Ecclesiastes 12

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:12

"And furthermore, my son, be admonished: that of the making of many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh."The perfect understanding of this verse is captured by this translation: "My son, avoid anything beyond the scriptures of wisdom; there is no end to the buying of books, and to study books closely is a weariness of the flesh."[43] This is almost the same warning as that given by Paul that the brethren, "Might learn not to go beyond the things which are written."... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:13

"This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.""QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM"Solomon here gives us the final and authoritative conclusion of his thorough and extensive search for the answer to the question, "What is good for man"? In the same manner that one may prove a theorem in geometry, he has here come to the Q.E.D. In this glorious conclusion, he lays down the gauntlet, raises the white flag, and surrenders. "The... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:14

"For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." A more positive statement of the Biblical doctrine of the Eternal Judgment is to be found nowhere else in the Old Testament. The fact of God's eventual judgment of the whole world is a cardinal principle of Christianity, one of the fundamentals (Hebrews 6:2). This announcement of it at the end of Solomon's book makes it a climax. It could very well have been that his conviction of... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 12

CHAP. XII. The Creator is to be remembered in due time. The preacher's care to edify. The fear of God is the chief antidote of vanity. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:1

Ecclesiastes 12:1. Remember now thy Creator, &c.— The first point to be examined is, where the description of old age given in this chapter begins. Most interpreters, who begin it with these words in the first verse, the years draw nigh, &c. or, at least, with the mention made Ecc 12:2 of the sun, light, moon, and stars being darkened, are at great pains to guess what particular infirmities of old age may be represented by each of these phaenomena of bad weather. But those pains might... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

THE PICTURE OF OLD AGE, From Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 according to the common Translation. The royal preacher, in the first seven verses of this chapter, enforces the duty of early religion, by arguments principally drawn from the decay of the intellectual and corporeal powers in an advanced age. The evils induced upon the mental system are little more than cursorily spoken of. The inconveniences resulting to the bodily structure from a long series of years, are more particularly expatiated upon.... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:2-3

Ecclesiastes 12:2-3. While the sun, or the light.— Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain. Ecclesiastes 12:3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, &c. Desvoeux; who renders the grinders, the grinding-maids, and observes, that whoever reads this description of old age with a tolerable degree of attention must observe, that the beginning of it consists of a double figure; namely, an allegory and a... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:4

Ecclesiastes 12:4. And the doors shall be shut in the streets.— And the double gate shall be shut up towards the inner court, at the lowering of the voice of the grinding-maid: and then he shall rise up at the crowing of the cock, and all the daughters of the song shall be valued at nought. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:5

Ecclesiastes 12:5. Also when they shall be afraid, &c.— They shall be afraid even of distant objects, nay, of the scare-crow, set on the way-side; the sex shall be neglected, and the grasshopper shall become a burden, and desire shall fail; for the man is going to his everlasting home, and the mourners are walking about the court, ready for his burial. These alterations of the version are from Mr. Desvoeux; who observes, that though interpreters are divided concerning the application of... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:6

Ecclesiastes 12:6. Or ever the silver cord be loosed.— Remember thy Creator, I say, before the silver cord be removed, and the golden pully hasteneth its motion, and the jar be dashed to pieces upon the well, and the conduit be broken, through which the water used to run into the cistern. See the note on Ecclesiastes 12:2-3. It is on all hands allowed, that the picture-part of the emblem in this verse is a well once richly furnished with whatever is necessary both to draw water and to convey it... read more

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