The Book of Ecclesiastes - Part 14

Okay, brethren, good to see all of you. Today I want to just go right into continuing from where we were. If you turn over to the Book of Ecclesiastes, because I really do want to get this thing wrapped up. I think this, amazingly, even though we're in the last chapter, I don't think this will be it. I think it'll be one more after this. I have to say, because there's a lot of comments to make here at the end when we get past this section that we're in now. This section we're in now, in chapter 12, the first part of it. There's a lot of symbolism here that we want to talk about, and so just to kind of explain this, it's going to take a little bit of time.

And then the last part is the wrap-up, and that will be maybe a little bit involved in trying to, again, get the context for all of this and see how the conclusion shapes out what it all ultimately is telling us. So right now, this chapter 12 that we're in, verses 1 through 8, and we'll go ahead and read this in a second, but I've titled that part, Turn to God Now, Make the Most of Life While You Can. Turn to God Now, Make the Most of Life While You Can. And let's go ahead and read these verses.

Remember now, your Creator, in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, and the years draw near, when you say, I have no pleasure in them, While the sun is light, the moon and the stars are not darkened, The clouds do not return after the rain, and the day when the keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down, when the grinders cease, because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim, When the doors are shut in the streets, and the sound of grinding is low, When one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of music are brought low, Also they are afraid of height, and of terrors in the way, When the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper is a burden, and desire fails.

For man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets. Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the Spirit will return to God who gave it. And we'll look at verse 8 here, Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, All is vanity.

Very somber look there.

But moving into chapter 12, So we're continuing now with the third subsection of the last major section, And we're now reading the last three segments, Making up that subsection. The last of the three segments. Remember, we started this last section here in chapter 11 and verse 7. Verses 7 and 8 was one subsection, really, there, a small part, a segment. And then verses 9 and 10 was another segment. And they both really are talking about, you know, remembering the light of life before the darkness and the days of vanity. And then this section says basically the same, But in a much longer way than those two small segments do.

The Expositor's Bible Commentary says that the poetry that makes up this segment here that we just read, The description in the verses that follow ranks among the finest of the world's literature.

The onset of old age is pictured under a wide variety of metaphors, most of obvious application.

And end quote on that. The proverbial sequence of the past few chapters continues through to a conclusion in 12.7, though the verses here are quite unlike the proverbial forms we've seen previously in the book, this passage being a much longer form.

Now, by comparison, we might recall the lengthy poem about the virtuous woman at the end of the book of Proverbs. So that's a proverbial thing that's really a little bit lengthy. And so that's what we've got here in a way as well, a poetic proverbial form.

Ecclesiastes 12.1 does not mark a new subsection as it continues right along with the prominent theme of the last four verses that I just mentioned at the end of chapter 11, concerning enjoying life while young before the coming of darkening times and death.

Furthermore, as already mentioned, those verses may have been meant, those ones at the end of 11, may have been meant as a qualifying expansion of the book's refrain along with chapter 12. You know that we are to enjoy life, but let's keep some things in mind. That's what we're being told here. In any case, it's clear that verses 1 through 7 of chapter 12 constitutes a self-contained poem within the current subsection.

Now, it should be noted that this passage does not convey one comprehensive metaphoric picture. What's presented here is not a continuous allegory, but a series of diverse images related in what they portray. It's even possible that the various descriptions here, some more literal and others more figurative, were originally used in society independently of one another.

You know that these were individual things that were kind of all put together in this poem. Again, though, the imagery in the verses here is put together in a masterful way to all form a cohesive unit. And we see the words while or when or before in each of the verses up through verse 6, all tying back to remembering your Creator. Remember your Creator while this, or when this, or before this, is in these verses, followed by then in verse 7, which is the end of this physical life. That's what's being talked about there. As pointed out, most of the imagery in this passage is obvious in what it means to convey generally, particularly given the context. Now, some statements, though, are not so clear, yet we will still gain a sense of what's intended within the context of the poem. Expositor says, quote, it may be asked, and this is footnote on verse 1, it may be asked how the idea of inspiration can be held when there are so many possible interpretations of individual pictures. The answer is that, while attention to detail is important, the total description is what matters, and whatever the interpretation of phrases, the whole picture of decrepit old age is conveyed clearly, end quote. Now, we might recall something similar with the lack of clarity that one encounters in the Song of Solomon, and we noted in the Bob Regan program there that the poetry of that book is often evocative, not necessarily meant to always give exact details, but to convey a feeling about what's being discussed. And the same could be true here, especially as overtness in describing the deterioration of the body through the effects of old age could come across as insensitive and impolite. So you would kind of put things in a poetic way to kind of not say things so blatantly.

Still, it's probably safe to assume that the various expressions in the poem were much better understood by Solomon's immediate audience in his day than they are to us reading them nearly 3,000 years later. Yet in the face of this gap, we still trust that God will reveal to us whatever we truly need to know. So whatever we ought to know, I mean, God's going to supply that to us, but we need to do some work to try to find out what they mean here this long time later.

