Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 12:12
And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books [there is] no end; and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh.
12. And further, by these, my son, be admonished ] Better, And for more than these ( i.e. for all that lies beyond), be warned. The address “my son” is, as in Pro 1:1; Pro 2:1; Pro 10:15, that of the ideal teacher to his disciple. It is significant, as noted above, that this appears here for the first time in this book.
of making many books there is no end ] The words, which would have been singularly inappropriate as applied to the scanty literature of the reign of the historical Solomon, manifestly point to a time when the teachers of Israel had come in contact with the literature of other countries, which overwhelmed them with its variety and copiousness, and the scholar is warned against trusting to that literature as a guide to wisdom. Of that copiousness, the Library at Alexandria with its countless volumes would be the great example, and the inscription over the portals of that at Thebes that it was the Hospital of the Soul ( , Diodor. Sic. i. 49) invited men to study them as the remedy for their spiritual diseases. Conspicuous among these, as the most voluminous of all, were the writings of Demetrius Phalereus (Diog. Laert. v. 5. 9), and those of Epicurus, numbering three hundred volumes (Diog. Laert. x. 1. 17), and of his disciple Apollodorus, numbering four hundred (Diog. Laert. x. 1. 15), and these and other like writings, likely to unsettle the faith of a young Israelite, were probably in the Teacher’s thought. The teaching of the Jewish Rabbis at the time when Koheleth was written was chiefly oral, embodying itself in maxims and traditions, and the scantiness of its records must have presented a striking contrast to the abounding fulness of that of the philosophy of Greece. It was not till a much later period that these traditions of the elders were collected into the Mishna and the Gemara that make up the Talmud. Scholars sat at the feet of their teacher, and drank in his words, and handed them on to their successors. The words of the wise thus orally handed down are contrasted with the “many books.”
much study is a weariness of the flesh ] The noun for “study” is not found elsewhere in the O. T., but there is no doubt as to its meaning. What men gain by the study of many books is, the writer seems to say, nothing but a headache, no guidance for conduct, no solution of the problems of the universe. They get, to use the phrase which Pliny ( Epp. vii. 9) has made proverbial, “ multa, non multum.” We are reminded of the saying of a higher Teacher that “one thing is needful” (Luk 10:42). The words of Marcus Aurelius, the representative of Stoicism, when he bids men to “free themselves from the thirst for books” ( Medit. ii. 3), present a striking parallel. So again, “Art thou so unlettered that thou canst not read, yet canst thou abstain from wantonness, and be master of pain and pleasure ( Meditt. vii. 8).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ecc 12:12
Of making many books there is no end.
Books
If true so many years before Christ, how much more true so many years a.d.! We so often see books, we have no appreciation of what a book is. It took all civilizations, all martyr fires, all battles, all victories, all defeats, all glooms, all brightness, all centuries to make one book possible. A book; the chorus of the ages; it is the drawing-room in which kings and queens, and philosophers and poets, and orators and rhetoricians came forth to meet If I burned incense to any idol I would build an altar before a book. Thank God for books–good books, healthful books, books of men, books of women–above all, for the Book of God. Of making many books there is no end. The printing press is the mightiest agency for good or evil. I have an idea that it is to be the chief agency for the rescue and evangelization of the world, and that the last great battle will not be fought with guns and swords, but with types and presses, a gospelized printing press triumphing over and trampling under foot and crushing out a pernicious literature. You must apply the same law to the book and the newspaper. The newspaper is a book swifter and in more portable shape. Under pernicious books and newspapers tens of thousands have gone down. The plague is nothing to it. That counts its victims by the thou- sands; this modern pest shovels its millions into the charnel-house of the morally dead. Is there anything that I can do to help stem this mighty torrent of pernicious literature? Yes. The first thing for us all to do is to keep ourselves and our families aloof from iniquitous books and newspapers. If you ask me to-day is there anything we can do to stem this tide, I say yes, very much every way. First we will stand aloof from all books that give false pictures of human life. Life is neither a tragedy nor a farce. Men are not all either knaves or heroes. Women are neither angels nor fairies. Judging, however, from much of the literature of this day, we would come to the idea that life is a fitful, fantastic and extravagant thing, instead of a practical and useful thing. Those women who are indiscriminate readers of novels are unfit for the duties of wife, mother, sister, daughter, the duties of home life, the duties of a Christian life. We will also help to stem the tide of