Ecclesiastes 1:10

10 neither any man may say, Lo! this thing is new; for now it went before in worlds, that were before us. (nor can anyone say, Lo! this is new; for it hath already come before, in the time that was before us.)

Ecclesiastes 1:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 1:10

Is there [any] thing whereof it may be said, see, this [is]
new?
&c.] This is an appeal to all men for the truth of the above observation, and carries in it a strong denial that there is anything new under the sun; and is an address to men to inquire into the truth of it, and thoroughly examine it, and see if they can produce any material objection to it; look into the natural world, and the same natural causes will be seen producing the same effects; or into the moral world, and there are the same virtues, and their contrary; or into the political world, and the same schemes are forming and pursuing, and which issue in the same things, peace or war; or into the learned world, and the same languages, arts, and sciences, are taught and learned; and the same things said over again ^F9: or into the mechanic world, and the same trades and businesses are carrying on: or the words may be considered as a concession, and carry in them the form of an objection, "there is a thing ^F11 whereof it may be said", or a man may say, "see, this is new"; so the Targum; there were some things in Solomon's time it is allowed that might be objected, as there are in ours, to which the answer is, it hath been already of old time which was before us;
what things are reckoned new are not so; they were known and in use in ages past, long before we had a being. R. Alshech takes the words to be an assertion, and not an interrogation, and interprets it of a spiritual temple in time to come, which yet was created before the world was.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 "Nullum est jam dictum, quod non dictum sit prius", Terent Prolog. Eunuch. v. 41.
F11 (rbd vy) "est quidpiam", Pagninus, Mercerus, Gejerus; "est res", Drusius, Cocceius, Rambachius.

Ecclesiastes 1:10 In-Context

8 All things be hard; a man may not declare those things by word (a person cannot declare all of these things with words alone); the eye is not (ful)filled by sight, neither the ear is filled by hearing.

9 What is that thing that was, that that shall come? What is that thing that is made, that that shall be made? Nothing under the sun is new, (What is that thing that was, but that which shall come again? What is that thing that is made, but that which shall be made later? Nothing is new under the sun,)

10 neither any man may say, Lo! this thing is new; for now it went before in worlds, that were before us. (nor can anyone say, Lo! this is new; for it hath already come before, in the time that was before us.)

11 Mind of the former things is not, but soothly neither thinking of those things, that shall come afterward, shall be at them that shall come in the last time. (Remembering the former things is not done, and those things that come now, shall not be remembered by those who shall come after us.)

12 I Ecclesiastes was king of Israel in Jerusalem;