King Solomon is searching/questioning for the meaning of life,
here he is saying how what has been done or what we do, has always
and will always be done. That people don't change and that things
that we make or do we may think as new but have already been done
before. Solomon is saying that the material things in life the
things that we may sometimes think are really important, actually
aren't. He is saying that those things are meaningless and that our
lives don't have meaning WITHOUT God. Because God I'd the meaning
of life, He gives us meaning and purpose. We did this in Chapel,
but you might like to ask your minister. :)
Answer2: Generations of people continually come and go, the sun
keeps rising and setting, winds ever circle about and rivers
constantly empty into the sea but never fill it.
The consideration of all these natural cycles appeared to
Solomon as "wearisome." It is, of course, true that the immensity
and complexity of these cycles are such that a man could exhaust
his entire life and never be able to comprehend the full sum of
these.
Solomon is here dealing with the futility that imperfect humans
face. So we can also appreciate how wearying it can be to man to
contemplate the relentless repetition of these never-ending cycles
and then compare this with his own short life-span. For the one
lacking divine wisdom, his temporariness and his inability to gain
permanence produce a sense of futility and often cause him to
search vainly for something different, new-only to find that, in
the final analysis, it is the 'same old story.' This too is
wearisome.
Knowing this can help us to avoid wasting much time, effort and
money trying to find fulfillment and happiness through sensual
gratification. The quest for new things and experiences may bring a
measure of enjoyment, but it never fully satisfies
Solomon was correct in saying: "There is nothing new under the
sun." For there is nothing new about the materials, the energy
sources, and the natural laws that form the basis for earth's
physical system of things. These have long been part of God's
creation. There is nothing new in the rising and setting of the
sun, in the weather patterns, and in the natural cycle for watering
and renewing the earth. And as for the life-style of imperfect
mortal man, there is nothing really new, despite changing fashions.
Even in affluent societies, life for many becomes repetitious, and
at length "wearisome." In some 70 or 80 years, sin-stained man
'walks to his long-lasting house'-the grave. As Solomon states it:
"That which has come to be, that is what will come to be; and that
which has been done, that is what will be done; and so there is
nothing new under the sun.