When Was the Book of Ecclesiastes Written and for Whom Was It Written?

The date and audience of Ecclesiastes are closely bound to the question of its authorship. Obviously those who identify Qohelet with Solomon date the book to the 10th century BC, whereas those who reject Solomonic authorship date the book to the postexilic period. Strictly speaking, even if Qohelet is identified as Solomon, the book itself may be later than his reign, since the author of the book (the narrator) is differentiated from Qohelet himself. Therefore one cannot be definitive here.

Still, identifying Qohelet as Solomon does at least suggest an earlier date, tying Ecclesiastes to the wisdom milieu of the ancient Near East associated with the court of Solomon. Indeed scholars have identified parallels between sections of Ecclesiastes and ANE literature like the Epic of Gilgamesh. Given this earlier date, then, Garrett may well be right in arguing that the primary audience of Ecclesiastes was the Solomonic court, “the intellectual elite of Ancient Jerusalem” (Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 266).