Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
Parallel Translations
-
Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
-
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
-
Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 12:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 5:30 They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.
- 1 Samuel 4:15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes were set, so that he could not see.
- 1 Samuel 4:18 When he made mention of God’s ark, Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.
- Genesis 27:1 When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”
- Genesis 48:10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn’t see well. Joseph brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
- 1 Samuel 3:2 At that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see),
- Psalms 42:7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.
- Psalms 71:20 You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.
- Psalms 77:16 The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed.
- Ecclesiastes 11:7-8 Truly the light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to see the sun. Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.
- Ezekiel 32:7-8 When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and make its stars dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon won’t give its light. I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you, and set darkness on your land,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Before thou come to a continual misery: for when…
Before thou come to a continual misery: for when the clouds remain after the rain, man’s grief is increased.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 12:2 While the sun, or the light, or…
Ecc 12:2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
Ver. 2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, &c., ] i.e., While greater and lesser comforts fail not; or before the sight of thine eyes grow dim, and as unfit to let in light as an old dusty window. The air to aged eyes seemeth dusty and misty, and the sun wadeth as the moon in a foggy evening, and the stars are out of sight; they "see through a glass darkly," as the apostle speaks in another case, {1Co 13:12} they can know no kin without spectacles; the defluxion of rheum, {a} which trickleth down the nose and cheeks, being as it were the rain, the gathering of new matter, which continually distilleth, being as it were the returning of the clouds after the rain in a moist season, and waters into an emptied fountain. Some, with relation to the former verse, interpret the words thus: Let thy Creator be remembered while the "sun is not darkened" - that is, while youth continueth; or if not so, while "the light of the sun" is not gone - that is, while thy manhood lasteth; or if not so, while the "moon is not darkened," - that is, while thine elder years are not spent; or if not so, while the "stars are not shut up," while the worst of old age hath not seized upon thee; for then "the clouds will return after the rain," - that is, one grief comes upon the neck of another, "as deep calleth upon deep at the noise of the waterspouts." {Psa 42:7} One affliction followeth and occasioneth another, without intermission of trouble, as one billow comes wallowing and tumbling upon another, or, as in April weather, one shower is unburdened, another is brewed. Hence some of the ancient patriarchs are said to have died old men, and full of years, - they had enough of this world, and desired to depart, as Abraham, Simeon, others. Hence the poets feign that Tithonus, when he might have had immortality here, he would not. And Cato protested, that if when old he might be made young again, he would seriously refuse it. {b}
Read full note →
{a} Watery matter secreted by the mucous glands or membranes, such as collects in or drops from the nose, eyes, and mouth, etc., and which, when abnormal, was supposed to cause disease; hence, an excessive or morbid ‘defluxion’ of any kind.
{b} Cic. de Senectute.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain While the sun, or the light, or the moon,…
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars be not darkened, Heb. While the sun, and the light, and the moon, &c. That clause, and the light, seems to be added to signify that he speaks of the darkening of the sun, and moon, and stars, not in themselves, or in their own bodies, but only in respect of that light which they afford to men. And therefore the same clause which is expressed after the sun, is to be understood after the moon and stars, as is very usual in Scripture in like cases. And those expressions are to be understood either,
1. Literally, of the dim-sightedness of old men, by reason whereof the light of the sun, &c. seems dark to them; which seems not to agree with the context, partly because the dimness of their sight is expressed in the next verse, and partly because both his and the following verses are wholly allegorical. Or rather,
Read full note →
2. Figuratively, and that either,
1. Of the outward parts of the body, and especially of the face, the beauty of the countenance, the lightsome and pleasant complexion of the cheeks, the liveliness of the eyes, which are compared to the sun, and moon, and stars, and which are obscured in old age, as the Chaldee paraphrast understands it. Or,
2. Of the inward parts of the mind, the understanding, fancy, memory, which may not unfitly be resembled to the sun, and moon, end stars, and all which are sensibly decayed in most old men. For it may seem improbable that Solomon in his description of the infirmities of old age should omit the decays of the most noble part of man, which are commonly incident to old age. And yet, with submission to those worthy persons who think otherwise, it seems not necessary that he should here speak of those inward decays, partly, because they are not so general in old men as the decays of the body are; partly, because he here directeth his speech to sensual men, who are more affected with corporal than with intellectual maladies; and partly, because both the foregoing and following passages concern the state of men’s bodies, and their outward condition. Or rather,
3. Of external things, and of the great change of their joy and prosperity, which they had in their youthful time, into sorrow and manifold calamities, which are usually the companions of old age; for this interpretation seems best to agree both with the foregoing verse, in which he describes the miseries of old age, and with the following clause, which is added to explain and determine those otherwise ambiguous expressions; and with the Scripture use of this phrase, which is the best key for the understanding of Scripture; for a state of comfort and happiness is oft described by the light of the sun, &c., as Jdg 5:31; 2Sa 23:4; Isa 30:26; 60:20, and a time and state of great trouble is set forth by the darkening of the light of the sun, &c., as Isa 13:9, &c.; Isa 24:23; Joe 2:10; 3:15; Mat 24:29, and oft elsewhere.
