SEV Biblia, Chapter 12:5
cuando también temerán de lo alto, y los tropezones en el camino; y florecerá el almendro, y se cargará la langosta, y se perderá el apetito; porque el hombre va a la casa de su siglo, y los endechadores andarán en derredor por la plaza.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 12:5
Verse 5. When they shall be afraid of that which is high] 10. Being so feeble, they are afraid to trust themselves to ascend steps, stairs, &c., without help. And when they look upwards, their heads turn giddy, and they are ready to fall. 11. Fears shall be in the way - They dare not walk out, lest they should meet some danger, which they have not strength to repel, nor agility to escape. A second childishness has taken place-apprehensions, fears, terrors, and weakness.
12. The almond tree shall flourish - Åany yenaets, not flourish, but fall off. The hair begins to change, first gray, then white; it having no longer that supply of nutritive juices which it once had, this animal vegetable withers and falls off. The almond tree, having white flowers, is a fit emblem of a hoary head; or as Hasselquist says, who observed the tree in full flower in Judea, "like an old man with his white locks." 13. The grasshopper shall be a burden - Even such an inconsiderable thing as a locust, or a very small insect, shall be deemed burdensome, their strength is so exceedingly diminished. In cases of the gout, especially in old men, the shadow of a person passing by puts them to acute pain! How much less can they bear the smallest pressure! But probably the words refer to the man himself, who, bent at the loins, and his arms hanging down, exhibits some caricature of the animal in question. The poor grasshopper has become a burden to himself. Another interpretation has been given of the grasshopper; but I pass it by as impertinent and contemptible; such commentators appear as if they wished to render the text ridiculous.
14. Desire shall fail - Both relish and appetite for food, even the most delicate, that to which they were formerly so much attached, now fails.
The teeth are no longer able to masticate the food, or have all dropped out; the stomach no longer able to digest any thing; and, as the body is no longer capable of receiving nourishment, appetite and relish necessarily fail.
16. Because man goeth to his long home - wmlw[ tyb la el beith olamo, "to the house of his age;" the place destined to receive him, when the whole race or course of life shall be finished; for µlw[ olam takes in the whole course or duration of a thing; if applied to a dispensation, such as the LAW, it takes in its whole duration; to the life of man, it takes in the whole life; to time, it includes its whole compass; to eternity, it expresses its infinite duration. So old age terminates the olam, the complete duration of human life; and when life is no longer desired, and nutrition ceases, the olam of man is terminated. My old MS. Bible translates it, "The hous of his everlastingness".
16. He is just departing into the invisible world; and this is known by the mourners going abount the streets, the long hollow groans and throat rattlings which proceed from him; the sure prognostications of the extreme debility and speedy cessation of those essential animal functions next mentioned.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. Also when they shall be afraid of [that which is] high , etc.] Not of the most high God, before whose tribunal they must shortly appear, as some; but rather of high places, as high hills, mountains, towers, etc. which aged persons are afraid to go up, because of the feebleness and weakness of their limbs, their difficulty of breathing, and the dizziness of their heads; and fears [shall be] in the way ; they do not care: to go abroad, being afraid of every little stone that lies in the way, lest they should stumble at it, and fall: some understand this of their fears of spirits, good or bad; but the former sense is best; and the almond tree shall flourish ; which most interpret of the hoary head, which looks like an almond tree in blossom; and which, as it comes soon in the spring, whence it has its name of haste in the Hebrew language; (see Jeremiah 1:11,12); and is a sure sign of its near approach; so gray hairs, or the hoary head, sometimes appear very soon and unexpected, and are a sure indication of the approach of old age; which Cicero calls “aetas praecipitata”, “age that comes hastily on;” though the hoary head, like the almond tree, looks very beautiful, and is venerable, especially if found in the way of righteousness, ( Leviticus 19:32 Proverbs 16:31); and the grasshopper shall be a burden ; meaning either, should a grasshopper, which is very light, leap upon an aged person, it would give him pain, the least burden being uneasy to him; or, should he eat one of these creatures, the locusts being a sort of food in Judea, it would not sit well, on his stomach: or the grasshopper, being a crumpled and lean creature, may describe an old man; his legs and arms emaciated, and his shoulders, back, and lips, crumpled up and bunching out; and the locust of this name has a bunch on its backbone, like a camel f277 : Bochart says, that the head of the thigh, or the hip bone, by the Arabians, is called “chagaba”, the word here used for a locust or grasshopper; which part of the body is of principal use in walking, and found very troublesome and difficult to move in old men; and Aben Ezra interprets it of the thigh: the almond tree, by the Rabbins, as Jarchi says, is interpreted of the hip bone, which stands out in old age: and the Targum, of this and the preceding clause, is, “and the top of thy backbone shall bunch out, through leanness, like the almond; and the ankles of thy feet shall be swelled.”
