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Ecclesiastes
The Words of the Preacher

These are "the words of the preacher," not the words of God; and this is how it should be understood, except that we must recognize that Solomon was a backslidden preacher when this book was written.
These words are the reasonings, searchings, and findings of a natural man "under the sun," a natural man seeking to satisfy his soul.

Ten Evidences of Backsliding:

1. His attitude toward creation and human life, everything on earth being considered vain, empty, and extremely vexing.

2. His reasonings "under the sun" prove he was not speaking as an inspired preacher in harmony with God. The expression "under the sun" is used 29 times. No inspired preacher or prophet of God in any other book so reasons about things under the sun as Solomon. This must have been the period of his life after his wives had turned his heart away from Jehovah (1 Kings 11:1-10). He had 1,000 women in all—700 wives and 300 concubines. His reference to them in Eccles. 7:26-28 seems to indicate this as the time of his backsliding. He declared he had considered one by one and had not found a true woman—one who was pure and free from seductive traits, whereas, he had found one man among all his trusted servants. Compare this natural reasoning under the sun with the true teachings of a preacher who was not backslidden in heart (Matthew 6:25-34; Col. 3:1-4).

3. His general dissatisfaction with life (Eccles. 1:8; Eccles. 4:8) indicates a backslidden heart. A true man of God will be satisfied and contented (Psalm 22:26; Psalm 36:8; Phil. 4:11; Hebrews 13:5).
4. What he gave his heart over to during this time proves it was not right:

6. Being surprised that his wisdom still remained in him while his heart was in this condition indicates that he was not right (Eccles. 2:9).

7. His hatred of life shows that he had no peace with God (Eccles. 2:17). He actually praised the dead as being better off than the living (Eccles. 4:2-3).

8. His selfishness—worrying about leaving his works to others after his death proves he was not right in heart and had no love for others (Eccles. 2:18-19).
9. He advocated four wrong principles concerning sin and principles of living, which no preacher in harmony with God will do:
10. He taught several false doctrines which he no doubt would not have taught had he been normal in his spiritual life:

From "Dakes Annotated Reference Bible"
The Words of the Preacher

These are "the words of the preacher," not the words of God; and this is how it should be understood, except that we must recognize that Solomon was a backslidden preacher when this book was written.
These words are the reasonings, searchings, and findings of a natural man "under the sun," a natural man seeking to satisfy his soul.

Ten Evidences of Backsliding:

1. His attitude toward creation and human life, everything on earth being considered vain, empty, and extremely vexing.

(1) The term "vanity of vanities" is used 3 times (Eccles. 1:2; Eccles. 12:8).

(2) "Vanity and vexation of spirit" is used 7 times (Eccles. 1:14; Eccles. 2:11,17,26; Eccles. 4:4,16; Eccles. 6:9).

(3) "All is vanity" is used 5 times (Eccles. 1:2,14; Eccles. 2:17; Eccles. 3:19; Eccles. 12:8).

(4) "Divers vanities" is used once (Eccles. 5:7).
(5) "This is also vanity" is used 13 times (Eccles. 2:1,15,19,21,23; Eccles. 4:4,8; Eccles. 5:10; Eccles. 6:2,9; Eccles. 7:6; Eccles. 8:10,14).(6) Vanity is used 8 times in various ways (Eccles. 4:7; Eccles. 6:4,11; Eccles. 7:15; Eccles. 8:14; Eccles. 9:9; Eccles. 11:8,10). Life itself was considered vanity.

(7) The words vanity and vanities are used 37 times throughout this short book, compared to 62 times in all the other books of the Bible. See Thirty Things Considered Vanity.

2. His reasonings "under the sun" prove he was not speaking as an inspired preacher in harmony with God. The expression "under the sun" is used 29 times. No inspired preacher or prophet of God in any other book so reasons about things under the sun as Solomon. This must have been the period of his life after his wives had turned his heart away from Jehovah (1 Kings 11:1-10). He had 1,000 women in all—700 wives and 300 concubines. His reference to them in Eccles. 7:26-28 seems to indicate this as the time of his backsliding. He declared he had considered one by one and had not found a true woman—one who was pure and free from seductive traits, whereas, he had found one man among all his trusted servants. Compare this natural reasoning under the sun with the true teachings of a preacher who was not backslidden in heart (Matthew 6:25-34; Col. 3:1-4).

