Song of Songs in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
LITERATURE
The full title in Hebrew is "The Song of Songs, which is
Solomon's." The book is called by some Canticles, and by
others Solomon's Song. The Hebrew title implies that it is
the choicest of all songs, in keeping with the dictum of
Rabbi `Aqiba (90-135 AD) that "the entire world, from the
beginning until now, does not outweigh the day in which
Canticles was given to Israel."
I. Canonicity.
Early Jewish and Christian writers are silent as to the Song
of Songs. No use is made of it 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. The earliest distinct references to the Song of
Songs are found in Jewish writings of the 1st and 2nd
centuries AD (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 AD), when it was decided
that Canticles was rightly reckoned to "defile the hands,"
i.e. 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, though prior to the Synod of Jamnia there was
probably a goodly number of Jewish teachers who did not
accept it as canonical. Selections from Canticles were sung
at certain festivals in the temple at Jerusalem, prior to
its destruction by Titus in 70 AD (Ta`anith 4:8). The Mishna
pronounces an anathema on all who treat Canticles as a
secular song (Sanhedhrin, 101a). The latest date for the
composition of the Song of Songs, according to critics of
the advanced school, is toward the close of the 3rd century
BC. We may be sure that it was included in the Kethubhim
before the ministry of our Lord, and so was for Him a part
of the Scriptures.
II. Text.
Most scholars regard the text of Canticles as comparatively
free from corruption. Gratz, Bickell, Budde and Cheyne have
suggested a good many emendations of the traditional text, a
few of which commend themselves as probable corrections of a
faulty text, but most of which are mere guesses without
sufficient confirmation from either external or internal
evidence. For details see Budde's able commentary, and
articles by Cheyne in JQR and Expository Times for 1898-99
and in the The Expositor, February, 1899...
Link: https://bible-history.com/isbe/S/SONG+OF+SONGS/