Another note on verse 1, the passage begins with a non-metaphorical statement so as to make it clear to the reader what is to follow. You know, remember your Creator days of your youth before the dark times. The NKJV verse reads, Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them. Now, expositors further notes on this, The thrill of youth fades into a lack of zest for life. The statement is a general one and certainly allows for varying degrees of experience since people retain their zest in extreme, some people retain their zest in extreme old age.

Indeed, remember in chapter 11 verse 8, it said there that it's possible to rejoice in all the years of one's life, though that is all too often not the case. Right? I mean, it is possible, though.

The same commentary further points out that many of the health troubles associated with aging in chapter 12 are often not as severe in today's advanced nations with modern living conditions and treatments as they were in ancient times. So in some ways things are a little better in that respect today. Still, quoting the commentary, the point is that as we grow older, we have some traces of these marks of age, even if they do not develop to the extremes that this chapter describes. So the teacher is justified in reminding young people that they cannot afford to put off their faith in God their Creator until they are older. And I might note, you know, this is especially young people should pay attention to this. This is who it's specifically addressed to are the young. Now something else to take note of in verse 1 is that as many commentators have observed, it says to remember your creators, plural. That's in the it says that in the like Young's literal translation. This is often understood as a majestic plural denoting a singular yet lofty Creator. It's pointed out that in parallel the plural form makers, makers plural, is used of God in Job 35 10 and Isaiah 54 verse 5. Of course, we should also note that the most common name for God in Hebrew Scripture, Elohim, is plural. Literally means gods, as is the title Adonai, my Lord's plural. While a majestic sense may be possible, we should recognize that a plurality in God as creator was noted in the very beginning of Genesis. Then God, that is Elohim, or gods, this is quoting Genesis 1 verse 26, then God, gods said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. This is not a use of the royal we, as many contend regarding how rulers sometimes speak, as is especially clear in chapter 3 verse 22 where God says, behold, the man has become like one of us, one of us, showing an actual plurality. That is clear.

And as Ecclesiastes says, harken back to man's creation in Genesis a number of times. In this book we've gone back to Genesis and notes there. It should perhaps not be surprising to see an acknowledgement of the plurality in God as creator that is presented back in Genesis. The New Testament more clearly reveals a plurality of creators explaining that God the Father created all things through the Word that became Jesus Christ. We see that in John 1, and Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1, and Ephesians 3, 9. Any of these plural forms being names and titles for the divine family can apply to either, so we're talking about, you know, God or Adonai or Creator in that sense, any of these can apply to either the Father or Christ individually as they each bear the family name or to both of them together depending on the context. So that's what, and sometimes it's not clear, but in any case, either the Father or Christ or both together can be referred to by any of these things, and so that's what we look at here. Now the focus here on remembering our Creator and doing so while young is vital. Coming to terms with life in this world, seeking to understand it, trying to find happiness, the whole point of this book must start right here. People are looking for truth and fulfillment in all the wrong places and in all the wrong things.

Where should you turn to your Creator who made the world and you in it? Who set things up as they are?

Who made the rules? Who put you here for a purpose to fulfill? Who has all the answers?

And as Dr. Walter Kaiser notes, in whose outline we've been following, in using the word remember, Solomon, quote, is not asking for mere mental cognizance. For example, when God remembered Hannah, that's in 1 Samuel 1, 19, he acted decisively on her behalf, and she who was barren conceived the child Samuel. And I'll just interject that it's the same with God remembering Noah and removing the floodwaters, as we see in Genesis 8.1. And continue the quote, so it is in our passage to remember our Creator calls for decisive action based on recollection and reflection on all that God is and has done for us. This ties into what we just saw in chapter 11, verse 9, about realizing that there will be judgment for what we do. But of course, we do not just remember that. You know, when we say, remember your Creator, it doesn't mean remember your Creator's going to judge you. We do need to remember that, but not just that. We also need to remember that God loves us and desires us to be part of his family forever. We remember that we owe everything to our Maker, and that he is the source of all blessing and good who wants to grant us infinite blessing.

And we don't just reflect on that, we respond to God. We heed him, and the time to turn to him is now. We might imagine remembering God after a long life of waywardness, as it seems that Solomon himself did. But one's life can be so ruined by then. Remember God now. Seek him and worship him and obey him today. You were told in Hebrews 4, 7. Do it today, while it is called today.

Don't put it off. The younger you start, the more you will experience of life as God intended, and the better off will be your time in this world, sparing you from many sorrows.

Recall the putting away of upset and evil. We saw in chapter 11, verse 10, it said, you know, put away upset and evil from your life. There will still be pain, of course.

Not going to escape that, but that pain is far easier to bear if your life is close to God.

