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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ecclesiastes 1:12 - 1:12
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“I, Koheleth, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.” That of the two possible interpretations of הָיִיתִי, “I have become” and “I have been,” not the former (Grätz), but the latter, is to be here adopted, has been already shown. We translate better by “I have been” - for the verb here used is a pure perfect - than by “I was” (Ew., Elst., Hengst., Zöck.), with which Bullock (Speaker's Comm., vol. IV, 1873) compares the expression Quand j'étois roi ! which was often used by Louis XIV towards the end of his life. But here the expression is not a cry of complaint, like the “fuimus Troes,” but a simple historical statement, by which the Preacher of the vanity of all earthly things here introduces himself, - it is Solomon, resuscitated by the author of the book, who here looks back on his life as king. “Israel” is the whole of Israel, and points to a period before the division of the kingdom; a king over Judah alone would not so describe himself. Instead of “king עַל (over) Israel,” the old form of the language uses frequently simply “king of Israel,” although also the former expression is sometimes found; cf. 1Sa 15:26; 2Sa 19:23; 1Ki 11:37. He has been king, - king over a great, peaceful, united people; king in Jerusalem, the celebrated, populous, highly-cultivated city, - and thus placed on an elevation having the widest survey, and having at his disposal whatever can make a man happy; endowed, in particular, with all the means of gaining knowledge, which accorded with the disposition of his heart searching after wisdom (cf. 1Ki 3:9-11; 1Ki 5:9).
But in his search after worldly knowledge he found no satisfaction.