The Song of Songs - An Examination of Recent Theory
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The Song of Songs: An Examination of Recent TheoryAuthor(s): H. H. RowleySource: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 2 (Apr., 1938),pp. 251-276Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25201690 .
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The Song of Songs : an Examination of
Recent TheoryBy II. 11. ROWLEY
rpHJil history of the interpretation of the Song of Songs-*- is a
fascinating, if inconclusive,1 study in the ingenuityof the interpreters. Each has but to bring to the Song what
he desires to find in it, and behold! it lies plain before him.
And hence the
pages
of the commentaries are strewn with
the strange extravagances that have been imported to becloud
its apparent meaning. The older allegorical theory has fallen
into disrepute because it is recognized that it built onsubjec
tive fancies ; tlie dramatic theories have also lost the favour
they enjoyed in the nineteenth century because it is recognized
that the edifying plots they displayedwere merely the creations
of their discoverers ; the wedding-cycle theory has lost some
thing of the impetus Budde gave it because, while its pointof departure was not an editor's fancy but an actual modern
practice, it has to be forced upon the Songacross a great
gulf of centuries rather than foimd there.
It is not wholly to be surprised at, therefore, that in
recent years a fresh attempt to solve the riddle of tlie Song
has been made. In the form in which it has achieved mostinfluence it was proposed by T. J. Meek in a paper read
before the American Society of Biblical Literature in 1920,2
and developed in further studies by the same scholar,3 with
1Cf. Westminster Assembly's Annotations upon all the Books of the Old
and New Testament, 2nd cd., 1651, i, Introduction to tho annotations on
tho Song of Solomon (the pages aro not numbered):
*'It is not unknown
to the learned, what the obscurity and darknesso of this Book hath everbeen accounted, and what great variety of Interpreters, and Interpretationshave indcavourcd to clear it, but with so ill succcssc many times, that
they have rather increased, then removed tho cloud."2
Published in AJSL., xxxix, 1922-3, pp. 1-14, under the title"
Canticles and tho Tammuz Cult ".3 "
The Song of Songs and the Fertility Cult," in The Song of Songs:a symposium (cd. W. II. SchofT), 1924, pp. 48-79 ; and
"Babylonian
Parallels to the Song of Songs," in JBL., xliii, 1924, pp. 245-252.
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252 THE SONG OF SONGS
collateral support from W. H. Schoff.1 The theory is that
tho Song of Songs is a thinly disguised survival of an AdonisTammuz liturgy.
Thero had, indeed, been someanticipations of this view,
though Meek was unaware of them when he presented his
theory. For in 1906 Erbt2 had given a cultic interpretation
to the Song in terms of the astral theory of the Pan-Babylonian
school. Its association with the ideas of that school was,
however, sufficient to restrict the range of its influence, and
little was heard of it.
The next form in which the theory appeared connected
it with Egypt. This was presented in 1914 by 0. Ncuschotz
dc Jassy,3 who developed the thesis that the Song is a liturgy
of the Osiris cult. He identified the Solomon of the Song4
with Osiris,6 and Jerusalem withHor-Hetcp, holding
that the
city of peace reallymeans the city of the dead,* while the
Shulamito he found to be He topi th, or Isis.7 He regarded
the Songas concerned not with love, but with the resurrection
of Osiris, and hence he interpreted the kiss in i, 2, of the
priestly kiss of resurrection,8 and not of the kiss of lovers.
Again, however, the view commanded no attention. In
a letter to the author, Loisy expressed his doubt as to whethertho theory would immediately command acceptance, but
thought itworthy of discussion. Little discussion was given to
1 "Tho Offering Lists in the Song of Songs," in The Song of Songs :
a symposium, pp. 80-120.
%Die Hebrder : Kanaan im Zeitalter der hebrdischen Wandcrung und
hebraischer Slaatengrilndungen, 1900, pp. 196-202. Erbt's view was criticized
by V. Zaplotal, Das Hohelied, 1907, pp. 52-0.3
Le Cantique des Canliques et leMylhe d*Osiris-Hctcp.* Tho Solomon of history is dissolved by this author into mere myth
and legend (pp. 21 IT.).5
pp. 16 f.6
pp. 17 f.7
p. 21.8
p. 32. Similarly ho argues that tho kiss of Judas was not tho kiss
of betrayal, but tho kiss of resurrection, which has been wrongly changed
by tradition, and claims that tho fact that tho kiss was given in the garden
of Ccthsomano ^
D\JDl# K^3 (cf.the
part played by spicesin the
Songof Songs) supports this view (p. 34).
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THE SONG OP SONGS 253
it,1 however, and it left no rippleon the waters of scholarship.
In 1919 Ebeling published an Accadian text, or series of
fragments of texts, belonging to a liturgy of the Babylonian
Tammuz cult,2 and this was not long in reopening the issue
in a fresh form, which soon achieved considerable influence
in the discussion of the Song of Songs. Many Babylonian
Tammuz liturgies had already been published3
prior to the
appearance of this text, but Meek was at once struck with
the similarities between the Song of Songs and passages here,and in 1920 presented the first formulation of his theory.