He will be with you, and He will give you strength through the hard times as He's promised to. And we see these promises in several verses. We see it in James 4, verse 8. 1 Corinthians 10, 13. You know, He won't... nothing harder than what you're able to bear, but you can... you'll have the way of escape. Hebrews 13, 5 through 6. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. He's going to be with us. Continuing to the next verse here in Ecclesiastes, where verse 1 said to remember your Creator before the difficult days come. Verse 2 in parallel says, While the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are not darkened, and the clouds do not return after the rain. In saying, While these things have not happened, the meaning is, While they have not happened yet. The NIV renders the verse to say, Before the things mentioned here do happen. In other words, while these things have not happened, it means before they do happen. As pointed out earlier, the darkening here seems to parallel the coming days of darkness after beholding the light and the sun in 11, 7 through 8. You might remember that over in chapter 11, 7 through 8. True, the light is sweet and pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun. It says there, But if a man lives many years, rejoice them all, yet in remember the days of darkness, for they will be many, is what we're told over there. And the wording of 12.2 could be meant figuratively to say that youth is a time of clear skies, having fewer storms, fewer storm clouds, and nothing but blue skies. Popular scong says from now on, yes. You know, that's, and when the clouds do come and rain in a negative sense, as apparently in the image we saw in chapter 11, verse 3, where it was talking about the storms that come, you've invested all these ventures and storms will come and cause problems for things.

And we even have the modern idiom of having something rain on our parade.

That's a common thing we say today. The troubles in youth blow over quickly, and it doesn't get cloudy again right away. This is in contrast to getting older when you have one problem after another. Alternatively, on the more literal side, the darkening could refer to one's vision being dimmed with age through cataracts or general vision loss. You know, we see that in the Bible, the patriarchs, you know, their eyes grew dimmed. They couldn't see very well. The New American commentary says, the cloudiness of vision sounds like glaucoma. The picture of clouds returning after rain appears to say that the vision does not clear up in contrast to weather. However, the eyes growing dim is evidently the meaning of what follows at the end of the next verse.

The end of the next verse says, those that look through the windows grow dim.

So a different meaning might seem more likely for verse 2. Not that it's saying the same thing, but that we're talking about in metaphor of darkening times as opposed to darken vision.

Still, it's possible that the description in verses 2 and 3 were originally standalone images with overlapping meaning that were placed together in the poem. And given how well both interpretations, you know, the storms of life and eyes dimming, fit in the context of verse 2, it could be that a double meaning is intended. And that may be true through a lot of things here.

Now, accepting a figurative storms of life depiction here, Derek Kidner writes, quote, in his book, The Message of Ecclesiastes, he says, There is a chill of winter in the air of verse 2, As the rains persist, and the clouds turn daylight into gloom, And then night into pitch blackness. It is a scene somber enough to bring home to us, not only the fading of physical and mental powers, but the more general desolations of old age.

There are many lights that are liable then to be withdrawn, besides those of the senses and faculties. As one by one, old friends are taken, familiar customs change, and long-held hopes have now to be abandoned. All this will come at a stage when there is no longer the resilience of youth or the prospects of recovery to offset it. So some have tried to specifically allegorize all the celestial bodies listed in verse 2. The sun and moon means things, but that's probably going too far. Interpretations like that are going to be very subjective. That's probably not what we're meant to do. But then in verse 3, and the beginning of verse 4, the difficult days of future years are depicted with the imagery of a run-down house. Recall the mention in Ecclesiastes 10, verse 18, of a decaying building and leaking house due to laziness that in context represented a nation in decline. And now in chapter 12, we have the portrayal of a falling house standing for a person growing old. The bodily keepers have grown weak and failing. Kidner writes in verses 3 and 4, the picture changes. Now it's no longer one of nightfall, storm, and winter, but of a great house in decline. Its former glories of power, style, liveliness, and hospitality can now be surmised only by contrast with their few pathetic relics. In the brave struggle to survive, there is almost a more pointed reminder of decay than in a total ruin. It is still part of our own scene. Our own future is facing us, and we cannot avoid involvement with this foretaste of it." Verse 3 begins, "...in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men bow down." Expositors interpret that. "...the arms and the hands that minister to the body begin to tremble. The legs that once carried the body so strongly weaken and sag at the knee." Well, others agree on the hands that care for and defend the body, but they see a different meaning for the bowing strong men.

Tommy Nelson writes in his book, A Life Well Lived, "...who are your mighty men?

Your shoulders. And one day they will not stand as tall and straight as they do now. The shoulders might well seem as strong men standing on either side of the head and supporting it. The bowing down would fit with an elderly person being stooped over. The New American commentary likewise agrees on the hands, but takes the strong men bowing more generally to be the major muscle groups of the legs and back." So it's kind of putting it all together, stating that beyond that, it's impossible to be specific in anatomical details. Yeah, it's impossible to be specific again, but we have a general picture here. The next part of verse 3 about the grinders ceasing because they're few is commonly taken to mean the teeth stop chewing because so many teeth are lost as people get up in years. The metaphor is based on workers and an estate grinding flour.

If taken literally, one would think that these would have to work harder and not cease if they were few. You know, you'd have to do more work. Yet it could be that they're being so few means that the effort would not suffice anyway so that the workers give up on the task. Maybe the sense is even of a lack of grinding stones so that not enough grain can be ground for the household as needed. The low grinding sound in the next verse, and the next verse mentions the sound of grinders is low, may also be related to the teeth, though it might be more literal, which we'll see in a moment.

