Ecclesiastes 12

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 12:9

(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.... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 12:11

(11) Words of the wise.—In this and the next verse the weighty words of sages, such as was Kohéleth, are contrasted with the volubility of modern bookmakers. Though the general purpose of the verses is plain, the words used are enigmatical, and one cannot feel great confidence in assigning their precise meaning. The translation of our version fairly represents the original, if it is observed that the words “by” and “which,” which determine the meaning, are in italics. With regard to the “nail,”... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 12:12

(12) Study.—The word occurs here only in the Old Testament; but is not a Talmudic word. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 12:13

(13) Whole duty of man.—Rather, the duty of every man. The sacred writer practically anticipates the teaching of Romans 3:29. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 12:14

(14) Considering that the book is filled with complaints of the imperfection of earthly retribution, this announcement of a tribunal, at which “every work,” “every secret thing,” shall be brought into judgment, cannot be reasonably understood of anything but a judgment after this life; so that this book, after all its sceptical debatings, ends by enunciating, more distinctly than is done elsewhere in the Old Testament, the New Testament doctrine of a day when God shall judge the secrets of men... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

Ecclesiastes 12:1 Samuel Rutherford, in some letters addressed to young Scotchmen, often enlarges on this idea. 'A young man is often a dressed lodging for the devil to dwell in.' 'I know that missive letters go between the devil and young blood. Satan hath a friend at court in the heart of youth; and there pride, luxury, lust, revenge, forgetfulness of God, are hired agents.' 'Youth ordinarily is a fast and ready servant for Satan to run errands.' 'Believe it, my lord,' this in a letter to a... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

0Combined with a steadfast Faith in the Life to come. Ecclesiastes 10:9 - Ecclesiastes 12:7But, soft; is not our man of men becoming a mere man of pleasure? No; for he recognises the claims of duty and of charity. These keep his pleasures sweet and wholesome, prevent them from usurping the whole man, and landing him in the satiety and weariness of dissipation. But lest even these safeguards should prove insufficient, he has also this: he knows that "God will bring him into judgment"; that all... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 12:8-14

THE EPILOGUEIn Which The Problem Of The Book Is Conclusively SolvedEcclesiastes 12:8-14"STUDENTS," says the Talmud, "are of four kinds; they are like a sponge, a funnel, a strainer, and a sieve: like a sponge that sucketh all up; like a funnel which receiveth at one end and dischargeth at the other; like a strainer which letteth the wine pass but retaineth the lees; and like a sieve which dischargeth the bran but retaineth the corn." Coheleth is like the sieve. He is the good student who has... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

CHAPTER 12 1. Youth and old age (Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 ) 2. The concluding epilogue (Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 ) Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 . Childhood and youth are vanity! That is the concluding sentence of the previous chapter. The vanities of life, the doom and darkness of the grave are uppermost in his mind, and the final word he speaks, ere he closeth with his epilogue, is the same with which he began his search, the search which brought out so many things, yet nothing in reality--as in the... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:2

12:2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, are not darkened, nor the {a} clouds return after the rain:(a) Before you come to a continual misery: for when the clouds remain after the rain, man’s grief is increased. read more

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