§ 274. THE AUTHOR. An old tradition mentions Jeremiah as the author. It is contained in the beginning of the first chapter of the Septuagint version" And it came to pass after that Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem was laid waste, that Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said "a The contents, spirit, tone, and language, of the book agree with this tradition. The elegiac humor of the sufferer has here expressed itself with a certain completeness." • Compare Josephus, Ant. x. 5, 1. Comp. i. 8, sqq., with Jer. iv. 30, xiii. 21, 22, 26; i. 20, and iv. 13, sqq., with Jer. xiv. 7, 18; ii. 14, with Jer. xiv. 13; i. 16, and ii. 11, iii. 48, 49, with Jer. viii. 21, sqq., ix. 16, sqq., x. 19, sqq., xiii. 17, xiv. 17; iii. 52, with Jer. xv. 26, 27; iii. with Jer. xv. 10, sqq., 15, sqq., xvii. 5, sqq., 14, sqq., xx. 7, sqq., 14, sqq. i. 4., for; iv. 1. 7; iii. 12. 2797; ii. 1. 17; i. 14. Pe с prefixed; ii. [Each chapter, or elegy, is divided into twenty-two periods, to correspond to the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The first four chapters are in the form of acrostics. In the first three chapters, each verse contains three lines, and the initial letters are, with a slight variation, in the order of the letters in the alphabet. In the fourth chapter, each verse consists of four lines. In the third, the alphabet is repeated three times.] ; CHAPTER III. THE SONG OF SOLOMON." § 275. THE KIND OF COMPOSITION TO WHICH THE BOOK BELONGS. In the Song of Songs, we possess the only relic of the amatory poetry of the Hebrews. This, from its a J. H. Michaelis Annotatt. uberr. in Hagiogr. vol. ii. See the other numerous authors in Rosenmüller, Schol. p. 283, sqq. Döderlein, Auctar. ad Hug. Grot. adnotatt.; 1779, 4to. Materialien z. e. n. Erklär. d. h. Liedes vom Verf. der Beobacht. üb. d. Orient, (Harmar.) Aus d. Engl. 1778, 1779, 2 Thle, 4to. G. A. Ruperti Symbolæ ad interpret. S. Cod. vol. i. Fasc. 1, 2; Gott. 1792. Nic. Schyth, Cant. Cantic. recens versum, comment. exeget. atq. crit. illustratum; Havn. 1797. Gaab, Beiträge z. Erklär. d. sogen. h. L. u. d.; Klagl. 1795. Salom. Regis et Sap. quæ supersunt ejusque esse perhibentur omnia ex Hebr. Lat. vertit Notasque adj. Jos. Fr. Schelling; 1806. Kistemaker, Cant. Canticorum illustratum ex Hierographia Orientalium; 1818. ...... J. Chr. C. Döpke, Philol. krit. Comm. z. h. L. Sal. 1829. Ueberss. u. Erkll. von (J. F. Jacobi) d. gerett. h. L. 1771; Hezel, 1777; Herder, 1778; J. F. Kleuker, 1780; J. F. Schlez, 1782; Döderlein, (m. d. Pred.) 1784; Hufnagel, 1784; Velthusen, 1786; (comp. his Amethyst, 1786; Cantilena Cantilenarum in Sal. 1786;) (Ammon,) Sal. verschm. Liebe, 1790; Beyer, 1792; Briegleb, 1798; Justi, Blumen alt-hebr. Dichtk. 1807; Umbreit, 1820, 2 A. 1828; G. H. A. Ewald, 1826. [See Robinson's ed. of Calmet, and Michaelis in Lowth, p. 609. It has been translated into English by Bishop Percy, 1764, 12mo.; Hodgson, 1785, 4to.; Thos. Williams, 1801, 8vo. ; J. M. Good, 1803, 8vo.; Fry, 1811, 8vo. The following authors have written commentaries or explanations upon it: Ainsworth, Annotation on Pent., Ps., and Cant.; 1627, fol. Gill, 1728, fol., (often republished.) Harmer, Outlines of a Com. on Sol. Song, 1768, 8vo. Durell, 1772. An anonymous Scotch author, 1775. (See in Critical Review, vol. xv. for 1795.) Thos. James, D. D., Oxford, 1607. Other writers in Eng nature, must fluctuate between lyric and epic poetry, and therefore it often becomes descriptive and pictorial, (or idyllic,) and willingly makes use of the form of dialogue. This kind of poetry must have existed in the form of song; but there are only slight indications thereof-ii. 12, "the time of song has come," and Lam. v. 14, "The young men have ceased from their music." The relation of the amatory idyl to the Psalms cannot be determined more accurately. The rhythm is more periodic than that of the Psalms." § 276. TITLE AND CONTENTS. The title () signifies the most beautiful song. This is the only explanation which is conformable to the usage of the language, and the rules of grammar. Under this title are included several songs, and fragments of songs, which treat of love. For the most part, the subject is rural and pastoral love, which is treated of with the glowing passion of the East, and without the degen lish, on this book, are, Durham, Bishops Hall and Patrick, Messrs. Dove, Trapp, Jackson, Collings. Dr. Owen "has given one of the best spiritual explications of the most interesting passages," in his "Communion with Father, Son, &c." See also Croxall, Fair Circassian; Lond. 1720. Davidson, Brief Outline, &c.; 1817, 8vo. See the translation and explanation of Mr. Taylor, in Calmet's Dictionary, and the remarks of Dr. Robinson, its American editor, article Canticles.] a See a comparison of the Canticles and Theocritus's Idyls, by Stäudlin, in Paulus, Mem. vol. ii. p. 161, and an explanation of these songs, p. 171, sqq. See other significations in Gesenius, Lexicon, and Bertholdt, p. 2580. Ewald (Hohesleid, p. 25, and Poet. Buch. A. T. vol. i. p. 184) connects more intimately with the inscription, and translates it, Das schönste Lied, welches von Salomo ist; i. e. which Solomon composed. erate bashfulness of modern times, but still in conformity with the moral spirit of the Hebrews." "But one is my Dove, my chaste one." (vi. 9.) 