three
named by the Preacher, charity,
industry, hilarity.
Ø
By God. He is the
Judge of all the earth (Genesis
18:25);
the Judge of all (Hebrews 12:28), who
will yet judge the
world in
righteousness (Acts 17:31).
Ø
In the future. Not merely here upon the earth, but also hereafter
in the world to
come (Daniel 7:10; Matthew 11:22;
16:27;
I Corinthians 4:5; II
Timothy 4:1).
Ø
Of works, Not of
nations or communities, but of individuals
(Mark 8:38; Romans 2:5-6);
not of open actions merely, but of
secret things as well (Luke
12:2; Romans 2:16; I Corinthians 3:13; 4:5);
not of good deeds only, but also of evil (II Corinthians 5:10; II Peter
2:10).
The Last Word (v. 13)
“Fear God, and keep His commandments.” Both the inward
disposition and the
outward conduct are covered by the exhortation.
In the passage with which the Book of Ecclesiastes
concludes, the clue is
found which leads the speaker out of the labyrinth of skepticism
in which
for
a time he had gone astray. He at last emerges from the dark forest in
which he had long wandered, and finds himself under the stars of
heaven,
and
sees in the eastern sky the promise of the coming day. It is true that
from time to time in his earlier meditations he had retained, even if it
were
with but a faltering grasp, the truth which he now announces confidently
and
triumphantly. “It had mitigated his pessimism and hallowed his
eudemonism (a
system of ethics that bases moral value on the likelihood
that good actions will produce happiness) ch. 7:18; 8:12; 11:9. And it
must be taken
as canceling
much of what he had said about the vanity of human life. Over
against his somber thoughts about one fate awaiting both the
righteous and
the
wicked, the wise and the foolish (ch. 9:2), and the
leveling
power of death, that makes no distinction between man and the
brute
(ch. 3:18-22), and shakes one’s
faith in the dignity and worth
of
our nature, is set his final verdict. God
does distinguish, not only
between men and the brutes, but between good men and bad. The
efforts
we
make to obey Him, or the indifference towards the claims of
righteousness we may have manifested, are not fruitless; they result in
the
formation of a character that merits and will receive His favor, or
of one
that will draw down His displeasure. The nearness of God to the individual
soul is the great
truth upon which our author rests at last,
and in his
statement of it we have a positive advance upon previous
revelations, and
an
anticipation of the fuller light of the New Testament teaching. God, he
would have us believe, does not deal with men as nations or classes,
but as
individuals. He treats them, whatever may have been their surroundings
or
national connections, as personally accountable for the disposition and
character they have
cultivated. His judgment of them lies in
the future, and
all,
without distinction of persons, will be subject to it. In these points,
therefore, the writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes transcends the
teaching of
the
Old Testament, and approximates to that of Christ and the apostles.
The present life, with all its inequalities, the adversity which often besets
the righteous, and the prosperity which the wicked often enjoy, IS NOT
THE WHOLE OF
EXISTEN CE, but there is A WORLD TO COME in
which the righteous will openly receive the Divine favor, and
the wicked the due
reward of their deeds. The blessings which were promised to the
nation that was
faithful to the Divine Law will be enjoyed by each individual who
has had the
fear of God before his eyes. Judgment will go by character, and not by
outward
name or profession (Matthew 7:21-23; Revelation 20:12). We
have, therefore, here a great exhortation founded on truths which cannot
be
shaken, and calculated to guide each one who obeys it to that goal of
happiness which all desire to reach. “Fear God, and keep His
commandments.” Both the inward
disposition and the outward conduct are
covered by the exhortation.
