Death in Qoheleth : a contemporary reading

Abstract

The book of Qoheleth stands in a class of its own due to the harsh realism its author presents. Being a sage, the author uses sapiential arguments in order to shatter several Jewish traditional beliefs regarding God as a merciful provider for all man's needs. This is done by underlining more than any other biblical author the certainty of death and the uncertainty of what follows. This view of death as the end of life and all the enjoyment in life leads the author to have a particularly dark outlook on life itself because he fails to see its value since after all it is bound to come to an end at an unknown point in time. This frame of thought shares striking parallels with contemporary man's views on life and death. The dissertation will seek to present the book in its context, discuss the questions and answers (if any) raised by the author on death and its impact on life and then analyse how this book may be read and interpreted in contemporary society when faced with the unsolved problem of death.