In What Sense is there 'Nothing New Under the Sun' ?

Question

In what sense is it true to say there is 'nothing new under the sun' ?

Given that mobile phones were not around in the time of ancient Egyptians, and TV's were not known in ancient Babylon, how can the above be true ?

I assume (I even believe) the statement IS true. But in what sense is it so ?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Answer 1

Do you know for a certainty there were no mobile phones, or televisions at that time?
That may be the sense in which it is true. Read that scripture, these are passages that follow, which give more understanding.

Eccl 1:10, Is there anything of which one might say,
"See this, it is new"?
Already it has existed for ages
Which were before us.
v. 11 There is no remembrance of earlier things;
And also of the later things which will occur,
There will be for them no remembrance
Among those who will come later still.

No, actually I believe there were mobile phones and TV's long before the Egyptian and Babylonian Empire. So, I am with you that they didn't know of these items.

This view can be applied to anything that would be called "new". I laugh now when I hear it said.

Answer 2

It's true that new things get invented from time to time, particularly in the last 2 or 3 hundred years, but these inventions simply allow us to do what man has been able to do since the earliest times.

Mobile phones are amazing things, but they are no more than enhancements to our our natural ability to communicate and our natural desire to gather information and make pictures - abilities and desires which man has had for thousands of years.

TV is (when you boil it down) a tool for the dissemination of information through news, stories and advertising, etc, etc. Again, the power to pass on information is something man has had for thousands of years.

I had an interesting conversation with my dad once about the impact of modern life. The question came up about what is there that perhaps didn't exist when we were born but which now exists, is in common usage and has a impact on our lives individually. My dad said that for him it was TV. For me it is the p.c. We tried to think of other things but couldn't come up with anything.

It made us think that modern life isn't so different from historical times, perhaps even ancient times. When we compare our abilities, desires and needs with those of someone in the Bible, there is very little, possibly even NO difference at all.

If we were to transport ourselves to ancient egypt or babylon, we might require some explanation for some of the things going on then, but that would be no different if we went to live in a different country in our modern times. The same would surely be true if one of the ancients were transported to our times. In that sense, there is not really that much difference between the life of an ancient Babylonian or ancient Egyptian and our life today. We have the same needs, abilities and desires that our ancient ancestors had - we just satisfy them in different and quicker ways.

Answer 3

The verse in question is Ecc 1:9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecc 1 starts out with this: 1 The words of the Teacher, [a] son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."

This book is about the wrong things being taught in the sinagogues at the time. "nothing new" is one of them.

Answer 4

hassle-free one. God is ourselves. it is to assert, all gods are a personification of our surroundings. It rains, we assign the rain a reason. It has come to smash our day, or save our vegetation. we are offended, or grateful. We see the universe as being full of reason, via fact we are full of reason. We see types that are no longer actual. Even smart people have self belief in success, while this is been needless to say shown to no longer exist. turn a coin 5 situations. If it happens to return up heads each and each of those time, maximum individuals will confirm that's via return up as tails, while it nonetheless has a 50/50 risk of arising as the two head or tails. The universe does no longer have reason or almost the order we undertaking directly to it. those projections are the cornerstone of religious and magical questioning.

Answer 5

Every new invention of man is based on existing principles and the discovery of truths that have always been there. When the hydrogen bomb was exploded, it was based on knowledge of scientific truth that was already operating in nature, fusion being the principle that fuels the sun. Flight was introduced using laws that were in operation in nature for eons. Much of what is happening along the cutting edge of scientific discovery today is based on the observation of naturally occurring phenomena, such as in biology, and reverse engineering what already exists.

Answer 6

I think it is a quote from the book of Ecclesiastes so it is like, when that old book was written they did not know of the technical developments which would happen in the future.

So it was probably corrrect when that book was written.

Incidentally that book of Ecclesiastes is well worth a look. and I am NOT a bible thumper by the way.

Answer 7

In terms of physical matter in the universe... matter can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change forms. The amount of matter in the universe is the same now as it was at the beginning of time, and as it will be into infinity.

Answer 8

cell phones are made of atoms...the atoms were here long before cell phones. The author of Ecclesiastes obviously knew about atoms.

Answer 9

Since the sun is basically a sphere, where exactly is "under"?

Answer 10

Probably about life. Example : Someone is born, grows up, gives birth, get sick and die. That someone's child grows up, gives birth, get sick, die and on and on. That's probably what it meant,.