THE “FEAR OF GOD.” This is the root from which the goodly leaves
and choice fruit of a
religious life will spring. If the word “fear”
had been
used in this passage only,
and we had not been at liberty to
understand it in any other than
its ordinary sense, one would be forced to
admit that such a low motive
could not be the mainspring of a vigorous
and healthy religious life. But
all through the Scriptures the phrase, “fear
of
God,” is used as synonymous with a genuine, heartfelt service of
Him, and
as rather indicating a careful
observance of the obligations we as creatures
owe to Him, than a mere dread of
His anger at disobedience. It is not to be
denied that fear, in the ordinary sense of the word, is reasonably a
motive
by which sin may be
restrained, but it is no stimulus to that kind of service
which we owe to
God. “I thank God, and with joy I mention
it,” says Sir
Thomas Browne, “I was never
afraid of hell, nor ever grew pale at the
description of that place. I
have so fixed my contemplations on heaven,
that I have almost forgot the
idea of hell; and am afraid rather to lose the
joys of one than endure the
misery of the other. To be deprived of them is
a perfect hell, and needs
methinks no addition to complete our afflictions.
That terrible term hath never
detained me from sin, nor do I owe any good
action to the name thereof. I
fear God, yet am not afraid of Him; His
mercies make me ashamed of my
sins, before His judgments afraid thereof.
These are the forced and
secondary methods of His wisdom, which He useth
but as the last remedy, and upon
provocation — a course rather to
deter
the wicked than incite the virtuous to His worship. I can hardly
think there
was ever any scared into heaven:
they go the fairest way to heaven that
would serve God without a hell.
Other mercenaries, that crouch unto him
in fear of hell, though they
term themselves the servants, are indeed but the
slaves, of the Almighty” (‘Rel. Med.,’ 1:52). Plainly, therefore, when the
fear of God is made equivalent
to true religion, it must include many other
feelings than that dread which sinners experience at the thought of the
laws they have broken, and which may consist
with hatred of God and of
righteousness. It must be a summary of all the emotions which belong to a
religions life — reverence at
the thought of GOD’S INFINITE
MAJESTY,
HOLINESS, AND
JUSTICE, gratitude for His loving-kindness and tender
mercy, confidence in His wisdom,
power, and faithfulness, submission to His
will, and delight in communion
with Him. If fear is to be taken as a prominent
emotion in such a life, we are
not to understand by it the terror of a slave,
who would willingly, if he
could, break away from his owner, but the
loving reverence
of a child, who is anxious to avoid everything that
would grieve his
father’s heart. The one kind of fear
is the mark of an
imperfect obedience (I John
4:18); the other is the proof of a disposition which
calls forth God’s favor and
blessing (Psalm 103:13).
“KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.” This is the outward
manifestation of the disposition
of the heart, and supplies a test by which
the genuineness of a religious
profession may be tried. These two elements
are needed to constitute
holiness:
Ø
a God-fearing
spirit and
Ø
a blameless
life.
If either be wanting the nature
is out of balance, and very grave defects
will soon appear, by which all
of positive good that has been attained will
be either overshadowed or
nullified. If there be not devotion of the heart
to God, no zeal and fidelity in
discharging the ordinary duties of life
will make up for the
loss. The
reverence due to Him as our Creator —
gratitude for His
benefits, penitent confession of sins and shortcomings, and
faith in His mercy
— cannot be willfully omitted by us without a
depravation of
our whole character. And, on the other
side, an
acknowledgment of Him that does
not lead us to “keep His
commandments” is
equally fatal (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
13:25-27).
The Preacher appends two weighty considerations to induce
us to attend to
his exhortation to “fear
God, and keep His commandments.”
So would we interpret his
words, “For this is the whole of man.” The word
“duty” is suggested by our translators to complete the sense, but
it is not
comprehensive enough. “To fear God and keep His commandments is
not only the
whole duty, BUT THE WHOLE HONOR AND INTEREST
AND HAPPINESS OF MAN! The quest with which the book has been
largely concerned is that
for happiness, for the summum bonum, in which alone
the soul can find satisfaction,
and here it comes to an end. The discovery is
made of that
which has been so long and so painfully sought after.
