Bible Commentaries
Ecclesiastes 12

Verses 1-14

The preacher now proceeds in language full of poetic beauty to urge the young to remember their Creator. We then reach the epilogue of the sermon. It first repeats the theme as announced at the beginning, and tells how the preacher, through study and diligence, still attempted to teach the people knowledge; and, finally, in the concluding two verses, a great statement of truth is made, understanding and acting upon which the pessimistic views of life resulting from materialism will never be known. At the center is this statement: "This is the whole of man." The word "duty" has no real place in the sentence. What is the whole of man? "To fear God and keep his commandments." To do this is to find life not merely under the sun, but over it as well, to pass from the imperfect hemisphere into the whole sphere. To do this is to have light on the facts and problems of life which otherwise are dark and dismal.