The new text has been translated in part or in whole by
Ebeling,4 Langdon,5 Meek,6 and Barton,7 and the differences
between their renderings show that there is byno means
agreementas to its meaning. The new
theory, however, in
no sense depends upon this particular text, for ourknowledge
of the Tammuz cult of Babylonia,8 and of the kindred rites1 J. Halevy devoted a few scornful pages (Revue Semilique, xxii, 1914,
pp. 248-255) to it, and concluded"
Je renonce arepondre
aux grossieretes
gratuites de l'auteur et lui souhaite une plus grande dose de bons sens et
de modestie ".2
Keilschriftlexte aus Assur religiosen Inhalts, vol. i, Heft 4, 1919, No. 158
(pp. 267-276). Cf. p. 352, where the text is described as a"
Katalog von
Hymnen Anfangen an verschiedene Gotter ".3
See S. Langdon, Babylonian Liturgies, 1913, and now, more recently,
M. Witzel, Tammuz-Liturgien und Venvandtes (Analecta Orientalia, x), 1935.4 Cf. MDOG., 58, 1917, pp. 49 f.5 "
Babylonian and Hebrew Musical Terms," in JRAS., 1921, pp. 171?
191. See especially pp. 183-190.
Cf. JBL,, xliii, 1924, pp. 245-252.7
Cf. Archseology and the Bible, 6th ed., 1933, pp. 518-520. It may
be noted here that Barton's view of the Song of Songs is not quite clear.
He quotes (pp. 515 ff.) some Egyptian parallels to the Song, and comments
that they"
make it clear that in Egypt love . . . was as warmly felt as
in Israel, and was likewise poetically and passionately expressed ". Since
the parallels adduced are not presentedas liturgies, it would seem that
Barton regarded the Song merely as amorous poetry. The Babylonian
parallel he quotes, however, he presents as a cult poem of the Tammuz
worship. But since he then defines the theme simply as two lovers' praises
for one another's charms, and the delight in love, it is not certain that
he attaches himself to the theory of Meek.8
Cf. von Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun, 1911 ; S. Langdon, Tammuz
and Ishtar, 1914 ; J. G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3rd ed., 2 vols., 1914 ;
H. Gressmann,
"
Tod und Auferstehum? des Osiris," Der Alte Orient, xxiii,
3, 1923.
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254 THE SONG OP SONGS
of the Osiris cult of Egypt and the Adonis cult of Syria, is
considerable, and it is upon that knowledge, rather than uponthe text which directed Meek to it, that the theory rests.
It should perhaps be added that since Meek's theorywas
formulated the Ras Shamra texts have been published, and
ourknowledge of the North Syrian forms of the cult and
the mythologyon which it rests greatly enriched.1
It has been already observed that Mcck's presentation of
the theory exercised an altogether greater influence than
either Erbt's or Ncuschotz's kindred views. Since he first
propounded it, he has won the adhesion of Ebeling,2 Minocchi,3
Waterman,4 Wittekindt,6 Snaith,6 Graham and May,7 and
1 Cf. Ch. Virolleaud,"
Un poemo phcnicicn dc Ras Shamra : la luttc
de Mot, fils des dioux, ot d'Alein, fils do Baal," in Syria, xii, 1931, pp. 193
224 ; id.,"
Tho Gods of Phoenicia, as revealed by the Poem of Has Shamra,"
in Antiquity, v, 1931, pp. 405-414; 11.Dussaud,
"
La mythologio Phenicicnne
d'apres les tablettes do Has Shamra," in HII1L, civ, 1931, pp. 353-408;
id.,"
Lo mytho do Ba'al ot d'Aliyan d'apres des documents nouvcaux,"
ibid., cxi, 1935, pp. 5-05 ;W. C. Graham,"
Heccnt Light on tho Cultural
Origins of tho Hebrews," in Journal of Religion, xiv, 1934, pp. 300-329;
D. Nielsen, Ras Samra Mylhologie und Biblische Theologic, 1930; 11.
Dussaud, Les Dtcouverles de Ras Sliamra et VAncien Testament, 1937. Cf.
also Myth and Ritual (cd. by S. II. Hookc), 1933, for tho wide range of
tho influence of tho associated cults.a Cf.
ZDMO., lxxviii, 1924, p.lxviii f.
(brief reportof a
paperread to
tho German Orientalists at Munich).3 Le Perle della liibbia : II Ganlico dei Canlici e VEcclcsiaste, 1924. ^Cf.
pp. 22 f.:"
In questo senso il Cantico c tutto quanto pocsia mistica. K un
inno 8imbolico in cui si rapprosenta una viva realt a naturale cd umana :
la fecondata bollczza dolla terra o del ciolo, al rinasccro doiranno, cho e
poi primavera dolla vRa per la virtu dclPamore ncl rinnovarsi dello anime.
E i due amanti sono i simboli vivi della universale rinascita, non oscuramente
indicati come tali dal poota medesimo. Pero tutto il Cantico 6 un inno
aliaprimavera,
Pcsaltaziono lirica della nuova creaziono attuata dal la
potenza divina immanento nello cose ; ed 6 in pari tempo ancho un dramma,
l'espressione rituale, in forme umanc, dello inofonde potenze spirituali che
operano, palcsi insiemo o occultc, nella natura visibile. ... 11 Cantico 6
una poetica celebraziono della primavera o deH'amorc, per via di simboli
mitici, aventi valore ad un tempo naturalo o umano ; i duo amanti figuranoo sostituiscono originariamento due divinity, rapprcscntano un mito, o, per
essoro esatti, i residui lcttcrarii di un mito."
? "Tho Hole of Solomon in tho Song of Songs," in JBL., xliv, 1925,
pp.171-187.
'(For notes 5-7 boo p. 255.)