In a pious and
holy life and conversation REST IS FOUND; ALL
ELSE IS BUT VANITY
AND VEXATION OF SPIRIT!
JUDGMENT (v. 14). “For God shall bring
every work into judgment,
with every secret
thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
NOTHING WILL BE
OMITTED OR FORGOTTEN! . THE
JUDGE WILL BE ONE
WHO IS ABSOLUTELY JUST AND
WISE, who will be free from all partiality; AND HIS SENTENCE
WILL BE FINAL! If, therefore, we have no such regard for our
own
happiness in the present life as
would move us to secure it by love and
service of God, we may still
find a check upon self-will and self-indulgence
in the thought that we shall have to give an account of our:
Ø
thoughts,
Ø
words, and
Ø
deeds
to One from whose
sentence THERE IS
NO APPEAL!
Religion, Righteousness, and
Retribution (vs. 13-14)
After all the questionings and discussions, the doubts and
perplexities, the
counsels and precepts, of this treatise, the author winds up by
restating the
first, the most elementary, and the most important, principles
of true
religion. There are, he felt, in this world many things which we
cannot
fathom, many things which we cannot reconcile with our
convictions and
hopes; but there are some things concerning which we have no
doubts, and
these are the things which most nearly concern us personally and
practically. Thoughtful men may weary and distress themselves with
pondering the great problems of existence; but, after all, they, in
common
with the plainest and most illiterate, must come back to THE ESSENTIALS
OF RELIGIOUS LIFE!
·
THE GREAT SPRING AND
of God, reverence for the Divine character and attributes,
the habit of mind
which views everything in relation to HIM WHO IS ETERNALLY HOLY,
WISE, JUST AND
GOOD! This Book of Ecclesiastes is,
upon this point,
at one with the whole of the Bible and with all deeply based
religion.
We cannot begin with man; we
must find an all-sufficient foundation
for the religious life in God Himself, His nature, and His
Law.
·
THE GREAT EXPRESSION OF RELIGION. This is obedience to the
Divine commandments.’ Our convictions and emotions find their scope
when directed towards a holy and merciful God; our will must bend to the
moral authority of the eternal Lord. Feelings and professions are in vain
unless they are supported by corresponding actions. It is true that
mere
external compliance is valueless;
acts
must be the manifestation of spiritual
loyalty and love. But, on the other hand, sentiment that evaporates in
words, that does not issue in deeds, is disregarded in the court
of heaven.
Where God is honored, and His
will is cheerfully performed, there the
whole duty of the Christian man is fulfilled. It is the work
of the mediation
of the Divine Savior, of the operations of the Divine
Spirit, to
bring about
such a religious and moral life.
·
THE GREAT TEST OF RELIGION. For this we are bidden to look
forward to the future. Many things, which are significant as to
the religious
state of a man, are now hidden. They must be brought to light;
secret
deeds, alike of holiness and of iniquity, must be made manifest
before the
throne of judgment. Here, in this world, where men judge by
appearances,
the wicked sometimes get credit for goodness which does not really belong
to them, and the good are often maligned and misunderstood.
But,
in the
general judgment hereafter, the secrets of all
hearts shall be revealed, and
men shall be judged, not according to what they seem to be,
but according
to what they actually are. With this solemn warning the Preacher closes his
book. And there is no person, in whatsoever state of life, to whom this
warning does not apply. Well will it be for us if this earthly life be passed
under the perpetual influence of this expectation;
if the prospect of the
future
judgment inspire us to watchfulness, to
diligence, and to prayer.
Divine Requirement and Human Response
(vs. 13-14)
What is the conclusion of this inquiry? What result may be
gained from
these inconsistencies of thought and variations of feeling?
Deeper down
than anything else is the fact that there are:
·
TWO GREAT DIVINE REQUIREMENTS. God demands of us:
Ø
Reverence. We are to “fear God.” That is certain.
But let us not mistake
this “fear” for a very different thing with which it may
be confounded.
