Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads; and like nails well fastened are words from the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. Furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv11–12 That is, by God.
That is, by God.
Which are well applied by the ministers, whom he calleth masters.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–14 Ecc 12:9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise,…
Ecc 12:9 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.
Ver. 9. And moreover, because the Preacher was wise.] He well knew how hard it was to work men to a belief of what he had affirmed concerning earthly vanities, and therefore heaps up here many forcible and cogent arguments; as, first, that himself was no baby, but wise above all men in the world, by God’s own testimony; therefore his words should be well regarded. Oι σοφοι ημων δευτερωσι, Our wise men expound today (said the Jews one to another), "Come, let us go up to the house of the Lord," &c. Cicero had that high opinion of Plato for his wisdom, that he professed that he would rather go wrong with him than go right with others. Averroes overly admired Aristotle, as if he had been infallible. But this is a praise proper to the holy penman, guided by the spirit of truth, and filled with wisdom from on high for the purpose. To them, therefore, and to the word of prophecy by them, must men "give heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place," &c. {2Pe 1:19}
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He still taught the people knowledge.] He hid not his talent in a napkin, but used it to the instruction of his people. "Have not I written for thee excellent things" (or three various types of books - viz., proverbial, penitential, nuptial) "in counsels and knowledge?" {Pro 22:20} Synesius speaks of some that, having great worth in them, will as soon part with their hearts {a} as with their conceptions. And Gregory observeth, {b} that there are not a few who, being enriched with spiritual gifts and abilities to do good, dum solis contemplationis studiis inardescunt, parere utilitati proximorum praedicatione refugiunt, while they burn in the studies of contemplation only, do shun to seek by preaching to profit their neighbours. Solomon was none of these.
Yea, he gave good heed.] Or, He made them to take good heed; {c} he called upon them ever and anon, as our Saviour did upon his hearers, "Let him that hath an ear to hear, hear." Or as the deacons in Chrysostom’s and Basil’s time used to call upon the people, in these words, Oremus, attendamus, Let us pray, let us give heed.
And sought out.] By diligent scrutiny and hard study, beating his brains, as the fowl beats the shell to get out the fish, with great vehemence. The staves were always in the ark, to show, saith Gregory, that preachers should always meditate in their hearts upon the sacred Scriptures, that if need require they may without delay take up the ark, teach the people.
And set in order many proverbs.] Marshalled them in a fit method, and set others awork for to do the like. For, Regis ad exemplum, &c. Our Henry I, surnamed Beauclerc, had in his youth some taste of learning; and this put many of his subjects into the fashion of the book, so that various learned men flourished in his time, {d} as Ethan, Heman, Chalcola as Agur, and other compilers of proverbs did in Solomon’s.
{a} Yαρρον μεν την καρδιαν. - Synes.
{b} Past. Cur., p. i. c. 5.
{c} Auscultare fecit. - Pag. Ar. Montan.
{d} Daniel’s History. 68.
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 On vv9–14 The preacher was wise; which he affirmeth not out…
The preacher was wise; which he affirmeth not out of vain ostentation, but partly to procure the more credit and acceptance to his doctrine and, counsel here delivered; and partly to declare his repentance for his former follies, and God’s great mercy in restoring his wisdom to him.
Taught the people knowledge; as God gave him this wisdom, that he might be a teacher of others, so he used it to that end; therefore despise not his counsel.
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He gave good heed; he did not rashly and foolishly utter whatsoever came into his mind or mouth, but seriously pondered both his matter and words.
Sought out; both by the exercise of his own mind, and by reading and learning from others.
Set in order; or, directed or fitted. He selected such as were most useful.
Many proverbs; excellent and wise sayings, which are oft called proverbs, as was noted before upon the Book of Proverbs.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v13 The great enquiry which Solomon prosecutes in this book…
The great enquiry which Solomon prosecutes in this book is, What is that good which the sons of men should do? Ecc 2:3. What is the true way to true happiness, the certain means to attain our great end? He had in vain sought it among those things which most men are eager in pursuit of, but here, at length, he has found it, by the help of that discovery which God anciently made to man (Job 28:28), that serious godliness is the only way to true happiness: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, the return entered upon the writ of enquiry, the result of this diligent search; you shall have all I have been driving at in two words. He does not say, Do you hear it, but Let us hear it; for preachers must themselves be hearers of that word which they preach to others, must hear it as from God; those are teachers by the halves who teach others and not themselves, Rom 2:21. Every word of God is pure and precious, but some words are worthy of more special remark, as this; the Masorites begin it with a capital letter, as that Deu 6:4. Solomon himself puts a nota bene before it, demanding attention in these words, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Observe here,
I. The summary of religion. Setting aside all matters of doubtful disputation, to be religious is to fear God and keep his commandments. 1. The root of religion is fear of God reigning in the heart, and a reverence of his majesty, a deference to his authority, and a dread of his wrath. Fear God, that is, worship God, give him the honour due to his name, in all the instances of true devotion, inward and outward. See Rev 14:7. 2. The rule of religion is the law of God revealed in the scriptures. Our fear towards God must be taught by his commandments (Isa 29:13), and those we must keep and carefully observe. Wherever the fear of God is uppermost in the heart, there will be a respect to all his commandments and care to keep them. In vain do we pretend to fear God if we do not make conscience of our duty to him.
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II. The vast importance of it: This is the whole of man; it is all his business and all his blessedness; our whole duty is summed up in this and our whole comfort is bound up in this. It is the concern of every man, and ought to be his chief and continual care; it is the common concern of all men, of their whole time. It is nothing to a man whether he be rich or poor, high or low, but it is the main matter, it is all in all to a man, to fear God and do as he bids him.
III. A powerful inducement to this, Ecc 12:14. We shall see of what vast consequence it is to us that we be religious if we consider the account we must every one of us shortly give of himself to God; thence he argued against a voluptuous and vicious life (Ecc 11:9), and here for a religious life: God shall bring every work into judgment. Note, 1. There is a judgment to come, in which every man's eternal state will be finally determined. 2. God himself will be the Judge, God-man will, not only because he has a right to judge, but because he is perfectly fit for it, infinitely wise and just. 3. Every work will then be brought into judgment, will be enquired into and called over again. It will be a day to bring to remembrance every thing done in the body. 4. The great thing to be then judged of concerning every work is whether it be good or evil, conformable to the will of God or a violation of it. 5. Even secret things, both good and evil, will be brought to light, and brought to account, in the judgment of the great day (Rom 2:16); there is no good work, no bad work, hid, but shall then be made manifest. 6. In consideration of the judgment to come, and the strictness of that judgment, it highly concerns us now to be very strict in our walking with God, that we may give up our account with joy.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–14 And moreover,.... Or "besides" (z) what has been said;…
And moreover,.... Or "besides" (z) what has been said; or "as to what remains" (a); or "but what is better", or "more excellent" (b), is to "hear the conclusion of the whole matter", the sum and substance of the whole book in a few words, Ecc 12:13; to which Ecc 12:9; are a preface; and in which the wise man recommends the reading of this book, and other writings of his, and of other wise men inspired of God; and his own he particularly recommends, from his character as wise and industrious, in this verse; and from the subject matter of them, their nature, use, and excellency, and their efficacy and authority, in the two next;
because the preacher was wise; he was a "preacher", a royal one, an extraordinary preacher, and to be regarded; he urges not his title as a king, but his character as a preacher, to recommend what he had written: every good preacher should be regarded; not such who are ignorant preachers of the law, but faithful ministers of the Gospel, who are sent of God, and have felt and experienced what they deliver to others; and especially who are wise as well as faithful, as Solomon was; he had much wisdom given him at first, Kg1 3:12; and in which he improved; and though he turned to folly in his old age, he recovered from that, and gained more wisdom through his fall, and to which he here seems to have reference; for "Koheleth", which some render the "gatherer", because he gathered much wisdom, and much people to hear it; others render "gathered", that is, into the flock and fold again, the church of God, from which he had strayed; See Gill on Ecc 1:1; and having seen through the follies and vanities of life, and being recovered and restored, was a fitter person to teach and instruct others; see Psa 51:12;
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he still taught the people knowledge; or "again", as the Targum; after his fall and recovery he was communicative of his knowledge; he did not hide his talent in the earth, nor in a napkin; but having freely received he freely gave, and kept back nothing from his people, the people of the house of Israel, as the Targum, that might be profitable to them; he taught them the knowledge of themselves, as fallen men, impure, impotent, and unrighteous; the knowledge of the creatures, and the vanity of them, of riches, honours, and pleasures; and of works of righteousness to save men; the knowledge of Christ the Wisdom of God, the antiquity of his person, his glories, excellencies, and beauties, as in the books of Proverbs and Canticles; the knowledge of God, his fear and worship, mind and will; and the knowledge of a future state, and of the general judgment, as in this book; and in proportion to his own knowledge so he taught: for thus the words with the preceding may be rendered, that "the more that the preacher was wise, the more he taught the people knowledge" (c); he taught according to the abilities he had received, as preachers should; the more he grew in grace and knowledge, the more largely be shared with others; and this he did "daily", as Aben Ezra renders the words, constantly, continually, incessantly, in season and out of season, as faithful Gospel ministers do;
yea, he gave good heed; to what he heard and to what be read, to which the apostle's advice agrees, Ti1 4:13; or he caused others to hear, and give good heed to what is said, as Aben Ezra; he engaged their attention by his enlivening discourses; or, as Kimchi, he weighed things in his own mind, and in the balance of the sanctuary; and thoroughly considered and digested them before he delivered them to others;
and sought out; was very diligent in investigating truth, he searched into the mines of knowledge for it, the sacred writings, as one would for gold and silver, and as he himself directs, Pro 2:4;
and set in order many proverbs; three thousand of them, Kg1 4:32; particularly those which are in the book of that name, penned by him; he selected the most choice, pithy, and sententious sayings, of his own and others; and these he huddled not up, or threw them together in a disorderly and confused manner; but put them together in proper order and method, under proper heads, as well as in a correct style, that they might be more received, and more easily retained. The Targum is,
"he attended to the voice of the wise men, and searched the books of wisdom; and by a spirit of prophecy from the Lord composed books of wisdom, and very many proverbs of understanding.''