Nor the clouds return after the rain: this phrase notes a perpetual succession and reciprocation of rain, and clouds bringing rain, and then rain and clouds again, and so without end; whereby he expresseth either,
1. The rheums or deflutions which do abundantly and incessantly flow in and from old men, for want of natural heat and strength to prevent or remove them. Or rather,
2. The continual vicissitude of infirmities, diseases, and griefs in old men, one deep calling upon another, and one affliction beginning at the end of another; whereas in young men after rain the clouds are dispersed, and fair weather succeeds.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain While the sun, or the light, or the moon,…
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened,.... The wise man proceeds to describe the infirmities of old age, and the troubles that attend it; in order to engage young men to regard God and religion, before these come upon them, which greatly unfit for his service. This the Targum and Midrash, and, after them, Jarchi, interpret of the splendour of the countenance of man, of the light of his eyes, and the beauty of his cheeks, and other parts of his face; which decrease and go off at old age, and paleness and wrinkles succeed: and others of the adversities and calamities which attend persons at such years; which are sometimes in Scripture signified by the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars, Isa 13:10; but some choose to understand this, more literally, of the dimness of sight in old men; by whom the light of the sun, moon, and stars, is scarcely discerned: but as this infirmity is afterwards described, I rather think with others, that by the "sun", "light", and "moon", are meant the superior and inferior faculties of the soul, the understanding, mind, judgment, will, and affections; and, by the "stars", those bright notions and ideas raised in the fancy and imagination, and fixed in the memory; all which are greatly impaired or lost in old age: so Alshech interprets the sun and moon of the soul and spirit, and the stars of the senses; "light" is not in the Syriac version;
nor the clouds return after the rain; which some understand of catarrhs, defluxions, and rheums, flowing at the eyes, nose, and mouth, one after another, which frequently attend, and are very troublesome to persons in years; but may be more generally applied to the perpetual succession of evils, afflictions, and disorders, in old age; as soon as one is got over, another follows, billow after billow; or, like showers in April, as soon as one is gone, another comes. The Targum paraphrases it of the eyebrows distilling tears, like clouds after rain.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Which - Hebrew. While the sun, and the light,…
Which - Hebrew. While the sun, and the light, and the moon, &c. That clause, and the light, seems to be added to signify that he speaks of the darkening of the sun, and moon, and stars; not in themselves, but only in respect of that light which they afford to men. And therefore the same clause which is expressed after the sun, is to be understood after the moon and stars. And those expressions may be understood of the outward parts of the body, and especially of the face, the beauty of the countenance, the pleasant complexion of the cheeks, the liveliness of the eyes, which are compared to the sun, and moon, and stars, and which are obscured in old age, as the Chaldee paraphrast understands it. Or of external things, of the change of their joy, which they had in their youth, into sorrow, and manifold calamities, which are usually the companions of old age. This interpretation agrees both with the foregoing verse, in which he describes the miseries of old age, and with the following clause, which is added to explain those otherwise ambiguous expressions; and with the scripture use of this phrase; for a state of comfort and happiness is often described by the light of the sun, and a state of trouble is set forth, by the darkening of the light of the sun. Nor the clouds - This phrase denotes a perpetual succession of rain, and clouds bringing rain, and then rain and clouds again. Whereby he expresses either the rheums or destructions which incessantly flow in old men; or the continual vicissitude of infirmities, diseases, and griefs; one deep calling upon another.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. While the sun, or the light, or…
Verse 2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened] i.e., in the SPRING, prime, and prosperity of life.
