Qoheleth Hermeneia (Herminia Series) [Hardcover]

Thomas Kruger (Author), Klaus Baltzer (Editor), O. C. Dean (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004 | Series: Herminia Series

Qoheleth presents a special challenge not only for professional commentators but also for 'normal' readers of the Hebrew text (or a modern translation). . . . Most people in modern Western industrial societies . . . can relate without great difficulty to the reflections of the book of Qoheleth on work and rest or on behavior vis-á-vis those in power, and they can understand these reflections in terms of their own experiences. Nonetheless, the way in which these and other themes are handled in Qoheleth is a little puzzling. The fact that the book . . . reveals no clear organization and no overall progression of ideas may be accepted as a literary peculiarity and perhaps even strike one as interesting. Yet when one finds on various themes many statements that are highly contradictory in both the broad and the narrow context, one begins to ask what could be the point of this book and what is the purpose expressed in it. The present commentary seeks to help answer these questions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

THOMAS KRÜGER is Professor of Old Testament at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He is the author of Geschichtskonzepte im Ezechielbuch (1988) and Kritische Weisheit: Studien zur weisheitlichen Traditionskritik im Alten Testament (1997). KLAUS BALTZER is Emeritus Professor of Old Testament in the Protestant Faculty of the University of Munich, Germany. He is author of The Covenant Formulary, (Fortress Press, 1971) and Die Biographie der Propheten (1975). He is also on the Old Testament Editorial Board of the Hermeneia series.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800660366
• ISBN-13: 978-0800660369
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,576,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Life is not lived in a straight Line...., July 15, 2005

By 

Allan M. Gathercoal "fdoamerica" (Norcross, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Qoheleth Hermeneia (Herminia Series) (Hardcover)

All search is useless but you must never stop searching! I searched `Books in Print' and found that there are currently in print 4140 commentaries on the Bible, 56 of these are on Ecclesiastes.

In the world of Bible commentaries there are various genres. There are devotional commentaries, which are designed more to perk up your day, than your brain. There are the layman's commentaries which give sparse origin and historical information and more application for your daily life. Then there is a large swath of commentaries that are for the serious student and scholar of the Bible. These commentaries delve into the structural analysis and exegetical study of the text. The 'Qoheleth' by Thomas Kruger is of this genre. A serious, technical commentary that is designed for the same.

In this scholarly work Kruger disassembles, both linguistically and analytically, each verse. He quotes various other learned scholars who have tackled this unique book, then ads his own, howbeit scant, interpretation of the Qoheleth's voice. He gives special attention to the form and function of the book.

The Hebrew word `HEBEL' is used repeatedly throughout Ecclesiastes. It begins the book (vs.1:2) and ends the book (vs. 12:8). Many translate HEBEL to the word 'vanity'. Kruger prefers 'futile and fleeting' (ie. Nothing, illusion, absurdity, delusion, transitory). The best that we can get out of life is to eat, drink, eating, find a job that you like and enjoy what pleasure you can, while you can. These represent the highest and ultimate the only good worth striving for. This is the message that the Qoheleth sent us 2200 years ago. "For human beings, the knowledge of life's fleetingness and transitoriness in the form of chance and death bestows additional worth upon pleasure and enjoyment in the present."

This commentary on Ecclesiastes is strongly recommended for the serious student and scholar; those that desire more of a contemporary commentary will find this text obtuse and opaque.