Ecclesiastes

It’s part of the “wisdom literature” of the OT, (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, …depending on what list you’re using)

Wisdom literature deals with how to live well. Those who want to maintain harmonious relationships with friends, family, and God; who wish to avoid foolish mistakes in everyday life; or who desire to raise their children in the fear of the Lord will turn to the wisdom literature of the Bible for advice. (Got Questions)

...but...

Has been described as:

An enigma, wrapped in a conundrum, served up on a puzzle

Our name for the book comes from the Greek

Hebrew: קֹהֶ֫לֶת qōhelet or qohelth;

leader of the assembly; speaker of the assembly

Greek: ἐκκλησιαστής, Ecclesiastes

Note the similarity to Ecclesia

This from the Septuagint, rightly understood is roughly the same in meaning

Some translations will translate it or comment on it as “The Preacher,” which may be misleading, or “The Teacher” which may be marginally better

Maybe we should have invented a new English word: ecclesi-izer

Who?

Wrote it?

Historical understanding is Solomon writing with a self-describing pseudonym

He fits the profile from 1:1 & 12-14; he could well-afford to have done all the exploration described

Earliest Christian tradition agrees; most early Jewish tradition also agrees

Martin Luther saw it as post-exilic; many moderns agree, arguing from linguistic perspective—a couple words appear to be “loaned” words of Persian origin

The internal evidence seems to be a stronger argument for the traditional understanding

That makes the book, in my opinion, make more sense

Whoever it was, the name is something of a pen name, used for some purpose known only to the writer with any degree of certainty

When?

If Solomon, likely later in his reign c. 961 BC- c. 922 BC

If post-exilic, sometime after 538 BC

What?

The Core of the matter: What does it say? Is it no more than a pile of disconnected ramblings? Is a cohesive treatise trying to help people make sense out of life.

Let’s examine Ecclesiastes 3:18–21 “I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?”

That does not sound to be in agreement with the rest of Scripture!

However, when we stick it out to the end Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;” and...

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

Why?

CSB Study Bible: Notes (Contribution to the Bible)

Ecclesiastes must be read with care because some of its verses, if read in isolation, seem to contradict other biblical teachings. It seems to deny the afterlife (3:18–22), to warn us against being too righteous (7:16), and to recommend a life of pleasure (10:19). But the real purpose of Ecclesiastes is to force us to take our mortality seriously and thus to consider carefully how we should live. Ecclesiastes knocks away all the façades by which we disguise the fact that life is short and all our accomplishments will pass away. In this sense, Ecclesiastes anticipates the NT teaching that only God’s grace, and not excessive zeal, saves us.

Ecclesiastes anticipates the NT teaching that only God’s grace, and not excessive zeal, saves us.

My additional thought is that it offers hope in a world that does not give any

How...

…do we get through this?

A helpful thought: While Qohelet believes in divine judgment, he observes rampant injustice. The contradiction lies not in the text, but in life

The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

Attached outline is a helpful framework to understand the book