73 lines
12 KiB
HTML
73 lines
12 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
|
|
<script src="../../../js/basepath.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/nav.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainHeader.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script type="text/javascript">
|
|
PriorBook = 'Proverbs';
|
|
PriorBookURL = './Comm/jfb/Pro/Pro000.html';
|
|
PriorChapter = 'Ecclesiastes 11';
|
|
PriorChapterURL = './Comm/jfb/Ecc/Ecc011.html';
|
|
NextBook = 'Song of Songs';
|
|
NextBookURL = './Comm/jfb/Sgs/Sgs000.html';
|
|
NextChapter = 'Song of Songs Intr.';
|
|
NextChapterURL = './Comm/jfb/Sgs/Sgs000.html';
|
|
Title = 'Ecclesiastes; or the Preacher';
|
|
SubTitle1 = 'Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET';
|
|
SubTitle2 = '';
|
|
SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 12';
|
|
SubTitle3Cased = 'Chapter 12';
|
|
Author = ' Jamieson, Fausset & Brown';
|
|
imageMasthead = 'jfb.gif';
|
|
authorCite = 'Robert Jamieson; A.R. Fausset; and David Brown';
|
|
</script>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/JFB.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<p id="Chapter12" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 12
|
|
<p id="Ec12_1"><a onclick="return mV('Ecc',12,'1-14');">Ecc 12:1-14</a>.
|
|
<p><b>1.</b> As <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',11,9,10);">Ecc 11:9-10</a> showed what youths are to shun, so this verse shows what they are to follow.
|
|
<br><br><b>Creator</b>—"Remember" that thou art not thine own, but God's property; for He has created thee (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',100,3);">Psa 100:3</a>). Therefore serve Him with thy "all" (<a onclick="return mV('Mar',12,30);">Mar 12:30</a>), and with thy <i>best</i> days, not with the dregs of them (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',8,17);">Pro 8:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',8,17);">22:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,4);">Jer 3:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Lam',3,27);">Lam 3:27</a>). The <i>Hebrew</i> is "Creators," plural, implying the plurality of persons, as in <a onclick="return mV('Gen',1,26);">Gen 1:26</a>; so <i>Hebrew,</i> "Makers" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',54,5);">Isa 54:5</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>while...not</b>—that is, <i>before that</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',8,26);">Pro 8:26</a>) the evil days come; namely, calamity and old age, when one can no longer serve God, as in youth (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',11,2, 8);">Ecc 11:2, 8</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>no pleasure</b>—of a sensual kind (<a onclick="return mV('2Sa',19,35);">2Sa 19:35</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',90,10);">Psa 90:10</a>). Pleasure in God continues to the godly old (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',46,4);">Isa 46:4</a>).
|
|
<p id="Ec12_2"><b>2.</b> Illustrating "the evil days" (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',13,16);">Jer 13:16</a>). "Light," "sun," etc., express <i>prosperity;</i> "darkness," <i>pain and calamity</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',13,10);">Isa 13:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',30,26);">30:26</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>clouds...after...rain</b>—After rain sunshine (comfort) might be looked for, but only a brief glimpse of it is given, and the gloomy clouds (pains) return.
|
|
<p id="Ec12_3"><b>3. keepers of the house</b>—namely, <i>the hands and arms</i> which <i>protected</i> the body, as guards do a palace (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',49,24);">Gen 49:24</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',4,19);">Job 4:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',5,1);">2Cr 5:1</a>), are now palsied.
|
|
<br><br><b>strong men...bow</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Jdg',16,25,30);">Jdg 16:25, 30</a>). Like supporting pillars, <i>the feet and knees</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Sgs',5,15);">Sgs 5:15</a>); the <i>strongest</i> members (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',147,10);">Psa 147:10</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>grinders</b>—the molar teeth.
|
|
<br><br><b>cease</b>—are idle.
|
|
<br><br><b>those that look out of the windows</b>—the eyes; the powers of vision, looking out from beneath the eyelids, which open and shut like the casement of a window.
|
|
<p id="Ec12_4"><b>4. doors</b>—<i>the lips,</i> which are closely <i>shut</i> together as <i>doors,</i> by old men in eating, for, if they did not do so, the food would drop out (<a onclick="return mV('Job',41,14);">Job 41:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',141,3);">Psa 141:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mic',7,5);">Mic 7:5</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>in the streets</b>—that is, toward the street, "the <i>outer</i> doors" [MAURER and WEISS].
|
|
<br><br><b>sound of...grinding</b>—The teeth being almost gone, and the lips "shut" in eating, the sound of mastication is scarcely heard.
|
|
<br><br><b>the bird</b>—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 (<a onclick="return mV('Job',7,4);">Job 7:4</a>) [HOLDEN]. The least noise awakens them [WEISS].
|
|
<br><br><b>daughters of music</b>—the organs that produce and that enjoy music; the <i>voice</i> and <i>ear.</i>
|
|
<p id="Ec12_5"><b>5. that which is high</b>—The old are afraid of ascending a <i>hill.</i>
|
|
<br><br><b>fears...in the way</b>—Even on the level <i>highway</i> they are full of fears of falling, etc.
|
|
<br><br><b>almond...flourish</b>—In the East the hair is mostly dark. <i>The white head</i> of the old among the dark-haired is like <i>an almond tree,</i> with its white blossoms, among the dark trees around [HOLDEN]. The almond tree <i>flowers</i> on a leafless stock in <i>winter</i> (answering to <i>old age,</i> in which all the powers are dormant), while the other trees are flowerless. GESENIUS takes the <i>Hebrew</i> for <i>flourishes</i> from a different root, <i>casts off;</i> when the old man loses his gray hairs, as the almond tree <i>casts</i> its white flowers.
