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”;
Ecclesiastes has spent eleven chapters testing everything "under the sun" and finding it empty. Now, at the close, the Preacher turns to the young. The call is not to try harder or search further. It is to remember Someone — while the strength to do it is still there.
The claim behind the word "Creator"
The verse does not just say "God." It says "Creator," and that word carries a duty. One reference work traces that title from the opening line of the Bible through to the duty it carries:
Morrish Bible Dictionary"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Then He created all that has breath, and last of all man. Man is urged to remember his Creator in the days of his youth (Ecclesiastes 12:1)... To his Creator man owes allegiance. The Psalmist said with devotion, "let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker" (Psalm 95:6). But of the wicked the warning stands, "Woe to him who strives with him who formed him" (Isaiah 45:9).
Why the appeal is aimed at youth
Everything after this verse describes a body winding down. One commentator reads the whole passage as one appeal with two edges — look up early, and never forget what you are made of:
William KellyIt is a moving call to set God before the soul from early days. On the other side, it is a call not to forget the frailty of fallen man, whose portion, as man, is death and judgment. Many doubt and deny that there is a picture drawn in figures here. Yet the picture seems obvious in itself, fitting for the writer, and worthy of the inspiring Spirit.
Those who have lost the chance feel it most. A writer addressing young readers puts the regret in plain terms:
For the YoungMany a grey-headed old man would give everything he owns for the chance of giving God the best of his days. Yes, and strong, able men in the prime of life often regret that they did not turn to God in their youth. Oh, it is a privilege far beyond what you, my young reader, can at present understand, to be the Lord's while you are young!
Before the evil days come
The verse sets a deadline. A summary of the whole book fixes on exactly that timing:
To sum up the whole, God must be remembered, and that before weakness and old age overtake us. For the clear conclusion of all that has been said is: "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man."
J. N. Darby (ESV reads "the whole duty of man.")
The decline described in the rest of the chapter carries a warning:
William KellySo sharp a picture of human decay, where the word of God is honoured, may well warn us. It is dangerous to put off the attention people like us owe Him. Fallen man is made in God's image. Yet he sinks into weaknesses more overwhelming than any of the creatures set under him in God's order. What folly, then, to put off the first wisdom of fearing God!
Creature and Creator — the ground this book stands on
Ecclesiastes never uses the covenant name of God, and its message is limited by design. That limit explains the shape of this command:
C. E. StuartHe would tell the creature about the Creator. He is not sent to proclaim grace here. He is not sent here to offer salvation. But he would speak to God's creatures, who are responsible as such to Him who made them. The Creator will take notice of, and make judicial inquiry into, the actions of His creatures. No one can escape this, and everyone needs reminding of it.
The judgment standing behind the command
The call to remember follows straight on from a warning in the previous chapter, and one commentator notes an honest problem inside it:
Arno C. GaebeleinThis advice is given in connection with the thought expressed in chapter 11:9, "God will bring you into judgment." Yet the natural man cannot obey this command.
Where the answer finally comes from
Ecclesiastes leaves its reader facing a Creator and a judgment, with no way given across. The same writer points beyond the book's own horizon:
Arno C. GaebeleinBut turn to the gospel — the gospel of God, the gospel of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This gospel comes from above the sun, and it reaches down to lost man under the sun. That blessed gospel lifts man higher and higher. At last, redeemed, saved by grace, washed in the blood of the Lamb, he reaches the place above the sun.
Summary
- Maker. The word "Creator" names a debt. Everyone already owes allegiance to the God who made them.
- Moment. Remember Him early, before weakness and old age take over.
- Delay. The chapter's picture of decay is a warning: putting off the fear of God is folly, not caution.
- Reach. This book speaks to people as creatures answerable to their Maker. He makes judicial inquiry into what they do, and no one escapes it.
- More. Ecclesiastes ends with remembering the Creator. God does not end there. The gospel lifts the same man from "under the sun" to the place above it.