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THE SONG OF SONGS 255
Oesterley.1 Not, indeed, that these scholars content themselves
merely with accepting the views of Meek, for several of them
give some distinct originality of form to their presentation
of it. Thus Waterman,' instead of holding with Meek that
the old Tammuz liturgy has been revised to bring it into
accord with Yahwism, believes that it was reduced to the level
of folk poetry, and then made into an allegory of the political
relations between the two Israelite kingdoms in the period
following the Disruption. Again Snaith analyses the Song
into alternating passages from two cycles, the one having
associations with the spring and the other with the autumn,
and brings it into connection with the stories of the rape of
the maidens of Shiloh and the sacrifice of Jcphthah's daughter,
while Oesterley finds in the Song diverse elements, some of
which arc fragments of old Tammuz liturgies, and others of
which belong to the wedding celebrations of simple peasants.
The most detailed working out of the theory in a complete
commentary on the Song has been provided by Wittekindt,
who believes it is a Jerusalem liturgy prepared for the celebra
tion of the wedding of Ishtar and Tammuz at the springnew moon.
On the other hand the critics of this view have been slow
to expose its weaknesses. Two indeed, in the persons of
Umbcrto Cassuto2 and Nathaniel Schmidt,3 appeared promptly
to enter a caveat, and to expose some of the difficulties of the
theory, and more recently Ricciotti4 has briefly criticized
it, while Diirr6 subjected Wittekindt's work to a very brief
5Das llohe Lied und seine
Beziehungcn
zum Islarkult, 1920. Cf.especially
pp. 179-217.0 "
The Song of Songs : the dances of tho virgins," in AJSL., 1, 1933-4,
pp. 129-142.7
Culture and Conscience, 1936, pp. 122 f.1 The Song of Songs, 1936.a Review of The Song of Songs : a symposium, in QSAL, N.S., i,
1925-8, pp. 166-173 (in fasc. 2, dated Jan.-Mar., 1926).3 "
Is Canticles an Adonis Litany ?"
in JAOS., xlvi, 1926, pp. 154-164.4 // Cantico dei Cantici, 1928, pp. 117-120, 289 f.
5 OLZ., xxxi, 1928, cols. 113-5.
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256 THE SONG OP SONGS
critical review. Most of those who remain unconvinced
of the relevance of thetheory
have been content with
rejection, rather than reply.
There is, indeed, to-day agrowing tendency to find in
various parts of the Old Testament ritual survivals.
Mowinckel1 explains many of the Psalms as ritual texts,
particularly associated with magic arts; Humbert2 explains
the book of Nahum as a ritual for the autumn festival in
Jerusalem in 612 B.C., when the fall of Nineveh was
celebrated; Balla8
explains the book of Habakkuk as a ritual
text. It is therefore in full harmony with this tendency,
though preceding all these theories in its first presentation,
that the Song of Songs should be ritually interpreted.
Moreover, there is a growing recognition of the references
to the Adonis-Tammuz cult in the Old Testament. Meek 4
notes some of the passages, viz. Isa. xvii, 10 f. (" For thou
hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, And hast not remem
bered the rock of thy refuge ; Therefore thou plantcst planta
tions of Adonis, And settest vine-cuttings of an alien god ;
On the day thou plantest, thou dost make it grow,6 And in
the morning thou dost make thy seed to blossom "); Jcr. xxii,
18
(" They
shall not lament for him,saying,
Alas, my brother !
or Alas, 0 sister 1 They shall not lament for him, saying,
Alas, 0 lord ! or Alas, his glory !"); Ezek. viii, U (" There
sat the women weeping for Tammuz "); Zech. xii, 11 (" In
that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as
1Psalmenstudien, i, 1921. In Psalmenslwlicn, iii, 1923, pp. 96-101,
Mowinckel argues that Ps. xiv, whoso similarity to the Song of Songs has
long been recognized, is a ritual Psalm of prophetic imjiort.8 "
Essai d'analyse do Nahoum, i, 2?ii, 3," in ZA W.t xliv, 1926, pp. 266
280; "La Vision do Nahoum, ii, 4-11," in Archiv f Mr Orienlforschung, v,
1928-9, pp. 14-19; and"
Lo probl6mc du livro de Nahoum," in RJIFR.,
xii, 1932, pp. 1-15.3
RQQ., 2nd ed., ii, 1928, cols. 1556 f. So also Scllin, Kinleilttng in das
Alte Testament, 7th ed., 1935, p. 119.4
AJSL., xxxix, 1022-3, p. 3.5With AV., following Kiml.ii and Ibn Ezra ; so also Duhm, Marti, and
Gray. Procksch objects that Pilpcl from a n""J root is improbable.
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THE SONG OF SONGS 257
the mourning of Hadad-liimmon in the valley of Mcgiddo ").
To these he elsewhere x adds Joel i, 8 ff., which he regardsas a reference to the ceremonial lamentation over the death
of vegetation, while Graham,2 following a hint of Meek's,8
and claiming support from the Ras Shamra texts, regards
Isa. v, 1-7, as the prophet's reaction to a vineyard ritual
which was a feature of the popular cultus.
Most of these references to the Adonis-Tammuz cult may
bereadily recognized, though Schmidt
4is not
persuadedthat
Jcr. xxii, 18, is connected with it, and Joel i, 8 ff., is not
necessarily so connected. Indeed it may be freely admitted
that the Old Testament contains a great many more allusions
to the cult.5 But this does not of itself in any way helpto establish the idea that a Tammuz liturgy is preserved in
the Old Testament. For none of these references recognized
the cult as a legitimate one. They are merely evidence thatit was
popularly practised, and are on the samefooting
as
the innumerable references to Baal worship in the Old Testa
ment, which amply prove that that worship had a strong
hold on the people, without leadingus to expect to find a
ritual of its practice in the Canon.
