In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, Nor the years draw nigh, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain”, and in chapter twelve and verse three of his book Solomon shared about, “the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble” where we read,
In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble,
And the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few,
and those that look out of the windows be darkened.
The verse reads, “In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, …” Solomon began this verse with the words, “in the day” which means “within the time period, season and sunrises to sunsets” “when the keepers of the house” or “at the time and moment the guards and watchmen belonging to the abode, habitation and dwelling place”“shall tremble” which means “will quiver, quake and be in terror”. Solomon referred to the time that the guards or legs belonging to the dwelling place quiver and quake in terror.
The verse continues, “… and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, …” Solomon added the words, “and the strong men” or “and the mighty, efficient and powerful human beings” “shall bow themselves” which means “will bend, make crooked, subvert and overthrow their own selves”, “and the grinders cease” or “and the crushers desist from labor” “because they are few” which means “since and on account that they, the grinders, are small in number”. Solomon referred to the time the “strong men” or shoulders begin to stoop and the teeth (the grinders) no longer crush food because there are not many of them.
Finally the verse says, “and those that look out of the windows be darkened.” Solomon concluded this verse with the words, “and those that look out” or “and the eyes which see, perceive, watch, observe and have vision” “of the windows” which means “through the sluice, lattice openings or apertures” “be darkened” or “exist as dim, hidden and concealed”. Solomon ended this verse by referring to the dimming of sight that occurs later in life.
When we think through the words in this verse, we see how Solomon continues to employ the deteriorating of the human body to instruct the “young man” about enjoying his youthful life. Legs get weaker with age, and the shoulders tend to stoop over. Teeth tend to fall out, and there not enough of them so a person can easily eat. The eyes tend to grow dim so it is not easy to see. Of course, modern medicine has helped in many of these cases, but we can imagine how prevalent this was during Solomon’s time. God wants us to keep our main focus on our eternal life, and when we surrender our lives to His Son Jesus who was sent into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and was raised from the dead after three days, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and help us to grow stronger in our inner man though our outward man perishes little by little. (See 2 Corinthians 4:16)
Next time Solomon says, “the doors shall be shut in the streets”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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