Ecclesiastes 1:7

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. ALL THE RIVERS RUN INTO THE SEA ... UNTO THE PLACE FROM WHENCE THE RIVERS COME THERE THEY RETURN - as is proved by the fast that -- THE SEA IS NOT FULL. They return to their sources through the medium of the clouds (). By subterraneous cavities, and by evaporation forming rain clouds, the fountains and rivers are supplied from the sea, into which they then flow back. The sun lifts out of the sea as much water as flows into it, which the winds carry as vapour to the dry land, where the hills, with their cold summits, condense it into rain, which having watered the earth, the surplus finds its way to the rivers, and thence into the sea again. The connection is: just as the sun, wind, and rivers are ever sh...

4-8 All things change, and never rest. Man, after all his labour, is no nearer finding rest than the sun, the wind, or the current of the river. His soul will find no rest, if he has it not from God. The senses are soon tired, yet still craving what is untried....

Verse Ecclesiastes 1:7. _ALL THE RIVERS RUN INTO THE SEA; YET THE SEA IS NOT_ _FULL_] The reason is, nothing goes into it either by the; _rivers_ or by _rain_, that does not come from it: and _to the place whence the_ _rivers come_, whether from the _sea_ originally by evaporation, or immediately by _rain_, thither they return again; for the water exhaled from the sea by evaporation is collected in the _clouds_, and in rain, c., falls upon the tops of the mountains and, filtered through their fissures, produce _streams_, several of which _uniting_, make _rivers_, which flow into the sea. The water is again _evaporated by the sun_; the vapours collected are precipitated; and, being filtered through the earth, become _streams_, c., as before....

THE PLACE - i. e., The spring or river-head. It would seem that the ancient Hebrews regarded the clouds as the immediate feeders of the springs (Proverbs 8:28, and Psalms 104:10, Psalms 104:13). Genesis 2:6 indicates some acquaintance with the process and result of evaporation....

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,...

ALL THE RIVERS RUN INTO THE SEA; YET THE SEA [IS] NOT FULL,.... Which flow from fountains or an formed by hasty rains; these make their way to the sea, yet the sea is not filled therewith, and made to abound and overflow the earth, as it might be expected it would. So Seneca says z we wonder that the accession of rivers is not perceived in the sea; and Lucretius a observes the same, that it is wondered at that the sea should not increase, when there is such a flow of waters to it from all quarters; besides the wandering showers and flying storms that fall into it, and yet scarce increased a drop; which he accounts for by the exhalations of the sun, by sweeping and drying winds, and by what the clouds take up. Homer b makes every sea, all the rivers, fountains, and wells, flow, from the main ocean. Hence Pindar c calls the lake or fountain Camarina the daughter of the ocean But Virgil d m...

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

THEY RETURN AGAIN. This is the point of the illustration. Compare Job 36:27....

_All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full_ The words express the wonder of the earliest observers of the phenomena of nature: as they observed, the poet described. So we have in Aristophanes (_Clouds_, 1248), αὕτη μὲν (ἡ θάλαττα) οὐδὲν γίγνεται ἐπιῤῥεοντων τῶν ποταμῶν, πλείων. "The sea, though all the rivers flow to it, Increaseth not in volume." Lucretius, representing the physical science of the school of Epicurus, thought it worth his while to give a scientific explanation of the fact: "Principio, mare mirantur non reddere majus Naturam, quo sit tantus decursus aquarum." "And first men wonder Nature leaves the sea Not greater than before, though to it flows So great a rush of waters." Lucret. vi. 608. _thither they return again_ We are apt to read into the words the theories of modern science as to the evaporation from the sea, the clouds formed by evaporat...