Qoheleth — Who Was He and What’s He Going On About?
This was originally posted at my old blog. I am transferring much of that comment to my newer blogs now.
Qoheleth might seem a strange pseudonym for the writer of this book, which bears his name as its title. Qoheleth is a Hebrew word, the Greek translation being “Ecclesiastes,” which is often translated into English as “The Preacher.” It literally means “one who calls or convenes together the congregation,” which might be why we so often choose this English term. However, the words “teacher,” “scholar,” or “philosopher” would work equally well in English.
Qoheleth is certainly not typical of our idea of a preacher, especially since his “text” is taken from his experiences and observations in life, not from Scripture. He isn’t interested in exposition on some bit of the Word of God. In fact, his subject matter is, simply put, life without God. He refers to this many times in his text as life “under the sun.”
In his book, Qoheleth is not called by a proper name, but he identifies himself as “Son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1), which points to Solomon or one of his descendants. He claims to be a wise man who “set in order many proverbs” (12:9-10), which seems to indicate Solomon a little more clearly.
Dual authorship or editorship has been argued. It is certainly possible, but I don’t see a real reason to take this view, and it seems to me one that mostly is just there to be cute. (No disrespect meant to the scholars who hold that view — I am admitting that I am taking a shortcut here rather than discussing this point indepth, fascinating though it may be.) My conclusion is that there is one author, probably Solomon himself, but possibly one of Solomon’s students recording his teachings in a Plato-Socrates sort of relationship. Whatever. I’ll just stick to calling him by the name he’s chosen for himself, Qoheleth.
Qoheleth’s writing style is fairly unique amongst the Bible books. He gives us a record of his own experiences in seeking answers to life’s “ultimate questions.” He writes in the genre of “wisdom literature.” Wisdom literature was common in Solomon’s day, and other Old Testament books of this style include Proverbs, Job, and also Song of Solomon and Lamentations to a degree. There are also other scattered examples in the Old Testament.
In wisdom literature, it is important to see the book as a whole, not simply piece by piece, and it is important to follow the whole argument. Often, this is not done, and people end up thinking the main point is what was actually intended to be a negative example. “Wisdom,” within this genre, doesn’t mean a course in theory, and it is not abstract. Neither is it focused on doctrinal issues. It is the discipline of applying truth to one’s life in light of experience, and its goal is to encourage responsible, successful living. The focus of wisdom literature is generally on the behaviour of people, whether they apply truth to their lives, and whether they learn from experience. Hebrew wisdom literature differs from that of other nations in its emphasis on the Lord as the source of wisdom, and the goal of wisdom is to please him.
Qoheleth departs, to a large degree, from this national/cultural convention. Qoheleth’s message seems to be pretty straightforward — it offers us a record of his life search, and he is seeking the summum bonum. He doesn’t approach this from the typical Jewish paradigm, instead he forsakes Yahweh and seeks satisfaction in this life. His theme is best stated as a question: “Is life worth living?” What he finds is what many have since found; all is vanity in this life under the sun. Nothing here really lasts, and therefore, it disappoints.
Another point about Qoheleth’s writing that makes it unique within Hebrew wisdom literature is the universality of his message. He has forsaken the God of Israel and is determined to go about this on his own. So, appropriately, he appeals not to Israel’s covenant relationship with Jehovah, but to universally observable facts about life in this world, life under the sun. He does not start with the usual premise of Hebrew wisdom literature, which is obedience, but with a basic question: “Have you learned to cope with this life as it really is?”
If you’d like to try your hand at writing some wisdom literature for the modern world, Live Oak has posted a fun new challenge here.