We've already noted in regard to the darkening of verse 2, the end of verse 3 about those looking through the windows growing dim as referring to the eyes. The dimming may refer to the eyes not seeing well in terms of clouded vision, as in the passages earlier cited about sight diminishing with age. Or the dimming could describe how the eyes appear with perhaps loss of sparkle. In any case, the image here is not a literal one of people looking out the windows growing dim. This is an obvious metaphor with the body still pictured as a house here with windows to see out of, figuratively speaking. So we're talking about the eyes looking out. The bodily house metaphor appears to continue into verse 4, the verse beginning, when the doors are shut in the streets and the sound of grinding is low. Following from the lack of grinders, meaning lack of teeth, and chewing in the previous verse, Kaiser and others take the doors being shut in the streets to mean that, and he says, quote, the lips swinging or folding doors as the jaws of Leviathan are called the doors of his face in Job 41, fall into the mouth for lack of teeth. A street is a cleft between two rows of houses. And again, and I don't believe this, by the way, and again, based on the previous verse, he interprets the sound of grinding being low in this verse to mean that, in toothless old age, only soft foods may be eaten, thus no noise is made for no hard bread or parched corn or grain is being chewed. While this is possible, a number of other commentators see the bodily house metaphor continuing, but take the doors being shut to go with sound being low due to diminished hearing.

Expositors notes on verse 4, the other doors of the senses, the organs of hearing, gradually close, marooning the owner within the cramped house of his own body. It's stated in the Tyndale Old Testament commentaries that the doors on the street being shut, quote, will refer to the reduced access to the outside world which follows impaired hearing. The New American commentary, likewise, says, the shutting of doors refers to the ears as people shut doors when they want to exclude outside noise. Deafness is meant, as indicated by the sounds of grinding and singing fading out. Note that in this interpretation, the low grinding sound is not due to soft chewing or as some propose to soft speaking, but more literally refers to outside grinding of grain, but used somewhat figuratively in a representative sense of just the outside hum of daily business, the sound volume of which is now turned down. So you just don't hear what's going on out there, and grinding is just used as a general sense as representing all that's going on outside. You're not hearing it as well. Note that in this interpretation, oh, I'm sorry, back up to where it was, this explanation, though, might seem to be contradicted by the next line, when one rises up at the sound of a bird. And the wording here seems to indicate disturbed sleep, waking at the slightest sound, maybe at the first songbirds before dawn. Tyndale comments, so much for impaired hearing.

More likely, the picture is one of waking erratically in the early hours.

Yet what of the bird sound if that's the meaning? Some think the verse refers to an aging person's voice rising up to the sound of a high-pitched bird, thus losing the deeper voice of earlier adulthood. Yet we lack evidence that in terms of sound, ancient Hebrew had the metaphor of up and down with the scale. More simply, perhaps the portrayal here is of the elderly having diminished hearing, this is what I think, by the way, the elderly having diminished hearing, not being able to make out particular sounds through the hubbub of the day, yet in the quiet of the night, still waking at minor noises. New American commentary calls this a cruel paradox of old age. One cannot hear well, but one sleeps so lightly that the slightest disturbance is sufficient to take away sleep. The sound of a bird could even refer to mere fluttering rather than twittering. It just may be just, you know, that can be scary. The last line of verse four, all the daughters of music are brought low, may seem obscure. But another expression about old age from the same general period was written, that this was written, probably gives us a sense of the words here. You can flip over to 2 Samuel 19. When Solomon's father David asked the elders, so this is the same time setting Solomon and David were talking about at this period. Solomon's father David asked the elderly Barzillai, who was a wealthy man who had provided for the king, to come to Jerusalem to be honored and provided for by David in return. So this man had provided for David in the difficult time, and now David's saying, come here and I'll provide for you. Barzillai responded, and you can see this here, in 2 Samuel 19 verses 34 and 35. He said, how long have I to live that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? I am today 80 years old. So he's getting up in years. He says, can I discern between the good and bad? Can I, your servant, taste what I eat or what I drink? And notice the next line. Can I hear any longer the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king? So you can go back over to Ecclesiastes now, where we just were there in verse 11, I mean in chapter 12, and we're looking at verse 4 of Ecclesiastes 12.4. The elements of Barzillai's description seem to be common expressions for old age at that time. You know, not being able to discern between the good and bad of things.

I don't think that means morally. It just means in a general sense. Can I taste what I eat or drink? Or can I hear any longer the voice of singing men and singing women?

So these are common expressions that are used for old age at that time. And so the daughters of music being brought low in Ecclesiastes 12.4 probably also refers to not being able to hear music very well when old. Specifically, daughters of music could refer to songs or musical compositions or the performers of these. Some think the reference to the elderly is to not being able to sing anymore themselves. But with the parallel, the hearing seems more likely, following naturally after the other references to hearing in verse 4. Loss of singing ability could conceivably go with this idea of your voice going up high to a voice of a bird, but it seems better to take everything in verse 4 as referring to hearing impairment. I think that makes the most sense there. But again, can we be certain about all this? I would say, again, we have a sort of a general picture. At the beginning of verse 5, we see that not all the poetry here is metaphor, as these words are meant quite plainly. Also, it says, they are afraid of height and of terrors in the way. People often get more nervous about heights as they grow old, since diminished strength and balance means there's a greater chance of falling, getting hurt.

