Ecclesiastes 12:11

The words of the wise [are] as goads,.... As the goad teacheth the ox; so the Targum.

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.

The words of the wise; not of secularly or politicly wise men, but of the spiritually wise and holy men of God; of which, and not of the former, this whole context treats. As goads, and as nails, piercing into men’ s dull minds and hard hearts, and quickening and provoking them to the practice of all their duties. Fastened; which do not only amuse and startle men for the present, as the wise and grave counsels of moral philosophers frequently do, but make powerful and abiding impressions in them; which is the peculiar effect of God’ s word. By the masters of assemblies; by the teachers of God’ s church and people, whether prophets or others, appointed by God for that work. Which are given from one shepherd; from God, or from Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd and Teacher of the church in all ages, by whose Spirit the ancient prophets, as well as other succeeding teachers, were inspired and taught, . And this clause seems to be added partly as the reason of that admirable harmony and agreement which is amongst all the men of God in all ages and places, because they are all taught by one Master, and guided by the same hand; and partly to oblige us to the greater attention and reverence to all their doctrines and counsels, which we are to receive as the word of God, and not of men only, as it is said, .

Ecclesiastes 12:11 The words of the wise [are] as goads, and as nails fastened [by] the masters of assemblies, [which] are given from one shepherd.Ver. 11. The words of the wise are like goads.] To rouse up men’ s drowsy and drossy spirits; to drive them, as the eagle doth her young ones with her talons, out of the nest of carnal security; to awaken them out of the snare of the devil, who hath cast many into such a dead lethargy, such a dedolent disposition, that, like Dionysius the Heracleot, they can hardly feel sharpest goads, or needles thrust into their fat hearts - "fat as grease." St Peter so preached that his hearers were "pricked at heart." St Stephen so galled his adversaries that they were "cut to the heart." And before them both, how barely and boldly dealt John Baptist and our Saviour Christ with those enemies of all righteousness, the Pharisees, qui toties puncti ac repuncti, nunquam tamen ad resipiscentiam compuncti, as one saith of them (who like those bears in Pliny, or asses of Tuscany, that have fed on hemlock), were so stupified that no sharp words would work upon them or take impression in their hearts, so brawny were their breasts, so horny their heart strings! And as nails.] Such as shepherds fastened their tents to the ground with. Jael drove one of these tent nails through Sisera’ s temples, and laid his body as it were listening what was become of the soul. Now, as nails driven into pales do fasten them to their rails, so the godly and grave sentences of teachers - those "masters of assemblies" - do pierce into men’ s hearts, to unite them unto God by faith, and one to another in love. Our exhortations truly should be strong and well pointed, not only to wound as arrows, but to stick by the people as forked arrows, that they may prove, as those of Joash, "the arrows of the Lord’ s deliverance." And surely it were to be wished, in these unsettled and giddy times especially, that people would suffer such words of exhortation, as, like goads, might prick them on to pious practice, and, like nails, might fix their wild conceits, that they might be steadfast and immoveable, stablished in the truth, and not whiffied about with every wind of doctrine. But we can look for no better, so long as they have so mean an esteem of the ministers, those "masters of the assemblies" (whose office it is to congregate the people, and to preside in the congregations), which are given from one shepherd, the arch-shepherd of his sheep, Jesus Christ, who in the days of his solemn inauguration into his kingdom, "gave these gifts unto men" - viz., "some to be apostles, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers," &c.

(11) Words of the wise.—In this and the next verse the weighty words of sages, such as was Kohéleth, are contrasted with the volubility of modern bookmakers. Though the general purpose of the verses is plain, the words used are enigmatical, and one cannot feel great confidence in assigning their precise meaning. The translation of our version fairly represents the original, if it is observed that the words “by” and “which,” which determine the meaning, are in italics. With regard to the “nail,” compare Ezra 9:8; Isaiah 22:23. The word “masters” we have had twice in this book already in the sense of possessor, “master of the tongue” (Ecclesiastes 10:11), “master of wings” (Ecclesiastes 10:20). “Assemblies” is a word not coming from the same root as that from which Kohéleth is derived. It might mean collections of sayings as well as of people. It is difficult to affix any meaning to the last clause, except that the sages, of whom the verse speaks, have been given for the instruction of the people by Israel’s great Shepherd (Psalms 80:1).

