Biblical Hebrew Forum

[bhebrew AT shields-online.net]

There's a long history of attempts to find some sort of historical background 
for these feasibly historical illustrations in Qohelet (perhaps most recently 
see Jennie Barbour, The Story of Israel in the Book of Qohelet, who sees here 
an allusion to the siege of Jerusalem in 701 and the wise man as Isaiah), but 
there has been no consensus at all and every suggestion I've seen runs into 
problems one way or another.

Furthermore, however, reading this as a piece of wisdom literature would tend 
to suggest to me that it is a parable (and the points Chris makes about the 
scenario would lead in this direction). The point is not really whether it 
has any solid historical antecedent, but to make the point. In light of 9:16 
I think the parable records the downfall of the "small city" through its 
failure to heed the sage's wisdom because he was poor.

Martin Shields,
Sydney, Australia.