Here's what i see in the javadocs of FlushModeType http://www.rhce.com/docs/manuals/jboss/jboss-eap-4.2/doc/hibernate/api/ej... anonymous wrote : | Flush mode setting. When queries are executed within a transaction, if FlushModeType.AUTO is set on the Query object, or if the flush mode setting for the persistence context is AUTO (the default) and a flush mode setting has not been specified for the Query object, the persistence provider is responsible for ensuring that all updates to the state of all entities in the persistence context which could potentially affect the result of the query are visible to the processing of the query. The persistence provider implementation may achieve this by flushing those entities to the database or by some other means. If FlushModeType.COMMIT is set, the effect of updates made to entities in the persistence context upon queries is unspecified. If there is no transaction active, the persistence provider must not flush to the database. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4146489#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...