Why did Solomon believe that there was no meaning to life which is shown in Ecclesiastes 1-3?

Answer 1

Ecclesiastes 1:1 says, "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem," and Ecclesiastes 1:12 says, "I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem." Taken together, these statements could only mean that the author was claiming to be King Solomon. Traditionally, this authorship has been accepted by Jews and Christians. If the use of the past tense in 1:12 has any meaning, we can see that this claim was meant to be allegorical.

The book contains several Aramaic words, an influence that was characteristic of late Hebrew and thus militating against authorship by Solomon. It also contains two Persian words. Most critical scholars now believe that Ecclesiastes was written around 250 BCE by a non-Hellenised intellectual. Most importantly, the late date of authorship means it does not reflect the views of Solomon, if in fact he did live.

The Book of Ecclesiastes does not really reflect a view that there is no meaning to life. If anything, it may say that there is no meaning to religion, even though it eventually found its way into the Hebrew Bible.