Ecclesiastes (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament)

After working for a company for 20 years, the company was purchased by a larger one, who shut us down. I then entered into the Ecclesiastes part of my life and never left. Proverbs teaches, "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men." But I stood before no man. However, Qohelet says, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun?" Now that seemed more like it.Bartholomew's commentary starts with an 84-page introduction that covers standard topics such as the title, canonicity, and history of interpretation. The commentary proper is divided into 21 sections, each section covering from 3 to 20 verses. Each section consists of Bartholomew's own translation, translation notes, commentary, and a subsection entitled Theological Implications. These Theological Implications provide insights into, and applications of, the biblical text, and cover topics including the problem of evil, injustice, solitude, civil religion, the value of short prayers (excellent!), love of money, joy, possessions, and suffering, among others. These alone are worth the price of the book.Ecclesiastes is very difficult to understand properly, and the reason this commentary is so good is that Bartholomew correctly interprets Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes there is a strong tension between vanity and faith, which causes some commentators to see Qohelet as a disgruntled skeptic venting or a confused old man ranting (downplaying the faith aspect of Ecclesiastes), while others see him as a preacher of joy who wears blinders to the vanity of the world (downplaying the vanity aspect of Ecclesiastes). Bartholomew says keeping that tension intact is crucial to understanding the book. He sees Qohelet as a profound sage, a man of faith and intelligence, reflecting on his observations and experiments while searching for the meaning of life. Bartholomew writes, "Ecclesiastes is a fascinating model of teaching" that "exemplified the quality and depth of the sort of education wise men like Qohelet offered to their contemporaries."Qohelet teaches us how to find meaning and joy in a world of vanity, and Bartholomew helps us in our quest. He is theological, philosophical, scholarly, and practical. It is a truly fabulous commentary. Very highly recommended.Other commentaries on Ecclesiastes to consider include Seow's Anchor Bible Commentary; Murphy's Word Biblical Commentary (WBC); Fox's "A Time To Tear Down and A Time To Build Up: A Rereading of Ecclesiastes"; and Lohfink's Continental Commentary.

My favorite of the many Ecclesiastes commentaries I have read. Ecclesiastes is a complex work and is open to varying interpretations. The problem is that the author alternates between a very pessimistic view of the world that is at times dark and disturbing. However, the author of Ecclesiastes also repeatedly points out the joy in our life that come from God.Those who study Ecclesiastes usually emphasize one or the other. Liberals emphasize the pessimistic passages treating Ecclesiastes as an iconoclast challenging traditional teachings. Conservatives emphasize the positive passages and relegate the negative ones to someone viewing the world without reference to God. The liberal approach makes Ecclesiastes incoherent and essentially banishes it from the canon. The conservative approach tames Ecclesiastes to the point of irrelevance. The problem is Ecclesiastes won't let you get away with this so easy. Both the pessimistic passages and the optimistic passages reference God's hand.This is the strength of Batholomew's approach. He holds both views in tension in what he calls contradictory juxtaposition. The tension creates a gap for the reader that demands to be filled. The process of filling this gap is the author of Ecclesiastes' journey. It is not a journey that can be summed up in bullet points on a power point slide. It is a journey that must be experienced and felt. What you then have is an interpretation that takes the work as a whole seriously. Ecclesiastes is the work of a first rate genius and you get that sense as you read Barthlomew's commentary because Barthlomew forces you to confront the text in its entirety. He does not make it easy for anyone with preconceived ideas and I find this approach preserves the mystery and beauty of Ecclesiastes.Although, not the most technical commentary (get Seow's commentary for the technical stuff), Bartholomew interacts with the other big commentaries (Seow, Crenshaw,Longman, Fox). He also helps Ecclesiastes engage in conversation with philosophy, other contemporary thinkers like Wendell Barry, and even psychology. The last chapter is especially helpful in this regard.

Ecclesiastes is perhaps the most difficult of Scripture to understand. This volume has much to commend it. The Introduction is very good and I believe sound. The explanation of the text likewise has much valuable insight. However, the author uses the "theological Implications" section to often vent liberal political rants involving current events that are obviously biased and only tangentially approach the text. Furthermore, his understanding of these events is ill-informed and premature in many cases that over time risk embarrassment. These have no place in a commentary and there exist plenty of historical and Biblical examples to illustrate the points the author tries to make. Another disappointment is the author's seeming enchantment with postmodern philosophy, psychology and other disciplines that are foreign to the text. Long erudite discussions of such works replace what should be the author's own theological reflection and understanding of the text. Perhaps because the text is so enigmatic and its true meaning has escaped so many generations of interpreters the author is groping to apply postmodern ideas in hope that something of value may be gleaned. What results is the common error of reading our current philosophical and scientific trends into Holy Scripture rather than letting the Word of God speak to us as God intends. These sections are puffed up with great learning but when one thinks about what is discussed critically one is left quite dry and dissatisfied and awaiting the next commentary in hope of learning what the text truly says. But I suppose one must justify one's position in academia. Read the commentary but skip the rants and the erudition.

quasi completo e dettagliato nella sua esposizone, utile nei suoi suggerimenti, ottima bibliografia. importante nel cogliere non solo gli aspetti negativi ma anche quelli positivi, per uno sguardo di sintesi soddisfacente.