The Book of Ecclesiastes

Description

The Book of Ecclesiastes is a part of the Old Testament, the wisdom book that is attributed to King Solomon, the son of King David and contains lots of autobiographical elements as well as proverbs, sayings, maxims and aphorisms. The author of the Book is not known for sure, but according to many scholars, it was written by Solomon late during his life and dates back to around 935 B.C. The author offers the wisdom he acquired during his long life in order to spare future generations from having to experience themselves how futile and useless it is to seek material wealth and to show them how the principle goal in one’s life must be the seeking of God.

The Book comprises 12 chapters – the first two are about Solomon’s own experiences in life and his search for meaning; chapters 3, 4 and 5 provide the wise king’s explanations of things in life; chapters 6 to 8 contain his advice about life, while the last three chapters provide Solomon’s conclusion about the meaning of life and a summary of the wisdom contained in the previous chapters. According to the author, the sole purpose in life is the practice of devotion to God – this is the summary of his ideas and the conclusion he has come to after having lived so long and having seen and experienced so much.

The American Standard version of the Book of Ecclesiastes is part of the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901. It was published following a detailed revision of the King James Bible first published in 1611. The revision started in the 1870’s and was carried out by numerous scholars, working parallel to each other and striving to make the texts of the Bible more consistent in terminology and in grammar as well.
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