Ecclesiastes 1:7 - Exposition

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full. Here is another instance of unvarying operation producing no tangible result. The phenomenon mentioned is often the subject of remark and speculation in classical authors. Commentators cite Aristophanes, 'Clouds,' 1293—

αὕτη μὲν (sc. ἡ θάλαττα ) οὐδὲν γίγνεται

ἐπιῤῥεόντων τῶν ποταμῶν πλείων ,

"The sea, though all the rivers flow therein,

Waxeth no greater."

Lucretius attempts to account for the fact, De Rer. Nat.,' 6:608—

"Nunc ratio reddunda, augmen quin nesciat sequor.

Principio mare mirantur non reddere majus

Naturam, quo sit tantus decursus aquarum,

Omnia quo veniant ex omni fiumina parte."

This Dr. Busby thus versifies—

"Now in due order, Muse, proceed to show

Why the deep seas no augmentation know,

In ocean that such numerous streams discharge

Their waters, yet that ocean ne'er enlarge," etc.

No particular sea is intended, though some have fancied that the peculiarities of the Dead Sea gave occasion to the thought in the text. Doubtless the idea is general, and such as would strike every observer, however little he might trouble himself with the reason of the circumstance (comp. Ecclesiasticus 40:11). Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again; rather, unto the place whither the rivers go , thither they go again . As Wright and Delitzsch observe, שָׁם after verbs of motion has often the signification of שָׁמָּה ; and the idea is that the streams continue to make their way into the sea with ceaseless iteration. The other rendering, which is supported by the Vulgate undo , seems rather to favor the Epicurean poet's solution of the phenomenon. Lucretius, in the passage cited above, explains that the amount of water contributed by rivers is a mere drop in the ocean; that a vast quantity rises in exhalations and is spread far and wide over the earth; and that another large portion finds its way back through the pores of the ground to the bed of the sea. Plumptre considers that this theory was known to Koheleth, and was introduced by him here. The rendering which we have given above would make this opinion untenable; it likewise excludes the idea of the clouds being produced by the sea and feeding the springs. Thus Ecclesiasticus 40:11, "All things that are of the earth do turn to the earth again; and that which is of the waters doth return into the sea."