It addresses the human condition in such a way that Solomon is attempting to give words to experiences that are beyond words. This book does not need to be depressing, but if we study it well, Ecclesiastes will cut through any shallowness in our souls, leaving behind a desperate need for God to provide our lives with meaning, satisfaction, and joy. I love reading this book.
It always hold me to meditate on one scripture at a time because it is so powerful and it really open up your thoughts. It have reading over and over because of sharp words used that really gets to my heart. This is how I found you, trying to find out who wrote this rate specialty mysterious Book. I found it very interesting when reading this book, though, a times seems confuse for total condemning life here on earth where we lives. But interesting thing is that it offer solution to my confusion at the same time to focus to God as an ultimate source of reality.
You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Skip to content. Author The author identifies himself as the Preacher or Teacher. While the book is technically anonymous, Solomon is the most likely candidate. Background In the first chapter of Ecclesiastes , the author identifies himself as the Qoheleth the Preacher or Teacher.
Ecclesiastes shows us a man who lived through this process and came out on the other side with a wiser, more seasoned perspective. It only remains to be seen whether or not we will place our trust in His sure and able hands. Have you struggled with misplaced pursuits in life? Does your life lack the meaning and purpose you desire? Hear the words of Solomon that they might encourage you to place your trust solely in the Lord.
View Chuck Swindoll's chart of Ecclesiastes , which divides the book into major sections and highlights themes and key verses. Who wrote the book?
Where are we? He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true. The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Now all has been heard; there is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
Some have dated the book in the third or fourth century BC, claiming that the Hebrew of the book has characteristics of post-biblical Hebrew and that there is discernible influence from Greek philosophy.
This view, while popular among some scholars, must treat the book as a royal fiction, a genre well known in both Mesopotamia and Egypt. The presence of a few Persian loanwords and the identification of some Aramaic influence have been used to bolster this position. From the middle of the second century AD, some have questioned the authority of the book and therefore also its canonical status.
Initial objections from the rabbinic school of Shammai and others are cited in the Talmud but were never sufficient to cause serious doubt. Like several of the other poetic books, Ecclesiastes contains a number of literary genres. It makes use of allegories, sayings, metaphors, proverbs, and other forms. Beyond genre identifications there are a number of literary works known from the ancient Near East that address situations in which conventional wisdom is viewed as inconsistent with reality or experience.
Certainly this was the case in Job and its ancient Near Eastern counterparts. While this literature does not reject wisdom, it shows its limitations and insufficiency. In Mesopotamian literature an example would be the work known as the Dialogue of Pessimism. In each case the man then changes his mind and decides not to pursue the stated course of action.
This decision is likewise affirmed in each case by the slave with a wisdom-style observation. The conclusion one would draw is that wisdom sayings can be used to rationalize any given course of action. In Egyptian literature there is a piece in which a man considering suicide discusses various frustrations of life and his failure to find satisfaction.
In this respect it has some similarity to Ecclesiastes. These, however, seem to suggest a life of pleasure that is rejected by Qoheleth :. Even if some level of fulfillment or self-satisfaction were achieved, death is waiting at the end. Frustration and adversity are unavoidable, and answers to the hard questions of life are not forthcoming. On these terms the book confronts the crookedness and uncertainty of life and shows, probably unconsciously, the need for a concept of resurrection to bring harmony out of the discord of reality.
The message of Ecclesiastes is that the course of life to be pursued is a God-centered life. The pleasures of life are not intrinsically fulfilling and cannot offer lasting satisfaction, but they can be enjoyed as gifts from God. Life offers good times and bad and follows no pattern such as that proposed by the retribution principle. But all comes from the hand of God:. When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other.
Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future. This is a matter of some controversy among the interpreters of Ecclesiastes, because many scholars have found in its pages only pessimism or cynicism.
Fragments of the book found among the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Qumran community date to the mid-second century B. This is a place for gracious dialogue about science and faith. When was Ecclesiastes written? Open Forum Biblical Interpretation. Just one question. Does the date or even the author affect anything?
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