Ecclesiastes 12:9

Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. A summary of the first part. VANITY OF VANITIES. Resumption of the sentiment with which the book began (Ecclesiastes 1:2; 1 John 2:17). Verse 9. BECAUSE THE PREACHER WAS WISE ... YEA, HE GAVE GOOD HEED - Hebrew, 'izeen (H238); literally, he weighed, or else 'listened,' namely, to the voice of the Spirit, which spake by him (Psalms 49:4). PROVERBS - `parables' (1 Kings 4:32). The preacher does not praise...

8-14 Solomon repeats his text, VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY. These are the words of one that could speak by dear-bought experience of the vanity of the world, which can do nothing to ease men of the burden of sin. As he considered the worth of souls, he gave good heed to what he spake and wrote; words of truth will always be acceptable words. The truths of God are as goads to such as are dull and draw back, and nails to such as are wandering and draw aside; means to establish the heart, that we may never sit loose to our duty, nor be taken from it. The Shepherd of Israel is the Giver of inspired wisdom. Teachers and guides all receive their communications from him. The title is applied in Scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The prophets sought diligently, what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferi...

Verse Ecclesiastes 12:9. _BECAUSE THE PREACHER WAS WISE, HE STILL TAUGHT THE_ _PEOPLE KNOWLEDGE_] And in order to do this he took _good_ _heed_ - considered what would be most useful. _He set in_ _order_ - collected and arranged, many parables, probably alluding to the book over which we have already passed....

This passage is properly regarded as the Epilogue of the whole book; a kind of apology for the obscurity of many of its sayings. The passage serves therefore to make the book more intelligible and more acceptable. Here, as in the beginning of the book Ecclesiastes 1:1, the Preacher speaks of himself Ecclesiastes 12:8 in the third person. He first repeats Ecclesiastes 12:8 the mournful, perplexing theme with which his musings began Ecclesiastes 1:2; and then states the encouraging practical conclusion...

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 MOREOVER,.... Or "besides" z what has been said; or "as to what remains" a; or "but what is better", or "more excellent" b, is to "hear the conclusion of the whole matter", the sum and substance of the whole book in a few words, Ecclesiastes 12:13; to which Ecclesiastes 12:9; are a preface; and in which the wise man recommends the reading of this book, and other writings of his, and of other wise men inspired of God; and his own he particularly recommends, from his character as wise and industrious, in this verse; and from the subject matter of them, their nature, use, and excellency, and their efficacy and authority, in the two next; BECAUSE THE PREACHER WAS WISE; he was a "preacher", a royal one, an extraordinary preacher, and to be regarded; he urges not his t

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

EPILOGUE. Ecclesiastes 12:9 is an editor's praise of Qoheleth, who is identified with Solomon, the sage compiler of proverbial wisdom, who wrote words of truth in a pleasing and elegant (acceptable) style; uprightly may also refer to correctness of form. Ecclesiastes 12:11_ a_ reminds us of the stimulus of a good teacher; Socrates called himself the gadfly of Athens, and the words of Pericles were said to have a sting in them. Ecclesiastes 12:11_ b_ may be rendered Like nails driven home are collections of sayings made by one master; the only difficulty is that Shepherd in OT usually refers to God. As to what lies beyond these (_cf. mg._) th

_And moreover, because the Preacher was wise_ The opening words, closely linked on, as they are, to the preceding, confirm the conclusion just stated that Ecclesiastes 12:8 belongs to this postscript of attestation. The unknown writer of the attestation (probably the President of the Sanhedrin, or some other Master of the Wise, such as were Hillel and Gamaliel) begins by repeating the key-note of the opening of the book. So taken, the words are every way significant. They do not name Solomon as the author, but content themselves with recognising the enigmatic name with which the unknown writer had veiled himself. He, they say, belonged to the company of the sages. He "gave good heed" (literally, HE HEARKENED or GAVE EAR), he "sought out" (we note how exactly the word describes the tentative, investigating character of the book, as in...