Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Ecclesiastes
Book: Ecclesiastes
Chapter: 12
Overview:
A description of the infirmities of
Age.
(1-7) All is vanity:
also a warning of the
Judgment to come.
(8-14)
1-7 We should remember our sins against our Creator, repent,
and seek forgiveness. We should remember our duties, and set
about them, looking to him for
Grace and strength. This should
be done early, while the body is strong, and the spirits active.
When a
Man has the pain of reviewing a misspent
Life, his not
having given up
Sin and worldly vanities till he is forced to
say, I have
No pleasure in them, renders his sincerity very
questionable. Then follows a figurative description of old
Age
and its infirmities, which has some difficulties; but the
meaning is
Plain, to show how uncomfortable, generally, the days
of old
Age are. As the four verses, 2-5, are a figurative
description of the infirmities that usually accompany old
Age,
So
ver. 6 notices the circumstances which take place in the
Hour
of
Death. If
Sin had not entered into the world, these
infirmities would not have been known. Surely then the aged
should reflect
On the evil of
Sin.
8-14 Solomon repeats his text, VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS
VANITY. These are the words of one that could speak
By
dear-bought experience of the vanity of the world, which can do
nothing to ease men of the
Burden of
Sin. As he considered the
worth of souls, he gave good heed to what he spake and wrote;
words of
Truth will always be acceptable words. The truths of
God are as goads to such as are dull and draw back, and nails to
such as are
Wandering and draw aside; means to establish the
Heart, that we may never sit loose to our duty, nor be taken
from it. The
Shepherd of
Israel is the Giver of inspired
Wisdom.
Teachers and guides all receive their communications from him.
The title is applied in
Scripture to the
Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. The prophets sought diligently, what, or what manner
of time, the
Spirit of
Christ in them did signify, when it
testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ, and the
Glory
that should follow. To write many books was not suited to the
shortness of human
Life, and would be weariness to the writer,
and to the reader; and then was much more
So to both than it is
now. All things would be vanity and vexation, except they led to
this conclusion, That to fear
God, and keep his
Commandments, is
the whole of
Man. The fear of
God includes in it all the
affections of the soul towards him, which are produced
By the
Holy
Spirit. There may be terror where there is
No Love, nay,
where there is
Hatred. But this is different from the gracious
fear of
God, as the feelings of an affectionate
Child. The fear
of
God, is often
Put for the whole of true religion in the
Heart, and includes its practical results in the
Life. Let us
attend to the one thing needful, and now come to him as a
merciful
Saviour, who will soon come as an almighty
Judge, when
he will bring to
Light the things of
Darkness, and manifest the
counsels of all hearts. Why does
God record in his
Word, that
ALL IS VANITY, but to keep us from deceiving ourselves to our
ruin? He makes our duty to be our interest. May it be graven in
all our hearts. Fear
God, and keep his
Commandments, for this is
all that concerns
Man.