pernicious literature by standing aloof, we and our families, from books which have some good but a large admixture of evil. I do not care how good you are, you cannot afford to read a bad book. You say, The influence is insignificant. Ah! the scratch of a pin may produce the lockjaw. You out of curiosity plunge into a bad book, and you have the curiosity of a man who takes a torch into a gunpowder mill to see whether or not it will blow up. If you want to help stem the tide of pernicious literature you and your families must also stand back from books which corrupt the imagination. In the name of God, I warn some of you that your children are threatened with moral and spiritual typhoid, and if the evil be unarrested, there will be the funeral of the body, the funeral of the mind, and the funeral of the soul–three funerals in one day. If you want to help stem this tide keep aloof, you and your families, from all books that are apologetic for crime. Many of tile fascinations of book-binding are thrown around sin. Vice is horrible anyhow. It is born in shame, and it dies howling in the darkness. Paint it as writhing in the horrors of a city hospital. Cursed are the books which make impurity decent, and crime honourable, and hypocrisy noble. I mast in this connection call to your mind the iniquitous pictorials of our time. For good pictures I have great admiration. An artist with one flash will do that which an author can accomplish in four hundred pages. Fine paintings are the aristocracy of art. Engravings are the democracy of art. A good picture on one side of a pictorial will sometimes do just as much good as a book of four or five hundred pages. But you know our cities are to-day cursed with evil pictorials. These death-warrants are on every street. A young man purchases perhaps one copy, and he purchases it with his eternal discomfiture. That one bad picture poisons one soul, that soul poisons fifty souls, the fifty despoil a hundred, the hundred a thousand, the thousand a million, and the millions other millions, until it will take the measuring line of eternity to tell the height, and the depth, and the ghastliness of the great misdoing. Remember that one column of good reading may save a soul, that one column of bad reading may destroy a soul. Years ago, a clergyman passing along through the west stopped at an hotel and saw a woman copying from a book. He found the book was Doddridges Rise and Progress. This woman had been pleased with the book, which she had borrowed, and was copying a passage that impressed her very much. The clergyman happened to have a copy of Doddridges Rise and Progress in his valise, and gave it to her. Thirty years passed along, and that clergyman came to the same hotel and was inquiring about the family that had lived there thirty years before, and was pointed to a house near by. He went there and said to the woman, Do you remember seeing me before? She said, I dont remember ever to have seen you before. Dont you remember thirty years ago a man giving you a copy of Doddridges Rise and Progres ? Oh, yes, I remember that; that saved my soul, that book. I lent it to my neighbours and they read it, and they all came into the Church, and we had a great revival. Do you see the spire of a church out yonder? That church was built as a consequence of that book. Oh, the power of a good book! Oh, the power of a bad book! Crowd your minds with good books, and there will be no room for the bad. The bushel full of the wheat, where can you put in the chaff? (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. And farther, by these, my son, be admonished] Hear such teachers, and receive their admonitions; and do not receive the grace of God in vain.
Of making many books there is no end] Two thousand years have elapsed since this was written; and since that time some millions of treatises have been added, on all kinds of subjects, to those which have gone before. The press is still groaning under and teeming with books, books innumerable; and no one subject is yet exhausted, notwithstanding all that has been written on it. And we who live in these latter times are no nearer an end, in the investigation of NATURE and its properties; of GOD, his attributes, his providence, his justice, and his mercy; of MAN, his animal life, his mode of nutrition and existence, and his soul and its powers; of JESUS, and the redemption by him; of ETERNITY, and what it implies as exhibiting to us the pains of the cursed, and the glories of the blessed. Of several of these we know no more than they who have lived five thousand years before us; nor do we know any thing certainly by the endless books that have been published, except what bears the seal of the God of heaven, as published in that word which was declared by his Spirit.
And much study is a weariness of the flesh.] O how true is this! Let the trembling knees, the palsied hands, the darkened eyes, the aching heart, and the puzzled mind of every real student declare! And should none more worthy of the name of student be within reach to consult, the writer of this work is a proof in point.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By these; by these wise men, and their words or writings, of which he spoke in the foregoing verse.
Be admonished; take your instructions from them, for their words are right and true, as he said, Ecc 12:10, whereas the words of other men are false, or at best doubtful.