In fact, the whole world can seem much more precarious and dangerous, leading to fear of potential threats in the way, that is, in their path or in the street, whether accidents or being jostled amid bustling traffic, mistakes leading to embarrassment as they're dealing out in the streets or being hurt or taken advantage of by others. And thus, anxiety about just getting around, which sometimes leads to staying shut in at home or in one's room, is what that's talking about.

You get too old, you just get too afraid or concerned to go out because it becomes too hard, and so people stay in. The next two images in verse 5 return to figurative language.

First is the blossoming almond tree. Expositors explains, as commonly interpreted, the almond tree pictures the white hair of age. To us, it's usually the harbinger of spring, and the blossom is pink. In Palestine, however, the tree begins to blossom in midwinter, and although the petals are pink at their base, they are white towards the tip.

The general impression of the tree and flower is of a white mass, but the old man is a white flower, but the old man has no spring to follow so as to enjoy the fruit.

The next line in the verse has been subject to various interpretations, and it literally reads, the grasshopper, or locust, is a burden. Some take this to mean that it becomes a burden to itself. The NIV translates this, the grasshopper drags itself along. This seemed to fit with the preceding winter imagery of the almond tree blossoming. Expositors notes, now the lively, leaping grasshopper can only drag itself along as happens when the days grow cold, an obvious picture of old age. Kaiser says the metaphor describes the halting gate of the elderly as they walk along on their canes. We see that in Zechariah 8.4, people walking that way for old age. However, the verse could instead be saying that a grasshopper or something it represents is a burden to an elderly person. Expositors further notes the meaning of the latter translation would be that even a small thing like a grasshopper seems unduly heavy, although it's difficult to see why a grasshopper should be singled out this way. But maybe it's due, I would say, to the grasshopper being a common illustration for smallness, like in Numbers 13, where the Israelite spies compared themselves to grasshoppers in the site of these giants in Canaan. Now, others have speculated that it's the grasshopper's chirping that's too much for the elderly person to take. And yet another possibility is that the grasshopper as a burden or weighty problem, and you think about locusts too, pictures a person's youthful verdure being eaten away by the aging process, a formerly green field now consumed. And we do see that picture in the Bible of locusts coming in, grasshoppers consuming, all the greenery we see in Joel 1, 4, and Amos 7, 1, and 2. The Greek setuagint translation takes the locust heaviness to mean that it's fat, saying the locust is fat because it's consumed all of the the greenery. But that seems maybe an unlikely translation. Comitator John Gill offered these possibilities regarding the grasshopper being a burden. So I'm going to give you some more here. This is why we have to think about this and try to determine what's going on here.

Gill says, meaning either should a grasshopper, which is very light, leap upon an aged person, it would give him pain, the least burden being uneasy to him. Or should he eat one of these creatures, the locust being a sort of food in Judea, and it is clean, by the way, it would not sit well on his stomach. Or the grasshopper being a crumpled and lean creature may describe an old man, his legs and arms emaciated, and his shoulders back and hips crumpled up and bunched out. And the locust of this name has a bunch on its backbone, like a camel. Another commentator says that the head of the thigh or the hip bone by the Arabians is called hagaba, which is the same word, the word that's used here for locust or grasshopper, which part of the body is of principal use in walking and found very troublesome and difficult to move in old men. So they're saying that the hagaba is a burden means they're saying it means the hip because that's what the Arabs use for this part of the body. And Jewish sage Eben Ezra interprets it of the thigh. The almond tree by the rabbins or the Jewish rabbis is interpreted of the hip bone. So they're saying the almond tree represents the hip bone, which stands out in old age. And the Targum, that's the ancient Jewish paraphrase of the Old Testament of this and the preceding clause is, here's what the Targum says, and the top of your backbone shall bunch out through leanness like the almond and the ankles of thy feet shall be swelled. So that's how they paraphrase of this verse in the Jewish Targum.

Gil further pointed out that some understand here a sexual reference corresponding to the next line of the verse, and desire fails. The new American commentary prefers the grasshopper being too heavy to lift as a hyperbole, but summarizes other ideas stating, quote, alternatively it has been taken to refer to either bad joints, swollen ankles, that's following the Septuagint's fattening, a halting walk, or impotence. The last interpretation is possible in light of the following line paraphrased as, and desire no longer is stirred, end quote on that. Actually, the phrase typically rendered desire fails. Again, you start digging in here and you see why this gets kind of stretched out or trying to go through all this. The phrase typically rendered desire fails literally means, and the caperberry bursts forth or destroys or fails. I mean, that's what this this community, that the caperberry bursts forth, that the caperberry destroys, that the caperberry fails, is what that really says. The same commentary seeing fails is most likely. Tyndale notes that the phrase, quote, was translated, the caperberry is made ineffectual by the Septuagint. No substantiation for this translation has been produced. The caperberry was apparently a stimulant to bodily appetites, an appetizer or an aphrodisiac. So the essential point is unchanged. That's from Tyndale. And then New American says, no evidence for the aphrodisiac qualities of the caper appears prior to the medieval Jewish commentaries, however, and this interpretation is not certain.

Some have pointed out that in a description of bodily deterioration, one would expect some reference to the loss of sexual potency, especially considering the author being Solomon with his vast harem. Still, it's hard to know exactly what is intended. The New American commentary further points out that it's possible to translate the wording as the caperberry bursting forth in bearing fruit in a literal sense, along with the almond literally blossoming and the grasshopper being heavy or fat as in the Septuagint with new grass and greenery to eat.

