Ecclesiastes.
Name. The Hebrew word means preacher and refers to or signifies one
who calls together and addresses assemblies.

The Personal or Human Element. Such expressions as "I perceived," "I
said in my heart," "I saw," etc., indicate that it is not the will of
God that is developed but a man is telling of his own ventures and
utter failure.

The General View or Key-phrase is "under the sun," with the sad
refrain, "vanity of vanities, all is vanity", and shows how a man
under the best possible conditions sought for joy and peace, trying at
its best every human resource. He had the best that could be gotten,
from human wisdom, from wealth, from worldly pleasure, from worldly
honor, only to find that all was "vanity and vexation of spirit." It
is what a man, with the knowledge of a holy God, and that He will
bring all into judgment, has learned of the emptiness of things "under
the sun" and of the whole duty of man to "fear God and keep his
commandments."

Purpose of the Book. The purpose, then, is not to express the doubts
or skepticism of the writer, not to record the complaining of a bitter
spirit. It is not the story of a pessimist or of an evil man turned
moralist. But it is intended to show that, if one should realize all
the aims, hopes and aspirations of life, they would not bring
satisfaction to the heart. His experience is used to show the result
of successful worldliness and self-gratification in contrast with the
outcome of the higher wisdom of the Godly life. We are shown that man
was not made for this world alone and not for selfish achievement or