Koheleth: His Language and Thought

208 Pages·1979·11.248 MB·

by  Charles F. Whitley

Charles F. Whitley
Koheleth

Charles F.Whitley
Koheleth
His Language and Thought
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Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
1979
Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
Herausgegeben von Georg Fohrer
148
Gedruckt mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft
CIP-Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek
Whitley, Charles F.:
Koheleth : his language and thought / Charles F. Whitley. - Berlin,
New York : de Gruyter, 1979.
(Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft : Beih. ; 148)
ISBN 3-11-007602-0
©
1979
by Walter de Gruyter & Co., vormals G. J. Göschen'sche Verlagshandlung - J. Guttentag,
Verlagsbuchhandlung - Georg Reimer - Karl J. Trübner - Veit & Comp., Berlin 30
Alle Rechte des Nachdrucks, der photomechanischen Wiedergabe,
der Übersetzung, der Herstellung von Mikrofilmen und Photokopien,
auch auszugsweise, vorbehalten.
Printed in Germany
Satz und Druck: Hubert & Co., Göttingen
Bindearbeiten: Lüderitz & Bauer, Berlin 61
Preface
It is over seventy years since G.A.Barton wrote his International
Critical Commentary on Koheleth. During the decades that immediately
followed there were relatively few publications on the subject. But since
the discovery of the Ras Shamra tablets and the Qumran documents much
interest has been shown in the book by German, French, Italian and
American scholars. In consequence there are various and conflicting views
on the origin, language and thought of the author. It is against this com-
plex and challenging background that the present work was undertaken.
In the preparation of the book I received much help from more than
one scholar. Professor W.D. McHardy of Oxford offered valuable criticism
of the first draft of the linguistic section. Professor P. A. H. de Boer of
Leiden read the entire typescript and made many discerning comments.
Professor Bernhard Lang of Tübingen read the proofs and supplied much
bibliographical information.
During the revisionary stage of the work I was privileged to be invited
to the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies as a Visiting
Scholar. Not only were the research facilities at my disposal considerable,
but I was able to discuss certain problems with members and scholars of the
Centre. As editor of the BZAW series, Professor Georg Fohrer took a
kindly and helpful interest in the work and brought his experience and wide
knowledge to bear on the ultimate division and classification of parts of the
material.
Finally I would like to acknowledge my debt to the Deutsche For-
schungsgemeinschaft, Bonn-Bad Godesberg, for a generous grant towards
the cost of publication, and also to express my appreciation of the care and
patience which Walter de Gruyter & Co. exercised on the printing and
production of the book.
Bangor, March, 1979 C. F. Whitley

