Feats of Interpretative Virtuoso: Ancient Midrashic Rabbis on Qoheleth

Abstract

This study looks at how ancient Midrashic rabbis interpreted the Book of Ecclesiastes (or Qoheleth). After exploring verse-by-verse Midrashic exegeses of the first three chapters, several patterns emerged. The basic observation is that Midrashic rabbis continually resorted to reinterpreting the original verse by expanding and modifying it in significant ways arguably beyond the scope of ancient Hebraic theology and cosmology. Rabbis appeared adamantly disinterested with culling out Qoheleth’s intended ancient Hebraic biblical meaning or interpreting it within its own terms. The overwhelming tendency was to revise and rewrite verses, many times by force-feeding them through other biblical texts in highly speculative feats of interpretative virtuoso. For the most part, there was little concerted effort to rationally explore the deeper philosophical and theological implications of Qoheleth verses. Lastly, the findings here confirm that there were no objections or questions raised about Solomonic authorship, no heretical intimations, and no references to contradictions internal or external to the text