That the Adonis-Tammuz cult was widely practised through
out the ancient world, including Palestine, is freely conceded
by all. In its rites someone represented the god and someone
the goddess, and the ceremony culminated in their marriageand union, a union which was thought to have correspondingeffects on the deities represented, and by sympathetic magic
1Symposium, p. 48 n.
2 Journal of Religion, xiv, 1934, p. 315.3
Symposium, p. 67.4
JAOS., xlvi, 1926, p. 157. But cf. Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun,
1911, p. 91,and Bcrtholct,"
Baudissin Festschrift" (BZAW., xxiii), 1918,
p. 52.5
Cf., e.g., H. G. May,"
The Fertility Cult in Hosea," in AJSL., xlviii,
1932, pp. 73-98 ; also II. Gressmann's important article,"
Tho Mystcriosof Adonis and the Feast of Tabernacles," in The Expositor, 9th series, iii,
1925, pp. 416-432 ; and Baudissin, op. cit., pp. 386-510.JHAS. APRIL 1938. 17
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258 THE SONG OP SONGS
to produce fertility in the world of nature.1 The ritual dance
figured in the ceremonies, and they were accompanied by
much licentiousness, in which the temple prostitutes played
their part. Nor is this all. For Sidney Smith2 observes
that"
Fertility cults are often attended by bloodthirsty rites.
Natives of those districts where such cults have been practised
inmodern times have given only scanty information to scien
tific inquirers.. . . Those rites involved the perpetuation of
the life of the king by the god and goddess after a sacred
connubiwn, probably enacted bya man and a woman repre
senting the deities, a banquet,a setting forth as though to
war, and the final result was a number of tombs near the
gigunus outside the wall of the tcmenos, in a ditch ". The
cult involved somethingmore than the mere
joie de vivre,
and the spring rejoicing in the awakening of nature. Itwas
a ritual to achieve fertility, and the price of that achievement
had to be paid. The weeping for Tammuz was no mere
pretence, for the gods are not so easily deceived.
An important element of the rites represented the descent
of the goddess Ishtar in search of the dead Tammuz, and their
subsequent return to the upper world. It is this element
which figures largely in tho Ras Shamra text, to which referencehas already been made,3 together with the combat whereby
the goddess slew the foo of the dead god, and to this part
of the ritual, especiallyto the descent of Ishtar, many refer
ences have been found in tho Song.4
The first serious difficulty Mcek's theory has to meet is
provided by the inclusion of the Song in the Canon of Scripture.
1 Cf. Graham and May, Culture and Conscience, 1930, p. 122 :"
By the
enactment of tho accompanying drama tho worshipers felt themselves
to bo reinforcing the power of the spoken word to influence tho forces of
naturo so that tho normal seasonal cyclo might be maintained for the
preservation and enrichment of human life. Tho psychology underlying
this technique was one of coercion and manipulation."M
A Babylonian Fertility Cult," in JRAS., 1928, pp. 849-875. Seo p. 807.
8
Cf. also Myth and Ritual (ed. by Hookc), pp. 80,82-4.
4Cf. Meek, Symposium, pp. 00-03.
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THE SONG OF SONGS 259
The Adonis-Tammuz cult wasinextricably connected with
the immoral fertility rites, which the prophets so frequentlydenounced. When, then, can this liturgy be supposed to have
been brought into the Canon ? It cannot have been broughtin in pre-exilic days, for there is no evidence for the existence
of a Canon at that time. Nor is it likely to have been received
into the sacred corpus until very late post-exilic days, for in
the first century a.d. there was still somedispute amongst
the Rabbis as to whether it was properly to be regarded as
Canonical,1 and the seriousness of the doubt may be reflected
in Rabbi Akiba's extravagant opinion2 that the world itself
was not worth the day on which this book was given to
Israel, and that while all the books of tho Kcthubhim arc
sacred, this book is the most sacred of them all.3 It may well
be,
as Meekpoints
out,4 that the reference to the Tammuz
cult in deutero-Zcchariah shows that the cult retained its
hold over the people until a late post-exilic period, but it is
highly unlikely that in the age when Judaism wasdeveloping
its cxclusivcncss, its leaders would recognizo as canonical
a work associated with the fertility cult.
This difficulty Meek faces in adiametrically opposite way
to that of Neuschotz. The latter boldly maintained
5
that the1 Zeitlin (An Historical Study of the Canonization of the Hebrew Scrip
tures, 1933, pp. 10 f.) denies that thero was any dispute as to the canonicityof tho Song of Songs.
2Mishnah, Yadaim, iii, 5 : >?> DlbtZ/l CH N^W "Dl ^DK
D-?Tn riN NDton Nbur Dnn&n tip bv bxn^D din pbn:b*ntrr?i> D-?Ttz/n tip ia ]n:ur ora ^nhd iba Dbwn ba pat?u*unp imp D"?T?n Ton imp Qiainan battf.
3Cf.
Origen (Mignc, PO., xiii, 1862,col.
37):
"
Quomododidicimus
perMoscu quacdam esse non solum sancta, sed ct Sancta sanctorum, ct alia
non tantum Sabbata, scd ct Sabbata sabbatorum; sio nunc doccmur
scribentc Salomone esso quacdam non solum cantica, sed ot Cantica canti
coruni. Bcatus quidom is qui ingreditur sancta, scd bcatior qui ingrcditurSancta sanctorum. Beatus qui sabbata sabbatizat, sed beatior qui sabbatizat
sabbatorum Sabbata. Beatus similiter ct is qui intellegit cantica ct canit
ea ; nemo quippo nisi in solemnitatibus canit: sed multo beatior ille quicanit Cantica canticorum."
4 A J SI.., loc. cit., p. 3 ; cf. SchofT, Symposium, p. 106.
6Op. cit., p. 71.
