7 And the dust goes back to the earth as it was, and the spirit goes back to God who gave it.
With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken: for dust you are and to the dust you will go back.
Man's breath goes out, he is turned back again to dust; in that day all his purposes come to an end.
The word of the Lord about Israel. The Lord by whom the heavens are stretched out and the bases of the earth put in place, and the spirit of man formed inside him, has said:
And a number of those who are sleeping in the dust of the earth will come out of their sleep, some to eternal life and some to eternal shame.
All go to one place, all are of the dust, and all will be turned to dust again. Who is certain that the spirit of the sons of men goes up to heaven, or that the spirit of the beasts goes down to the earth?
If he made his spirit come back to him, taking his breath into himself again, All flesh would come to an end together, and man would go back to the dust.
And again, if the fathers of our flesh gave us punishment and had our respect, how much more will we be under the authority of the Father of spirits, and have life?
You send man back to his dust; and say, Go back, you children of men.
So King Zedekiah gave his oath to Jeremiah secretly, saying, By the living Lord, who gave us our life, I will not put you to death, or give you up to these men who are desiring to take your life.
His bones are full of young strength, but it will go down with him into the dust.
How much more those living in houses of earth, whose bases are in the dust! They are crushed more quickly than an insect; Between morning and evening they are completely broken; they come to an end for ever, and no one takes note.
Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, put a man at the head of this people,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 12
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
The wise and penitent preacher is here closing his sermon; and he closes it, not only like a good orator, but like a good preacher, with that which was likely to make the best impressions and which he wished might be powerful and lasting upon his hearers. Here is,
Ecc 12:1-7
Here is,
Ecc 12:8-12
Solomon is here drawing towards a close, and is loth to part till he has gained his point, and prevailed with his hearers, with his readers, to seek for that satisfaction in God only and in their duty to him which they can never find in the creature.
Ecc 12:13-14
The great enquiry which Solomon prosecutes in this book is, What is that good which the sons of men should do? ch. 2:3. What is the true way to true happiness, the certain means to attain our great end? He had in vain sought it among those things which most men are eager in pursuit of, but here, at length, he has found it, by the help of that discovery which God anciently made to man (Job 28:28), that serious godliness is the only way to true happiness: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, the return entered upon the writ of enquiry, the result of this diligent search; you shall have all I have been driving at in two words. He does not say, Do you hear it, but Let us hear it; for preachers must themselves be hearers of that word which they preach to others, must hear it as from God; those are teachers by the halves who teach others and not themselves, Rom. 2:21. Every word of God is pure and precious, but some words are worthy of more special remark, as this; the Masorites begin it with a capital letter, as that Deu. 6:4. Solomon himself puts a nota bene before it, demanding attention in these words, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Observe here,