Of making many books there is no end; I could easily write many books and large volumes upon these matters, but that were an endless and needless work, seeing things necessary to be known and done lie in a little compass, as he informs us in the next verse.
Much study; the reading of many books written by learned philosophers about these things; which it is more than probable were then extant, though since lost, which also Solomon, being so curious and inquisitive a person, would in all likelihood procure anti peruse as far as he hail opportunity.
Is a weariness to the flesh; it wasteth a mans strength and spirits, and yet (which is implied) doth not satisfy the mind, nor sufficiently recompense the trouble and inconvenience to which man is exposed by it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. (See on Ec1:18).
many booksof merehuman composition, opposed to “by these”; theseinspired writings are the only sure source of “admonition.”
(over much) studyinmere human books, wearies the body, without solidly profiting thesoul.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And further, by these, my son, be admonished,…. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, may be intended, for whose sake, more especially, this book might be written; though it may take in every hearer of this divine preacher, every disciple of this teacher, every subject of his kingdom, as well as every reader of this book, whom he thus addresses, and for whom he was affectionately concerned as a father for a son; that they might be enlightened with divine knowledge, warned of that which is evil, and admonished and advised to that which is good; “by these” words and writings of his own, and other wise men; and by these masters of assemblies, who, and their words, are from the one and chief Shepherd; to these they would do well to take heed, and to these only or chiefly. It may be rendered, “and what is the more excellent of these, he admonished” k; to observe what is mentioned in Ec 12:13, and lies in a few words, “Fear God”, c. and especially Jesus Christ, the “Alpha” and “Omega”, the sum and substance of the whole Bible of what had been written in Solomon’s time, and has been since: he is the most excellent part of it; or that which concerns him, in his person, offices, and grace: or thus; “and what is above”, or “more than these, beware of” l; do not trouble thyself with any other writings; these are sufficient, all that is useful and valuable is to be found in them; and as for others, if read, read them with care and caution, and only as serving to explain these, and to promote the same ends and designs, or otherwise to be rejected;
of making many books [there is] no end; many books, it seems, were written in Solomon’s time; there was the same itch of writing as now, it may be; but what was written was not to be mentioned with the sacred writings, were comparatively useless and worthless. Or the sense is, should Solomon, or any other, write ever so many volumes, it would be quite needless; and there would be no end of writing, for these would not give satisfaction and contentment; and which yet was to be had in the word of God; and therefore that should be closely attended to: though this may be understood, not only of making or composing books, but of getting them, as Aben Ezra; of purchasing them, and so making them a man’s own. A man may lay out his money, and fill his library with books, and be very little the better for them; what one writer affirms, another denies; what one seems to have proved clearly, another rises up and points out his errors and mistakes; and this occasions replies and rejoinders, so that there is no end of these things, and scarce any profit by them; which, without so much trouble, may be found in the writings of wise men, inspired by God, and in which we should rest contented;
and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh; the study of languages, and of each of the arts and sciences, and of various subjects in philosophy and divinity, particularly in writing books on any of these subjects; which study is as fatiguing to the body, and brings as much weariness on it, as any manual and mechanic operation; it dries up the moisture of the body, consumes the spirits, and gradually and insensibly impairs health, and brings on weakness, as well as weariness. Some render it, “much reading”, as Jarchi, and so Mr. Broughton; and Aben Ezra observes, that the word in the Arabic language so signifies: the Arabic word “lahag” signifies to desire anything greedily, or to be greedily given and addicted to anything m; and so may denote such kind of reading here, or such a person who is “helluo”, a glutton at books, as Cato is said to be. And now reading books with such eagerness, and with constancy, is very wearisome, and is to little advantage; whereas reading the Scripture cheers and refreshes the mind, and is profitable and edifying. Gussetius n interprets it of much speaking, long orations, which make weary.
