Ecclesiastes 12:5

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: THAT WHICH IS HIGH - the old are afraid of ascending a hill. FEARS ... IN THE WAY - even on the level highway they are full of fears of falling, etc. ALMOND ... FLOURISH. In the East the hair is mostly dark. The white head of the old among the dark-haired is like an almond tree, with its white blossoms, among the dark trees around (Holden). But the flower of the almond is pink, not white. Maurer therefore explains it: The almond tree flowers on a leafless stock in winter (answering to old age, in which all the powers are dormant) while the other trees are flowerless. Gesenius takes th...

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 12:5. When _THEY SHALL BE AFRAID_ OF THAT WHICH IS _HIGH_] 10. Being so _feeble_, they are afraid to trust themselves to _ascend steps, stairs_, c., without help. And when they _look_ _upwards_, their heads turn giddy, and they are ready to fall. 11. _FEARS_ SHALL BE _IN THE WAY_] They dare not walk _out_, lest they should meet some danger, which they have not _strength_ to repel, nor _agility_ to _escape_. A second childishness has taken place-apprehensions, fears, terrors, and weakness. 12. _THE ALMOND TREE SHALL FLOURISH_] ינאץ _yenaets_, not _flourish_, but _fall off_. The _hair_ begins to change, first _gray,_ then _white_ it having no longer that supply of nutritive juices

HIGH - The powerful and the proud, such persons as an old man in his timidity might shrink from opposing or meeting: or, high ground which old men would avoid ascending. FEARS ... IN THE WAY - Compare Proverbs 26:13. THE ALMOND TREE - The type of old age. Many modern critics translate “The almond shall be despised,” i. e., pleasant food shall no longer be relished. THE GRASSHOPPER - Rather: “the locust.” The clause means, heaviness and stiffness shall take the place of that active motion for which the locust is conspicuous. DESIRE - literally, the caper-berry; which, eaten as a provocative to appetite, shall fail to take effect on a man whose powers are exhausted....

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...

ALSO WHEN THEY SHALL BE AFRAID OF [THAT WHICH IS] HIGH,.... Not of the most high God, before whose tribunal they must shortly appear, as some; but rather of high places, as high hills, mountains, towers, c. which aged persons are afraid to go up, because of the feebleness and weakness of their limbs, their difficulty of breathing, and the dizziness of their heads AND FEARS [SHALL BE] IN THE WAY; they do not care: to go abroad, being afraid of every little stone that lies in the way, lest they should stumble at it, and fall: some understand this of their fears of spirits, good or bad; but the former sense is best; AND THE ALMOND TREE SHALL FLOURISH; which most interpret of the hoary head, which looks like an almond tree in blossom; and which, as it comes soon in the spring, whence it has its name of haste in the Hebrew language; see Jeremiah 1:11; and

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...

AFRAID: i.e. of ascending heights. HIGH. lofty, elevated. FEARS SHALL BE IN THE WAY: i.e. apprehensions of danger in journeying. ALMOND TREE SHALL FLOURISH: i.e. grey hairs shall grow scanty, or drop off, not "almond nuts be rejected"; for the teeth and eating have already been dealt with in Ecclesiastes 12:3. GRASSHOPPER, or locust. SHALL BE. BURDEN. shall become burdensome: i.e. as to weight. DESIRE SHALL FAIL. "Desire". Hebrew. the caperberry. Here the Authorized Version beautifully renders the figure of speech (as. version should do), while the Revised Version renders it literally (as. _translation_ too often does). The Figure of speech is _Metalepsis:_ i.e.. double _Metonymy_ (App-6), by which (1) the "caperberry" is put for the _condiment_ made from it, and then (2) thecondiment i