ators, and even those who regard this book as a collection of
separate songs (as, for instance, Döpke, Magnus, Noyes, &c.)
admit that the Rabbinical interpretation of this title is the only
admissible one. The (
Hebrew characters) prefixed to (Hebrew characters), is the so-called Lamed auctoris, used in the inscriptions of Psalms and other Hebrew poems to designate the author. Comp. Ps. iii. 1; iv. 1, &c. The addition of (Hebrew characters) here, which is not found in the other inscriptions, is owing to the article in [HE: S/iyr haS/.iyriym/], which generally, though not always, is followed by this pronoun; comp. Gen. xxix. 9; xl. 5; xlvii. 4; 1 Kings iv. 2; Gesen. § 115, 1; Ewald, 292 a. The rendering therefore of (Hebrew characters) by respecting Solomon, is contrary to usage, and is rightly rejected by modern grammarians and lexicographers. This Song is the first of the ((Hebrew characters)) five Megiloth, or books which are annually read in the Synagogues; viz. The Song of Songs on the Feast of the Passover; Ruth on Pentecost; Lamentations on the Ninth of Ab; Ecclesiastes on Tabernacles; and Esther on Purim. The present arrangement of these five books in the Hebrew canon is according to the order of the festivals on which they are read.
SECTION II.—CANONICITY OF THE BOOK.
This book possesses all the external marks which entitle other writings to a place in the list of the sacred books. The evidence for its canonicity is as conclusive as that which is commonly adduced to prove the canonicity of any other portion of the Old Testament. In the Mishna Yadim (sect. iii. 5), we find the following testimony respecting it from R. Akiba, one of the most celebrated Rabbins, who lived at the end of the first century, and was president of the academy of Bani-Brac: No Israelite has ever disputed the canonicity of the Song of Songs. No day in the whole history of the world is of so much worth as the one in which the Song of Songs was given to Israel; for all the Scriptures are holy, but the Song of Songs is most holy. Another Rabbi (Simeon b. Azzai), in the same place, says, I
