In the verses before us, Shlomo HaMelech opens with a depiction of cyclical patterns: the sun rises and sets, the wind circles and returns, the streams flow to the sea yet the sea is never full. At first glance, what does an astronomy lesson have to do with us? The commentators explain that an entire spiritual framework is at work here: the description of the natural world comes to teach man about himself, warning of the danger of spending one's entire life merely turning in circles without ever moving forward. Following our usual approach, we will examine the Targum first, followed by the commentaries of the Malbim, Rashi, and the Midrash, and conclude with a wonderful explanation by the Malbim in Artzot HaChayim harmonizing the words of Chazal regarding the course of the sun.
וְזָרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וּבָא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ, וְאֶל מְקוֹמוֹ שׁוֹאֵף זוֹרֵחַ הוּא שָׁם׃ - "The sun rises and the sun sets, and pants toward its place where it rises."
הוֹלֵךְ אֶל דָּרוֹם וְסוֹבֵב אֶל צָפוֹן, סוֹבֵב סֹבֵב הוֹלֵךְ הָרוּחַ, וְעַל סְבִיבֹתָיו שָׁב הָרוּחַ׃ - "It goes toward the south and turns toward the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns."
כָּל הַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים אֶל הַיָּם וְהַיָּם אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא, אֶל מְקוֹם שֶׁהַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים שָׁם הֵם שָׁבִים לָלָכֶת׃ - "All the streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place where the streams go, there they return to go."
The Targum explains: The sun rises in the east by day and sets in the west by night. It yearns for its place and travels through the abyss (we will examine later what "through the abyss" means), rising the next morning from the same place it rose yesterday. This is the meaning of "and pants toward its place where it rises" - from the very place it rose yesterday, it rises again today. "It travels all along the southern side by day, and circles to the northern side by night through the abyss. Round and round it goes to the southern direction in the seasons of Nisan and Tammuz, and on its circuits it returns to the northern direction in the seasons of Tishrei and Tevet. It emerges from the windows of the east in the morning and enters the windows of the west in the evening." The underlying idea is that although the sun consistently travels from east to west, anyone who pays close attention will notice that in the winter its path tilts more toward the north, whereas in the summer it inclines more toward the south. The sun is never directly in the absolute north, but rather shifts relatively toward the south or toward the north.
Regarding the streams, the Targum states: All the rivers and water springs flow and are drawn toward the waters of the ocean, which surrounds the world like a signet ring, yet the ocean does not fill up, and to the place where the streams flow, they return to flow again through the underground channels of the abyss. In other words, there is a closed cycle of water at work here.
We do not possess a direct commentary by the Malbim on Kohelet, but in other places in his writings he explains these very expressions. What is the meaning of she'ifah (panting or aspiring)? She'ifah always refers to drawing air inward from the outside, unlike neshimah (exhalation), which goes from inside outward. From this root comes the metaphor for anyone who yearns to swallow or take something in, which is described using the term she'ifah. It is used similarly in Hebrew today: "What are your aspirations (she'ifot)?" One who aspires is like someone drawing inward, desiring to ingest or acquire something. This is the meaning of "and pants toward its place where it rises" - that is where it yearns to go, and that is the destination it seeks to reach.
And what is the meaning of the repetition "round and round" (sovev sovev)? The Malbim explains elsewhere that the word sovev on its own indicates an incomplete circuit. When Scripture wishes to denote a complete revolution, it uses "turns and encompasses" (sovev u'makif) or repeats the word: "round and round" (saviv saviv). Therefore, here, "round and round goes the wind" indicates that the circuit is full and complete, which is why the term is doubled.
As for the "wind" (ruach) mentioned here, the Malbim writes in his commentary to Bereishit that it refers to the element of air, one of the four classical elements. We will explore this in greater detail through the other commentators.
דּוֹר הֹלֵךְ וְדוֹר בָּא, וְהָאָרֶץ לְעוֹלָם עֹמָדֶת׃ - A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever.
Rashi connects the verses: just as the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, yearning to return to the place where it rose yesterday so that it can rise there again today, so too a generation goes and a generation comes. The generations are like the rising and setting sun.
