An excellent analysis of Ecclesiastes, making sense of the message within the context of Near Eastern wisdom literature yet displaying the Preacher's developments and difficulties.

This book is designed for those who have a working knowledge of Hebrew and a fairly decent handle on scholarly terms and concepts. The first section of the book is Fox's discussion of key terms and concepts in the book, the Preacher's contradictions, his understanding of wisdom, and the essential meaning of the book. The second section is Fox's translation and commentary on the Hebrew text, with additional discussions of the role of the epilogist, the meaning of the "times" in Ecclesiastes 3 and the meaning of Ecclesiastes 12:2-7.

I appreciate how Prof. Fox tries to make the best sense of the text as it is and the message as presented; emendations are reserved for the times when the Hebrew seems nonsensical or ungrammatical. His perspective on the Preacher is refreshing-- he does not see the Preacher as being antagonistic toward wisdom, but instead is working out his dismay at the ultimate absurdity of life, justice, the pursuit of pleasure, and so on in a world where everyone dies regardless.

Prof. Fox also makes many intriguing connections between the Preacher's message and perspective with modern existentialism, making many parallels between Ecclesiastes and Camus, especially The Myth of Sisyphus. While Fox does show that there is not precise parallelism between the two, it would seem that the Preacher has come upon a version of existentialism long before our own day. The translation of "hebel" as "absurd" is well-defended and reflects the Preacher's idea much better than "vanity," the common translation in English.

A most excellent resource that should be considered in any study of any depth into Ecclesiastes. ( )

"The contradictions in the book of Qohelet are real and intended. We must interpret them, not eliminate them" (3).

With these words, Fox jumps into the deep. He understands the mind of the torn and at times self-contradictory Qohelet—and admires him.

Fox has a masterful command of the ancient Hebrew language. He is a professor of Jewish studies at the University of Wisconsin, and has written for the Jewish Publication Society. Let's just say that he knows his stuff.

This book is approximately half introduction and half commentary. The essays in the introduction cover a broad variety of topics critical to understanding the Qohelet such as Wisdom, Toil, Justice, and (most importantly) Hebel—Meaningless. These chapters are an excellent resource to turn to when you want to brush up on the various topics.

This is a difficult book to read, especially for those (like myself) with a tenuous grasp on Ancient Hebrew. However, a slow thoughtful reading will benefit anyone with basic theological training. At times I felt like I was struggling to keep my head above the water when following his arguments, but in the end the effort was well worth it. This book will have more to offer on subsequent re-readings, I'm sure.

In sum: this is a scholarly, Jewish, post-modern interpretation of one of the most neglected books in the canon. If you have time to devote, this book rewards richly. ( )

Bible, O.T. Commentary