The conclusion of the whole matter; the sum and substance of all that hath been said or written by wise men, so far as it is necessary for us to know.

Fear God; which is synecdoically put here, as it is very frequently in Scripture, for all the inward worship of God, reverence, and love, and trust, and a devotedness of heart to serve and please God, and a loathness to offend him, and an aptness to tremble at his word and judgments.

Keep his commandments: this is fitly added as a necessary effect and certain evidence of the fear, of God. Make conscience of practising whatsoever God requires, how costly, or troublesome, or dangerous soever it be.

The whole duty; in the Hebrew it is only, the whole; it is his whole work and business, his whole perfection and happiness, it is the sum of what he need either know, or do, or enjoy.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

13. The grand inference of thewhole book.

Fear GodThe antidoteto following creature idols, and “vanities,” whetherself-righteousness (Ecc 7:16;Ecc 7:18), or wicked oppressionand other evils (Ecc 8:12;Ecc 8:13), or mad mirth (Ecc 2:2;Ecc 7:2-5), orself-mortifying avarice (Ecc 8:13;Ecc 8:17), or youth spent withoutGod (Ecc 11:9; Ecc 12:1).

this is the whole duty ofmanliterally, “this is the whole man,” the fullideal of man, as originally contemplated, realized wholly by JesusChrist alone; and, through Him, by saints now in part, hereafterperfectly (1Jn 3:22-24;Rev 22:14).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter,…. Or “the end” o of it. The sum and substance of it, what it all tends to and issues in; even the whole of what is contained in this book, and in all offer divinely inspired writings of Solomon or others; of all that were now written, or before, or since: this the preacher calls upon himself, as well as his hearers, to attend unto. Or it may be rendered, “the end of the whole matter is heard” p; here ends this book; and you have heard the whole of what deserves regard, and it lies in these few words,

fear God, and keep his commandments: “the fear of God” includes the whole of internal religion, or powerful godliness; all the graces of the Spirit, and the exercise of them; reverence of God, love to him, faith in him, and in his Son Jesus Christ; hope of eternal life from him; humility of soul, patience and submission to his will, with every other grace; so the Heathens call religion “metum Deorum” q, the fear of God: and “keeping of the commandments”, or obedience to the whole will of God, is the fruit, effect, and evidence of the former; and takes in all the commands of God, moral and positive, whether under the former or present dispensation; and an observance of them in faith, from a principle of love, and with a view to the glory of God;

for this [is] the whole [duty] of man; or, “this is the whole man” r; and makes a man a whole man, perfect, entire, and wanting nothing; whereas, without this, he is nothing, let him have ever so much of the wisdom, wealth, honour, and profits of this world. Or, “this is the whole of every man” s; either, as we supply it, the duty, work, and business of every man, of every son of Adam, be he what he will, high or low, rich or poor, of every age, sex, and condition; or this is the happiness of every man, or that leads to it; this is the whole of it; this is the “summum bonum”, or chief happiness of men: Lactantius t says, the “summum bonum” of a man lies in religion only; it lies in this, and not in any outward thing, as is abundantly proved in this book: and this should be the concern of everyone, this being the chief end of man, and what, as Jarchi says, he is born unto; or, as the Targum, such should be the life of every man. The Masoretes begin this verse with a larger letter than usual, and repeat it at the end of the book, though not accentuated, to raise the attention of the reader u; that he may make a particular observation of what is said in it, as being of the greatest moment and importance.

o “finis verbi omnis”, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus; “finis universi negotii”, Tigurine version, so Vatablus. p “auditus est”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Tigurine version, Mercerus. q Horat. Carmin. l. 1. Ode 35. v. 36. r “hoc (est) omnis homo”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Mercerus; “omnium hominum perfectio”, Tigurine version; “hoc est totus homo”, Cocceius; “this is all the man”, Broughton. s “Hoc est omnium hominum”, Piscator, Gejerus; “hoc est totum hominis”, Junius & Tremellius. t De Fals. Sap. l. 3, c. 10. u Vid. Buxtorf. Tiberius, c. 14. p. 38.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

“The final result, after all is learned, (is this): Fear God and keep His commandments; for this is the end of every man.” Many expositors, as Jerome, the Venet., and Luther, render as fut.: The conclusion of the discourse we would all hear (Salomon); or: The conclusion of the whole discourse or matter let us hear (Panzer, 1773, de Wette-Augusti); Hitzig also takes together s oph davar hakol = soph davar kol – haddavar : The end of the whole discourse let us hear. But for is contrary to the style of the book; and as a general rule, the author uses for the most part of things, seldom of persons. And also soph davar hakol , which it would be better to explain (“the final word of the whole”), with Ewald, 291 a, after yeme – olam mosheh , Isa 63:11, than it is explained by Hitzig, although, in spite of Philippi’s ( Sta. const. p. 17) doubt, possible in point of style, and also exemplified in the later period of the language (1Ch 9:13), is yet a stylistic crudeness which the author could have avoided either by writing soph devar hakol , or better, soph kol – haddavar . , Ewald, 168 b, renders as a particip. by audiendum ; but that also does not commend itself, for signifies nothing else than auditum , and acquires the meaning of audiendum when from the empirical matter of fact that which is inwardly necessary is concluded; the translation: The final word of the whole is to be heard, audiendum est , would only be admissible of also the translation auditum est were possible, which is not the case. Is thus possibly the pausal form of the finite ? We might explain: The end of the matter ( summa summarum ), all is heard, when, viz., that which follows is heard, which comprehends all that is to be known. Or as Hoelem.: Enough, all is heard, since, viz., that which is given in the book to be learned contains the essence of all true knowledge, viz., the following two fundamental doctrines. This retrospective reference of hakol nishm’a is more natural than the prospective reference; but, on the other hand, it is also more probable that soph davar denotes the final resultat than that it denotes the conclusion of the discourse. The right explanation will be that which combines the retrospective reference of nakol nishm’a and the resultative reference of soph davar . Accordingly, Mendelss. appears to us to be correct when he explains: After thou hast heard all the words of the wise … this is the final result, etc. Finis ( summa ) rei omnia audita is = omnibus auditis , for the sentence denoting the conditions remains externally undesignated, in the same way as at Ecc 10:14; Deu 21:1; Ezr 10:6 (Ewald, 341 b). After the clause, soph … nishm’a , Athnach stands where we put a colon: the mediating hocce est is omitted just as at Ecc 7:12 (where translate: yet the preference of knowledge is this, that, etc.).

The sentence, eth – naeolohim yera (“fear God”), repeating itself from Ecc 5:6, is the kernel and the star of the whole book, the highest moral demand which mitigates its pessimism and hallows its eudaemonism. The admonition proceeding therefrom, “and keep His commandments,” is included in lishmo’a , Ecc 5:1, which places the hearing of the divine word, viz., a hearing for the purpose of observing, as the very soul of the worship of God above all the opus operatum of ceremonial services.

The connection of the clause, ki – zeh kol – haadam , Hitzig mediates in an unnecessary, roundabout way: “but not thou alone, but this ought every man.” But why this negative here introduced to stamp as an immo establishing it? It is also certainly suitable as the immediate confirmation of the rectitude of the double admonition finally expressing all. The clause has the form of a simple judgment, it is a substantival clause, the briefest expression for the thought which is intended. What is that thought? The lxx renders: ; also Symm. and the Venet. render kol haadam by ., and an unnamed translator has ., according to which also the translation of Jerome is to be understood, hoc est enim omnis homo . Thus among the moderns, Herzf., Ewald, Elst., and Heiligst.: for that is the whole man, viz., as to his destiny, the end of his existence (cf. as to the subject-matter, Job 28:28); and v. Hofmann ( Schriftbew. II 2, p. 456): this is the whole of man, viz., as Grotius explains: totum hominis bonum ; or as Dale and Bullock: “the whole duty of man;” or as Tyler: “the universal law ( , like the Mishnic ) of man;” or as Hoelem.: that which gives to man for the first time his true and full worth. Knobel also suggests for consideration this rendering: this is the all of man, i.e., on this all with man rests. But against this there is the one fact, that kol – haadam never signifies the whole man, and as little anywhere the whole (the all) of a man. It signifies either “all men” ( , ), as at Ecc 7:2, hu soph kol – haadam , or, of the same meaning as kol – haadam , “every man” ( ), as at Ecc 3:13; Ecc 5:18 (lxx, also Ecc 7:2: ); and it is yet more than improbable that the common expression, instead of which haadam kullo was available, should here have been used in a sense elsewhere unexampled. Continuing in the track of the usus loq., and particularly of the style of the author, we shall thus have to translate: “for this is every man.” If we use for it: “for this is every man’s,” the clause becomes at once distinct; Zirkel renders kol – haadam as genit., and reckons the expression among the Graecisms of the book: , ., . Or if, with Knobel, Hitz., Bttch., and Ginsburg, we might borrow a verb to supplement the preceding imperat.: “for this ought every man to do,” we should also in this way gain the meaning to be expected; but the clause lying before us is certainly a substantival clause, like meh haadam , Ecc 2:12, not an elliptical verbal clause, like Isa 23:5; Isa 26:9, where the verb to be supplied easily unfolds itself from the of the end of the movement.

