Verse 4
4. The doors The mouth. See Job 41:14. In or on the streets, as being the front door, with valves like the lips of a man.
Shut By loss of teeth. No dental art was known to Koheleth.
Sound of the grinding is low Not merely the mastication, but the whole digestive and vital processes are feeble and slow, so that the man’s whole bodily system is like an almost silent mill.
Rise up at the voice of the bird Better rendered by critics, it, (not he,) referring to “sound,” amounts to the voice of a sparrow. That is, the vital processes of this human mill are so feeble that its grinding “sound” is not louder than a sparrow’s cheep. This grinding “sound” is heard in the “low” and cracked voice of the old man.
Daughters of music Of man’s divine endowment of “music,” the notes and strains of the musician are the offspring or “daughters.” These are brought low, so that no true “music” can be poured forth.
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