The Midrash applies this to the righteous and those who succeed them. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: Do we not know that the sun rises and the sun sets? Did we need the wisest of all men to tell us that the sun rises and sets? What does this teach us? It teaches that before the sun of one tzaddik sets, the sun of another tzaddik rises. Even before the sun of one righteous person sets, the Holy One, blessed be He, causes the sun of the next righteous person to shine, so that the world is never left without luminaries. Before Sarah's sun set, Rivkah's sun rose, as it says, "And Betuel fathered Rivkah," and afterward, "And Sarah died." The Midrash brings many such examples for every generation, showing how the Holy One, blessed be He, causes a sage and tzaddik to shine forth to lead the generation before the sun of the previous tzaddik has set.
Rav Shefer explains this with a parable: A father wishing to guide his son along the proper path sees his older son playing with childish trifles. He says to him: "Look, this is what little children play with, and this is what you are playing with?" The son feels ashamed and realizes that this is unfitting for him. The lesson is identical: when we observe human life in this world, we see man going in the same circle all his days, as we saw in the earlier verses. Ask a person: "Why do you eat?" He will answer: "To have strength to work." "And why do you work?" "All man's toil is for his mouth" - so that I have food to eat. It turns out that throughout his life he eats for the sake of his labor and labors for the sake of his food, like someone spinning in place. You have made no progress at all. Where did you go? What did you accomplish? All your days you have circled the exact same point.
Therefore, Scripture comes and says: Observe, this is precisely how all creations and entities that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world go in circles. The sun in its daily and annual cycles, and likewise the wind, and likewise the streams. And all of them, relative to you, are like little children, for what are they compared to the human soul? They are physical, bound to the natural order, lacking Divinity and spirituality in the sense of the human soul. Certainly there is Divinity in everything, but there is no comparison here. Thus, you are shown: this is nature. The sun comes and goes, comes and goes, always in the same fixed cycle, and so do the streams, and so does the wind. But they have no free will; they are compelled in their actions, like a machine routinely and repeatedly performing the same function, unable to change or choose otherwise. You, however, like an adult compared to a child, have free choice. You can decide to conduct yourself in a way that moves you forward, rather than endlessly revolving around yourself on the same axis.
And if a person should argue: on the contrary, from the fact that I see Hashem created the great celestial bodies in this manner, perhaps it is a sign that this is how the world is meant to run, and perhaps Hashem created me to be this way as well? Therefore, Scripture preceded this by stating, "A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever." Notice the profound difference between man and everything else in nature: man is the perishable creature, while everything else endures. For thousands of years the earth does not perish from the world, and likewise the sun and the streams endure permanently. Man, however, lives for a time, passes away and departs, and another generation comes.
If it were Hashem's will that you be like the sun, the stream, or the moon - like those bodies that always operate in a fixed pattern - why did He not leave you as they are? If you merely repeat yourself all the time, you too should remain here without change. Why is it specifically man whom Hashem replaces, a generation going and a generation coming, while only the sun and moon orbit in a fixed cycle? From this you learn that, on the contrary, man was created to accomplish and advance in his life, not to run around in circles. Were this not so, let him remain here for six thousand years like the sun, since nothing in him changes. Rather, changes are certainly demanded of you, and for this purpose the Holy One, blessed be He, created you: to take action and progress, and not to remain stagnant like the celestial bodies, which endure forever precisely because they stay as they are.
The verse details these cycles: "The sun rises and the sun sets" refers to the daily twenty-four-hour cycle. "It goes toward the south" in the winter, "and turns around to the north" in the summer - this is the annual cycle. "The wind goes round and round" refers to the element of air, which circulates across the entire earth and constantly returns to its place. And the third element is water, which likewise repeats its cycle: "All the streams flow into the sea."
And he phrases it there: if a person were to tell you that you were not created for your own sake, but rather for the benefit of another, you would not spare spitting in his face. That is to say, if someone were to tell you that you were not created for yourself, but are merely an instrument for someone else's benefit, you would be appalled: "Am I not the purpose? Am I not the center?" Indeed, man naturally tends to view himself as the center and the essential focus, and this is true, for Chazal taught, "For my sake the world was created." There will never be another person like me from the creation of the world until its end, nor will there ever be a person like you. Each of us is not a second fiddle; each is the central symphony, and if one is missing, there is an absence in the harmony of the perfection of serving Hashem.
