Ecclesiastes Chapter One, Who Is The Preacher?

Ecclesiastes 1:12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

Verse 12 clearly gives a strong indictment as to the identity of the preacher. The writer does not identify himself with northern Samaria or southern Judah, as they would become in the wake of the rebellion Jeroboam led against Rehoboam after his accession to the throne. No, only three men qualify for a united Israel from the throne of Jerusalem. Saul is disqualified simply because we are informed that the preacher is king over Israel from Jerusalem, a city that David took from the Jebusites during his reign, 2 Samuel 5:6-9. We read, “In Hebron [David] reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty three years over all Israel and Judah,” 2 Samuel 2:5:5.

The differentiation was clarified by the author, stating that David reigned over the tribe of Judah for seven and one half years, while he reigned over united Israel for thirty-three years. We read of Judah’s loyalty to David: “Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah,” 2 Samuel 2:4. Later, when the struggle between David and Saul’s heirs was settled, we learn, “Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel,” 2 Samuel 5:3. It was poetic then, that as David began with Judah’s loyalty, being born from the tribe, so was Rehoboam left with Judah’s loyalty when ten of the tribes rebelled against him, 1 Kings 12:17, 20.

Whereas David governed united Israel for thirty-three years, Rehoboam governed it for 3 days, or a very short time table. His accession met with a disastrous end when he answered the people roughly and Jeroboam, son of Nebat led ten of the tribes north into religious apostasy. The third candidate is, of course, Solomon. While it may be contested that David likewise reigned over all twelve tribes for decades, the preacher makes several references to a rather opulent lifestyle more befitting Solomon than his father, Ecclesiastes 2:4-9. While we won’t focus on this passage heavily at present, it is worth noting that this list of accomplishments and ability reflects what is recorded of Solomon in 1 Kings chapter 10.

It says of Solomon: “So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom,” 1 Kings 10:23. Solomon received gold, almug wood and precious stones from Ophir, verse 11. It is also stated that he received an annual import of 666 talents of gold, verse 14. If this talent is the Hebrew measure (which we have no reason to believe otherwise) then we’re looking at about 57 pounds per talent. That equates into 37,962 pounds. A pound of gold costs approximately $24,547. Solomon’s annual income in gold then, in today’s market would translate into $931,853,214. Nearly one billion dollars annually. His braggadocio would go on to describe how all men on the earth sought him for his wisdom, bearing gifts in exchange for an audience. Solomon had 1,400 chariots, 12,00 horsemen stationed in chariot cities for ease of deployment. He made silver relatively worthless and likewise with cedar. Beyond that his international business boomed as he bought from Egypt and Keveh, selling to the Hittites and Syria what was imported. Long after his decease, Nehemiah testifies of Solomon, saying, “Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel,” Nehemiah 13:26. Nehemiah extends Solomonic influence from being more elevated than any king of Judah or Samaria, to any king, Jew, Gentile or otherwise. Clearly, Solomon with his vast riches and equally vast wisdom made for a good candidate to pen this book.

Why explore this avenue now? Because the preacher claims that, “I made my works great…so I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem,” Ecclesiastes 2:4, 9. It is clear that Solomon’s excess exceeds David’s; it is equally clear that his grandeur eclipses any king that followed him, especially in light of how the kingdom fractured under the rule of his woefully foolish son. In the end the final kings of Judah were puppet agents, enthroned first by Egypt as a vassal of Pharaoh and then by Babylon as vassals of Nabopolassar and then his infamous son, Nebuchadnezzar. Couple this with the preacher’s several references to his wisdom and the picture is painted of David’s son in his declining years. Perhaps he wrote Ecclesiastes as an old and ailing man after his many wives seduced him to idolatry and God plagued him for his blatant infidelity, see 1 Kings 11:14-40.