Who wrote the book of Song of Solomon? Who was the author of Song of Solomon?

The name "Song of Songs" is an absolute comparison in the Hebrew and means as much as the most beautiful song. The first verse already mentions Solomon as author. We find this mentioned seven times (chap. 1:1+5; 3:7+9+11; 8:11+12) and besides three times the title "King" (chap. 1:4+12; 7:6). According to 1 Kings 4:32+33 Solomon wrote 1,005 songs and he had a deep knowledge of nature. Only this one song of Solomon has been preserved. The song mentions 22 names of plants and 15 names of animals. As Solomon reigned from around 970 to 931 BC the time of writing would have to be set in the middle of the 10th century BC.

The Song of Songs is of a uniform composition as throughout the book the following persons appear again and again: the bridegroom, the bride, and the daughters of Jerusalem. Similar refrains are to be found at the beginning and ends of certain paragraphs (chap. 2:7; 3:5; 8:4 and 3:6; 6:10; 8:5). The sevenfold mentioning of Solomon's name would also be such a refrain.

"The Song of songs, which is Solomon's" (verse 1).

Solomon is the writer. His name means peace. Of him it is written, "And King Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom" (2 Chron. 9:22). He is but a faint type of our great Prince of peace, who is the altogether lovely One, "fairer than the children of men," whom God has "anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows," and "appointed heir of all things" (Cant. 5:16; Ps. 45:2, 7; Heb. 1:2). How wonderful to have Him as the lover of our souls.

This is also called "the Song of Songs, or The Canticles," though it is one poem, and not a collection of poems. The first verse states that it is by Solomon. The book stands alone, and has been variously interpreted. A favourite theory of German theologians and of many English is that it is literally a love story: that Solomon sought to draw away a lowly maiden from a shepherd, to whom she was betrothed; but to whom she remained faithful. That such a poem, with no higher teaching than this, should find a place in holy scripture, is impossible for the Christian who believes in inspiration to accept. With others it is held to represent 'the pure love and mystical union and marriage of Christ and His church,' which will be seen to be the idea in the headings of the chapters in the A.V. Passages in the N.T. that refer to the union of Christ and the church are referred to as bearing out this interpretation.

The Song of Solomon, as this book is called in the King James Version, is the third book of which Solomon is the author, preceded by Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. In the Hebrew Bible it occupies a different place. It is found there in the section called "Kethubim," the Hagiographic division. It belongs to the so-called "Megilloth" or rolls and is placed first among them--Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther. In the synagogual service it has been appointed to be read on the eighth day of Passover, the feast of redemption. This is suggestive, for, as we shall see, this Song is a love-song, expressing the love of Messiah for His people.

The Solomonic authorship has likewise been attacked, and it is claimed that the book was written long after Solomon's day. Wellhausen, the German critic, declares that "the most original of the Hagiographic writings is the song of Solomon; the names and things which occur in it assign it clearly to the second half of the Persian period. We see from it that the law had not yet forbidden love-poetry to the Jews, and had not made the enjoyment of life impossible." Nearly all the other critics have placed the date after the exile. The objections against the composition of the book in Solomon's period are mostly on account of a few words, which critics think were unknown to the people during Solomon's reign. What we have stated on these philological objections in the introduction to Ecclesiastes holds good in the case of this book also. While Wellhausen and others have denied the Solomonic authorship and date, other scholars have declared that the song itself has all the marks of Solomon. Among these marks Professor Delitzsch mentions "the familiarity with nature, the fulness and extent of the book's geography and artistic references, the mention of so many exotic plants and foreign things, particularly of such objects of luxury as the Egyptian horses."

Neither the Jews nor the early church doubted the authenticity of Solomon's Song. It formed part of the Hebrew Canonical Scriptures from very ancient times, and there is no valid reason why it should be rejected or the Solomonic authorship be denied.

