ADVANCING AGE
Hugo McCord
I am encouraged when a retired elder, in his Sunday morning Bible class, wants to do the best job possible, knowing in every class session it could be his last, as was the case recently with the esteemed Harvey Porter (completing a lesson, sitting down, and dying). This retired elder is finishing a study in Ecclesiastes, and asks for notes on chapter 12:
Remember your Creator while you are young, before bad days come, and the years, when you will say, "I have no pleasure in them," 2 before the light of the sun and the moon and the stars becomes dark; before the clouds come after the rain; 3 before house keepers tremble and strong men stoop; before the women, grinding at the hand-mill, stop because they are few; before those looking out windows see darkness; 4 before street doors are shut, and the sound of the hand-mill disappears; before one jumps at the chirp of a bird, and singing girls are brought low; 5 before they will be afraid of heights, and terror is in their path; before the almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper drags himself along; before desire fails, as man goes to his everlasting home and mourners go about the streets; 6 before the silver cord is loosed, and the golden bowl is crushed, and the pitcher at the spring is shattered, and the pulley at the well is broken. 7 Then the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 "Vanity of vanities!", says the Preacher, "all is vanity!." 9 Moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people. His ears were open and he searched carefully and set many proverbs in order. 10 The Preacher sought to find pleasing words, yet what he wrote was upright, even words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads and as nails driven by the masters of assemblies, given by one Teacher. 12 Of more than these, my son, beware! Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness to the flesh. 13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: reverence God and keep his commandments, for this the whole of a man. 14 God will bring every work into judgment, even every secret thing, both good and evil.
The translation in verse 3, "the women grinding at the hand-mill stop because they are few, and those looking out windows see darkness," is correct, but it is possible that women’s grinding at the hand-mill is not Solomon’s thought. The Hebrew word tahan means to "grind," to "crush small," but whether Solomon is writing about wheat being ground in hand-mills or about food being ground and crushed by "molar teeth" (Gesenius, 321) is not clear. But the context is not of "molar teeth." Rather, the word "grind" refers to "the work of women ... with millstones" (B-D-B, 377), as in Matthew 24:41, "Two women will be grinding at the mill, one is taken, and one is left" (cf. Numbers 11:8).
The Hebrew word for windows, ‘arubboth, verse 3, by a metaphor means "eyes ... as latticed by lashes? ... of opening to look through" (B-D-B, 70):
When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak he could no longer see, ...(Genesis 27:1). Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see (Genesis 48:10). Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could hardly see, ... (1 Samuel 3:2).
As "windows" in verse 3 could refer to "eyes," so another metaphor is introduced in verse 5, "the almond tree will blossom." As the blossoms of the almond tree are white, so with advancing age, the hair of Solomon’s "son" (12:12) would become white. An over the counter "made for men" application will temporarily cover a man’s white hair, but he is still getting older. Solomon’s son was being taught to expect aging and to prepare for it.
The Hebrew word back of "grasshopper" is hagabh, "to hop, to spring." In advancing age, with no more ability to hop and spring, Solomon says that the grasshopper "drags himself along" (B-D-B, 290; NASV, NIV). He wants his son to know that he too, if he lives long enough, will drag himself along. The grasshopper illustration "refers to stiffness of aged joints" (Franz Delitzsch, B-D-B, 290).
Since the word hagabh, "to hop, to spring," also refers to a "locust, winged and edible" (Gesenius, 260; B-D-B, 290), the translation could be "the locust becomes burdensome" (Gesenius, 578).
In America we do not eat locusts, but, in Solomon’s country, locusts were not only edible but "kosher" (that is, divinely approved):
All winged insects that walk upon all fours are detestable to you. But among the winged insects that walk on all fours, you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to leap on the ground. Of them you may eat: the locust according to its kind, the bald locust according to its kind, the cricket according to its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind (Leviticus 11:20-22).
"The Orientals are accustomed to feed upon locusts, either raw or roasted and seasoned with salt" or "prepared in other ways" (Thayer, 24). The diet of John the Baptist was "locusts and wild honey" (Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6). In one of my trips to Jerusalem I saw on sale in a grocery store packages of locusts.
But why would Solomon say to his son that with advanced age locusts would to him be "burdensome"? Apparently he was talking about an old man’s losing his sense of taste. His taste buds deteriorate. So, whereas in his younger years, Solomon’s son would relish a meal of locusts, in his old age, with locusts tasteless, eating them would be a chore, a burden. So, Solomon said, "desire will fail" for locusts.
The word "desire" that Solomon used, ‘abiyyomah, has another meaning: "the caper berry, which is said to stimulate both appetite and sexual desire" (Gesenius, 5-6; cf. B-D-B, 2-3). The "flower buds of the caperbush" are "pickled and used for flavoring sauces, etc." (Webster). So Solomon told his son that in his old age his appetite both for locusts and caper berries would diminish.
