MASTER MASON DEGREE - Ecclesiastes – 12:1 (Explanation)

(1) Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,

Many young and middle aged people overlook there surroundings and God, but as old age comes to them they start to become concerned with how they have arrived at where they are and now try to play caught up.

(2) While the evil days come not,

When your body and mind don't work the way they did in youth.

(3) Nor the years draw nigh,

Your time and years are drawing to a close.

(4) When thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them,

When you can't do that which took no effort in youth to do, and now all you can do is sit and watch, or have someone else do it for you.

(5) While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened,

When death finally prevails and you are no longer part of the wonders of life and nature.

(6) Nor the clouds return, after the rain,

Rains created new growth and life, a fresh start. And the sun or the stars once again appear.

(7) In the day when the keepers or the house shall tremble,

The keepers or the house are the hands, the arms, and legs, the trembling comes with the feebleness of old age.

(8) And the strong men shall bow themselves,

When they become stooped over, or bow legged, no longer able to stand erect.

(9) And the grinders cease because they are few,

The grinders are the teeth, which were usually very few, (in old age), if you were fortunate enough to have any.

(10) And those that look out of the windows be darkened,

The windows are the eyes. Failing sight is a trait common to old age.

(11) And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low,

The doors are the lips, the streets are the mouth by which nourishment enters, and the sound of the grinding is the human voice. In old age when the teeth are lost, mumbling is a very common attribute.

(12) And he shall rise up at the voice of the birds,

The birds is the crowing cock. In old age mankind is more restless in his slumbers, and early rising is a habit with many.

(13) And all the daughters of music shall be brought low,

The daughters of music is the ears. The voice loses its strength and hearing becomes less acute in the aged.

(14) Also, when they shall be afraid of that which is high,

In the declining years, men fear to scale the heights which in their prime they ascended with ease.

(15) And fears shall be in the way,

Timidity is a common fault of older people. They are filled with apprehension at the first sign of danger.

(16) And the almond tree shall flourish,

It refers to the white flower of that tree and the allegorical significance is to old age, when the hair of the head shall become white or gray.

(17) And the grasshopper shall be a burden,

To the weakness of old age, even the weight of so small a thing as a grasshopper, is a burden, or a pest.

(18) And desire shall fail,

The appetites and desires of youth cease in the declining years.

(19) Because man goeth to his long home,

Literally to his grave. Or to that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.

(20) And the mourners go about the streets,

This refers to the original custom of having official mourners, who make public lamentations for the dead.

(21) Or ever the silver cord be loosed,

The silver cord is that spiritual cord which connects man to his God the same way an umbilical cord connects the baby to its mother.

(22) Or the golden bowl be broken,

The skull is called the golden bowl, from it's yellow color.

(23) Or the pitcher be broken at the fountain,

The pitcher is the great vein which carries the blood to the ventricle of the heart, here called the fountain.

(24) Or the wheel broken at the cistern,

The wheel represents the aorta or great artery which receives the blood from the ventricle of the heart or the cistern and distributes it through the body.

(25) Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Upon decomposition the body will return to mother earth from where it first originated, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.