This Week’s Focus Passage: Ecclesiastes 12:1 

‘Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth.’

    We live in a time, and in a day, when this extremely sound advice coming from “The Preacher,” or, Koheleth, in the Scriptures, the Word of God, under the title of Ecclesiastes, in most copies of the Bible, is soundly ignored by the vast majority of persons in our country. We occasionally, hear varying ages. For example, consider the language of the following report:

“WASHINGTON, D.C.—A record low of 20% of Americans now say the Bible is the literal Word of God, down from 24% the last time the question was asked in 2017, and half of what it was at its high points in 1980 and 1984. Meanwhile, a new high of 29% say the Bible is a collection of ‘fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man.’ This marks the first time significantly more Americans have viewed the Bible as not divinely inspired than as the literal Word of God. The largest percentage choose the middle alternative, roughly in line with where it has been in previous years.  

The shift in attitudes about the Bible is not an isolated phenomenon. It comes even as a number of indicators show a decline in overall religiosity in the U.S. adult population. These measures include declines in formal identification with a religion, self-reported membership in a church, self-reported religious service attendance, personal importance of religion, and a decline in belief in God. 

In possible connection with these reports, we consider the views of Koheleth.

In what may possibly be considered as a prelude to our ‘focus verse,’ 12:1, which begins with “Remember also” and may be something of a connecting link between these two verses: it surely doesn’t seem to make much sense for verse nine to constitute the close of a chapter, while the next verse, 12:1, begins a new chapter, even while they seem part of the same paragraph. We do know that both paragraphs and chapters are not to be found in the original.

These views are extremely similar to the views presented in chapter nine, and in the second verse; nearly the same with,  ‘what goes around comes around.’

Ecclesiastes 9:2, all things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Looking at verse 11:9, on the surface, at least, very similar in tone, we are going to offer a bit, from a recent commentary on Ecclesiastes, with the subtitle, “Life in a Fallen World,’ by Dr. Benjamin Shaw, and published by the Banner of Truth, in 2019, the same year Dr. Shaw left Greenville Presbyterian Seminary, for Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Florida:

    “The advice given in verse 9 is commonly misunderstood as an equivalent to today’s mantra, ‘Follow your heart.’ That is not what this verse means. As I have said before, the ‘heart’ in the Old Testament in not the seat of emotion, but the seat of the intellect, of the understanding. So Solomon’s advice is, ‘Walk (that is, behave) wisely. Behave with understanding.’ And this is the fundamental consideration. God will bring all these things into judgment. That is, the young man needs to understand at the basic, funda-mental level, that our lives are lived before the face of God, and that we, truly, and in the end, are answerable directly to him. Therefore, the young man is to put away vexation and evil from his life. Youth is not the time for sowing wild oats, for childhood and youth are quickly gone. They are vanity, and like all time, they must not be wasted in worthless pursuits.”

    Laying some of these thoughts alongside one another, it is not very difficult to imagine, with a certain degree of provoked thought, wondering if those folk furnishing the report cited at the outset of our insert, were to seek to report on whether there is not a marked increase of suicide among young persons in our country, what might be revealed to us. These perspectives clearly seen to be such as would likely encourage a mentality of futility with present circumstances. 

    Oh, that the Lord would be pleased to begin a revival of the true religion, and perhaps, in our own backyards, as it were. That He would begin in our own hearts, increasing our love for His Truth; increase our desires to see God the Holy Spirit at work, regenerating the hearts of many around us, even as in the days of Pentecost. Let us pray sincerely, and also continuously, that our God would be pleased to prepare us to respond to such an event, to be ready to give answer to any and all who should ask of us the reason of our Hope; that we might happily and fearlessly, inform them that Jesus Christ is our Hope, and our only Hope.

David Farmer, elder

Fellowship Bible Church