It is not a servile
dread, such as that which is entertained by ignorant
devotees of their deities. Only too often worship rises no higher
than
that; it is an abject dread
of the malignant spiritual power. This is both
a falsity and an injury. It is founded on a
complete misconception of
the Divine, and it reacts most hurtfully upon the mind
of the worshipper,
demoralizing and degrading. What God asks of us is a
well-grounded,
holy reverence; the honor which weakness pays to power,
which he
who receives everything pays to him who gives everything,
which
intelligence pays to wisdom, which a moral and spiritual nature
pays
to rectitude, to goodness, to love, to absolute and
unspotted worth.
Ø
Obedience. We must “keep His commandments;” i.e. not
only
o
abstain from those
particular transgressions which He has
forbidden, and:
o
practice those virtues
which He has positively enjoined; but also
o
carefully study His
holy will in regard to all things, and strive
earnestly and patiently to do it. This will embrace, not
only
all outward actions observable
by man, but all the inward
thoughts of the mind, and all
the hidden feelings and purposes
of the soul. It
includes the bringing of everything of every kind
for which we are personally responsible “into obedience to the
will of Christ.” (II Corinthians 10:5) It requires of us rectitude
in every relation that we sustain to others, as well as in
all that
we owe to ourselves. The text suggests:
·
THE TWO GREAT REASONS FOR OUR RESPONSE. One is that
such reverent obedience is:
Ø
Our supreme obligation. “This is the whole duty of man,” or,
rather,
“This it behooveth
all men to do.” This is what all men are in sacred
duty bound to do. There is no other obligation which is not slight and
small in comparison with
this. The child owes much to his father, the
pupil to his teacher, the
beneficiary to his benefactor, the one who
has been rescued to his deliverer; but not one of
these obligations,
nor all added together, expresses anything that approaches the
indebtedness under which we rest to God. To him from whom we
came, and “in whom we live and move and have our being,”
(Acts 17:28) who is the one
ultimate Source of all our blessings and of
all our powers, who has poured out upon us an immeasurable
wealth
of pure and patient love;
to the gracious Father of our spirit; to the
gracious Lord of our life; to the holy and the benignant One, — to Him
it does indeed become all men to render a reverent
obedience. The
other reason why we should
respond is found in:
Ø
Our supreme wisdom. “For God will bring every work to judgment,
with every secret thing..”God is now
bringing all that we are and do
under His own ‘Divine judgment, and is now approving or
disapproving.
He is also so governing the
world that our thoughts and actions are
practically judged, and either rewarded or punished, before we
pass the border-line of death. But while this is true, and
while there is
much more of truth in it than is often supposed, yet much is
left to the
future in this great matter of judgment. There are “secret
things” to
be exposed (Luke 12:2-3); there are undiscovered crimes to be
made
known; there are iniquities that have escaped even the eye of
the
perpetrators, who “knew not what they did,” to be
revealed. There
is a great account to be settled. And because it is
true that “of Christ,
that every one of us may receive the things done in his body”
(II Corinthians 5:10) because “God will
judge the secrets of all hearts”
(Romans 8:20), because sin in every shape
moves toward exposure
and penalty, while righteousness in all its forms travels toward its
recognition and reward,
therefore let the spirit be reverent in
presence of its Maker, let the life be filled with purity and
worth, with
integrity and goodness, let man be the dutiful child of his Father
who
is in heaven.
The Epilogue
(vs. 8-12)
The sentence, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!”
with which the Book of
Ecclesiastes opened, is found here at its close. And
doubtless to many .it
will seem disappointing that it should follow so hard upon the expression
of
belief in immortality. Surely we might say that the nobler view of life
reached by the Preacher should have precluded his return to the
pessimistic
opinions and feelings which we can scarcely avoid associating with
the
words, “Vanity of
vanities; all is vanity!” But on second thoughts the
words are not contradictory of the hope for the future which v.
