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.