Customer Reviews

Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 23A: Ecclesiastes

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Roland Murphy is a professor of Biblical Studies at Duke University. This commentary on Ecclesiastes is part of the Word Biblical Commentary series, a semi-conservative series that is geared more for the scholar/serious student than a teaching pastor or layperson. Murphy's commentary on Ecclesiastes does not break this pattern.

Murphy writes his commentary with certain beliefs about the text and its background. Among these are:

The opening and closing pericopes, which describe Qoheleth as a wise king, reigning in Jerusalem, is fictional;

It was authored after the Babylonian captivity, after the Israelites returned to the land;

Ecclesiastes defies any attempts to classify its genre or outline its structure;

Its worldview is influenced by Egyptian and other Ancient Near East wisdom literature;

Ecclesiastes is not Christ-centered; attempts to learn about Christ via wisdom literature is wrong-headed.

The purpose of Ecclesiastes is to enter into dialogue with and critique other Israelite wisdom literature, including Job, Proverbs, and Sirach

Although I disagree with the majority of these beliefs, Murphy does a good job of analyzing and unpacking the text despite the above assumptions. He is intimately acquainted with the Hebrew and Aramaic and provides an excellent translation of the book. He also is skilled at pausing in the text, pointing out a statement made by Qoheleth, then comparing/contrasting it with the expected statement or worldview. Thus he is able to bring out the high level of emotion that must have been present when the book was originally authored.

Even still, there were aspects of this commentary that disappointed me. I was disappointed to find that Murphy does not share my conservative, Christocentric approach to Scripture. But even without these assumptions, Murphy would have done well to place a greater emphasis on structure. Instead of attempting to present an outline of Ecclesiastes, he instead views it as a meandering, stream-of-conscientiousness-esque work. Without a metanarrative in mind, Murphy does not reach forward and backward into the text in order to present Ecclesiastes as a unified whole. He presents a somewhat meandering, directionless commentary to reflect his view that Ecclesiastes is a meandering, directionless book.

Murphy ends with a significant epilogue that is essentially an introduction to wisdom literature. Here, he presents modern (1993) scholarship on wisdom literature concerning its origins, linguistic style, worldview, the interrelationship between Ancient Near East wisdom works, the personification of Wisdom, and a theological interpretation of wisdom literature. This reader found the epilogue interesting as it provides a framework for further studies in the Biblical wisdom writings. Mildly recommended.

thank you for sending the book so quickly. it is very helpful for my studies...I'm getting my Master's degree.