Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
Comment: Youth with its passions, endless energy, and goals to be sought and reached passes quickly away. I guess that in childhood sometimes the days slowly drag by, but ‘soon’ the years last only for a bit more than an evening. Having spent eleven chapters considering the different aspects of and approaches to life he winds down with this very sound advice – ‘don’t leave thinking about God until you are old!‘
Then he spends time very graphically describing what age does to the human body. Read his description again and think. The eyes grow dim, the body parts fall out or lose their strength, the senses fade and disappear. There are sleepless nights, desires flee away, and you end up in the grave. But the author claims ‘the spirit returns to God who gave it.’ What does he mean by that? Next he repeated the following words without an explanation! ‘Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.’ I suspect they were intended to be thought provoking!
Prayer: Thank You God that life is much more than food, drink and laughter.
As I read it! 