Ecclesiastes 12:2

King James Version (KJV)

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened - i.e., in the Spring, prime, and prosperity of life.

Nor the clouds return - The infirmities of old age of which Winter is a proper emblem, as spring is of youth, in the former clause of this verse.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

While … not - Or, Before. The darkening of the lights of heaven denotes a time of affliction and sadness. Compare Ezekiel 32:7-8; Job 3:9; Isaiah 5:30. Contrast this representation of old age with 2 Samuel 23:4-5.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

We should remember our sins against our Creator, repent, and seek forgiveness. We should remember our duties, and set about them, looking to him for grace and strength. This should be done early, while the body is strong, and the spirits active. When a man has the pain of reviewing a misspent life, his not having given up sin and worldly vanities till he is forced to say, I have no pleasure in them, renders his sincerity very questionable. Then follows a figurative description of old age and its infirmities, which has some difficulties; but the meaning is plain, to show how uncomfortable, generally, the days of old age are. As the four verses,

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

are a figurative description of the infirmities that usually accompany old age, ver. 6 notices the circumstances which take place in the hour of death. If sin had not entered into the world, these infirmities would not have been known. Surely then the aged should reflect on the evil of sin.

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SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7

2. While. The highly figurative imagery of vs. 2-6 has been variously interpreted. Many commentators, both Jewish and Christian, have explained this sequence as a description of the depleted physical powers of the sunset years of life, and the separate figures as referring to anatomical details of the body. There can be no doubt that Solomon, with superb literally skill, here describes old age and death, as specifically stated in vs. 1, 5, 7. The meaning of the allegory as a whole is clearâ€”to “remember” one’s Creator before the approach of old age, and to devote one’s life to pursuits appropriate to such a concept of duty and destiny. This is, of course, the theme of the entire book.

Solomon, fortunately, did “remember” his Creator toward the close of a long life devoted to the forgetting of God and the pursuit of folly, all of which he so vividly describes throughout this book. Looking back over the wasted years of his own life, Solomon would fain encourage others to avoid the disappointments that had been his during the time of his erst-while vain pursuit of happiness. But when it comes to the interpretation of the details of the allegory it is well to exercise caution, in view of the fact that the Scriptures do not provide a clear explanation of the symbols used. Any interpretation can reflect no more than the personal opinion of the one giving it. That set forth in the following comment on vs. 2-6 is only suggestive.

The sun. The fading luminaries of heaven are here used to illustrate the “evil days” of v. 1, the approach of old age. Some commentators make the application to failing eyesight. Jewish commentators have gone to extreme lengths in the application of details, making the “sun” represent the forehead, “light” the nose, the “moon” the soul, and the “stars” the cheeks.

Clouds return. Here Jewish commentators make the observation that eyesight, enfeebled by much weeping in a time of trouble, is meant. It is preferable to take this figure as a general word picture of advancing age, with its dulling of the natural faculties.

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Ellen G. White
Prophets and Kings, 81-2

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,
While the evil days come not,
Nor the years draw nigh,
When thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; PK 81.1

“While the sun,
Or the light,
Or the moon,
Or the stars,
Be not darkened,
Nor the clouds return after the rain: PK 81.2

“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,
And the doors shall be shut in the streets, PK 81.3

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Cross References

the sun

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Ecclesiastes 12:2