Ecclesiastes 1:5

The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The sun.

The sun is in perpetual motion, sometimes arising, and sometimes setting, and then arising again, and so constantly repeating its courses in all succeeding days, and years, and ages; and the like he observes concerning the winds and rivers, ,7. And the design of these similitudes seems to be, either, 1. That by representing the constant changes and restless motions of these particular things he might intimate that it is so with all other earthly things; and therefore no man can expect satisfaction from them. Or, 2. That by comparing the sun, and wind, and rivers, as, , he compared the earth with man, he might show that man, considered as mortal, is in a more unhappy condition than these things, because when the earth abides, man goes; and when the sun sets, he riseth again; and so the wind and rivers return to their former place and state, but man, when once he dies, he never returns again to this life; of which comparison see ,12. Or, 3. To show the vanity of all worldly things, and that man’ s mind can never be satisfied with them, because there is nothing in the world but a constant repetition of the same things, which is so irksome a thing, that the consideration thereof hath made some persons weary of their lives; and there is no new thing under the sun, as is added in the foot of the account, , which seems to me to be given as a key to understand the meaning of the foregoing passages. And this is manifest and certain from experience, that the things of this world are so narrow, and the mind of man so vast, that there must be something new to satisfy the mind; and even delightful things, by too frequent repetition or long continuance, are so far from yielding satisfaction, that they grow tedious and troublesome.

Ecclesiastes 1:5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.Ver. 5. The sun also ariseth.] That sweet and swift creature (the Persians deified it); so sweet that Eudoxus professed himself willing to be burnt up by the sun presently, so he might be admitted to come so near it as to learn the nature of it; so swift that the Persians dedicated a horse to their god the sun, as the swiftest on earth to the swiftest in heaven. He courseth about the world with incredible speed, and "rejoiceth as a giant to run a race." He exceedeth the eagle’ s flight more than it goes beyond the slow motion of a snail. Whether it run nearer the earth now by 9976 German miles than it did in Ptolemy’ s days, as some mathematicians affirm, I know not; but that, being of a fiery nature, it should, contrary to the nature of fire (which is to fly upward), send down its beams, its heat, light, and influence, this I admire, with Chrysostom, as a gracious work of God, in making this great servant of the world - as his name in Hebrew signifies - so sweetly serviceable. And hasteth to the place.] Heb., Panteth, as if tired, and even breathless, A figurative speech, like that in Daniel 9:21, where the angel Gabriel is said to "fly swiftly," or with weariness of flight, to inform Daniel. For use hereof, hear the poet: - “ The sun doth set and rise, But we contrariwise, Sleep after one short light, An everlasting night.” Plutarch. ωσπερτοταχιστον, τωταχυτατωθεων. - Paus. Hom. 8 Ad. Pop. Antioch. שׁξשׁ. Soles occidere et redire possuat, Nobiscum semel! occidit brevis lux, Nox est perpetua una dormienda. - Catull

(5) Hasteth.—Heb., panteth. The word is used of eager desire (Job 7:2; Psalms 119:131). Where he arose.—Better, there to rise again.

Verse 5. and Ecclesiastes 1:6. These verses are confused by being falsely divided. The first clause of the sixth should be joined to the fifth verse. "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he ariseth; going to the south, and circulating to the north."

5. The sun also ariseth] From the standpoint of modern thought the sun might seem even more than the earth to be the type of permanent existence, but with the Hebrew, who looked on it in its phenomenal aspect, it was not so, and the sun accordingly appears as presenting not a contrast, but a parallel, to human mutability and resultless labour. We are reminded of the Rabbinic legend of Abraham’s looking on the sun, and, when half tempted to adore it, repressing the temptation by watching its going down and saying “The God whom I worship must be a God that does not set.” Koran, Sur. 6. Stanley’s Jewish Church, 1. Lect. 1. hasteth to his place where he arose] The primary meaning of the first of the two verbs is that of the panting of one who travels quickly. Here again we have to think of the belief that, between the sunset and the sunrise, the sun had a long journey to perform, as the Greeks thought, by the great Ocean river, till it returned to the point where it had risen the day before. Possibly the clouds and mists of the morning were thought of as the panting of the sun, as of “the strong man” who “runs his race” (Psalms 19:5). Parallels present themselves in Psalms 19:5 (“rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race”) and yet more strikingly in Virgil, Georg. i. 250, Nosque ubi primus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis,Illic sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper.“And when to us the sun with panting steedsHastens at dawn, far off the star of eveThere lights her glowing lamp.”Comp. also Æn. xii. 113.

Hasteth ... - literally, at his place panting (in his eagerness) riseth he there.

5. The sun also ariseth — Not only giving light to man, but, unwearied, never dwindling, it shows as if even superior to him.