Nor the clouds return] The infirmities of old age of which WINTER is a proper emblem, as spring is of youth, in the former clause of this verse.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Ecc 12:2. While the sun, or the light, &c.…
Ecc 12:2. While the sun, or the light, &c. — Hebrews While the sun, and the light, and the moon, &c. That clause, and the light, seems to be added to signify, that he speaks of the darkening of the sun, and moon, and stars, not in themselves, but only in respect of that light which they afford to men. And therefore the same clause which is expressed after the sun, is to be understood after the moon and stars. And those expressions may be understood of the outward parts of the body, and especially of the face, the beauty of the countenance, the pleasant complexion of the cheeks, the liveliness of the eyes, which are compared to the sun, and moon, and stars, and which are obscured in old age, as the Chaldee paraphrast understands it. Or of the inward faculties of the mind, the understanding, fancy, memory, which may not improperly be resembled to the sun, moon, and stars, and all which are sensibly decayed in most old men. Or of external things, of the change of their joy, which they had in their youth, into sorrow, and manifold calamities, which are usually the companions of old age. This interpretation agrees both with the foregoing verse, in which he describes the miseries of old age, and with the following clause, which is added to explain those otherwise ambiguous expressions; and with the Scripture use of this phrase; for a state of comfort and happiness is often described by the light of the sun, and a state of trouble is set forth, by the darkening of the light of the sun. Nor the clouds return after the rain — This phrase denotes a perpetual succession of rain, and clouds bringing rain, and then rain and clouds again. Whereby he expresses either the rheums or defluctions which incessantly flow in old men; or the continual vicissitude of infirmities, diseases, and griefs; one deep calling upon another.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain While ... not - Or, Before. The darkening of…
While ... not - Or, Before. The darkening of the lights of heaven denotes a time of affliction and sadness. Compare Eze 32:7-8; Job 3:9; Isa 5:30. Contrast this representation of old age with 2Sa 23:4-5.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Before the sun, &c. That is, before old age:…
Before the sun, &c. That is, before old age: the effects of which upon all the senses and faculties are described in the following verses, under a variety of figures. (Challoner) --- All are exhorted to live well, before death come to deprive them of their senses and all helps: and to continue in expectation of judgment, the signs of which are given, as [in] Matthew xxiv. (Worthington) (St. Jerome) --- Rain. One misery succeeds another, the understanding is darkened, and the senses become dull. (Calmet) --- The Jews explain ver. 2, 7., of the future distress of their nation under captivity. (St. Jerome) (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Illustrating "the evil days" (Jer 13:16). "Light," "sun," &c.,…
Illustrating "the evil days" (Jer 13:16). "Light," "sun," &c., express prosperity; "darkness," pain and calamity (Isa 13:10; Isa 30:26).
clouds . . . after . . . rain--After rain sunshine (comfort) might be looked for, but only a brief glimpse of it is given, and the gloomy clouds (pains) return.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. The old age of the God-forgetter is a…
2. The old age of the God-forgetter is a world with its lights, sun, moon, stars, all darkened. The night of the soul within sheds blackness on the world without.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. while the sun, or the light] The imagery…
2. while the sun, or the light] The imagery falls in naturally with the thought that the approach of death is represented by the gathering of a tempest. It does not follow, however, that this excludes the thought of a latent symbolism in detail as well as in the general idea. The thought that man was as a microcosm, and that each element in the universe had its analogue in his nature, was a familiar one to the Greek and Oriental mind, and was susceptible of many applications. So, to take an instance belonging to a different age or country, we find an Eastern poet thus writing, circ. a. d. 1339,
“Of all that finds its being in the world
Read full note →
Man in himself the symbol true may find.
His body is as earth, and as the Heaven
His head, with signs and wonders manifold,
And the five senses shine therein as stars.