Now, if you do nothing for your own spiritual growth but constantly revolve in your mundane circle, you end up worse than the sun. For the sun was created for the sake of others, to shine light upon us. No one thinks the sun was created for its own sake - does it derive any benefit? Will it advance spiritually? Will it merit the life of the World to Come? It is clear to all of us that the sun was created to benefit others: to warm the earth and cause vegetation to sprout. But as for you, if you merely revolve around yourself, whom have you benefited? From this you must deduce and understand, Shlomo says, that your mission and purpose in the world are to advance and progress in spiritual service, and not to be like the sun and the other celestial bodies that merely circle around themselves.
Here the commentators undertake to explain the sun's circuit according to the teachings of Chazal. Indeed, there are expressions in Chazal that anyone reading them finds very difficult to reconcile with modern astronomical understanding. We find profound words of the Malbim in his work Artzot HaChayim, which is his halachic treatise; in nearly every place the Malbim comments there, the Mishnah Berurah cites him. It is related that the Malbim was once asked why he did not continue his halachic work, and he replied: If you will shoulder my burden - the commentary on Tanach, which anyone who reads it sees was composed with ruach hakodesh, along with the fierce battle that had to be waged in his day against the destroyers of the covenant, against the modernist reformers and biblical critics - then I will be free to write my commentary on the Shulchan Aruch. The Chafetz Chaim replied that he could not undertake that. And indeed, the Malbim's commentary on Tanach is an extraordinary masterpiece. Thus, we were not privileged to have many volumes of Artzot HaChayim; but it is fascinating that specifically there, the Malbim quotes a Gemara concerning our verse and explains it magnificently.
The Gemara in Bava Batra (25a, and likewise in Eruvin) states: It was taught: Rabbi Eliezer says, the world is like an achsadrah (a covered portico), and the northern side is not enclosed. Once the sun reaches the northwestern corner, it bends back and ascends above the firmament. That is to say: the world resembles a portico, and the northern side is, as it were, open, like a porch enclosed on three sides and open on the fourth. When the sun reaches the northwestern corner at sunset, it turns and ascends above the firmament. Rabbi Yehoshua says, the world is like a kubah (a vaulted canopy or tent), and the northern side is enclosed - meaning it is closed, not open - and once the sun reaches the northwestern corner, it circles around and returns behind the dome. As it says: "It goes toward the south, and turns around to the north" - it goes toward the south by day, and turns around to the north by night; "turning around, around goes the wind, and upon its circuits the wind returns" - these are the eastern and western faces, which it sometimes circles around and sometimes traverses.
The Malbim writes: This too is one of the wondrous matters in the words of Chazal at which their detractors scoff - meaning men of science and the maskilim mock this teaching. For it is known even to beginners that the sun travels, both in summer and in winter, along the zodiac from east to west, so how could Chazal say something that seems completely unfounded?
As for the well-known question of whether the sun revolves around the earth or the earth around the sun, there is no need to enter into that debate now, as it can be resolved in two ways. First, Chazal speak according to what appears to our senses: "From the rising of the sun to its setting" - we perceive the sun rising and setting, and even if in physical reality the sun is stationary and the earth revolves, the verse describes what is observable to our eyes. Second, when dealing with celestial bodies, there is no absolute fixed anchor relative to which motion can be measured; therefore, physics cannot definitively declare which body is moving and which is at rest. It is like sitting in a car stopped at a red light when an adjacent car moves slowly forward, causing one to feel as though he is rolling backward. There is no absolute fixed point in the cosmos of which to say, "This is moving relative to that," and so it cannot be decided in an absolute sense. The primary difficulty here is different: the Gemara implies that the sun travels and then ascends above the firmament, whereas we know that it sets below the horizon and orbits the earth, and we do not speak at all of it completing its journey and ascending above the firmament.
The Malbim writes: Behold, I have undertaken to lay before you, my dear reader, a straight highway on which you may travel safely, to cast light upon the words of Chazal that have been swaddled in the mists of doubt. That is, the mist creates doubts in people's minds, and "swaddled" (mechutalim) means shrouded, as swaddling implies wrapping and concealing.