k “potius inquam ex istis”, Junius Tremellius “quod potissimum ex istis”, Gejerus. l “Et amplius his, fili mi, cave”, Mercerus. m Vid. Castell. Lexic. col. 1874. who gives an instance of the use of this word in, the following sentence; “he that reads with mouth, but his heart is not with it”; and so Kimchi, in Sepher Shotash, fol. 74. fol. 2. explains the word here, “learning without understanding”. n Ebr. Comment. p. 431.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With veyother mehemmah the postscript takes a new departure, warning against too much reading, and finally pointing once more to the one thing needful: “And besides, my son, be warned: for there is no end of much book-making; and much study is a weariness of the body.” With “my son,” the teacher of wisdom here, as in the Book of Proverbs, addresses the disciple who places himself under his instruction. Hitzig translates, construing mehemmah with hizzaher : “And for the rest: by these (the ‘words of Koheleth,’ Ecc 12:10) be informed.” But (1) , according to usage, does not signify in general to be taught, but to be made wiser, warned; particularly the imper. is cogn. with (cf. Targ. Jer. Exo 10:28, = ), and in fact an object of the warning follows; (2) min after yother is naturally to be regarded as connected with it, and not with hizzaher (cf. Est 6:6, Sota vii. 7; cf. Psa 19:12). The punctuation of veyother and mehemmah is thus not to be interfered with. Either hemmah points back to divre (Ecc 12:11): And as to what goes beyond these (in relation thereto) be warned (Schelling: quidquid ultra haec est, ab iis cave tibi , and thus e.g., Oehler in Herzog’s R. E. vii. 248); or, which is more probable, since the divre are without a fixed beginning, and the difference between true and false “wise men” is not here expressed, hemmah refers back to all that has hitherto been said, and veyother mehemmah signifies not the result thereof (Ewald, 285e), but that which remains thereafter: and what is more than that (which has hitherto been said), i.e., what remains to be said after that hitherto said; Lat. et quod superest, quod reliquum est .
In Ecc 12:12, Hitzig also proposes a different interpunction from that which lies before us; but at the same time, in the place of the significant double sentence, he proposes a simple sentence: “to make many books, without end, and much exertion of mind (in making these), is a weariness of the body.” The author thus gives the reason for his writing no more. But with Ecc 12:8 he has certainly brought his theme to a close, and he writes no further; because he does not write for hire and without an aim, but for a high end, according to a fixed plan; and whether he will leave off with this his book or not is a matter of perfect indifference to the readers of this one book; and that the writing of many books without end will exhaust a man’s mind and bring down his body, is not that a flat truism? We rather prefer Herzfeld’s translation, which harmonizes with Rashbam’s: “But more than these (the wise men) can teach thee, my son, teach thyself: to make many books there would be no end; and much preaching is fatiguing to the body.” But cannot mean to “teach oneself,” and en qetz does not mean non esset finis , but non est finis ; and for lahach the meaning “to preach” (which Luther also gives to it) is not at all shown from the Arab. lahjat , which signifies the tongue as that which is eager (to learn, etc.), and then also occurs as a choice name for tongues in general. Thus the idea of a double sentence, which is the most natural, is maintained, as the lxx has already rendered it. The n. actionis with its object is the subject of the sentence, of which it is said een qeets, it is without end; Hitzig’s opinion, that en qets is a virtual adj., as en ‘avel , Deu 33:4, and the like, and as such the pred. of the substantival sentence. Regarding , avidum discendi legendique studium . C. A. Bode (1777) renders well: polygraphiae nullus est finis et polymathia corpus delessat . Against this endless making of books and much study the postscript warns, for it says that this exhausts the bodily strength without (for this is the reverse side of the judgment) truly furthering the mind, which rather becomes decentralized by this polupragmosu’nee. The meaning of the warning accords with the phrase coined by Pliny ( Ep. vii. 9), multum non multa . One ought to hold by the “words of the wise,” to which also the “words of Koheleth,” comprehended in the asuppah of the book before us, belong; for all that one can learn by hearing or by reading amounts at last, if we deduct all that is unessential and unenduring, to a unum necessarium :
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
CRITICAL NOTES.
Ecc. 12:12. My Son.] An expression appropriate to the master of wisdom when addressing his pupils; equivalent to my scholar, or dear reader. (Pro. 1:8.) Of making many books there is no end.] The plural form sometimes denotes the parts of one treatise, and conveys the general idea of much writing. The word may be, therefore, rendered collectively, in making a great book there is no end. Great labour for little result. These words may also be understood of the heathen literature, which on many subjects was misleading, and really settled no question.
