Ecclesiastes 1:10

Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. OLD TIME (HEBREW, AGES), WHICH WAS. The Hebrew plural cannot be joined to the verb singular. Therefore translate, 'It hath been in the ages before; certainly it hath been before us' (Holden). Or, as Maurer, 'That which has been (done) before us (in our presence, ), has been (done) already in the old times.'...

9-11 Men's hearts and their corruptions are the same now as in former times; their desires, and pursuits, and complaints, still the same. This should take us from expecting happiness in the creature, and quicken us to seek eternal blessings. How many things and persons in Solomon's day were thought very great, yet there is no remembrance of them now!...

Verse Ecclesiastes 1:10. _IS THERE ANY THING, C._] The original is beautiful. "Is there any thing which will say, See this! it is new?" Men may say this of their discoveries, c. but universal nature says, It is not new. _It has been_, and it _will be_....

EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 1:1 THE TITLE. THE WORDS OF THE PREACHER, THE SON OF DAVID, KING IN JERUSALEM; Septuagint, "King of Israel in Jerusalem" (comp.Ecclesiastes 1:12). The word rendered "Preacher" is _Koheleth_,_ _a feminine noun formed from a verb _kalal_,_ _"to call" (see Introduction, § 1), and perhaps better rendered" Convener" or "Debater." It is found nowhere else but in this book, where it occurs three times in this chapter (Ecclesiastes 1:1, Ecclesiastes 1:2,...

IS THERE [ANY] THING WHEREOF IT MAY BE SAID, SEE, THIS [IS] NEW?.... This is an appeal to all men for the truth of the above observation, and carries in it a strong denial that there is anything new under the sun; and is an address to men to inquire into the truth of it, and thoroughly examine it, and see if they can produce any material objection to it; look into the natural world, and the same natural causes will be seen producing the same effects; or into the moral world, and there are the same virtues, and their contrary; or into the political world, and the same schemes are forming and pursuing, and which issue in the same things, peace or war; or into the learned world, and the same languages, arts, and sciences, are taught and learned; and the same things said over again i: or into the mechanic world, and the same trades and businesses are carrying on: or the words may be consider...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS PART I. Chapter S 1-6 1. The Prologue and the Search Begun CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction and prologue (Ecclesiastes 1:1)_ 2. The seeker; his method and the results (Ecclesiastes 1:12) Ecclesiastes 1:1. In the general introduction we have already referred to the opening verses as giving the information who the author is and what is the object of his treatise. So sure is the critical school that Solomon is not the king mentioned that one says “the fact that Solomon is not the author, but is introduced in a literary figure, has become such an axiom of the present day interpretation of the book, that no extended argument to prove

ECCLESIASTES 1:2 may be called an introduction to the book; it also presents the writer's conclusions. He has surveyed life from many angles and decided that all human effort is fruitless and unavailing, or as he puts it, vanity. This is his key-word (the Hebrew means vapour, breath, and so nothingness): it occurs forty times. VANITY OF VANITIES is the Heb. way of saying utmost vanity. Man toils under the sun, _i.e._ upon the earth, but reaps no gain; like players on a stage the ever-changing generations come and go, while the earth, man's scene of toil, abides. As with man so with nature; sun, winds (north and south, _cf._ Ca. Ecclesiastes 4:16), streams, all pursue a dreary round of endless repetition and accomplish nothing, _e.g._ the sea is never filled. The whole

_Is there any thing_ A man may challenge, the writer seems to say, the sweeping assertion just uttered. He may point to some new phenomenon, some new empire, some invention of art, or discovery of science. It is all to no purpose. It has been before in the vast æons (the Hebrew word for "of old time" is the plural of that commonly translated "age" or "eternity") of the recorded or unrecorded past. It is but an oblivion of what has been that makes us look to that which is to be as introducing a new element in the world's history. The thought was a favourite one with the Stoics. For a full account of their doctrine on this point see Zeller's _Stoics and Epicureans_, ch. 7. Aurelius does but sum up the teaching of the school, where he says, almost in the very words of Ecclesiastes, that "they that come after us will see nothing new, and that they who went before us saw nothing more than we...

_THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN -- ECCLESIASTES 1:9-11:_ Things of this world are very fatiguing to those that have them. Solomon's goal was to cause us to understand the unsatisfying nature of all things under the sun. "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." Man searches for something new continually. The eye and the ear are never satisfied because they see and hear the same kind of things over and over again. When Solomon said, "there is no new thing under the sun" he likely referred to things of nature. Solomon asked the people to name any new thing under the sun. We now know that there are many "new things." Especially, there are many things that are "new" spiritually. There is (1) the new covenant, (2) the new commandment, (3) the new and living way (4) a new name, and (5) the New Testament. Solomon said that the reason that

IS THERE ANY THING WHEREOF, &C.— _Is there any thing that will say, See this! this is new._ Thus the beauty and energy of the original are preserved....