The Book of Ecclesiastes is part of the "wisdom literature" of the Bible. It concerns itself with universal philosophical questions rather than events in the history of Israel and in the Hebrews' covenant with God. Koheleth, the speaker in this book, ruminates on what--if anything--has lasting value, and how--if at all--God interacts with humankind. Koheleth expresses bewilderment and frustration at life's absurdities and injustices. He grapples with the inequities that pervade the world and the frailty and limitations of human wisdom and righteousness. His awareness of these discomfiting facts coexists with a firm belief in God's rule and God's fundamental justice, and he looks for ways to define a meaningful life in a world where so much is senseless.
Ecclesiastes is traditionally read on the Jewish holiday Sukkot, the harvest festival.

Ecclesiastes is one of the most fascinating -- and hauntingly familiar -- books of the Old Testament. The sentiments of the main speaker of the book, a person given the name Qohelet, sound incredibly modern. Expressing the uncertainty and anxieties of our own age, he is driven by the question, "Where can we find meaning in the world?" But while Qohelet's question resonates with readers today, his answer is shocking. "Meaningless," says Qohelet, "everything is meaningless."
How does this pessimistic perspective fit into the rest of biblical revelation? In this commentary Tremper Longman III addresses this question by taking a canonical-Christocentric approach to the meaning of Ecclesiastes.
Longman first provides an extensive introduction to Ecclesiastes, exploring such background matters as authorship, language, genre, structure, literary style, and the book's theological message.
He argues that the author of Ecclesiastes is not Solomon, as has been traditionally thought, but a writer who adopts a Solomonic persona. In the verse-by-verse commentary that follows, Longman helps clarify the confusing, sometimes contradictory message of Ecclesiastes by showing that the book should be divided into three sections -- a prologue (1:1-11), Qohelet's autobiographical speech (1:12-12:7), and an epilogue (12:8-14) -- and that the frame narrative provided by prologue and epilogue is the key to understanding the message of the book as a whole.

What part of the canon raises more questions and offers more challenges for the Old Testament student than the Book of Ecclesiastes? "No other book in the Bible has so steadfastly defied analysis," Roland Murphy admits.
Driven to their conclusions by presuppositions common to their own day, scholars have been unable to agree about almost every question pertaining to the writings of Qoheleth.
To help us delve into this perplexing work, he offers this succinct but thorough commentary. Here is a commentary written by a scholar's scholar from a man who has spent a lifetime immersed in Semitic language studies and who has enriched contemporary biblical studies as a professor, author, and editor with particular expertise in the field of Wisdom Literature. Written for serious clergy and for well-informed lay readers, this volume contains a sensible treatment of the text, buttressed by copious technical notes and impressive annotated bibliographical materials sufficient to stimulate and instruct the most avid student of this elusive segment of Scripture.
Murphy's "Introduction" is, by itself perhaps, worth the price of this volume. Revealing vast knowledge of past and present studies on Ecclesiastes, this section of the commentary surveys the broad range of conflicting ideas about this book.
Murphy irenically dissects all the major theories of authorship, dating, sociological setting, and linguistic analysis, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
He has attempted a balanced interpretation between the absurd and the joyful-hallmarks of Qoheleth.
Why should we study an enigmatic work like Ecclesiastes? "Qoheleth has as much to say about the quality of faith as does any other biblical work," Dr. Murphy insists. "He tells us that faith means accepting God on God's terms."