Who Really Wrote Ecclesiastes?

If you ask the average Christian who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes they either don't know or will tell you it was King Solomon. Even if you were to go to preachers and Biblical scholars across the centuries and modern ones today they would almost always tell you King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. But there's a problem: neither the Old nor the New Testament ever says that. 

The Book it'self never mentions the author by name,but it does give us five general hints:

1.) The author was a "son of David" (Ecclesiastes 1:1)

2.) The author was "King in Jerusalem." (Ecclesiastes 1:1) 

3.) The author was "...king over Israel in Jerusalem." (Ecclesiastes 1:12) 

4.) The author undertook great projects. (Ecclesiastes 2:4-8) 

5.) The author "became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before [him.]" (Ecclesiastes 2:9)

At first glance the author being the "son of David" makes it obvious: it was Solomon. The problem is twofold at this point however: (1) Solomon had brothers and (2) "Son of David"could also mean a descendant of David. So there are at least 23 possibilities: Solomon, Adonijah, Absolum, Nathan,Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoachin and Zedekiah. 

We can narrow down this list to twenty-one because the author was King in Jerusalem. And we can narrow it down even further if we assume that GOD used a mostly "righteous" king to write His book. This leave us with: Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat , Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. 

Now we can narrow down even further when the Book tells us the author was "king over all Israel" and so at this point we can be sure it's Solomon right? Well maybe not; there is still a slight chance that by King of all Israel the author means of those few Israelites who escaped from Israel to Judah. Which narrows it down to either Solomon or perhaps Judean kings who reigned after the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed. This leaves us with: Solomon, Hezekiah and Josiah. 

Three candidates remain the test this time is who undertook great building projects? 

The answer? Two kings did. 

King Solomon had both the Temple built and a palace. King Hezekiah had a water tunnel built (which can still be visited today) 

Both of them did more than were recorded in The Bible (1 Kings 11:41, 2 Kings 20:20) 

The final test is found in Ecclesiastes 2:9: "became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me." 

If the author is King Solomon than he is saying he was greater than King David and some Jebsite kings who weren't particularly known for their greatness. But if the author is King Hezekiah than he's saying he is greater than more than twenty kings before him. 

In conclusion, it certainly seems reasonable that the author is Solomon especially if you read Eccesaties chapter two. However, King Hezekiah is also a possibility. 

What matters most is that the Ultimate Author was The Holy Spirit Who guided a man who from a worldly prospective seemed to have it all but deep down knew he lacked what he needed most. 

Here's a link to Ecclesiastes.