We have here a case which is frequent in the Semitic languages, in which subj. and pred. are connected in the form of a simple judgment, and it is left for the hearer to find out the relation sustained by the pred. to the subj. – e.g., Psa 110:3; Psa 109:4, “I am prayer;” and in the Book of Koheleth, Ecc 3:19, “the children of men are a chance.”

(Note: Vid., Fleischer’s Abh. . einige Arten der Nominalapposition, 1862, and Philippi’s St. const. p. 90ff.)

In the same way we have here to explain: for that is every man, viz., according to his destiny and duty; excellently, Luther: for that belongs to all men. With right, Hahn, like Bauer (1732), regards the pronoun as pred. (not subj. as at Ecc 7:2): “this, i.e., this constituted, that they must do this, are all men,” or rather: this = under obligation thereto, is every man.

(Note: Hitz. thus renders , Jer 45:4, predicat.: “And it is such, all the world.”)

It is a great thought that is thereby expressed, viz., the reduction of the Israelitish law to its common human essence. This has not escaped the old Jewish teachers. What can this mean: zeh kol – haadam ? it is asked, Berachoth 6 b; and R. Elazar answers: “The whole world is comprehended therein;” and R. Abba bar-Cahana: “This fundamental law is of the same importance to the universe;” and R. Simeon b. Azzai: “The universe has been created only for the purpose of being commanded this.”

(Note: Cf. Jer. Nedarim ix. 3: “Thou oughtest to love thy neighbour as thyself,” says R. Akiba, is a principal sentence in the Law. Ben-Azzai says: “The words zeh … adam (Gen 5:1) are it in a yet higher degree,” because therein the oneness of the origin and the destiny of all men is contained. Aben Ezra alludes to the same thing, when at the close of his Comm. he remarks: “The secret of the non-use of the divine name in Gen 1:1-2:3 is the secret of the Book of Koheleth.”)

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

      13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.   14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

      The great enquiry which Solomon prosecutes in this book is, What is that good which the sons of men should do? ch. ii. 3. What is the true way to true happiness, the certain means to attain our great end? He had in vain sought it among those things which most men are eager in pursuit of, but here, at length, he has found it, by the help of that discovery which God anciently made to man (Job xxviii. 28), that serious godliness is the only way to true happiness: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, the return entered upon the writ of enquiry, the result of this diligent search; you shall have all I have been driving at in two words. He does not say, Do you hear it, but Let us hear it; for preachers must themselves be hearers of that word which they preach to others, must hear it as from God; those are teachers by the halves who teach others and not themselves, Rom. ii. 21. Every word of God is pure and precious, but some words are worthy of more special remark, as this; the Masorites begin it with a capital letter, as that Deut. vi. 4. Solomon himself puts a nota bene before it, demanding attention in these words, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Observe here,

      I. The summary of religion. Setting aside all matters of doubtful disputation, to be religious is to fear God and keep his commandments. 1. The root of religion is fear of God reigning in the heart, and a reverence of his majesty, a deference to his authority, and a dread of his wrath. Fear God, that is, worship God, give him the honour due to his name, in all the instances of true devotion, inward and outward. See Rev. xiv. 7. 2. The rule of religion is the law of God revealed in the scriptures. Our fear towards God must be taught by his commandments (Isa. xxix. 13), and those we must keep and carefully observe. Wherever the fear of God is uppermost in the heart, there will be a respect to all his commandments and care to keep them. In vain do we pretend to fear God if we do not make conscience of our duty to him.

      II. The vast importance of it: This is the whole of man; it is all his business and all his blessedness; our whole duty is summed up in this and our whole comfort is bound up in this. It is the concern of every man, and ought to be his chief and continual care; it is the common concern of all men, of their whole time. It is nothing to a man whether he be rich or poor, high or low, but it is the main matter, it is all in all to a man, to fear God and do as he bids him.

      III. A powerful inducement to this, v. 14. We shall see of what vast consequence it is to us that we be religious if we consider the account we must every one of us shortly give of himself to God; thence he argued against a voluptuous and vicious life (ch. xi. 9), and here for a religious life: God shall bring every work into judgment. Note, 1. There is a judgment to come, in which every man’s eternal state will be finally determined. 2. God himself will be the Judge, God-man will, not only because he has a right to judge, but because he is perfectly fit for it, infinitely wise and just. 3. Every work will then be brought into judgment, will be enquired into and called over again. It will be a day to bring to remembrance every thing done in the body. 4. The great thing to be then judged of concerning every work is whether it be good or evil, conformable to the will of God or a violation of it. 5. Even secret things, both good and evil, will be brought to light, and brought to account, in the judgment of the great day (Rom. ii. 16); there is no good work, no bad work, hid, but shall then be made manifest. 6. In consideration of the judgment to come, and the strictness of that judgment, it highly concerns us now to be very strict in our walking with God, that we may give up our account with joy.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER

Verse 13 sums up the teaching of the book of Ecclesiastes. Nothing one may do in life is as important as to fear God, as a submissive reverence for God, which prompts trust in and obedience to His commands. Such is the duty of every man, Psa 31:19; Psa 103:13; Psa 147:11; Pro 29:25; Isa 50:10; Rom 10:17.

Verse 14 reminds of the earlier teaching of Ecc 3:17; Ecc 11:9 that every act will be brought to judgment, and emphasizes, that every secret thing will be reviewed, Psa 90:8; Lev 4:13-14; 1Co 4:5. The fact of such judgment applies to all, though the Bible teaches elsewhere that saved and unsaved will be judged, at different times Rom 14:10; Rev 20:11-12.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

B. MAN IS ADMONISHED TO FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. Ecc. 12:13

TEXT 12:13

13

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 12:13

422.

Explain what has been heard. (Cf. Ecc. 12:9-12)

423.

Is Solomons conclusion in harmony with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles? Give evidence.

424.

Identify what it is that applies to every man.

PARAPHRASE 12:13

All that I proposed to say, I have said. The conclusion then from what I have said is this: Revere and worship God; keep His commandments. This is the complete, fulfilling work of man, and no man shall escape its implications.

COMMENT 12:13

Ecc. 12:13 Whatever difficulty one may encounter in the explanation of certain sections of Ecclesiastes, there can be little doubt about the intention of Solomon as he moves to his conclusion. His final observations are stated with great clarity. The conclusion is literally the sum of all. It should be noted that his personal claim to inspiration is made prior to his final warning which he says applies to all men.

The fear of God is now underscored as the major theme of the book. Vanity and the testimony values of this world are contrasted with true wisdom. This true wisdom leads one to shun evil and do good (Psa. 34:11-12) and is thus defined as the fear of the Lord. The fear of God and keeping His commands are inseparable. To obey God, in this context, is not an indication that one fears Him it is the fear of God. It is worthy of note that Solomon now applies his message to every man. Verse fourteen confirms the universality of the message. The Septuagint captures the meaning better than does the Authorized Version when it renders the statement as For this is the whole duty of man. Similar translations read, This is the duty of all men, This concerns all mankind, The whole of mankind, For this, all men, and The whole duty for every man. Paul draws this same conclusion as he said, Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also (Rom. 3:29).

The Vanities of Ecclesiastes Contrasted With the Fear of the Lord which follows this immediate section, illustrates the negative pursuits of men which the Preacher declares to be but transitory and unfulfilling. The positive practice of the fear of the Lord fills the emptiness in mans life and directs him to satisfaction and joy.

FACT QUESTIONS 12:13

578.

The conclusion literally means what?

579.

Identify the major theme of the book.

580.

Which is the better translation: For this is the whole duty of man, or This is the duty of all men? Explain.

