Chapter Twelve

1–8. The final exhortation of the Preacher. 9. Epilogue to the book.

The two chief conditions of human happiness—doing good and healthy enjoyment of life—are possible only when joined with a religious disposition, with a feeling of complete surrender to God. Outside a religious disposition, enjoyment of life inevitably takes on a perverted form and leads in the end to grievous disappointment; likewise, the moral activity of man loses its rationality, its purpose, as soon as in the phenomena of the world and of life a man sees nothing but the action of blind chance. That is why the Preacher in his final exhortation calls the reader to constant remembrance of God as the Creator of the world, as the First Cause of all that exists, to remembrance throughout one’s life, not only in old age, when both soul and body already feel the swift approach of eternal night—death.

Ecclesiastes 12:1. And remember your Creator in the days of your youth, while the difficult days have not yet come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them! While the difficult days have not yet come, literally: “days of evil,” not the days of existence beyond the grave, as in Eccl 11:8, but the days of old age, days of physical and mental decline.

Ecclesiastes 12:2. while the sun and light and moon and stars have not yet grown dark, and clouds have not returned after the rain. The coming of darkness and clouds, that is, winter—is an image not of death itself, but of its harbinger—old age.

Ecclesiastes 12:3. In that day the keepers of the house tremble, and strong men are bent; the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows grow dark; In these and the following verses is contained an allegorical description of old age. “The keepers of the house” are the hands, guarding the human body from external dangers. “Strong men” are the legs, supporting the body by the strength of their muscles. “The grinders” are the teeth. “Those who look through the windows” are the eyes.

Ecclesiastes 12:4. and the doors in the street are shut; when the sound of the mill grows low, and one rises at the chirp of the bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low; Job 41:6. “The doors on the street”—according to some, the mouth; according to others, the ears. The first is more correct (cf. Job 41:6: “Who can open the doors of his face? His teeth are terrible round about!”). “The mill”—the jaw and teeth. “One rises at the chirp of the bird,” that is, suffers from sleeplessness. “The daughters of song are brought low,” that is, the voice grows weak. Ecclesiastes 12:5. and high places are feared, and terrors are in the way; and the almond blossoms, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry fails. For man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners are ready in the street; “High places are feared,” that is, are inaccessible. “And terrors are in the way,” that is, difficulties and dangers, both real and imagined. “The almond blossoms,” in winter white flowers on bare branches symbolizing old age. “The grasshopper drags itself,” that is, the body loses its suppleness and mobility. “The caper berry fails,” that is, will not produce its effect—the caper, whose fruit and buds were used in the East as a stimulant. “The eternal home,” that is, the grave (cf. Tob 3:9).

Ecclesiastes 12:6. while the silver cord is not broken, and the golden bowl is not crushed, and the pitcher is not shattered at the spring, and the wheel does not break over the well. Death itself is described in figurative language. “The silver cord is broken and the golden cup is shattered” (in the Russian Bible incorrectly—the band; the Hebrew word means a round-shaped object, a cup for oil, as in Zech 4:2), that is, the thread of life is broken, the source of light and warmth is gone; life has gone out. The following two images give another symbol of death, namely: the wheel over the well breaks and the pitcher is shattered at the spring. Both images probably mean the cessation of the activity of the heart, blood circulation, and breathing.

Ecclesiastes 12:7. And the dust returns to the earth as it was; and the spirit returns to God, who gave it. Body and spirit return to their source: the body returns to dust as it was (cf. Gen 3:19; Ps 103:29), and the spirit returns to God, who gave it. This return to God cannot be understood in the sense of the destruction of the personal, independent existence of the spirit, for the Preacher clearly speaks of the personal existence of man even beyond the grave. If in Eccl 3 he raises the skeptical question whether man has superiority over the beasts, and whether his spirit goes upward, then here both questions are answered in the affirmative, and consequently the continuation of man’s personal existence even after death is acknowledged. But, like other sacred sages, the Preacher could not imagine more or less full life apart from connection with the body; he did not know the New Testament teaching about resurrection from the dead, and therefore could not rise above the usual conception of Sheol; he was still far from the conscious faith in the blessed state of souls in communion with God.

