Ecclesiastes 1:10 Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say:
Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us
Fascinating passage you will all agree, but what does it really mean?
Ecclesiastes is amazing. It is important to note, that these are the words of God, not that of Solomon.
[2 Peter 1:20] Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. [21] For the prophecy came not in the old time by the will of man:
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
People confuse this verse to mean that an individual cannot take the text of the bible and interpret it, if that interpretation is contrary to church doctine. This does not say that. This is teaching that everysingle page of the bible, was from the mouth of God, and that holy man who wrote the words, was moved by the Holy Spirit to write. Thus, every single page in the bible is verified as from the mouth of God, the prophecies and parables and doctrine all come from the mouth of God.
With that said God spoke, and Solomon, being moved by the holy Spirit, wrore.
Ecclesiastes was writting during the twilight of Solomons life. This is wisdom based off the life of Solomon. Solomon was asked by God, ask me anything, and I will grant it. Solomon asked for Wisdom, as it takes wisdom to ask for wisdom, So Solomon was a righteous God fearing man. During the course of Solomons life, he was the richest, most powerful, smartest, mose legendary man who ever walked the face of this earth, past present and future. This is teaching that no man, nobody, not the Brad Pitts, the Tom Bradies, the Johnny Depps, The Steven Hawkins, no man is able to achieve during the course of a lifetime, that which Solomon had. Nobody will ever be richer, nobody will ever be wiser and/or smarter, no man will have as many builiding, as many wives, as much good wine and food, as much freedom to do anything ANYTHING that his heart ever ever ever desired.
This is set forth for us as an example. To teach that Solomon, who has the ability to have anything, to achieve anything, the richest, wisest most legendary man ever, was empty withouth God.
As Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, …‘IT IS ALL VANITY, AND GRASPING AT WIND’
in otherwords, meaningless.
the context is this, Solomon during the later part of his life has began to love his wives more than God. Solomon erected pagen alters because he loved his wives so much. And the result was that Solomon did not walk with God. Solomon in his twilight after have searched the world for “heaven on earth” found that all of his accomplishments, all of his money, power and wisdom was all vanity and grasping at the wind.
Solomon is set forth as an example because no person in the histroy of forever will ever be what Solomon was, will ever have what Solomon had, thus, there is nothing new under the sun, everything has been done, everything has been accomplished, and the end result is vanity and grasping at wind, it is meaningless without God.
Imagine the time of Babylon. At this juncture in time, every single human being was in the city called Babylon, every human being spoke one language, and there technological advances, though they had no interenet, was astounding. They were capable of building a tower to heaven. God looked down and said, there is nothing this people cant accomplish given enough time, look they build a tower to heaven, let us go down and confuse the languages and seperate them. This was thousands of years before Solomon, yet these people had accomplished that which based on todays standards, is impossible and amazing. Nothing new under the sun, it has all been done before.
Solomon during the twilight of his life, reflected on the meaninglessness of searching for heaven on earth by all that he accomplished, that no man even today can ever dare to possibly dream to be his equal. it is impossible. Yet solomon was empty.
So, for you dear readers who pursue your goals so hard, by working harder, by getting a better job, you will never match the works of Solomon. Solomon built temples and bulidings and they were amazing, no man can ever dream to match that accomplishment, though of coure being a human being, most people in this world will try, will work hard there whole lives trying to accomplish some goal, and upon reaching that goal, the feeling of success and joy vanishes as the wind blows. For those people who think money brings happiness, by working hard, by saving, well, you will never have as much money as Solomon, and Solomon was empty, if you think sex can make you better, well solomon had rooms and rooms of wives and concubines, and yet Solomon was not happy, for those who think good food and wine or drugs will make you happy, well solomon had all that and more, that which we can never dream of, and solomon was not happy. for those who think an aspiring goal is there happiness, well as lofty as it may be, it can never reach the goals solomon set forth for himself and accomplished, it is empty
it is vanity and grasping at wind to search for heaven on earth. Your cup will always be empty unless you fill it with spiritual drink.
its all vanity and grasping at wind.