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260 THE SONG OF SONGS
Rabbis knew full well the character of the Song, and that
this explains why they declared its sacredness. This is to
meet the difficulty by evading it. That it was sacred to one
cult could give no reason whatever why it should be incor
porated into the Canon of another, and vigorously hostile,
cult. It is true that even in the period of growing cxclusive
ness, Judaism could and did receive from Zoroastrianism
manyideas and
beliefs,because
theywere not
fundamentallyinimical to the faith of the Jews, but it is hard to suppose
that its leaders could so come to terms with the Adonis
Tammuz cult as to include its liturgy in their sacred corpus.
Meek, however, supposes that in the Song we have not
tho Tammuz liturgy in its original and offensive form, but
that it has been revised to render it innocuous, and to
harmonize itwith the Yahweh cultus. Neuschotz had expresslydenied any revision,1 and had declared that the Song has
remained what it was from the beginning. Moreover Water
man,2 while holding that we have not the liturgy in its original
form, supposes it to have undergonea
totally different revision
from that assumed by Meek. So far from that revision havingbeen undertaken in the interests of the Yahweh cult, he
believes that it secularized all the older religious elements.3
The Solomon of the Song he holds not to be Tammuz, the
hero of the liturgy, but the villain of the piece and would-be
destroyer of Tammuz, not the lover, but the would-be destroyerof love,4 striving to get the maiden into his power and make
her forget her lover.3 But in the secularization of the poem,
its religious significancewas
changed for apolitical meaning,
and the struggle between Israel and Judah depicted.51
Op. cit., p. 90:"
Lo Cantiquo des Cantiqucs est reste ce qu'il a etc
des lo debut, lo chant fun6raire d'Isis-Sulamith ouhclcjrith, cherchant son
fr6ro ot cpoux Osiris-Salom ou hctep, disparu dans les ombres do l'Amenti."2
JBL., loc. cit. 3Ibid., p. 183.
4Ibid., pp. 179 f., 187.
5Ibid., p. 182. Cf. p. 187 : "A fertility cult liturgy reduced to folk
poetry and reinterpreted by apolitical motif, that was later partly obscured
by a divergent national ideal, would seem to satisfy and explain Solomon'sconnection with the poem."
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THE SONG OF SONGS 261
It is clear, therefore, that Meek had failed to convince even
one who was largely impressed by his theory of this alleged
revision. And in truth, we look in vain in the Song for any
real indication of the Yahweh cult. Indeed, Meek himself*
somewhat naively remarks,"
Rather strikingly Yahweh never
once appears in the book. When the liturgywas
incorporated
into the Yahweh cult, it was deemed sufficient to transfer
the titles to him without adding his name." Surely this
was a strange revision, which left traces of the rejected cult
everywhere in the book, but which left the new cult unmen
tioned. An intelligent reviser would have taken care that
the Yahwism in whose interests the work was revised would
be unequivocally displayed in the book, and not left to the
reader to supply.
Itis
truethat SchofT attempts
tosupply
Mcck'sdeficiency,
and to explain the nature of the alleged revision. The name
of David has long been connected with the divine name Dod,2
and both Meek3 and SchofT4
adopt this view, and identify
Dod with Tammuz. They also identify Shelcm, from whom
they hold Solomon to have been named, with tho same god.From this Schoff concludes that both David and Solomon
recognized the Tammuz cult, and he suggests that the abortiveeffort of Adonijah to secure the throne was part of a
puritanmove to abolish this worship. Naturally, therefore, he holds
that when the Temple was built the Tammuz cult found a
place in it. He says,5"
There is nothing intrinsically impos
sible, therefore, in the presence of tho Tammuz cult in the
temple or in the survival in some form of its ceremonial."6
1Symposium, p. 50.
2Cf. Sayce, Ilibbcrt Lectures, 1887, pp. 50 f. ; Wincklcr, in KAT., 3rd
ed., 1903,V225.
3AJSL., loc. cit., pp. 4 N. ; Symposium, pp. 54 f.
4Symposium, pp. 88 f. 6
Ibid., pp. 94 f.6
Cf. Graham and May, Culture and Conscience, 1930, p. 239 :"While
it is too daring to affirm that Solomon's temple was oriented as it was
with reference to tho enactment of some such cycle of naturo myths as
wasin
usoin tho cultus at lias Shamra, tho well-attested placo of solar
features in tiic Jerusalem cultus makes such a possibility not unreasonable,"
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262 THE SONG OF SONGS
With all this no fault can be found. For there can bo no
doubt that many practices found a home in the Temple
though later conscience condemned them, and it is highly
probable that tho popular Tammuz rites were observed through
long periods even in the Jerusalem sanctuary. Nor would
the mere survival of a Tammuz liturgy from Jerusalem appear
at all incredible. It is its survival in the Canon of the Old
Testament which needs to be shown to be probable.
Nor does Schoff's alleged double revision succeed in this
task. For tho first revision he supposes the Song to have
undergone was merely an adaptation to the conditions of
the Temple. He has made an elaborate study of tho Offering
lists in the Song, and claims that one hundred and thirty-four
of the terms have reference to the Tammuz cult, and one
hundred andtwenty-six
to theearly
sanctuaries. Theimpres
siveness of this conclusion vanishes on examination, however.