THE VANITIES OF ECCLESIASTES CONTRASTED WITH THE FEAR OF THE LORD

(1) Mans advantages

Ecc. 1:3; Ecc. 2:11; Ecc. 3:9; Ecc. 5:16

(2) The desire to learn all things

Ecc. 1:13; Ecc. 2:23-26; Ecc. 3:10

(3) Excessive wisdom

Ecc. 1:18; Ecc. 2:15; Ecc. 7:16

(4) Pursuit of pleasure

Ecc. 2:1; Ecc. 7:4; Ecc. 8:15; Ecc. 10:16

(5) Mad mirth

Ecc. 2:2; Ecc. 7:2-5

(6) Increase of earthly possessions

Ecc. 2:4-9; Ecc. 6:2; Ecc. 5:11

(7) Personal accomplishments

Ecc. 2:11; Ecc. 2:17-18; Ecc. 2:20

(8) Living only for tomorrow

Ecc. 3:22; Ecc. 2:18; Ecc. 6:12; Ecc. 8:7; Ecc. 10:14

(9) Envy, rivalry

Ecc. 4:4

(10) Laziness

Ecc. 4:5-6; Ecc. 10:18

(11) Greed

Ecc. 4:8; Ecc. 1:8; Ecc. 5:10; Ecc. 5:13; Ecc. 8:13; Ecc. 8:17

(12) Hypocritical worship

Ecc. 5:1-6

(13) Discontentment

Ecc. 6:2-3; Ecc. 7:10, Ecc. 11:9

(14) Self righteousness

Ecc. 7:16-18

(15) Sexual immorality

Ecc. 7:26; Ecc. 7:29

(16) Lawlessness

Ecc. 8:3-4

(17) Self-deceit

Ecc. 8:11; Ecc. 9:3

(18) Wicked oppression

Ecc. 8:12-13

(19) Identity with evil

Ecc. 9:18; Ecc. 10:1

(20) Intellectual pride

Ecc. 10:10; Ecc. 10:12-14

(21) Self-reliance

Ecc. 11:1-6

(22) Youth spent without God

Ecc. 12:1

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(13) Whole duty of man.Rather, the duty of every man. The sacred writer practically anticipates the teaching of Rom. 3:29.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

13. The conclusion of the whole matter After this long survey of human affairs, chiefly on their sad and shady side, this counsel has peculiar weight. It is the word of one who has tried it himself and examined it in other men. Peace with God, coming from reverent, steady obedience,

“Makes the rough paths of peevish nature even,”

and he, too, makes this the duty of every man.

The whole duty It is better syntax to read, For this is (the duty) of every man. So the Hebrew indicates. No man is exempt, for there are no mortal conditions that require disobedience to God.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Ecc 12:13-14. Let us hear the conclusion, &c. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole discourse. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for that is the business of every man; Ecc 12:14. Because God shall bring all the works of men into judgment, with respect to every thing which was not taken notice of, whether good or evil. Now the sacred orator comes at last to the CONCLUSION which he had aimed at from the very beginning, viz. that every part of our conduct, whether it be praise or blame-worthy, shall be examined by the Almighty, who shall reward and punish even that which in the present dispensation of providence he seems to overlook. Whence it follows, that it is the interest of every man to fear God, and to obey his laws, that so he may be found guiltless when brought into judgment. See Desvoeux, and Peters on Job, p. 414.

With respect to this conclusion, it must be observed, that, the book being of a much older date than our artificial logic and dialectic, we have no reason to expect that Solomon should have strictly kept to the rules which they prescribe, and especially as his performance was a kind of mixed work, wherein philosophy was to appear in the dress of oratory. To say nothing, when you come to the conclusion of an argument, but what properly belongs to that conclusion, or has been before mentioned in the premises, and may be directly inferred from them, is a method accommodated to the rules observed by logicians, and certainly conducive to perspicuity; but it is more popular, and better suits the genius of rhetorical eloquence, to join the corollary or consequence drawn from the conclusion with the conclusion itself, so as to make but one compound proposition of both. If this be but remembered, one may easily see that we have put the right construction upon the conclusion of this book, though at first we may appear to have thrown part of it aside. Let the whole exhortation contained in the two last verses be compared with the book itself, whereof it is declared to exhibit the conclusion and design; and it will undoubtedly appear, that the meaning of it can be no other than this; namely, “The sole or principal motive to observe the laws of God is the steady belief of a future state; wherein God himself will judge mankind, and render unto every one according to his works:” and who can doubt but in that proposition the greatest stress is laid on the doctrine of a future state, as the only point which, in the nature of things, could have stood in need of proofs? The adviseableness of obeying God’s commands is so obvious, when once he is allowed to have both rewards and punishments in store for mankind, that it could never have required twelve chapters to make it out. Besides, is there not reason to suppose that the author of the book understood the nature and design of his own work better than any interpreter born in after-ages? But what motive could ever have induced him to mention the doctrine of a future state, and judgment to come, as that which he had from the beginning laboured to establish, as the conclusion of the whole discourse, had his thoughts all along been employed on those subjects which several interpreters suppose he had chiefly in view? And let nobody object that the end properly, or at least primarily, declared by Solomon to have been in his view, is the fear of God, and not the doctrine of a future state; for these are two points which he considers as if they were but one. Besides, a very good reason may be assigned why he spoke of the fear of God, though the certainty of a future judgment was what he had principally aimed at; viz. that that doctrine is a powerful incentive to fear God; whereas no plausible one can be given, why he should have said a single word of that certainty, had the fear of God been the subject of which he directly intended to treat. See the introductory note on this book, and Bishop Lowth’s 24th Prelection.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 847
THE SUM OF ALL TRUE RELIGION

Ecc 12:13-14. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall briny every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

IN this book are many things difficult to be understood, and capable of being perverted by any one who desires to justify himself in an undue attachment to the world. But a reference to the condition of the author will enable us to explain the whole in a satisfactory and consistent manner. Solomon was possessed of all that this world could afford; and he rendered every object, and every employment, subservient to his own comfort. In all this he sinned not. It was not in the use of Gods creatures that he sinned, but in the abuse of them. And we also may both possess and enjoy all that God in his providence has allotted to us, if only we enjoy God in the creature, and have earth subordinated to heaven. What the real drift of all his observations was, is told us in the words which we have just read, and which give us a clew to all that he has before spoken. In them we see,

I.

The sum of all moral and religious instructions

Many things we have to say both on the subject of morals and of religion: but they are all comprehended in this one saying, Fear God, and keep his commandments.
In this is contained the whole substance of religion
[By the fear of God we understand, not a slavish dread of him, but a holy filial regard, arising from a sense of his relation to us as a reconciled God and Father. And in keeping his commandments we include a due attention to that great commandment of the Gospel, the believing in our Lord Jesus Christ for salvation [Note: 1Jn 3:23.]. We must distinguish carefully between a legal and an evangelical interpretation of these terms, lest we confound the Gospel with the Law: we must guard especially against a reliance on our obedience, as if it could in any way, or in any degree, purchase salvation for us. But, if we he duly jealous on these points, we need never be afraid of asserting, that all true religion is comprehended in the duties inculcated in our text. Every thing else is subservient to these things: the most important principles are of little use, except as they conduce to this end. It was for this that the Lord Jesus Christ undertook and executed the whole work of redemption: To this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and living [Note: Rom 14:9.], and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works [Note: Tit 2:14.]. All the promises of the Gospel are given to us for this end, to make us partakers of the Divine nature [Note: 2Pe 1:4.], that we may, under their gracious influence, cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God [Note: 2Co 7:1.]. In a word, it is this which is the scope and end of all our ministrations; we are sent to turn men from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God [Note: Act 26:18.].]

In this all is contained that deserves the attention of a rational being
[It is of very small consequence whether we have more or less of this world: its pleasures, riches, honours, are but for a moment. What enjoyment has the Rich Man now of all his sumptuous fare? or what sense has Lazarus of all his former wants? All is passed away; and nothing remains of all the good or evil that befell them in this world, but a responsibility for the use they made of it. The period allotted for the enjoyment of earthly things is but a day, an hour, a moment. What does it signify to a man acting a play, whether he performs the part of a king or a beggar? Whatever his real character be, that he assumes, and that he retains, as soon as the last scene has ended. So the only thing that is of importance to us is, What is that character which we shall sustain to all eternity? Have we been rebellious and disobedient? or have we feared God and wrought righteousness? Those are the points that will determine our future destinies; and therefore they are the only points deserving of any serious regard.]
But this leads us more particularly to notice,

II.

The consideration that gives to it all its weight and importance

This will be the one point of inquiry at the last day
[God will come to judge the world: and, when examining the state of every individual, he will not ask, What sect we were of: or, What our sentiments and professions were; but, What our practice was, and What the habit of our minds towards him? I may even say, that that which passes under the name of Christian experience, will be of no account, as distinct from the duties inculcated in our text. It is radical and universal holiness alone, that God values: and, if that be right in its principle and end, it is the only thing which will be regarded in Gods estimate of our character. In a word, it is the whole of man; it is his whole duty, and his whole happiness: his whole duty, as comprehending universal holiness; and his whole happiness, as being really a foretaste of heaven itself.]

