Hosea 6:5 ) ; A. to the right hand or left; and as nails fastened [by] the These men knew they were writing the words of God (2 Peter 1:20-21). Ecclesiastes 12:11-12. The word “masters” we have had twice in this book already in the sense of possessor, “master of the tongue” (Ecclesiastes 10:11), “master of wings” (Ecclesiastes 10:20). A wise preacher aims to move his hearers. With regard to the “nail,” compare Ezra 9:8; Isaiah 22:23. As the goad teacheth the ox; so the Targum. ECCLESIASTES LESSON 13 We will begin in Ecclesiastes 11:1 "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." We may say the same thing of the second parallel passage from the New Testament, Hebrews 4:12 : "for the word is living and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." But we can look for no better, so long as they have so mean an esteem of the ministers, those "masters of the assemblies" (whose office it is to congregate the people, and to preside in the congregations), which are given from one shepherd, the arch-shepherd [1 Peter 2:25] of his sheep, Jesus Christ, who in the days of his solemn inauguration into his kingdom, "gave these gifts unto men" - viz., "some to be apostles, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers," &c. [Ephesians 4:11] What a mouth of blasphemy then opens that schismatical pamphleteer, (a) that makes this precious gift of Christ to his spouse, this sacred and tremendous function of the ministry, to be as mere an imposture, as very a mystery of iniquity, as arrant a fraud as the Papacy itself! These were built into a wall, because Eastern walls were too hard or too soft for them to be hammered in. Ver. up, when slothful, to the discharge of duty; and to awaken them, 11:1 Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days. And surely it were to be wished, in these unsettled and giddy times especially, that people would suffer such words of exhortation, as, like goads, might prick them on to pious practice, and, like nails, might fix their wild conceits, that they might be steadfast and immoveable, stablished in the truth, and not whiffied about with every wind of doctrine. Years of ability and strength. Regarding masmeroth (iron nails), the word is not used of tent spikes (Spohn, Ginsb. ploughing with them: and of a similar use are the doctrines of Ecclesiastes 12:11-13 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 11 The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd. Looking beyond what can be seen. According to the well-founded interpretation advanced above, the sense of the two clauses is the following—that the sacred writings of Israel are endowed with a deeply penetrating power, in distinction from all worldly literature, which can only produce a superficial impression, and is incapable of stirring the deepest depths of the mind and heart. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil. Solomon was a man whose life seemed to overflow with the sort of blessings, that so many chase after today:- fame and fortune; glory and honour; prosperity and power; riches and authority; longevity and foresight; talents and skill.. cleverness, aptitude, artistry, and wisdom - 'wine women and song'. ba"al. The translation of our version fairly represents the original, if it is observed that the words “by” and “which,” which determine the meaning, are in italics. Ecclesiastes 12:11 NIV - The words of the wise are like goads, - Bible Gateway. Ecclesiastes 12:12. We should remember our duties, and set about them, looking to him for grace and strength. On any other mode of explanation we lose ourselves in a region of guesses. 9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. is משׂמר ( מסמר ), Arab. 11 The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd. The Jews explain it of Moses, and his successors, who taught the people. They bear in them power to give a mental and spiritual stimulus" (Leupold p. 295). They also "nail down" all sorts of truths, so that we can say, "this is the truth", this is the final say. Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes 11 Commentary Meaning. As a shepherd, as the loving support of his Church, God has given it the Holy Scriptures. The sphere to which what is collected belongs, the nature of that which is collected, is more precisely denned by the foregoing expression, "the words of the wise," to which בעלי אספות corresponds. Now, we move on to chapter 11 for our Ecclesiastes 11 Commentary. These sayings come from a shepherd, # 12.11 a shepherd: This may be a reference to God as shepherd (see also Psalm 23.1). The meaning "caper" for האב is evidence by the lxx (ἡ κάππαρις, Arab. It’s essentially a cattle prod. The words of Scripture are like nails in the sense that they establish a definite and sure reference point, something upon which you can hang everything, a definite point that will not move with time and culture (John ). He seemed before to have placed the wise on the same level with fools, chap. The stakes are those to which the tent ropes are fastened, firmly holding the tent in its place. