Ecclesiastes: Or, The Preacher; The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Among the many mysteries of the Old Testament, the book of Ecclesiastes is supremely enigmatic. Ecclesiastes appears before us as the sphinx of Hebrew literature with its unsolved mysteries of history and life. The book of Ecclesiastes is a unique phenomenon in the composition of the Bible, clearly differing from all other books in the way of thinking of the author. It is difficult to name a book in the Old Testament that would have had a greater influence on the minds of readers over the centuries that have passed since its writing. That every interpreter in this book thinks all previous interpreters were wrong has become almost a proverb. Its name itself has received several dozen conflicting interpretations. The dates set by competent experts are about a thousand years from B.C. 990 to B.C.10. There is no less difference of opinion regarding its structure and goals. It was viewed as a formal treatise or as a collection of unrelated thoughts and maxims.