1. As @Ec 11:9,10 showed what
youths are to shun, so this verse shows what they are to follow.
Creator--"Remember" that thou art not thine own, but
God's property; for He has created thee (@Ps 100:3). Therefore serve
Him with thy "all" (@Mr 12:30), and with thy best
days, not with the dregs of them (@Pr 8:17 22:6
Jer 3:4 La 3:27). The Hebrew is "Creators," plural, implying the
plurality of persons, as in Genesis 1:26; so Hebrew, "Makers" (@Isa 54:5).
while . . . not--that is, before that (@Pr 8:26) the evil days come;
namely, calamity and old age, when one can no longer serve God, as in youth (@Ec 11:2,8).
no pleasure--of a sensual kind (@2Sa 19:35 Ps 90:10).
Pleasure in God continues to the godly old (@Isa 46:4).
2. Illustrating "the evil days" (@Jer 13:16).
"Light," "sun," &c., express prosperity;
"darkness," pain and calamity (@Isa 13:10 30:26).
clouds . . . after . . . rain--After rain
sunshine (comfort) might be looked for, but only a brief glimpse of it is given, and the
gloomy clouds (pains) return.
3. keepers of the house--namely, the hands and arms
which protected the body, as guards do a palace (@Ge 49:24 Job
4:19 2Co 5:1), are now palsied.
strong men . . . bow--(@Jud 16:25,30). Like
supporting pillars, the feet and knees (@So 5:15); the strongest
members (@Ps 147:10).
grinders--the molar teeth.
cease--are idle.
those that look out of the windows--the eyes; the powers of
vision, looking out from beneath the eyelids, which open and shut like the casement of a
window.
4. doors--the lips, which are closely shut
together as doors, by old men in eating, for, if they did not do so, the food would
drop out (@Job
41:14 Ps 141:3 Mic 7:5).
in the streets--that is, toward the street, "the outer
doors" [MAURER and WEISS].
sound of . . . grinding--The teeth being almost
gone, and the lips "shut" in eating, the sound of mastication is scarcely heard.
the bird--the cock. In the East all mostly rise with the dawn.
But the old are glad to rise from their sleepless couch, or painful slumbers still
earlier, namely, when the cock crows, before dawn (@Job 7:4) [HOLDEN].
The least noise awakens them [WEISS].
daughters of music--the organs that produce and that enjoy
music; the voice and ear.
5. that which is high--The old are afraid of ascending a hill.
fears . . . in the way--Even on the level highway
they are full of fears of falling, &c.
almond . . . flourish--In the East the hair is
mostly dark. The white head of the old among the dark-haired is like an almond
tree, with its white blossoms, among the dark trees around [HOLDEN].
The almond tree flowers on a leafless stock in winter (answering to old
age, in which all the powers are dormant), while the other trees are flowerless. GESENIUS takes the Hebrew for flourishes from a different
root, casts off; when the old man loses his gray hairs, as the almond tree casts
its white flowers.
grasshoppers--the dry, shrivelled, old man, his backbone
sticking out, his knees projecting forwards, his arms backwards, his head down, and the
apophyses enlarged, is like that insect. Hence arose the fable, that Tithonus in very old
age was changed into a grasshopper [PARKHURST]. "The locust raises
itself to fly"; the old man about to leave the body is like a locust when it is
assuming its winged form, and is about to fly [MAURER].
a burden--namely, to himself.
desire shall fail--satisfaction shall be abolished. For
"desire," Vulgate has "the caper tree," provocative of lust;
not so well.
long home--(@Job 16:22 17:13).
mourners--(@Jer 9:17-20), hired for
the occasion (@Mt 9:23).
6. A double image to represent death, as in @Ec 12:1-5, old age: (1) A lamp of frail material, but gilded over, often in the East hung from roofs by a cord of silk and silver interwoven; as the lamp is dashed down and broken, when the cord breaks, so man at death; the golden bowl of the lamp answers to the skull, which, from the vital preciousness of its contents, may be called "golden"; "the silver cord" is the spinal marrow, which is white and precious as silver, and is attached to the brain. (2) A fountain, from which water is drawn by a pitcher let down by a rope wound round a wheel; as, when the pitcher and wheel are broken, water can no more be drawn, so life ceases when the vital energies are gone. The "fountain" may mean the right ventricle of the heart; the "cistern," the left; the pitcher, the veins; the wheel the aorta, or great artery [SMITH]. The circulation of the blood, whether known or not to Solomon, seems to be implied in the language put by the Holy Ghost into his mouth. This gloomy picture of old age applies to those who have not "remembered their Creator in youth." They have none of the consolations of God, which they might have obtained in youth; it is now too late to seek them. A good old age is a blessing to the godly (@Ge 15:15 Job 5:26 Pr 16:31 20:29).
7. dust--the dust--formed body.
spirit--surviving the body; implying its immortality (@Ec 3:11).
8-12. A summary of the first part.
Vanity, &c.--Resumption of the sentiment with which the
book began (@Ec 1:2 1Jo
2:17).
9. gave good heed--literally, "he weighed." The
"teaching the people" seems to have been oral; the "proverbs," in
writing. There must then have been auditories assembled to hear the inspired wisdom
of the Preacher. See the explanation of Koheleth in the Introduction, and (@1Ki 4:34).
that which is written, &c.--rather, (he sought) "to
write down uprightly (or, 'aright') words of truth" [HOLDEN
and WEISS]. "Acceptable" means an agreeable style;
"uprightly . . . truth," correct sentiment.
11. goads--piercing deeply into the mind (@Ac 2:37 9:5 Heb 4:12);
evidently inspired words, as the end of the verse proves.
fastened--rather, on account of the Hebrew genders,
(The words) "are fastened (in the memory) like nails" [HOLDEN].
masters of assemblies--rather, "the masters of
collections (that is, collectors of inspired sayings, @Pr 25:1), are given ('have
published them as proceeding' [HOLDEN]) from one Shepherd,"
namely, the Spirit of Jesus Christ [WEISS], (@Eze 37:24). However, the
mention of "goads" favors the English Version, "masters of
assemblies," namely, under-shepherds, inspired by the Chief Shepherd (@1Pe 5:2-4). SCHMIDT
translates, "The masters of assemblies are fastened (made sure) as nails," so @Isa 22:23.
12. (See on Ec 1:18).
many books--of mere human composition, opposed to
"by these"; these inspired writings are the only sure source of
"admonition."
(over much) study--in mere human books, wearies the body,
without solidly profiting the soul.
13. The grand inference of the whole book.
Fear God--The antidote to following creature idols, and
"vanities," whether self-righteousness (@Ec 7:16,18), or wicked
oppression and other evils (@Ec
8:12,13), or mad mirth (@Ec 2:2 7:2-5), or
self-mortifying avarice (@Ec
8:13,17), or youth spent without God (@Ec 11:9 12:1).
this is the whole duty of man--literally, "this is the
whole man," the full ideal of man, as originally contemplated, realized wholly by
Jesus Christ alone; and, through Him, by saints now in part, hereafter perfectly (@1Jo 3:22-24 Re 22:14).
14. For God shall bring every work into judgment--The future judgment is the test of what is "vanity," what solid, as regards the chief good, the grand subject of the book.