Ecclesiastes 12:6

"Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed;"before" -this verse goes back to the admonition found in Ecclesiastes 12:1. God is admonishing all young people to seriously consider what the future holds. Serve God now while you have youth, energy, and vigor! "Seize the day-not for self, but for God". Because you will face old age and dying, just like every other generation.

"silver cord….golden bowl….pitcher by the well" -"the pictures of verse. capture the beauty and fragility of the human frame:. masterpiece delicately wrought as any work of art (Psalms 139:13-14), yet as breakable as. piece of earthenware, and as useless in the end as. broken wheel. The first half of this verse seems to portray. golden lamp suspended by. silver chain; it will take only the snapping of. link to let it fall and be spoilt. And if this seems too finely-drawn. picture of our familiar selves, it is balanced by the scene at the deserted well---eloquent of the transience of the simplest, most basic things we do. There will be. last time for every familiar journey. every routine job" (Kidner pp. 103-104).

The idea also seems to be of things broken beyond hope of repair. As far as man and his power is concerned, death is final (Hebrews 9:28). While we are young, we think that we are invincible and will live forever. But the truth of the matter is that we are just as fragile as. pitcher (James 4:13ff).