The Literature of the Old Testament Part 12

SONG OF SONGS.--A verse already quoted (1 Kings iv. 32) tells that, besides three thousand proverbs, Solomon composed a thousand and five songs. We shall probably not err in a.s.suming that this verse was in the mind of the editor who prefixed the t.i.tle "The Song of Songs (that is, the very best of songs), by Solomon." There is nothing in the book to indicate that Solomon was the author or that the poet meant his productions to be attributed to him.

The one theme of the book, running through many variations, is the love of man and woman, pa.s.sionate and sensuous. In the second century of our era its songs were warbled at banquets or wedding feasts, a profane abuse on which a scandalized rabbi denounced d.a.m.nation. In the first century it was, in spite of Solomon's name, no Holy Scripture for the straitest sect, and was not finally admitted to the canon, we may be pretty sure, until an allegorical sense had been discovered in it, or rather imposed on it: it sang, under the figure of wedded love, of the relation of the Lord to Israel. The Fathers took over all the allegory, only making the lover Christ, the beloved the Church (as still in the running t.i.tles of the Authorized Version), or the soul.

The mediaeval church saw in the bride the Virgin Mary. The allegorical interpretation was a necessary corollary of the dogmatic a.s.sumption that the canon of inspired scripture could contain nothing but books of religious instruction and edification. Allegorical love poetry--usually the love of G.o.d and the soul--is not uncommon in mystical sects or circles of various creeds; and the ultra-spiritual poets often revel in an ultra-sensual imagery of pa.s.sion and fruition; but nothing in the Song of Songs suggests such an origin, nor have we knowledge of a Jewish mysticism of this erotic type in the centuries from which it must come.

The literary criticism of the last century chiefly spent itself in endeavours to discover in the book a lyric drama with a moral tendency, on some such theme as the triumph of pure love over l.u.s.t.

Great ingenuity was expended in dividing the text into regular acts and scenes and a.s.signing the speeches to the leading actors and the chorus. In its simplest form there were but two actors, the virtuous village maiden and the harem-jaded Solomon; a more plausible scheme gave the girl a rustic lover, which added much to the piquancy of the scenes with Solomon, and to the _denouement_, in which the king, foiled by the maiden's constancy, confesses virtue triumphant, and sends her back to her shepherd swain. More recent supporters of the dramatic hypothesis have modified this scheme in a way to remove some of its plainest difficulties, but have complicated it in proportion.

Other interpreters take the book for a collection of love songs, or, more specifically, of wedding songs, such as are sung to-day at village weddings in Syria and Palestine. A certain dramatic quality in the songs, and their relation to successive stages of the festivities, would give the appearance of a progressive action which has been urged for the dramatic theory. The Syrian peasant to-day, in the region of Damascus, is for his bride-week in song and salutation a king or prince; a sledge on the village thres.h.i.+ng-floor is his throne, and the bride is queen. Through the week the royal pair are honoured by the villagers with songs and dances. If in the Hebrew songs the bridegroom-king is sometimes called Solomon, it is because Solomon was the richest and most splendid of kings. This view of the nature of the book is simpler and more probable. The several poems are not distinguished by t.i.tles, and there is room for difference of opinion about the divisions; but this is a small difficulty compared with the part.i.tion into roles in the supposed play.

The songs are fine examples of popular poetry, with traditional subjects, forms, and imagery. Nothing requires us to suppose that they are the production of one poet; we may think of them rather as an anthology of love songs, not necessarily all composed for wedding festivities, but all appropriate for use on such occasions.

The language of the songs proves that they belong to a very late period in Hebrew literature, though the type is doubtless old enough.

Such popular poetry has no motive for preserving or imitating archaism, as hymn writers do, but modernizes itself from generation to generation. The wedding songs of old Israel may have been like enough to these in character, but they were in another speech.

