Ecclesiastes, Book of Ecclesiastes(noun)

an Old Testament book consisting of reflections on the vanity of human life; is traditionally attributed to Solomon but probably was written about 250 BC

Ecclesiastes(ProperNoun)

A book in the Old Testament of the Bible. Sometimes abbreviated as Eccl. or Eccles.

Ecclesiastes(adj)

one of the canonical books of the Old Testament

Ecclesiastes

a book of the Old Testament, questionably ascribed to Solomon, and now deemed of more recent date as belonging to a period when the reflective spirit prevailed; and it is written apparently in depreciation of mere reflection as a stepping-stone to wisdom. The standpoint of the author is a religious one; the data on which he rests is given in experience, and his object is to expose the vanity of every source of satisfaction which is not founded on the fear, and has not supreme regard for the commandments, of God, a doctrine which is the very ground-principle of the Jewish faith; but if vanity is written over the whole field of human experience, he argues, this is not the fault of the system of things, but due, according to the author, to the folly of man (chap. vii. 29).