Ecclesiastes 12

Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14. Epilogue. Ecclesiastes 12:9-12 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.) there is need of warning; one can easily miss the true way in one’s reading, perhaps a reference to heathen libraries, and a good deal of Jewish literature which the writer regarded as unedifying.—study: cf. Ecclesiastes 1:18; the word seems to mean close application.Ecclesiastes 12:13 f. The last words of the pious annotator of Ecc 3:17, Ecclesiastes 11:9 b, etc. What man should really devote and apply himself to is the fear of God and the keeping of His commandments. “Whole” belongs to “man,” and should be translated “every”; for the literal expression, “this is every man,” cf. Psalms 109:4, “I am prayer”; Psalms 11:03, “Thy people are free-will offerings.”Ecclesiastes 12:14. Render, “For God shall bring every work into the judgment concerning every secret thing,” etc. (See also Supplement)