According to this will our eternal state be fixed
[Some of this will appear in our external conduct, but some will be found only in the internal habit of the mind; because there is very rarely scope for discovering in outward act all that the grace of God will from in the heart. Every secret thing therefore, every secret desire, purpose, inclination, appetite, affection, will go to the forming of Gods estimate, and the determining the measure of our future recompence. If these have been evil, the best acts will have lost their value: but if these have been good, the smallest acts that can possibly have been performed, the widows mite, or a cup of cold water given to a disciple, will be ranked amongst the most acceptable services, and be acknowledged as such by God himself. If we have really had the fear of God in our hearts, and walked in his fear all the day long, and, under the influence of that principle, laboured to approve ourselves to him in all things, we shall assuredly hear him say to us in that day, Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your Lord.]
This subject will be of the greatest use,

1.

To correct the errors of those who affect superior light

[Many there are who leave out all practical godliness from their system, They can think of nothing but Gods eternal decrees, and of the finished work of Christ for us; forgetting that there still remains a work for him to accomplish in us. They would account all such views as have been presented to you, legal, and unfit to be offered to a Christian auditory. What Solomon accounted the conclusion of the whole matter, and the whole of man, they account as nothing. But so did not Peter, who says, that in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him [Note: Act 10:35.]. Nor was Paul of their opinion; for he has declared (and in the very epistle where he most enlarges on the decrees of God), that it is by patient continuance in well-doing we must attain to glory and honour and immortality [Note: Rom 2:7. with 2Co 5:10-11.]. And we do not hesitate to say, that if an angel from heaven were to be sent to preach the Gospel, the statements before given would constitute a very principal part of his ministrations. St. John in his visions saw an angel flying through the whole world, to carry the everlasting Gospel to people of all nations and tongues: and the words in which he addressed the whole human race were like those of our text, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come [Note: Rev 14:6-7.]. Here is the very exhortation of Solomon, enforced with the identical consideration which he urges; and it is expressly called, The everlasting Gospel. Let those who affect a higher and superior tone be convinced of their mistake. Let them bring forward all the sublimest truths of Christianity in their place; but let this be the conclusion of the whole matter; for, whether they will believe it or not, this is the one thing needful, and the whole of man.]

2.

To dispel the fears of those whose knowledge is yet dim

[As there are many who delight in nothing but the deepest mysteries of our religion, so there are many who make those mysteries an occasion of continual disquietude. The doctrines of predestination and election are ever present with their minds, as grounds of terror and despondency: they cannot see that they are of the number of Gods elect; and therefore they imagine that all exertions on their part are in vain. But the fears of this people are such as ought no longer to be indulged: for there is no man in the universe that is authorized to consider himself as one of Gods elect, any farther than he has the spot of Gods children upon him. It is by his fear of God, and his obedience to Gods commandments, that he must judge of his state before God: and to judge of his election by any other standard, is only to deceive his own soul. If then those who distress themselves about the doctrines of election would dismiss those subjects from their minds, and contemplate only what is more within the sphere of their comprehension, they would do well. Let me recommend this plan to all. Look not at Gods decrees, which you can never explore, but at the visible effects of his grace upon your souls: and, if you can find the works of faith, and labours of love, and patience of hope evidenced in your conduct, you may from thence assuredly infer your election of God [Note: 1Th 1:3-4.]; since those are indisputably the fruits of his grace: and his grace has been communicated according to his purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began [Note: 2Ti 1:9. Jer 31:3.].]

3.

To regulate the conduct of those whose views are scriptural and just

[The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom [Note: Psa 111:10.]: and to get this in a more uniform and abiding exercise, is to be the one object of our lives. It is the beginning and the conclusion of the whole matter. O that this were better understood amongst us! An old writer observes, that religion consists not in Notions, but Motions: and the observation, though quaint, is true. The difference is not always visible at first sight: and the one if often mistaken for the other; but, if separated, they are as wide asunder as heaven and hell. Let it never be forgotten, that holiness of heart and life is that which constitutes our meetness for heaven; and that it is only by growth in that, that we can ever honour God on earth, or secure the enjoyment of him in a better world.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (14) For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Here is the finishing sentence of this whole sermon of Solomon. And in it we have the epitome of the Bible. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. And this fear is sometimes put for the whole of vital godliness. I will put my fear in their hearts, saith God (respecting the everlasting covenant), that they shall not depart from me. Jer 32:40 . And that this fear, which is a child-like filial fear, includes the whole of our gracious habits, in relation to our interest in the covenant, is evident from what our Lord told the Jews in answer to their question of obedience. What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? said they. Jesus answered, and said unto him, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Joh 6:29 . Hence Solomon’s conclusion corresponds to the gospel. The fear of God in the belief of him whom God hath sent, is the whole of man. And the judgment by the Son of man, is to determine it. For all judgment is committed unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Joh 5:22-23 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.

Ver. 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, ] scil., Touching the attainment of true happiness. Let us see (for a perclose of all) where and how it may be had. Shall I tell you in two words, saith the Preacher? I will so, and see that ye mark it. In the original, the word rendered conclusion here hath the first letter bigger than the rest, to stir up the greater attention to that which follows, since in this short sentence is contained the sum of all divinity. Hebrew Text Note

Fear God and keep his commandments. ] Bear an awful respect to the Divine Majesty, a reverential fear; and from this principle obey God in every part and point of duty. Do this, and live for ever. Do it in an evangelical way, I mean; for we can do it now no otherwise. Wish well to exact obedience, as David doth in Psa 119:4-5 , “Oh that I could keep thy commandments accurately”; and woe is me that I cannot! And then be doing as thou canst; for affection without endeavour is like Rachel, beautiful but barren. Be doing, I say, at everything, as well as at anything; for thou must not be funambulus virtutum, as Tertullian phraseth it, one that goeth in a narrow tract of obedience. No; thine obedience must be universal, extending to the compass of the whole law (which is but one copulative, as the schools speak). And then, beati sunt qui praecepta faciunt, etiam si non perficiunt, a they are blessed that do what they can, though they cannot but underdo. And, in libro tuo scribuntur omnes qui quod possunt faciunt, et si quod debent, non possunt. b They are surely written all in God’s book that do what they can, though they cannot do as they ought. I cannot let slip a note given by one that was once a famous preacher in this kingdom, and still lives in his printed sermons. The Book of Ecclesiastes, saith he, begins with “All is vanity,” and ends with “Fear God and keep his commandments.” Now, if that sentence were knit to this, which Solomon keepeth to the end, as the haven of rest after the turmoils of vanity, it is like that which Christ said to Martha, “Thou art troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” That which “troubleth” us Solomon calls vanity; that which is “necessary” he calls the fear of God. From that to this should be every man’s pilgrimage in this world. We begin at Vanity, and never know perfectly that we are vain till we come to fear God and keep his commandments.

For this is the whole duty of man. ] Heb., This is the whole man – q.d., He is not a complete man; he loses all his other praises that fears not God. It is the very nature and essence of man to be a reasonable creature. Now, what more reasonable than that God should be feared and served? What more irrational than irreligion? See 2Th 3:2 . And what is man without true grace but praestantissimum brutum, as one saith, a very fair beast?

a Augustine.

b Bernard.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Ecclesiastes

THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER

Ecc 12:1 – Ecc 12:7 , Ecc 12:13 – Ecc 12:14 .

The Preacher has passed in review ‘all the works that are done under the sun,’ and has now reached the end of his long investigation. It has been a devious path. He has announced many provisional conclusions, which are not intended for ultimate truths, but rather represent the progress of the soul towards the final, sufficient ground and object of belief and aim of all life, even God Himself. ‘Vanity of vanities’ is a cheerless creed and a half-truth. Its completion lies in being driven, by recognising vanity as stamped on all creatures, to clasp the one reality. ‘All is vanity’ apart from God, but He is fullness, and possessed and enjoyed and endured in Him, life is not ‘a striving after wind.’ Leave out this last section, and this book of so-called ‘Wisdom’ is one-sided and therefore error, as is modern pessimism, which only says more feebly what the Preacher had said long ago. Take the rest of the book as the autobiography of a seeker after reality, and this last section as his declaration of where he had found it, and all the previous parts fall into their right places.

