Eclesiastés 1:5 Midrash: Midrash Aggadah, Sifrei Devarim, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition) & Vayikra Rabbah

Another interpretation: "And the life of Sarah." Why is this parsha next to the verse above, as it is stated: "Milcah has borne?" This is what that sage said: "The sun rises and the sun sets." (Ecclesiastes 1:5) That the sun of Rebecca rose before the death of Sarah, our mother.

Similarly, (Koheleth 1:1) "The words of Koheleth son of David, king in Jerusalem": Now did Solomon prophesy only these alone? Did he not write three books? We are hereby taught that they were words of rebuke, viz. (Ibid. 4-7) "A generation goes and a generation comes … and the sun shines and the sun sets … It goes to the south and it turns to the north. Round and round (east and west) goes the wind … All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full." The wicked are spoken of as sun, earth, and sea, which have no reward.

R. Chiya b. Abba, in the name of R. Jochanan, said: "A righteous man does not depart from the world, till another righteous man like him has been born, as it is said (Ecc. 1, 5) The sun rises, the sun goes down; i.e., before the sum of Eli had been extinguished, the sun of Samuel of Ramah already shone." Again said R. Chiya b. Abba, in the name of R. Jochanan: "The Holy One, praised be He! perceived that the righteous men were few, so He planted them in every generation, as it is said (I Sam. 2, 8) For the Lord's are the pillars of the earth, on which He hath set the world." Again said R. Chiya b. Abba, in the name of R. Jochanan: "Even through the merits of one righteous man, the world can exist, as it is said (Prov. 10, 25) The righteous is the foundation of the world." R. Chiya b. Abba said on his own authority: "We infer it from the following passage (I Sam. 2, 9) He ever guardeth the feet of His pious one." But the Khasidav (pious ones) are spoken of in the plural?" R. Nachman remarked: "It is nevertheless spelled in the singular." R. Chiya b. Abba said further, in the name of R. Jochanan: "When a man has lived the greater part of his life without having sinned, he will sin no more, for it is said (Ib.) He ever guardeth the feet [the end] of His pious ones." At the school of R. Shila it was said: "When a man has had occasion to commit a sin once and twice, and he escapes committing it, he will be guarded thereafter from sinning, as it is said (Ib.) He ever guardeth the feet of His pious ones."