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Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:6

6. A double image to represent death, as in :-, old age: (1) A lamp of frail material, but gilded over, often in the East hung from roofs by a cord of silk and silver interwoven; as the lamp is dashed down and broken, when the cord breaks, so man at death; the golden bowl of the lamp answers to the skull, which, from the vital preciousness of its contents, may be called "golden"; "the silver cord" is the spinal marrow, which is white and precious as silver, and is attached to the brain. (2) A... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

2. Responsible living 12:1-7This pericope expands the ideas Solomon introduced in Ecclesiastes 11:9-10, by focusing on advancing old age and death. [Note: See Barry C. Davis, "Ecclesiastes 12:1-8-Death, an Impetus for Life," Bibliotheca Sacra 148:591 (July-September 1991):298-318.] These ideas are the ultimate frustration and the epitome of impermanence that we can experience.The basic imperative 12:1Again, Solomon began with a clear statement of his point, and then proceeded to prove and... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ecclesiastes 12:6

Solomon described the end of life first as the extinguishing of a light. The "golden bowl" is a bowl that holds a flame. When the "silver cord" that holds it breaks, the bowl crashes to the floor and the light goes out. Gold and silver express the great value of life.The second description of death is water that one can no longer draw out of a well.The "wording gives us a picture of the ruined apparatus plus the wheel as they have crashed down into the old cistern. So man breaks down and falls... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

In Life Remember Death and Judgment1. The Creator is to be remembered in youth. When the powers of mind and body are failing, it will be too late.1-7. Commentators have differed much as to the interpretation of this passage. It has been taken by many as a description of the gradual failing of one bodily organ after another till death supervenes. In that case we may explain Ecclesiastes 12:2. thus: The light grows dim to the aged sense, and reason is dulled and ceases to illuminate. The old man... 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

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 12:6

12:6 Or ever the {o} silver cord shall be loosed, or the golden {p} bowl be broken, or the {q} pitcher be broken at the {r} fountain, or the {s} wheel broken at the {t} cistern.(o) Meaning, the marrow of the backbone and the sinews.(p) The little skin that covers the brain, which is in colour like gold.(q) That is, the veins.(r) Meaning the liver.(s) Which is the head.(t) That is, the heart out of which the head draws the powers of life. read more

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