(z) "praeterea", Tigurine version, Vatablus, Schmidt. (a) "Quod reliquum est", Piscator, Gejerus, Amama. (b) "Quamobrem potius", Junius & Tremeillius; "and this is a matter of excellency", Broughton, (c) Mercerus and Cocceius.
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 On vv9–14 Taught - As God gave him this wisdom, that…
Taught - As God gave him this wisdom, that he might be a teacher of others. So he used it to that end. Gave heed - He did not utter whatever came into his mind, but seriously pondered both his matter and words.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9–14 Verse 9. Because the Preacher was wise, he still…
Verse 9. Because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge] And in order to do this he took good heed - considered what would be most useful. He set in order - collected and arranged, many parables, probably alluding to the book over which we have already passed.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv9, 13 Ecc 12:9-12. He still taught the people knowledge —…
Ecc 12:9-12. He still taught the people knowledge — As God gave him this wisdom, that he might be a teacher of others, so he used it to that end. Gave heed — He did not utter whatever came into his mind, but seriously pondered both his matter and his words. Therefore despise not his counsel. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words — Hebrew, רבי חפצ, words of desire, or, of delight: worthy of all acceptation, such as would minister comfort or profit to the hearers or readers. And that which was written — By the preacher, in this and his other books; was upright — Hebrew, רשׁי, right, or, straight, agreeable to the mind or will of God, which is the rule of right, not crooked or perverse; even words of truth — Not fables, cunningly devised to deceive the simple; but true and certain doctrines, which commend themselves to men’s reason and consciences; wholesome and edifying counsels. The words of the wise — Of spiritually wise and holy men of God; are as goads and as nails — Piercing into men’s dull minds, and quickening and exciting them to the practice of all duties; fastened by the masters of assemblies — Fixed in men’s memories and hearts, in which they make powerful and abiding impressions, by the ministry of the teachers of God’s church and people, whether prophets or others, appointed by God for that work; which are given from one shepherd — From God, or from Christ, the great Shepherd and Teacher of the church in all ages, by whose Spirit the ancient prophets, as well as other succeeding teachers, were inspired and taught, Jer 3:15; 1Pe 1:11; and 2Pe 1:21. And further, by these — By these wise men, and their words or writings; be admonished — Take your instructions from them; for their words are right and true, as he said, Ecc 12:10; whereas the words of other men are often false, or at best, doubtful. Of making many books there is no end — As if he had said, I could easily write many and large books upon these matters; but that would be an endless and needless work; seeing things necessary to be known and done lie in a little compass, as he informs us, Ecc 12:13. And much study — The reading and considering of many books, as well as the writing of them; is a weariness to the flesh — Wasteth a man’s strength and spirits, and yet does not give satisfaction to his mind, nor sufficiently recompense the trouble and inconvenience to which man is exposed by it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10–14 Profitable. Hebrew, "pleasing." Utile dulci. (Haydock) --- Perhaps he…
CHAPTER XII.
Profitable. Hebrew, "pleasing." Utile dulci. (Haydock) --- Perhaps he condemns his attempt to know all things, chap. i. 13. (Calmet)
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 On vv9, 11, 12, 13, 14 gave good heed--literally, "he weighed." The "teaching the people"…
gave good heed--literally, "he weighed." The "teaching the people" seems to have been oral; the "proverbs," in writing. There must then have been auditories assembled to hear the inspired wisdom of the Preacher. See the explanation of Koheleth in the Introduction, and chapter 1 (Kg1 4:34).
that which is written, &c.--rather, (he sought) "to write down uprightly (or, 'aright') words of truth" [HOLDEN and WEISS]. "Acceptable" means an agreeable style; "uprightly . . . truth," correct sentiment.
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 On vv9–14 9. Because the Preacher was wise — Koheleth now…
9. Because the Preacher was wise — Koheleth now defines himself in what may be reckoned his true character. He is a “hakam,” (Arabic, hakim,) or “physician,” like the Greek επαιων — a professional man, a public teacher, one devoted to the solution of moral and practical problems. He also discoursed to the people on instructive subjects, and with care and research framed proverbs to guide the public thought. In his various functions of teacher, sage, and author he must have led a laborious and benevolent life. If Solomon be Koheleth his conception of such a life is singularly truthful.
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 On vv9–14 9. And moreover, because the Preacher was wise] The…
9. And moreover, because the Preacher was wise] The opening words, closely linked on, as they are, to the preceding, confirm the conclusion just stated that Ecc_12:8 belongs to this postscript of attestation. The unknown writer of the attestation (probably the President of the Sanhedrin, or some other Master of the Wise, such as were Hillel and Gamaliel) begins by repeating the key-note of the opening of the book. So taken, the words are every way significant. They do not name Solomon as the author, but content themselves with recognising the enigmatic name with which the unknown writer had veiled himself. He, they say, belonged to the company of the sages. He “gave good heed” (literally, he hearkened or gave ear), he “sought out” (we note how exactly the word describes the tentative, investigating character of the book, as in Jdg_18:2; 2Sa_10:3; Pro_28:11; Job_5:27; Job_28:27), he “set in order” (i.e. composed) “many proverbs.” The word for “proverbs” is that which stands as the title of the Book of Proverbs, but it expresses, more than the English term does, the parabolic, half-enigmatic character which is characteristic of most sayings of this nature in the East, and as such is translated by “parables” in the LXX. here, and in the A.V. in Eze_20:49; Psa_49:4; Num_23:7; Num_23:18; Num_23:24 and elsewhere. The words have been pressed by some interpreters as a testimony to the Salomonic authorship, but it is obvious that though they fit in with that hypothesis, they are equally applicable to any one who followed in the same track and adopted the same method of teaching.
