Ecclesiastes 1:12

I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Ecclesiastes 1:12 Modern English Version (MEV)
 
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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.
 
The Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
 
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I the Preacher was king — Having asserted the vanity of all things in the general, he now comes to prove his assertion in those particulars wherein men commonly seek, and with the greatest probability expect to find, true happiness. He begins with secular wisdom. And to show how competent a judge he was of this matter, he lays down this character, that he was the Preacher, which implies eminent knowledge; and a king, who therefore had all imaginable opportunities and advantages for the attainment of happiness, and particularly for the getting of wisdom, by consulting all sorts of books and men, by trying all manner of experiments; and no ordinary king, but king over Israel — God’s own people, a wise and a happy people, whose king he was by God’s special appointment, and furnished by God with singular wisdom for that great trust; and whose abode was in Jerusalem — Where were the house of God, and the most wise and learned of the priests attending upon it, and the seats of justice, and colleges, or assemblies of the wisest men of their nation. All these concurring in him, which rarely do in any other man, make the argument, drawn from his experience, more convincing.
 
Joseph Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
 
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