In verse 6 Solomon used more figures of speech: the "silver cord" apparently represents the non-functioning of the spinal cord at death, while the "golden bowl" and the "pitcher" and the "pulley" apparently all represent the non-functioning of the heart at death. Dr. William Harvey, an "English anatomist," in 1616 discovered "the circulation of the blood" (Webster). He said that the idea came to him while he was reading Ecclesiastes 12:6.
That a human being is a duality, a being of two parts, is the grand exclamation of verse 7: "Then the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it." Animals are one part beings, altogether physical, with no spirit made in God’s image, who himself is a spirit being (John 4:24) (The use of the word "spirit" (ruach) in regard to animals in Ecclesiastes 3:21 apparently means "breath.)
At the moment of conception, when the sperm and the egg marry, "the Father of spirits" (Hebrews 12:9) sends a brand new spirit (Zechariah 12:1) into the zygote (zugatos, "that which is yoked"). The zygote is not made in God’s image, for it is wholly physical, and the image of God is not "a body of flesh and bones as tangible as a man’s" (as was mistakenly affirmed by Joseph Smith, Jr., DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS, 130:22).
But inside that tiny zygote, sent from heaven, is a living, intangible, unweighable, immortal spirit in the image of God (Matthew 22:32; Luke 24:39; James 3:9). At the end of the life of a human being, his physical body returns to the dust "as it was and his spirit returns to God who gave it."
If the dead person’s life does not meet God’s expectation ("I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked," Ezekiel 33:11), he regrettably has to send that person’s spirit into a burning place called Hades (perhaps also called the Abyss or Tartarus, Luke 16:33; 8:31; 2 Peter 2:4; Revelation 9:1), an intermediate stopover until the judgment day, when his spirit is sent into hell in everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:47-48).
If the dead person’s life does meet God’s expectation (Blessed "are the dead who die in the Lord," Revelation 14:13), God sends his spirit into a place of "comfort" called "Abraham’s bosom" (perhaps also called the third heaven or Paradise, Luke 16:22; 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:1-4), an intermediate stopover before, on judgment day, his spirit will be sent to heaven in everlasting life (John 14:1-3; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 2 Timothy 4:8).
Some versions define zahar in verse 12 as "admonish" (KJV, ASV, NKJV), while others define zahar as "be warned" (NASV, NIV) or "beware of" (Benjamin Davies, 178). The "usual sense" of the word is "be warned" (B-D-B, 264). The context, showing the uselessness of reading more books, points to "beware of" or "be warned."
Though there are thousands of books in our nation’s Congressional Library, what God expects from young men or old Solomon sets forth in six words: "Reverence God and keep his commandments" (cf. Deuteronomy 10:12; Micah 6:8; Romans 13:10). Other verses show the danger of adding to or subtracting from the "words of the wise" as "given by one Teacher" (verse 11): Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; 1 Corinthians 4:6 (ASV), Revelation 22:18-19.
The usual translation of yera’ in verse 13, "Fear God," does not mean that Solomon’s son was to be afraid of God. People living in sin should be afraid of God, for to "fall into the hands of the living God is frightening!" (Hebrews 10:31). To impenitent sinners he "is a devouring fire" (Hebrews 12:29).
But the word "fear" also means "to reverence God" by being "godly" and "upright" (Gesenius, 364; Job 1:1; 2:3; Ecclesiastes 8:12-13) and obeying his commandments (Genesis 22:12; Psalm 5:7; 19:9; Jeremiah 44:10).
As godly fear is taught in the Old Testament (Genesis 20:11; Isaiah 11:3; Psalm 34:11), so it is taught in the New Testament (Luke 1:50; Acts 9:31; 10:2, 22, 35; 2 Corinthians 7:1). Jesus’ prayer "was heard for his godly fear" (Hebrews 5:7, ASV). All good Christians "offer service well-pleasing to God," not in being afraid of him, but "with godly fear and awe" (Hebrews 12:28).
Consequently, the word translated as "fear" in verse 13 means to respect, to honor, to reverence God. Reverence for God is displayed by keeping "his commandments," both in regard to the Jews in Old Testament days (Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Ecclesiastes 12:13) and now for all people in the New Testament (1 John 2:4-5; 5:2).
The King James Version says that fearing God and keeping his commandments is "the whole duty of man." Since Solomon did not write in the word "duty," the New King James Version is more accurate: "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man’s all." Of Solomon’s statement, Bobby Duncan writes:
It is interesting to observe that there is no word in the original to correspond to the word duty in this passage. In other words, fearing God and keeping his commandments is the whole of man; it is what makes man complete; it is that around which his life should be centered.