Scholars have long wrestled with the gloomy pessimism and striking omission of any mention of Yahweh in this portion of the Wisdom literature. After setting forth the issues related to the text, authorship, date and canonicity of the book of Ecclesiastes, Michael Eaton assesses its purpose and structure. He then provides a passage-by-passage analysis that attempts to account for the oddities of the text and to show its contemporary relevance.