Solomon's Conclusion (Ecclesiastes 12)

In this book Solomon has honestly assessed the world as it is and its need for purpose and a Savior and the need for people to have wisdom. In addition to Ecclesiastes Solomon wrote many proverbs “with great care” (12:9). Solomon, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes “sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth” (12:10).

Chapter 12 opens:

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them” (12:1)

By “evil days” Solomon doesn’t mean a time full of wickedness and evil but rather the time that our body physically deteriorates. Isn’t it interesting that he calls getting old evil? Once again, Solomon is being honest when most of us try not to be. In order for us to accept the inevitability of age and wrinkles we try to embrace it and glorify it. We say ‘It’s all a part of the circle of life.’ Once you were young, now you are old, try not to get bent out of shape about it. But is this a comfort?

‘No!’ says Solomon. ‘My joints hurt and my teeth are falling out (12:4) and my sight is failing and I jump whenever a bird starts singing (12:4) and I’m afraid of what is high and I’m paranoid (12:5). This isn’t fun and all I have to look forward to is death. It’s not going to get better! It’s going to get worse and worse until I die.’ If we were honest I think we would talk more like Solomon, but usually if the truth is bitter we don’t want to deal with it.

Thank God that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. Thank God that we’re not just part of a “circle of life” where death is natural and we must accept it. No! God hates death! We do too if we’re honest! If we throw away our bull crap about “accepting our fates” we will declare the same thing with our whole heart. Think about it!

This is because God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (3:11). God is eternal and He made us in His image. He made us to live with Him. We don’t see death in the Bible until after Adam and Eve sin: it is the end result of sin, an unnatural destruction. A cessation of what was supposed to be unceasing. Thank God that through Jesus death is conquered and overthrown, that now as we age we have hope and joy that when we die we will be with Jesus! And ultimately we will be resurrected and our bodies will be restored. Jesus truly does make all things new.

Let’s return to the text. Solomon is finishing his book, lamenting about death and age, and he leaves the young with advice on how to live: remember God, remember your Creator (12:1). Remember Him and fear Him when You are young and strong (the time when you feel like you are God and in control) because one day you will be weak and tired. It is wise to know your fate so that you will be prepared for it. We must remember our Creator:

before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (12:6-7)

The ESV Study bible notes help make some sense of these examples by pointing out that a common link in these images is that they are vessels for water. “Water is a symbol of life (2 Sam. 14:14; John 4:14; Rev. 21:6; 22:1, 17), the destruction of these various items indicates the moment when mortal life ceases and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (ESV Study bible notes).

One day you will die, one day I will die. Everyone in your family, your town, your state, your country, everyone on the planet will die. When we are young we feel the farthest from death, but with age and weakness we feel it coming closer and closer. Many great writers have written of death and the idea of it pressing in on us (read “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by Ernest Hemingway). It slowly consumes us until we are like a candle snuffed out.

When you are on your deathbed, do you think you will look back at your life wishing you had lived differently? I’m not just talking about remorse over certain sins you committed, I’m talking about wishing there was something more to your life, like a person or relationship you wished you had had. How many people look to their youth as a waste of time? And on top of that, why does it feel like it went by so quickly?

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. (12:8)

If we are young or if we are old Solomon wants to wake us up to wisdom while we still have time. The way to escape meaninglessness and joylessness is living a life with God. Remembering Him in your youth and as you age – this comfort, His presence, will not age and disappear with you. As your eyesight fails the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever (Psalm 136). The joy of knowing Him will satisfy and in your age you can look back at your life as one spent with God – and that’s all you’ll be able to take with you, good times and good experiences.

For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. (5:20)

I think what Solomon is getting at is that our lives are a shadow, a vapor. The bible uses this language on a number of occasions. James writes in the New Testament:

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14)

Billions of people have gone before us and lived and then died, many still will come and then die. Whenever I look at a cemetery it’s hard to believe that it’s filled with people who actually lived just like me with similar pressures, fears, and experiences. I wonder how many of them thought of death, and now there they are in a cemetery and all that they are is a testimony of death and its effects. That’s all they represent to you or I. To us we do not see the eighty years that one of them lived but for the dates on the tombstone. We do not see their weddings, their greatest moments, their worst, we do not see their lives. To us their lives are an instant, a moment long past, a vapor that was but has now dissipated into the air.

Surely our life is different because it feels so long and its full of pain and work – I’m twenty and to live another sixty years sounds like forever. But not until I reach it. As we move through time or time moves around us or whatever you would say I think we strongly desire (at least I know I do) to stop time, to somehow grab it and keep it from moving on. There are moments in life that are so joyful that I wish I could grab it and stop and experience that moment forever – but I can’t! It slips away from me and all I have is a memory. We strive to catch the wind but time moves on – people come and go, babies are born, and sometime later they die. Ultimately our time runs out and we face death – and no one escapes death. Yet we strive and strive to fight time and death because God

has put eternity into man’s heart. (3:11)

Outside of eternity the moment – or the “present” continues to elude us and slip away, turning into the past, untouchable, unattainable. Pleasures once had can be re-experienced but not the same exact one in the same exact way at the same exact time. We long for eternity where this will not happen. Think about it – if we spend eternity with God, won’t that be living in the present forever? No past, no future, but present? Time won’t slip away, we won’t age, and we will be with who we were made to be with – Jesus.

Until then our joy can still be found in Him on earth. Because although our days pass us we can hold fast to Him and look forward to what is to come rather than what lies behind:

For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. (5:20)

Do not chase after women, drugs, money, and fleeting pleasures. Do not strive after the wind, strive after God and your heart will be full. Jesus said,

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

Jesus is that treasure in heaven that will not rust, will not decay. If you are serious about finding joy in life then don’t seek it on earth, where things pass like shadows and outlive their usefulness, seek it from above.

Jesus is full of wisdom like this. Take Solomon’s advice:

The words of the wise are like goads*, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepard. (12:11)

I love that “nails” is placed right next to “one Shepard” because ultimately wisdom comes from Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus said:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)

Through Jesus we have hope and joy today and in what will come. Death is defeated and we are called to be in God’s presence. In Christ we have hope.

At the close of Ecclesiastes (in a way similar to the close of the book of Revelation) Solomon quickly advises against seeking any other kind of “wisdom” apart from his writings and, ultimately, God's wisdom and the bible:

My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. (12:12)

There’s a lot of ideas and philosophies that place hope in this life outside of our Shepard, and they are rubbish. Books upon books are always being written about how to find joy and happiness, but that doesn’t mean they have true wisdom. Seek that in Christ.

Solomon’s great conclusion and admonition for our lives:

The end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (12:13-14)

If we honestly assess life, it sucks. The good parts mix in with the bad and go by too fast. There is evil and injustice in and around us. We want joy but can’t find it. Whatever you do, walk with Christ – there is joy. If you don’t, you will find nothing. Remember your Creator, pursue Him! Do not think you have found joy elsewhere because it is fleeting and all things go but God. Turn to Him and put your faith in Him and you will be satisfied. I know I am.

10/5/09

* "A “goad” is a long, pointed stick used for prodding and guiding oxen while plowing.” Thank you, ESV Study Bible notes!