Our passage omits the first portion of the closing section, which is needed in order to set the counsel to remember the Creator in its right relation. Observe that, properly rendered, the advice in Ecc 12:1 is ‘remember also,’ and that takes us back to the end of the preceding chapter. There the young are exhorted to enjoy the bright, brief blossom-time of their youth, withal keeping the consciousness of responsibility for its employment. In earlier parts of the book similar advice had been given, but based on different grounds. Here religion and full enjoyment of youthful buoyancy and delight in fresh, unhackneyed, homely pleasures are proclaimed to be perfectly compatible. The Preacher had no idea that a devout young man or woman was to avoid pleasures natural to their age. Only he wished their joy to be pure, and the stern law that ‘whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap’ to be kept in mind. Subject to that limitation, or rather that guiding principle, it is not only allowable, but commanded, to ‘put away sorrow and evil.’ Young people are often liable to despondent moods, which come over them like morning mists, and these have to be fought against. The duty of joy is the more imperative on the young because youth flies so fast, or, as the Preacher says,’ is vanity.’

Now these advices sound very like the base incitements to sensual and unworthy delight which poets of the meaner sort, and some, alas! of the nobler in their meaner moments, have presented. But this writer is no teacher of ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,’ and wicked trash of that sort. Therefore he brings side by side with these advices the other of our passage. That ‘also’ saves the former from being misused, just as the thought of judgment did.

That possible combination of hearty, youthful glee and true religion is the all-important lesson of this passage. The word for Creator is in the plural number, according to the Hebrew idiom, which thereby expresses supremacy or excellence. The name of ‘Creator’ carries us back to Genesis, and suggests one great reason for the injunction. It is folly to forget Him on whom we depend for being; it is ingratitude to forget, in the midst of the enjoyments of our bright, early days, Him to whom we owe them all. The advice is specially needed; for youth has so much, that is delightful in its novelty, to think about, and the world, on both its innocent and its sinful side, appeals to it so strongly, that the Creator is only too apt to be crowded out of view by His works. The temptation of the young is to live in the present. Reflection belongs to older heads; spontaneous action is more characteristic of youth. Therefore, they specially need to make efforts to bring clearly to their thoughts both the unseen future and Him who is invisible. The advice is specially suitable for them; for what is begun early is likely to last and be strong.

It is hard for older men, stiffened into habits, and with less power and love of taking to new courses, to turn to God, if they have forgotten Him in early days. Conversion is possible at any age, but it is less likely as life goes on. The most of men who are Christians have become so in the formative period between boyhood and thirty. After that age, the probabilities of radical change diminish rapidly. So, ‘Remember . . . in the days of thy youth,’ or the likelihood is that you will never remember. To say, ‘I mean to have my fling, and I shall turn over a new leaf when I am older,’ is to run dreadful risk. Perhaps you will never be older. Probably, if you are, you will not want to turn the leaf. If you do, what a shame it is to plan to give God only the dregs of life! You need Him, quite as much, if not more, now in the flush of youth as in old age. Why should you rob yourself of years of blessing, and lay up bitter memories of wasted and polluted moments? If ever you turn to God in your older days, nothing will be so painful as the remembrance that you forgot Him so long.

The advice is further important, because it presents the only means of delivering life from the ‘vanity’ which the Preacher found in it all. Therefore he sets it at the close of his meditations. This is the practical outcome of them all. Forget God, and life is a desert. Remember Him, and ‘the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose.’

The verses from the middle of Ecc 12:1 – Ecc 12:7 enforce the exhortation by the consideration of what will certainly follow youth, and advise remembrance of the Creator before that future comes. So much is clear, but the question of the precise meaning of these verses is much too large for discussion here. The older explanation takes them for an allegory representing the decay of bodily and mental powers in old age, whilst others think that in them the advance of death is presented under the image of an approaching storm. Wright, in his valuable commentary, regards the description of the gradual waning away of life in old age, in the first verses, as being set forth under images drawn from the closing days of the Palestinian winter, which are dreaded as peculiarly unhealthy, while Ecc 12:4 – Ecc 12:5 present the advent of spring, and contrast the new life in animals and plants with the feebleness of the man dying in his chamber and unable to eat. Still another explanation is that the whole is part of a dirge, to be taken literally, and describing the mourners in house and garden. I venture, though with some hesitation, to prefer, on the whole, the old allegorical theory, for reasons which it would be impossible to condense here. It is by no means free from difficulty, but is, as I think, less difficult than any of its rivals.

Interpreters who adopt it differ somewhat in the explanation of particular details, but, on the whole, one can see in most of the similes sufficient correspondence for a poet, however foreign to modern taste such a long-drawn and minute allegory may be. ‘The keepers of the house’ are naturally the arms; the ‘strong men,’ the legs; the ‘grinding women,’ the teeth; the ‘women who look out at the windows,’ the eyes; ‘the doors shut towards the street,’ either the lips or, more probably, the ears. ‘The sound of the grinding,’ which is ‘low,’ is by some taken to mean the feeble mastication of toothless gums, in which case the ‘doors’ are the lips, and the figure of the mill is continued. ‘Arising at the voice of the bird’ may describe the light sleep or insomnia of old age; but, according to some, with an alteration of rendering ‘The voice riseth into a sparrow’s’, it is the ‘childish treble’ of Shakespeare. The former is the more probable rendering and reference. The allegory is dropped in Ecc 12:5 , which describes the timid walk of the old, but is resumed in ‘the almond trees shall flourish’; that is, the hair is blanched, as the almond blossom, which is at first delicate pink, but fades into white. The next clause has an appropriate meaning in the common translation, as vividly expressing the loss of strength, but it is doubtful whether the verb here used ever means ‘to be a burden.’ The other explanations of the clause are all strained. The next clause is best taken, as in the Revised Version, as describing the failure of appetite, which the stimulating caper-berry is unable to rouse. All this slow decay is accounted for, ‘because the man is going to his long home,’ and already the poet sees the mourners gathering for the funeral procession.

The connection of the long-drawn-out picture of senile decay with the advice to remember the Creator needs no elucidation. That period of failing powers is no time to begin remembering God. How dreary, too, it will be, if God is not the ‘strength of the heart,’ when ‘heart and flesh fail’! Therefore it is plain common sense, in view of the future, not to put off to old age what will bless youth, and keep the advent of old age from being wretched.

Ecc 12:6 – Ecc 12:7 still more stringently enforce the precept by pointing, not to the slow approach, but to the actual arrival of death. If a future of possible weakness and gradual creeping in on us of death is reason for the exhortation, much more is the certainty that the crash of dissolution will come. The allegory is partially resumed in these verses. The ‘golden bowl’ is possibly the head, and, according to some, the ‘silver cord’ is the spinal marrow, while others think rather of the bowl or lamp as meaning the body, and the cord the soul which, as it were, holds it up. The ‘pitcher’ is the heart, and the ‘wheel’ the organs of respiration. Be this as it may, the general thought is that death comes, shivering the precious reservoir of light, and putting an end to drawing of life from the Fountain of bodily life. Surely these are weighty reasons for the Preacher’s advice. Surely it is well for young hearts sometimes to remember the end, and to ask, ‘What will ye do in the end?’ and to do before the end what is so hard to begin doing at the end, and so needful to have done if the end is not to be worse than ‘vanity.’

The collapse of the body is not the end of the man, else the whole force of the argument in the preceding verses would disappear. If death is annihilation, what reason is there for seeking God before it comes? Therefore Ecc 12:7 is no interpolation to bring a sceptical book into harmony with orthodox Jewish belief, as some commentators affirm. The ‘contradiction’ between it and Ecc 3:21 is alleged as proof of its having been thus added. But there is no contradiction. The former passage is interrogative, and, like all the earlier part of the book, sets forth, not the Preacher’s ultimate convictions, but a phase through which he passed on his way to these. It is because man is twofold, and at death the spirit returns to its divine Giver, that the exhortation of Ecc 12:1 is pressed home with such earnestness.

The closing verses are confidently asserted to be, like Ecc 12:7 , additions in the interests of Jewish ‘orthodoxy.’ But Ecclesiastes is made out to be a ‘sceptical book’ by expelling these from the text, and then the character thus established is taken to prove that they are not genuine. It is a remarkably easy but not very logical process.

‘The end of the matter’ when all is heard, is, to ‘fear God and keep His commandments.’ The inward feeling of reverent awe which does not exclude love, and the outward life of conformity to His will, is ‘the whole duty of man,’ or ‘the duty of every man.’ And that plain summary of all that men need to know for practical guidance is enforced by the consideration of future judgment, which, by its universal sweep and all-revealing light, must mean the judgment in another life.

Happy they who, through devious mazes of thought and act, have wandered seeking for the vision of any good, and having found all to be vanity, have been led at last to rest, like the dove in the ark, in the broad simplicity of the truth that all which any man needs for blessedness in the buoyancy of fresh youthful strength and in the feebleness of decaying age, in the stress of life, in the darkness of death, and in the day of judgment, is to ‘fear God and keep His commandments’!

