Ecclesiastes 12:3 Kommentar

The wise and penitent preacher is here closing his sermon; and he closes it, not only lie a good orator, but like a good preacher, with that which was likely to make the best impressions and which he wished might be powerful and lasting upon his hearers. Here is, I. An exhortation to young people to begin betimes to be religious and not to put it off to old age (Ecc 12:1), enforced with arguments taken from the calamities of old age (Ecc 12:1-5). and the great change that death will make upon us (Ecc 12:6, Ecc 12:7). II. A repetition of the great truth he had undertaken to prove in this discourse, the vanity of the world (Ecc 12:8). III. A confirmation and recommendation of what he had written in this and his other books, as worthy to be duly weighed and concluded, with a charge to all to be truly religious, in consideration of the judgment to come (Ecc 12:13, Ecc 12:14).

INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 12 This chapter begins with advice to young men, which is continued from the preceding; and particularly to remember their Creator in the days of their youth; enforced from the consideration of the troubles and inconveniences of old age, Ecc 12:1; which, in an allegorical way, is beautifully described, Ecc 12:2; and from the certainty of death, when it would be too late, Ecc 12:7. And then the wise man returns to his first proposition, and which he kept in view all along, that all is vanity in youth or old age, Ecc 12:8; and recommends the reading of this book, from the diligence, pains and labour, he used in composing it; from the sententious matter in it; from the agreeable, acceptable, and well chosen words, in which he had expressed it; and from the wisdom, uprightness, truth, efficacy, and authority of the doctrines of it, Ecc 12:9; and from its preference to other books, which were wearisome both to author and reader, Ecc 12:12. And it is concluded with the scope and design, the sum and substance of the whole of it, reducible to these two heads; the fear of God, and obedience to him, Ecc 12:13; and which are urged from the consideration of a future judgment, into which all things shall be brought, Ecc 12:14.

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble,.... By the "house" is meant the human body; which is a house of clay, the earthly house of our tabernacle, in which the soul dwells, Job 4:19, Co2 5:1. The Targum interprets the keepers of the house, of the knees and the trembling of them; but the Midrash and Jarchi, much better, of the ribs; man being fenced with bones and sinews, as Job says, Job 10:11; though trembling cannot be well ascribed to them, they being so fixed to the backbone: rather therefore, as Aben Ezra, the hands and arms are meant; which work for the maintenance of the body, and feed it with food, got and prepared by them; and which protect and defend it from injuries; for all which they are fitted, and made strong by the God of nature. The Arabic version renders it, "both keepers"; and, doubtless, respects both hands and arms; and which, in old age, are not only wrinkled, contracted, and stiff, but attended with numbness, pains, and tremor. Some, not amiss, take in the head; which is placed as a watchtower over the body, the seat of the senses; which overlooks, guards, and keeps it, and which often through paralytic disorders, and even the weakness of old age, is attended with a shaking; and the strong men shall bow themselves; it is strange the Targum and Midrash should interpret this of the arms, designed in the former clause; Jarchi and Aben Ezra, more rightly, of the thighs; it takes in thighs, legs, and feet, which are the basis and support of the human body; and are strengthened for this purpose, having stronger muscles and tendons than any other parts of the body; but these, as old age comes on, are weakened and distorted, and bend under the weight of the body, not being able, without assistance, to sustain it; and the grinders cease because they are few; the Targum is, "the teeth of the mouth:'' all agree the teeth are meant; only the Midrash takes in the stomach also, which, like a mill, grinds the food. There are three sorts of teeth; the fore teeth, which bite the food, and are called "incisores": the eye teeth, called "canini", which bruise and break the food; and the double teeth, the hindermost, which are called "dentes molares", the grinding teeth; and which being placed in the upper and nether jaw, are like to millstones, broad and rough, and rub against each other and grind the food, and prepare it for the stomach: these, in old age, rot and drop out, and become few and straggling, one here and another there; and, not being over against each other, are of no use, but rather troublesome; and those that look out of the windows be darkened; the eyes, as the Targum and Ben Melech; and all agree that those that look out are the eyes, or the visive rays: the "windows" they look through are not spectacles; for it is questionable whether they were in use in Solomon's time, and, however, they are not parts of the house; but either the holes in which the eyes are, and so the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, to which the Targum agrees, paraphrasing it, the strong bounds of the head; and which are no other than what oculists call the orbits of the eye: or else the eyelids, which open and shut like the casement of a window, and through which, being opened, the eyes look; or the humours of the eye, the watery, crystalline, and glassy, which are transparent, and through which the visive rays pass; or the tunics, or coats of the eye, particularly the "tunica aranea" and "cornea"; as also the optic nerves, and especially the "pupilla", or apple of the eye, which is perforated or bored for this purpose: now these, in old age, become weak, or dim, or thick, or contracted, or obstructed by some means or another by which the sight is greatly hindered, and is a very uncomfortable circumstance; this was Isaac's case, Gen 27:1; but Moses is an exception to the common case of old men, Deu 34:7.