It was a fortunate misunderstanding that has preserved them; but the accidental preservation of these few pages emphasizes the loss of almost every other vestige of Hebrew secular poetry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. =General.=--SMITH, W. ROBERTSON. _The Old Testament in the Jewish Church._ 1892.--These lectures, first published in 1881, were meant to give to laymen an account of the problems and methods of criticism.

They are a remarkably lucid exposition of the subject, and may still be read with profit as a general introduction to criticism.

2. =The Canon.=--RYLE, H. E. _The Canon of the Old Testament._ 1892; 2nd ed. 1895.--A history of the growth of the Old Testament rather than a history of the canon. In that growth there were, according to the author, three stages; in the first, which began with the ratification of Deuteronomy in 621 B.C., the Law (Pentateuch) was the only recognized collection of Sacred Scripture; in the second the Law and the Prophets; and in the third the Law, the Prophets, and the "Writings." The latter part of the volume, which treats of the history of the canon in the usual meaning of the term, is a convenient but not very accurate compilation.

The article "Canon" (of the Old Testament) in the _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, by Karl Budde, and the article "Old Testament Canon" in Hastings' _Dictionary of the Bible_, by F. H. Woods, are concise presentations of generally accepted opinions by competent scholars.

3. =Literature of the Old Testament.=--DRIVER, S. R. _Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament._ 6th ed., revised, 1897. A volume of the _International Theological Library_, designed primarily for ministers and students of theology. The technical matter (lists of Hebrew words and the like) is, however, set off from the body of the text, and the work can therefore be used with profit by laymen for purposes of study. The synopses of the contents of Biblical books will be found helpful. The author is a scholar of conservative temper and cautious about accepting new or radical theories.

CORNILL, CARL. _Introduction to the Canonical Books of the Old Testament._ Translated by G. H. Box. New York. 1907.--Originally one of a German series of theological handbooks, this volume is on a smaller scale than Driver's and goes less into details which are of interest only to the professional student. The author's criticism is much less conservative than Driver's and more original.

KENT, C. F. _The Student's Old Testament._ 1904-1910.--I. _Narratives of the Beginnings of Hebrew History_, 1904; II. _Israel's Historical and Biographical Narratives_, 1905; III. _The Sermons, Epistles, and Apocalypses of Israel's Prophets_, 1910; IV. _Israel's Law and Legal Precedents_, 1907. (Two volumes on the Poetical Books will complete the series.) The sources of the Pentateuch and the Historical Books are separated, and where the narratives are parallel they are printed in parallel columns with headings indicating their origin. The a.n.a.lysis is also set out in tabular form, and maps and chronological charts are added. The oracles of the prophets are arranged, so far as possible, in chronological order, additions and interpolations being set in smaller type. The author is an experienced teacher and book-maker, and has a fine talent for exposition.

CARPENTER, J. ESTLIN, and HARFORD-BATTERSBY, G. _The Hexateuch according to the Revised Version._ 2 vols. 1900.--The first volume (separately reprinted, 1902) contains an excellent history of criticism, and develops fully and very clearly the evidence for the prevailing theory concerning the sources and composition of the Hexateuch. Tabular appendices exhibit the linguistic evidence in a form which makes it available, as far as possible, to the reader who does not know Hebrew; they also give a synopsis of the laws and inst.i.tutions, and an a.n.a.lysis and conspectus of the several codes. The second volume presents in the text of the Revised Version the a.n.a.lysis of the Pentateuch and Joshua in an extremely ingenious typographical scheme.

The articles on the Books of the Old Testament, from Genesis to Judges inclusive, in the _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, by the author of the present volume, may be referred to for a fuller statement of the reasons for his views and a more detailed a.n.a.lysis. The article "Historical Literature" in the same Encyclopaedia gives a comprehensive survey of the Hebrew historiography from its beginnings down to the time of Josephus. The article on "Prophecy and Prophets"

in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, by A. B. Davidson, though not dealing primarily with critical questions, may be strongly commended, and the article on "Psalms," by W. T. Davison, in the same volume, is good. An excellent article on "Proverbs" in the _Encyclopaedia Biblica_ should also be mentioned.