Ecclesiastes 12 - Introduction
_THE CREATOR IS TO BE REMEMBERED IN DUE TIME. THE PREACHER'S CARE TO EDIFY. THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE CHIEF ANTIDOTE OF VANITY._... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE CREATOR IS TO BE REMEMBERED IN DUE TIME. THE PREACHER'S CARE TO EDIFY. THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE CHIEF ANTIDOTE OF VANITY._... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER NOW THY CREATOR, &C.— The first point to be examined is, where the description of old age given in this chapter begins. Most interpreters, who begin it with these words in the first verse, _the years draw nigh,_ &c. or, at least, with the mention made Ecclesiastes 12:2 of the _sun, light, m... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PICTURE OF OLD AGE, _From Ecclesiastes 12:1 according to the common Translation._ The royal preacher, in the first seven verses of this chapter, enforces the duty of early religion, by arguments principally drawn from the decay of the intellectual and corporeal powers in an advanced age. The ev... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILE THE SUN, OR THE LIGHT.— _Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain._ Ecclesiastes 12:3. _In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble,_ &c. Desvoeux; who renders _the grinders, the grinding-maids,_ and observes, that... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE DOORS SHALL BE SHUT IN THE STREETS.— _And the double gate shall be shut up towards the inner court, at the lowering of the voice of the grinding-maid: and then he shall rise up at the crowing of the cock, and all the daughters of the song shall be valued at nought._... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO WHEN THEY SHALL BE AFRAID, &C.— _They shall be afraid even of distant objects, nay, of the scare-crow, set on the way-side; the sex shall be neglected, and the grasshopper shall become a burden, and desire shall fail; for the man is going to his everlasting home, and the mourners are walking ab... [ Continue Reading ]
OR EVER THE SILVER CORD BE LOOSED.— Remember thy Creator, I say, _before the silver cord be removed, and the golden pully hasteneth its motion, and the jar be dashed to pieces upon the well, and the conduit be broken, through which the water used to run into the cistern._ See the note on Ecclesiaste... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHALL THE DUST RETURN TO THE EARTH.— Desvoeux connects this with the preceding verse; at the end of which he places a semicolon only, and reads thus, _And the dust return into the earth as it was, and the spirit return unto God who gave it._ From the 7th verse of the preceding chapter we have t... [ Continue Reading ]
VANITY OF VANITIES.— The least reflection upon that ultimate term of all our occupations, enjoyments, and schemes of happiness in this world, _death,_ naturally brings into one's mind the maxim set forth in the beginning of this discourse, and from which, by proving its truth with respect to all tho... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOREOVER, BECAUSE THE PREACHER WAS WISE.— _And moreover the orator, as he was wise, still taught the people knowledge, and made himself to be listened to; nay, he sought out many important sentences,_ and _set them in proper order;_ Ecclesiastes 12:10. The orator, I say, _spared no trouble to fi... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US HEAR THE CONCLUSION, &C.— _Let us hear the conclusion of the whole discourse. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for that is the business of every man;_ Ecclesiastes 12:14. _Because God shall bring all the works of men into judgment, with respect to every thing which was not taken notice of... [ Continue Reading ]