Monday, August 15, 2022

Tremper Longman III on לִשְׁלֹמֹֽה in Song of Solomon 1:1

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)