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ecclesiastes


ecclesiastes


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Ecclesiastes  \Ec*cle`si*as"tes\,  n.  [L.,  fr  Gr  ?  a  preacher. 
  See  {Ecclesiastic},  a.] 
  One  of  the  canonical  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Ecclesiastes 
  the  Greek  rendering  of  the  Hebrew  _Koheleth_,  which  means 
  "Preacher."  The  old  and  traditional  view  of  the  authorship  of 
  this  book  attributes  it  to  Solomon.  This  view  can  be 
  satisfactorily  maintained,  though  others  date  it  from  the 
  Captivity.  The  writer  represents  himself  implicitly  as  Solomon 
  (1:12).  It  has  been  appropriately  styled  The  Confession  of  King 
  Solomon.  "The  writer  is  a  man  who  has  sinned  in  giving  way  to 
  selfishness  and  sensuality,  who  has  paid  the  penalty  of  that  sin 
  in  satiety  and  weariness  of  life,  but  who  has  through  all  this 
  been  under  the  discipline  of  a  divine  education,  and  has  learned 
  from  it  the  lesson  which  God  meant  to  teach  him."  "The  writer 
  concludes  by  pointing  out  that  the  secret  of  a  true  life  is  that 
  a  man  should  consecrate  the  vigour  of  his  youth  to  God."  The 
  key-note  of  the  book  is  sounded  in  ch  1:2, 
 
  "Vanity  of  vanities!  saith  the  Preacher, 
 
  Vanity  of  vanities!  all  is  vanity!" 
  i.e.,  all  man's  efforts  to  find  happiness  apart  from  God  are 
  without  result. 
 
 
  From  Hitchcock's  Bible  Names  Dictionary  (late  1800's)  [hitchcock]: 
 
  Ecclesiastes,  a  preacher