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King James Version
Remember Your Creator While Young (continued)
1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while
the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou
shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be
not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble,
and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders
cease because they are few, and those that look out of the
windows be darkened,
4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound
of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of
the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought
low;
5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is
high,
and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree
shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and
desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and
the mourners go about the streets:
6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be
broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the
wheel broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the
spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is
vanity.
The Conclusion of the Matter
9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still
taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and
sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and
that which was written was upright, even
words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails
fastened by the masters of assemblies, which
are given from one shepherd.
12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making
many books there is no end; and much study is
a weariness of the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God,
and keep his commandments: for this is the whole
duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every
secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be
evil.1
Bible Commentary
1
Solomon says to remember that you are not your own,
but God's property; for He has created you.2 In
this verse Solomon contrasts youth with the evil
days. In early manhood a person is physically at maximum
vigour. At this time the vital forces of life should be
devoted to God and used to His glory. Old age brings
infirmities and disabilities. Its days are evil in
the sense of being burdened with misery and vexation. When
the desires, incentives, and hopes of abounding youth have
gone, there is then little of enthusiasm in a man's life.3
2 The fading luminaries of heaven are used to
illustrate the approach of old age. The clouds are
figurative of advancing age with its dulling of the natural
faculties.3
3 Verses 3 to 5 describe the physical evidences of
old age. The body of man is here compared to a
house. The keepers or hands and arms which protect the
body, as guards do a palace, often become paralytic in old
age.2,4 Once strong men bow themselves when the
body becomes stooped, and the feeble legs are unable to
support the weight of the body. The grinders or teeth are
decayed and mostly lost. The few remaining are incapable of
masticating hard substances. Those that look out the window
or the eyes, lose their power of vision.4
4 The lips are the doors by which the mouth is
closed. The streets or mouth is the vehicle through which
the food travels before it is fitted by mastication or
chewing to go down the aesophagus into the stomach. In old
age the lips are closely shut together as doors to prevent
food from dropping out. The teeth which prevented that
before, are now lost.4 The teeth being almost
gone and the lips shut in eating, the sound of grinding or
mastication is scarcely heard.2,4 The old do not
sleep as soundly as they used to, now slumbering rather than
sleeping. The least noise such as the chirping of a sparrow
is sufficient to awaken them.4 The daughters of
music brought low refer to the declining quality of the
organs that produce and enjoy music, the voice and ear.2,3,4
5
An elderly person must often watch each step most carefully.
The aged also often fear a public highway. Their bones are
brittle, are consequently easily broken by a fall or any
other accident, and heal slowly if at all. Also shortness of
breath and stiffness of body make climbing any elevation a
strenuous exertion. The white head of old age is compared to
the white blossoms of an almond tree. Elderly people often
feel very trivial things to be great burdens.3
Some commentators paint the picture of the old man as a
caricature of the grasshopper. The dry, shrivelled old man
with his backbone sticking out, his knees projecting
forwards, his arms backwards, and head down almost looks
like a grasshopper about to fly. Like a grasshopper he has
become a burden to himself.2 As the teeth are no
longer able to masticate the food, or have all dropped out;
the stomach no longer able to digest any thing; and as the
body is no longer capable of receiving nourishment, appetite
and relish necessarily fail. Also his desire for sensual
pleasures and life itself fail. When man completes the
duration of human life, when life is no longer desired,
nutrition ceases and life terminates. At death he goes to
his long home while the mourners go about the streets.4
6 This verse describes what happens within the body
to produce death. Various Bible commentators are of the view
that the silver cord refers to the spinal marrow of the
backbone which is attached to the brain from which all the
nerves proceed. The cord is described as silver because of
its preciousness and silver grey colour. The cord is loosed,
as the nervous system becomes relaxed and dysfunctional. At
death, the cord is wholly debilitated. The bowl refers to
the brain contained in the skull, and enveloped with the
membranes. It's described as golden because of its colour
and exceeding preciousness. It is broken when rendered unfit
to perform its functions, neither supplying nor distributing
any nervous energy.4 The pitcher refers to the
veins, which channel blood back to the right ventricle of
the heart. The heart is described as a fountain. The cistern
refers to the left ventricle of the heart which pumps blood
into the great aorta, to be distributed to the different
parts of the system. By contraction and expansion the heart
sends out, and afterwards receives back the blood.2,4
In ancient times rope was wound round a wheel to enable the
pitcher to be let down to draw water from the fountain.
Constant use or climatic conditions finally cause the wheel
to disintegrate and collapse.3,4 When the
pitcher and wheel are broken, water can no more be drawn, so
life ceases when the vital energies are gone.2
Through the loosening of the silver cord or total relaxation
of the nervous system the pitcher and wheel are broken or
rendered useless. The heart becomes incapable of dilatation
and contraction, so that the blood, on its return to the
right ventricle of the heart, becomes stagnant. The lungs
cease to respire; the blood is no longer oxidised, all
motion, voluntary and involuntary, ceases and the man dies.
At death the dust-formed body returns to the earth and the
spirit or breath of life returns to God.4
7 The physical part of man decays and returns to the
elements from which it came. The spirit that returns to God
is the life principle imparted by God to both man and beast3
(see Ecclesiastes 3 Bible Commentary).
8 This affecting and minute description of old age
and death is concluded by the author with the same
exclamation by which he began this book: O vanity of
vanities, all is vanity.4
9 Solomon, the preacher, taught the people who had
assembled before him to hear his inspired wisdom.2,4
10 The preacher endeavoured to give the treatise that
literary polish that would recommend it to those for whom it
was particularly written - those who consider themselves
wise in the things of this world. His endeavour to achieve a
pleasing literary form had not, however, led him to
compromise truth.3
11 The preacher refers to the counsel he has given as
a goad for prodding men to follow a wise course of action,
and as nails firmly driven, that the counsel not be
forgotten. The masters of assemblies are inspired by the
Chief Shepherd.2,3
12 Study entered into for its own sake, as an end in
itself is futile. Only when study becomes a means to an end
greater than itself can it avoid becoming a weariness of
the flesh. When the author of all truth is recognised as
the beginning of wisdom, and study becomes a means of
seeking to think His thoughts after Him, in order that our
lives may conform to the divine purpose that gives us being,
then study becomes a thrilling pleasure.3
13 It is man's duty, his destiny, to obey God, and in
so doing he will find supreme happiness. Whatever his lot
may be, whether cast in adversity or prosperity, it remains
his duty to yield loving obedience to his maker.3
14 Words as well as deeds will be judged. But God
requires even more - even in his very thoughts man is to be
obedient. God reads the secret motives of our hearts; He
knows how much of the light of truth has penetrated the
darkness of our hearts, and for every ray He will hold us
accountable. In the great day of final reckoning it is those
who have done the will of God who enter the kingdom.3
References and notes
1. King James Authorized Version
2. Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
(1871) ECCLESIASTES; OR THE PREACHER. Commentary by
A. R. FAUSSETT
-
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/JamiesonFaussetBrown/jfb.cgi?book=
ec&chapter=012
3. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- Vol. 3 pgs 1102-1105
4. Adam Clarke's Commentaries - Ecclesiastes 12
-
http://www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarke.htm
5. Christian Resource Centre (Bermuda) Ecclesiastes Horn,
Siegfried H
-
http://www.nisbett.com/summary/sum-o-18.htm
6.
The Biblical Studies Foundation - The Poetic Books -
http://www.bible.org/docs/ot/survey/ot-05.htm
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Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?