We may take as an example his lists for chapter i, where
he finds the Tammuz cult in urine, vineyards, flock, kids, king,
vineyard, doves, and couch, and the early sanctuaries in oint
ments, cliambers, tents, curtains, veil, steed, chariot, circlets,
pearls, beads, studs, gold, silver, table, myrrh, beams, cedar,
panels, cypress. It is at once clear that, if this analysisof
the reference of the terms is justified, the revision was not
to bring the work into accord with the fundamental religious
ideas of Yahwism, but merely to adapt the still unchanged
fertility rite to the Temple venue. It was in no sense a revision
that accommodated the Tammuz ritual to Yahwism, or that
could for a moment satisfy the objections of the prophets to
the fertility cult,1 and it can hardly be supposed that sucha revision would have sufficed to win for the ritual recognition
from the later leaders of Judaism.
Nor is the case improved by the second revision which
Schoff supposes the work to have undergone, to adapt it to
1SchoPF says (Symposium, p. 98):
"It began
as an early Canaanito
ritual. It received additions as that ritualwas
adapted,under
protest
by the prophetic party,to tho tomplo services at Jerusalem."
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THE SONG OF SONGS 263
the Second Temple. For here he finds seven terms to indicate
theextent
of the revision, butas
two of themare
duplicates,they arc reduced to five. These are spikenard, henna, palanquin,
saffron, and aloes. It is hardly fair to ascribe to the supposedreviser such complete incompetence for his task. For not one
of the five terms even points to the Second Temple at all. It
is true that SchofT adduces evidence from the Talmud and
the Jewish Prayer Book to show that amongst the ingredients
of the ceremonial incense and the anointing oil were spikenardand saffron,1 but since Mk. xiv, 3, Jn. xii, 3, show that spikenard had other uses, quite unrelated to tho Temple ritual,no necessary connection with the Temple can be established.
A reviser who wished to re-adapt this ritual to accord with
the practices of orthodox Judaism would have taken care
to use, not terms that were destined to appear centuries
later in the Talmud, but terms that pointed unmistakablyto the Law contained in the Pentateuch. For Schoff holds
that this second revision took place at a post-Alexandrine
date,2 and wc know from the Chronicler's work that when
a Jew of that age revised history he left the marks of his
revision, and the marks of the Pentatcuchal law, unmistakably
upon it. Wc have no
right
to assume that in a revision of
ritual for use in the Temple, where it was far more importantto secure accord with the sacred Law, the reviser would
proceed in someagre and
ambiguousa
way.3
Moreover, four of the five terms of this alleged revision
are found only in the Song of Songs, and while the fifth
(aloes) is indeed found in the Pentateuch, it is in the Balaam
oracles.4 But even if all five termspointed unequivocally
1Ibid., p. 85.
2Ibid., p. 82.
3Reference has been made above to Gressmann's view that the Feast of
Tabernacles goes back in its origin to Adonis rites {Expositor, 9th scries,
iii, 1925, pp. 410-432.) Its assimilation to Yahwism has, howover, been
altogethermore
thoroughgoing than this mere protonco of a rovision which
is assumed for the Song.4
Num. xxiv, 0. Tho word is also found in Prov. vii, 17, and in Ps. xiv, 9.
In tho two former passages it is masculine in form, but in Ps. xiv, 9, it is
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264 THE SONG OF SONGS
to the Temple, they would still be quite unrelated to the
essential ideas of Yahwism. The fundamental differentiaebetween the fertility cult and Yahwism were not to be found
in these things, and a revision which consisted merely in
rubbinga little ointment on the older ritual, and which failed
to bring out the real qualities of the faith in whose interest
itwas carried through, would be left to exist in the mind of the
interpreter, rather than in the achievement of the reviser.
Nor can we be satisfied that SchoiFs analysis rests on any
substantial ground. For Meek x finds two of the five terms
which Schoff regards as marks of the second revision to
belong to the old fertility cult, viz. lienna and palanquin,
and Wittckindt2 agrees, so far as henna is concerned. And
since Schoff is himself doubtful of aloes, the marks of this
revision becomewoefully slight
to account for thestrange
acceptance of a Tammuz ritual into the Canon of Judaism.
Furthermore, in SchofFs first list are some things which
Meek3
regardsas marks of the Tammuz cult, viz., myrrh,
cedar, cypress, and several which Wittckindt holds to belong
to that cult, e.g., myrrh,* table,5 steed,6 pearls,7 wall,8 windows,9
lattice.9 The alleged revision is therefore both doubtful in
itself, and altogether inadequate to give to the Songa
definitely Yahwistic character.
Nor must we omit to observe that Meek10
says,"
To make
feminine, as in Ct. iv, 14. Since Meek and Schoff regard Ps. xiv as another
surviving fragment of fertility cult liturgy (cf. Symposium, pp. 49 n., 108),
it is surprising that this word is not emphasized as a further link between
them, associated with tho cult.1
Symposium, p.58.
2Op. cit., p. 99.
3Symposium, p. 58 ; and cf. AJSL., loc. cit., p. 9.
4Op. cit., p. 99. Cf. also Frazer, Adonis, Allis, Osiris, 3rd cd., 1914, i,
pp. 227 f.6
Ibid., p. 98.
Ibid., p. 29 ; and of. Mcok, AJSL., loc. cit., p. 11.
7Op. cit., p. 30.
8Ibid., p. 68.
Ibid.
10AJSL., loc. cit., p. 14.
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THE SONG OF SONGS 266
it still more acceptable the panegyricon love (8: 6 f.) crept
into the text, and lo, in a generation or two tho book hadbecome canonical,
'The Song of Songs '!