|
|
<br><br><b>grasshoppers</b>—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 <i>raises itself</i> 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].
|
|
<br><br><b>a burden</b>—namely, to himself.
|
|
<br><br><b>desire shall fail</b>—satisfaction shall be abolished. For "desire," <i>Vulgate</i> has "the caper tree," provocative of lust; not so well.
|
|
<br><br><b>long home</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',16,22);">Job 16:22</a>: <a onclick="return mV('Job',17,13);">17:13</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>mourners</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',9,'17-20');">Jer 9:17-20</a>), hired for the occasion (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',9,23);">Mat 9:23</a>).
|
|
<p id="Ec12_6"><b>6.</b> A double image to represent <i>death,</i> as in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',12,'1-5');">Ecc 12:1-5</a>, <i>old age:</i> (1) A <i>lamp</i> of frail material, but <i>gilded</i> over, often in the East hung from roofs by a <i>cord</i> of silk and <i>silver</i> 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 <i>the skull,</i> which, from the vital preciousness of its contents, may be called "golden"; "the silver cord" is <i>the spinal marrow,</i> which is white and precious as silver, and is attached to the brain. (2) <i>A fountain,</i> from which water is drawn by a <i>pitcher</i> let down by a rope wound round <i>a wheel;</i> 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" <i>may</i> 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, <i>seems</i> 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 (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',15,15);">Gen 15:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',5,26);">Job 5:26</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',16,31);">Pro 16:31</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',20,29);">20:29</a>).
|
|
<p id="Ec12_7"><b>7. dust</b>—the dust—formed body.
|
|
<br><br><b>spirit</b>—surviving the body; implying its immortality (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,11);">Ecc 3:11</a>).
|
|
<p id="Ec12_8"><b>8-12.</b> A summary of the first part.
|
|
<br><br><b>Vanity,</b> etc.—Resumption of the sentiment with which the book began (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',1,2);">Ecc 1:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Jo',2,17);">1Jo 2:17</a>).
|
|
<p id="Ec12_9"><b>9. gave good heed</b>—literally, "he weighed." The "teaching the people" seems to have been <i>oral;</i> the "proverbs," <i>in writing.</i> There must then have been auditories <i>assembled to hear</i> the inspired <i>wisdom of the Preacher.</i> See the explanation of <i>Koheleth</i> in the JFB for <a href= "./Comm/jfb/Ecc/Ecc000.html"><i>Introduction</i></a>, and (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',4,34);">1Ki 4:34</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>that which is written,</b> etc.—rather, (he sought) "<i>to write down</i> uprightly (or, 'aright') words of truth" [HOLDEN and WEISS]. "Acceptable" means an agreeable style; "uprightly...truth," correct sentiment.
|
|
<p id="Ec12_10"></a>
|
|
<p id="Ec12_11"><b>11. goads</b>—piercing deeply into the mind (<a onclick="return mV('Act',2,37);">Act 2:37</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',9,5);">9:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',4,12);">Hbr 4:12</a>); evidently <i>inspired words,</i> as the end of the verse proves.
|
|
<br><br><b>fastened</b>—rather, on account of the <i>Hebrew</i> genders, (The words) "are fastened (in the memory) like nails" [HOLDEN].
|
|
<br><br><b>masters of assemblies</b>—rather, "the masters of collections (that is, collectors of inspired sayings, <a onclick="return mV('Pro',25,1);">Pro 25:1</a>), are given ('have published them as proceeding' [HOLDEN]) from one Shepherd," namely, the Spirit of Jesus Christ [WEISS], (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',37,24);">Eze 37:24</a>). However, the mention of "goads" favors the <i>English Version,</i> "masters of assemblies," namely, <i>under-shepherds,</i> inspired by <i>the Chief Shepherd</i> (<a onclick="return mV('1Pe',5,'2-4');">1Pe 5:2-4</a>). SCHMIDT translates, "The masters of assemblies are fastened (made sure) as nails," so <a onclick="return mV('Isa',22,23);">Isa 22:23</a>.
|
|
<p id="Ec12_12"><b>12.</b> (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Ecc/Ecc001.html#Ec1_18">Ecc 1:18</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>many books</b>—of mere <i>human</i> composition, opposed to "by these"; these <i>inspired</i> writings are the only sure source of "admonition."
|
|
<br><br><b>(over much) study</b>—in mere human books, wearies the body, without solidly profiting the soul.
|
|
<p id="Ec12_13"><b>13.</b> The grand inference of the whole book.
|
|
<br><br><b>Fear God</b>—The antidote to following creature idols, and "vanities," whether self-righteousness (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,16,18);">Ecc 7:16, 18</a>), or wicked oppression and other evils (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',8,12,13);">Ecc 8:12-13</a>), or mad mirth (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,2);">Ecc 2:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,'2-5');">7:2-5</a>), or self-mortifying avarice (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',8,13, 17);">Ecc 8:13, 17</a>), or youth spent without God (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',11,9);">Ecc 11:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',12,1);">12:1</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>this is the whole duty of man</b>—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 (<a onclick="return mV('1Jo',3,'22-24');">1Jo 3:22-24</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',22,14);">Rev 22:14</a>).
|
|
<p id="Ec12_14"><b>14. For God shall bring every work into judgment</b>—The future judgment is the test of what is "vanity," what solid, as regards the chief good, the grand subject of the book.
|
|
</div></div><div class="return"><a href="#top">Return to Top</a></div>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainFooter.js" type="text/javascript"></script> |