L’Ecclésiaste 1:7 Midrash : Bereshit Rabbah & Shir HaShirim Rabbah

“Because the Lord God did not cause it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man…” – were it not for man, there would be no covenant made with the earth to cause rain to fall on it, as it is stated: “Who would…bring rain on land with no man, or on a wilderness with no person in it?” (Job 38:26).

“All the streams go to the sea, [yet the sea is not full; to the place that the streams go, there they go again]” (Ecclesiastes 1:7) – there was an incident involving Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, who set sail in the Great Sea, and their ship entered a place in the sea where the water was not moving. Rabbi Eliezer said to Rabbi Yehoshua: ‘We came here only for some test.’¹⁹To learn something from our experience. They filled a barrel of water from that place. When they arrived in Rome, Hadrian, may his bones be crushed, said to them: ‘What is the nature of seawater?’²⁰How is it that the sea does not flood the land with all the streams that flow into it? They said to him: ‘It contains water that absorbs water.’²¹Certain seawater has the ability to absorb other water into itself without swelling over. He said to them: ‘Give me some of it [to test].’ They gave him a bowlful. He put water into it, and it swallowed it up.
According to the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer,²²The midrash is addressing the verse cited earlier, “All the streams go to the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place that the streams go, there they return [shavim] again” (Ecclesiastes 1:7). it is from there [the sea] that they [the streams] draw [sho’avim] water.²³The clouds draw water from the sea and then fill the streams. See section 10. According to the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua, “there they return [shavim] again.”²⁴The streams do not get their water from the sea; what the verse means is that the water of the streams constantly flows into the sea.
“A mist would rise from the earth, and water all of the surface of the ground” (Genesis 2:6).
How was the earth watered? Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Neḥemya, and the Rabbis, Rabbi Yehuda says: Like the Nile, which [floods over and] waters, and then waters again. Rabbi Neḥemya said: Like the inside of the [bed of the] Kavriya Stream, which wells up [and waters it] and is absorbed back into the ground. The rabbis say: It is like the Tavai. There is a river in Babylon named Tavai. Why do they call it Tavai? It is because it irrigates [its surroundings] once in forty years.²⁵The word tavai is related to tohu (emptiness), as, in between its rare inundations, the surrounding area is desolate.
That is the way that the earth was irrigated at the beginning, as it is written: “A mist would rise from the earth,” but the Holy One blessed be He reconsidered, [ordaining] that the earth should [thenceforth] be watered only from above. Rabbi Ḥanan of Tzippori said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Rabbi Naḥman: The Holy One blessed be He reconsidered, [ordaining] that the earth should be watered only from above, for four reasons: Because of powerful people;²⁶That they should not use their might to take all the water for themselves. in order to wash away harmful dew;²⁷That had accumulated on the crops. so that the highlands could be watered just like the lowlands; and so that everyone would direct their eyes heavenward.²⁸To pray to God for rain. That is what is written: “To raise the lowly on High” (Job 5:11).

Ḥananya, the nephew of Rabbi Yehoshua, said: Between each commandment and [the next] commandment the portions and the details of the Torah were inscribed. Rabbi Yoḥanan, when he was explaining verses and would arrive at this verse: “Set with beryl,” would say: The nephew of Rabbi Yehoshua taught me well. Just as regarding waves [galim],⁷²This is expounded from the phrase “rods of [gelilei] gold.” between one large wave and another large wave there are small waves, so too, between each commandment and [the next] commandment, the portions and the details of the Torah were inscribed. “Set with beryl [tarshish]” – this is the Talmud, which is like the Great Sea, just as it says: “To Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3),⁷³Jonah attempted to flee to Tarshish, which was a significant sea voyage away. just as it says: “All the streams go to the sea” (Ecclesiastes 1:7).⁷⁴All the other disciplines of Torah flow into the sea of Talmud.
“His belly is a slab of ivory” – this is the book of Leviticus. Just as regarding the belly, the heart is on this side and the legs are on the other side and it is in the middle, so too the book of Leviticus, there are two [books] on this side and two on that side and it is in the middle. “A slab of ivory” – just as a slab of ivory, you can craft from it several pegs and javelins, so too the book of Leviticus contains several mitzvot, several details, several a fortiori inferences, several instances of pigul,⁷⁵Pigul refers to an offering disqualified by the fact that in the course of the four sacrificial rites one has the intent to sprinkle the blood or eat the flesh of the offering beyond its appointed time. and several instances of notar⁷⁶This is an offering that is left over after the appointed time for its consumption. written in the book of Leviticus.