Ecclesiastes 12:6

6. So far decay of age is depicted; now dissolution itself. We can hardly agree with the commentators who deny that the bowl, the pitcher, and the wheel, must not each be applied to a definite object or part of dying man. The analogy of Ecclesiastes 12:2-5 requires that these must not be construed as mere successive general images of crash and ruin, but must be individualized. Yet they cannot be individualized according to modern anatomy: but in accordance with old Hebrew ideas we may suppose the “bowl” to symbolize the head; the “pitcher,” the heart; and the “wheel,” with its cordage, the nervous and tendinous systems. The head, in Hebrew thought, did not represent the intellect, or refer to the brain; but, as the summit of man or animal, it represented the highest individuality. Genesis 40:19; Leviticus 19:32. On it was placed the crown, or other ensigns, of honour. On it retribution falls, (Genesis 3:15; Psalms 7:16;) or blessing, Genesis 49:26. To take off or break the head was a formula of death, 1 Samuel 31:9; 2 Samuel 16:9; Psalms 74:13-14. Here the image is a golden, or gilded, yet fragile lamp “bowl,” suspended by a cord, entwined with silver, to the ceiling above. The “cord” is loosed by decay, perhaps, or snapped by violence, and the falling “bowl” is, alas! broken. Such are life and death. Man’s existence is suspended by a thread of destiny, the severance of which is crash and destruction.

The heart, in Hebrew thought, might well be symbolized as a “pitcher” the receptacle of the impressions, desires, and emotions drawn from the fountain of outside individual experience; yet able to so mingle its impressions as to form in itself reasonings and purposes. 2 Chronicles 7:11; Job 9:4; Job 38:36. At the very “fountain” the “pitcher” is “broken” and death is the result. To the cistern that is, the well or reservoir of drinkable water there is a “wheel,” or windlass, with chains by which the bucket is let down or drawn up from the depths. So to the man there is the system of efferent, or out-carrying, nerves, and afferent, or in-bringing, nerves. With this accord the sinews and other machineries the bones and muscles by which man’s will puts forth or withdraws action. Break this “wheel” at the “cistern” and life’s activity for ever ceases.