AUTHOR: It is said to have been written by a son of David, who was king of Israel in Jerusalem [Eccl 1:1] and [Eccl 1:12]. Although Solomon is the only likely author, there is a modernist current that denies Solomonic authorship. Despite this, Jewish tradition attributes its authorship to King Solomon.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME: The word means "man of assembly", and can be the man who calls a religious assembly [Nm 10:7 ], or the one who is its spokesman or preacher. Our spokesman is not a priest who used the law, nor a prophet who used the word, but a wise man who used counsel [Jer 18:18], much of whose work parallels the book of Proverbs.

THEME: Ecclesiastes deals with life and daily principles from a philosophical perspective. Through several concepts, the author presents to his readers really important themes in life, his theme is uselessness. This celebrated book begins by declaring that everything in this world is futile. If this statement were uttered by a poor man, we might call it frivolous, but coming from a man who had everything, from a man who lacked nothing, it becomes a true maxim. Solomon, its probable author, reflects philosophically on the meaning of existence without God. The result of this reflection is expressed in the often quoted sentence, “everything is vanity”. Vanity, in this case, means “quality of what is vain”, that is, “empty, without value”. Solomon reached the following conclusion: “without the blessing of God, wisdom, position and riches do not satisfy, on the contrary, they bring weariness and disappointment.”

COMPILATION: Approximately 950 BC, it comprises 12 chapters and 222 verses.