Commentary for Ecclesiastes 1:7

All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. Because they do not remain therein, for the ocean is higher than the entire world, as it is stated, “He summons the waters of the sea and pours them, etc.”³⁰Amos 5:8. Now from where does a person pour? From above downward, and the rivers flow in the tunnels under the mountains from the ocean and flow repeatedly,³¹They continue this cycle perpetually. and this is [the meaning of], “to the place where the rivers flow, there they continue [to flow].” Also, the wicked man, wherever he came from, so he will go.

“All the rivers go to the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place that the rivers go, they go there again” (Ecclesiastes 1:7).
“All the rivers go to the sea,” and from where does the earth drink?³²Which waters are provided to the earth in the form of rain? Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Eliezer says: It drinks from the water of the ocean, as it is stated: “A mist went up from the earth [and watered the entire face of the ground]” (Genesis 2:6).³³Thus, it is water from the earth that turns to vapor and then falls as rain. Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: ‘Isn’t the water of the ocean salty?’ He said to him: ‘They are sweetened in the clouds, as it is written: “Which the skies pour down” (Job 36:28). Where do they become what pours down? It is in the skies.’ Rabbi Yehoshua says: [The earth] drinks from the upper waters, as it is stated: “From the rain of the heavens you drink water” (Deuteronomy 11:11). The clouds ascend from the earth to the heavens and receive [the water] as though from the mouth of a bottle, as it is written: “Which distill rain to His mist” (Job 36:27). They separate them like a sieve and one drop does not touch another, as it is written: “The amassing of water, thick clouds of the skies’ (II Samuel 22:12). Why does it call them skies [sheḥakim]? It is because they crush [shoḥekin] the water.³⁴Separating the water into separate drops. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: Like an omasum.³⁵The third stomach in the animal that grinds the food. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: Like the intestines of an animal.³⁶That crush the food. It is as Rabbi Yehoshua said: A day of rainfall is great, as it is equivalent to the entire act of Creation.³⁷Rabbi Yehoshua’s opinion that rainwater is from the upper waters in the heavens, which comes to earth, is consistent with his statement that this process is an act equivalent to Creation itself (Midrash HaMevoar). What is the reason? “Who performs great things beyond scrutiny and wonders beyond number” (Job 9:10); with what? “Who gives water on the face of the earth…” (Job 5:10).

How did the earth drink?³⁸Before there was rain, as described in Genesis 2:6. Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Simon, and the Rabbis, Rabbi Yehuda says: Like the Nile, which waters [the land] and then waters it again.³⁹It periodically overflows its banks, watering the surrounding land. Rabbi Simon said: It is like a box, like the Kavriel [River], whose [water] rises and is [then] absorbed into the ground.⁴⁰The water is present in the winter, and is absorbed into the earth in the summer, at which point crops are planted in the moist earth and are harvested before the river reappears the following winter (Midrash HaMevoar). The Rabbis say: It is like the Tevaha . Why is it called Tevaha? It is because it waters once every forty years,⁴¹One would naturally be astounded [toheh] that this was sufficient to water the land. and it is from it that the earth drank at the outset, as it is stated: “A mist went up from the earth [and watered the entire face of the ground]” (Genesis 2:6). But the Holy One blessed be He then instituted that the earth would drink only from above. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman [said] in the name of Rabbi Ḥanin of Tzippori, and some say Rabbi Ḥanin of Tzippori [said] in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman: For four reasons the Holy One blessed be He instituted that the earth would drink only from above: Due to violent people;⁴²Who would otherwise take all the water for themselves. in order to wash away the harmful dews; so the highlands will drink like the lowlands; and so everyone will lift their eyes heavenward, as it is stated: “[Who gives rain upon the earth… to set the lowly on high…” (Job 5:10–11).