" In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves; "The keepers of the house can be interpreted as either the sun and the moon, and the remaining choir of stars, or the angels who keep watch over this world. The men of great strength though, or the brave, as Symmachus has interpreted it, are those who die, or as Aquila has translated it, those who err, and are felt to be demons, for they are called those chosen by the powerful devil. The Lord overpowered him, and joining him, according to the parable of the Gospel [Luc. 11, 14-26.], destroys his house. Differently: the keepers of the house, who relate all things, which are written to the body of man, think that it means ribs, because the intestines are hemmed in by them, and all of the fleshy parts of the stomach are protected in this way. They think that the strong men are to be interpreted as legs; the sun and moon and stars therefore pertain to the eyes, nose and ears, and receive all the sensations of the head. But they do not interpret this to such an extent, because they are forced deeper by necessity, not by demons, or the sun, moon, or stars, but to understand what follows according to the limbs of man. "And the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened. "In the beginning of the world when the charity of most was cold and the spirits of teachers were few, who were able to offer the food of heaven to believers, and they were carried to the heaves; then those who in part see the light of knowledge in this world began to be darkened. For it is said to Moses: "sit yourself in this hole in the rock, and you will see me pass" [Ex. 33, 22.]. Oh how much more one spirit saw the truth through that opening and those dark caves! Differently: there are two grinders, from whom one is taken, the other is left, the Gospel is not silent in this matter [Cfr. Matth. 24, 41.]. And when they are few, and have ceased, it is necessary that every light of knowledge is removed from our eyes. Differently: they think the grinders have ceased because they are few, and that it is talking about teeth. And when at last old-age comes even teeth are worn away, or they fall out, which usually grind down food to be sent to the stomach. But seeing it grow dark in the caves, they think it means eyes because sight darkens with old-age, and sight is made difficult.

(Ecc 12:1-14) As Ecc 11:9-10 showed what youths are to shun, so this verse shows what they are to follow. Creator--"Remember" that thou art not thine own, but God's property; for He has created thee (Psa 100:3). Therefore serve Him with thy "all" (Mar 12:30), and with thy best days, not with the dregs of them (Pro 8:17; Pro 22:6; Jer 3:4; Lam 3:27). The Hebrew is "Creators," plural, implying the plurality of persons, as in Gen 1:26; so Hebrew, "Makers" (Isa 54:5). while . . . not--that is, before that (Pro 8:26) the evil days come; namely, calamity and old age, when one can no longer serve God, as in youth (Ecc 11:2, Ecc 11:8). no pleasure--of a sensual kind (Sa2 19:35; Psa 90:10). Pleasure in God continues to the godly old (Isa 46:4).

keepers of the house--namely, the hands and arms which protected the body, as guards do a palace (Gen 49:24; Job 4:19; Co2 5:1), are now palsied. strong men . . . bow-- (Jdg 16:25, Jdg 16:30). Like supporting pillars, the feet and knees (Sol 5:15); the strongest members (Psa 147:10). grinders--the molar teeth. cease--are idle. those that look out of the windows--the eyes; the powers of vision, looking out from beneath the eyelids, which open and shut like the casement of a window.

