Ecclesiastes 12:4

And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; DOORS - the lips, which are closely shut together as doors by old men in eating; because if they did not do so, the food would drop out. IN THE STREETS - i:e., toward the street, 'the outer doors.' Hengstenberg explains it, the ears, which in old men are deaf. SOUND OF THE GRINDING IS LOW - the teeth being almost gone, and the lips "shut" in eating, the sound of mastication is scarcely heard. Hengstenberg explains-When the voice of the mill (the mouth) becomes low, they are less able to make themselves intelligible. THE VOICE OF THE BIRD - the cock. In the East all mostly rise with the dawn. But the old are glad to rise from their sleepless couch or painful slumbers...

1-7 We should remember our sins against our Creator, repent, and seek forgiveness. We should remember our duties, and set about them, looking to him for grace and strength. This should be done early, while the body is strong, and the spirits active. When a man has the pain of reviewing a misspent life, his not having given up sin and worldly vanities till he is forced to say, I have no pleasure in them, renders his sincerity very questionable. Then follows a figurative description of old age and its infirmities, which has some difficulties; but the meaning is plain, to show how uncomfortable, generally, the days of old age are. As the four verses, Ecclesiastes 12:2, are a figurative description of the infirmities that usually accompany old age, ver. Ecclesiastes 12:6 notices the circumstances...

Verse Ecclesiastes 12:4. _AND THE DOORS SHALL BE SHUT IN THE STREETS_] 5. The _doors_ - the _lips_, which are the _doors_ by which the _mouth_ is _closed_. 6. _BE SHUT IN THE STREETS_] The _cavities_ of the _cheeks_ and _jaws_, through which the food may be said to _travel_ before it is fitted by _mastication_ or chewing to go down the _aesophagus_ into the stomach. The _doors_ or _lips_ are _shut_ to hinder the food in chewing from dropping out; as the _teeth_, which prevented that before, are now lost. 7. _THE SOUND OF THE GRINDING IS LOW_] Little noise is now made in eating, because the _teeth_ are either lost, or become so infirm as not to suffer their being pressed close together; and the mouth being kept shut to hinder

AND THE DOORS ... IS LOW - The house is viewed from without. The way of entry and exit is stopped: little or no sound issues forth to tell of life stirring within. The old man, as he grows older, has less in common with the rising generation; mutual interest and social contact decline. Some take the doors and the sound of the mill as figures of the lips and ears and of the speech. HE SHALL RISE ... - Here the metaphor of the house passes out of sight. The verb may either be taken impersonally ( “they shall rise,” compare the next verse): or as definitely referring to an old man, who as the master of the house rises out of sleep at the first sound in the morning. ALL THE DAUGHTERS OF MUSICK - i. e., Singing women Ecclesiastes 2:8....

EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 12:1 The division into chapters is unfortunate here, as this verse is closely connected with Ecclesiastes 12:10 of the preceding chapter. REMEMBER NOW THY CREATOR IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH. Set God always before thine eyes from thy earliest days; think who made thee, and what thou wast made for, not for self-pleasing only, not to gratify thy passions which now are strong; but that thou mightest use thy powers and energy in accordance with the laws of thy being as a creature of God's hands, responsible to him for the use of the faculties and capacities with which he has endowed thee. The word for "Creator" is the participle of the Verb _bara, _which is that used in...

AND THE DOORS SHALL BE SHUT IN THE STREETS,.... The Midrash and Jarchi interpret these of the holes of the body; in which they are followed by our learned and ingenuous countryman, Dr. Smith; who, by them, understands the inlets and outlets of the body; and, by the "streets", the ways and passages through which the food goes, and nourishment is conveyed; and which may be said to be shut, when they cease from their use: but it seems much better, with Aben Ezra and others, to interpret them of the lips; which are sometimes called the doors of the mouth, or lips, Psalms 141:3; which are opened both for speaking and eating; but, in aged persons, are much shut as to either; they do not choose to speak much, because of the disagreeableness of their voice, and difficulty of speech, through the shortness of breath, and the loss of teeth; nor do they open them much to eat, through want of appetit...

Ecclesiastes 12:1. _Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;_ Do not give God the dregs of life. Do not offer in sacrifice to him anything that is worn out. Remember that, among the first fruits which the Jews were to bring to the priest to be offered on God's altar, there were to be «green ears of corn, dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears.» The Lord delights to have the hearts of his people while they are yet children. The Lord says, through Hosea the prophet, «I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms;» as if, while they were but little, God had taught them to take their first steps in walking. There is also that passage in the prophecy of Jeremiah, «I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when

CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Youth and old age (Ecclesiastes 12:1)_ 2. The concluding epilogue (Ecclesiastes 12:9) Ecclesiastes 12:1. 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 beginning of the book, so now he cries out, “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity” (verse 8). He has come back in all his reasoning to the place from which he started. On

ECCLESIASTES 11:1 TO ECCLESIASTES 12:8. CLOSING COUNSELS. It is well to do and to get all one can, in the way of industry and pleasure, before old age draws on. Ecclesiastes 11:1 and Ecclesiastes 11:2 are best taken as referring either to merchandise or generosity, though bread has also been interpreted as seed sown on irrigated land (_cf._ Ecclesiastes 11:4 and Ecclesiastes 11:6) or even as human semen, and...

THE DOORS. the openings: i.e. the mouth and ears. STREETS. street (singular) SOUND OF THE GRINDING IS LOW: i.e. the mastication with gums instead of teeth is low. RISE UP. start: referring to insomnia. THE DAUGHTERS OF MUSICK: i.e. songs, &c, the product of music....