Ecclesiastes & the Song of Songs
Ecclesiastes & the Song of Songs
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Hardback
£29.99
Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press
ISBN: 9781844744138
Number of Pages: 448
Published: 19/02/2010
Width: 15.7 cm
Height: 23.8 cm
For Daniel Fredericks, allowing the thematic words and phrases of Ecclesiastes to speak with their Hebrew voices demonstrates its affinity with the breadth of Old Testament legal, poetic, wisdom and prophetic writings as well as the teachings of Christ and the apostles.
Ecclesiastes is found in the canon of Scripture because it plays a significant role in a cumulative theology of the Old and New Testaments.
The beautiful and mysterious lyrics of The Song of Songs have prompted a wide range of interpretations. Daniel Estes reads the ancient song cycle in terms of its literary genre as Hebrew poetry. By attending carefully to the literary features of the text, he seeks to remain sensitive to the emotions that the poet desired to express and to reproduce in the reader. At the same time, he endeavours to hear the echoes of the Song as they resonate within the larger context of the biblical canon, and to suggest how its prominent theme of the nurture of intimacy can be applied to life today.
Editors' preface 7
Abbreviations 9
ECCLESIASTES
Author' s preface 17
Introduction 19
1. What is man? 19
2. What is the advantage? 21
3. But is everything temporary? 23
3.1. The Ancient Near East on brevity in life 24
3.2. The Old Testament on brevity in life 24
3.3.Metaphorical uses for hebel 27
3.4. A biblical constellation of words describing transience 28
3.5. Significance of time in Ecclesiastes 28
3.6. The extent of temporariness in our lives 30
4. Author and date 31
5. Other themes 36
5.1.Wisdom generally 36
5.2. Advantages in life 38
5.3. Joy and pleasure 38
5.4.Wise, enjoyable effort 39
5.5. God’s sovereignty 40
5.6. Realism 40
6. History of interpretation 42
6.1. Overview 42
6.2. Conservative interpretation 42
6.3. Critical interpretation 44
6.4. Interpretation of Hebel 46
7. Genre 54
7.1. Philosophical 54
7.2. Cosmopolitan 55
7.3. Poetic or proverbial 55
7.4. Oratorical 56
7.5. Autobiographical 56
7.6. Vernacular 56
8. Language 58
8.1. Three 'influence' theories 58
9. Text 61
10.Structure 61
Text and commentary 63
Bibliography 253
THE SONG OF SONGS
Author's preface 267
Introduction 269
1. Canonicity 269
2. Date 271
3. Authorship 273
4. Interpretational approaches 275
4.1. Non-literal approaches 275
4.2. Typological approaches 280
4.3. Dramatic approaches 281
4.4. Cultic approaches 282
4.5. Literal approaches 284
5. Literature 286
6. Unity 289
7. Structure 291
8. Theme 293
9. Purpose 300
Text and commentary 301
Bibliography 419
Index of Scripture references 445
Index of authors 461
Index of subjects: Ecclesiastes 468
Index of subjects: The Song of Songs 472