Contents
Preface V
A. Introduction 1
B. An Examination of the Language ofKoheleth 4
I. Chapter 1 4
II. Chapter 2 18
III. Chapter 3 30
IV. Chapter 4 39
V. Chapter 5 48
VI. Chapter 6 57
VII. Chapter 7 62
VIII. Chapter 8 71
IX. Chapter 9 78
X. Chapter 10 83
XI. Chapter 11 92
XII. Chapter 12 95
XIII. An Assessment of Zimmermann's View 106
XIV. An Assessment of Dahood's View Ill
C. Reconstruction 119
I. Linguistic Characteristics of Koheleth 119
II. Koheleth and Ben Sira 122
III. Historical and Linguistic Evidence for the Date of Koheleth 152
IV. Conclusion 147
D. The Thought of Koheleth 151
I. General Characteristics 151
II. Theories of Babylonian and Egyptian Influence 152
III. The Theory of Greek Influence 158
E. Reconstruction
I. Israelite Sources 162
II. Greek Influence 165
III. Common Proverbial Material 176
IV. The Nature of Koheleth's Problems 177
V. Conclusions 182
VIII Contents
Bibliography 185
Text and Versions 185
Jewish Sources 185
Ancient Classical Writers 186
Works Consulted 186
Abbreviations 195
Subject Index 198
A. Introduction
Koheleth, according to Renan, is "the only pleasant book that was
composed by a Jew"1. Certainly it is the most unorthodox and varied
of the writings of the Hebrew bible. It contains elements ranging from
the pessimism of the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians to the fatalism
and hedonism of the Stoics and Epicureans. It ostensibly stems from
Solomon (li. 12), but as Franz Delitzsch remarked, "if the book of
Qoheleth were of Solomonic origin, then, there is no history of the
Hebrew language"2. Many constructions in the book are obscure, and
its syntax as a whole is cumbersome. It thus lacks the lucidity and ele-
gance of the classical age, and clearly belongs to the decadent period
of the language.
Koheleth has indeed some affinities with the language of the later
books of the Old Testament such as Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah and
Esther, but it has other linguistic features which are especially charac-
teristic of the book itself3. Thus the Waw Consecutive, so common in
classical Hebrew, occurs but three times (I17 4i. 7). The article is often
omitted, while, on the other hand, we find a preponderance of particles
such as DJ, Ό and "WND. The participle is again frequently used, and the
Κ "V verbs often assume the inflections of the Π "b verbs. The form ®
for the relative pronoun, though found elsewhere in the Old Testament,
occurs here almost as often as the classical "W8. Aramaic forms and
constructions appear throughout the book4, while a number of words
and expressions resemble the Hebrew of Ben Sira and the Mishna.
1 Renan, L'Antichrist, 1873, 101.
2 The Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes (Eng. trans. 1885) 190.
3 Renan thought that in the whole of Hebrew literature the language of Kohe-
leth forms "a sort of islet apart" (L'Ecclésiaste, 1882, 16).
4 Cf. Kautzsch, who has pointed out that there are 29 Aramaisms in Koheleth
out of a total of 122 in the entire Old Testament. He thus calculated that
Koheleth contains 24 per cent of the Aramaisms of the Old Testament,
although the book itself only constitutes 1.2 per cent of the Old Testament
(Die Aramaismen im Alten Testament 1, 1902, 102). See also the tabulation
presented by Wagner, Die lexikalischen und grammatikalischen Aramaismen
im alttestamentlichen Hebräisch, 1966, 142 and especially 145, where he cal-
culates that 3.1 per cent of Koheleth is Aramaic in origin.
Whitley, Koheleth 1
2 Introduction
Unusual phrases and vocabulary further emphasise the peculiar nature
of the language of Ecclesiastes.
This peculiarity has been the subject of much speculation, and has
been explained in various ways. The generally accepted view, found,
for example, in the Commentaries of Barton, Podechard, Hertzberg,
Gordis, Zimmerli, Kroeber and Strobel, is that Koheleth is representa-
tive of the Hebrew language during the period of the fourth to the third
centuries B.C.5. Other scholars have, however, seen a more extraneous
element in the text. Margoliouth thought that the idioms of Koheleth
are to be explained on the assumption that it is based on a work of Indo-
Germanic origin®. So Burkitt suggested that the book is a translation
from a lost Aramaic original7. This, he thought, might account for the
disconcerting style and "the crabbed and unnatural lingo" (26) in which
the work is composed. Zimmermann welcomed this translation hypo-
thesis and argued that the obscurities and awkwardness of the language
disappear on retrogression into the original Aramaic8. Zimmermann's
arguments attracted the interest and gained the approval of
Torrey9, and, with some modifications, were later supported by
Ginsberg10.
Again, Dahood has proposed the theory that Ecclesiastes was
originally written by an author who employed Phoenician orthography
and whose Composition shows heavy Canaanite-Phoenician literary in-
fluence11. A basic feature of this orthography is that it did not use vowel
letters, and therefore, argues Dahood, a later scribe, copying from a
Phoenician Vorlage, would encounter many ambiguities in the text.
This would particularly apply to verbs where one and the same con-
sonantal form would be used for both singular and plural. Dahood
further maintains that we have examples of Phoenician morphology,
syntax and vocabulary in the book.
5 Bafton, The Book of Ecclesiastes, ICC, 1908; Podechard, L'Ecclésiaste, 1912;
Hertzberg, Der Prediger 19632; Gordis, Koheleth —The Man and his World,
1951; Zimmerli, Das Buch des Predigers Salomo, 1962; Kroeber, Der Pre-
diger, 1963; Strobel, Das Buch Prediger (Kohelet), 1967.
« JEV (1903), 33b.
' JTS 23 (1932), 22-26. Cf. also Fernández, Bibl. 3 (1922), 45-50.
8 JQR 36 (1945-46), 17-45; JQR 40 (1949), 79-102.
9 JQR 39 (1948), 151-160.
10 Studies in Koheleth (1950); VTS 3 (1955), 138-149; The Quintessence of
Qoheleth, in: Biblical and other Essays, 1963, 47-59.
11 E.g. Bibl 33 (1952), 30-52. 191-221; also 39 (1958), 302-318; and 47 (1966),
264-282.