Tokonaki ‘Okatopa 21, 2023
Cistern and Grave
Siā mo Fonualoto
ECCLESIASTES 12:6-7
REMEMBER YOUR CREATOR] BEFORE THE SILVER CORD IS SNAPPED, OR THE GOLDEN BOWL IS BROKEN. OR THE PITCHER IS SHATTERED AT THE FOUNTAIN, OR THE WHEEL BROKEN AT THE CISTERN, AND THE DUST RETURNS TO THE EARTH AS IT WAS, AND THE SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD WHO GAVE IT.
KOHELETI 12:6-7
6 Te‘eki vete ‘a e filo siliva, Mo foa‘i ‘a e ipu koula, Pe maumau ‘a e siā ‘i he fauniteni, Mo laiki ‘a e sāliote fusi ‘i he vaikeli: 7 Pea foki ‘a e efu ki he kelekele, ‘O hangē ko ‘ene ‘i ai mu‘a; Pea foki ‘a e laumālie kia ‘Elohimi ‘A ia na‘a ne tuku mai ia.
Janus was a Roman god with two faces: one looking forward, one looking back. In Hebrew, there is a literary device named after him, called Janus parallelism, where a word points back with one of its meanings and forward with another of its meanings. We see an example of this in Ecclesiastes 12:6. The verse ends with the word bor, which means both "cistern" and "grave." As "cistern," bor points back to the fountain imagery that precedes it. As "grave," bor points forward to the imagery of dust and death. This "two-faced" word thus bridges the gap between a fountain full of life and a grave full of death.
The very same Creator whom Solomon urges us to remember in the days of our youth, before we age and eventually enter that grave, knows a thing or two about getting out of the grave. And when this world is done, he'll get our bodies out of the grave as well. In the meantime, we rejoice that we have already passed from death to life in the revivifying fountain of mercy.
"O LORD... you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit" (Ps. 30:3).
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