66 Apply me, like a seal, to thine heart, Like a seal to thine arm; For love is strong as death; And streams cannot wash it away. Offer a man all the wealth of his house for his love, It has been explained as an allegory by the writer of the Targum, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Origen, Epiphanius, Theodoret, and many others, among the ancients. The latest attempts of this kind are by Rosenmüller, Hug, and Kaiser. But this method of explaining it derives no probable support from the exegesis of the book; and, besides, it is by no means necessary for the honor of the Bible." a This is Herder's opinion, which has been followed by most of the moderns, who only differ in their modifications of this view. Carpzov, p. 348. 'See the different exegetical hypotheses in Kleuker, 1. c. 41, and a criticism of this kind of explanation in Döpke, p. 41, Umbreit, p. 6, and Hassler, Tub. Zeitschrift, vol. iii. p. 172. с Rosenmüller, in Keil, and Tzschirner, Anal. vol. i. p. 138, sqq., though differently in his Prolegg. p. 271, sqq. Hug, Das Hoheslied, &c.; 1813, 4to. Schutzschrift, &c.; 1815, 4to. Kaiser, Das Hoheslied, ein Collectiv-Gesang, &c.; 1825. A similar mystical explanation has been made of some of the amatory poetry of the Orientals. See Herbelot, Bibl. Orient., art. Jussuf, and William Jones, On the Mystical Poetry of the Persians and Hindoos, in Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 165, sqq. [in his Works, vol. iv. p. 227, sqq. 8vo.] d Herder, l. c. p. 120, sqq. Ewald, Hoheslied, p. 355. Some of the Jews had their doubts upon this book. R. Nathan says, "Formerly they determined that the Proverbs, Canticles, and Ecclesiastes, were apocryphal books, written after the manner of parables, and therefore were not to be reckoned with the Hagiographa. For this reason, they concealed them until the time of the men of the Great Synagogue, who at last explained them." Capitula, c. i. Jerome, in his Preface to Ezekiel, says Equally improbable is the opinion that the book is a whole, and is founded upon a true history." There is a connection between the following passages: i. 2-8, the maiden's anxiety for her lover; i. 9—ii. 7, the lover's conversation when they come together; ii. 8 -17, the lover's visit to the maiden, in the vineyard; iii. 1-5, the maiden seeking her lover by night, and finding him; iv. 1—v. 1, the dialogue between the young man, excited with love, and the complying maiden; v. 2 -vi. 3, the maiden seeking her lover by night, and praising him; vi. 4-9, the faithful lover's praises of his beloved; vii. 2—viii. 4, the conversation of the pair, now intoxicated with love, and united therein; (compare i. 9 -ii. 7, with this ;) viii. 5-7, the love of the faithful wedded pair. If these passages are treated rigorously, it cannot be shown that they constitute one whole, for the scene and the costume change somewhat; thus, in i. 5, ii. 7, no one who has not completed his thirtieth year, is permitted to read the beginning of Genesis, or Canticles, or the beginning and end of Ezekiel, so that he may come to perfect knowledge and to the mystical sense of these books, when his mind is in its greatest vigor. See Origen, Prol. ad Cant. Bartolocci, Bib. Rab. vol. iv. p. 373. This is the theory of Jacobi, Velthusen, Ammon, and others. Umbreit maintains there is a certain unity in the book, and succeeds without forcing the matter much, though not without arbitrary interpretation. In particular, he gives a false explanation of the slumber song. (ii. 7, iii. 5, and viii. 4.) Ewald maintains it is a drama, and is still more guilty of arbitrary treatment, especially in separating the dialogue, (i. 9—ii. 6, vi. 2—4, vii. 2—viii. 4,) and thereby separating the terms which clearly are connected with one another"My Beloved," (5777,) and "My Love," (",) which latter term is applied to the absent lover. (i. 15, 16.) Both Ewald and Umbreit make the heroine a country maiden, shut up in Solomon's harem. But this opinion is favored only by i. 4—6, and vi. 8. But the intervening passages, (i. 7, sqq.,) where the scene presents us flocks and pastures, &c., as well as those which follow, (vii. 12, sqq.,) lead us away from the court. See A. T. Hartmann, On the Character and Explanation of the Song of Songs, in Winer's Zeitschrift, vol. iii. p. 412. |