WHO WROTE:  King Solomon.  The title in the Hebrew text ascribes the poem to Solomon.

 

 

WHAT TIME PERIOD IS COVERED:  B.C. 1039 - B.C. 999?

 

 

WHEN WRITTEN:  B.C. 1039 - B.C. 999.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:  Josephus, in “Ant.” 7:14, section 2, makes Solomon the last born of David’s sons.

 

The full title in Hebrew of this Book is, “The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.”  From the “International Standard Bible Encyclopedia” we learn: “The Hebrew title implies that it is the choicest of all songs, in keeping with the dictum of Rabbi ‘Aqiba (90-135 A.D.) that ‘the entire world, from the beginning until now, does not outweigh the day in which Canticles was given to Israel.’ ”

 

The title in the Hebrew text ascribes the poem to Solomon.  That this superscription was prefixed by an editor of Canticles (another name for the Book of Song of Solomon) and not by the original writer is evident from the fact that the relative pronoun employed in the title is different from that employed throughout the poem.  However, that Solomon is the writer can well be established by the fact that the name of Solomon is prominent in the Song of Songs Itself (see Son. 1:5; 3:7 & 9 & 11; 8:11).

 

Early Jewish and Christian writers are silent as to the Song of Songs.  Neither is any use made of the Book by Philo.  There is no quotation from It in the New Testament, nor is there any clear allusion to It on the part of our Lord or the Apostles.  However, we may be sure that It was included in the “Kethubhim” (Jewish word for Old Testament) before the ministry of our Lord, and as such was for Him a part of the Scriptures that He could have referred to.

 

The earliest distinct references to the Song of Songs are found in Jewish writings of the 1st and 2nd Centuries A.D. (see 4 “Esdras,” 5:24, 26; 7:26; “Ta’anith,” 4:8).  The question of the Canonicity of the Song was debated as late as the “Synod of Jamnia” (circa 90 A.D.), when it was decided that “Canticles” was rightly reckoned to “defile the hands,” i.e., It was an inspired Book.  It should be borne in mind that the Song of Songs was already esteemed by the Jews as a sacred Book prior to the “Synod of Jamnia.”

 

Selections from “Canticles,” were sung at certain festivals in the Temple at Jerusalem, prior to its destruction by Titus in 70 A.D. (aee “Ta’anith,” 4:8).  The “Mishna” (Oral Torah), pronounces an anathema on all who treat “Canticles,” as a secular song (see “Sanhedhrin,” 101a).

 

The Jewish rabbis, from the latter part of the 1st Century A.D., down to our own day, taught that the poem celebrates a spiritual love -- Yahweh being the bridegroom and Israel the bride -- as opposed to the lovers actually being Solomon and his lover; or any other human conjecture.  I follow the interpretation that it is applied to both.