The Pathway Machine

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In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon writes of the aging person who is alienated from God. The vanity of a godless existence where the cycle of the sun, rain and wind have no meaning. There is nothing new under the sun, that is with man, but from God above, there is newness. It isn't a contradiction because of this.

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Ecclesiastes 1:9 - There is nothing new under the sun.

Response: It is interesting to note that the term "under the sun" appears 29 times in the book of Ecclesiastes. The word vanity which also appears throughout Ecclesiastes in Hebrew literally means "breath."

Under the sun is used to denote all of the things of man on earth under sin. Fortune, fame and material gain became wearisome to Solomon.

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Isaiah 43:19 - Behold, I will do a new thing.

Response: After 70 years of captivity in Babylon Jehovah was showing the people the way back home to a new leadership, a rebuilt Jerusalem. Something they had never seen before.

Isaiah 65:17 - For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.

Response: At Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22 Jehovah told Isaiah that he was forming a "new heavens" and "new earth." This was fulfilled when the Israelites returned to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.E with a "new earth" (country) having been cleansed and a "new heavens" (government) having been replaced. M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopaedia (1891, Vol. IV, p. 122): "In Isa. lxv, 17, a new heaven and a new earth signify a new government, new kingdom, new people."

Jeremiah 31:22 - For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man.

Response: Revised Standard Version reads: "A woman protects a man." Moffatt's translation reads: "Frail woman becomes manly!" Rotherham reads: "A female defendeth a strong man!" The New World Translation reads: "A mere female will press around an able-bodied man." An American Translation reads: "The woman woos the man!"

Most translations fail to appreciate that the verse is in reference to Israel. The New World Translation and American Translation convey the idea within the context, which is that Israel had been like an unfaithful wife to Jehovah and he was going to see that that changed. The surrounding verses make this quite clear.

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Response: Here Paul refers to a new creation from God in union with Christ as verse 18 indicates.

2 Peter 3:13 - Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth.

Revelation 21:1 - And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

Response: At Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22 Jehovah told Isaiah that he was forming a "new heavens" and "new earth." This was fulfilled when the Israelites returned to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.E with a "new earth" (country) having been cleansed and a "new heavens" (government) having been replaced. M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopaedia (1891, Vol. IV, p. 122): "In Isa. lxv, 17, a new heaven and a new earth signify a new government, new kingdom, new people."

All that was happening in Isaiah's day is reflected in what John refers to at 2 Peter 3:13 and Revelation 21:1. Then, unfaithful Jerusalem was destroyed and it's kings replaced with the rule of others. There wouldn't be another king of the Jews until Christ. The destruction of the earth and heavens here is similar in that the unfaithful people are removed and the land is cleansed; the governments of earth under authority of Satan are replaced by another king.