📖 The Book of Ecclesiastes
Start reading →Old Testament · 12 chapters · Wisdom
'Vanity of vanities' — the search for meaning under the sun.
Who wrote Ecclesiastes?
Author
Qoheleth (trad. Solomon)
Written
c. 935 BC
Genre
Wisdom
Self-identified as 'Qoheleth, son of David'. Linguistic features lead many modern scholars to date it post-exilic.
Why Ecclesiastes was written
The Preacher explores every human avenue for meaning — wisdom, pleasure, work, wealth — and finds them all ultimately empty apart from God. The conclusion: fear God and keep his commandments.
Outline of Ecclesiastes
- 11–2: The Preacher's experiment — wisdom, pleasure, work
- 23–8: Observations on life's apparent randomness and injustice
- 39–11: The unpredictability of life; call to action and enjoyment
- 412: The conclusion — fear God
Key verses
Ecclesiastes 1:2Ecclesiastes 3:11Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
How Ecclesiastes points to Christ
Ecclesiastes' dark honesty about the vanity of life 'under the sun' sets up the need for something from above the sun. Christ is the one who gives life meaning, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light (2 Tim. 1:10).
How Ecclesiastes begins
1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Read Ecclesiastes 1 →