Abbreviations -- Sigla -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- I. Introduction -- II. A Survey of the History of Interpretation of Qoheleth -- A. Pre-Critical Interpretations -- B. Modern Critical Scholarship on Qoheleth -- C. Current Sceptical Interpretations of Qoheleth -- III. Purpose of This Study -- IV. Outline of This Study -- V. Scope of This Study -- Chapter 2: The Royal Voice of Qoheleth -- I. Examination of the Main Evidence of the Royal Voice in 1:12-2:26 -- A. Qoheleth's Self-Introduction (1:12) -- B. A Solomonic Experiment (1:13-18) -- C. A Test of Pleasure (2:1-11) -- D. An Experiment with Wisdom and the Issue of Royal Legacy (2:12-23) -- E. Qoheleth's Practical Advice for Living (2:24-26) -- F. Summary -- II. Does the Royal Voice Speak Beyond 2:26? -- III. Arguments for the Pervasiveness of Qoheleth's Royal Voice -- A. Perdue - the Royal Testament of Qoheleth -- B. Christianson - Telling the Story of Qoheleth -- C. Summary -- IV. Examination of the Allegedly ‚Anti-Royal' Passages -- A. The Problem of Injustice -- B. The Nature of Kingship -- C. Summary -- V. Concluding Remarks -- Chapter 3: Qoheleth in the Context of Ancient Near Eastern Literature -- Section 1: The Royal Language of Qoheleth: Qoheleth and Ancient Semitic Royal Inscriptions -- I. West Semitic Royal Inscriptions -- A. The Formulaic Self-Introduction -- B. The Royal Boasting of Deeds -- C. Comparison with Predecessors and Contemporaries -- D. Royal Wisdom -- E. A Political and Military Background -- F. Summary -- II. Akkadian (Sargonid) Royal Inscriptions -- A. The Formulaic Self-Introduction -- B. The Royal Boasting -- C. Comparison with Predecessors -- D. Royal Wisdom -- E. Warring Background -- F. Summary -- III. Concluding Remarks -- Section 2: Qoheleth and the Fictional Royal Texts of Akkad and Ancient Egypt -- IV. Longman's ‚Fictional Akkadian Autobiographies'.

A. Fictional Akkadian Autobiographies with Didactic Endings -- B. Longman's Analysis of Qoheleth -- C. Summary -- V. Pseudo-autobiographies of the Kings of Akkad -- A. The Cuthean Legend of Naram Sin -- B. A Text of the King of Isin -- C. A Sargon Autobiography -- D. The Sargon Legend -- E. Key Characteristics of the Corpus -- F. Summary -- VI. Egyptian Instructions -- A. Royal Testaments -- B. Royal Instructions -- C. Summary -- VII. Pessimistic Reflective Discourses -- A. Royal Laments -- B. Summary -- VIII. Concluding Remarks -- Chapter 4: Qoheleth as Royal Autobiography -- I. Autobiography as a Wisdom Form -- II. The Autobiographical Character of Qoheleth -- III. The Pervasive Presence of Qoheleth -- A. The Prevalent T -- B. The Presence of Second-Person Address and the Issue of Unity -- IV. The Dynamics of Qoheleth's Narrative -- A. Loader's Theory of Polar Tensions -- B. Qoheleth's Zwar-Aber Dialectic Style of Narration -- V. Qoheleth As Royal Autobiography -- A. The Story of the Life of A King -- B. Qoheleth's Quest for the Meaning of Life -- C. Qoheleth's Conclusions and Advice -- VI. Qoheleth's Thoughts on Wisdom and Folly -- VII. Concluding Remarks -- Chapter 5: Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index of Biblical and Apocryphal References.