‘Before the sun and the light and the moon are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain. In the day when the keepers of the house will tremble, and the strong men will bend themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows are darkened.' They are t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the doors will be shut in the street, when the sound of the grinding is low, and one will rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music will be laid low.' This may refer to the fact that the doors will be shut because the aged man no longer goes out into the street. He also ea... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Yes they will be afraid of what is high, and terrors are in the way, and the almond tree will blossom, and the grasshopper will be a burden, and the desire will fail, because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets.' As people age heights can become a problem, especi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.' There seems to be here a twofold thought. The golden bowl, holding the lighted oil to give light in the house, and held by a silver chord, breaks when the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it.' There is a clear reference here to the idea behind Genesis 2:7, although ‘spirit' (ruach = spirit, wind, breath) replaces ‘breath' (neshumah), possibly to suggest more permanence. In view of his earlier reference... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher, ‘all is vanity.' This is a reference to the whole of man's existence on earth. It signals the completion of what was commenced in Ecclesiastes 1:2, and the sum total of what the human mind can achieve. All that is done, or happens, on earth has been seen to... [ Continue Reading ]
CONCLUSION (ECCLESIASTES 12:9). Having given his final verdict on his musings the writer changes into the third person. This was in order to stress the solemnity of what he was saying. Moving into the third person in this way occurs regularly in Scripture, and there is no reason for seeing it as in... [ Continue Reading ]