Who is the Preacher in Ecclesiastes?

If the Preacher or Convener had not described himself as son of David, king in Jerusalem, who else could have written it but Solomon? He tells us too that he was "king over Israel in Jerusalem"? Who could this possibly be but Solomon? Even his immediate heir quickly ceased to be king over Israel, losing ten out of the twelve tribes, and became distinctively king over Judah as opposed to Israel. But even if the book had no such marks as Ecclesiastes 1:1, and 12, who does, who could, speak of wisdom as in the latter half of Ecclesiastes 1 but Solomon? Who could sit in judgment of all that is done under the heavens, and pronounce on its nothingness as in Ecclesiastes 2, but one with the weight of that great king? Was any one that ever lived after him in Jerusalem entitled so truly as he to speak of great works that he made, of building and planting with every accessory; of servants within and without; of such possession of herds and flocks and on such a scale of grandeur; of wisdom remaining, notwithstanding vast accumulations of silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings? There is no real ground to imagine an anonymous writer personating Solomon: an idea quite alien to scripture, though reasonable in the eyes of worldly men used to fiction, Here all is intense and solemn reality, as he had proved too well who could speak beyond any.

No author's name is mentioned in the book of Ecclesiastes. Already old Jewish tradition says that King Solomon is the author of this book of the Bible. And yet Solomon's authorship has many a times been doubted at for two reasons. Firstly for language reasons and secondly because the name Jehovah does not appear in the book. Both reasons however are neither sound nor compelling (compare with what is said under Peculiarities).

In Ecclesiastes chap. 1:1+12 the author calls himself son of David and king in Jerusalem. In verse 16 he speaks of his great wisdom which according to 1 Kings 3:12; 4:2f; 10:1 only King Solomon had. In Eccl. 12:9 he mentions that he set in order many proverbs. This fact also speaks for Solomon only (see 1 Kings 4:32; Prov. 1:1).

Various expressions in Ecclesiastes would indicate that Solomon wrote the book only in old age (Eccl. 1:12 - 2:11; 11:9 - 12:7). This is where the author reviews a long life and all his thoughts and deeds and where he is warning youth and points to old age.

The title the book bears in our English translation comes from the Septuagint, and is an attempted translation of the Hebrew word "Koheleth", which Luther in the German version translated with "Preacher" (Prediger); it is thus translated in the King James version in the opening verse of the book--"The words of the preacher." But the Hebrew word Koheleth can hardly mean preacher. It is derived from the verb "kahal" which means "to gather" or "assemble." The word "kahal" has been translated "congregation," or as the Greek of the Septuagint translates it "ecclesia." Koheleth is feminine, evidently a word specially provided, and it has been suggested that this was done to correspond to "wisdom" in Proverbs, which is also the feminine gender (Prov. 1:20). Perhaps the word "debater" comes nearest to the meaning of the original. The word Koheleth is found nowhere else in the Bible; but in Ecclesiastes it occurs seven times, three times in the beginning, once in the middle and three times at the end of the book.

The title "preacher" is the rendering of the Hebrew word qohelet (female gender) that is derived from the verb qahal (Engl. to gather). The word qohelet appears seven times in Ecclesiastes (chap. 1:1,2,12; 7:27; 12:8-10) but nowhere else in the Bible. The translators of the Septuagint have rendered it with ecclesiasts (from ecclesia, Engl. Assembly, church). Martin Luther was the first one to translate this word (which is difficult to translate) with "preacher". But this meaning has been questioned. Another explanation is based on the principle meaning of "gathering publicly". Accordingly the wisdom described in Ecclesiastes is the one accessible to all men. It is so to say the wisdom taught in the temple court whereas the hidden wisdom taught in the sanctuary (Ps. 73:17) is only opened up for believers. This wisdom is described in Proverbs, which as already mentioned are the "sequel" to Ecclesiastes.

