Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Review of Qohelet 6-24

BOOK LIST 5. SPECIFIC BOOKS. IV. PSALMS AND WISDOM 55

BAND, DEBRA, AND MENACHEM FISCH, Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living (Waco, TX: Baylor

University Press, 2023), pp. viii + 188. $59.99. ISBN 978-1-4813-1873-0 (hardback).

Introduced as a ‘work of art and a work of religious philosophy’ (p. ii), the collaboration of B. and F. is a worthy reflection of Qohelet’s departure of conventional genre expectations. Like any traditional commentary, the volume cites previous studies and engages with Ecclesiastes’s literary challenges and semantics. But this prose is set side by side with B.’s colourful illustrations which function as visual interpretations. These ‘illuminations’ of Qohelet’s poems are presented upfront en bloc (pp. 27-85). The large print dimensions of the book allow its readers to take in all the intricacies of B.’s artwork and to reflect on how they interact with the Hebrew text around which these colours, images and dramatic scenes are woven. When the book shifts to F.’s philosophical and exegetical analyses, the illuminations are included in smaller format to keep the connection alive. The result is a lively and inspiring conversation between text and artwork. Qohelet’s thought is expressed, echoed and extended with B.’s use of ‘Jewish symbolic vocabulary’ (p. 15) and with F.’s comments which often draw from Jewish poetry and philosophy. This compelling and creative complement to the existing commentaries on Qohelet will resonate with scholars on this book, but also with readers more generally interested in Bible and art, philosophical work and Jewish thought. The book ends with a four-page bibliography, an index for authors and keywords.

SAMUEL HILDEBRANDT