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 On vv9, 11, 12, 13, 14 (9) In the introduction I have stated my conviction…
(9) In the introduction I have stated my conviction that the epilogue which here follows is an integral part of the book. If so, it seems to me clear that the writer, who has up to this recorded the words of Kohéleth, now speaks in his own name, and informs his readers that the preacher, whose teaching of the people he preserves, was also a writer, and the author of the well-known Proverbs.
Moreover.—This, the first word of the epilogue, is one of the specialties of the book of Ecclesiastes. (See Ecc_2:15.) So is also the word for “set in order” (Ecc_1:15; Ecc_7:13).
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 On vv9–14 Vers. 9-14. THE EPILOGUE. This contains some observations commendatory…
Vers. 9-14. THE EPILOGUE. This contains some observations commendatory of the author, explaining his standpoint and the object of the book, the great conclusion to which it leads.
Vers. 9-11. Koheleth as teacher of wisdom.
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And moreover; rteyOw; kain (Septuagint); rather, with the following ve, besides that. The Preacher was wise. If we render "because the Preacher was wise," we are making an unnecessary statement, as the whole book has demonstrated this fact, which goes without saying. What the writer here asserts is that Koheleth did not merely possess wisdom, but had made good use of it for the instruction of others. The author throws aside his disguise, and speaks of his object in composing the book, with a glance at the historical Solomon whom he had personated. That he uses the third person in relation to himself is nothing uncommon in historical memoirs, etc. Thus Daniel writes; and St. John, Thucydides, Xenophon, Caesar, mask their personality by dropping their identity with the author. (comp. also Ecc_1:2 Ecc_7:27) The attestation that follows is compared with that at the end of St. John"s Gospel, (Joh_21:24) and is plainly intended to confirm the authority of the writer, and to enforce on the hearer the conviction that, though Solomon himself did not compose the work, it has every claim to receive attention, and possesses intrinsic value. He still taught the people knowledge. As well as being esteemed one of the company of sages, he further (od) took pains to instruct his contemporaries (ton anqrwpon, Septuagint), to apply his wisdom to educational purposes. Yea, he gave good heed; literally, he weighed (like our word "ponder"); only thus used in this passage. It denotes the careful examination of every fact and argument before it was presented to the public. Sought out, and set in order many proverbs. There is no copula in the original; the weighing and the investigation issued in the composition of "proverbs," which term includes not only the wit and wisdom of past ages in the form of pithy sayings and apophthegms, but also parables, truths in metaphorical guise, riddles, instructions, allegories, etc., all those forms which are found in the canonical Book of Proverbs. The same word (mishle) is used here as in the title of that book. Koheleth, however, is not necessarily referring to that work, (or to 1Ki_4:29, etc.) or implying that he himself wrote it; he is only putting forth his claim to attention by showing his patient assiduity in the pursuit of wisdom, and how that he adopted a particular method of teaching. For the idea contained in the verb taqan, "to place or make straight", (Ecc_1:15 Ecc_7:13) applied to literary composition, Delitzsch compares the German word for" author" (Schriftsteller). The notion of the mashal being similitude, comparison, the writer"s pondering and searching were needed to discover hidden analogies, and, by means of the known and familiar, to lead up to the more obscure and abstruse. The Septuagint has a curious and somewhat unintelligible rendering, Kaisetai kosmion parabolwn, "And the ear will trace out the order of parables," which Schleusner translates, "elegantes parabolas.
Vers. 9, 10.
A model preacher.
I A WISE MAN.
1. Possessed of secular knowledge. Gathered as precious spoil from all departments of human learning and experience. As much of this sort of wisdom as possible; the more of it the better. All knowledge can be rendered subservient to the preacher"s art, and may be utilized by him for the instruction of his hearers.
2. Endowed with heavenly wisdom. If that, much more this, is indispensable to an ideal preacher. The wisdom that cometh from above as much superior to that which springeth from below as heaven is higher than earth, and eternity longer than time. A preacher without the former wisdom may be rude; without the latter he must be ineffective.
II A DILIGENT STUDENT. Like Koheleth, he must ponder, seek out, and set in order the truth he desires to communicate to others; like Timothy, he must give attendance to reading. (1Ti_4:13) In particular, he should be a student:
1. Of the sacred Scriptures. These divinely inspired writings, being the principal source of heavenly wisdom accessible to man, (2Ti_3:16) should be the preacher"s vade mecum, or constant companion.
2. Of human nature. Having to deal directly with this, in the way of bringing to bear upon it the teachings of Scripture, he ought to acquaint himself accurately with it, by a close and patient study of it in himself and others. Much of a preacher"s efficiency is derived from his knowledge of the audience to which he speaks.
3. Of the material creation. Like Job, (Job_37:14) David, (Psa_8:3 Psa_143:5) and Koheleth, (Ecc_7:13) he should consider the works of God. Besides having much to tell him of God"s glory (Psa_8:1; Rom_1:20) the physical universe can impart to him valuable counsel of a moral kind concerning man and his duties (Job_12:7; Mat_5:26)
III A SKILLFUL TEACHER. AS Koheleth taught the people knowledge, as Ezra caused the people to understand the reading, (Neh_8:8) as Christ according to his Word taught such as listened to him, (Mar_10:1) as the apostles taught the things of the Lord to their hearers, (Act_4:2 Act_11:26 Act_18:25) so must a model preacher be an instructor (1Ti_3:2 1Ti_4:11 1Ti_6:2; 2Ti_2:2) To be this successfully, in addition to the wisdom and study above described, he will need four kinds of words.
1. Words of truth. These must constitute the burden of his discourse, whether oral or written. What he publishes to others must be objectively true, and no mere guesswork or speculation. Such a word of truth was the Law of God in the Hebrew Scriptures, (Psa_119:43) and is the gospel or the doctrine of Christ in the New Testament (Eph_1:13; Col_1:5; 2Ti_2:15; Jam_1:18)
2. Words of uprightness. Whether he writes or speaks, he must do so sincerely, with perfect integrity of heart, "not handling the Word of God deceitfully", (2Co_4:2) but teaching out of honest personal conviction, saying, "We believe, therefore do we speak". (2Co_4:13)
3. Words of delight. Selected and intended, not to gratify the heater"s corrupt inclinations and perverted tastes, or minister to that love of novelty and sensation which is the peculiar characteristic of itching ears, (2Ti_4:3) but to set forth the truth in such a way as to win for it entrance into the bearer"s heart and mind. For this purpose the preacher"s words should be such as to interest and sway the listener, arresting his attention, exciting his imagination, instructing his understanding, moving his affections, quickening, his conscience, and impelling his will. Dullness, darkness, dryness, deadness, are inexcusable faults in a preacher.
Vers. 9-11.
The religious thinker and teacher.
The author of this book was himself a profound thinker and an earnest teacher, and it is evident that his great aim was to use his gifts of observation, meditation, and discourse for the enlightenment and the spiritual profit of all whom his words might reach. Taught in the quiet of his heart by the Spirit of the Eternal, he labored, by the presentation of truth and the inculcation of piety, to promote the religious life among his fellow-men. His aim as he himself conceived it, his methods as practiced by him in his literary productions, are deserving of the attentive consideration and the diligent imitation of those who are called upon to use thought and speech for the spiritual good of their fellow-creatures. Words are the utterance of the convictions and the desires of the inner nature, and when spoken deliberately and in public they involve a peculiar responsibility.
I THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER SHOULD BE THE EXPRESSION OF WISDOM. They should not be thrown off carelessly, but should be the fruit of deep study and meditation. For the most part, they should embody either original thought, or thought which the teacher should have assimilated and made part of his own nature, and tested in his own individual experience. They should be the utterance of knowledge rather than of opinion; and they should be set forth in the order which comes from reflection, and not in an incoherent, desultory, and unconnected form.
II THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER SHOULD BE WORDS OF UPRIGHTNESS. In order to this they must be the utterance of sincere conviction; they must harmonize with moral intuitions; they must be such as consequently appeal to the same conscience in the hearer or reader, which approves them in the speaker or writer. Crafty arguments, specious and sophistical appeals, sentimental absurdities, do not fulfill these conditions, and for them there is no place in the Christian preacher"s discourses, in the volumes of the Christian author.
III THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER SHOULD BE WORDS OF PERSUASIVENESS. The author of Ecclesiastes commends "proverbs" and "words of delight." Harshness, coldness, contemptuousness, severity, are unbecoming to the expositor of a religion of compassion and love. A winning manner., a sympathizing spirit, language and illustrations adapted to the intelligence, the habits, the circumstances of auditors, go far to open up a way to their hearts. No doubt there is a side of danger to this requirement; the pleasing word may be the substitute for the truth instead of its vehicle, and the preacher may simply be as one that playeth upon a very pleasant instrument. But the example of our Lord Jesus, "the great Teacher," abundantly shows how winning, gracious, condescending, and touching language is divinely adapted to reach the hearts of men.
IV THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER SHOULD BE CONVINCING AND EFFECTIVE. The goads that pierce, the nails that penetrate and bind, are images of the language of him who beateth not the air. Let the aim be kept steadily before the eye, and the mark will not be missed. Let the blow be delivered strongly and decisively, and the work will be well done. The understanding has to be convinced, the conscience awakened, the heart touched, the evil passions stilled, the endeavor and determination aroused; and the Word is, by the accompanying energy of the Spirit of God, able to effect all this. "Who is sufficient for these things?
V THE WORDS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER MAY BE THE MEANS OF RELIGIOUS, SPIRITUAL, IMPERISHABLE BLESSING. If his word be the Word of God, who commissions and strengthens every faithful herald and ambassador, then he may comfort himself with the promise, "My Word shall not return unto me void; it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. T.
Vers. 9-12.
The function of the teacher.
1. The wise man, because he is wise (ver. 9), teaches. There is no better, no other thing that he can do, both for his own sake and for the sake of his fellow-men. To know and not to speak is a sin and a cruelty, when men are perishing for lack of knowledge." To know and to speak is an elevated joy and a sacred duty; we cannot but speak the things we have learned of God, the truth as it is in Jesus.
2. The wise man also takes what measures he can to perpetuate the truth he knows; he wants to preserve it, to hand it down to another time; he therefore "writes down the words with truth and uprightness" (ver. 10); or, if he cannot do this, be labors to put his thought into those parabolic or proverbial forms which will not only be preserved in the memory of those to whom he utters them, but can be readily repeated, and will become embedded in the traditions and, ultimately, into the literature of his country (ver. 9).
3. The wise man restrains his literary ardor within due bounds (ver. 12). Otherwise he not only causes a drug in the market, but seriously injures his own health. He knows it is better to do a little and do that thoroughly, than to do much and do it hastily and imperfectly. But what is the teacher"s function, his sacred duty, as related to the people of his charge or his acquaintance?
I To SEARCH DILIGENTLY FOR THE TRUTH. It is for him "to ponder and seek out," or to "compose with care and thought" (Cox"s transl.). Divine truth, in its various aspects and applications, is manifold and profound; it demands our most patient study, our most reverent inquiry; we should gain help from all possible sources, more particularly should we seek it from the Spirit and from the Word of God.
II TO INTEREST AND TO CONSOLE. The Preacher sought to find out "acceptable" or "comfortable" words of delight" (literally). This is not the main duty of the teacher, but it is one to which he should seriously address himself.
1. A teacher may be speaking in the highest strain, and may be uttering the deepest wisdom, but if his words are unintelligible and, therefore, unacceptable, he will make no way and do no good. We must speak in the language of those whom we address. Our thoughts may be far higher than theirs, but our language must be on their level at any rate, on the level of their understanding.
2. The teacher will do wisely to spend much time and strength in consoling; for in this world of trouble and sorrow no words are more often or more urgently needed than "comfortable words.
III TO RETAIN. "The words of the "masters of assemblies" are like stakes (nails) which the shepherds drive into the ground when they pitch their tents;" i.e. they are instruments of fastening or of securing; they act as things which keep the cords in their place, and keep the roof over the head of the traveler. It is one function of the Christian teacher and a most valuable one so to speak that men shall retain their hold on the great verities of the faith, on the true and real Fatherhood of God, on the atonement of Jesus Christ, on the openness of the kingdom of heaven to every seeking soul, on the blessedness of self-forgetful love, on the offer of eternal life to all who believe, etc.
IV TO INSPIRE. At other times the Preacher"s words are "as goads" that urge the cattle to other fields. To comfort and to secure is much, but it is not all that they who speak for Christ have to do. They have to illumine and to enlarge men"s views, to shed fresh light on the sacred page, to invite those that hear them to accompany them to fields of thought hitherto untrodden, to induce them to think and study for themselves, to unveil the beauties and glories of the wisdom "that remains to be revealed," to inspire them with a yearning desire and with a full purpose of heart to enter upon works of helpfulness and usefulness; he has to "provoke them to love and to good works. C.
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 On vv11–14 The words of the wise are as goads.
Ecc_12:11
The words of the wise are as goads.
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A wise preacher aims to move his hearers
I. A wise preacher will aim to impress the minds of his hearers.
1. Every wise preacher knows that unless he impresses the minds of his hearers, he can do them no good by his preaching. Hearers must feel what they hear, or what they hear will be like sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2. Every wise preacher knows that his hearers will not feel the truth and importance of what he says unless he makes them feel it. Hearers look upon it as the part of the preacher to make them feel. They mean to be passive in hearing, unless he makes them active.
II. How he will preach in order to attain this desirable object. When any person proposes a certain end, the end which he proposes naturally suggests the proper means to accomplish it. This holds with respect to a wise preacher, who makes it his object to penetrate and impress the minds of his hearers.
1. This end will naturally lead him to use the most proper style in preaching. He will choose the best words, and place them in the best order, to enlighten the mind and affect the heart.
2. His design to penetrate and impress the minds of his hearers will lead him to exhibit great and interesting truths. He will bring much of the character, perfections and designs of God into his public discourses. He will preach Christ in the greatness of His nature, and in the glory and grace of His mediatorial character and works. He will exhibit man in the dignity of his nature, and in the importance of his destination. And he will unfold the scenes of a general judgment, and of a boundless eternity, in their own native awful solemnity.
3. For the same purpose he will explain Divine truths and describe Divine objects.
4. The wise preacher, who intends to impress the minds of his hearers, will arrange Divine truths, and exhibit Divine objects, in such an order as to reach every power and faculty of the soul, in its proper turn. Instruction should always go before declamation. It can answer no valuable purpose to inflame the passions before light is thrown into the understanding and conscience; but rather serves, on the other hand, to produce the most fatal effects.
5. The wise preacher, who means to impress the minds of his hearers, will always apply his discourse according to their particular characters. What belongs to saints, he will apply to saints; and what belongs to sinners, he will apply to sinners.
III. Improvement.
1. We learn from what has been said, the importance of ministers being good men. Piety is necessary, both to dispose and enable them to penetrate and impress the minds of their hearers.
2. We learn from what has been said, the importance of ministers giving themselves wholly to their work. If they mean to penetrate and impress the minds of their hearers, they must exhibit, in the course of their preaching, a rich variety of Divine truths. But they will soon lose a variety, and fall into a sameness in preaching, unless they constantly improve their minds in the knowledge of the doctrines and duties of religion by reading, meditation and prayer.
3. We learn from what has been said, the manner in which a minister should appear and speak in the pulpit. His voice, his looks, his gestures, and his whole deportment, should be wholly governed by his ultimate end, which is to penetrate and impress the minds of his hearers.
4. We learn from what has been said that it is not very material whether a minister preaches with notes, or without. If he aims to impress the minds of his hearers, he may attain his end by either of these modes of preaching.
5. We learn from what has been said, the great absurdity of those ministers who studiously avoid penetrating and impressing the minds of their hearers. Solomon and Christ, the prophets and apostles meant to penetrate and impress the minds of their hearers; and, by the manifestation of the truth, to commend themselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God. These are examples, which it is wise in preachers to follow, though it Should give pain and even offence to their hearers.