First, that which Chazal stated, that the northern side is breached, is derived from what is written in Iyov: "He stretches the north over the void." Chazal taught that the Holy One, blessed be He, intentionally left the northern side of the world open, as it were, and unsealed, like a portico open toward the north, so that if anyone should claim to be a deity, they would say to him: "You are a god? Behold, the northern side is open - seal it!" But what does this mean? It has always been difficult to understand: what is an "open northern side"? Where in familiar astronomy do we find an open northern side? The Malbim's explanation resolves the entire matter.
Based on the Gemaras in Bava Batra and Menachot (29a), the Malbim explains: it appears they were referring to that part of the globe that lies beneath the soles of our feet. That is to say, when Chazal speak of the "northern side," they mean the other side of the globe - the hemisphere beneath our feet. According to the later authorities, that hemisphere contains a vast expanse of land filled with people and abundant livestock, and it was there that they discovered the New World, namely the Americas. Among the ancients, however, there was a dispute regarding this matter. In the Zohar, it is explicitly stated that the world is spherical, and just as there is life here, there is life below as well. Conversely, others maintained that the lower hemisphere is entirely water, with darkness upon the face of the deep, and that the element of earth together with the element of water form the complete sphere: the upper half is exposed dry land, which is where we dwell, while the lower half is submerged beneath the ocean. We find similarly in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer that the earth is sunk upon the depths, and likewise in the Gemara in Avodah Zarah and in Bamidbar Rabbah: the world is like a ball and the sea is like a basin, with the edges of heaven rooted in the ocean waters. We likewise recite in prayer, "To Him Who spreads the earth over the waters," meaning that beneath the earth there is water - a reality that modern science also affirms.
Based on this, the Malbim explains their dispute. Rabbi Eliezer holds that the northern side is not enclosed - meaning that the part beneath the globe is uninhabited, containing only water. Rabbi Yehoshua disagrees and maintains that the northern side is enclosed - meaning that just as there is habitation here, so too is there habitation there, enclosed with man, beast, and dry land, and not merely ocean on the other side of the globe. Thus, both agree that the sun descends below the globe, and their dispute is solely whether the hemisphere opposite our place of habitation is inhabited by man and beast, or uninhabited and entirely water.
Yet a difficulty remains: Rabbi Eliezer holds that at night the sun travels above the firmament (raki'a), so how can we say that it travels beneath the earth? For this, one must realize that the firmament and the heavens are not the same thing. We tend mistakenly to think that "raki'a" means the heavens, but this is incorrect. The Malbim explains that the raki'a is the moist vapor that rises from the earth. The vapors ascending from the earth or the sea are what is called the raki'a, and the "thickness of the firmament" refers to the highest altitude that these vapors reach.
Through this, one can understand the Gemara in Pesachim (94a), which states that the thickness of the firmament is a thousand parsa'ot, and the duration of twilight (bein hashemashot) is the time it takes the sun to travel through the thickness of the firmament - meaning when the sun reaches that height. Similarly, the Rambam explains what dawn (amud hashachar) is: the air illuminated on the eastern horizon before sunrise. Dawn occurs when you look eastward and cannot yet see the sun itself - for sunrise (netz hachamah) is the moment the solar disc becomes visible, whereas dawn precedes it by seventy-two minutes. What is happening then? The Rambam explains that it is the proximity of the sun's light to the dense vapors rising from the earth.
The concept is simple: when we perceive light, if we see the luminous body itself, we are seeing the light source; but if we do not see the luminous body itself, what we see are objects reflecting that light. For example, a person in a dark house on a sunny day who observes a beam of light will notice that he sees the dust within the beam, as the dust reflects the light and suddenly appears thick and dense. The same applies to vapors, which are dense and heavy. When you look toward the east, the sun is still below the horizon and invisible, yet it strikes the vapors, which reflect its light - and that is what we see in the morning. As the Rambam writes there, the ascent of these dense vapors reaches fifty-one mil, and they intensify over seawater. Indeed, wherever there is a sea there are more vapors; as is well known, the coastal plain has higher humidity, meaning a greater concentration of vapors.
