Ecclesiastes 12, Remember Your Creator

The previous chapter ends with the Teacher encouraging youth to enjoy their days of vigor, to banish anxiety and press forward with life, before youth fades. That advice continues.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-5, Decay

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,

 before the days of trouble come 

and the years approach when you will say, 

"I find no pleasure in them"‑‑ 

before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, 

and the clouds return after the rain; 

when the keepers of the house tremble, 

and the strong men stoop, 

when the grinders cease because they are few, 

and those looking through the windows grow dim;

when the doors to the street are closed 

and the sound of grinding fades; 

when men rise up at the sound of birds, 

but all their songs grow faint; 

when men are afraid of heights 

and of dangers in the streets; 

when the almond tree blossoms 

and the grasshopper drags himself along 

and desire no longer is stirred. 

Then man goes to his eternal home 

and mourners go about the streets.  

This passage continues the theme that concludes chapter 11. The vigors of youth fade away and the days of trouble come, when the pains and difficulties of age begin to dominate. The poetry describes a community decaying, workers leaving, only a few elderly residents move slowly by, houses have empty rooms. There are dangers in the street. The image is apocalyptic -- everything is darkening and coming to an end. In this apocalyptic description, commentators see metaphors for the human body. The teeth ("grinders") no longer work, one's hearing fade, the eyes ("windows") grow dim and it is hard to see. At the very end, the body is done and so mourners walk through the streets.

When I was seven, my family took a glorious five-week trip out west. We saw the Rocky Mountains, visited Glacier, Mt. Rainer and Grand Canyon. At Grand Canyon I learned that the trip was almost over, that we were returning to Houston.  I cried.  I did not want to glorious trip to end. Years later, I took, with Jan and my sister and mother, my first cruise. It too was a glorious experience. And so I was sad the last day as we packed up our bags -- the luxurious event was ending! After the death of my father, I began having apocalyptic dreams -- they persist to this day. In those dreams either I am dying (I have one, two more days left) or the world is ending (it has one, two more days...) and I am trying to organize a few things. I've emptied the house but there are still some toys to be picked up in a basement bedroom. But the glorious experience is ending. Darkness is coming.

That is the message of this passage: enjoy your youth before the darkness begins to descend.

Ecclesiastes 12:6-8, Broken cords, shattered wheels

Remember him‑‑

before the silver cord is severed, 

or the golden bowl is broken; 

before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, 

or the wheel broken at the well, 

and the dust returns to the ground it came from, 

and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher.  

"Everything is meaningless!"

The metaphor of the dead or dying world continues. Archaeologists often discovered discarded treasures, shattered bowls or wheels, buried in the dust. Look back on that community -- it was vibrant thousands of years ago. But all that is left now is broken pottery and dust. And so, says the Teacher, just as he began this book (1:2), all is mere hebel, vapor, quickly fading away.

I am reminded of the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley:

I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert.  Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal these words appear:

“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains.  Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-11, Explanation

Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.  The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.  The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails‑‑given by one Shepherd. 

In this summary, the words of the Teacher are described as true "goads", "firmly embedded nails". The Teacher's sayings are truth statements that hurt! Indeed, the entire book is a book of confrontation, confronting comfortable but simplistic religious beliefs.

Commentators are unclear on the identification of "one Shepherd". Many believe that the "shepherd" is God, thus the NIV capitalizes the first letter.

Both Alter and Davidson suggest that these last six verses are supplied by an editor, one who explains the goals of the Teacher in writing this book. (This would explain the description of the Teacher in third person here. In addition, verse 8 does sound like a conclusion to the Teacher's writings, returning to the thesis at the beginning.)

Ecclesiastes 12:12, Many books

Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

            

One is warned away from the tendency to keep searching for new knowledge, forever adding to one's stack of wisdom books or books on the philosophy of life. I read into this an emphasis on stopping and practicing what one has learned, instead of checking out more books. (But as a former university professor, gosh, I really do love new books!)

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, Conclusion

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: 

Fear God and keep his commandments,

 for this is the whole [duty] of man.  

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

 including every hidden thing, 

whether it is good or evil.

In the mere vapor of life, the only purpose of life must be a transcendental one, a purpose beyond the material difficulties of our short earthly existence. 

In Fall 1996, I led a class on Ecclesiastes at Mt. Pleasant Community Church. My 1996 notes on this chapter remark that there are many things that humans cannot see, but God does. (For example, consider the anointing of David in I Samuel 16:7 or Elisha’s vision of a great army in 2 Kings 6:16-17.) The transcendental viewpoint of the Teacher is that one's short life appears to have no meaning. If one wants a life of meaning, one must look past this life, relying on the Creator to give it purpose.