The book of Ecclesiastes then is of great value, and might profitably be studied by men of the world in our day. Its writer had no reason to bear a grudge against the world: as men would say, it had used him well, conceding him his place, paying him due honour, and rendering him full homage to his marvellous wisdom. For "King Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year" (2 Chron. 9:22-24).

Competent then surely to tell us what life is, what has he to say of it? how does he describe it? "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity" (Eccl. 1:2). Were these the words of a disappointed man whose hopes had been cruelly crushed and himself roughly treated by the way, none could wonder at such a commencement. But these are the words of the most prosperous, humanly speaking, of men the world has ever witnessed. "Vanity of vanities" - a mere breath, a vapour passing over the earth, short-lived in its existence, such is the recorded experience of the son of David, king in Jerusalem, and that not of some things, but of all - "All is vanity," "saith the Preacher." And here he takes a title not elsewhere met with outside this book - Preacher. He would collect those about him who were desirous to hear and instruct them, for such is the meaning of the term. So, while other portions of Scripture treat of the future and the path of the righteous on earth, this addresses itself to all whose hearts are in the world pursuing the occupations of life, and tells them what they really are, as the king's son has discovered by his own experience and has recorded by the pen of inspiration for the instruction of all who will hearken to him.

"What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?" He takes up the diligent, well-occupied man, toiling away, the man who finds plenty to do and is happy in doing it, thoroughly engaged in the business of life. But why this cry of the Preacher who "sought to find out acceptable words"? (Chap. 12:10). And why does he view things so mournfully? The secret comes out. "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever." The earth abides; man does not; hence the question that needs no answer, "What profit," etc.

Both Jewish and Christian tradition ascribe this book to King Solomon. The book itself does not leave us in doubt about it. Chapter 1:12-16 is conclusive. If this is disputed, as it is almost universally among rationalistic critics, and also by some who are not rationalists, we may well ask the question, Who wrote Ecclesiastes? The higher critic is unable to give a satisfactory answer. They give the date of the book and its composition about 250-235 B.C. The book itself shows that this is impossible, for the author of it lived at a time when Israel had reached the zenith of prosperity and glory. That time was during Solomon's reign. If Solomon was not the author, then another person living during the reign of Solomon must have written the book. But everything shows that only Solomon could have been the author fit and fitted to write this book.

As already stated Jewish teachers and Christian teachers give decisive testimony for the Solomonic authorship. In a Jewish commentary of Ecclesiastes (Midrash Koheleth) which was written almost 1,200 years ago, a large number of learned and ancient rabbis bear witness to the fact that Solomon is the author. The Targum, or paraphrase, on this book, composed in the sixth century A.D., with many other Jewish commentators, speaks of Solomon as the writer of Ecclesiastes. Equally uniform is the testimony of the teachers of the early church. The critics fully acknowledge this consensus of Jewish and Christian opinion and they have an explanation for it. They say these scholars and commentators "wanted the faculty of historical criticism, one might almost say, of intellectual discernment of the meaning and drift of a book or individual passages,... and that they had no material for forming that opinion other than those which are in our hands at the present time" (Dr. E.H. Plumbtree in The Cambridge Bible). We shall see what the "intellectual discernment" is, of which critics constantly boast, and we shall find that it is but another term for "infidelity."

Ecclesiastes (the preacher). The opening words of the book are conclusive as to its authorship, "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, King in Jerusalem." The boundary of Solomon's horizon is the sun, beneath it all is pronounced "Vanity." Read the book, and you will say that it was evidently written by Solomon at the close of his reign, in the evening of his life; probably too in Jerusalem, at least in Palestine.