The Spirit, like the sun, pours light on all.
The limbs, that bear the body’s burden up,
Are as the hills that raise their height to heaven.
Hair covers all his limbs, as grass the earth,
And moisture flows, as flow the streams and brooks.
So on the day when soul and body part,
And from the body’s load the soul is freed,
Then canst thou see the body all a-tremble,
As earth shall tremble at the last great day;
The Spirit with its senses fall away,
As stars extinguished fall on earth below;
The last death-sigh with which the body dies
Thrill through the bones, like tempest-blast and storm.
As on that day the hills shall pass away,
So does death’s storm break up our mortal frame.
A sea of death-damps flows from every pore:
Thou plungest in, and art as drowned therein:
So is thy dying like the great world’s death;
In life and death it is thy parallel.”
From the Gulschen Ras of Mahmud, quoted in Tholuck’s Blüthen-Sammlung aus der morgenländischen Mystik, p. 213.
It will be admitted that the parallelism is singularly striking and suggestive. With this clue to guide us we may admit all that has been urged by Umbreit, Ginsburg and others in favour of the “storm” interpretation and yet not reject the more detailed symbolic meaning of Jewish and other commentators. We may have the broad outline of the phenomena that precede a tempest, sun, moon and stars, hidden by the gathering blackness. A like imagery meets us as representing both personal and national calamity in Isa_13:10; Jer_15:9; Amo_8:9. The sun may be the Spirit, the Divine light of the body, the moon as the Reason that reflects that light, the stars as the senses that give but a dim light in the absence of sun and moon. The clouds that return after rain are the natural symbol of sorrows, cares, misfortunes, that obscure the shining of the inward light, perhaps of the showers of tears which they cause, but after which in the melancholy and gloom of age and weakness they too commonly “return.” The mere anatomical interpretation which interprets the first four symbols as referring to the eyes, the brow, the nose, the cheeks, and finds in the “clouds after rain” the symptoms of the catarrh of old age, may be looked upon as a morbid outgrowth of prosaic fancy in men in whom the sense of true poetic imagination was extinct.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Here the style rises, and we have a…
(2) Here the style rises, and we have a figurative description of the “evil days;” but, as sometimes happens in the case of highly wrought poetry, it is much easier to perceive the general effect intended than to account for all the words which produce it. English readers generally have been deeply impressed by Ecc_12:6-7, in a general way understanding them as speaking of the dissolution of the noble structure of the bodily frame; and they scarcely gain anything by the efforts of commentators to explain to them what exactly is meant by the “silver cord” and the “golden bowl.” After using all the help my predecessors have given me, I frankly own myself unable to give more than a vague account of the figures employed in this whole passage.
Darkened.—See Ecc_11:8. On darkness of the heavens as a symbol of calamity, comp. Isa_13:10-11; Jer_4:28-29; Eze_32:7-9; Joe_2:1-10; Amo_8:9-10; and contrast Isa_30:26; Isa_60:10.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain From this verse onwards there is great diversity of…
From this verse onwards there is great diversity of interpretation. While some think that the approach of death is represented under the image of a storm, others deem that what is here intended is first the debility of old age, and then, at ver. 6, death itself, which two stages are described under various metaphors and figures. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened. Under these figures the evil days spoken of above, the advent and infirmities of old age, are represented. It would be endless and unprofitable to recount the explanations of "the terms used in the following verses. Every commentator, ancient and modern, has exerted his ingenuity to force the poet"s language into the shape which he has imagined for it. But, as we said above, there are at least two distinct lines of interpretation which have found favor with the great majority of expositors. One of these regards the imagery as applicable to the effects of a heavy storm upon a house and its inmates, explaining every detail under this notion; the other regards the terms used as referring to the man himself, adumbrating the gradual decay of old age, the various members and powers that are affected being represented under tropes and images, Both interpretations are beset with difficulties, and are only with some straining and accommodation forced into a consistent harmony. But the latter seems to us to present fewer perplexities than the other, and we have adopted it here. At the same time, we think it expedient to give