6. If it be the wisdom and duty of ministers to penetrate and impress the minds of their hearers, then they have no reason to complain of the most close and pungent preaching. They always desire such plainness and fidelity in other men, whom they employ to promote their temporal good. They wish their attorney to examine their cause with care, discover every flaw, and tell them the plain, naked truth. And they heartily desire their surgeon to probe their wounds to the bottom, and apply the moss effectual remedies, though ever so painful and distressing to endure. Why, then, should they complain of their minister for dealing plainly and faithfully with their souls? This is an absurdity in its own nature, an injury to their minister, and may be eternal destruction to themselves.
7. If it ought to be the aim of the minister to penetrate and impress the minds of his hearers, then there is blame somewhere if their minds are not penetrated and impressed. Either the minister does not aim to impress their minds, or they mean to resist the impressions of Divine truth. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
The words of the wise
I. They are stimulating, as goads. Wise teaching, however attractive (Ecc_12:10), is never pointless. It is penetrating, incisive. It stimulates to--
1. Hatred and opposition. Ahab. (1Ki_21:20; 1Ki_22:8). The Pharisees (Mar_12:12).
2. Conversion. Saul of Tarsus (Act_9:5. See also Psa_45:2; Psa_45:5).
3. Progress and effort (2Pe_1:12; 2Pe_3:1-18 :l).
II. They are abiding, as nails, etc. Masters of assemblies, either those who assemble persons together to hear them, or perhaps masters of collections, those who collect and arrange wise words. In either case they are teachers, by word of mouth or in writing. A nail fastened or planted, not only penetrates, but abides. The impression made by wise teaching is lasting. It abides--
1. To be pondered. The Blessed Virgin (Luk_2:19; Luk_2:51. See also Luk_1:66, and Gen_37:11).
2. To be acted upon, as fixed principles, regulating the conduct. Having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit, etc. (Luk_8:15; see Psa_119:11).
3. To be added to; a nail (a peg, as we say) on which to hang much else. Compare the promise to Eliakim (Isa_22:23-25).
III. They have essential unity, given from one shepherd.
1. The human teacher making his own (so giving harmony and unity to words of the wise), drawn from many sources.
2. God, the Author of all wisdom (Pro_2:6), the Great Prophet and Teacher of the Church (Joh_16:13; 1Co_2:9-13). Harmony and unity of truth, as taught by inspired writers, and those whose teaching accords with them.
IV. Conclusion. In this description we have a rule by which--
1. The teacher should guide himself.
2. The hearer should try himself. (Archdeacon Perowne.)
The Christian ministry of literary men
There is a Christian ministry wider than that to which men are consecrated through ecclesiastical offices. They also belong to the great company of preachers, or teachers, who explore the heavens, or who decipher the records graven on rocks, or who analyze material forms, or who trace the evolutions of life, with those who delineate or embody the beautiful in art; all these are co-workers with the apostles and prophets in the service and worship of God the Father. Some of Gods servants stand nearer to the altar than others, but the sacrifice and service of these in the outermost range are ever and everywhere acceptable to Him when offered or done in an honest and true heart. And among these diverse gifts of Gods Spirit, who divides to men severally as He will, we may surely count the gift of the genius which has enriched the world with so many sweet and inspiring thoughts in the varied forms of literature. Charles Lamb has said, in his own quiet, quaint way, I am disposed to say grace upon twenty other occasions in the course of the day besides my dinner. I want a form for setting out upon a pleasant walk, for a moonlight ramble, for a friendly meeting, for a solved problem. Why have we none for books, those spiritual repasts--a grace before Milton, a grace before Shakespeare, a devotional exercise proper to be said before reading the Faery Queen? For literature, even in its lowlier forms, has been a ministry of comfort and help to millions. It has filled days in the lives of multitudes with solace or with sunshine which otherwise had been dark and dreary. Many devout people have a horror, I know, of what they call works of fiction: nor am I insensible of the demoralizing influence of the baser sort of such literature. But let us discriminate here, as we do in music and in painting and in poetry, nor condemn that which is wholesome with that which is vicious in books of amusement or recreation; for the greatest writers of so-called fiction have done good and blessed service often in the cause of morality and religion. There is more pure gospel, in the substantial sense of that cant phrase, in the writings of Charles Dickens, for instance, than in seven-tenths of our prinked sermons. Think of the gentleness, the pathos, the Divine charity which pervade his books! while even the homely, the ludicrous and the seemingly profane are always friendly to virtue. What a power he has been in the regeneration of English manners! Then think of a similar service done by his great compeer in English letters; by him who lashed the follies and the vices of Vanity Fair, doing a work which the pulpit was impotent or afraid to do in rebuking the fashionable extravagance and profligacy of the age; for literature could find audience in circles which were closed to homilies and Episcopal pastorals, insinuating truths which had been resented coming in dogmatic shape. And the results are marked in every sphere of English life, for it is not to an increase of ecclesiastical activity that the improved manners and morals of the English people are to be solely or chiefly traced. The influence of the press has become supreme; our greatest prophets speak through books. No man can estimate the debt which modern civilization owes to the men the weapon of whose warfare has been the pen. They have been ever forward to expose hypocrisy, to resist the tyranny of power, to plead the cause of the oppressed, and sometimes at a bitter cost. Of all powers merely human, poetry has been the most potent over the cultivated thought and feeling of the world. It holds more condensed wisdom, it speaks more directly to the primal affections, it incites the soul to grander aims, it is more nearly akin to the unction of the Divine Spirit than any other instrument or influence controlled by man. The art of making verses may be acquired, but the true poet is inspired, having deeper insight into men and things with finer faculties of interpretation: the teacher at whose feet all other men sit to catch the flow of harmonious wisdom. All gifts of genius are from heaven, but the brightest and the best is the vision and the faculty Divine of the poet. He is the teacher of teachers. The best thoughts of the cultivated world had birth in poetry. Every other species of intellectual power has been inspired by it. Religion, morals, government have all been penetrated and purified by it. Take one name and all it represents out of the literary annals of England, and what a void would be visible wherever the English tongue has gone! Take the entire range of English literature, says the late Canon Wordsworth; put together our best authors who have written upon subjects not professedly religious or theological, and we Shall not find, I believe, in them all united so much evidence of the Bible having been read and used as we have found in Shakespeare alone. Who can take his thoughts and reflections into the study or the closet without coming forth with deeper and diviner feelings in him--without a more awful estimate of life and its great issues? (J. H. Rylance, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v12 Ecc_12:12. My Son.] An expression appropriate to the master…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Ecc_12:12. My Son.] An expression appropriate to the master of wisdom when addressing his pupils; equivalent to “my scholar,” or “dear reader.” (Pro_1:8.) Of making many books there is no end.] The plural form sometimes denotes the parts of one treatise, and conveys the general idea of “much writing.” The word may be, therefore, rendered collectively, “in making a great book there is no end.” Great labour for little result. These words may also be understood of the heathen literature, which on many subjects was misleading, and really settled no question.
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Ecc_12:13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.] There is an implied reference to Ecc_12:12. Here the wise man concludes, since it is useless to make a long book. Fear God.] Lit. “God fear.” The object of fear is put first for the sake of emphasis. For this is the whole duty of man.] “The whole of man.” His destiny depends on this. “For that belongs to all men.” Luther.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Ecc_12:12-14
PARTING COUNSELS
We have here the parting counsels of one whose native ability, careful culture, long and varied experience, and spiritual wisdom, gave him the right to claim a hearing for his weighty words. He does not speak as a young and untried man, who, lacking experience, is yet able to reason from principles, and therefore gives advice with little hesitation. His counsels are not a brilliant intellectual effort, forcing attention upon itself; they arise rather from a heart which had endured the pain of conflict with temptation, doubt, and failure. The language is that of affectionate entreaty, and is concerned with those few and simple truths which age bequeaths to youth as the only heritage of any enduring value. The wisest man, when he draws near to the end of life, has little else to say than to commend old and familiar truths. Therefore, the Royal Preacher dwells upon the folly of useless struggles after the unattainable—the claims of duty—and the solemnities of the Judgment.