One class of critics boldly tell us that the book was not written by Solomon, but that some unknown author assumed the name, and personified the character, of Israel's wisest and richest monarch, because they have discovered that the style is not that of Solomon's, nor the circumstances in the book in accordance with his reign. "Knowledge puffeth up;" and so these wise men in their own conceit regard with a sneer and with supreme contempt the fact that God has settled the question of the authorship of the book (Eccles. 1:1), and further that it always held its present place in all Hebrew Bibles, and formed part of the Sacred Scriptures in the days of Christ and writers of the New Testament. We suppose, moreover, that the Jewish mind is quite as capable as any modern critic in estimating the value of differences in style and diction — of Hebrew writers especially; yet the Jews ancient and modern fail to see a difficulty in assigning the authorship to Solomon. As to style, the Holy Ghost has none of His own. He is free to use the style and character of any human vessel He sees fit. But enough, God has spoken (chap. 1:1), and we would reverently bow and implicitly believe.

The Book of Ecclesiastes has been a great puzzle to many of the learned. They cannot understand how a king like Solomon could have had such an experience or have written such a book. They judge that it must have been written long after, as when the Jews were under the rule of the Persians, and that Solomon was only personated by the writer. It is plainly seen in their arguments that they overlook that which runs through the book, and which is the key to its being understood, namely, that all is viewed from man's point of view, expressed as 'under the sun.' When Solomon rises above this, as he does in the Proverbs, how different his experience, and the wisdom is divine. Then he speaks much of Jehovah, the name of relationship, which name, as said above, does not occur in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Verses 1-11. In the general introduction we have already referred to the opening verses as giving the information who the author is and what is the object of his treatise. So sure is the critical school that Solomon is not the king mentioned that one says "the fact that Solomon is not the author, but is introduced in a literary figure, has become such an axiom of the present day interpretation of the book, that no extended argument to prove it is necessary." Still another makes the following remarks as to the date of the book: "I shall presume that we have in this book, a late, perhaps the very latest, portion of the Old Testament canon; and that the book was written, not in the palmy days of the empire of Solomon, but at a time when the Jewish people, once so full of aspirations to universal empire, always so intolerant of foreign supremacy, was lying beneath the yoke of Persian or Syrian or Egyptian kings; when the Holy Land had become a province, ruled by some Eastern satrap, and suffering from the rapacity and corruption inherent at all times in such government" (Dean Bradley). Such presumptions spring from ignorance about the message of the book. We shall find in the text the above assertions refuted and a confirmation likewise of the Solomonic authorship.

"Before following the Preacher in his great quest it should be noted that he is to be viewed as a man who himself belongs under the sun. Whether the word Koheleth is rendered "preacher," "debater," or "assembler," or "one of an Assembly," the whole tenor of the teaching proves it is wisdom from under the sun, natural wisdom, that is speaking. The wisest of men undertakes to observe and experiment with life under the sun, in order to find out for all men the outcome of all his searchings, and then rehearses all to an assembly of his fellows. He is not supposed to know any divinely-revealed wisdom, or to have heard of a righteousness of faith, or of divine mercy, or of forgiveness of sins. He is to make answer as a natural man to whom is given the resources and helps common to natural men, only he is wiser and richer than they, and so must bring the final answer for all. And also he is a Hebrew and knows of one living and true God. When he says "thou," in advice or warning, it is not so much to some disciple or "son" he is speaking as to himself, or he is then assuming a high ground, far above "the maddening crowd," but it is soon apparent how, in these most exalted frames of the pious and philosophic mind, he is still only a natural man, for he is found, soon after, in the depth of despair uttering his disgust and hate of life and exclaiming: "The whole is vapor and a chasing of the wind." That "thou" is, after all a sign that he is talking to himself, telling what he and all men under the sun ought to do, but utterly fail to do.

Solomon also was called "the Preacher." His father, King David, was wont to declare the wonderful works of the Lord "in the great congregation." He probably addressed the multitudes that gathered several times a year for the great religious festivals at Jerusalem. Solomon apparently did the same (Ecc. 1:1).

He preached of wisdom in contrast with the vanity of vanities" that characterises everything beneath the sun. The wisdom of God was in this royal preacher (1 Kings 3:28). God gave him "wisdom and understanding exceeding much." Moses was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," but the wisdom of Solomon "excelled … all the wisdom of Egypt" (1 Kings 4:29-30).