Hebrew Bible/OT Commentaries: Ecclesiastes/Qohelet

"Good advice that stands the test of time-those things we all know are true, tips that help us live the good life-we call wisdom. But, one life time is not enough to master the fine art of living. Distilled over centuries, the biblical book of Ecclesiastes offers us the time-tested advice of Israel's sages. This is the best of wisdom, with echoes of East and West-from Zen and Tao to Merton and Moore--all rolled into one. In Ecclesiastes, Bible scholar Choon-Leong Seow creatively translates and carefully interprets one of the world's most profound, most enduring collections of ancient wisdom. Sometimes joyful and exultant, other times cynical and fatalistic, the ancient author Qohelet ("Teacher") wrestles with the ups and downs of real life. Even today, we recognize and repeat the sayings of this treasure-trove of apt advice. The book begins and ends with the infamous claim, "Vanity of vanities, says Qohelet, vanity of vanities! All is vanity!" In between, the sage leaves no stone unturned in the search for meaning. As the wisdom of biblical Ecclesiastes has stood the test of time, so shall Dr. Seow's Ecclesiastes become a classic in the venerated tradition of the Anchor Bible series." - Yale University Press

"Respected Old Testament scholar Craig Bartholomew, coauthor of the well-received Drama of Scripture, provides a careful exegetical reading of Ecclesiastes in this addition to the Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms series. Along with helpful translation and commentary, Ecclesiastes considers the theological implications of the text and its literary, historical, and grammatical dimensions. Footnotes deal with many of the technical matters, allowing readers of varying levels of interest and training to read and profit from the commentary and to engage the biblical text at an appropriate level. Pastors, teachers, and all serious students of the Bible will find here an accessible commentary that will serve as an excellent resource for their study." - Baker Academic

"For over one hundred years, the International Critical Commentary series has held a special place among works on the Bible. It has sought to bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis—linguistic and textual no less than archaeological, historical, literary and theological—with a level of comprehension and quality of scholarship unmatched by any other series." - T & T Clark

"Ecclesiastes is one of the most fascinating -- and hauntingly familiar -- books of the Old Testament. The sentiments of the main speaker of the book, a person given the name Qohelet, sound incredibly modern. Expressing the uncertainty and anxieties of our own age, he is driven by the question, "Where can we find meaning in the world?" But while Qohelet's question resonates with readers today, his answer is shocking. "Meaningless," says Qohelet, "everything is meaningless." How does this pessimistic perspective fit into the rest of biblical revelation? In this commentary Tremper Longman III addresses this question by taking a canonical-Christocentric approach to the meaning of Ecclesiastes. Longman first provides an extensive introduction to Ecclesiastes, exploring such background matters as authorship, language, genre, structure, literary style, and the book's theological message. He argues that the author of Ecclesiastes is not Solomon, as has been traditionally thought, but a writer who adopts a Solomonic persona. In the verse-by-verse commentary that follows, Longman helps clarify the confusing, sometimes contradictory message of Ecclesiastes by showing that the book should be divided into three sections -- a prologue (1:1-11), Qohelet's autobiographical speech (1:12-12:7), and an epilogue (12:8-14) -- and that the frame narrative provided by prologue and epilogue is the key to understanding the message of the book as a whole." Eerdmans

"An expert on biblical wisdom literature guides readers through an in-depth exploration of Ecclesiastes. This volume serves as a prime example of excellence and clear teaching in this critically acclaimed Old Testament Library series." - Logos

""If it needs a man who has suffered to write a commentary on Job . . . . Perhaps the only person entitled to comment on Ecclesiastes is a cynic who has revolted from the world in disillusionment and disgust." "If so," writes Michael Eaton, "I qualify." Scholars have long wrestled with the gloomy pessimism and striking omission of any mention of Yahweh in this portion of the Wisdom literature. After setting forth the issues related to the text, authorship, date and canonicity, Eaton assesses the purpose and structure of the book. He then provides a passage-by-passage analysis that attempts to account for the oddities of the text and to show its contemporary relevance. The original, unrevised text of this volume has been completely retypeset and printed in a larger, more attractive format with the new cover design for the series." - IVP Academic

"Delve into the perplexing book of Ecclesiastes and study its textual history, historical context, and place in Israel’s wisdom tradition, with Roland Murphy. Revealing vast knowledge of past and present studies on Ecclesiastes, Murphy surveys the broad range of conflicting ideas about this book in historical and contemporary scholarship, dissecting all the major theories of authorship, dating, sociological setting, and linguistic analysis." - Logos