Matthew Poole and continuators on Ecclesiastes 12:3

3 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,

i. e. Of the Body, which is oft and fitly compared to an house, as Iob 4. 19. Psal. 119. 54. 2 Cor. 5. 1. Whose keepers here are either 1. The Ribs and Bones into which they are fastened, which are the Guardians of the inward and vital parts, which also are much weakned and shaken by Old-age. Or rather 2. The Hands and Arms, which are mans best instruments to defend his Body from the assaults of Men or Beasts, and which in a special manner are subject to this trembling, by paralitical or other like distempers, that are most incident to old Men.

Either the Back, or the Thighs and Legs, in which the main strength of the Body doth consist, which in old Men are very seeble, and unable both for the support of the Body, and for motion.

The Teeth, those especially which are commonly so called because they grind the Meat which we eat.

To wit, to perform their Office.

Heb. because they are diminished, either 1. In strength. Or 2. In number; being here one, and there another, and not united together, and one directly against another, and consequently unfit for their work.

The Eyes. By windows he understands either 1. The holes in which the Eyes are fixed, Zech. 14. 12. Or 2. The Eye-lids, which, like windows, are either opened or shut. Or 3. Those Humours and Coats of the Eyes, noted by Anatomists, which are the chief Instruments by which the Eye sees.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters] ders [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] they grind little.