To the thought: Ere the mind and the senses begin to be darkened, and the winter of life with its clouds and storms approaches, the further details here following stand in a subordinate relation: "That day when the watchers of the house tremble, and the strong men bow themselves, and the grinders rest, because they have become few, and the women looking out of the windows are darkened." Regarding בּיּום with art.: eo (illo) tempore, vid., under Sol 8:8. What follows is regarded by Winzer, with Mich., Spohr, and partly Nachtigal, as a further description of the night to which old age, Ecc 12:2, is compared: Watchers then guard the house; labourers are wearied with the labours and cares of the day; the maids who have to grind at the mill have gone to rest; and almost all have already fallen asleep; the women who look out from the windows are unrecognisable, because it has become dark. But what kind of cowardly watchers are those who "tremble," and what kind of (per antiphrasin) strong men who "bow themselves" at evening like children when they have belly-ache! Ginsburg regards Ecc 12:2-5 as a continuation of the description of the consequences of the storm under which human life comes to an end: the last consequence is this, that they who experience it lose the taste for almonds and the appetite for locusts. But what is the meaning of this quaint figure? it would certainly be a meaningless and aimless digression. Taylor hears in this verse the mourning for the dead from Ecc 12:2, where death is described: the watchers of the house tremble; the strong men bow themselves, viz., from sorrow, because of the blank death has made in the house, etc.; but even supposing that this picture had a connection in Ecc 12:2, how strange would it be! - the lookers out at the windows must be the "ladies," who are fond of amusing themselves at windows, and who now - are darkened. Is there anything more comical than such little ladies having become darkened (whether externally or internally remains undetermined)? However one may judge of the figurative language of Ecc 12:2, Ecc 12:3 begins the allegorical description of hoary old age after its individual bodily symptoms; interpreters also, such as Knobel, Hitz., and Ewald, do not shrink from seeking out the significance of the individual figures after the old Haggadic manner. The Talm. says of shomrē habbayith: these are the loins and ribs; of the anshē hehhayil: these are the bones; of harooth baarǔbboth: these, the eyes. The Midrash understand the watchers of the house, of the knees of the aged man; the men of strength, of his ribs or arms; the women at the mill, of the digestive organs (המסס, (Note: This hamses is properly the second stomach of the ruminants, the cellular caul.) the stomach, from omasum); those who have become few, of the teeth; the women looking out at the window, of the eyes; another interpretation, which by harooth thinks of the lungs, is not worth notice. Here also the Targ. principally follows the Midrash: it translates the watchers of the house by "thy knees;" strong men by "thine arms;" the women at the mill by "the teeth of thy mouth;" the women who look out at the window by "thine eyes." These interpretations for the most part are correct, only those referable to the internal organs are in bad taste; references to these must be excluded from the interpretation, for weakness of the stomach, emphysema of the lungs, etc., are not appropriate as poetical figures. The most common biblical figures of the relation of the spirit or the soul to the body is, as we have shown, Psychol. p. 227, that of the body as of the house of the inner man. This house, as that of an old man, is on all sides in a ruinous condition. The shomrē habbayith are the arms terminating in the hands, which bring to the house whatever is suitable for it, and keep away from it whatever threatens to do it injury; these protectors of the house have lost their vigour and elasticity (Gen 49:24), they tremble, are palsied (יזעוּ, from זוּע, Pilp. זעזע, bibl. and Mishn.: to move violently hither and thither, to tremble, to shake), (Note: Vid., Friedr. Delitzsch's Indogerm.-Sem. Stud. p. 65f.) so that they are able neither to grasp securely, to hold fast and use, nor actively to keep back and forcibly avert evil. Anshē hěhhayil designates the legs, for the shoqē haish are the seat of his strength, Psa 147:10; the legs of a man in the fulness of youthful strength are like marble pillars, Sol 5:15; but those of the old man hith'authu (Hithpa. only here) have bowed themselves, they have lost their tight form, they are shrunken (כּרעות, Job 4:4, etc.) and loose; 4 Macc. 4:5 calls this τὴν ἐκ τοῦ γήρως νωθρότητα ποδῶν ἐπικύφοον. To maidens who grind (cf. טח בר, Num 11:8 and Isa 47:2) the corn by means of a hand-mill are compared the teeth, the name of which in the old language is masc., but in the modern (cf. Pro 29:19), as also in the Syr. and Arab., is fem.; the reference of the figure to these instruments for grinding is not to be missed; the Arab. ṭḥinat and the Syr. ṭaḥonto signify dens molaris, and we now call 6 of the 32 teeth Mahlzhne (molar teeth, or grinders); the Greeks used for them the word μύλαι (Psa 57:7, lxx). Regarding בּטלוּ, lxx ἤργησαν (= ἀερτοὶ ἐγενήθησαν) (Note: We find a similar allegory in Shabbath 152a. The emperor asked the Rabbi Joshua b. Chananja why he did not visit בי אבידן (a place where learned conversation, particularly on religious subjects, was carried on). He answered: "The mount is snow (= the hair of the head is white), ice surrounds me (= whiskers and beard on the chin white), its (of my body) dogs bark not (the voice fails), and its grinders (the teeth) grind not." The proper meaning of בי אבידן, Levy has not been able clearly to bring to light in his Neuhebr. u. Chald. W.B.) The clause מעטוּ כּי (lxx ὃτι ὠλιγώθησαν) assigns the reason that the grinders rest, i.e., are not at work, that they have become few: they stand no longer in a row; they are isolated, and (as is to be supposed) are also in themselves defective. Taylor interprets mi'etu transitively: the women grinding rest when they have wrought a little, i.e., they interrupt their labour, because on account of the occurrence of death, guests are now no longer entertained; but the beautiful appropriate allegory maintains its place against this supposed lamentation for the dead; also מעט does not signify to accomplish a little (Targ.), but to take away, to become few (lxx, Syr., Jerome, Venet. Luther), as such as Pih. as Ecc 10:10, קהה, to become blunt. And by הראות בּא we are not to think, with Taylor, of women such as Sidera's mother or Michal, who look out of the window, but of the eyes, more exactly the apples of the eyes, to which the orbita (lxx ἐν ταῖς ὀπαῖς; Symm. διὰ τῶν ὀπῶν) and the eyelids with the eye-lashes are related as a window is to those who look out; ארבּה (from ארב, R. רב, to entwine firmly and closely) is the window, consisting of a lattice of wood; the eyes are, as Cicero (Tusc. i. 20) calls them, quasi fenestrae animi; the soul-eyes, so to speak, without which it could not experience what sight is, look by means of the external eyes; and these soul-bodily eyes have become darkened in the old man, the power of seeing is weakened, and the experiences of sight are indistinct, the light of the eyes is extinguished (although not without exception, Deu 34:7).