20.  This coming of the Lord, and the end of the world, were known to the Preacher; who says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and the rest Eccles. xi. 9.  The Preacher’s description of old age and death is interpreted by Cyril of the end of the world, as it had been a century before by Gregory Thaumaturgus, in his paraphrase of the book.; Therefore remove anger Ib. v. 10:  (R.V.) sorrow.  Marg. Or, vexation, Or, provocation. from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh;…and remember thy Creator…or ever the evil days come Ib. xii. 1.,.…or ever the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkened Ib. v. 2.,.…and they that look out of the windows be darkened Ib. v. 3.; (signifying the faculty of sight;) or ever the silver cord be loosed; (meaning the assemblage of the stars, for their appearance is like silver;) and the flower of gold be broken Ib. v. 6.  According to the usual interpretation death is here represented by the breaking of a chain and the lamp which hangs from it.  Cf. Delitzsch, and Speaker’s Commentary, in loc. for other interpretations. τὸ ἀνθέμιον τοῦ χρυσιόυ (Sept.), by which Cyril understood camomile (ἀνθεμίς), more probably meant a pattern of flowers embossed on the vessel of gold:  vid. Xenoph. Anab. V. 4, § 32:  ἐστιγμένους ἀνθέμια, “damasked with flowers.”; (thus veiling the mention of the golden sun; for the camomile is a well-known plant, having many ray-like leaves shooting out round it;) and they shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, yea, they shall look away from the height, and terrors shall be in the way Eccles. xii. 5.  Cyril means rightly that the aged shrink from a giddy height, and from imaginary dangers of the road.  For the voice of the sparrow, see below, § 21, note 4..  What shall they see?  Then shall they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven; and they shall mourn tribe by tribe Matt. xxiv. 30; Zech. xii. 12..  And what shall come to pass when the Lord is come?  The almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall grow heavy, and the caper-berry shall be scattered abroad Eccles. xii. 5..  And as the interpreters say, the blossoming almond signifies the departure of winter; and our bodies shall then after the winter blossom with a heavenly flower “Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, p. 319) says of the almond tree, “It is the type of old age, whose hair is white” (Speaker’s Commentary)..  And the grasshopper shall grow in substance (that means the winged soul clothing itself with the body The step, once as active as a grasshopper, or locust, shall grow heavy and slow.  For other interpretations see Delitzsch.,) and the caper-berry shall be scattered abroad (that is, the transgressors who are like thorns shall be scattered The caper-berry (κάππαρις) shall fail, i.e. no longer stimulate appetite.  But διασχεδασθήσεται (Sept. Cyril) means that the old man shall be like a caper-berry which when fully ripe bursts it husks and scatters its seeds:  so R.V. (Margin); The caper-berry shall burst.  Greg. Thaumat. Metaphr. Eccles.  “The transgressors are cast out of the way, like a black and despicable caper-plant.”).