The Sun Also Rises - Ecclesiastes 1:5-7

5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. 6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. 7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. 

The sun also rises and sets, then the night passes quickly and it happens all over again. The wind doesn’t blow off into space, but follow their wind patterns according to their wind belts. It’s a continue loop. The rivers are always moving, the water flowing downstream until they all verge in the sea. But does the ocean get full? According to the National Park Service “At New Orleans, the average flow rate [for the Mississippi River] is 600,000 cubic feet per second.” Yet, does the Gulf of Mexico fill up? No, the water levels stay the same, only changed by the tide. Water evaporates, it rains, it fills the rivers, and sends it back down again.

We might use the illustration of a hamster in his wheel or a man on a treadmill. Always busy, always moving, but never making any progress. Solomon sees life under the sun as life on a repeat loop. You wake, work, sleep, and do it all over again until you die. When you die, someone else will step in and take your place.