I. Leave Fruitless Speculation. (Ecc_12:12.) The statements of this Book touch many mysteries, in whose mazes the mind might easily be lost; but their chief use is to admonish the reader against the actual evils of life, and to stir him up to duty. Those speculations which only minister to curiosity are regarded as possessing two fatal disadvantages.
1. They do not reach a final settlement of any question. “Of making many books there is no end.” Literature is a necessity of every civilized nation. It preserves the best thoughts and sentiments of their wisest men, and is the very soul of that society in which it was produced. As long as there is mental activity among a people, their literature must be ever growing. Each age, also, claims and requires a different representation of truth, for the simple reason that it is different, in several respects, from every former age. Thus the making of many books cannot come to an end, for the mental activity of mankind must continue. But, in another sense, books do not come to an end. Many of them deal in curious speculations regarding the nature, state, and destiny of man. However confident their authors may have been in the certainty of their conclusions, or however numerous the readers who have yielded their assent, the eternal questioning comes up again and again, and nothing is settled. The old mysteries are inquired into by successive ages of thinkers. They are viewed from every side, and set in various lights of argument and illustration; yet still mankind are as far as ever from their perfect solution. It is true that the Bible admits these mysteries; yet the Bible shows where the mind of man may rest in safety and peace, and what is the proper attitude of the soul until such time as God shall be pleased to give more light. The literature of the world upon speculative subjects reaches no certain conclusion; yet it will continue to make the unavailing attempt as long as human society lasts. It is not wise to allow the mind to be unduly occupied with what is so unsatisfactory, especially if hereby we are drawn aside from our plain duty and constancy of our faith in the immutable things.
2. They are a wearisome exercise. “Much study is a weariness of the flesh.” This is true of the pursuit of ordinary knowledge. Nothing can be gained but by severe and constant exercises of the mind. Natural indolence must be overcome, the fear of difficulties overmastered, and all the anxieties of inquiry endured. The thinker has to pay the penalty of a weary brain and exhausted energies. When the knowledge gained is certain, and profitable for use or for delight, there is a grateful recompense. But how sad the fate of him who endures all the labour and anxiety for some pitiful and controverted conclusion! He wearies himself upon a profitless and endless task.
II. Make Practical Use of what is Certainly Known. Solomon could have written at greater length upon the subjects on which he treated. He draws not to an end from lack of wealth in thought or language. But why go on? Life is too short for prolonged exercises of this kind. Duty is at hand, and there are stern realities to face. The reader is exhorted to give his attention to the “words of the wise,” for they deal with those eternal truths which most concern man to know. They are truths not framed to satisfy the curious and unprofitable appetites of the mind, but to touch the heart, to rouse up the conscience, and to teach man his duty. What is thus certainly known is sufficient for every practical purpose.
1. It is sufficient to guard us against real evils. The Preacher has yet this to say, “By these, my son, be admonished.” These words of the wise give warning against the greatest evils to which man is exposed. There are many calamities which afflict man in his fortune or his flesh, but these are light and passing when compared with the crushing and lasting evils that may fall upon the soul. These are the only real calamities. To lie under the displeasure of God is the awful disaster. The Psalmist, speaking of the testimonies of God, says, “Moreover by them is thy servant warned.” No long and laborious study is required to learn what those evils are which we ought to dread most and to avoid. Unlike the speculations of the natural mind, the whole case of our spiritual danger may be put before us in few words.
2. It is sufficient to teach us what is our highest good. The “conclusion of the whole matter” is given in few and earnest words. They speak of duty to the Highest, and this is all that concerns man to know. When the whole of man’s existence is taken into account, this alone has any real importance for him. How loved, how honoured once, avails him not if, after life is ended, he does not rest in the smile of God. Therefore, our only concern is to learn our duty, that we might not be ashamed when we come to appear before Him. Such knowledge is not too wonderful for us, but is obvious and familiar, easy and intelligible. It may be considered as consisting of two elements.
(1.) Right feelings towards God. “Fear God.” The Scripture lays great stress upon the condition of the heart, because from it proceed the “issues of life.” The streams cannot be pure and sweet if the fountain is defiled. The heart determines what a man really is, for it is the origin and spring of moral action. The whole state of the feelings towards God is here spoken of under the name of fear, which (in the O.T. especially) is a word of wide signification. It is that feeling which both fears and loves—that filial awe which trembles lest it should offend, and yet knows no servile dread while it dwells under the shadow of a Father’s love. It is not the fear of ignorance which trembles at the thought of unknown terrors, but that intelligent fear which arises from a due recognition of the relations in which we stand to God. It springs from the earnest realities of our moral situation, and is that disposition of the soul by which alone we can walk humbly with God.
2. Practical Obedience. “Keep His commandments.” Right feelings towards God must issue in obedience. Regard for another—for his person, for his rights, for the claims of his affection towards us, disposes us to a ready and loving service. Unless feeling does spend and employ itself in duty, it uses the power of the soul to no purpose, and only deceives us with the semblance of goodness. Uprightness in the life is the only infallible proof of uprightness in the heart. The commandments of God are the authoritative statements of our duty to all that is above, around, and beneath us. They have regard to all what we ought both to know, to feel, and to do. They are the statutes of God’s kingdom, which all His subjects are bound to obey. According to the state of our heart, we feel them either a painful restraint, or the very charter of our liberty. Love to God turns them into a delight. When He enlarges our heart, we can run the ways of His commandments. The two great commandments of the Law speak of nothing else but right feelings, because, if these are present, right practice is sure to follow. There is a true “invariable sequence” in moral things.
III. Recognise the Fact of Human Accountability. (Ecc_12:14.) “For God shall bring every work into judgment.” The future is thus brought into view in order to strengthen the motives for obedience. The Judgment to come is rendered necessary by the fact of human accountability. As certain as there is moral disorder in the world, and there is a God over all of infinite justice and purity, so certain is it that. He will interfere with the course of human affairs, summon men before His bar, and assign to each his proper portion and place. If men are responsible to God, it is necessary that at some time their account should be rendered. However remote from Him we may feel ourselves to be, we shall have to come to Him for reckoning. The doctrine of the future Judgment is intended to influence our moral feeling and practice. This fact of human accountability, pointing as it does to the Judgment, should be practically recognised.
1. Because it raises and ennobles the idea of life. We may regard the fact, that we shall have to appear before God for Judgment, as a disadvantage—a source of dread and alarm. And so it must be, if we have resisted His will, and thus come under condemnation. But the fact of our accountability renders it possible for us, through the mercy of God, to obtain the reward of the righteous. Thus a prospect is opened, so sublime that the thought of it gives a supreme value to our life. The idea of Judgment implies that man shall live in a future state—that his individuality shall remain. This thought transfigures our poor human life, redeems it from the imputation of vanity, and our condition from meanness. Our inheritance is not brief life, but eternity.
2. It acts as a wholesome moral restraint. It is true that love in its highest moods does not think of restraint, but delights in its own freedom. Yet restraint is salutary, for it aids and guards weak virtue; and the highest virtue may be prevented thereby from the dangers of a fall. The thought that evil shall surely be punished is the first motive that urges us to righteousness—the higher and nobler motive comes afterwards. Also, the thought that even good actions shall come under the scrutiny of the Judge of all, tends to make us careful. Since the whole of our conduct shall be tested, we should look well to the purity of our motives.
3. It casts the soul entirely upon God. From His justice we can have no confident hope that we should see salvation, but rather we have much to fear. The chastisements of nature, and in the course of Providence, seem inflexible in their awful regularity. We have really no sure refuge but in the infinite charity of God. To please Him by our loving obedience should be the great endeavour of our life; for if we have this testimony, we may cherish a humble confidence that He will receive us in peace. Before the dread tribunal we all alike stand in need of mercy. If we can cast our souls upon God, even “these things to come”—though so terrible in themselves—cannot separate us from His love, which for us in Gospel times “is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecc_12:12. The Preacher doth wisely exhort us that we prefer saving studies, which are easily perceived, everlasting in their benefit, before those the search whereof is infinite, and the end whereof at last is only weariness and misery [Jermin].