the other view, together with our own, as there is much to be said in its favor, and many great writers have declared themselves on its side. Wright supposes (and makes a good case for his theory) that Koheleth is referring especially to the closing days of winter, which in Palestine are very fatal to old people. The seven last days, indeed, are noted even now as the most sickly and dangerous of all the year. The approach of this period casts a dark shadow upon all the inhabitants of the house. The theory is partly borne out by the text, but, like the other solutions, does not wholly correspond to the wording. In the present verse the approach of old age, the winter of life, is likened to the rainy season in Palestine, when the sun is obscured by clouds, and the light of heaven darkened by the withdrawal of that luminary, and neither moon nor stars appear. And the clouds return after the rain; i.e. one storm succeeds another. (Job_37:6) The imagery is intended to represent the abiding and increasing inconveniences of old age. Not like the spring-time of life and season, when sunshine and storm are interchanged, winter and old age have no vicissitudes, one dreary character invests them both. The darkening of the light is a common metaphor for sorrow and sadness. (see Job_30:26 Job_33:28, Job_33:30; Eze_32:7, Eze_32:8; Amo_8:9) The symbolism of the details in this verse has been thus elucidated: The diurnal lights appertain to the soul, the nocturnal to the body; the sun is the Divine light which illumines the soul, the moon and the stars are the body and the senses which receive their radiance from the soul"s effulgence. These are all affected by the invasion of old age. Some consider that this verse depicts the changes which pass over the higher and more spiritual part of man"s nature, while the succeeding imagery refers to the breaking up of the corporeal frame. We should say rather that ver. 2 conveys a general impression, and that this is then elaborated into particulars. According to the interpretation mentioned above, a gathering tempest is here depicted, the details of which are worked out in the following verses.
Vers. 2-8.
Read full note →
The last scene of all; or, "man goeth to his long home.
I THE APPROACH OF DEATH.
1. The decay of man"s higher faculties. "Or ever the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain" (ver. 2). Accepting the guidance of the best interpreters (Delitzsch, Plumptre for other interpretations consult the Exposition), we may see:
(1) In the sun an emblem of man"s spirit, elsewhere compared to the lamp of Jehovah, (Pro_20:27) and described by Christ as "the light that is in thee", (Mat_6:23) and in its light a symbol of the spirit"s activity of apprehension thought, memory, imagination, etc.
(2) In the moon a figure for the animal soul, "by means of which the spirit becomes the principle of the life of the body," (Gen_2:7) and which as the weaker vessel (it, according to Hebrew ideas, being regarded as female, while the spirit is male) is comforted by the spirit. (Psa_42:6)
(3) In the stars an allegorical representation of the five senses, by which the soul has cognizance of the outer world, and the light of which is dim and feeble in comparison with that of the soul and spirit, or of the reason and intelligence of man.
(4) In the clouds that return after the rain, a materialized picture of those calamities and misfortunes, sicknesses and sorrows, "which disturb the power of thought, obscure the consciousness, and darken the mind," and which, though leaving man for a while, return again after a season "without permitting him long to experience health" (Delitzsch).
2. The failure of man"s bodily powers. Picturing man"s corporeal frame as a house, the Preacher depicts its ruinous condition as old age approaches.
(1) The keepers of the house tremble. The aged person"s arms, "which bring to the house (of the body) whatever is suitable for it, and keep away from it whatever threatens to do it injury," now, touched with infirmity, shake, "so that they are able neither to grasp securely, to hold fast and. use, nor actively to keep back and. forcibly avert evil"(Delitzsch).
(2) The strong, men bow themselves. The legs, of young men like marble pillars (Song of Son 10:15), are m aged persons loose, feeble, and inclined to stoop.
(3) The grinders, or the grinding-women, cease. That these are the molars, or teeth, which perform the work of mastication, is apparent; so is the reason why they are not now at work, viz. because in aged persons they are few.
(4) Those that look out of the windows are darkened. The eyes, called by Cicero "the windows of the mind" ("Tusc.," 1:20), become dim, and as a consequence the soul"s eyes, which look through the body"s eyes, lose their power of perception.
(5) The doors are shut in the street. These are probably the lips, which in old age are usually closed and drawn, because the teeth have disappeared.
