Ecclesiastes 12:11

12:8-14 Solomon repeats his text, VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY. These are the words of one that could speak by dear-bought experience of the vanity of the world, which can do nothing to ease men of the burden of sin. As he considered the worth of souls, he gave good heed to what he spake and wrote; words of truth will always be acceptable words. The truths of God are as goads to such as are dull and draw back, and nails to such as are wandering and draw aside; means to establish the heart, that we may never sit loose to our duty, nor be taken from it. The Shepherd of Israel is the Giver of inspired wisdom. Teachers and guides all receive their communications from him. The title is applied in Scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The prophets sought diligently, what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. To write many books was not suited to the shortness of human life, and would be weariness to the writer, and to the reader; and then was much more so to both than it is now. All things would be vanity and vexation, except they led to this conclusion, That to fear God, and keep his commandments, is the whole of man. The fear of God includes in it all the affections of the soul towards him, which are produced by the Holy Spirit. There may be terror where there is no love, nay, where there is hatred.

But this is different from the gracious fear of God, as the feelings of an affectionate child. The fear of God, is often put for the whole of true religion in the heart, and includes its practical results in the life. Let us attend to the one thing needful, and now come to him as a merciful Saviour, who will soon come as an almighty Judge, when he will bring to light the things of darkness, and manifest the counsels of all hearts. Why does God record in his word, that ALL IS VANITY, but to keep us from deceiving ourselves to our ruin? He makes our duty to be our interest. May it be graven in all our hearts. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is all that concerns man.

(11) Words of the wise. —In this and the next verse the weighty words of sages, such as was Kohéleth, are contrasted with the volubility of modern bookmakers. Though the general purpose of the verses is plain, the words used are enigmatical, and one cannot feel great confidence in assigning their precise meaning. The translation of our version fairly represents the original, if it is observed that the words “by” and “which,” which determine the meaning, are in italics. With regard to the “nail,” compare Ezra 9:8 ; Isaiah 22:23 . The word “masters” we have had twice in this book already in the sense of possessor, “master of the tongue” ( Ecclesiastes 10:11 ), “master of wings” ( Ecclesiastes 10:20 ). “Assemblies” is a word not coming from the same root as that from which Kohéleth is derived. It might mean collections of sayings as well as of people. It is difficult to affix any meaning to the last clause, except that the sages, of whom the verse speaks, have been given for the instruction of the people by Israel’s great Shepherd ( Psalm 80:1 ).

literally, Words of wise men are as goads, and as nails driven in (by) masters of assemblies; they are given from one shepherd: "goads," because they rouse the hearer and impel him to right actions; "nails" (perhaps tent-spikes), because they remain fixed in the memory: "masters of assemblies" are simply "teachers" or "preachers" (see Ecclesiastes 1:1 note), instructors of such assemblies as Wisdom addresses Proverbs 1:20 . One shepherd - i. e., God, who is the supreme Giver of wisdom Proverbs 2:6, and the chief Shepherd Jeremiah 23:1-4. Compare 1 Corinthians 2:12-13.

11. goads—piercing deeply into the mind (Ac 2:37; 9:5; Heb 4:12); evidently inspired words, as the end of the verse proves. fastened—rather, on account of the Hebrew genders, (The words) "are fastened (in the memory) like nails" [Holden]. masters of assemblies—rather, "the masters of collections (that is, collectors of inspired sayings, Pr 25:1), are given ('have published them as proceeding' [Holden]) from one Shepherd," namely, the Spirit of Jesus Christ [Weiss], (Eze 37:24). However, the mention of "goads" favors the English Version, "masters of assemblies," namely, under-shepherds, inspired by the Chief Shepherd (1Pe 5:2-4). Schmidt translates, "The masters of assemblies are fastened (made sure) as nails," so Isa 22:23.

The words of the wise; not of secularly or politicly wise men, but of the spiritually wise and holy men of God; of which, and not of the former, this whole context treats. As goads, and as nails, piercing into men’s dull minds and hard hearts, and quickening and provoking them to the practice of all their duties. Fastened; which do not only amuse and startle men for the present, as the wise and grave counsels of moral philosophers frequently do, but make powerful and abiding impressions in them; which is the peculiar effect of God’s word. By the masters of assemblies; by the teachers of God’s church and people, whether prophets or others, appointed by God for that work. Which are given from one shepherd; from God, or from Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd and Teacher of the church in all ages, by whose Spirit the ancient prophets, as well as other succeeding teachers, were inspired and taught, Jeremiah 3:15 1 Peter 1:11 2 Peter 1:21 . And this clause seems to be added partly as the reason of that admirable harmony and agreement which is amongst all the men of God in all ages and places, because they are all taught by one Master, and guided by the same hand; and partly to oblige us to the greater attention and reverence to all their doctrines and counsels, which we are to receive as the word of God, and not of men only, as it is said, 1 Thessalonians 2:13 .

