Ecc 11:9, 12:1 | JFB | e4.org | 9. Rejoice —not advice, but warning. So , is irony; if thou dost rejoice ( carnally, , not moderately, as in ), &c., then "know that . . . God will bring thee into judgment" ( ). youth . . . youth —distinct Hebrew words, adolescence or boyhood (before ), and full-grown youth. It marks the gradual progress in self-indulgence, to which the young especially are prone; they see the roses, but do not discover the thorns, until pierced by them. Religion will cost self-denial, but the want of it infinitely more ( ).

‏ Ecclesiastes 11:9

9. Rejoice—not advice, but warning. So 1Ki 22:15, is irony; if thou dost rejoice (carnally, Ec 2:2; 7:2, not moderately, as in Ec 5:18), &c., then "know that . . . God will bring thee into judgment" (Ec 3:17; 12:14).

youth . . . youth—distinct Hebrew words, adolescence or boyhood (before Ec 11:10), and full-grown youth. It marks the gradual progress in self-indulgence, to which the young especially are prone; they see the roses, but do not discover the thorns, until pierced by them. Religion will cost self-denial, but the want of it infinitely more (Lu 14:28).

‏ Ecclesiastes 12:1

1. As Ec 11:9, 10 showed what youths are to shun, so this verse shows what they are to follow.

Creator—"Remember" that thou art not thine own, but God's property; for He has created thee (Ps 100:3). Therefore serve Him with thy "all" (Mr 12:30), and with thy best days, not with the dregs of them (Pr 8:17; 22:6; Jer 3:4; La 3:27). The Hebrew is "Creators," plural, implying the plurality of persons, as in Ge 1:26; so Hebrew, "Makers" (Isa 54:5).

while . . . not—that is, before that (Pr 8:26) the evil days come; namely, calamity and old age, when one can no longer serve God, as in youth (Ec 11:2, 8).

no pleasure—of a sensual kind (2Sa 19:35; Ps 90:10). Pleasure in God continues to the godly old (Isa 46:4).