"This is surely the
strangest of all the suggested revisions, and Meek abstains
from indicating how it could have helped. For he regards
viii, 6, as a definite bit of the fertility rite, and says elsewhere,1"
This in its original context was manifestly a reference to
the power of the love of the goddess to win the god back
from the netherworld despite the floods and other obstacles
that lay between this world and the next." Moreover, Schoff2
finds in viii, 6 f., one mark of the Tammuz cult, and three
marks of what he calls the first revision.3
The incompetent triviality of this alleged revision is the more
surprising, since when Hebrew writers elsewhere used material
which they had taken over from non-Yahwistic sources,they
displayed an altogether greater skill in assimilating it to their
ownreligious ideas. Thus, while there are undoubted con
nections between the Creation story in Gen. i, and the Babylonian Creation Epic, all the cruder elements have gone, and
to the whole there is given anobility which belongs to the
Hebrew writer, and not to his source. If Tiamat survives, it
is as the innocuousDlilF)*
and themajestic God is not
left to the reader's imagination to supply, but is dominant
in the story.
Again, the ingenuity with which Tammuz is imported at
every point by the advocates of this newtheory can
onlycreate grave doubts as to the soundness of the theory. If a
writer cannot mention such commonthings of experience as
sliepherd, vine, vineyard, dove, gazelle, apple, cedar, palm-tree,
garden, or hyacinth, to name somethings from Meek's list of
alleged allusions to the Tammuz cult, without being held to
be writing of that cult, the way of letters for all but devotees
of Tammuz ismade very hard, and when to these we add some
1Symposium, p. 02.
2Ibid., p. 120.
3 Cf. also Wittckindt, op. cit., p. 57, who again interprets insensu obscaeno.
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266 THE SONG OF SONGS
further terms from Schoff's list, flock, kids, king, couch, fruit,
flowers, blossoms, bed, lions, leopard, sister, bride, honey, milk,
spring, fountain, waters, dew, maidens, moon, sun, nuts, and
dance, the poet's case becomes desperate indeed. For how
could one write a love lyric in any language if such terms must
be excluded from his vocabulary ? The fact that these terms
occur in relation to the Tammuz cult is no proof that they only
had relation to that cult, or Tammuz is everywhere.
I am not persuaded that even the word Tft points
necessarily to Adonis. That the word is derived from the divine
name may be readily granted, without any acknowledgment
that in all periods those who used the word thought of the
god. The English word jovial is etymologically connected
with the name of a pagan deity, and once denoted the dis
position of one born under the planet, Jupiter. But it has
acquireda sense which is independent of the superstition which
lies behind its etymology, and it can to-day be used without
exposing one to the charge of superstition. In the same way,
while Tft=
beloved, and D^lVl= love are doubtless
derived from the name of a god, they could be used without
necessary association with that god, justas fi)p
=death,
though etymologically connected with the name of the god
who is frequently mentioned in the Ras Shamra texts, Mot,
could be used on the lips of Hebrews without any reference
to this particular god. Love and death are normal experiences
of men and women in all ages, and it were unreasonable to
deny them the right to mention them without being charged
with idolatry.If the method of this theory should be applied to the whole
of the Old Testament with something of the energy with which
Cheyne applied his Jerachmeel theory, or the astral theorists
their ideas, there would soon be little of it left without con
nection with the Tammuz cult.1 It could quite easily be shown
by this method, for instance, that Psalm xxiii is a Tammuz
1
The process has, indeed, already begun,for
W.E.
Staplesnow resolves
tho book of Ruth into a Tammuz liturgy (AJSL., liii, 1936-7, pp. 145-157),
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THE SONG OF SONGS 267
liturgy, which has been thinly disguised and adapted to its
position in the Psalter by the simple expedient of substitutingYahweh for Dod or Adon in the written text of the first and
last verses. Its heading proclaims it a Psalm of David, which
can be readily understood to be amispointing of the name
of the god, and rendered a Psalm ofDod. In tho first verso we
find mention of the term shepherd, which is said to be a
mark of the Tammuz cult,1 and in the second verse"
he
maketh me to lie down in green pastures " reminds us of
Ct. i, 16,"
our couch is green," while the waters again belongto Tammuz.2 In the following
verse"
he bringcth back my
soul"
might be found to point to the resurrection of Adonis
Tainmuz, while righteousness could be read as Sedcl?, the
god of Jerusalem,3 who is identified with Shelem,4 and there
fore withTammuz.5 The valley of
verse4 recalls
thevalley
of Zech. xii, 11, associated with the Tammuz cult, and the
deep darkness (E. V. shadow of death) is doubtless able to be
explained as the underworld to which Adonis went.6 The
table of verse 5 is again connected with the Tammuz cult,7
and recalls Ct. v, 1,"
Eat, 0 friends and drink; Yea drink
abundantly, 0 beloved," while the oil recalls the frequently
mentioned unguents of the Song.81 So Meek, AJSL., loc. cit., p. 0, and Symposium, p. 58.2 So Schoff, Symposium, pp. 117, 120.3 Cf. Oesterley and Robinson, Hebrew Religion, 2nd cd., 1937, p. 177.? So Winckler, KAT., 3rd cd., 1903, p. 224.6 So Meek, Symposium, p. 53.8W. C. Graham has indeed already given this explanation (Journal of
Religion, xiv, 1934, p. 328). He renders tho verse,"
Yea, though I walk
through tho valley of Mot's shadow, I will fear no evil for thou art with
me,'* and equates Mot with tho Mot of tho lias Shamra texts.7So Wittckindt, op. cit., p. 98.
8 The same word for oil is found in Ct. i, 3, and Meek (Symposium, p. 73 n.)
gives it fertility connotation, and connects it with tho cult. For tho con
nection of the table and the oil with the cult, of. Nouschotz's argument (op.
cit., pp. 34 f.) that tho Passion narratives of tho Now Testament are merelya reflection of the cult, aud that it was necessary to mako Jesus die three
times, each in a different way. Of these ono was in Gethsomanc, tho
garden of aromatic, oils, and the second was at the table of tho Last Supper.