Ecc. 12:13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.] There is an implied reference to Ecc. 12:12. Here the wise man concludes, since it is useless to make a long book. Fear God.] Lit. God fear. The object of fear is put first for the sake of emphasis. For this is the whole duty of man.] The whole of man. His destiny depends on this. For that belongs to all men. Luther.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Ecc. 12:12-14
PARTING COUNSELS
We have here the parting counsels of one whose native ability, careful culture, long and varied experience, and spiritual wisdom, gave him the right to claim a hearing for his weighty words. He does not speak as a young and untried man, who, lacking experience, is yet able to reason from principles, and therefore gives advice with little hesitation. His counsels are not a brilliant intellectual effort, forcing attention upon itself; they arise rather from a heart which had endured the pain of conflict with temptation, doubt, and failure. The language is that of affectionate entreaty, and is concerned with those few and simple truths which age bequeaths to youth as the only heritage of any enduring value. The wisest man, when he draws near to the end of life, has little else to say than to commend old and familiar truths. Therefore, the Royal Preacher dwells upon the folly of useless struggles after the unattainablethe claims of dutyand the solemnities of the Judgment.
I. Leave Fruitless Speculation. (Ecc. 12:12.) The statements of this Book touch many mysteries, in whose mazes the mind might easily be lost; but their chief use is to admonish the reader against the actual evils of life, and to stir him up to duty. Those speculations which only minister to curiosity are regarded as possessing two fatal disadvantages.
1. They do not reach a final settlement of any question. Of making many books there is no end. Literature is a necessity of every civilized nation. It preserves the best thoughts and sentiments of their wisest men, and is the very soul of that society in which it was produced. As long as there is mental activity among a people, their literature must be ever growing. Each age, also, claims and requires a different representation of truth, for the simple reason that it is different, in several respects, from every former age. Thus the making of many books cannot come to an end, for the mental activity of mankind must continue. But, in another sense, books do not come to an end. Many of them deal in curious speculations regarding the nature, state, and destiny of man. However confident their authors may have been in the certainty of their conclusions, or however numerous the readers who have yielded their assent, the eternal questioning comes up again and again, and nothing is settled. The old mysteries are inquired into by successive ages of thinkers. They are viewed from every side, and set in various lights of argument and illustration; yet still mankind are as far as ever from their perfect solution. It is true that the Bible admits these mysteries; yet the Bible shows where the mind of man may rest in safety and peace, and what is the proper attitude of the soul until such time as God shall be pleased to give more light. The literature of the world upon speculative subjects reaches no certain conclusion; yet it will continue to make the unavailing attempt as long as human society lasts. It is not wise to allow the mind to be unduly occupied with what is so unsatisfactory, especially if hereby we are drawn aside from our plain duty and constancy of our faith in the immutable things.
2. They are a wearisome exercise. Much study is a weariness of the flesh. This is true of the pursuit of ordinary knowledge. Nothing can be gained but by severe and constant exercises of the mind. Natural indolence must be overcome, the fear of difficulties overmastered, and all the anxieties of inquiry endured. The thinker has to pay the penalty of a weary brain and exhausted energies. When the knowledge gained is certain, and profitable for use or for delight, there is a grateful recompense. But how sad the fate of him who endures all the labour and anxiety for some pitiful and controverted conclusion! He wearies himself upon a profitless and endless task.
II. Make Practical Use of what is Certainly Known. Solomon could have written at greater length upon the subjects on which he treated. He draws not to an end from lack of wealth in thought or language. But why go on? Life is too short for prolonged exercises of this kind. Duty is at hand, and there are stern realities to face. The reader is exhorted to give his attention to the words of the wise, for they deal with those eternal truths which most concern man to know. They are truths not framed to satisfy the curious and unprofitable appetites of the mind, but to touch the heart, to rouse up the conscience, and to teach man his duty. What is thus certainly known is sufficient for every practical purpose.
1. It is sufficient to guard us against real evils. The Preacher has yet this to say, By these, my son, be admonished. These words of the wise give warning against the greatest evils to which man is exposed. There are many calamities which afflict man in his fortune or his flesh, but these are light and passing when compared with the crushing and lasting evils that may fall upon the soul. These are the only real calamities. To lie under the displeasure of God is the awful disaster. The Psalmist, speaking of the testimonies of God, says, Moreover by them is thy servant warned. No long and laborious study is required to learn what those evils are which we ought to dread most and to avoid. Unlike the speculations of the natural mind, the whole case of our spiritual danger may be put before us in few words.
