“... Solomon’s surpassing wisdom as attested through a series of comparisons is the theme of this midrashic passage, in which the pattern of question–answers and the arrangement of the biblical verses in a dialectical style give the impression of a vivid dialogue. [...] Ecclesiastes 7:23 comprises the conclusion in a series of maxims that reflect Qoheleth’s pessimistic view of man’s incapability of knowing his scope in life. The Rabbis eliminate the negative sense of the base verse and laud Solomon’s wisdom by advocating Solomon’s intellectual superiority. The Rabbis placed Solomon on a higher level of intellectual capacity and summoned up Ps 8:5 to support their teaching of man’s superiority compared to the angels. The Rabbis through an ongoing “textual dialogue” build up the degree of Adam’s wisdom only to quash it when they compare it to Solomon’s. After they secure interpretatively the importance of Adam’s wisdom through Ps 8:5, the Rabbis have at hand a conceptually neat passage that reinforces the extent of Solomon’s wisdom. ...”