That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
That which hath been is now. That which bath been in the mind of God from eternity is now realized in time. The constancy of God's government is a consideration calculated to inspire equanimity.
That which is to be hath already been - in the divine counsels. Resumption of Ecclesiastes 1:9. Whatever changes there be, the succession of events is ordered by God's "everlasting" laws (Ecclesiastes 3:14), and returns in a fixed cycle.
God requireth that which is past. After many changes, God's law requires the return of the same cycle of events as in the past; literally, that which is driven on. The Septuagint and Syriac translate, 'God requireth (i:e., avengeth) the persecuted [Hebrew, nirdaap (H7291)] man;' cf. "get," or "seek" (Ecclesiastes 3:6). But the Vulgate, and the parallel clauses, here support the English version. Lamentations 5:5 used the Hebrew as the Septuagint take it. So Hengstenberg. Matthew 5:10 corresponds. The transition to Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 is thus easy, which it is not in the English version.