2. It is sufficient to teach us what is our highest good. The conclusion of the whole matter is given in few and earnest words. They speak of duty to the Highest, and this is all that concerns man to know. When the whole of mans existence is taken into account, this alone has any real importance for him. How loved, how honoured once, avails him not if, after life is ended, he does not rest in the smile of God. Therefore, our only concern is to learn our duty, that we might not be ashamed when we come to appear before Him. Such knowledge is not too wonderful for us, but is obvious and familiar, easy and intelligible. It may be considered as consisting of two elements.
(1.) Right feelings towards God. Fear God. The Scripture lays great stress upon the condition of the heart, because from it proceed the issues of life. The streams cannot be pure and sweet if the fountain is defiled. The heart determines what a man really is, for it is the origin and spring of moral action. The whole state of the feelings towards God is here spoken of under the name of fear, which (in the O.T. especially) is a word of wide signification. It is that feeling which both fears and lovesthat filial awe which trembles lest it should offend, and yet knows no servile dread while it dwells under the shadow of a Fathers love. It is not the fear of ignorance which trembles at the thought of unknown terrors, but that intelligent fear which arises from a due recognition of the relations in which we stand to God. It springs from the earnest realities of our moral situation, and is that disposition of the soul by which alone we can walk humbly with God.
2. Practical Obedience. Keep His commandments. Right feelings towards God must issue in obedience. Regard for anotherfor his person, for his rights, for the claims of his affection towards us, disposes us to a ready and loving service. Unless feeling does spend and employ itself in duty, it uses the power of the soul to no purpose, and only deceives us with the semblance of goodness. Uprightness in the life is the only infallible proof of uprightness in the heart. The commandments of God are the authoritative statements of our duty to all that is above, around, and beneath us. They have regard to all what we ought both to know, to feel, and to do. They are the statutes of Gods kingdom, which all His subjects are bound to obey. According to the state of our heart, we feel them either a painful restraint, or the very charter of our liberty. Love to God turns them into a delight. When He enlarges our heart, we can run the ways of His commandments. The two great commandments of the Law speak of nothing else but right feelings, because, if these are present, right practice is sure to follow. There is a true invariable sequence in moral things.
III. Recognise the Fact of Human Accountability. (Ecc. 12:14.) For God shall bring every work into judgment. The future is thus brought into view in order to strengthen the motives for obedience. The Judgment to come is rendered necessary by the fact of human accountability. As certain as there is moral disorder in the world, and there is a God over all of infinite justice and purity, so certain is it that. He will interfere with the course of human affairs, summon men before His bar, and assign to each his proper portion and place. If men are responsible to God, it is necessary that at some time their account should be rendered. However remote from Him we may feel ourselves to be, we shall have to come to Him for reckoning. The doctrine of the future Judgment is intended to influence our moral feeling and practice. This fact of human accountability, pointing as it does to the Judgment, should be practically recognised.
1. Because it raises and ennobles the idea of life. We may regard the fact, that we shall have to appear before God for Judgment, as a disadvantagea source of dread and alarm. And so it must be, if we have resisted His will, and thus come under condemnation. But the fact of our accountability renders it possible for us, through the mercy of God, to obtain the reward of the righteous. Thus a prospect is opened, so sublime that the thought of it gives a supreme value to our life. The idea of Judgment implies that man shall live in a future statethat his individuality shall remain. This thought transfigures our poor human life, redeems it from the imputation of vanity, and our condition from meanness. Our inheritance is not brief life, but eternity.
2. It acts as a wholesome moral restraint. It is true that love in its highest moods does not think of restraint, but delights in its own freedom. Yet restraint is salutary, for it aids and guards weak virtue; and the highest virtue may be prevented thereby from the dangers of a fall. The thought that evil shall surely be punished is the first motive that urges us to righteousnessthe higher and nobler motive comes afterwards. Also, the thought that even good actions shall come under the scrutiny of the Judge of all, tends to make us careful. Since the whole of our conduct shall be tested, we should look well to the purity of our motives.
