The Sceptics of the Old Testament: Job - Koheleth - Agur

The book offers philological reconstruction, commentary, and English translations of three ancient Hebrew wisdom compositions, arguing they express a broadly skeptical outlook toward doctrines of cosmic retribution, assured immortality, and messianic expectation. It combines close textual criticism—identifying interpolations, restoring meter and parallelism, and consulting ancient Greek renderings—with literary and philosophical analysis of themes such as suffering, the futility of human striving, and moral conduct. Separate treatments examine the extended poetic lament addressing undeserved calamity, a reflective teacher who questions the value of worldly pursuits, and a brief collection of pointed maxims, each presented with restored text, translation, and discussion of sources and dating.