3. His general dissatisfaction with life (Eccles. 1:8; Eccles. 4:8) indicates a backslidden heart. A true man of God will be satisfied and contented (Psalm 22:26; Psalm 36:8; Phil. 4:11; Hebrews 13:5).
4. What he gave his heart over to during this time proves it was not right:

(1) He gave his heart to seek and search things done under the sun instead of devoting himself to the conversion of men to things above the sun; i.e., heavenly things (Eccles. 1:13)

(2) He gave his heart over to know madness and folly, something no true sincere preacher would do (Eccles. 1:17)

(3) He gave his heart over to wine, folly, mirth and pleasure without restraint (Eccles. 2:1-3)

(4) He fulfilled all his lusts and passions, not withholding his heart from any kind of joy and pleasure (Eccles. 2:10)
(5) He deliberately caused his heart to despair (Eccles. 2:20)

(6) He gave his heart to know the wickedness of folly, and the foolishness of madness (Eccles. 7:25)
5. His self-exaltation proves that his heart was not right (Eccles. 1:16; Eccles. 2:4-9). Solomon constantly referred to himself, using "I" 87 times, "me" 17 times, "my" 22 times, "myself" 4 times, and "mine" 9 times in 222 verses, as compared to the writing of John, the beloved preacher of the N.T., who used none of these personal pronouns in his entire Gospel of 879 verses.6. Being surprised that his wisdom still remained in him while his heart was in this condition indicates that he was not right (Eccles. 2:9).

7. His hatred of life shows that he had no peace with God (Eccles. 2:17). He actually praised the dead as being better off than the living (Eccles. 4:2-3).

8. His selfishness—worrying about leaving his works to others after his death proves he was not right in heart and had no love for others (Eccles. 2:18-19).
9. He advocated four wrong principles concerning sin and principles of living, which no preacher in harmony with God will do:
(1) Enjoy mirth, pleasure and wine-drinking and drunkenness (Eccles. 2:1-3; Eccles. 9:7)

(2) Nothing better in life than to eat, drink, be merry (Eccles. 2:24-25; Eccles. 8:15)
(3) Nothing better for a man than to rejoice in his own works (Eccles. 3:22)
(4) Money answers all things (Eccles. 10:19)

10. He taught several false doctrines which he no doubt would not have taught had he been normal in his spiritual life:

(1) All things in life are vanity and vexation of spirit.
(2) No new thing under the sun (Eccles. 1:9-10; Eccles. 3:15). Because Solomon said this, some think that nothing whatsoever can be invented which did not exist in the past; but Daniel predicted an increase of knowledge and this would indicate many new things (Daniel 12:4).
(3) No former things remembered (Eccles. 1:11). All things, good and bad, will be remembered and everyone will be judged for them (2 Cor. 5:9-10; Rev. 20:11-15).

(4) Crooked things cannot be made straight (Eccles. 1:15; Eccles. 7:13). Not only is it possible to make things straight, but this has been done in all ages, both regarding material things and crooked ways of life. See Isaiah 40:4; Isaiah 42:16; Isaiah 45:2; Luke 3:5.

(5) Increasing knowledge increases sorrow (Eccles. 1:18). This is true when knowledge is used in a wrong way as Solomon used his at various times in this book. When he used it in the right way it increased joy and brought rewards; even Solomon himself recognized this (Proverbs 1:5; Proverbs 9:9). The N.T. encourages an increase in knowledge (2 Peter 1:1-10; 2 Peter 3:18).
(6) No remembrance of the wise more than of the fool, and the past will be forgotten (Eccles. 1:11; Eccles. 2:16). See statements to the contrary (Psalm 112:6; Malachi 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:9-10; Rev. 20:11-15).

(7) The day of death is better than the day of birth (Eccles. 7:1). This is not true of the wicked (Matthew 26:24; Luke 16:19-31; Isaiah 14:9).

(8) No just man upon the earth—one that does good and does not sin (Eccles. 7:20). This is contradicted by Romans 5:1-11; Romans 6:14-23; Romans 8:1-13; 2 Cor. 5:17-21;10:4-5; Titus 2:11-13; 1 Peter 2:21-22; 1 John 1:7-9; 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:5-10; 1 John 4:1-4,18.
From "Dakes Annotated Reference Bible"