Another question which has been raised is as to the unity of the contents. Inasmuch as different voices are heard speaking in this little book, and it being composed of dialogues as well as monologues, some critics claim that the book is not a unity, but rather a collection of love poems, similar to those written by Burns and Heine. One critic (Budde) endeavors to prove that the book is a collection of folk-songs sung at weddings, which some unknown hand collected. But the unity of the book in tone and its language disposes of this theory, nor is there any ground to call it, as some have done, a Hebrew drama.

One class of critics boldly tell us that the book was not written by Solomon, but that some unknown author assumed the name, and personified the character, of Israel's wisest and richest monarch, because they have discovered that the style is not that of Solomon's, nor the circumstances in the book in accordance with his reign. "Knowledge puffeth up;" and so these wise men in their own conceit regard with a sneer and with supreme contempt the fact that God has settled the question of the authorship of the book (Eccles. 1:1), and further that it always held its present place in all Hebrew Bibles, and formed part of the Sacred Scriptures in the days of Christ and writers of the New Testament. We suppose, moreover, that the Jewish mind is quite as capable as any modern critic in estimating the value of differences in style and diction — of Hebrew writers especially; yet the Jews ancient and modern fail to see a difficulty in assigning the authorship to Solomon. As to style, the Holy Ghost has none of His own. He is free to use the style and character of any human vessel He sees fit. But enough, God has spoken (chap. 1:1), and we would reverently bow and implicitly believe.

The Song of Solomon. Solomon was not only a Preacher (Ecclesiastes) and a Moralist (Proverbs), but a Song-composer (Canticles). Of the 1005 Songs (1 Kings 4:32) written by Solomon, all have perished save this one which is styled by way of pre-eminence "The Song of Songs," unless we include in the number of 1005 the two Psalms 72 and 127 attributed to Solomon. The book was written in Palestine, probably Jerusalem, by Solomon in the early period of his reign, about 1014 B.C. Its typical application is to the Jew of the future; its moral bearing is all-important for the Christian now. This divine poem is in the form of a dialogue between Solomon, his spouse, and her companions. No doubt Solomon's marriage with the lovely Egyptian princess formed the historical ground on which is based the moral and prophetic teachings of the book. Some arrange it in seven portions, answering to the seven days of the Jewish marriage feast.

Solomon, Song of Solomon 1:1.

Song of Solomon, see chap. 1:1, with 1 Kings 4:32.

Solomon, the wisest man of Old Testament times, in the heyday of his youth and regal splendour, wrote many songs. The choicest of all has been preserved to us in the Song of Songs! Literary people tell us that it is a superlative love lyric, which is matchless in any language. However, the Christian sees therein the added quality of prophetic character with reference to Christ and those whose hearts have been won by His love. In the zenith of his reign, Solomon enunciated a series of proverbs which have formed a book of reference of wise judgment for men in every clime and age. In his declining years (indeed only two years before he died), Solomon wrote a book of very different character to either of the foregoing. In the Ecclesiastes (lit. the Book of "calling together"), he sets forth a very pessimistic view of affairs. These were described repeatedly as being "under the sun." His summary of everything was vanity or emptiness, literally of soap bubble consistency! The soap bubble is very beautiful. Its film has been the subject of great scientific investigations of entrancing interest. But the bubble notwithstanding its beauty has little permanency and when subjected to small disturbance it vanishes. How aptly descriptive is that feature of "everything under the sun"! Solomon also mentions the added feature of "vexation of spirit." No one had ever before or have they ever had since such an opportunity of enjoying to hearts content everything under the sun. Yet his closing days were not joyful, indeed they were shrouded in gloom: the end of all whose vision is limited to what is under the sun!

Three Scripture books have come down to us from the pen of king Solomon — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. The character of their contents suggest that these books were written at different periods in his life. The ardent language of the Song, describing the love of Bridegroom and Bride — Christ and Israel at the last, points to Solomon's early days when his spiritual affections were alert towards God. Proverbs was probably written in the days of his maturity: and Ecclesiastes, with its language of chastened disappointment, was almost certainly Solomon's latest effort. The Spirit of God led him to record his painful experiences when in search of "good under the sun" for the warning of men in all ages who might be disposed to tread the same path.