This all meaning... so there's another possibility as it's talking about spring bursting forth and the grasshopper getting to eat a lot, and so it's great. So it's a positive image, and it's contrasting, you know, saying that while nature is renewed every year, the human body simply grows older and weaker. So that's another possible way of understanding this. But the same commentary concludes that this interpretation requires an anomalous translation of the Hebrew and is not to be followed. Yet this is the preferred explanation of the New Bible commentary revised, so some people say that's what it does mean. The matter must remain unclear for now, but the images here seem more likely to indicate loss of vigor than revitalized vigor the aging person is missing out on. I don't think that... I don't think it's just saying there's all this great stuff they're not getting to experience. I think it's more of the deterioration that they are actually going through. And then the end of verse 5 tells us that following the period of decline that we've seen, this life at last comes to its inevitable end. Quote, For man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets. And the reference here is to death. The description of dying continuing from here to the end of verse 7. The Hebrew for man at the end of verse 5 is ha'adam, meaning the man or the human race, as in some other passages in Ecclesiastes. Here, tied to the reference in verse 7, taken from Genesis about dust returning to the earth, as we'll know about more shortly in a minute. The phrase, eternal home, or house of eternity, or the house of his eternity is what's literal here, the house of his eternity, is not a reference to heaven, as some might imagine, but to the grave. Job had spoken of the grave as a house. If I wait for the grave as my house, if I make my bed in the darkness, that's from Job 1713. Yet calling it man's eternal house might seem troubling, as if to say that man's proper place is in the grave, and that he will be there forever. Tyndale notes that another commentator wonders whether it might be dark house on the basis of the cognate root in Ugaritic. We'll get into technical stuff here, but that means to be dark in Ugaritic, which is where Canaanite language comes from. This is a possibility, but the common Hebrew meaning eternity is preferable. In fact, the Hebrew olam, that's the word in Hebrew, olam, meaning forever or eternity, has the sense of to the vanishing point. You might see a relation to darkening in that sense. You see how things disappear.

And could denote something hidden. The original King James Version translates the phrase here as long home instead of eternal home, recognizing that the state of death will not go on forever. Yet eternal home is still a reasonable translation, as it appears to be an idiomatic expression for the grave that's not necessarily meant as a statement about how long the dead will actually remain dead. It's like if I said we're going to kick the bucket. That doesn't mean I'm actually going to kick the bucket, but you know what I mean by that. So man goes to his eternal home, means going to the grave. Even if that doesn't mean the Bible is saying time in the grave is eternal. Except possibly that it seems without end. As Job also said, so man lies down, this is in Job 14, 12, so man lies down and does not rise, till the heavens are no more.

At least as they exist now, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep. Yet Job then says the dead will yet rise. He says that in verses 13 and 14 there in Job 14. Tyndale points out that eternal home is a term for the grave in the Egyptian instructions of Ankshashonky, and that it's also a Babylonian or Assyrian idiom for the grave. Furthermore, the Kyle and Dalitch commentary in the Old Testament says, Everlasting House is the name for the grave of the dead, according to Greek historian Theodorus Siculus. It's also found among the Egyptians and on old Latin monuments, also the expression Domus eternal, house eternal, is found. And this was despite the fact that these pagans believed in immortal afterlife for the soul in another place, yet they still called the grave the eternal house. Yet many believe that the soul, maybe because the idea is that they went to their eternity, and in a sense that makes sense. And so many believe the souls of the dead would revisit their tombs, the pagans also thought that. Of course, this idea constituted no part of what Solomon meant by his phrasing here. Recall that he plainly said, there is no consciousness in death, as we've seen in Ecclesiastes 9, verses 5 and 10.

Still, he knew this was not the ultimate end of human life. He spoke of future reward and judgment, which means that he, like Joe, must have known about a future resurrection. The pulpit commentary points out about the house of his eternity here, quote, From the expression in the text, nothing can be deduced concerning coalesce, that's the preacher's eschatological or end-time views.

He is speaking here merely phenomenally, meaning according to what the senses perceive.

Men live their lives, men live their little span upon the earth, and then go to what in comparison of this is an eternity in the perspective of past ages. Much difficulty would be obviated or gotten rid of if critics would remember that the meaning of such words is conditioned by the context, that, for example, everlasting applied to a mountain and to God cannot be understood in the same sense.

And one verse I might give you for reference is Exodus 21 verse 6.

And that's talking about a person who becomes a servant willingly, that they would be, you know, I think in all ways, we punctured through the air and then it says, and then they would remain a servant, O Lamb, a servant forever. But that has to refer in that particular case to something ongoing for the remainder of human life and not beyond it. So the context, even of this word that's translated forever, can also shape the meaning of that word. Now, the mourners going about the streets at the end of Ecclesiastes 12.5 is, of course, a reference to funeral customs.