3. It casts the soul entirely upon God. From His justice we can have no confident hope that we should see salvation, but rather we have much to fear. The chastisements of nature, and in the course of Providence, seem inflexible in their awful regularity. We have really no sure refuge but in the infinite charity of God. To please Him by our loving obedience should be the great endeavour of our life; for if we have this testimony, we may cherish a humble confidence that He will receive us in peace. Before the dread tribunal we all alike stand in need of mercy. If we can cast our souls upon God, even these things to comethough so terrible in themselvescannot separate us from His love, which for us in Gospel times is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecc. 12:12. The Preacher doth wisely exhort us that we prefer saving studies, which are easily perceived, everlasting in their benefit, before those the search whereof is infinite, and the end whereof at last is only weariness and misery [Jermin].
My son.The voice of warning should have the style and tone of affection, and have regard to the ultimate good of him to whom it is addressed.
He who listens to admonition is one of the children of wisdom.
In the study of the Scripture, men should not aim at their comfort only, but mainly that they may receive clear information and warning of their sin and hazard, the true remedy thereof, and the way to attain to it; for this is one use to be made of this Book, and consequently of the rest of Scripture [Nisbet].
There is a deceitful literature of the world which attempts to deal with the highest questions that concern humanity. It refuses the teaching of Scripture regarding the nature, the chief good, and the destiny of man. It rejects the supernatural aid of faith, which imparts a now faculty to man, by which alone he can have consciousness of truths beyond the dull and prosaic scenes of this mortal life. There is no reason why such unwarranted speculations should not go on for ever. They never reach to any certainty on which the soul of man can rest. Hence men become dissatisfied with them, and in their efforts to obtain something better, only substitute one folly for another. This false wisdom, admired as philosophy in one age, becomes the derision and scorn of the next.
Whatever is built upon Gods truth shall stand. All other foundations shall be removed when the storm arises; and though men may presume to build upon them again, yet their work is destined likewise to perish.
The truths of religion which bear upon practical duty are few and simple; but the speculations of the human mind, unaided by Divine light, are endless and confused. Hence he who engages in their study wearies himself in a fruitless task.
The study of the Word of God engages the attention, but it gives rest to the soul. All who love His law have great peace.
Ecc. 12:13. This conclusion is not the summing up of the reflections in this Book, but rather the practical end which The Preacher had in view. He is now coming to the chief point which concerns all.
The conclusion of the whole matter is one of those nails and goads by which The Preacher endeavours to affect the heart and conscience.
The fear of God delivers the soul from every other fearfrom the anxieties of restless inquiryfrom distrust and suspicion of Godfrom murmuring and discontent.
To fear God is in our hearts to serve and honour Him; to keep His commandments is the outward demonstration of this inward devotion, in the conversation and actions of our lives to show ourselves [Jermin].
The keeping of the commandments is inseparably connected with the fear of God, because all true feeling is bound by a pleasing necessity to engage itself in the service of its object.
Reconciliation to God is like entering the gate of a beautiful avenue which conducts to a splendid mansion. But that avenue is long, and in some places it skirts the edge of dangerous cliffs; and, therefore, to save the traveller from falling over where he would be dashed to pieces, it is fenced all the way by a quickset hedge. That hedge is the commandments. They are planted there that we may do ourselves no harm. But, like the fence of the fragrant brier, they regale the pilgrim who keeps the path, and they only hurt him when he tries to break through [Dr. J. Hamilton].
In the fear of God, and obedience to His will lies all that has any permanent value for man. Everything else will pass away, but this has an enduring substance.
It is not only the whole duty, but the whole honour, and interest, and happiness of man [Wardlaw].
Ecc. 12:14. God shall bring: loath is guilty man to come into judgment, and therefore he crieth to the hills to cover him, to the mountains to fall upon him; but mountains and hills and all shall forsake him, and God shall bring him to it. The best way, therefore, is of ourselves beforehand to go unto His judgment, and in our own hearts to arraign ourselves before God, for that is which will make His Judgment to be comfortable to us [Jermin].
The fact that God often comes into judgment with man, in the course of human history, is included in these words. But the future Judgment is chiefly intended because the spirit returns to God that its true character may be revealed, and its true place assigned.
The future judgment will discover the realities of human conduct, for it will proceed upon perfect knowledge.
There will be such a development of character as shall justify the Supreme Judge, and the judgments He pronounces and executes, in the consciences of the condemned, and certify His unimpeachable righteousness to angels and men [Wardlaw].
