552 Luca Mazzinghi challenged, how is that God really different from the tyrants of the earth? Is he responsible for all the violence which is in the world (30)? 4. Criticism of God or of the God of Tradition? In texts such as Qoh 8,11-14 and 9,1-3 Qoheleth, as Crenshaw remarks, “quotes traditional belief and then exposes it in the harsh light of experience. In this case, however, he comes perilously close to blaming God for the spread of wickedness (...). Qoheleth considers the resulting situation totally absurd” (31). And yet, in contrast with Schoors, Crenshaw recognizes that, while Qoheleth “offers no defence of divine justice”, at the same time he provides an indirect theodicy: “the problem is no longer God; it has now become the limits of rational discourse about deity. Theodicy, then, is insoluble, a mystery that is embedded in the unfathomable mystery of God” (32). The observations of Crenshaw in particular allow us to go further into two important aspects to which he does not give sufficient weight. In the first place, Qoheleth appears, throughout along his book, to be a critic of the traditional doctrine of Israel. In Qoh 8,11-14, for example, Qoheleth argues against the traditional idea of retribution (or better, the so-called Tun-Ergehen-Zusammenhang). Qoh 8,11-14 is a difficult and disputed text, but it is sufficiently clear that the idea of “fearing God” bound up with rewards and punishments is radically contested here by Qoheleth (33). When, therefore, Qoheleth writes that “sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily” (8,11), he is not indirectly accusing God of being responsible for the violence and injustice in the world. Rather he is challenging the existence of the retributive principle such as it was conceived in Israelite tradition. For him, “fearing God” is something that must be separated from any notion of reward or punishment, something, thus, totally free. (30) “This mystery of the remote and hidden God, the deus otiosus, including both divine nature and activity, led to Qoheleth’s loss of confidence in beneficent Providence...”; L.G. PERDUE, The Sword and the Stylus. An Introduction to Wisdom in the Age of Empires (Grand Rapids, MI – Cambridge 2008) 253. (31) J.L. CRENSHAW, Defending God. Biblical Responses to the Problem of Evil (New York 2005) 168. (32) CRENSHAW, Defending God, 169. (33) For this topic, cf., now, L. MAZZINGHI, “Esegesi ed ermeneutica di un libro difficile: l’esempio di Qo 8,11-14”, Biblical Exegesis in Progress. Old and New Testament Essays (eds. J.N. ALETTI – J.L. SKA) (AnBib 176; Rome 2009) 173- 207.