So again, we return here to a literal picture, and we might note that the reference to the house of eternity together with mourners also recalls chapter 7 verse 2, which spoke of going to the house of mourning as being the end of all men, it said there, and that the living take to heart in reference to contemplating one's own mortality when attending a funeral, a very sobering, very valuable reminder for all of us. That's what a context here that we have, a house of mourning being the end of all men. So that tying to this house of eternity. Continuing in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 6 then carries us back into metaphor. What does verse 6 say? Again, it says that Remember you're created before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well.

All these four images refer to the final act of dying. Actually, everything from the end of verse 5 through verse 7 is about dying. The opening imperative in verse 5 given in the various translations Remember your creator or remember him is not here in the Hebrew text, actually.

That's why it's in italics in the New King James, if you're looking at that. But the directive is understood as previously noted going back to verse 1.

So let's note the four images here. The silver cord is loose, the golden bowl is broken, the pitcher shattered at the fountain, the wheel broken at the well. Starting with the first one, the New King James footnotes that the silver cord being loosed or undone or let go of follows the Masoretic text scribal notes tradition of care, what is to be read. This is kind of an esoteric subject, but it's actually an important one. Sometimes you have in the Hebrew Bible, you have notes about there's a care and kativ, and the care says the way you're to read this, and the kativ means what's actually written, but sometimes they think that what's actually written was possibly not what was meant to be written there, and so they want to note that. And so these notes are still there in the Hebrew text of the Bible, so there's a slight uncertainty in some places of the reading, perhaps. So in the care, what is to be read is different than what the kativ has, which is removed. The word is removed, so instead of being loosed or broken there, what's written is removed or taken away or gotten rid of. The Greek Septuagint says the cord is broken or snapped, perhaps influenced by the other instances of things being broken or shattered in the verse. But the variance in the meaning between the wording differences seems very slight. Sometimes it's not so slight, but in this case it is slightly different. It may be that the removal of the cord leads to the breaking of the next item in the sequence, as we'll consider in a moment. But first, it should be pointed out that some imagine that the silver cord here, and maybe you've heard this, that the silver cord is a wispy, wispy, silvery cord tethering a person's immortal soul to his physical body, and that this cord is severed when the body dies, with the disembodied still conscious soul then floating away to the afterlife. But imagine is the key word there being no real basis for such a conception. Some who claim to have engaged in the occult practice of astral projection, supposed transmigration of the soul to other places or other planes of existence, or who've had unintentional so-called out-of-body experiences say that they have seen such a cord as a lifeline tying them to their bodies. There is no proof that these accounts are genuine. They could be outright false reports, possibly represent hallucinations involving preconceptions, self-comforting amid diminished or warped sensory awareness, or in the mind's weak and susceptible state, even demon influence. As Satan has wanted to promote the idea of an immortal soul ever since he told the big lie to Eve in the Garden of Eden that she would not die if she disobeyed God, as God had said. All such notions and experiences must be held up to the light of the truth of what Scripture actually says. And even Solomon himself already wrote in the book, which is part of Scripture, that there is no consciousness apart from the body in death. So it's certain that he was not referring to some immaterial link between the body and an immortal soul. What we see in all the images of 12.6 are things broken beyond repair, as the items here are smashed. Again, the final act of dying is in view. Many take the silver cord together with the golden bowl as a singular image of a hanging bowl or hanging lamp, a bowl filled with golden oil for fuel that's suspended by a silver or perhaps a silver-coated chain. You imagine a lamp full of golden fuel with a silver chain holding up. The chain breaks.

What happens when that chain breaks? Whereupon the bowl plunges to the floor and shatters. It's also possible to see here, as some suggest, the golden bowl as precious, valuable life hanging by a slender thread that will not continue to hold. This would point to the frailty of human life. When the precarious factors that maintain it give way, when that happens, life slips away and it is lost to obliteration in death. When that chain snaps and that thing falls, it's done. There's no stopping that bowl from shattering, from being destroyed. The next two images are clearly tied together.

The clay pitcher shattered at the fountain or spring, and the wooden wheel to lower the bucket into the well or cistern is broken. These images may be taken individually or perhaps they're to be understood as parts of one image with the breakdown of a whole water drawing apparatus meant. In fact, some believe that the broken cord and bowl at the beginning of the verse are also part of the water drawing equipment, making all of verse 6 one united image.

Yet a fallen and shattered lamp for the first part of the verse makes good sense in context, perhaps even giving the added image of the light being extinguished, though that's not specifically stated here. Furthermore, a fallen and shattered lamps and a broken well may add to the picture of a run-down estate, in line with the deteriorating house imagery in verses 3-4 that depicted the aging person. On the other hand, a broken well on its own with no lamp reference could also fit within a state gone to ruin.

Yet it should be noted that the sense of verse 6 is not merely deterioration but that life has come to an end. Total collapse with nothing working anymore. It's the end. Total collapse. The same comment, the expositors notes on verse 6, another interpretation links the pictures with parts of the body. The silver cord could be the spine, the golden bowl the head, the picture of the heart, the wheel, the organs of digestion. Kaiser holds such a view, stating that the spinal marrow connecting the brain and the nerves is pale and silver-like, and that the golden bowl may be a reference to the brain because of its shape and color, the failing heart, a picture-like receptacle is pierced and broken, and all life-supporting blood flows out, and that the system of veins and arteries that carries the blood around continue like a water wheel breaks down when the heart breaks.