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Ecc 12:13-14

13The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Ecc 12:13 The conclusion This term (BDB 693) means end (cf. Ecc 3:11; Ecc 7:2; Ecc 12:13), used in the sense of summary, conclusion, or result of investigation.

fear God This is the first of two Qal IMPERATIVES. This admonition is a repeated theme (cf. Ecc 3:14; Ecc 5:7; Ecc 7:18; Ecc 8:12-13; Job 1:1; Job 28:28; Pro 1:7; Pro 9:10; Pro 15:33). Respect Him and recognize His presence, power, and provision (hidden though it may be) in our daily lives.

keep His commandments This is the second Qal IMPERATIVE (cf. Ecc 8:5). The terms fear and commandments appear together in Psa 112:1. Like the book of James in the NT, this book asserts the need for faith in action!

this applies to every person No one is excluded from the demand of respect and obedience to God.

Ecc 12:14 Because God will bring every act to judgment God is going to set things straight, if not in this life, then in the next (cf. Ecc 3:17; Ecc 11:9).

everything which is hidden The VERB hidden (BDB 761 I, KB 834, Niphal PARTICIPLE) refers to intentional and unintentional sins (cf. Psa 19:12; Psa 90:8; Psa 139:23-24). Fallen humans will give an account to God for the stewardship of the gift of life (cf. Mat 10:26; Mat 25:31-46; Rom 2:16; 1Co 4:5; Rev 20:11-15).

whether it is good or evil Everyone will give an account of his actions (cf. 1Co 3:10-15; 2Co 5:10).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.

1. Why is this book seemingly so self-contradictory?

2. What is the purpose of Ecclesiastes in the Canon?

3. What is the final word from the author?

4. Why is this book so relevant today?

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

the conclusion. See note on “the end”, Ecc 3:11.

God. Hebrew. ‘eth ha-‘Elohim = the [true and only] God; the great Creator, who throughout the book is put in contrast with man (Hebrew. ‘adam. App-14.) the creature. App-4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Ecc 12:13

Ecc 12:13

“This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.”

“QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM”

Solomon here gives us the final and authoritative conclusion of his thorough and extensive search for the answer to the question, “What is good for man”? In the same manner that one may prove a theorem in geometry, he has here come to the Q.E.D. In this glorious conclusion, he lays down the gauntlet, raises the white flag, and surrenders. “The worldly wisdom of Solomon ends with his submission to the power of God. “These final two verses guard against any possible misconception; and they give the author’s real and mature conclusion.

“Fear God and keep his commandments” (Ecc 12:12). Yes, GOD IS, and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Furthermore, he has given commandments which men are obligated to honor and obey. Indeed, THERE IS A DIVINE REVELATION FROM GOD. Here is Solomon’s witness to the existence and authority of the Law of Moses, because nothing else in the entire history of mankind ever even pretended to be the authentic Word of God.

“This is the whole duty of man” (Ecc 12:12). The word duty here is not in the the Hebrew text of the O.T. and has been added by the translators; and the passage may be read as, the whole of man. Grieve found the words every man in this verse; and this is honored by a footnote in the RSV which translates: “This is the duty of every man. Indeed it is true, regardless of the translation here. Even the Anchor Bible got back in line with this rendition: “The sum of the matter when all has been heard is this: Reverence God, and observe his laws. This applies to everything.

The whole business and the whole purpose, and the whole intent of God’s placing man upon the earth (the whole of man) – all that concerns man is summed up here. Fear God and obey him! “All other things, as stated again and again in Ecclesiastes, are dependent upon a Higher Incomprehensible Being. This is the Higher Intelligence, the Creator, the First Cause – He is God!

“The fear and obedience of God are still the basic requirements of man’s behavior, and God will hold him accountable for his actions.

Ecc 12:13 Whatever difficulty one may encounter in the explanation of certain sections of Ecclesiastes, there can be little doubt about the intention of Solomon as he moves to his conclusion. His final observations are stated with great clarity. The conclusion is literally the sum of all. It should be noted that his personal claim to inspiration is made prior to his final warning which he says applies to all men.

The fear of God is now underscored as the major theme of the book. Vanity and the testimony values of this world are contrasted with true wisdom. This true wisdom leads one to shun evil and do good (Psa 34:11-12) and is thus defined as the fear of the Lord. The fear of God and keeping His commands are inseparable. To obey God, in this context, is not an indication that one fears Him it is the fear of God. It is worthy of note that Solomon now applies his message to every man. Ecc 12:14 confirms the universality of the message. The Septuagint captures the meaning better than does the Authorized Version when it renders the statement as For this is the whole duty of man. Similar translations read, This is the duty of all men, This concerns all mankind, The whole of mankind, For this, all men, and The whole duty for every man. Paul draws this same conclusion as he said, Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also (Rom 3:29).

The Vanities of Ecclesiastes Contrasted With the Fear of the Lord which follows this immediate section, illustrates the negative pursuits of men which the Preacher declares to be but transitory and unfulfilling. The positive practice of the fear of the Lord fills the emptiness in mans life and directs him to satisfaction and joy.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

fear

Also; Deu 6:2; Deu 10:12 (See Scofield “Psa 19:9”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

The Whole Duty of Man

This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.Ecc 12:13

1. Of what matter is this the conclusion? Ecclesiastes, in the writing of this little book, had a practical object in view. He had not indulged in any elaborate speculation; he had not attempted to solve the riddle of the world. He had simply recorded the results of his own experience and observation; and he had confessed himself unable to fathom the mysteries of Divine Providence. But he felt that he had a practical message for his countrymen. He had laid before them certain maxims for the guidance of their conduct. He had endeavoured to put them in the way of securing the chief good of lifeof making the best of this present existence, with all its unsatisfying elements, and all its insoluble problems. And now, at the very end of his book, he seeks to drive the nail home, and to clinch all his exhortations by one pithy, pregnant counsel in which he sums up his practical philosophy of life.

And what is the conclusion of the Wise Mans wisdom? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom! So the boy had been taught: and now the old man wonders whether it may not be, not only the beginning, but the end. When so much is dark, is not one path clear? one thing plain? Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. A life of godliness and virtuethis is the chief good for man. There is no better or deeper satisfaction to be found on earth than that which springs from reverencing God and keeping His commandments. This was the grand conclusion at which Ecclesiastes had arrived.

2. This may seem to us a very inadequate result, unworthy of a devout Israelite. It falls short of the faith of David. It is still further distant from that of a believer in the gospel. We should be tempted to look on one who declared solemnly that the experience of a long life had taught him to acknowledge the sovereignty of God and the eternal law of duty as speaking the language of a heathen. For such an one we should have little hope, or even, it may be, harsh condemnation. But the blessedness of thus apprehending any one article of faith is, that it must needs lead on to others. The words, Fear God, and keep his commandments, were the simplest of all precepts, and yet one who fixed his heart on them, and strove to live in them, would find himself led perpetually into new regions of truth, new convictions of sin, new forms of holiness.

The central peace of all is not allied with indolent quietude: the nearer to God the deeper the peace, and also the greater the necessity of eager activity. The realm is one of progress. The idea of continued progress in the Paradiso receives illustration as we note how the stages of medival learning are incorporated in the imagery. The virtues are not to be learned by practice or discipline, as in the Purgatorio; they must be effluent from graces already stored in the soul; they must come as from a centre of spiritual force, not as an acquired habit, but as in harmony with the governing impulses of the soul. But when these graces and virtues are thus possessed, more lies beyond. Then the powers of perception and apprehension are enlarged: the spirit can discern God in Nature, God in moral order, God in the very soul itself. The highest capacity reached is the theological, the final knowledge of God, not through any medium, like that of natural or moral order, but in direct spiritual vision.1 [Note: W. Boyd Carpenter, The Spiritual Message of Dante, 189.]

I

A Right Feeling towards God

To fear God is to have a heart and mind rightly affected towards Him. It is to have scriptural and realizing views of His being and perfections, of His holy law and government, of His redeeming grace and mercy. It is to know, to reverence, and to love Him, as He is in Christ. Hence it is said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psa 111:10). To be destitute of it, whatever be the natural gifts and endowments a man may possess, is to be in reality a fool. The fear here in question is not the fear which hath tormentthe slavish terror resulting from conscious guilt, the dark and disquieting apprehension of coming wrath that haunts the soul laden with unconfessed, unrepented, and therefore unpardoned, sin. No; it is a sentiment wide as the poles asunder from that spirit of bondage. This fear of God of which the author speaks, is the very spirit of adoption. It is the spirit with which the affectionate and dutiful child regards a fathera father whose wisdom he reveres, whose authority he owns, whose goodness has won his heart, whose favour is his chiefest joy, and whose displeasure fills him with grief and shame. The fear of God, accordingly, is, in Scripture, generally put for the whole of true religion in the heart, and is, not infrequently, inclusive also of its practical results in the life. Those who fear God, and those who have no fear of God before their eyes, are the two great descriptions of mankind.