“My son.”—The voice of warning should have the style and tone of affection, and have regard to the ultimate good of him to whom it is addressed.
He who listens to admonition is one of the children of wisdom.
In the study of the Scripture, men should not aim at their comfort only, but mainly that they may receive clear information and warning of their sin and hazard, the true remedy thereof, and the way to attain to it; for this is one use to be made of this Book, and consequently of the rest of Scripture [Nisbet].
There is a deceitful literature of the world which attempts to deal with the highest questions that concern humanity. It refuses the teaching of Scripture regarding the nature, the chief good, and the destiny of man. It rejects the supernatural aid of faith, which imparts a now faculty to man, by which alone he can have consciousness of truths beyond the dull and prosaic scenes of this mortal life. There is no reason why such unwarranted speculations should not go on for ever. They never reach to any certainty on which the soul of man can rest. Hence men become dissatisfied with them, and in their efforts to obtain something better, only substitute one folly for another. This false wisdom, admired as philosophy in one age, becomes the derision and scorn of the next.
Whatever is built upon God’s truth shall stand. All other foundations shall be removed when the storm arises; and though men may presume to build upon them again, yet their work is destined likewise to perish.
The truths of religion which bear upon practical duty are few and simple; but the speculations of the human mind, unaided by Divine light, are endless and confused. Hence he who engages in their study wearies himself in a fruitless task.
The study of the Word of God engages the attention, but it gives rest to the soul. All who love His law have great peace.
Ecc_12:13. This conclusion is not the summing up of the reflections in this Book, but rather the practical end which “The Preacher” had in view. He is now coming to the chief point which concerns all.
“The conclusion of the whole matter is one of those “nails” and “goads” by which “The Preacher” endeavours to affect the heart and conscience.
The fear of God delivers the soul from every other fear—from the anxieties of restless inquiry—from distrust and suspicion of God—from murmuring and discontent.
To fear God is in our hearts to serve and honour Him; to keep His commandments is the outward demonstration of this inward devotion, in the conversation and actions of our lives to show ourselves [Jermin].
The keeping of the commandments is inseparably connected with the fear of God, because all true feeling is bound by a pleasing necessity to engage itself in the service of its object.
Reconciliation to God is like entering the gate of a beautiful avenue which conducts to a splendid mansion. But that avenue is long, and in some places it skirts the edge of dangerous cliffs; and, therefore, to save the traveller from falling over where he would be dashed to pieces, it is fenced all the way by a quickset hedge. That hedge is the commandments. They are planted there that we may do ourselves no harm. But, like the fence of the fragrant brier, they regale the pilgrim who keeps the path, and they only hurt him when he tries to break through [Dr. J. Hamilton].
In the fear of God, and obedience to His will lies all that has any permanent value for man. Everything else will pass away, but this has an enduring substance.
It is not only the whole duty, but the whole honour, and interest, and happiness of man [Wardlaw].
Ecc_12:14. “God shall bring:” loath is guilty man to come into judgment, and therefore he crieth to the hills to cover him, to the mountains to fall upon him; but mountains and hills and all shall forsake him, and God shall bring him to it. The best way, therefore, is of ourselves beforehand to go unto His judgment, and in our own hearts to arraign ourselves before God, for that is which will make His Judgment to be comfortable to us [Jermin].
The fact that God often comes into judgment with man, in the course of human history, is included in these words. But the future Judgment is chiefly intended because the spirit returns to God that its true character may be revealed, and its true place assigned.
The future judgment will discover the realities of human conduct, for it will proceed upon perfect knowledge.
There will be such a development of character as shall justify the Supreme Judge, and the judgments He pronounces and executes, in the consciences of the condemned, and certify His unimpeachable righteousness to angels and men [Wardlaw].
The Judgment will bring to light both the hidden things of good and of evil—the secret deeds of shame, and the kind offices of retiring and modest worth.
In the light of the solemn account which we must all render to God, the life of man becomes as a seed from which a mighty forest is to spring.
The Christian lays the comfort to his heart that judgment is committed to the Son of Man. He knows that he has a Judge who can be “touched with the feeling” of his “infirmities.” The purest soul needs this assurance.
THE END.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v13 Ecc 12:1 - Ecc 12:7, Ecc 12:13 - Ecc…
Ecclesiastes
THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER
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Ecc 12:1 - Ecc 12:7, Ecc 12:13 - Ecc 12:14.
The Preacher has passed in review ‘all the works that are done under the sun,’ and has now reached the end of his long investigation. It has been a devious path. He has announced many provisional conclusions, which are not intended for ultimate truths, but rather represent the progress of the soul towards the final, sufficient ground and object of belief and aim of all life, even God Himself. ‘Vanity of vanities’ is a cheerless creed and a half-truth. Its completion lies in being driven, by recognising vanity as stamped on all creatures, to clasp the one reality. ‘All is vanity’ apart from God, but He is fullness, and possessed and enjoyed and endured in Him, life is not ‘a striving after wind.’ Leave out this last section, and this book of so-called ‘Wisdom’ is one-sided and therefore error, as is modern pessimism, which only says more feebly what the Preacher had said long ago. Take the rest of the book as the autobiography of a seeker after reality, and this last section as his declaration of where he had found it, and all the previous parts fall into their right places.
Our passage omits the first portion of the closing section, which is needed in order to set the counsel to remember the Creator in its right relation. Observe that, properly rendered, the advice in Ecc 12:1 is ‘remember also,’ and that takes us back to the end of the preceding chapter. There the young are exhorted to enjoy the bright, brief blossom-time of their youth, withal keeping the consciousness of responsibility for its employment. In earlier parts of the book similar advice had been given, but based on different grounds. Here religion and full enjoyment of youthful buoyancy and delight in fresh, unhackneyed, homely pleasures are proclaimed to be perfectly compatible. The Preacher had no idea that a devout young man or woman was to avoid pleasures natural to their age. Only he wished their joy to be pure, and the stern law that ‘whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap’ to be kept in mind. Subject to that limitation, or rather that guiding principle, it is not only allowable, but commanded, to ‘put away sorrow and evil.’ Young people are often liable to despondent moods, which come over them like morning mists, and these have to be fought against. The duty of joy is the more imperative on the young because youth flies so fast, or, as the Preacher says,’ is vanity.’
Now these advices sound very like the base incitements to sensual and unworthy delight which poets of the meaner sort, and some, alas! of the nobler in their meaner moments, have presented. But this writer is no teacher of ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,’ and wicked trash of that sort. Therefore he brings side by side with these advices the other of our passage. That ‘also’ saves the former from being misused, just as the thought of judgment did.
That possible combination of hearty, youthful glee and true religion is the all-important lesson of this passage. The word for Creator is in the plural number, according to the Hebrew idiom, which thereby expresses supremacy or excellence. The name of ‘Creator’ carries us back to Genesis, and suggests one great reason for the injunction. It is folly to forget Him on whom we depend for being; it is ingratitude to forget, in the midst of the enjoyments of our bright, early days, Him to whom we owe them all. The advice is specially needed; for youth has so much, that is delightful in its novelty, to think about, and the world, on both its innocent and its sinful side, appeals to it so strongly, that the Creator is only too apt to be crowded out of view by His works. The temptation of the young is to live in the present. Reflection belongs to older heads; spontaneous action is more characteristic of youth. Therefore, they specially need to make efforts to bring clearly to their thoughts both the unseen future and Him who is invisible. The advice is specially suitable for them; for what is begun early is likely to last and be strong.