Some, as Ben Melech observes, understand it of the genital member, and of coitus, slighted and rejected, because of the weakness of the body; all desires of that kind being gone, as follows; and desire shall fail ; the appetite, for food, for bodily pleasures, and carnal delights; and particularly for venery, all the parts of the body for such uses being weakened, The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, “the caper tree shall be dissipated”, or “vanish”, or “[its fruit] shall shrink”; so Dr. Smith, who understands it of the decrease of the fluids, as he does the former clause of the solid parts of the body; and the berries of this tree are said to excite both appetite and lust f279 : and so Munster interprets the word of the berries of the caper tree; because man goeth to his long home ; the grave, as the Targum, the house appointed for living, where he must lie till the resurrection morn; his eternal house, as Cicero calls it f281 ; and so it may be rendered here, “the house of the world”, common to all the world, where all mankind go: or, “to the house of his world” f282 ; whether of bliss or woe, according as his state and character be, good or bad: Theognis calls it the dark house of “hades”, or the invisible state; and then this must be understood with respect to his separate soul, and the mansion of it; and Alshech says, every righteous man has a mansion to himself; (see John 14:2); and the mourners go about the streets ; the relations of the deceased; or those that go to their houses to comfort them; or the mourning men and women, hired for that purpose.
Matthew Henry Commentary
A description of the infirmities of age. (Eccl. 12:1-7) All is vanity also a warning of the judgment to come. (Eccl. 12:8-14)
Eccl. 12:1-7 We should remember our sins against our Creator, repent and seek forgiveness. We should remember our duties, and set abou them, looking to him for grace and strength. This should be done early while the body is strong, and the spirits active. When a man has the pain of reviewing a misspent life, his not having given up sin an worldly vanities till he is forced to say, I have no pleasure in them renders his sincerity very questionable. Then follows a figurativ description of old age and its infirmities, which has some difficulties; but the meaning is plain, to show how uncomfortable generally, the days of old age are. As the four verses, 2-5, are figurative description of the infirmities that usually accompany ol age, Eccl. 12:6 notices the circumstances which take place in the hou of death. If sin had not entered into the world, these infirmitie would not have been known. Surely then the aged should reflect on the evil of sin.
Eccl. 12:8-14 Solomon repeats his text, VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL I VANITY. These are the words of one that could speak by dear-bough experience of the vanity of the world, which can do nothing to ease me of the burden of sin. As he considered the worth of souls, he gave goo heed to what he spake and wrote; words of truth will always be acceptable words. The truths of God are as goads to such as are dul and draw back, and nails to such as are wandering and draw aside; mean to establish the heart, that we may never sit loose to our duty, nor be taken from it. The Shepherd of Israel is the Giver of inspired wisdom Teachers and guides all receive their communications from him. The title is applied in Scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God The prophets sought diligently, what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. To write man books was not suited to the shortness of human life, and would be weariness to the writer, and to the reader; and then was much more s to both than it is now. All things would be vanity and vexation, excep they led to this conclusion, That to fear God, and keep his commandments, is the whole of man. The fear of God includes in it all the affections of the soul towards him, which are produced by the Holy Spirit. There may be terror where there is no love, nay, where there is hatred. But this is different from the gracious fear of God, as the feelings of an affectionate child. The fear of God, is often put for the whole of true religion in the heart, and includes its practica results in the life. Let us attend to the one thing needful, and no come to him as a merciful Saviour, who will soon come as an almight Judge, when he will bring to light the things of darkness, and manifes the counsels of all hearts. Why does God record in his word, that AL IS VANITY, but to keep us from deceiving ourselves to our ruin? He makes our duty to be our interest. May it be graven in all our hearts Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is all that concerns man __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
גם 1571 מגבה 1364 יראו 3372 וחתחתים 2849 בדרך 1870 וינאץ 5006 השׁקד 8247 ויסתבל 5445 החגב 2284 ותפר 6565 האביונה 35 כי 3588 הלך 1980 האדם 120 אל 413 בית 1004 עולמו 5769 וסבבו 5437 בשׁוק 7784 הספדים׃ 5594
