Ecclesiastes 1:2-11
Chapter 1
There Is Nothing New Under the Sun
What advantage is there for a man in all his work that he labors at under the sun?
A generation passes, a generation comes, and the earth remains forever.
The sun rises, the sun sets, moving toward the place where it rises again.
Blowing south, turning north, the wind goes around in circles, and after all its cycles, it must blow again.
All rivers flow to the sea, but the sea is never full; to the place where the rivers originate, they return.
All words grow tiring and speech ceases, but the eye has never seen enough nor the ear heard too much.
What has happened before will happen again; what has been done before will be done again: there is nothing new under the sun.
If they tell you: “See, it’s new!” know that it happened centuries ago.
There is no memory of ancient people, and future generations will not remember those who come after them.
Commentaries
Summary.
In verse 1, we observe: 1. The identity of the author, who refers to himself as Solomon. This does not necessarily mean that Solomon, the son of David, is the actual author of the work; it is a literary device used to give the text importance and place it within biblical wisdom (cf. 1 Kgs 5:9-14). 2. The term “discourse” or “words,” which, although it can have a general meaning, echoes the beginning of prophetic speeches (Jr 1:1; Prov 30:1). 3. The framework of the book. Verse 2 includes the recurring refrain that will be repeated in various forms until it concludes the work (12:8).
“Pure illusion” translates to “vanity of vanities,” meaning “the great vanity” or “the great illusion”; it is a superlative, similar to how “song of songs” means “the great song.” It pertains to human fragility. It does not refer to everything in heaven and earth but to life’s activities, the illusory nature of things, and the disappointment they bring to humans.
Qohelet, the Hebrew name for Ecclesiastes, symbolizes someone who has experienced everything in life: wealth, wisdom, and more. Ultimately, when it’s time to enjoy the results of his years, he concludes that everything is “pure illusion.” Is it possible for a believer to feel this way? Even more surprising is that, despite this feeling, his faith remains steady. This is undoubtedly the most important lesson to learn from the work.
There Is Nothing New Under the Sun.
At the start of this section, a question is asked not to be answered but to highlight the key words or phrases in the book that were already hinted at in previous verses: 1. “Profit”: the word originally means profit in trade; it is repeated 13 times throughout the work. 2. “Efforts”: this refers to the hard side of life, meaning tiring work (cf. Dt 26:7); it appears 33 times in the book. 3. “Under the sun”: refers to what belongs to human experience and the meaning of life. It is equivalent to “during your lifetime” (Ecl 11:8), and this phrase is not found anywhere else in the Bible.
The theme of observing everyday life is then developed: everything is a cycle of coming and going without anything being truly new. It appears to be divided into two parts (4-7; 8-11) by a question that already contains its own answer. The first part covers generations, the cycle of the sun— which, for the ancients, was seen as a flat disc revolving around the Earth— the aimless turns of the wind, and the constant flow of rivers. It then shifts focus to historical events in general.
Qohelet diverges from traditional wisdom from the start, where humans could know all things and express them (Is 42:9; Jr 31:22, 31; Ezk 11:19; 36:26), and also separates from those who, forgetting the past (Sir 44:8f; 1 Kgs 10:4f; 5:9f), believed that modernity was the same as progress. It does not suggest that everything is an eternal pessimistic cycle but instead highlights life’s monotony and the fact that the essentials have already been achieved.
The reflection takes shape. The conviction that everything is “pure illusion” becomes clear to the author in that nothing in human experience is extraordinary. Sooner or later, events repeat themselves, whether natural, social, or of another kind.