one28 PodcastRemember Your Creator
Ecclesiastes 12:1-8
2008.05.04
one28 Sunday worship
There is a time to be born and a time to die. Every day in between you get older. Not everyone lives the same number of years, but everyone ages–some less gracefully than others.
Solomon started exhorting young people to bask in life and rejoice in their youth at the end of chapter 11. This is a sober call to take our enjoyment seriously; to play for keeps. Young people are to rejoice in youth, remember coming judgment, and remove obstacles to enjoying youth.
As we move into the final chapter of Ecclesiastes the preacher is bringing his message to a close. In today’s paragraph he continues his address to the young and emphasizes a very practical reason for basking in youth: it doesn’t last forever. In Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 Solomon summons us to enjoy it before it’s gone and summarizes the vanity of “geezer time” (as Doug Wilson called it in his commentary).
A Summons to Embrace Youth (vv. 1-7)
Verses 1-7 appeal for embracing youth and argue for why that’s important.
The Appeal v. 1a
As he did in 11:9-10, Solomon calls for wise use of youth.
1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth,
The command to Remember at the end of chapter 11 functioned as a governing principle. It does so here as well, but here the point is not a present consciousness of coming judgment. Instead, the appeal is to remember also your Creator in the days of your youth.
Two things lead me to think this is less about judgment and more about enjoyment. First, this is somewhat peculiar reference to God as your Creator. Solomon doesn’t call God “your Judge” or “your Lord” or “your Redeemer.” Calling attention to God as creator highlights life; we’ve been given life, we should live life like we’re alive. Life is good (like in Ecclesiastes 11:7). It is good to bask in life. God gave us life so we shouldn’t hide our life under a bushel basket of boredom or bad attitude.
As he’s told us multiple times already, even though life under the sun is filled with frustration and vanity, it is also filled with opportunity. It may be a hamster wheel, but there is no “big hamster wheel in the sky.” So enjoy the run now. You aren’t going to be tired when you’re dead. So don’t whine about being tired. Live it. Love it. But do it now.
The second reason I think this is more about enjoyment and opportunity is because of the argument that extends from the second half of verse 1 through verse 7. The argument doesn’t make sense if the appeal is just a repeat reminder of coming judgment.
The Argument vv. 1b-7
The reason for making the most of life, and especially of youth, is because you’re getting older with each passing second. Life is brief. Your body is frail. Things stop working so well, and then you die. Bask in youth before your body breaks down and you have to start wearing the medical necklace that says, “Out of Order.”
Old Age Leads to Discouragement vv. 1b-2
There are multiple parts of the argument that getting older is no good.
before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,
You’ve got to enjoy life before the evil days come. This is the first part of a general description about the mental discouragement associated with getting old. Evil days refer to bad days, days when things aren’t working well or going well. And evil days fill up years that draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”. You get to the point when it’s tough to find things to be positive about. You’re too weak to make your own fun. You’re too cranky for others to want to help you have fun.
Someone has turned of all the lights and you’ve been left in the dark. That’s how old age feels when the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened. In the Old Testament light and darkness often portray prosperity/health/goodness and loss/sickness/difficulty. These four sources of light represent the light of life getting dim. The less light, the less hope and joy.
That’s not all, and the clouds return after the rain. Normally the order is different. The clouds come and then the rain, the clouds bring the rain. We expect that after the rain leaves the sun will come out. But the sun doesn’t return anymore. Welcome to your personal dark ages.
It’s kind of like the end of fall right before winter. The leaves turned colors and were pretty for while, now they’ve blown away. The chilly weather was fun for a while when you were able to wear your favorite sweater, now it’s too cold to go outside even with a coat. The dead of winter is awful. Now imagine that spring is never coming. Anybody in their right mind would be depressed, even more so if they wasted last spring and summer. Getting old is discouraging.
Old Age Leads to Deterioration vv. 3-4
That was probably a strong enough argument by itself, but now Solomon gets even more specific. Your body breaks down.
3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—
The word “body” isn’t used at all. In fact, Solomon seems to be describing a large estate, a busy household or perhaps even a palace with different servants. Keepers of the house and strong men provide security. The grinders were servant women grinding flour for baking. The window lookers could have been upper class women with nothing better to do than stare outside.
But it makes no sense if Solomon is actually talking about a house. A deteriorating house adds nothing to the argument. Even more important than that, why would fewer women grinding cause them to stop altogether? Wouldn’t fewer workers work more? And wouldn’t those looking through the windows get more light? If looking through a window makes things darker, something is really wrong with the window. The only realistic interpretation is to see these descriptions as figurative for parts of the body, which strengthen the argument for enjoying youth before it’s gone.
For example, before the day when the keepers of the house tremble. This describes the arms and hands. They get weak and shake. They can’t open the jar of pickles. They can’t keep steady. A medical description for this might be palsy, a paralysis accompanied by involuntary tremors.
And the strong men are bent refers to the legs. They can’t straighten out in strength anymore.
Not only that, but the grinders cease because they are few. That’s obviously the teeth; they rot and fall out. You had to expect that Solomon would eventually deal with the vanity of dentistry. Going to the dentist’s office is as vain and futile as anything under the sun. So bite your steak now before you need dentures and you’ve got to glue your fake teeth in so you can chew tapioca pudding.
Those who look through the windows are dimmed illustrates the loss of sight. Glasses help for a while, then you need bifocals, then trifocals, then a seeing eye dog.
