Ecclesiasticus, who lived about 180 B.C.  In 4:13-16 and 10:16-17 there are apparent references to the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes, who came to the throne of Egypt at the age of five, and whose court was famous for its dissoluteness and profligacy.  The book, therefore, may be dated with considerable confidence a little before 200 B.C.  It was a corrupt, barren period.  Crime was rampant in the temple as well as at the court in Alexandria (3:16).  The people were crushed by the powerful and were without means of redress (4:1).  A despot sat on the throne (10:5-7) and spies lurked everywhere (10:20).

VII.  Koheleth’s Philosophy of Life.  The author of the original book of Ecclesiastes is the spokesman of that class in Judaism who were oppressed and crushed by this dreary outlook.  He evidently lived in Jerusalem and probably near the temple (5:1 8:10).  From the allusions in 7:26, 28 it is evident that he was unhappily married.  From the classic description of old age found in 11:9-12:7 it would appear that when he wrote he was well advanced in years, and spoke out of the depths of his own painful personal experience, having been left without son or close kinsman (4:8).  From his teachings it is clear that he had broken away from the orthodox wisdom school.  Before his enfeebled vision rose the seamy, dreary side of life, and yet back of the lament of this ancient pessimist is revealed a man of high ideals, impelled by a spirit of scientific thoroughness.  Though he was intense and eager in his quest for true happiness and in his analysis of the meaning of life, he found no abiding joy, for his outlook was sadly circumscribed.  Life beyond the grave offered to him no hope or compensation.  He was, however, by no means an agnostic.  He believed in God’s rulership of the world; but the God of his faith was inscrutable, far removed from the life of men.  Hence, unlike many of his contemporaries, as for example the psalmists, he found little joy or inspiration in his religion.  According to the conclusion, which he proclaimed in the beginning of his essay and held consistently throughout, all human striving and ambition, even life itself, are but superlative vanity, nor can man attain any permanent or complete satisfaction.  The one positive teaching which Koheleth reiterates is that it is man’s highest privilege to extract from passing experiences the small measure of joy and happiness that they offer, and therewith to be content.  Compared with many other Old Testament books, the religious value of Ecclesiastes is slight indeed.  Its chief value, however, is historical:  it presents one phase of thought in the Judaism of this period, and shows how sorely the Jewish people needed the spur of a great crisis to rouse them to noble and unselfish action.  The book of Ecclesiastes also furnishes the darker background which brings out in clear relief the inspiring messages of the great prophets that had gone before, and of the greater Prophet who was to set before the human race a worthy goal and a fresh and true interpretation of the value of life.