7
expresses. The fact that Christians can use the words as descriptive
of the
worthlessness of things that
are seen and temporal, as compared with those
that are
unseen and eternal, forbids our
concluding that they are necessarily
the
utterance of a despairing pessimism. A great deal depends upon the
tone in which the words are uttered; and the pious tone of the writer’s
mind, as revealed in the concluding passages of his book, would incline us
to
believe that the sentence, “all is vanity,” is equivalent to that in the
Gospel, “What shall it profit a man, if he gain the
whole world, and lose his
own soul?”
(Mark 8:36) No
one can deny that the ‘De Imitatione
Christi’
(the imitation of Christ) is a noble expression of certain aspects of Christian
teaching with regard to life. And yet in the very first chapter of
it we have
these words of Solomon’s quoted and expanded. “Vanity of
vanities; and
all
is vanity beside loving God and serving Him alone.
·
It is vanity,
therefore, to
seek after riches which must perish, and to trust in them.
·
It is vanity also to lay one’s self out for honors, and to raise
one’s self to a high
station.
·
It is vanity to
follow the desires of the flesh, and to covet
that for
which we
must afterwards be grievously
punished.
·
It is vanity to wish
for long life, and to take little care of leading a good life.
·
It is vanity to mind
only this present life, and not to look forward to those
things which are to come.
·
It is vanity to love
that which passes with all speed, and not to hasten
thither where ever lasting joy abides.”
In the opinion of many eminent critics the eighth verse contains
the concluding
words of the Preacher, and those which follow are an epilogue,
consisting of a
“commendatory attestation” (vs.
9-12), and a summary of the teaching of the
book (vs. 13-14), which justifies its place in the sacred canon. On the
whole,
this seems to be the most reasonable explanation of the passage. It seems
more
likely that the glowing eulogy upon the author was written by
some one else than that
it
came from his own pen; and a somewhat analogous postscript is found in another
book of Holy Scripture, the Gospel of St. John (John 21:24-25). Those who
collected the Jewish Scriptures into one, and drew the line between
canonical and non-canonical literature, may have considered it
advisable to
append this paragraph as a testimony in favor of a book which
contained so
much that was perplexing, and to give a summary (in vs. 13, 14) of what
seemed to them its general teaching. The Preacher, they say, was
gifted
with wisdom over and above his fellows, and taught the people knowledge;
and
for this pondered and investigated and set in order many proverbs or
parables (v. 9). Like the scribe, “who had been made a
disciple to the
kingdom of heaven,” “he
brought forth out of his treasure things new and
old” (Matthew 13:52). Knowledge of the wisdom of the past,
ability to
recognize in it what was most valuable, and to cast it into new
forms and
zeal in the discharge of his sacred office, were all found in him. He sought
to
attract men to wisdom by displaying it in its gracious aspect (compare
Luke 4:22), and to influence them by the sincerity of his
purpose, and
by
the actual truth he brought to light (v. 10). “He aimed to speak at
once words that would please and words which were true — words
which
would be at once goads to the intellect, and yet stakes
that would uphold
and
stay the soul of man, both coming alike from one shepherd” (v. 11,
Bradley). Some of his sayings were calculated to stimulate
men into fresh
fields of thought and new paths of duty, others to confirm them
in the
possession of truths of eternal value and significance. Like the
apostle, he
was
anxious that his readers should no longer be like “children tossed to
and fro,
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
men, in
craftiness, after the wiles of error”
(Ephesians 4:14); but should
“prove all things, and hold fast
that which is good” (1 Thessalonians
5:21).
How much better to study in the school of such a teacher
than to weary
and
perplex one’s self with “science falsely so called” (I
Timothy 6:20),
than to be versed in multitudinous
literature, which dissipates mental energy,
and in which the soul
can find no sure resting-place (v. 12)!
All who set
themselves, or who have been called, to be teachers of men, may find
in the
example of the Preacher guidance as to the motives and aims which
will alone
give them success in their work.
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