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Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes Ec*cle`si*as"tes, n. [L., fr. Gr. ? a preacher. See Ecclesiastic, a.] One of the canonical books of the Old Testament. [1913 Webster]

Bible Dictionary

Ecclesiastes
(the preacher). The title of this book is in Hebrew Koheleth,signifying one who speaks publicly in an assembly. Koheleth isthe name by which Solomon, probably the author, speaks ofhimself throughout the book. The book is that which itprofesses to be,--the confession of a man of wide experiencelooking back upon his past life and looking out upon thedisorders and calamities which surround him. The writer is aman who has sinned in giving way to selfishness and sensuality,who has paid the penalty of that sin in satiety and wearinessof life, but who has through all this been under the disciplineof a divine education, and has learned from it the lesson whichGod meant to teach him.