All is vanity

Coelet’s critique of deuteronomist Yahvism

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present a critique of the book of Ecclesiastes to the Deuteronomist Yahwism, understood here as the religion that became predominant in the Deuteronomist historical work, that is, the history books from Deuteronomy to Kings. This criticism takes place in three main aspects that are related to each other, namely, the theology of retribution, wisdom and history. In addition to these, this research is interested in Coelet's assessment of politics, as an unfolding of his perspective on these three aspects of Yahvism. Therefore, it is necessary to characterize this religious current, as well as the relationship between the history of Israel and the story in the Hebrew Bible, so that the difference between this perspective and that of Ecclesiastes becomes clear. Then, it presents the criticism of the book of Ecclesiastes to the theology of retribution, to the claim to know who God is and how he acts, that is, the criticism of wisdom, history and, finally, monarchy and politics, as an offshoot of all the others.