All that can be concluded with any degree of probability is, that the author was an Alexandrian Jew, who lived after the transplanting of the Greek philosophy into Egypt, and that he seems to refer to the oppression of the later Ptolemies.[1] In ch. viii. 2, Solomon is represented as speaking to Wisdom; "Her I loved and sought from my youth, I sought to bring her home for my bride, and I became a lover of her beauty." Because Solomon is here made to speak of Wisdom as his bride, it has been maintained to be an explanation of the Song of Songs, as though the brides were necessarily the same.[2] Let any impartial reader peruse the description of Wisdom in the chapter quoted, and that of the bride in the Song of Songs, and he will be convinced that there is no intentional resemblance whatever.
37-95. A.D. Josephus is also said to have understood this Song in an allegorical sense, although it is not in a single instance quoted by him. His arrangement of the Books of the Old Testament is the only ground of this argument. It is said, as he[3] mentions twenty-two books which are justly accredited as Divine, ([GR:ta\ dikai/ôs thei=a pepisteume/na]) and describes five as belonging to Moses, thirteen to the Prophets, and the remaining four as containing hymns to God, and rules of life for men ([GR:ai( de\ loipai\ te/ssares u(/mnous ei)s to\n Theo\n kai\ toi=s a)nthrô/pois u(pothê/kas tou= bi/ou perie/chousin]) viz., the Psalms, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, no place is left for this Song except among the Prophets; and if Josephus placed it there, it follows that he must have understood it allegorically.[4] But were we to admit that Josephus placed this Song among the prophetical writings, we should deny the conclusion attempted to be drawn from it. For according to the same mode of argumentation, we might infer that Josephus understood
