Eclesiastés 12:6-7 NTV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

Here is, I. A call to young people to think of God, and mind their duty to him, when they are young: Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. This is, 1. The royal preacher's application of his sermon concerning the vanity of the world and every thing in it. ?You that are young flatter yourselves with expectations of great things from it, but believe those that have tried it; it yields no solid satisfaction to a soul; therefore, that you may not be deceived by this vanity, nor too... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 12:6

Or ever the silver cord be loosed ,.... As the above are the symptoms and infirmities of old age; these in this verse are the immediate symptoms of death, or what attend it, or certainly issue in it. Some by "the silver cord" understand the string of the tongue; and to this purpose is the Targum, "before thy tongue is dumb from speaking;' and it is observed F17 Vid. Castel. Lexic. Hept. col. 3662. in favour of this sense, that the failing of the tongue is no fallacious sign of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 12:7

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ,.... The body, which is made of dust, and is no other in its present state than dust refined and enlivened; and when the above things take place, mentioned in Ecclesiastes 12:6 , or at death, it returns to its original earth; it becomes immediately a clod of earth, a lifeless lump of clay, and is then buried in the earth, where it rots, corrupts, and turns into it; which shows the frailty of man, and may serve to humble his pride, as well... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:6

Or ever the silver cord be loosed - We have already had all the external evidences of old age, with all its attendant infirmities; next follow what takes place in the body, in order to produce what is called death, or the separation of body and soul. 1. The silver cord - The medulla oblongata or spinal marrow, from which all the nerves proceed, as itself does from the brain. This is termed a cord, from its exact similitude to one; and a silver cord, from its color, as it strikingly... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:7

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God - read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 12:6

Or ever ; i.e. before, ere ( ad asher lo ). The words recall us to Ecclesiastes 12:1 and Ecclesiastes 12:2 , bidding the youth make the best use of his time ere old age cuts him off. In the present paragraph the final dissolution is described under two figures. The silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken. This is evidently one figure, which would be made plainer by reading "and" instead of "or," the idea being that the lamp is shattered by the snapping of the cord that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 12:7

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ; rather, and the dust return, etc.—the sentence begun above being still carried on to the end of the verse. Here we are told what becomes of the complex man at death, and are thus led to the explanation of the allegorical language used throughout. Without metaphor now it is stated that the material body, when life is extinct, returns to that matter out of which it was originally made ( Genesis 2:7 ; Genesis 3:19 ; comp. Job 34:15 ; ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:6

Be loosed - The termination of life is signified generally by the snapping of the silver cord by which the lamp hangs from the ceiling; by the dashing in pieces of the cup or reservoir of oil; by the shattering of the pitcher used to bring water from the spring; and by the breaking of the wheel by which a bucket is let down into the well. Others discern in the silver cord, the soul which holds the body in life; in the bowl, the body; and in the golden oil (compare Zechariah 4:12) within it, the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 12:7

The spirit - i. e., The spirit separated unto God from the body at death. No more is said here of its future destiny. To return to God, who is the fountain Psalms 36:9 of Life, certainly means to continue to live. The doctrine of life after death is implied here as in Exodus 3:6 (compare Mark 12:26), Psalms 17:15 (see the note), and in many other passages of Scripture earlier than the age of Solomon. The inference that the soul loses its personality and is absorbed into something else has no... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ecclesiastes 12:6

Ecclesiastes 12:6. Or ever the silver cord be loosed By the silver cord he seems to understand the spinal marrow, which comes from the brain, and goes down to the lowest end of the back-bone. And this is aptly compared to a cord, both for its figure, which is long and round, and for its use, which is to draw and move the parts of the body; and to silver, both for its excellence and colour, which is white and bright, in a dead, much more in a living body. This may properly be said to... read more