Who is Qoholeth?
The Hebrew word literally refers to a teacher who gathers or assembles things. They can either gather people or knowledge. If the former then emphasis is on him as preacher, if the latter as a teacher.[8]
Qoholet introduces himself as “King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem (1.1). Bartholomew comments:
“That we are to think of Qoholet as Solomon is made clear by the phrase ‘the son of David, king in Jerusalem.’ ‘King in Jerusalem’ could refer to David or Qoholet, but in the light of 1:12 it is best to refer to Qoholet. Only David and Solomon were kings over Israel in Jerualem.”[9]
Note that modern commentators have tended to assume that the book dates much later than the reign of Solomon and is therefore pseudepigraphal. In other words, it is assumed that an author chooses to take on the persona of Solomon in order to make their point. This of course relies on the assumption that the majority of the Old Testament was assembled late (from the Exile onwards). I don’t see any reason to follow a liberal assumption. Rather, we have every reason to accept that the historical Solomon, a man given wisdom by God and author of Proverbs is indeed the writer. However, whether or not that is so does not change the rhetorical force of a book claiming kingly authorship in Jerusalem.
The rhetorical force is as follows.
“As king in Jerusalem we should … note that this is the leader of God’s people and someone familiar with the Israelite traditions as they have been embodied in the Sinai covenant and the Davidic covenant. We would not therefore expect Qoholet to be an unbeliever but someone who knows the way of the Lord and whose responsibility it is to promote those ways among God’s people.”[10]
In other words, Qoholet is a believer in the covenant keeping God, Yahweh. We are to treat his words as revelation.
“’Under the sun’ does not mean ‘on earth, as opposed to heaven.’” [11] It’ not “to be dismissed as a faulty this-worldly perspective.” [12]
Faithroots 