Yet, understanding the imagery this way may be fanciful. I think it's probably fanciful, as it's clear that correspondence with particular body parts is intended. There was apparently some correspondence earlier in the poem with body parts, but it's not consistently throughout that way. It seems best to take the first part of verse 6 about the cord and bowl as referring to the precarious factors maintaining precious life, giving way and leading to death, as earlier brought out.

Likewise, the broken elements of the well seem to imply that the various systems and mechanisms that supply life to a person and perpetuate living, generally speaking, no longer function, with the waters of life no longer being able to be drawn. Tommy Nelson sees all of verse 6 as associated with a well, but his words apply even if you apply the well imagery only to the last part.

He wrote this, Throughout Scripture, a well is a metaphor for life, but this well is no longer being used for drawing water. Someday your body is going to wear out. You will be nothing but a dry shell of your former self. This transition naturally, transitions naturally into all that is ultimately left, as stated in the next verse, dust. That's what is left, dust. Concluding the description of death that began at the end of verse 5, verse 7 states, Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit will return to God who gave it.

Recall that verse 5 had mentioned man, or ha-adam, going to the grave. The name Adam, or Adam there, having the sense of red earth, was given to the first man as he was taken from the ground. And here we see man as dust returning to the earth.

This is clearly an allusion to the Genesis account. Genesis 2.7 had stated, And the Lord God formed the man, ha-adam, of the dust of the ground, ha-adama, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. And later, after man sinned, God said in Genesis 3.19 that he would have a hard life ending in death in these terms, Till you return to the ground, ha-adama, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.

And here in Ecclesiastes 12.7 we see specific reference to the dust returning to the earth where it came from. Likewise, we saw back in Ecclesiastes 3.20 that men and animals all go to one place. All are from the dust, and all return to the dust.

And scripture elsewhere mentions in Psalm 22 the dust of death, and refers to those who die as all those who go down to the dust. Yet there is more to human existence than earth-based dust.

Again, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 12.7 that at death the Spirit will return to God who gave it.

Because the word for Spirit here, ruach, can mean spirit, wind, or breath, some take the wording here as a further allusion to Genesis 2.7 where God breathed into the man of dust the breath of life.

And indeed, it does seem to be an allusion to that, but the word for breath in Genesis 2.7 is neshima, the reference there being to physical breath. Yet when God enlivened man, he gave him more than just air into his respiratory system. He gave enlightenment to his brain through non-material spirit, elsewhere referred to in Scripture as the Spirit in man, or the human spirit, which gives a person human understanding. We see that in Job 32, verse 8, and 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11. This spirit is not, we know, brethren, like the wrong idea of an immortal soul that remains conscious apart from the body after death. We've already seen that consciousness requires bodily life, whether through the body today or a resurrected body in the future. There being no consciousness in death. Thus, the human spirit is not conscious of itself, but rather is a non-physical component that imparts conscious self-awareness, intellect, and personality to the human brain, the spirit and brain together forming the human mind. And the human spirit retains a person's thoughts and memories so that the unique person is able to be restored in a future body, in the resurrection. Recall that some translate Ecclesiastes 3, 21, we saw that before, as not knowing whether it's, who they think of means, who knows whether the spirit in man goes up or down to the earth as with animals. But it can't mean that. For we see here in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 7, very clearly where the spirit goes. While the physical elements of man that were taken from the earth return to the earth, the spiritual element that came from God returns to him. We see that also in Luke 23, 46, Jesus said, you know, into your hands I commend my spirit. And we saw the same from Peter when he was being stoned in Acts 7, 59. He committed his spirit back to God. We should recognize that Ecclesiastes 12, 7 is meant to give us a sense of finality about the end of this life. It ends the verses describing the final act of dying in verses 5 through 7. It ends the masterful poetry of chapter 12 about the need to remember God before getting older and dying. We see in verses 1 through 7.

It ends the long series of proverbial expressions begun in 9, 16. It draws to a close the current subsection about living joyfully while life lasts, keeping in mind coming dark days and death and ultimate judgment, setting up for the summation and conclusion that will follow. In Ecclesiastes 12, 7, we see that the very bases of this earthly life, material existence, and the spirit for contemplating and navigating it are withdrawn by God who gave them, the Creator we were told to remember before this happened. The opportunity is only here for a while, and then it is over. We'll note something further about verse 7 when we get to the next verse here, verse 8, which is the last verse in our current reading, as well as the only verse that will be covered in the next section, being a summation of the great problems that we face. We'll also take note of where we've arrived at this point of the book. Just as a preview of that, I want to say, because we look at that verse, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, and we think, wow, that is so final, and it's so horrible, but it just was summed up, the end of this life.

But remember, even where it says that the dust returns to the earth, it goes back. God takes it away, and the spirit goes back to God. So in other sense, the spirit is taken back by God.

And so that's the end of this opportunity. But the very fact that that spirit goes back to God, and isn't destroyed or gone, is very important, because it's not really the end.

And that's a good thing that we can remember. So we'll cover, hopefully, the remainder of this book next time. At least we will try. I think we're right near the end, and so close, but so much to cover in so few verses.