1. Fear is not a characteristic of the religion of our age. Increasing knowledge has, according to its usual law, brought increasing familiarity. And it may be questioned whether pious affections have not been weakened and effeminated by the absence of it. In this, as in almost everything else, the pendulum explains the story. We have swung to the extreme on one side, because we had gone too far on the other. Not long ago, we heard little of love, and too much of fear; now, it is almost all love, and no fear. Love God. Love God, with our whole heart,for He is love. He is our Father. He has loved us with an everlasting love. There never was a time, in all eternity, when He did not love us. No love like that love, so deep, so true, so faithful, so comprehensive, so minute, so like Himself,for ever and ever! Love as we will, we shall never reach the deep echo of His love. And all other love, however dear, is only a drop in that one fountain! But let us remember that He is a great God, and a terrible, of purer eyes than to behold evil; and who cannot look on iniquity. Mercy and truth go before His face; but justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne.

As long as every opportunity that is offered to us means the choice between a wiser and a more foolish, or a nobler and more ignoble alternative, we shall be liable to choose the worsenot in blindness, but in weakness or passionand then to recognize our lost opportunity, to feel the actual discord emphasized by the ideal harmony, and to know the anguish of the sense of sin. And when this experience has been ours, we shall know the meaning of the fear of God. Not that fear which drives us in terror to divorce our actions from our affections, and scares us from doing the thing we should still love to do; not the fear of God as of the Divine policeman who is always ready to bring the terrors of the law upon us; but the fear of God which is hardly even another aspect of the love of Him. We see the beauty of holiness, we see the mark of our high calling in communion with Him, we see the greatness of the opportunities of life; and this is the love of God. And we know that if, in yielding to sloth or to passion, we neglect these opportunities, and are content with the lower and the baser part, that harmony which we now feel will have its counterpart in the discord which we shall wake, in the hurt and miserable sense of sin. We know that we cannot escape, though we climb to the top of Carmel, or plunge into the depths of the sea; and this is the fear of God. It is the love of God which inspires our lives; it is the fear of God which protects us in our moments of weakness, when we love the part, rather than the whole, and would find a momentary and local harmony at the price of a permanent and universal discord.1 [Note: J. E. Carpenter and P. H. Wicksteed, Studies in Theology, 165.]

2. How are we to obtain this right feeling? That filial emotion which here and throughout the Old Testament is often called fear, that blended emotion of reverence and trust, awe and affection, can arise only where the spirit of sonship reciprocates Gods revealed aspect of compassionate and forthgoing fatherliness. It matters little whether we call the affection fear, or, with the first and great commandment, call it love. In that fear which realizes Gods fatherliness, there cannot be terror; and in the love which recollects that its Father is God there cannot be petulant boldness.

Perfect love does, indeed, cast out fear; for if we loved God perfectly, we should love Him always, and sin would never tempt us. And, therefore, it is in the love of God that the formula of harmony must be sought. Even when conscious of our own sin, conscious of our self-alienation from God, and the discord that it has waked in our being, we must seek to feel the harmony above and below; that the sense of opportunity, of privilege, of glory, of God, may still rise above the sense of failure, of exclusion, of shame, of self; that fear may be nought but an under-agent of love, the sense of sin nought but an undertone in the sense of salvation.1 [Note: J. E. Carpenter and P. H. Wicksteed, Studies in Theology, 166.]

II

A Right Thought towards God

The fear of God is that coincidence with His good pleasure, and that compliance with His revealed will which is called here keeping His commandments. He is our Creator, and, whether we will or not, we must be His creatures. But He is also the King of the universe, and we ought to be His loyal subjects. Almighty and all-wise, we should devoutly adore Him. Our righteous Ruler, we should with cheerful submission acquiesce in His disposal, and with strenuous activity should fulfil His commands.

1. Now, to obey Gods commandments we must know in what they consist. We must have a right thought towards God, a knowledge of His will. The commandments of God are many and very broad. He reveals His will in the natural universe and the laws which govern itlaws which, as we are part of the universe, we need to know and to obey. He reveals His will in the social and political forces which govern the history and development of the various races of mankind, which therefore meet and affect us at every turn. He reveals His will in the ethical intuitions and codes which govern the formation of character, which enter into and give shape to all in us that is most spiritual, profound, and enduring. To keep all the commandments revealed in these immense fields of Divine activity with an intelligent and invariable obedience is simply impossible to us; it is the perfection which flows around our imperfection, and towards which it is our one great task to be ever reaching forth.

Carlyle desired to tell the modern world that, destitute as it and its affairs appeared to be of Divine guidance, God or justice was still in the middle of it, sternly inexorable as ever; that modern nations were as entirely governed by Gods law as the Israelites had been in Palestinelaws self-acting and inflicting their own penalties, if man neglected or defied them. And these laws were substantially the same as those on the Tables delivered in thunder on Mount Sinai. You shall reverence your Almighty Maker. You shall speak truth. You shall do justice to your fellow-man. If you set truth aside for conventional and convenient lies; if you prefer your own pleasure, your own will, your own ambition, to purity and manliness and justice, and submission to your Makers commands, then are whirlwinds still provided in the constitution of things which will blow you to atoms.1 [Note: J. A. Froude, Thomas Carlyle, 18341881, i. 89.]

2. Throughout this whole Book there is not a single technical allusion, no allusion to the Temple, to the feasts, to the sacrifices, rites, ceremonies of the Law; and therefore we can hardly take this reference to the commandments as an allusion to the Mosaic table. By the rules of fair interpretation we are bound to take these commandments as previously defined by the Preacher himself, to understand him as once more enforcing the virtues which, for him, comprised the whole duty of man. And these virtues are: To love our neighbour, to discharge the present duty whatever rain may fall and whatever storm may blow, to carry a bright hopeful spirit through all our toils and charities; to do this in the fear of God, as in His Presence, because He is judging and will judge us.

Modern moralists prefer to ask, not What is mans chief end, but What is mans duty; what is the supreme law of his life? Mans good presents itself to him as an ideal, which he may or may not realize in practice; this is what distinguishes the moral from the natural life. The law of mans life is not, like Natures, inevitableit may be broken as well as kept; this is why we call it a moral law. While a physical law, or a law of nature, is simply a statement of what always happens, a moral law is that which ought to be, but never strictly is. The ancients were inclined to regard the end as something to be acquired or got, rather than as an ideal to be attainedas something to be possessed rather than as something to become. The moral ideal is an ideal of character. The claims of righteousness become paramount: do the right though the heavens fall. The end of life is thus an ideal of character, to be realized by the individual, and his attitude to it is one of obligation or duty to realize it. It is not something to be got or to be done, but to be or to become. It is to be sought not without, but within; it is the man himself, in that true or essential nature, in the realization of which is fulfilled his duty.1 [Note: J. Seth, Ethical Principles.]

III

A Right Will towards God

But it is not sufficient to have a knowledge of the commandments of God; we must also keep His commandments. What do we mean when we say keep the commandments? It is an expression which has lost its force by frequent quotation. To keep is not to lose. To keep is to lay up in the high places of memory. It is to hide a thing down in the recesses of the heart. It is to observe cautiously, to treasure jealously, to hold fast, and never let go.

1. To keep Gods commandments, to discharge the various duties which He has appointedthis is the very best use which we can make of life; this is the highest good to which we can attain, amid all the difficulties, disappointments, sorrows, uncertainties, transitoriness and mystery of our present existence. And, in order that our souls may be sustained in living this life of godliness and virtue, we are ever to remember that we are responsible creatures; we are to look forward to a future life and a future judgment. To live in the light of that coming judgment leads us to keep watch even over our secret conduct, and deepens our reverence for all Gods holy laws.

Our thought will prosper, and our science, as we realize that it is not the first thing but the second. It does not till then realize its own place and right. To see God and hear Him is prior to all thought about Him or His world. The perception of faith is the condition of any science of God; religion founds all theology. The world we are in is not ours but Gods. We therefore revere its reality, and own a wisdom wiser and greater than ours. We do not create truth, but receive it. We do not command it, but obey it. Wisdom is over the thinker who loves it and seeks it. We are under obligation to seek and think the truth; we may not merely play with it, we may not loll in the stalls as it passes before us. It is a task, it is not a treat. And we do not legislate for truth; we have to see that the law of thought has its way with us. Our chief act of will is practically recognition of a gift. It is obedience to a grace, even in science.1 [Note: P. T. Forsyth, The Principle of Authority, 111.]

