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Irony in the Book of Qohelet

Department of Old Testament, University of South Africa, P.O. Box 392, 0001 Pretoria, South Africa

Although a number of commentators refer to the phenomenon of irony in Qohelet, and three scholars (Edwin M. Good, Timothy Polk and Harold Fisch) wrote specific essays on this theme, it is remarkable that there is still no consensus on how to define irony and its occurrences in the book of Qohelet. This article suggests five prerequisites that should be kept in mind in order to identify irony in Qohelet. A closer look is then taken at the occurrences of irony in Qoh. 4.13-16, 7.1-4 and 9.1- 10. The article concludes that Qohelet does not merely contain loose ironic statements but that the entire book reflects an ironic tone.

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Vol. 21, No. 72, 57-69 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/030908929602107204


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