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Ecclesiastes Hebrew: written c. 450–200 BCE, is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and one of the "Wisdom" books of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word (Kohelet, Koheleth, Qoheleth or Qohelet). An unnamed author introduces "Kohelet" as the son of David (1:1) and does not use his own voice again until the final verses (12:9–14), where he gives his own thoughts and summarises the statements of "Kohelet"; the main body of the text is ascribed to Kohelet himself.

Kohelet proclaims that all human actions are hevel, "vapor" or "breath", meaning "insubstantial", "vain", or "futile", since the lives of both wise and foolish people all end in death. While Kohelet clearly endorses wisdom as a means for a well-lived earthly life, he is unable to ascribe eternal meaning to it. In light of this perceived senselessness, he suggests that human beings should enjoy the simple pleasures of daily life, such as eating, drinking, and taking enjoyment in one's work, which are gifts from the hand of God. The book concludes with the injunction to "Fear God and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. Since every deed will God bring to judgment, for every hidden act, be it good or evil".

The book takes its name from the Greek ekklesiastes, a translation of the title by which the central figure refers to himself: Kohelet, meaning something like "one who convenes or addresses an assembly". According to rabbinic tradition, Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon in his old age (an alternative tradition that "Hezekiah and his colleagues wrote Isaiah, Proverbs, the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes" probably means simply that the book was edited under Hezekiah), but critical scholars have long rejected the idea of a pre-exilic origin. The presence of Persian loan-words and Aramaisms points to a date no earlier than about 450 BCE, while the latest possible date for its composition is 180 BCE, when the Jewish writer Ben Sira quotes from it. The dispute as to whether Ecclesiastes belongs to the Persian or the Hellenistic periods (i.e., the earlier or later part of this period) revolves around the degree of Hellenization (influence of Greek culture and thought) present in the book. Scholars arguing for a Persian date (c. 450–330 BCE) hold that there is a complete lack of Greek influence; those who argue for a Hellenistic date (c. 330–180 BCE) argue that it shows internal evidence of Greek thought and social setting.

Also unresolved is whether the author and narrator of Kohelet are one and the same person. Ecclesiastes regularly switches between third-person quotations of Kohelet and first-person reflections on Kohelet's words, which would indicate the book was written as a commentary on Kohelet's parables rather than a personally-authored repository of his sayings. Some scholars have argued that the third-person narrative structure is an artificial literary device along the lines of Uncle Remus, although the description of the Kohelet in 12:8–14 seems to favour a historical person whose thoughts are presented by the narrator. The question, however, has no theological importance, and one scholar (Roland Murphy) has commented that Kohelet himself would have regarded the time and ingenuity put into interpreting his book as "one more example of the futility of human effort".

Courtesy: Wikipedia
- Ecclesiastes

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