The Judgment will bring to light both the hidden things of good and of evilthe secret deeds of shame, and the kind offices of retiring and modest worth.
In the light of the solemn account which we must all render to God, the life of man becomes as a seed from which a mighty forest is to spring.
The Christian lays the comfort to his heart that judgment is committed to the Son of Man. He knows that he has a Judge who can be touched with the feeling of his infirmities. The purest soul needs this assurance.
THE END.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(12) Study.The word occurs here only in the Old Testament; but is not a Talmudic word.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. And further Hebrew, But beyond this, my son, take warning. All the books that can be made, and the most exhausting study, can make no one wiser. About fifteen thousand books are annually made in Christendom, and knowledge is rapidly increased, but duty is still taught only by the one Shepherd and Teacher, and true wisdom is from him alone.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ecc 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books [there is] no end; and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh.
Ver. 12. And further, by these, my son, be admonished. ] By these divine directions and documents, contained in this short book, wherein thou shalt find fulness of matter in fewness of words Or “by these,” that is, by the Holy Scriptures, which, according to some interpreters, are called in the former verse “lords of collections,” because they are as lords paramount above all other words and writings of men that ever were collected into volumes. Odi ego meos libros, saith Luther, a I do even hate the books set forth by myself, and could wish them utterly abolished, because I fear that by reading them some are hindered from spending their time in reading the sacred Scriptures. Of these it is that the Psalmist saith, “Moreover by them is thy servant warned” – or clearly admonished, as the word signifies – “and in doing thereof there is great reward.” Psa 19:11
Of making many books there is no end.
And much study is a weariness to the flesh.
a Luth. in Gen.
b Jerome ad Eust.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
And further = Beyond these. Note the Structure above.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Ecc 12:12
Ecc 12:12
“And furthermore, my son, be admonished: that of the making of many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.”
The perfect understanding of this verse is captured by this translation: “My son, avoid anything beyond the scriptures of wisdom; there is no end to the buying of books, and to study books closely is a weariness of the flesh.” This is almost the same warning as that given by Paul that the brethren, “Might learn not to go beyond the things which are written.” (1Co 4:6).
In many of the earlier passages of Ecclesiastes which suggest doubt, skepticism, uncertainty and perplexity, the commentators, in many instances, have pointed out that many of those passages reflect the mythological and pagan writings of antiquity; and here Solomon virtually confesses that many of the things which he had read had been, at least partially, the cause of his terrible apostasy, Peterson agreed that the warning here, “Was to discourage the reading of pagan literature.
Ecc 12:12 There is more in this verse than the simple jest over the prolific number of volumes written on the subject of the meaning of life, and the subsequent weariness that comes to one who attempts to read all of what has been written. Solomons tender address of my son suggests the teacher-student relationship and not the physical father-son relationship. It implies that all may come and hear these wise words which have been given through the Preacher, but which come from God. The writing of many books is in contrast to the Sacred Scriptures. They represent the thinking of men outside the circle of divine inspiration. The charge is not against studying as such, as it is wise to study human nature, and it is especially wise to study the inspired books. The warning is against those books or writings which contradict the truth and which lead one away from the path of righteousness. It is the nature of the wisdom of this world to never give a final answer to the most basic and penetrating questions of life. Paul spoke of this matter to Timothy when he said that men were always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2Ti 3:7). Although Ecclesiastes does not delineate the specifics of correct behavior, it does press hard toward the correct road: the fear of God. It motivates toward this conclusion by demonstrating the foolishness of searching in areas where God has not hidden the answers. It has been said that Ecclesiastes raises the question that the rest of the Bible answers. While this is partly true, it is not the complete picture. Ecclesiastes proves the emptiness of life apart from God, but it also demands that one fill the void of his life with the activity of doing the will of God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
by these: Luk 16:29-31, Joh 5:39, Joh 20:31, Joh 21:25, 2Pe 1:19-21
study: or, reading
weariness: Ecc 1:18
Reciprocal: Ecc 1:13 – this sore Ecc 7:16 – neither
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many {z} books [there is] no end; and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh.
(z) These things cannot be comprehended in books or learned by study, but God must instruct your heart that you may only know that wisdom is the true happiness and the way to it is to fear God.
(a) These three points are here set forth as commendable and necessary for him that is in authority to have the favour of the people, to procure their wealth, and to be gentle and loving to them.