I. Koheleth has achieved the quest. He has solved the problem and given us his solution of it. He is about to repeat that solution. To give emphasis and force to the repetition, that he may carry his readers more fully with him, he dwells on his claims to their respect, their confidence, their affection. He is all that they most admire; he has the very authority to which they most willingly defer. It is not out of any personal conceit, therefore, nor any pride of learning, that he recites his titles of honour. He is simply gathering force from the willing respect and deference of his readers in order that he may plant his final conclusion more strongly and more deeply in their hearts.
II. And what is the conclusion which he is at such pains to enforce? "The conclusion of the whole matter is this, that God taketh cognisance of all things. Fear God, therefore, and keep His commandments, for thus it behoveth all men to do." That this conclusion is simply a repetition, in part expanded and in part condensed, of that with which the Preacher closes the previous section, is sufficiently obvious. (1) Therehe incites men to a life of virtue by two leading motives: first, by the fact of the present constant judgment of God; and secondly, by the prospect of a future, a more searching and decisive, judgment. Herehe appeals to precisely the same motives, though now, instead of implying the present judgment of God under the injunction "Remember thy Creator," he broadly affirms that God "taketh cognisance of all things," and instead of simply reminding the young that God will bring the ways of their heart into judgment, he defines that future judgment at once more largely and more exactly as "appointed for every secret thing' and extending to every deed, whether these be good or bad. (2) In speaking of the forms which a virtuous life should assume, he is very curt and brief. All he has to say on that point now is, "Fear God and keep His commandments." He can now say to his soul,
"What hast thou to do with sorrow
Or the injuries of tomorrow?"
for he has discovered that no morrow can any more injure him, that no sorrow can rob him of his chief good. All that he has to do is to fear God and keep His commandments, leaving the issues of his labour in the wise, gentle hands which bend all things to a final goal of good.
S. Cox, The Quest of the Chief Good,p. 264.
References: Ecclesiastes 12:8-14. T. C. Finlayson, A Practical Exposition of Ecclesiastes,p. 267. Ecclesiastes 12:9; Ecclesiastes 12:10. R. Buchanan, Ecclesiastes: its Meaning and Lessons,p. 422.Ecclesiastes 12:9-14. J. H. Cooke, The Preacher's Pilgrimage,p. 129. Ecclesiastes 12:11. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ix., p. 221.