Now Rabbi Eliezer is consistent with his own approach: he holds that the northern side - the part beneath the globe - is uninhabited, consisting entirely of ocean. If so, an immense amount of vapor gathers there, for where there is a sea there are abundant vapors, and the deep vapors rising from the ocean reach tremendous heights. This is what Rabbi Eliezer meant when he said that the sun travels above the firmament: it travels beneath the earth, circulating to its underside, where there are vast vapors termed the raki'a, and it travels above them. Do not mistakenly think that "above the firmament" refers to the sky above where we dwell; rather, it means above the dense vapors beneath the globe, where, according to Rabbi Eliezer, all is ocean. And why did he not explicitly say that the sun travels beneath the earth? Because had he said so, it would imply that it passes over dry land, which contradicts his view that beneath the globe there is no dry land, only ocean.
In contrast, Rabbi Yehoshua maintains that the underside is inhabited, and therefore he says that the sun descends below the vaulted arch - that is, beneath the globe - and subsequently rises again from the east.
This is also the dispute between the Sages of Israel and the wise men of the nations in Pesachim 94b. The Sages of Israel state that at night the sun travels above the firmament - meaning that there is no human habitation beneath the earth, only those vapors and the abyss called raki'a, in accordance with Rabbi Eliezer. The wise men of the nations hold that the underside is inhabited by many people and animals, which implies the existence of dry land, and therefore they maintain that the sun travels beneath the earth - that is, on the opposite side of the globe where there is land rather than ocean, following the view of Rabbi Yehoshua. And who was correct? The Sages conceded, "Their words appear more correct than ours," agreeing with the scholars of the nations - for "if one tells you there is wisdom among the nations, believe it." It turns out that they ultimately concurred with Rabbi Yehoshua that beneath the earth there is dry land and not ocean, and consequently the sun travels beneath the globe below.
The Malbim concludes there with a note: "I found support for my words in Targum Yonatan on Kohelet." On the verse "going toward the south," the Targum translates: "It travels toward the south by day, and circles back toward the north by night." Here it is stated explicitly that the sun returns toward the north at night. And what is the northern side at night? Beneath the earth. From where do we know this? The Targum continues: "by way of the abyss" (orach tehoma) - the sun travels via the abyss, meaning the region that is an abyss relative to us, beneath the globe. The Targum draws its words from the teachings of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua in Bava Batra and is based on them, and it states explicitly that the sun travels by way of the abyss. Through this explanation, the Malbim removes any suspicion of convoluted or forced interpretation.
The Chafetz Chaim explains this verse homiletically. Our Sages said, "He who wishes to gain wisdom should turn south," and south represents Torah and wisdom, as the Menorah stood in the south. "Going toward the south": a person outwardly aspires only to Torah; that is where he intends to direct himself. Yet one must also get by in life and earn a living, and so "and circling toward the north," he makes a small detour toward the north to earn his livelihood. But what can be done when sustenance demands so much? Thus "it circles and circles": there in the north he spends all his time turning around. Instead of turning briefly toward the north and pressing on toward the south, all his turnings end up taking place in the north.
And until when? "The wind goes" - until a person returns to his eternal home and departs from this world. He spent his entire life running in circles after a livelihood, arriving in the World of Truth without having perfected his soul. And what follows? "And on its circuits the wind returns" - the spirit returns in reincarnation (gilgul). Since he did not complete the rectification he was meant to achieve, he is told: Turn around and retrace your steps; descend once more to this world to rectify what you lacked and what you failed to repair.
The verses before us lay out the cycles of nature: the sun in its daily and annual circuit, the wind turning round and round in a full cycle, and the streams that flow to the sea and return to flow again. All of these are like children compared to man: they lack free choice and repeat their assigned role without change, which is why they endure forever. Man, by contrast - one generation goes and another generation comes - which is proof that he was not created merely to spin around himself, but to progress and accomplish; for if not, he would be worse than the sun, which was at least created to benefit others. And the Midrashim of Chazal add: just as the world is never left without luminaries, for before the sun of one tzaddik sets, the sun of another rises, so too a person must not let his own sun set in an empty cycle around earning a livelihood. And in the Malbim's commentary in Artzot HaChaim, the puzzling words of Chazal are resolved: the "northern side" refers to the other side of the globe, and the "firmament" refers to the rising vapors; the dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua is merely whether that other side is inhabited, and either way, the sun travels at night through the depths beneath the globe, as is explicitly explained in Targum Yonatan.