ECCLESIASTES

A canonical book of the Old Testament. It is called “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem,” that is, of Solomon, who, from the great excellency of his instructions, was emphatically styled “the preacher.” The design of it is to show the vanity of all sublunary things, in order to which the author enumerates the several objects upon which men place their happine in this life, and then discovers the emptine and insufficiency of all worldly enjoyments, by many various reflections on the evils of human life. The conclusion of the whole is, in the words of the preacher, “Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” St. Jerome observes, that this pious inference prevented the Jews from suppre ing this whole book of Ecclesiastes, which they had thoughts of doing, (as well as many other writings of Solomon, which are now lost and forgotten,) because it a erts that the creatures of God are vain, and all things as nothing; it was also thought to contain some dangerous opinions, and some particular expre ions that might infuse doubts concerning the immortality of the soul. The word Ecclesiastes , which is Greek, signifies a preacher . The Hebrews call it Coheleth , which literally signifies a collector , because it is supposed to be a sermon or discourse delivered to an a embly. The Talmudists will have King Hezekiah to be the author of it. Kimchi ascribes it to Isaiah, and Grotius to Zorobabel; but the book itself affords no foundation for these conjectures. On the contrary, as observed by Mr. Holden, “The author is expre ly styled in the initiatory verse, the son of David, king in Jerusalem : and in the 12th verse he is described as king over Israel, in Jerusalem . These pa ages are found in every known MS., and in all the ancient versions; and Solomon, as is well known, was the only son of David who ever reigned in Jerusalem. The book has been thus admitted into the sacred canon as the production of Solomon, to whom it has also been ascribed by a regular and concurrent tradition. A collateral proof arises from the contents of the work itself, in which the author is stated to have excelled in wisdom beyond all who were before him in Jerusalem, and to have composed many proverbs: circumstances descriptive of Solomon, and of no other personage whose name is recorded in the Holy Scriptures. The writer is likewise represented as abounding in wealth and treasure, ., extremely applicable to Solomon.” Mr. Holden, and Mr. Desvœux, in their very learned and exhaustive di ertations, completely refute the really shallow objections of Grotius, Dathe, Eichhorn, and others, as to Solomon’s authorship. They do not, however, quite agree as to the scope of the book. Mr. Desvœux (to whom Dr. Graves, in his Lectures on the Pent a teuch, a ents) states that his object is to prove the immortality of the soul, or rather the nece ity of another state after this life, from such arguments as may be afforded by reason and experience. Mr. Holden abides by the generally received opinion, that it is “an arguing into the summum bonum , or chief good: not however merely as regarding happine in this life, but that which in all its bearings and relations is conducive to the best interests of man. This he finally determines to be true wisdom: ... and every part of the discourse, when considered in reference to this object, tends to develope the nature of true wisdom, to display its excellence, or to recommend its acquirement.” So Bishop Gray: “he endeavours to illustrate the insufficiency of earthly enjoyment; not with design to excite in us a disgust to life, but to influence us to prepare for that state where there is no vanity.” Ecclesiastes may justly be considered as a sequel to the Book of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes, according to a modern author, is a dialogue in which a man of piety disputes against a libertine who favoured the opinions of the Sadducees; his reason is, because there are some things in it which seem to contradict each other, and could not proceed from the same person. But this may be wholly owing to Solomon’s method of disputing pro and con , and proposing the objections of the Sadducees, to which he replies. The generality of commentators believe this book to be the product of Solomon’s repentance, after having experienced all the follies and pleasures of life; notwithstanding which, some have questioned whether Solomon be saved, and his repentance is still a problem in the Church of Rome.