The book of Ecclesiastes.

The Greek word Ecclesiastes derives from Ecclesia.Church and means a church preacher. In

Hebrew this book is called Koheleth, from kahal.congregation. Thus the book is a collection of

sayings of a church preacher.

  As  the  book itself obviously indicates, Ecclesiastes is a pseudonym taken by the son of

David who ruled in Jerusalem. This points to Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes. Solomon.s

authorship  is  further  confirmed  by  the  description of the author.s wisdom, wealth, glory and

luxurious life (see. Eccl. 1:12-18 and 1 Kings 4:29 and further).

  The main topic of the book of Ecclesiastes is the  vanity and emptiness of all earthly

things . labor, knowledge, riches, luxury and pleasures without faith in  God  and  life  after

death. The book teaches about the fear of God and keeping His commandments as the conditions

for possibility of happiness in this vain world. What is valuable is that the author presents this

teaching based on his personal experience of many years and his deep analysis. The reader of the

book can easily feel the great wisdom of the author enlightened by God.s revelation.

  In the beginning Ecclesiastes explains why human activities are vain and fruitless. The earth

and all the natural phenomena on the planet are going in a circle, and all the work they do does

not  change  the  quantity  of matter  nor  the  quality  of  the  acting  forces. The  first aspiration  of a

human is to learn. That is why Ecclesiastes, more than anyone else, tried to acquire knowledge.

But the knowledge he acquired resulted in vexation  of  spirit,  for  knowledge  does  not  provide

what is lacking, it does not correct the will corrupted by sin. Thus the increase in knowledge in-

creases sorrow. Another human aspiration is to find pleasure. To achieve this, Ecclesiastes ac-

quired wealth and indulged in sensual pleasures, but all this turned out to be vanity, for the ac-

cumulation of riches comes with hard labor and cares, and enjoyment of riches does not depend

on man, but on God in Whose hands is the very human life.

  Then Ecclesiastes depicts vanity of human life. Without God, everything in this life is lim-

ited in time and, like in inanimate nature, goes in a cycle: birth and death, joy and sadness, truth

and lie, love and hatred. But aspiration for life, truth, good and beauty has been placed into the

human spirit by the Creator. Hence, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Creator is going to satisfy

these aspirations . after death. There is no hope to satisfy these here because of the cycle of op-

posites. On this earth a person should believe in  God  and  humbly  obey  His  commandments,

should diligently do his religious and moral duties and not be deceived by the illusion of worldly

well-being. Only then can man acquire peace.

  Hence Ecclesiastes concludes that the purpose of human life is moral education to prepare

for the life after death, where a man.s happiness will be according to his moral merit.

  To summarize his observations, Ecclesiastes teaches about the significance of life here on

earth as a preparation for the life to come. Being moderate in using earthly things, one should

take care to do good. It is for this purpose that God created man.

  The book of Ecclesiastes is believed to have been written during the last years of Solomon.s

life, after he had experienced and understood much, and repented before God, having realized the

vanity of the pleasures of the flesh. The book of Ecclesiastes is replete with deep thoughts which

may not be fully understood and appreciated right away by a reader inexperienced with abstract

concepts.