"Effects of Advancing Age---Ecclesiastes 12:1-7
King James Version (KJV)
12 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;
5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Solomon points to difficulties “in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the men of vital energy have bent themselves, and the grinding women have quit working because they have become few, and the ladies seeing at the windows have found it dark.” (Ecclesiastes 12:3) The “house” denotes the human body. (Matthew 12:43-45; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8)
Its “keepers” are the arms and hands, which protect the body and supply its needs. In old age they often tremble with weakness, nervousness, and palsy. “The men of vital energy”—the legs—no longer are sturdy pillars but have weakened and bend so that the feet merely shuffle along.
“The grinding women have quit working because they have become few”—but how? The teeth may have decayed or been lost, with few if any left. Grinding solid food is difficult or ceases altogether.
“The ladies seeing at the windows”—the eyes coupled with the mental faculties by which we see—become dim, if not completely dark.
“And,” continues the congregator, “the doors onto the street have been closed, when the sound of the grinding mill becomes low, and one gets up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song sound low.” (Ecclesiastes 12:4)
The two doors of the mouth—the lips—no longer open much or at all to express what is in the “house,” or body, of those of advanced age who do not serve God. Nothing is sent forth on “the street” of public life.
The sound of the grinding mill becomes low as food is chewed with toothless gums. On his bed an old man does not sleep soundly. Even the chirping of a bird disturbs him. Few are the songs that he sings, and his rendering of any melody is feeble.
“All the daughters of song”—the melodic notes—“sound low.” The elderly one’s hearing of music and song produced by others is poor.
How sad the lot of oldsters, especially those who have ignored the Creator!
Says the congregator: “Also, they have become afraid merely at what is high, and there are terrors in the way. And the almond tree carries blossoms, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry bursts, because man is walking to his long-lasting house and the wailers have marched around in the street.” (Ecclesiastes 12:5)
At the top of a high staircase, many of the aged are fearful of falling. Even looking up at something high may make them dizzy. When they must go out into crowded streets, they are struck with terror at the thought of injury or assault by thieves.
In the case of an old man, “the almond tree carries blossoms,” apparently indicating that his hair turns gray, then snow-white. The hoary hairs fall like the white blossoms of the almond tree.
As he ‘drags himself along,’ perhaps bent over with arms hanging down or hands resting on his hips with the elbows crooked upward, he resembles a grasshopper.
The elderly person’s appetite is no longer keen, even if the food before him is as tasty as the caper berry. These berries have long been used to stimulate appetite.
‘The bursting of the caper berry’ suggests that when an old man’s appetite diminishes, even this fruit fails to awaken his desire for food. Such things indicate that he is nearing “his long-lasting house,” the grave.
It will be his home forever if he has failed to bear his Creator in mind and has pursued such a wicked course that God does not remember him in the resurrection.
Signs of approaching death are evident from the mournful tones and groans of complaint issuing forth from the doors of the oldster’s mouth.
We are urged to remember our Creator “before the silver cord is removed, and the golden bowl gets crushed, and the jar at the spring is broken, and the waterwheel for the cistern has been crushed.” (Ecclesiastes 12:6)
The “silver cord” may be the spinal cord. Death is certain when this marvelous pathway of impulses to the brain is irreparably damaged.
The “golden bowl” may denote the brain, contained in the bowllike cranium, to which the spinal cord is attached. Golden for preciousness, the brain when broken down spells death.
“The jar at the spring” is the heart, which receives the stream of blood and sends it out again for circulation through the body.
At death, the heart becomes like a broken jar, shattered at the spring because it can no longer receive, contain, and pump out the blood vital for the body’s nourishment and refreshment.
The ‘crushed waterwheel for the cistern’ ceases to turn, ending circulation of life-sustaining blood. Jehovah thus revealed the circulation of blood to Solomon long before 17th-century physician William Harvey demonstrated that it circulates.
The congregator added: “Then the dust returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit itself returns to the true God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7)
With the “waterwheel” crushed, the human body, originally made out of dust from the ground, returns to the dust. (Genesis 2:7; 3:19) The soul dies because the spirit, or life-force, given by God returns to and resides with our Creator.—Ezekiel 18:4, 20; James 2:26."
THANKFULLY -ACTS 24:15 REFERS TO A RESURRECTION OF BOTH "THE RIGHTEOUS -FAITHFUL WORSHIPPERS OF ALMIGHTYGOD--AND THE UNRIGHTEOUS" -WHO SINNED IN IGNORANCE AND IMPERFECTION-
ALL THESE BILLIONS WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE BROUGHT TO PERFECTION OF MIND AND BODY UNDER THE 1000 YEAR KINGDOM RULE OVER THE EARTH BY CHRIST AND HIS "BRIDE" -REVELATION 21:9-11--"THE "LITTLE FLOCK" OF LUKE 12:32-KINGS AND PRIESTS WITH CHRIST -REVELATI0N 1:5,6--
----Revelation 7:9-17--King James Version (KJV)
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
----Revelation 22:1-2--King James Version (KJV)
22 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
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