(6) The sound of the grinding is low. The noise made by an old man in mastication is that of a low munching, he being unable any more. to crack, crunch, or break his food.
(7) One rises up at the sound of a bird. So timid and nervous, and so light a sleeper, is the old man, that if even a bird chirps he awakes, and, being put off his rest, is obliged to rise.
(8) The daughters of music are brought low. Not so much the old man"s powers of singing are diminished, his once strong and manly treble having become so feeble and low as to be scarcely audible, (Isa_38:14) asthe old man, like Barzillai, (2Sa_19:35) has now no longer an ear for the voice of singing-men and singing-women, so that to him as a consequence "the daughters of song" must lower their voices, i.e. must retire so as no longer to disturb him, now so feeble as to be "terrified by the twittering of a little bird.
(9) That which is high causes fear (ver. 5). To the old man "even a little hillock appears like a high mountain; and if he has to go a journey he meets something that terrifies him" (Targum, "Midrash"). Decrepit old men "do not venture out, for to them a damp road appears like a very morass, a gravelly path as full of neck-breaking hillocks, an undulating path as fearfully steep and precipitous, that which is not shaded as oppressively hot and exhausting" (Delitzsch).
(10) The almond tree blossoms. An emblem of the winter of age, with its silvery white hair.
(11) The grasshopper is a burden, or the grasshopper drags itself along. Either so small a thing as the chirping of a grasshopper annoys the old man (Zockler) the obvious sense of the former clause; or the middle of the body, which in an old man resembles a grasshopper, drags itself along with difficulty (Delitzsch).
(12) The caper-berry fails. The appetite, which this particular condiment is supposed to stimulate, ceases; the stomach can no more by means of it be roused from its dormant and phlegmatic condition. So low and feeble is he that "no quinine or phosphorus can help him now" (Plumptre).
II THE DISSOLUTION OF THE SOUL AND BODY.
1. The loosening of the silver cord, and the breaking of the golden bowl.
(1) The figure. A golden bowl or lamp suspended from the roof of a house or tent by a silver cord, through the sudden snapping of which it, the golden bowl or lamp, is precipitated to the ground, thus extinguishing its light.
(2) The interpretation. If the silver cord be "the soul directing and bearing the body as living," the lamp or the golden bowl will be "the body animated by the soul and dependent on it" (Delitzsch); or, if the golden bowl be "life as manifested through the body," then the silver cord will be "that on which the continuance of life depends" (Plumptre); or, again, if the silver cord be the spinal marrow, then the golden bowl will be the brain to which the spinal marrow stands related as silver to gold (Fausset).
2. The breaking of the pitcher at the fountain, and of the wheel at the cistern.
(1) The image. That of a pitcher, which is used for letting down by a rope or chain into a well or fountain, becoming shivered at the fountain"s side through the sudden breaking down of the wheel during the process of drawing water.
(2) The significance. The action of the lungs and the heart, the one of which like a pitcher or bucket, draws in the air-current which sustains life, and the other of which pumps up the blood into the lungs; or the wheel and the pitcher may be the breathing apparatus, and the pitcher at the fountain the heart which raises the blood (Delitzsch).
III THE DESTINATION OF THE SEVERED PARTS.
1. Of the body. "The dust returns to the earth as it was" (ver. 7). As the body came forth from the soil, so to the soil it reverts (Genesis ill 19).
2. Of the soul. "The spirit returns unto God who gave it." Whatever may have been the Preacher"s opinion at an earlier period, (Ecc_3:21) he was now decided as to three things:
(1) that man had, or was, a spirit, as distinguished from a body;
(2) that this spirit, as to origin, proceeded from God (Gen_2:7; Job_32:8) and
(3) that on separating from the body it did not cease to be, but ascended to him from whom it came not to be reabsorbed into the Divine essence, as if it had originally emanated therefrom, but to preserve in God"s presence an independent existence, as the Targum translates, "The spirit will return to stand in judgment before God who gave it to thee.
IV THE LAST TRIBUTE OF AFFECTION. "The mourners go about the streets" (ver. 5).
