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:
Ver. 5. Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high.] Hillocks or little stones standing up, whereat they may stumble, as being unsteady and unwieldy. High ascents also they shun, as being short winded; neither can they look down without danger of falling, their heads being as weak as their hams. Let them therefore pray for a guard of angels, putting that promise into suit. Psa 91:11 Let them also keep within God's precincts, as ever they expect his protection; and then, though old Eli fell, and never rose again, yet when they fall they shall arise, for the Lord puts under his hand. Psa 37:24 Contrition may be in their way, but attrition shall not. Let them fear God, and they need not fear any other person or thing whatsoever.
And the almond tree shall flourish.] The hair shall grow hoary, those church yard flowers shall put forth. The almond tree blossoms in January, while it is yet winter, and the fruit is ripe in March. a Old age shall snow white hairs upon their heads. Let them see that they be "found in the way of righteousness."
And the grasshopper shall be a burden.] Every light matter shall oppress them, who are already a burden to themselves, being full of gout, and other swellings of the legs, which the Septuagint and Vulgate point at here, when they render it, impinguabiter locusta, - The locusts shall be made fat. Let them wait upon the Lord, as that "old disciple Mnason" Act 21:16 did, and then they shall "renew their strength, mount up as eagles, run, and not be weary, walk, and not faint," even then, when "the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men utterly fall." Isa 40:30-31
And desire shall fail.] "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." 1Jn 2:15 And this Cicero reckons among the commodities and benefits of old age, quod hominem a libidinis estu, velut a tyranno quodem liberet, - that it frees a man from the fire of lust. b It should be so doubtless, an old letcher being little less than a monster. What so monstrous as to behold green apples on a tree in winter? and what so indecent as to see the sins of youth prevailing in times of age among old decrepit goats? that they should be capering after capparis (καππαρις), the fruit of capers, as the Septuagint and Vulgate render it here.
Because man goeth to his long home.] Heb., To his old home - scil., to the dust from whence he was taken; or to "the house of his eternity" - that is, the grave (that house of all living), where he shall lie long, till the resurrection. Tremellius renders it, in domum saeculi sui - to the house of his generation, where he and all his contemporaries meet. Cajetan, in demure mundi sui - into the house of his world; that which the world provides for him, as nature at first provided for him the house of the womb. Toward this home of his the old man is now on gait, having one foot in the grave already. He sits and sings with Job, "My spirit is spent, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me." Job 17:1
And the mourners go about the streets.] The proverb is, Senex bos non lugetur, - An old man dies unlamented. But not so the good old man. Great moaning was made for old Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Samuel. The Romans took the death of old Augustus so heavily, that they wished he had either never been born or never died. Those, indeed, that live wickedly die wishedly. But godly men are worthily lamented, and ought to be so. Isa 57:1 This is one of the dues of the dead, so it be done aright. But they were hard bestead that were fain to hire mourners; that as midwives brought their friends into the world, so those widows should carry them out of it. See Job 3:8 Jeremiah 9:17 .
a Plin., lib. xvi. cap. 25.
b πρεσβυτης α πυρ και σβεω .