Who Wrote Ecclesiastes?
We don’t know for sure who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.
The author never outright names himself.
We do know he called himself the Qoheleth, a Hebrew word that translates into Teacher or Preacher.
Most scholars agree it was King Solomon and that he wrote it toward the end of his life.
There are a few clues in the book that point toward this being true.
In verse 1 : 1 the author calls himself the “son of David, king of Jerusalem”. (NIV)
We know that Solomon was David’s son by Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 12:24
We also know that David appointed Solomon as his successor to his throne. 1 Kings 1:23-37
Sometimes, though, the phrase, “son of” is used to mean a descendant of and not necessarily a literal child of. We see this when Jesus is called the son of David in Matthew 1:1, Matthew 21:9, and Mark 12:35.
Keeping this in mind we can assume the person writing Ecclesiastes was one of King David’s descendants, but it doesn’t confirm it was Solomon.
We can look to another clue.