전도서
Summary Ecclesiastes explains that human beings try to find the meaning of life through wisdom, pleasure, wealth, labor, and the like, but in the end arrive at vanity. Human effort and achievement do not give ultimate satisfaction and reveal their limits before death. Through this reality, it leads people to fear God and to look to the life that belongs to God.
- Date written
- 10th–3rd century BC (estimated)
- Historical period
- Era of wisdom literature
Background
The author of Ecclesiastes has traditionally been understood to be Solomon, the son of David and king in Jerusalem. In the text he introduces himself as “the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” The date of writing cannot be known precisely; there is the traditional view that places it in Solomon’s time, around the 10th century BC, and the view that it was written later in the process of editing the wisdom literature. This book belongs to the wisdom literature, and through realistic observation it explains human life, time, death, labor, wisdom, and more, revealing the limits of human existence.
Content
Ecclesiastes 1–2 begins with the declaration that all the toil in the world and all human achievement are in the end vanity. It shows that although one seeks the meaning of life through wisdom and pleasure, wealth and great works, true satisfaction cannot be gained in the end by human effort. Chapters 3–6 say that there is a time for everything and that human life lies within the times God has appointed. People cannot fully control their own lives, and neither wealth nor labor gives ultimate meaning. It emphasizes that even the joys people enjoy are a portion God has granted. Chapters 7–12 continue to explain the limits of human wisdom and life. People cannot escape death, nor can they fully understand their own lives. In this reality, it emphasizes a life of fearing God and leads us to consider that the life which cannot be obtained by human wisdom and effort is found in God.