It is hard for older men, stiffened into habits, and with less power and love of taking to new courses, to turn to God, if they have forgotten Him in early days. Conversion is possible at any age, but it is less likely as life goes on. The most of men who are Christians have become so in the formative period between boyhood and thirty. After that age, the probabilities of radical change diminish rapidly. So, ‘Remember . . . in the days of thy youth,’ or the likelihood is that you will never remember. To say, ‘I mean to have my fling, and I shall turn over a new leaf when I am older,’ is to run dreadful risk. Perhaps you will never be older. Probably, if you are, you will not want to turn the leaf. If you do, what a shame it is to plan to give God only the dregs of life! You need Him, quite as much, if not more, now in the flush of youth as in old age. Why should you rob yourself of years of blessing, and lay up bitter memories of wasted and polluted moments? If ever you turn to God in your older days, nothing will be so painful as the remembrance that you forgot Him so long.
The advice is further important, because it presents the only means of delivering life from the ‘vanity’ which the Preacher found in it all. Therefore he sets it at the close of his meditations. This is the practical outcome of them all. Forget God, and life is a desert. Remember Him, and ‘the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose.’
The verses from the middle of Ecc 12:1 - Ecc 12:7 enforce the exhortation by the consideration of what will certainly follow youth, and advise remembrance of the Creator before that future comes. So much is clear, but the question of the precise meaning of these verses is much too large for discussion here. The older explanation takes them for an allegory representing the decay of bodily and mental powers in old age, whilst others think that in them the advance of death is presented under the image of an approaching storm. Wright, in his valuable commentary, regards the description of the gradual waning away of life in old age, in the first verses, as being set forth under images drawn from the closing days of the Palestinian winter, which are dreaded as peculiarly unhealthy, while Ecc 12:4 - Ecc 12:5 present the advent of spring, and contrast the new life in animals and plants with the feebleness of the man dying in his chamber and unable to eat. Still another explanation is that the whole is part of a dirge, to be taken literally, and describing the mourners in house and garden. I venture, though with some hesitation, to prefer, on the whole, the old allegorical theory, for reasons which it would be impossible to condense here. It is by no means free from difficulty, but is, as I think, less difficult than any of its rivals.
Interpreters who adopt it differ somewhat in the explanation of particular details, but, on the whole, one can see in most of the similes sufficient correspondence for a poet, however foreign to modern taste such a long-drawn and minute allegory may be. ‘The keepers of the house’ are naturally the arms; the ‘strong men,’ the legs; the ‘grinding women,’ the teeth; the ‘women who look out at the windows,’ the eyes; ‘the doors shut towards the street,’ either the lips or, more probably, the ears. ‘The sound of the grinding,’ which is ‘low,’ is by some taken to mean the feeble mastication of toothless gums, in which case the ‘doors’ are the lips, and the figure of the mill is continued. ‘Arising at the voice of the bird’ may describe the light sleep or insomnia of old age; but, according to some, with an alteration of rendering {‘The voice riseth into a sparrow’s’}, it is the ‘childish treble’ of Shakespeare. The former is the more probable rendering and reference. The allegory is dropped in Ecc 12:5, which describes the timid walk of the old, but is resumed in ‘the almond trees shall flourish’; that is, the hair is blanched, as the almond blossom, which is at first delicate pink, but fades into white. The next clause has an appropriate meaning in the common translation, as vividly expressing the loss of strength, but it is doubtful whether the verb here used ever means ‘to be a burden.’ The other explanations of the clause are all strained. The next clause is best taken, as in the Revised Version, as describing the failure of appetite, which the stimulating caper-berry is unable to rouse. All this slow decay is accounted for, ‘because the man is going to his long home,’ and already the poet sees the mourners gathering for the funeral procession.
The connection of the long-drawn-out picture of senile decay with the advice to remember the Creator needs no elucidation. That period of failing powers is no time to begin remembering God. How dreary, too, it will be, if God is not the ‘strength of the heart,’ when ‘heart and flesh fail’! Therefore it is plain common sense, in view of the future, not to put off to old age what will bless youth, and keep the advent of old age from being wretched.
Ecc 12:6 - Ecc 12:7 still more stringently enforce the precept by pointing, not to the slow approach, but to the actual arrival of death. If a future of possible weakness and gradual creeping in on us of death is reason for the exhortation, much more is the certainty that the crash of dissolution will come. The allegory is partially resumed in these verses. The ‘golden bowl’ is possibly the head, and, according to some, the ‘silver cord’ is the spinal marrow, while others think rather of the bowl or lamp as meaning the body, and the cord the soul which, as it were, holds it up. The ‘pitcher’ is the heart, and the ‘wheel’ the organs of respiration. Be this as it may, the general thought is that death comes, shivering the precious reservoir of light, and putting an end to drawing of life from the Fountain of bodily life. Surely these are weighty reasons for the Preacher’s advice. Surely it is well for young hearts sometimes to remember the end, and to ask, ‘What will ye do in the end?’ and to do before the end what is so hard to begin doing at the end, and so needful to have done if the end is not to be worse than ‘vanity.’
The collapse of the body is not the end of the man, else the whole force of the argument in the preceding verses would disappear. If death is annihilation, what reason is there for seeking God before it comes? Therefore Ecc 12:7 is no interpolation to bring a sceptical book into harmony with orthodox Jewish belief, as some commentators affirm. The ‘contradiction’ between it and Ecc 3:21 is alleged as proof of its having been thus added. But there is no contradiction. The former passage is interrogative, and, like all the earlier part of the book, sets forth, not the Preacher’s ultimate convictions, but a phase through which he passed on his way to these. It is because man is twofold, and at death the spirit returns to its divine Giver, that the exhortation of Ecc 12:1 is pressed home with such earnestness.
The closing verses are confidently asserted to be, like Ecc 12:7, additions in the interests of Jewish ‘orthodoxy.’ But Ecclesiastes is made out to be a ‘sceptical book’ by expelling these from the text, and then the character thus established is taken to prove that they are not genuine. It is a remarkably easy but not very logical process.
‘The end of the matter’ when all is heard, is, to ‘fear God and keep His commandments.’ The inward feeling of reverent awe which does not exclude love, and the outward life of conformity to His will, is ‘the whole duty of man,’ or ‘the duty of every man.’ And that plain summary of all that men need to know for practical guidance is enforced by the consideration of future judgment, which, by its universal sweep and all-revealing light, must mean the judgment in another life.
Happy they who, through devious mazes of thought and act, have wandered seeking for the vision of any good, and having found all to be vanity, have been led at last to rest, like the dove in the ark, in the broad simplicity of the truth that all which any man needs for blessedness in the buoyancy of fresh youthful strength and in the feebleness of decaying age, in the stress of life, in the darkness of death, and in the day of judgment, is to ‘fear God and keep His commandments’!
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v13 Also; Deu 6:2; Deu 10:12 (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
fear
Also; Deu 6:2; Deu 10:12 (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 12, 13 using vivid ... words
using vivid ... words
The Teacher wanted the words to be pleasurable to the listener. They bring pleasure because they are well written, not because they are comforting.
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The words of wise people ... taught by one shepherd
The writer speaks of the teacher who uses his words to instruct people as if the teacher were a shepherd who uses his tools to lead his flock. (See: Metaphor)
The words of wise people are like goads
This is a simile. AT: "Wise people encourage people to act, like a sharp stick encourages an animal to move" (See: Simile)
Like nails driven deeply are the words of the masters in collections of their proverbs
This is a simile. AT: "Like you can depend on a nail that a person drives firmly into a piece of wood, so you can depend on the words of the masters in collections of their proverbs" (See: Simile)
the words of the masters in collections of their proverbs
"the wise words collected in their proverbs" or "the sayings of the wise"
which are taught by one shepherd
This can be stated in active form. AT: "which one shepherd teaches" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
righteous
word
true
lord
proverb
shepherd
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 11, 12, 13 12:9-14 This coda by the editor (see “Author and…
12:9-14 This coda by the editor (see “Author and Recipients” in the Book Introduction) expresses the editor’s respect for the Teacher, exhorts readers to apply his teaching, and gives the editor’s own conclusion from studying the Teacher (12:13-14).
12:9 Even as king (1:1), the Teacher found time to study wisdom. He collected and arranged proverbs (see also 1 Kgs 4:29-34; Prov 1:1; 10:1; 25:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.