1. Sorrowing for the departed. Probably the Preacher describes either the professional mourners who go about the streets, in anticipation of the dying man"s departure, ready to offer their services the moment he expires (Delitzsch), or the actual procession of such mourners following the dead man"s funeral to its place of sepulture (Plumptre). Still, it is permissible to think of the deceased"s relatives, who, like Abraham mourning for Sarah, (Gen_23:2) and Martha and Mary for Lazarus, (Joh_11:31) give expression to their sadness by going about the streets in the garb of sorrow.
2. Exciting the sympathy of the living. This is one reason why private griefs are paraded in public. The heart in times of weakness, such as those occasioned by bereavement, instinctively craves the compassion of others, to whom, accordingly, it appeals by the visible cerements of woe.
Learn:
1. The mercy of God as seen in the gradual approach of death.
2. The wisdom of improving the seasons of youth and manhood.
3. The solemn mystery of death.
4. The duty of preparing for a life beyond the grave.
5. The lawfulness of Christian mourning.
Vers. 2-7.
Old age and death.
By a natural transition, a striking antithesis, youth suggests to the mind of the Preacher the condition and the solemn lessons of old age. How appropriately does a treatise, dealing so fully with the occupations, the illusions, the trials, and the moral significance of human life, draw to a close by referring expressly to the earlier and the later periods by which that life is bounded!
I THE BODILY SYMPTOMS OF AGE. These are, indeed, familiar to every observer, and are described with a picturesqueness and poetical beauty which must appeal to every reader of this passage. It is enough to remark that the decay of bodily power, and the gradual enfeeblement of the several senses, are among the usual accompaniments of advancing years.
II THE MENTAL SYMPTOMS OF AGE. Reference is naturally made especially to the effect of bodily enfeeblement and infirmity upon the human emotions.
1. The emotions of desire and aspiration are dulled.
2. The emotions of apprehension, self-distrust, and fear increase.
III THE NATURAL TERMINATION OF OLD AGE. There is no doubt that there are old persons of a sanguine temperament who seem unable to realize the fact that they are approaching the end of their earthly course. Yet it does not admit of doubt that the several indications of senility described in these verses are reminders of the end, are premonitions of the dissolution of the body, and of the entering upon a new and altogether different state of being.
IV THE OPPORTUNITIES AND SERVICES OF AGE.
1. There is scope for the exercise of patience under growing infirmities.
2. There is a call to the acquisition and display of that wisdom which the experience of long years is particularly fitted to cultivate.
3. The aged are especially bound to offer to the young an example of cheerful obedience, and to encourage them to a life of piety and usefulness.
V THE CONSOLATIONS OF AGE. Cicero, in a well-known treatise of great beauty, has set forth the peculiar advantages and pleasures which belong to the latest stage of human life. The Christian is at liberty to comfort himself by meditating upon such natural blessings as "accompany old age," but he has far fuller and richer sources of consolation open to him.
1. There is the happy retrospect of a life filled with instances of God"s compassion, forbearance, and loving-kindness.
2. And there is the bright anticipation of eternal blessedness. This is his peculiar prerogative. As the outer man perisheth, the inner man is renewed day by day. The earthly tent is gradually but surely taken down, and this process suggests that he should look forward with calm confidence and hope to his speedy occupation of the "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The clouds return after the rain.
Ecc_12:2
The clouds return after the rain.
Read full note →
Sorrow unspeakable
Coming home from the burial of his little Agnes, the late Nehemiah Adams, D.D., of Boston, drew out of his pocket the ribbon-tied key of her casket. I thought for a few minutes that I should lose my reason, he writes. The clouds returned after the rain, and they were very dark and distressing. And who has not had similar experiences! And sometimes they are exquisitely painful as well as sorrowful, as when conscience reproaches us for unkindness, or remissness, or for hasty words and cruel alienation, or neglect of duty, as we hang over the coffin of a husband or wife, or parent or child, or friend, or come back from the new-made grave. The unnamed, unspeakable agony of a reproving conscience, when all redress or confession is impossible, is harder to bear than the blow itself. The after-cloud has no silver lining: it is murky, dismal, and almost unbearable, for it abides, and there is no relief from it. Let us be careful in life to give no occasion for such return of the clouds after the rain.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.