2. To be animated by true fear is to have a right will towards Godis to have been brought into fellowship with Him as a reconciled God and Father. And hence the inseparable connexion of these two thingsfearing God and keeping His commandments. Love is the fulfilling of the law. It is itself the very essence of all true obedience; and wherever it is really shed abroad in the heart, it will, and must, tend to active personal devotedness to Gods holy service. To fear God in the sense here intended, and yet to be living in allowed sinin wilful, practical, habitual opposition to Gods commandmentsis a contradiction in terms. It is, in truth, a moral impossibility. For the love of Christ constraineth us, says the Apostle Paul, referring to the necessary and inseparable connexion between a right state of feeling towards God, and a right course of actingthe love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Catherine analyses with keen insight the relations which redeemed humanity can bear to the Loving God: she tells us how the servant, obedient through fear, may become the friend, obedient through gratitude and desire for spiritual blessings; and how these lower loves, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, may be transformed into the love of the son, who seeks God for His own sake, with nothing between. And how shall human love, when it has reached this point, reflect the love of Him who needs not mans work nor His own gifts? How become, not merely receptive, but active and creative? Catherine gives the simple Christian answer: God has loved us without being loved, but we love Him because we are loved. We cannot be of any profit to Him, nor love Him with this first love. Yet God demands of us, that as He has loved us without any second thoughts, so He should be loved by us. In what way can we do this, then, since He demands it of us and we cannot give it to Him? I tell you: through a means which He has established by which we can love Him freely, and without the least regard to any profit of ours: we can be useful, not to Him, which is impossible, but to our neighbour. To show the love we have to Him, we ought to serve and love every rational creature. Every virtue receives life from love, and love is gained in love, that is, by raising the eye of our mind to behold how much we are beloved of God. Seeing ourselves loved, we cannot do otherwise than love.1 [Note: V. D. Scudder, Letters of Saint Catherine of Siena, 79.]

3. The New Testament fully endorses the idea that the chief good for man lies in a life of godliness and virtue. The gospel, it is true, seeks to infuse a spirit of love and trust into our reverence for God; but it does not abolish this reverence. It reveals to us a Father in heaven whose name is to be hallowed. It proclaims, indeed, the forgiving mercy of God, and offers pardon to the chief of sinners; but it does not lessen the sanctity of Gods law, or relax the demands of that law on our conscience. It points us to our great High Priest who has offered the perfect sacrifice of Himself upon the cross. It gives us a still larger view of the Divine commandments, and seeks to bring us into harmony with their inmost spirit. It does not make void the law through faith; it establishes the law. The Saviour whom it proclaims to us is the King whom we are bound to obey, and who said, Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets; I came not to destroy, but to fulfil.

True religion is no mere mystic passive dream of devotiona gazing in rapt reverence on the mystery of godliness, and no more. It is a system also of high comprehensive delicate law, which demands daily determined obedience. It is a doing and a being. The righteousness of Christ is excelling; it signifies infinitely more than civil law, social courtesy, or ecclesiastical discipline. It means a noble heart governing daily life in its most delicate relations and situations. It is no rule of thumb, but of finer discriminations than the most exquisite instruments of science. Let me not mistakenly spend life in arguing down and arguing away the lofty laws of Christ. Let me not labour to accommodate them to my weakness. Let me daily pray for the grace that will bring me up to the height of the law, and not attempt to bring down the law to my frailty.2 [Note: W. L. Watkinson.]

Literature

Brown (A. G.), Gods Full-Orbed Gospel, 96.

Bruce (W. S.), Our Heritage, 161.

Gamble (H. R.), The Ten Virgins, 189.

Hadden (R. H.), Sermons and Memoir, 191.

Hamilton (J.), The Royal Preacher, 230, 242 (Works, iii. 220, 231).

Jowett (B.), College Sermons, 183.

Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Esther, etc., 402.

Parker (J.), The City Temple, iii. 10.

Plumptre (E. H.), Theology and Life, 309.

Salmon (G.), Sermons Preached in Trinity College, Dublin, 130, 148.

Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), New Ser., xvi. (1878), No. 1064; xvii. (1879), No. 1102.

Christian World Pulpit, xxx. 75 (J. M. Buckley); lxxviii. 152 (W. H. Harwood).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: or, The end of the matter, even all that hath been heard is

Fear: Ecc 5:7, Ecc 8:12, Gen 22:12, Deu 6:2, Deu 10:12, Psa 111:10, Psa 112:1, Psa 145:19, Psa 147:11, Pro 1:7, Pro 23:17, 1Pe 2:17, Rev 19:5

for: Ecc 2:3, Ecc 6:12, Job 28:28, Psa 115:13-15, Pro 19:23, Luk 1:50

Reciprocal: Exo 1:17 – feared God Exo 18:21 – such as Deu 4:2 – General Deu 4:10 – fear me 1Ki 2:2 – and show 2Ki 4:1 – thy servant did fear Neh 5:15 – because Psa 25:12 – What Psa 34:12 – that he Psa 36:1 – no Psa 39:6 – surely Psa 78:33 – years Pro 3:7 – fear Pro 9:10 – The fear Pro 14:2 – that walketh Pro 19:16 – keepeth the Pro 31:30 – she Ecc 1:18 – For in Ecc 7:14 – set Ecc 7:18 – for Isa 50:10 – is among Mic 6:8 – to do Hag 1:12 – fear Mat 13:45 – seeking Luk 10:42 – one Act 10:35 – feareth 1Co 7:29 – that both Col 3:22 – fearing Rev 11:18 – and them Rev 14:7 – Fear

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Ecc 12:13-14. Let us hear the conclusion, &c. The sum of all that hath been said or written by wise men. Fear God Which is put here for all the inward worship of God, reverence, and love, and trust, and a devotedness of heart to serve and please him; and keep his commandments This is properly added, as a necessary effect, and certain evidence of the true and genuine fear of God. Make conscience of practising whatever God enjoins, how costly, or troublesome, or dangerous soever it may be. For this is the whole duty of man Hebrew, The whole of man, or all the man: it is his whole work and business: his whole wisdom, honour, perfection, and happiness: it is the sum of what he need either know, or do, or enjoy. This makes him a man indeed, worthy of the name, and by this, and by this alone, he answers the end of his creation, and of all the divine dispensations toward him. For God shall bring every work into judgment All men must give an account to God of all their works, and this alone will enable them to do that with joy. With every secret thing Not only outward and visible actions, but even inward and secret thoughts. Reader, think of this, and prepare to meet thy God!

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Solomon’s concluding statement reiterated what he said earlier (Ecc 2:24-26; Ecc 7:15-18; Ecc 11:9-10; Ecc 12:1) and elsewhere (Pro 1:7; cf. Job 28:28). Trust and obedience are what everyone owes God-in view of future judgment.

"Though a future judgment after death is indeed the solution to the enigma Solomon had observed in the unequal distribution of justice in human history (cf. Ecc 7:15; Ecc 8:14), no evidence suggests that Solomon believed in [i.e., was aware of] such a judgment. Life after death was as enigmatic to him (cf. Ecc 11:8) as the unequal distribution of justice. His emphasis was on this life (’under the sun’) and its opportunities for service (cf. Ecc 9:10; Ecc 12:1-7) and enjoyment (cf. Ecc 2:24-26; Ecc 3:12; Ecc 3:22; Ecc 5:18-20; Ecc 8:15; Ecc 9:7-9; Ecc 11:7-10); he thought life after death offered no such opportunities (cf. Ecc 9:5-6; Ecc 9:10). Therefore he did not comment on any differences after death between the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the fools, man and beast." [Note: Glenn, pp. 1006-7.]

With the greater light of revelation that we enjoy, it is even more important for us to follow Solomon’s counsel. We should be content to leave the enigmas of life in God’s hands. We should also follow Solomon’s wise counsel to enjoy life, as God enables us to do so, and to serve God acceptably while we can. [Note: See Greg W. Parsons, "Guidelines for Understanding and Proclaiming the Book of Ecclesiastes," Bibliotheca Sacra 160:638 (April-June 2003):159-73; 160:639 (July-September 2003):283-304..]

"What is the ’profit’ of living? What does a man get for all his work? He gets the living God! And his whole profit consists of fearing Him and obeying His Word." [Note: Kaiser, Ecclesiastes . . ., p. 125.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)