Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes near the end of his life. Solomon lived quite a remarkable life. According to biblical scholars, Solomon was the 10th son of King David. He was not the heir apparent to the throne. The throne could have gone to any of his older brothers, but ultimately King David chose Solomon to be the king of Israel. He reigned as king of Israel for 40 years. During his reign, the kingdom of Israel reached its peak, the golden years of the kingdom. Israel was not only strong militarily but was tremendously wealthy. It had great power and influence, as well as prestige.
However, Solomon did not ask God specifically for wealth. Instead, he asked for wisdom. God granted it to him. In return, Solomon received all the benefits for having tremendous wisdom. So here we find Solomon, near the end of his life, contemplating life in general after having accomplished so many things. He begins to write the book of Ecclesiastes to reflect on his life to impart knowledge to those who wish to read it. The book of Ecclesiastes is considered by many as one of the wisdom books of the Old Testament.
“Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Remember can mean to bring into awareness, to recall, to recollect, to reminisce, to remind, or to hark back. Verse 1 summons all of us who are reading this book to remember. The second word in verse 1 is “now” which means today, at the present, at this very moment. Straightaway. Pronto. Ready. In a word, it’s about right now. You can feel a sense of urgency in the word “now”.
The next two words are your Creator. Solomon, the Preacher, could have written this a little bit differently. Instead, he wrote, Remember now your Creator. And the emphasis is on God who created us. The God who brought us life. The God that gave us the breath of life. Some commentators observed that the word Creator that’s used here is plural. “Elohim” is plural. This is the same word used in Gen 1:26, “Let Us make man in our image, in Our likeness;…” In Genesis 3:22, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, …”
The next few words give us the answer as to when we should remember our Creator. Obviously, it’s now, but it’s also very specific. We are instructed to remember now our Creator in the days of our youth, while we are still young, while we are still strong and full of energy. As we grow older, we lose that luster. Our strength and energy fall off. We should remember our Creator. We are still young and malleable.
The end of the sentence answers the question as to “why” we should remember now our Creator? We are to remember now our Creator in the days of our youth because challenging times are coming. The dark days are coming. The evil days are looming on the horizon. The focus here is on remembering now our Creator, while we are still young and while we still have the time. The verse is about coming to terms with life, seeking understanding, and finding happiness, which is the whole point of the book.
In our world today, people are constantly looking for truth and fulfillment, in all the wrong places and on all the wrong things. However, God is the source of true happiness and true fulfillment to all of us. The sooner we incorporate God in our lives, the better off we will be. Living God’s way can spare us from many of the sorrows and pain that we encounter later in life. Of course, not everything will be peachy in this life. There will be times of trouble. There will be times of difficulties, and you will be tested, but God will provide us with the strength to push through the challenging times.
In the next seven verses, Solomon paints a picture of the onset of aging. The verses are written using metaphors and beautiful imagery. It’s a beautiful poetic description of the process of aging (Ecclesiastes 12: 2-5). Verses 2-5 discuss the loss of vision, the shaking hands, the bad posture, the loss of teeth, the loss of hearing, the loss of sleep, the fear of heights, the fear of falling, which are all the elements of the aging process. Verses 6 and 7 address life coming to rest (which is death itself) where we read about the silver cord being severed, the golden bowl being broken, the pitcher being shattered, and man returns to dust, and the spirit of man returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12: 6-7).
In verse 8, after Solomon gives us an overall bleak and dreary assessment of life. Solomon sums up life by saying, “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 12:8).
If we stop here and don’t read any further in the book, there is a sense a feeling of gloom, a feeling of hopelessness, and finality, that life really doesn’t have any meaning at all. But wait, all you need to do is read further into the book, and Solomon gives us a glimmer of hope that life is going to be fine.
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.“ (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Solomon says that we are to fear God, and worship Him, and show Him respect and reverence. In addition to the fear of God, we are also told to keep the commandments. That is to Love God, and to love our fellow man, for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecclesiastes is a book of wisdom that gives us tremendous hope and meaning. Solomon’s accomplishment may have been great, but we know that someone greater than Solomon is here. We all know that the God of heaven will set up His kingdom that shall never be destroyed. Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end. We are also told not to lay for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust will corrupt it, where thieves break through and steal, but instead, we are encouraged to lay for ourselves treasures in heaven.
In the grand scheme of things, we live such short and temporary lives. Ecclesiastes 12 encourages us to remember our Creator now, not only in the days of our youth, but also, in our middle-age years, as well as in our golden years … because difficult days are ahead of us.
Ulysses Ronquillo