Ecclesiastes 1:11 - Exposition

There is no remembrance of former things ; rather, of former men—per-sons who lived in former times. As things are considered novel only because they had been forgotten, so we men ourselves shall pass away, and be no more remembered. Bailey, 'Festus '—

"Adversity, prosperity, the grave,

Play a round game with friends. On some the world

Hath shot its evil eye, and they are passel

From honor and remembrance; and stare

Is all the mention of their names receives;

And people know no more of them than they know

The shapes of clouds at midnight a year hence."

Neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after ; rather, and even of later generations that shall be there will be no remembrance of them with those that shall be in the after-time . Wright quotes Marcus Aurelius, who has much to say on this subject. Thus: cap. 2.17, "Posthumous fame is oblivion;" cap. 3.10, "Every man's life lies all within the present; for the past is spent and done with, and the future is uncertain;" cap. 4.33, "Those words which were formerly current and proper are now become obsolete and barbarous. Alas l this is not all: fame tarnishes in time, too, and men grow out of fashion as well as language. Those celebrated names of ancient story am antiquated; those of later date have the same fortune; and those of present celebrity must follow. I speak this of those who have been the wonder of their age, and shined with unusual luster; but as for the rest, they are no sooner dead than forgotten" (comp. Wis. 2:4). (On the keen desire to live in the memory of posterity, see Ecclesiasticus 37:26; 44:7, etc.)