Ecclesiastes 12

Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

1 Remember also your Creator in ¹the days of your youth, before ²the evil days come and the years draw near of which ³you will say, "I have no pleasure in them";

2 before ⁴the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,

3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and ⁵those who look through the windows are dimmed,

4 and ⁶the doors on the street are shut--when ⁷the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all ⁸the daughters of song are brought low--

5 they are afraid also of what is high, and ⁹terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,^[a] and desire fails, because man is going to his ¹⁰eternal ¹¹home, and the ¹²mourners go about the streets--

6 before the silver cord is snapped, or ¹³the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is ¹⁴shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,

7 and ¹⁵the dust returns to the earth as it was, and ¹⁶the spirit returns to God ¹⁷who gave it.

8 ¹⁸Vanity of vanities, says ¹⁹the Preacher; all is vanity.

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

9 Besides being wise, ²⁰the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging ²¹many proverbs with great care.

10 ²²The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

11 ²³The words of the wise are like goads, and like ²⁴nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are ²⁵given by ²⁶one Shepherd.

12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making ²⁷many books there is no end, and ²⁸much study is a weariness of the flesh.

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. ²⁹Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.^[b]

14 For ³⁰God will bring every deed into judgment, with^[c] every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12 Commentary

Chapter 12

A description of the infirmities of age. (1-7) All is vanity: also a warning of the judgment to come. (8-14)

Verses 1-7 We should remember our sins against our Creator, repent, and seek forgiveness. We should remember our duties, and set about them, looking to him for grace and strength. This should be done early, while the body is strong, and the spirits active. When a man has the pain of reviewing a misspent life, his not having given up sin and worldly vanities till he is forced to say, I have no pleasure in them, renders his sincerity very questionable. Then follows a figurative description of old age and its infirmities, which has some difficulties; but the meaning is plain, to show how uncomfortable, generally, the days of old age are. As the four verses, ( 2-5 ) , are a figurative description of the infirmities that usually accompany old age, ver. ( 6 ) notices the circumstances which take place in the hour of death. If sin had not entered into the world, these infirmities would not have been known. Surely then the aged should reflect on the evil of sin.

Verses 8-14 Solomon repeats his text, VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY. These are the words of one that could speak by dear-bought experience of the vanity of the world, which can do nothing to ease men of the burden of sin. As he considered the worth of souls, he gave good heed to what he spake and wrote; words of truth will always be acceptable words. The truths of God are as goads to such as are dull and draw back, and nails to such as are wandering and draw aside; means to establish the heart, that we may never sit loose to our duty, nor be taken from it. The Shepherd of Israel is the Giver of inspired wisdom. Teachers and guides all receive their communications from him. The title is applied in Scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The prophets sought diligently, what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. To write many books was not suited to the shortness of human life, and would be weariness to the writer, and to the reader; and then was much more so to both than it is now. All things would be vanity and vexation, except they led to this conclusion, That to fear God, and keep his commandments, is the whole of man. The fear of God includes in it all the affections of the soul towards him, which are produced by the Holy Spirit. There may be terror where there is no love, nay, where there is hatred. But this is different from the gracious fear of God, as the feelings of an affectionate child. The fear of God, is often put for the whole of true religion in the heart, and includes its practical results in the life. Let us attend to the one thing needful, and now come to him as a merciful Saviour, who will soon come as an almighty Judge, when he will bring to light the things of darkness, and manifest the counsels of all hearts. Why does God record in his word, that ALL IS VANITY, but to keep us from deceiving ourselves to our ruin? He makes our duty to be our interest. May it be graven in all our hearts. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is all that concerns man.

Cross References

• 1. [Lamentations 3:27]
• 2. [Ecclesiastes 11:8]
• 3. [2 Samuel 19:35]
• 4. [Job 3:9; Isaiah 5:30; Ezekiel 32:7, 8]
• 5. [Genesis 27:1; Genesis 48:10; 1 Samuel 3:2]
• 6. [Psalms 141:3]
• 7. [Jeremiah 25:10; Revelation 18:22]
• 8. [Ecclesiastes 2:8]
• 9. [Proverbs 26:13]
• 10. [Psalms 143:3]
• 11. [Job 17:13; Job 30:23; Isaiah 14:18]
• 12. [2 Chronicles 35:25; Jeremiah 9:17; Matthew 9:23]
• 13. [Zechariah 4:2, 3]
• 14. [Isaiah 30:14]
• 15. Psalms 90:3; Psalms 103:14; See Ecclesiastes 3:20; Job 34:15
• 16. [Ecclesiastes 3:21]
• 17. [Job 34:14; Isaiah 57:16; Zechariah 12:1]; See Genesis 2:7
• 18. Ecclesiastes 1:2
• 19. See Ecclesiastes 1:1
• 20. [See ver. 8 above]
• 21. See Proverbs 1:1
• 22. [See ver. 8 above]
• 23. Proverbs 22:17
• 24. Ezra 9:8; Isaiah 22:23
• 25. Proverbs 1:6; Proverbs 2:6
• 26. Psalms 80:1; Ezekiel 34:23; John 10:11, 16
• 27. [1 Kings 4:32, 33]
• 28. [Ecclesiastes 1:18]
• 29. Ecclesiastes 5:7; Deuteronomy 6:2; Deuteronomy 10:12
• 30. Ecclesiastes 11:9; Job 19:29; Matthew 12:36; Acts 17:31; Romans 2:16; Romans 14:10, 12; 1 Corinthians 4:5; [Ecclesiastes 3:15, 17; Genesis 18:25; Psalms 58:11]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or is a burden
• [b]. Or the duty of all mankind
• [c]. Or into the judgment on

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 12

This chapter begins with advice to young men, which is continued from the preceding; and particularly to remember their Creator in the days of their youth; enforced from the consideration of the troubles and inconveniences of old age, Ec 12:1; which, in an allegorical way, is beautifully described, Ec 12:2-6; and from the certainty of death, when it would be too late, Ec 12:7. And then the wise man returns to his first proposition, and which he kept in view all along, that all is vanity in youth or old age, Ec 12:8; and recommends the reading of this book, from the diligence, pains and labour, he used in composing it; from the sententious matter in it; from the agreeable, acceptable, and well chosen words, in which he had expressed it; and from the wisdom, uprightness, truth, efficacy, and authority of the doctrines of it, Ec 12:9-11; and from its preference to other books, which were wearisome both to author and reader, Ec 12:12. And it is concluded with the scope and design, the sum and substance of the whole of it, reducible to these two heads; the fear of God, and obedience to him, Ec 12:13; and which are urged from the consideration of a future judgment, into which all things shall be brought, Ec 12:14.