Commenting on לִשְׁלֹמֹֽה in Song 1:1 and its implications for Solomonic authorship of the Song of Solomon, Tremper Longman III noted that
important
to the significance of Solomon in the superscription is how the name is used in
the superscriptions of other books. Proverbs explicitly has his name in the
first verse (1:1), and Ecclesiastes strongly implies Solomon (1:1). Yet in both
cases, a close examination reveals that neither implies that Solomon wrote the
entire book Indeed, as argued in an earlier work, I suggest that Solomon did
not write the book of Ecclesiastes but rather provided the fictional background
for Qoholet (The argument may be found in T. Longman III, The Book of
Ecclesiastes. NICOT [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998], pp. 2-9). The book of
Proverbs shows signs of multiple authorship, more an anthology composed of a
number of texts from different authors and time periods. Frequently, the
sections are marked by captions that indicate authorship. They cite a group
called “the wise” (22:17; 24:23), Agur (30:1), King Lemuel (31:1), and Solomon
(1:1; 10:1; 25:1) as sources of the wisdom of the book. Only Proverbs 1:8-8:18
and 31:10-31 are without explicit authorship attribution. Proverbs 1:1-7 serves
as an extended superscription and introduction to the book that connects
authorship to Solomon but does not claim it for the section itself (For further
discussion of Proverbs, see Dillard and Longman, An Introduction to the Old
Testament, pp. 236-37).
In
our opinion, the lišlōmōh in the Song of Songs is most like the mention of
Solomon in the superscription of the book of Proverbs. . . . There is nothing inconceivable
about the idea that Solomon wrote one or more of the poems. However, there is
also nothing that indisputably connects the book with Solomon. Fortunately,
little is at stake in terms of authorship of these poems. The one thing that is
clear is that it is not telling a story about Solomon. To posit such a reading
involves excessive eisegesis to make it work. Our translation of the preposition
in the superscription (The Song of Songs, which concerns Solomon) is
purposively ambiguous in terms of Solomon’s relationship to the Song. (Tremper
Longman III, Song of Songs [The New International Commentary on the Old
Testament; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2001], 6-7, italics in original)
