That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which will be done and there is nothing new under the sun.
The Preacher has just watched the sun, the wind and the rivers run their endless rounds. Now he turns that observation into a verdict on human history itself. Does anything at all escape the circle?
"Under the sun"
The words "under the sun" run through the whole book. One writer explains what they cover:
I also think the sun works differently here from those places where the moon and stars are mentioned too. Here it expresses universality. That is how Ecclesiastes uses "under the sun" again and again: "What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?" "There is nothing new under the sun," and so on.
The law of repetition
Verses 4 to 8 described nature going in circles. Verse 9 says human affairs obey the same rule, and the writer names it:
The first note of vanity is found in verses 4-11. There is a law of repetition, or circle-movement. It works in nature as well as in human life. Generation follows generation. The sun has his circle. The winds too have their currents, blowing from north to south and south to north. The waters obey the same law. History repeats itself, for what has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Nothing is new; all is repetition, a monotonous unchangeableness. Man is in the middle of it, and he too is subject to this law. Everything under the sun is restless and unstable — except the earth itself, which stays forever (verse 4) — hollow and empty; so all is vanity. Here is a picture of unrest and weariness, if not of gloom and despair.
No escape in novelty
One hope is left — the enjoyment of something never tried before:
Then is there not the enjoyment of novelty? Granted, this is the moral realm, and we see it especially in what has been done. But is there not something of which it may be said, "See, this is new"? Even this has already been, or belonged to, the ages that were before us.
Why history repeats
Why does the circle keep turning? One writer points to the man inside it:
People say that history repeats itself, and the reason is obvious: man repeats himself. Poor fallen man is in every generation only the reflection of his father Adam. And where God's grace has made a difference, even there a nature remains that keeps far too much of the likeness.
Old errors in new dress
That makes the verse a test for new ideas:
"There is nothing new under the sun." An evil is corrupting the springs of religious thought and feeling across the fairest part of Europe today. It is the very same evil that laid Eve's heart in ruins in the garden of Eden. Her first step downward was to listen to the question, "Did God actually say...?" Then on she went, stage by stage, until at last she bowed to the serpent and owned him as her god and the fountain of truth.
The circle that becomes a spiral
Follow the same circle far enough and it changes shape:
The cycle the Preacher speaks of illustrates the vanity stamped on man's passing generations (Ecclesiastes 1). It also carries a higher and more comforting lesson... The cycle is no more a mere cycle. It does not, in fact, return to itself... it is a spiral rather than a proper circle... God's ways do not bring us back simply to the beginning. He does not repair the ruined past. Always a brighter and better thing comes out of it. The new Adam is not a mere repetition of the old. The new Paradise is the Paradise of God, not of man only.
Summary
- Circle. Nature turns in rounds, and human history turns with it — nothing but repetition, a "monotonous unchangeableness."
- Cause. History repeats because man repeats; every generation reflects Adam again.
- Closed. Novelty is the last hope, and it fails: what looks new already belonged to the ages before us.
- Clarity. The circle helps you spot error. What claims to be modern is an old evil in new clothes, going back to "Did God actually say...?"
- Christ. The wheel is a spiral, not a closed loop. God does not repair the ruined past; He brings something better out of it — a new Adam, a new Paradise.