11 . The words of the wise are as goads ] The general fact is, of course, stated in special connexion with the book which furnishes the writer’s theme. They assert that its words also, sweet as they seem, are not without their sting, though, like the prick of the goad, it is for good and not for evil, urging men on to strong and vigorous labour in the fields of thought and action. The comparison was a natural one in any country, but we are reminded of what was said of the words of Pericles that his eloquence “left a sting ( κέντρον ) in the minds of his hearers (Eupolis, quoted by Liddell and Scott, s. v. κέντρον ), and in part also of the Greek proverb, consecrated for us by a yet higher application ( Acts 9:5 ; Acts 26:14 ) that “it is hard to kick against the pricks,” as applicable to resisting wisdom as well as to defying power (Æsch. Agam . 1633, Pindar, Pyth , ii. 173). as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies ] The word for “nails” is found in this, or a cognate form, with that meaning in Isaiah 41:7 ; Jeremiah 10:4 ; 1 Chronicles 22:3 ; 2 Chronicles 3:9 ; and there is no adequate reason for taking it here, as some have done (Ginsburg), in the sense of the “stakes” of a tent. The word “by” however is an interpolation, and the words taken as they stand would run as nails fastened are the masters of assemblies.

The whole analogy of the Hebrew is against our referring the last words to any but persons, and we must therefore reject the interpretation that the “words of the wise are as goads, as fastened nails which are put together in collections” (Delitzsch). The “masters of assemblies” (not, as it has been rendered (Tyler) “editors of collections”,) can be none else than the heads or leaders of a body of learned men, like the Great Synagogue of the traditions of the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, or the Sanhedrin of a later date. In “the fastened nail” we have a symbolism like that of Isaiah 22:23 ; Ezra 9:8 , and seen also in the Rabbinic proverb, “Well for the man who has a nail to hang things on” (Dukes, Rabbin. Blumenlese , p. 121). In both these cases, it will be noted, the word refers to persons. It is the fitting emblem of fixity and permanence, and forms the natural complement to that of the goads. As it has been well put (Ginsburg), the two words express the several aspects of Truth as progressive and conservative. which are given from one shepherd ] The noun is used often in the O. T. both in its literal sense, and of kings and rulers as the shepherds of their people ( Jeremiah 2:8 ; Jeremiah 3:15 ; Jeremiah 49:19 ; Jeremiah 50:44 ; Ezekiel 34 passim ), and of God as the great Shepherd of Israel ( Psalm 23:1 ; Psalm 80:1 , and by implication, Ezekiel 34:23 ). We have to choose accordingly between the two latter meanings.

Verse 11. - The words of the wise are as goads . The connection of this verse with the preceding is maintained by the fact that the "acceptable words," etc., are words of the wise, emanate from the same persons. Herewith he proceeds to characterize them, with especial reference to his own work. The goad was a rod with an iron spike, or sharpened at the end, used in driving oxen (see Judges 3:31 ; 1 Samuel 13:21 ; Ecclus. 38:25; Acts 9:5 ). Words of wisdom are called goads because they rouse to exertion, promote reflection and action, restrain from error, impel to right; if they hurt and sting, the pain which they inflict is healthful, for good and not for evil. And as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies . The proposition "by" is an interpolation, and the sentence should run: Ant/ like nails fastened [ are ] the, etc . - masmeroth , "nails," as in Isaiah 41:7 . There is much difficulty in explaining the next words, בַּעַלִי אַסֻפות ( baale asuppoth ). We have had similar expressions applied to possessors in Ecclesiastes 10:11 , "lord of the tongue," and "lord of wings" ( Ecclesiastes 10:20 ); and analogy might lead us to apply the phrase here to-persons, and not things; but in Isaiah 41:15 we find a threshing-instrument termed "lord of teeth;" and in 2 Samuel 5:20 a town is called Baal-Perazim, "Lord of breaches;" so we must be guided by other considerations in our exposition.

The Septuagint, taking the whole sentence together, and regarding baals as a preposition, renders, "As nails firmly planted, ( οι{ παρᾶ τῶν συνθεμάτων ἐδόθησαν ἐκ ποιμένος ἑνός ) which from the collections were given from one shepherd." Schleus-her takes οι{ παρὰ τῶν συνθεμάτων to mean, " Ii quibus munus datum erat collectionem faciendi," i.e. the author, of collections. The Vulgate has, Verba ... quae per magistrorum consilium data sunt a pastore uno . The "masters of assemblies" can only be the chiefs of some learned conclaves, like the great synagogue supposed to exist in the time of Ezra and later. The clause would then assert that these pundits are like fastened nails, which seems rather unmeaning. One might say that their uttered sentiments became fixed in the mind as nails firmly driven in, but one could not properly say this of the men themselves. A late editor, Gietmann, suggests that "lords of collection" may mean "brave men, heroes, gathered in line of battle," serried ranks, just as in Proverbs 22:20 the term shalishim , chariot-fighters, chieftains, is applied to choice proverbs. Thus he would say that the words of the wise are as goads because they stimulate the intellect, as nails because they readily find entrance, and like men in battle array when they are reduced to writing and marshaled in a book. This is certainly ingenious, but somewhat too artificial to be regarded as the genuine intention of the writer.