All of verse 4 explains various and ironic problems of hearing loss. The doors on the street are shut, something is blocked and the reference seems to be the noise of the outside world is cut off. The Hebrew word doors is dual, so it makes sense to take the ears as the reference. The sound of the grinding is low, you can’t hear what’s normally loud. But ironically, any little noise will wake you in the middle of the night, one rises up at the sound of a bird. There’s a restlessness that makes sleep light. And then the daughters of song are brought low which is probably why your grandma always asks you to turn the volume up on the TV, she’s going deaf. It isn’t that the music is quiet, it’s that your ears have quit. Everything is falling apart.
These images don’t even include things like sagging parts, wrinkles, sun spots, and Varicose veins. This house is beyond remodel. No extreme home make-over will help.
Old Age Leads to Despair v. 5a
The older you get, the less you go out because the more you’re afraid.
5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way;
The they must be referring to the personified elderly. And they are afraid also of what is high. Heights make them nervous. They don’t want to fall; who knows what might break. Why Solomon picks on this particular problem I’m not sure. I don’t know if this was a major issue in Israel that none of the elderly were cleaning their gutters or what it was. But their unsteadiness concerned them.
They were also concerned that terrors are in the way. They wouldn’t leave the house even with their little motorized mobility scooter because of despair and fear of something bad happening.
Old Age Leads to Decline v. 5b
There are a few additional physical signs of aging to address.
the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails,
The almond tree blossoms with white (though sometimes pink) blossoms, meaning that one of the first places to identify someone’s age is their head. White hair takes over on top (if there’s any hair at all). In Proverbs white hair is a positive thing, a sign of wisdom. Here there is nothing positive about it, there’s no white almond blossom joy.
The grasshopper drags itself along. In other words, the grasshopper has lost the spring in its step and the older person isn’t as quick or strong as they used to be. Their movements are slower, deliberate, and difficult.
And desire fails, is more than likely a reference to sexual desire. What once was strong is now weak if not absent. The NAS translates this phrase “and the caperberry is ineffective,” the old version of Viagra, the caperberry was impotent to stimulate desire. It doesn’t work. Old age has taken over.
Old Age Leads to Death vv. 5c-7
And then you die.
because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Man is going to his eternal home and that means opportunity under the sun will be gone forever. Solomon is probably not thinking of heaven and hell as the two possible eternal homes, rather just the end of life. It’s interesting to note that the verb is going emphasizes the continuous nature of this journey; it begins as soon as you’re born. And there’s no going back. This is an eternal home.
It’s sad. The mourners go about the streets weeping and singing their sad songs now that you’re gone. But all their songs and crying don’t make your life significant if you didn’t enjoy the process.
Verse 6 uses two illustrations to describe the finality and irreversibility of death. In both cases something valuable is destroyed. The silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken probably should go together just as the last two things. The golden bowl was likely hanging by the silver cord. When the cord snaps the bowl is broken.
As I said, the last two parts probably go together as well. the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. If the wheel pulley breaks the jar not only couldn’t be brought back up but the pitcher would fall to the bottom of the well, shattering the pitcher. Once Humpty Dumpty gets old and falls off the wall he can’t be put back together again.
The first half of verse 7 finishes the reference back to creation (“Remember your creator”). As Adam was formed out of the dust (Genesis 2:7) and as he was cursed after the fall that his body would go back to the dust (3:19), so Solomon the dust returns to the earth as it was and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Solomon said the same thing back in Ecclesiastes 3:20 – “All are from the dust, and to dust all return.”
The body is done and buried. The part that’s eternal goes on, but the body is temporary. That’s why we’re to enjoy and bask and rejoice and live before we’re dead.
Verses 1-7 are a poetic, picturesque, and powerful argument for the summons to live and enjoy youth.
The Summary on Earthly Vanity v. 8
We’ve seen verse 8 before.
8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
Verse 8 is not only the summary of this paragraph, it is the other bookend that began in 1:2. This is the motto of the book. I’ll admit in May of 2005 I wasn’t sure we’d get here.
If you didn’t believe him then, I hope you do now. Verse 8 wraps a pretty bow around our casket after verses 1-7, and also wraps up the preacher’s description of the unending, unhappy business that God has given us under the sun.
The motto is almost the same as 1:2. It’s a shorter version, missing one of the repetitions of vanity of vanities. The key word is (hebel) and this is the 38th time Solomon’s used it in Ecclesiastes. It’s the word that refers to a “breath” or a “vapor,” so it describes things that are unsubstantial, futile, or useless.
As you might remember, the expression vanity of vanities is a superlative exclamation in Hebrew. Just like the “song of songs,” “God of gods,” “Lord of lords and King of kings,” or the “holy of holies” it’s talking about the supreme example. This is vanity in the highest possible degree, the epitome of emptiness, the utmost of uselessness.
Hopefully you feel the power of this grating sandpaper even more now than you did three years ago. The weight of vanity is supposed to crush us and make us look up for God. The bitterness of vanity is supposed to turn us away from the junk food under the sun and cause us to seek satisfaction in God.
Conclusion
From aging and death, fools, oppression, hurtful authority, uncertain future, failed ventures, cans of peaches with no can opener, the emptiness of money and relationships and entertainment and accomplishments and alcohol and even wisdom, all is vanity in the search for meaning under the sun.
For as awful as the aging process can be, there are some who would love to have those problems if they could still enjoy the process with their family. But old age is not a guarantee. We need to embrace and enjoy our days now, especially when when we’re young. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth.
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