ECCLESIASTES (the Preacher), called in Hebrew Koheleth, is generally supposed to have been written by Solomon at the close of his life, after his lapse (1 Kings xi.1-13), and expresses his penitence. He holds himself up as a warning to others; from its title, it is thought that he delivered it in public. It is a narrative of the attempts of a worldling in various ways to find happiness. He has fits of study, of pleasure, of sensuality, of refinement, of luxury, of misanthropy, of construction, mechanical skill, of book-making. All are unsatisfying, and leave a void; the conclusion being that all is an empty pleasure but the fear of God, and that subservience to Him is the only perfect freedom. Wisdom is here used in the modern sense, viz. possession of knowledge.

The Canonicity of this book is acknowledged by Jews and early Christian writers; but the former did not rank it among the poetical books, the major part of it being prose.

Both the age and authorship of this book are controverted. The mixture of the Hebrew with Aramaic words is thought to stamp it as belonging to the same age as the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, with which its subject-matter seems to accord; e.g. the expression of misery under a tyrannical government, sudden reversions of fortune, the tone of despondency, the moral and religious declension, and the condition of literature,—all seem to breathe an atmosphere more like that subsequent to the return from the Captivity, than the golden age of Solomon. The attempts, however, to fix its date have, so far, manifested very little unanimity.