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. Only in the second clause is the position of the words an inverted one, and the object of the inversion is to connect נתנו immediately with בעלי אספות. I. Bible). mismâr . Ecclesiastes 12:11 The words of the wise [are] as goads, and as nails fastened [by] the masters of assemblies, [which] are given from one shepherd. The words of the wise; not of secularly or politicly wise men, but of the spiritually wise and holy men of God; of which, and not of the former, this whole context treats. Min with the pass., as at Job 21:1; Job 28:4; Psalms 37:23 (Ewald, §295 b ), is not synonymous with the Greek ὑπό . "Casting thy bread upon the waters" is speaking of sharing bread with those less fortunate. and they are like nails that fasten things together. Hand in hand, however, with this aspect of the energy of the word goes the healing and redemptive one specially mentioned in the passage now under notice. The important lesson of Ecclesiastes is that no amount of learning, experience, wealth, privilege, or power, can compare with the secure position we have in Christ - but that when wisdom, skill, prosperity, and power, are under God's sovereign influence and subject to His control, then life has meaning. Ecclesiastes 12:11 Context. 10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The verb nata" is found again only in Ecclesiastes 3:2, where it is singular. From the praise of his own book, the author passes to the praise of the great whole, of which his work was destined to form a part, to wit, of the canonical books of the Old Testament The words of the wise, of the organs of the ἄνωθεν σοφία, of the authors of the sacred books: to the number thereof the author of this book must be reckoned according to what has preceded. contrition; and of awakening them from a sleep in sin to a sense of the inspired penmen of the Scriptures, as Moses, David, The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. By the masters of assemblies; by the teachers of God’s church and people, whether prophets or others, appointed by God for that work. נטוּעים is = תּקוּעים (cf. The words of the wise. Observe the correct and clear conception of the inspiration of the Old Testament. We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, — The writer gives the reason of his undertaking, suggesting, too, his ideal of what such work should be, as if his toil would be repaid should. “Assemblies” is a word not coming from the same root as that from which Kohéleth is derived. The "Shepherd" can only be the Lord. A rancher uses a prod to get the cattle’s attention; to get them going in the right direction. So, realizing the perspective from which Solomon wrote this book, let’s read Ecclesiastes 9:11. God is first designated the Shepherd of Israel in Genesis 48:15; Genesis 49:24 : in the last quoted place He is limply called "the Shepherd." to the N.T. Are as goads. “All true wisdom is from One Wise.”, "Like goads they can rouse to action, promote reflection, restrain from error, impel to right; if they hurt and sting, the pain which they inflict is healthful, for good and not for evil", "and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails", πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος καὶ ὠφέλιμος πρὸς διδασκαλίαν, John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary, George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Ernst Hengstenberg on John, Revelation, Ecclesiastes, Ezekiel & Psalms. Every wise preacher knows that unless he impresses the minds of his hearers, he can do them no good by his preaching. vi. 97.). iii. This is the point of the verse, and it is broken off by Hitzig's conjecture. But even on this view a doubtful meaning is thrust on the word אספות; the thought drags, and the impression of the simple image of goads and nails, which was meant only to represent the piercing, deeply penetrating power, is destroyed, or else the nails are without reason separated from the goads; and finally the correspondence between the sentences, which requires that בעלי אספות, corresponding as it does to דברי הכמים, must be the subject, is overthrown. Ecclesiastes 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;While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return … Our exhortations truly should be strong and well pointed, not only to wound as arrows, but to stick by the people as forked arrows, that they may prove, as those of Joash, "the arrows of the Lord’s deliverance." It doesn’t feel good but the effect is good. 2 Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth. TRANSLATION, MEANING, CONTEXT To get what Ecclesiastes 12:11 means based on its source text, scroll down or follow these links for the original scriptural meaning , biblical context and relative popularity. Comm. 12 And by these, my son, be further warned: There is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.… By this we are to understand in the first instance, not the power which the word has of penetrating to, and healing the heart, but rather the destructive power it derives from the omnipotence which is its source. If the meaning of life was not found in the pursuit of pleasure (as in Ecclesiastes 2:10-11), it is also not found in asceticism and self-denial for its own sake. Article Images Copyright © 2020 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. See notes on p. 864, and App-7. 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