Ecclesiastes 12:2 NIV

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:2

2. Illustrating "the evil days" (Jeremiah 13:16). "Light," "sun," c., express prosperity "darkness," pain and calamity (Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 30:26). clouds . . . after . . . rain—After rain sunshine (comfort) might be looked for, but only a brief glimpse of it is given, and the gloomy clouds (pains) return. 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 12:2-3

Solomon likened the evil days first to an approaching rainstorm (Ecclesiastes 12:2) that is fearful and uncertain (cf. Ecclesiastes 11:7-8). The Hebrews regarded any decline in a person’s vital energy as a sign that death was beginning to set in (cf. 1 Kings 1:1-4; Psalms 18:4-5; Psalms 88:3-5).The "watchmen of the house" (Ecclesiastes 12:3) probably refer to one’s arms and hands, and the "mighty men" to the legs. The "grinding ones" are probably the teeth, and "those who look through windows"... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ecclesiastes 12:2-5

The coming of old age 12:2-5Ecclesiastes 12:2-7 are full of figures of speech that picture old age and death. [Note: See G. A. Barton, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, pp. 186-91; Harry Torcszyner, "The Riddle in the Bible," Hebrew Union College Annual 1 (1924):125-49; Michael Leahy, "The Meaning of Ecclesiastes 12:1-5," Irish Theological Quarterly 19 (1952):297-300, reprinted in Zuck, ed., Reflecting with . . ., pp. 375-79; and Michael V. Fox, "Aging and Death... 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

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 12:2

(2) Here the style rises, and we have a figurative description of the “evil days;” but, as sometimes happens in the case of highly wrought poetry, it is much easier to perceive the general effect intended than to account for all the words which produce it. English readers generally have been deeply impressed by Ecclesiastes 12:6-7, in a general way understanding them as speaking of the dissolution of the noble structure of the bodily frame; and they scarcely gain anything by the efforts of... 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 12:2

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

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:2

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

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ecclesiastes 12:2-3

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ecclesiastes 12:2-5

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 12:2

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

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

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

Geneva Study Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:2

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