Question
Will you please tell me if am understanding Ecclesiastes 1:9-11,.Do this mean that what is happen now has already been. we was just not here to see it at that time. We should not be surprise at anything that that’s taking place in this world today.
Answer
Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 is the culmination of a poem (verses 3-11) in which the Preacher, Solomon, is stating the first proof that life “under the sun” (here and now, apart from eternity) is “vanity” (literally, breath or vapor, something with no substance, meaningless, worthless, empty, futile, soon passing) apart from God. The theme of this section is the ever changing but never changing nature of human existence “under the sun.” The question is “What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?” (Verse 3) Ultimately, what do we gain by our unceasing toil? He looks at four examples of ceaseless, repetitive toil that leads to no real change. Generations of people come and go, but the earth remains unchanged (verse 4). The sun rises and sets and then starts the process all over again (verse 5). The circuit of the wind is ceaseless, but it always returns to its starting place (verse 6). The streams all flow to the sea, but the waters return to the streams (verse 7). The world is filled with constant, repetitive activity leading to no goal or conclusion, more so than man can describe, yet there is no real satisfaction to men (verse 8). Human life on this earth apart from the remembrance of our Creator is the ceaseless, unending, repetitive activities of striving for that which brings no enduring satisfaction. These principles have always been true and shall be so as long as the earth continues. Each generation is born, strives, dies, and is forgotten, as a new generation takes its place, and in turn dies and is forgotten. Life on the earth apart from God is futile.
