The book of Qoheleth, with its unique message and linguistic features, has challenged interpreters for centuries, often resulting in remarkably diverse interpretations of the whole as well as of the individual parts. Accordingly, any new means of accessing the book’s meaning is to be welcomed. Robert Holmstedt, John Cook, and Philip Marshall offer precisely this in their contribution to the Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible series, utilizing “the best tools from modern linguistics” (p. viii). (As co-authors, they consistently use “we” and “our view” throughout the book.)
The handbook begins with a 45-page introduction to the unique “linguistic profile” of Qoheleth, which is interspersed with a presentation of the linguistic terminology and concepts that are utilized throughout the volume to discuss the features of Qoheleth’s Hebrew. The latter is supported by a 10-page glossary of key linguistic terms, some of them quite familiar (adjective, agreement, apposition...