Verse 11. The words of the wise] Doctrines of faith, illustrated by suitable language, are as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, בעלי אספות baaley asuphoth, the masters of collections, those who had made the best collections of this kind, the matter of which was of the most excellent nature; every saying sinking as deeply into the mind, by the force of the truth contained in it, as a nail well pointed does into a board, when impelled by the hammer's force. These masters of collections have been supposed to be public persons appointed by the prince himself, the sole shepherd, to see that nothing was put into the people's hands but what would be profitable for them to read; and that, when any wise man gave public instructions, a good scribe sat by to take down the words; and then the master examined what he had written, to see that it was upright, and that the words were doctrines of truth. These were something like our licensers of the press; but the existence of such is little more than conjecture. After all, masters of assemblies may mean public teachers; that which was written, the oracles of God, out of which they instructed the people; the one Shepherd, GOD ALMIGHTY, from whom they received their authority and unction to preach the truth; and by the energy of whose Spirit the heavenly teaching was fastened in their hearts, as a well-driven nail in a sound piece of wood.

11. The words of the wise are as goads] The general fact is, of course, stated in special connexion with the book which furnishes the writer’s theme. They assert that its words also, sweet as they seem, are not without their sting, though, like the prick of the goad, it is for good and not for evil, urging men on to strong and vigorous labour in the fields of thought and action. The comparison was a natural one in any country, but we are reminded of what was said of the words of Pericles that his eloquence “left a sting (κέντρον) in the minds of his hearers (Eupolis, quoted by Liddell and Scott, s. v. κέντρον), and in part also of the Greek proverb, consecrated for us by a yet higher application (Acts 9:5; Acts 26:14) that “it is hard to kick against the pricks,” as applicable to resisting wisdom as well as to defying power (Ζsch. Agam. 1633, Pindar, Pyth, ii. 173). as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies] The word for “nails” is found in this, or a cognate form, with that meaning in Isaiah 41:7; Jeremiah 10:4; 1 Chronicles 22:3; 2 Chronicles 3:9; and there is no adequate reason for taking it here, as some have done (Ginsburg), in the sense of the “stakes” of a tent. The word “by” however is an interpolation, and the words taken as they stand would run as nails fastened are the masters of assemblies. The whole analogy of the Hebrew is against our referring the last words to any but persons, and we must therefore reject the interpretation that the “words of the wise are as goads, as fastened nails which are put together in collections” (Delitzsch). The “masters of assemblies” (not, as it has been rendered (Tyler) “editors of collections”,) can be none else than the heads or leaders of a body of learned men, like the Great Synagogue of the traditions of the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, or the Sanhedrin of a later date. In “the fastened nail” we have a symbolism like that of Isa 22:23; Ezra 9:8, and seen also in the Rabbinic proverb, “Well for the man who has a nail to hang things on” (Dukes, Rabbin. Blumenlese, p. 121). In both these cases, it will be noted, the word refers to persons. It is the fitting emblem of fixity and permanence, and forms the natural complement to that of the goads. As it has been well put (Ginsburg), the two words express the several aspects of Truth as progressive and conservative. which are given from one shepherd] The noun is used often in the O. T. both in its literal sense, and of kings and rulers as the shepherds of their people (Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 3:15; Jeremiah 49:19; Jeremiah 50:44; Ezekiel 34 passim), and of God as the great Shepherd of Israel (Psalms 23:1; Psalms 80:1, and by implication, Ezekiel 34:23). We have to choose accordingly between the two latter meanings.

11. The words of the wise are as goads — The writer gives the reason of his undertaking, suggesting, too, his ideal of what such work should be, as if his toil would be repaid should these words prove such.