Ecclesiastes 12:8. Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, all is vanity! It is understandable that the Preacher could not find full comfort in such a faith in the afterlife and had no grounds to abandon his reasonings about the vanity of life. On the contrary, he saw here new and the strongest proof of it. Therefore, in his concluding word he says again: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Only the joyful message of the New Testament could free man from vanity and give him hope for eternal blessedness. Eccl 12:9-14. Epilogue to the book. While heretofore all the discourse has been conducted from the perspective of the Preacher, who everywhere speaks of himself in the first person, in verses 9–14 we hear already another voice, which distinguishes itself from the Preacher, speaks of him in the third person, and as if approves his reasonings. However, this does not yet mean that the end of chapter 12 constitutes a later addition. The epilogue is written in the same language and imbued with the same spirit as the entire book. From this we have no grounds to seek for it another author, different from the author of the entire book.

Ecclesiastes 12:9. Besides the fact that the Preacher was wise, he also taught the people knowledge. He tested everything, investigated, and composed many sayings. In the biblical language, “wise” means a man who, on the basis of reason illuminated by revelation, investigated questions of a religious, especially moral-practical character, striving to apply general divinely revealed concepts to actual life, to resolve all arising doubts and contradictions. Among the Hebrews, since Solomon, there existed a whole class of wise men—chakamim (from the word “chokmah”—wisdom), alongside prophets and priests, who had strong influence on the people (1 Sam 4:30-31; Jer 18:18; Prov 1:6). Already in the time of Solomon there were known wise men—Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, whose wisdom was placed alongside the wisdom of the sons of the East and of Egypt (1 Sam 4:30-31). The contemporaries of the prophet Jeremiah said: “The law does not disappear from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet” (Jer 18:18). The usual form of expression of thought among Hebrew wise men, in distinction from the Greeks, was gnomic, consisting of brief sayings, aphorisms, and sayings.

Ecclesiastes 12:10. The Preacher sought to find pleasing words, and the words of truth were written by him correctly. Ecclesiastes 12:11. The words of the wise are like nails and like goads fixed in place, given by one shepherd. “The words of the wise are like nails and like goads.” The Hebrew original speaks here not of simple nails, but of those points which are on sticks used by drivers and shepherds. The LXX correctly translated βούκεντρα (Slav.—“oxen points”). The thought is that the words of the wise, like the shepherd’s staff, awaken people from moral indifference and sloth, compel them to fulfill their duty. “Given by one shepherd.” God is called here the one Shepherd (cf. Ps 22:1). Comparing the words of the wise to the staff of the shepherd and driver, the writer naturally employed the image of the Shepherd-God, who, pasturing Israel, gives staffs to the wise so that they may shepherd men (cf. Prov 10:21).

Ecclesiastes 12:12. And as for anything more than this, my son, be careful: composing many books has no end, and much reading is tiring for the body. Having pointed out the high significance of the works of the wise, the writer at the same time warns his student against the misuse of books, whether from composing or from reading many books. This advice he as it were hastens to apply to himself, in the following verses concluding his book.

Ecclesiastes 12:13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man; “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole discourse.” The commandment: “Fear God” (taken from Eccl 5:6) and “keep His commandments” (cf. Eccl 4:17) constitutes the essence of the book and, at the same time, the purpose of man. Only faith saves man from the extremes of pessimism on the one hand and base hedonism on the other.

Ecclesiastes 12:14. for God will bring every deed into judgment, and every hidden thing, whether good or evil. The thought of the final judgment of God, according to the expression of one commentator, is the thread of Ariadne that led the Preacher out of the labyrinth of his skepticism. There is no place for dark despondency, nor for lighthearted enjoyment of life, where there is deep faith in divine retribution. * * * In the period after the Captivity, the Jewish wise men, the chakamim (from the word “chokmah”—wisdom), pointed out that human wisdom comes from the Wisdom of God…