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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 12
At death the spirit shall return to God who gave it—The words of the
wise are as goads—The whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his
commandments.
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1 REMEMBER now thy Creator in the days of thy ayouth,
while the bevil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say,
I have no pleasure in them;
2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 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,
4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high,
and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper
shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long ahome,
and the mourners go about the streets:
6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
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1a
Alma 37:35
b
Eccl. 11:8
5a
Job 17:13;
Alma 40:11
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7 Then shall the adust return to the earth as it was: and
the bspirit shall return unto God who bgave it.
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7a
TG
Man, Physical Creation of;
TG
Mortality
b
TG
Death;
TG
Man, Antimortal Existence of;
TG
Spirit Body;
TG
Spirit Creation;
TG
Spirits, Disembodied
c
TG
Man, a Spirit Child
of Heavely Father
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8 ¶ Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people
knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many
proverbsa.
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9a sought out, and set in order many proverbs
And so it is that while the 'proverbs' are said to be those of Solomon, they all did not originate
with him for he sought them out and did accumulate them from various sources of truth. And then
he would speak them and they would refer to them as the proverbs of Solomon.
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10 The preacher sought to find out aacceptable words: and
that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as agoads, and as
nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books
there is no end; and much astudy is a weariness of the flesh.
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10a
HEB words of delight
11a
IE sharp-pointed sticks to
spur oxen onward
12a
TG
Study
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13 ¶ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole
mattera: aFear God, and
bkeep his commandmentsb: for this
is the whole cduty of man.
14 For God shall bring every awork into
bjudgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether
it be evil.
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13a the conclusion of the whole
matter In today's vernacular this is 'the bottom line'. That is
after all is said and done, even of all the wisdom of Solomon, the whole of
the matter is that man's purpose is summed up in that he is to 'fear God' and
'keep or obey God's commandments'. All the rest is 'vanity' in the words of
Solomon or perhaps we could say 'fluff' or 'filler'.
13b Fear God, and keep his
commandments There are various necessities for the supporting and
sustaining life from birth until death. Those are the necessities of
maintaining a temporal life. Beyond these temporal necessities the only other
necessity which connects man to eternity is the concept of 'fearing God' and
'keeping his commandments'. This is the spiritual and eternal bottom line. It
is as simple as that.
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13a
OR Revere God;
TG
Reverence
b
TG
Obedience
c
TG
Duty;
TG
Mission of Early Saints
14a
TG
Good Works
b
TG
Jesus Christ, Judge;
TG
Judgment, The Last
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