Author of Ecclesiastes?

[Eoghan]

Who in your opinion (bearing in mind the internal evidences)wrote Ecclesiastes?

 

[Edward]

well, God was the author. I suppose it depends on what 'wrote' means.

 

[Ed Walsh]

Who in your opinion (bearing in mind the internal evidences)wrote Ecclesiastes?

I think all agree that Ecclesiastes is written “as though” Solomon wrote it: Ecc 1:1 the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Ecc 1:16 Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

Who else but Solomon could this be referring to?

But I still do not think Solomon actually wrote it. Primarily because there is no evidence of his repentance elsewhere in Scripture. 1 Kings 11:9-11 9-And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, 10-And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded. 11-Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

Nevertheless, some would say that Ecclesiastes itself is all the evidence we need of repentance.

But as to your question, I have no idea who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.

 

[Romans922]

Primarily because there is no evidence of his repentance elsewhere in Scripture

Why is this a factor in who wrote it?

 

[Bill The Baptist]

Primarily because there is no evidence of his repentance elsewhere in Scripture

Why is this a factor in who wrote it?

I agree. Repentance would mean that Solomon put away his foreign wives and put away idolatry in the land, but Ecclesiastes merely indicates that he was sorrowful and had come to an understanding of his error, but apparently he did not put this knowledge into action.

 

[Ed Walsh]

Quote Originally Posted by Ed Walsh View Post
Primarily because there is no evidence of his repentance elsewhere in Scripture

Why is this a factor in who wrote it?

Just mentioned the fact, not as "proof" but as evidence to support my view.
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I am not an authority so I have provided some links that may be helpful. As a young Christian I wondered about the authorship of Ecclesiastes. When talking to a wise older man about my doubts he strongly suggested I read Hengstenburg. I replied that that is where I got my ideas. He couldn’t believe me until he checked it out for himself.

Below are some resources with links:

The Bibliotheca Sacra and Biblical Repository, Volume 18 - Read about Hengstenburg’s Commentary


Ernest W. Hengstenberg - Ecclesiastes
This link will take you to page 8 and Start reading at the first new paragraph on page 8 “The only argument…” Then start a search for “Solomon” Be patient and you will get a bunch of links to the word “Solomon” He talks more about authorship in chapter one.

You can buy the Hengstenberg commentary on Ecclesiastes here:


The Book of Ecclesiastes By Tremper Longman - Select page 4 for the first page of his introduction where he mentions commentators the do not think Solomon was the author.

Here’s another commentator, Thomas Tyler on Ecclesiastes - Start with page 3 “The Alleged Solomonic Authorship”

 

[Cymro]

I am personally persuaded by Hengstenberg's reasoning respecting the authorship.
He associates Ecclesiastes with the same period of Malachi. It is written to the church
which was troubled and weakened,and she was looking back to the glory days of Solomon.He
shows that to attribute it to Solomon would make him a voyeur with his experimentation respecting drink,
pleasure and sexual connotations. Rather the Author uses Solomon as ideal representation of wisdom, calling him Koheleth h(the Assembler)which occurs 3 times in the first chapter,once in the middle, and
3 times in the last chapter.Interestingly Koholeth is mainly masculine, but also sometimes feminine. "The very name is an impersonal one, showing that the person to whom it is applied belongs to the region of poetry, not to that of reality."