Ecclesiastes: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary

Ecclesiastes: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, by Choon-Leon Seow. AB 18C. New York: Doubleday, 1997. Pp. xxiv + 419. $39.95. This is a very welcome addition to the Anchor Bible series. It is a major commentary on Qohelet that will be widely used, and with good reason. The volume follows the traditional format of the Anchor Bible. It opens with a substantial introduction (pp. 3-69) that is organized according to eight headings: (a) The Title of the Book, (b) Canonicity and Order, (c) Texts and Versions, (d) Language, (e) Socioeconomic Context, (f) Authorship, Integrity, and Structure, (g) Message, and (h) Qohelet among the Wise. The introduction is followed by an extensive "Select Bibliography" (pp. 73-92), and then by the "Translation, Notes and Comments" section, which constitutes the bulk of the book (pp. 95-396). According to Seow, the book was written during the Persian period, "between the second half of the fifth and the first half of the fourth centuries BCE" (p. 21). This was a period of intensive economic activity, of a "monetary and commercial economy . that is different from the largely subsistence agrarian culture of preexilic Judah" (p. 23). Jerusalem was then "a thriving cosmopolitan marketplace," in a world in which commerce was democratized and privatized" (p. 23) and in which investment, economic growth, opportunities, and risks ruled the day. Yet in this world "for the ordinary citizen-the smallholder, the homesteader, the worker-there was much about which to worry, but not much to be certain. The reality of the Persian period is that individuals were caught in the tides of swift political and economic changes, and most people were helpless in face of all what was happening" (p. 36). Seow maintains that the audience of the book is urban, that the language of the book reflects the everyday language of that period, and that the "author of Ecclesiastes [i.e., the book] was an unknown sage who took the pen name of Qohelet" (p. 38). According to Seow, we know nothing about the socioeconomic status of this sage. Seow maintains that 7:21 may indicate that there were slave-owners among the audience of the book, but not necessarily that Qohelet himself was a slave-owner or belonged to a slave-owner class. Seow's understanding of the text is based on a bipartite structure (1:2-6:9 and 6:10-12:8) which is enclosed by a superscription (1:1) and an epilogue (12:9-13a). The material in 12:13b-14 is assigned to a glossator. Each of the two main sections is further organized in a parallel bipartite structure. Each has a "reflection" (1:2-4:16 and 6:108:17 respectively) and an "ethics" section (4:17[MT]-6:9 and 9:1-12:8, respectively). The ethics sections deal with the advice given in the light of the situation described under reflection, so the first ethics section addresses the issue of "coping with uncertainty" and the second that of "coping with risks and death. " This understanding governs, as expected, the organization of the "Translation, Notes and Comments. " Thoughtful and substantial insights constantly occur in this section. Of course, it is the nature of such a work that one may disagree with some decisions. For instance, one may prefer Fox's "utter absurdity" and "vexation" over Seow's more traditional rendering, "vanity of vanities" and "pursuit of wind. " Or one may remain unconvinced, as is this reviewer, of Seow's reconstruction of the text in 1:17, which leads him to propose ". to know wisdom and knowledge of prudence . " (pp. 117, 125) instead of ". to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. " (NRSV). Yet the high quality of the discussion is clear at every stage. All this said, this reader has to admit to some uneasiness regarding Seow's treatment of certain issues. For instance, given the circumstance that Seow considers equally possible that (a) one and the same person produced the first-person account and the "frame-narrative" and (b) a redactor was responsible for the epilogue (p. …