Ncuschotz finds special significance in tho name Gothsomanc, or D^Dttf JOJ>which contains tho same word for oil as wo find in Ps. xxiii, 0, and Ct. i, 3.
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268 THE SONG OF SONGS
Two further points made by Meek in support of his theory
havo yet to be examined. The first is his claiml
that the wordTOf in ii, 12, is an indication that wc have here a liturgy,
since this is a technical term for such aliturgy, and the second
is tho allegedly significant fact that the Song belongs to the
Passover liturgy of the Jews.
Dealing first with the claim that Yttf is a technical
term for such aliturgy
as is found in the Song, wc may note
that Schmidt2 has replied that the word had certainlya
wider use, as we find from Rabbi Akiba's oft-quoted words,
where *")J2fT)D3 would appear to mean"
as a kind
of secular song ".3 It is not, indeed, certain that the word
means song of any kind in Ct. ii, 12.4 Meek dismisses5
the suggestion of Ehrlich and others 6 that it here means
the pruning of vines, on the ground that pruning is not done
1Symposium, p. 49 f.
?JAOS., loc. cit., p. 159. Cf. Cassuto, QSAL, N.S., i, 1925-8, pp. 109 f.
3Tosephta, Sanhedrin, xii: TB7D lbip IWJ&n 1D1N N^W ^m
phn ? px nD7 |^D3 win nawi nrwon rvnn arvmn
K3T1 D^iy^f which may bo rendered"
llabbi Akiba says ho who
singstho
Song
of
Songs
with a trill at a
banquet,
and treats it as a common
ditty, has no portion in tho world to como ". With this cf. T.B. Sanhedrin,
loia: irnK nitron crT?n tip bw piDB smpn pm un
nm x-ao ijqt xba mxnttfD n^aa pios x-npm not pM
Dbiyb. A. Lods (RHR., ixxxii, 1920, pp. 221 f.) objects to tho rendering
"banquet" in theso passages, and thinks tho meaning is"
tho house in
which a wedding was being celebrated ", and so seeks to find here some
.additional support for tho Wetzstcin-Buddo view of tho Song. Similarly
U. Cassuto (GSAL, N.S., i, 1925-8, p. 37).4
K.V. "singing of birds" can claim littlo justification, for, as Bloch
says (AJSL., xxxviii, 1921-2, p. 115), wherever this word is used of singing,
it refers to human singing.6
Symposium, p. 60.6 The view is, of course, very much older than Ehrlich, for it is represented
in tho LXX naipos rrjs roprjs </>0aKcv; in tho Peshitta (mJCQD> \lO)
j^iO?in tho Vulgate, tempus pulationis advenil; and in the Arabic
/Jaij| -.{.j ijj ojjj*Cf. also tho comment of Ibn Ezra quoted in the
following note.
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THE SONG OF SONGS 269
so late in the spring, and Snaithl asks
'Who ever pruned
when the flowers were in blossom ?
"
But Snaith finds in the
Song two alternating groups of passages, the one having
associations with the spring and the other with the autumn.
He believes the Song is intimately connected with the two
ritual dances of maidens and youths celebrated outside
Jerusalem in Mishnaic times, the one on the fifteenth of Ab,
and the other on the Day of Atonement.2 The former group,
he says, has associations with the spring, but its setting is in
the time of the fruits of the gardens in the height of summer.3
It may then be relevantly recalled that in the Gezer Calendar
the *yaf IflY follows the month of general harvest,
and precedes the harvest of summer fruits. Since all the other
items of this calendar arc connected with agricultural opera
tions,it is
probablethat this is
also,and that it is
rightlyrendered the month of vine-pruning, with Lidzbarski,4 Gray,5
Ronzcvallc,0 Driver,7 Gressmann,8 and Diringcr.9 The
reference is then to the second pruning.10
1AJSL., loc. cit., p. 131 n. Cf. also Ibn Ezra: VJ D^DIN BP1
iny ID^NI mD7n Kb 1D*D1 ]D Kin, i.e. "Thoro aro somo who
say that it is to bo oxplaincd by'nor prune thy vinoyard* (Lov. xxv, 4),
but it was not tho timo for it ".2
AJSL., loo. cit., p. 138.3
Ibid., p. 136. It is interesting to set this against tho view of Meek,
Schoff, and Wittckindt, discussed below, that tho Passover.reading of tho
Song is ovidenco that it was aspring ritual. For tho connection with a
later season in the year, in relation to Buddo's wedding song theory of
the origin of tho book, cf. Balman, Paldstinischer Diwan, 1901, p. xii :"
Nebenbci sci auch crwahnt, dass nicht der Fruhling, sondcrn dcr Hcrbst
in ganz Paliistina dio belicbtcstc Zcit zu Ilochzcitcn ist, wcil maim dann
aus dem Erntccrtrag das zur Hrautzahlung notigo Geld gclost hat undausserdem nach Vollendung des Dreschcns miissigo Zcit besitzt." Cf., too,
IT. Granqvist, Marriage Conditions in a Palestinian Village, ii, 1935, p. 32 :"
There is always a certain air of foolishness attached to thoso who do
not know that summer is the timo for weddings.... It is a
striking fact
that although tho summer is solong, a wedding is often postponed till
tho autumn."4
PEFQS., 1909, p. 29, and Ephcmeris filr scmitische Epigraphik, iii,
1909-1915, p. 41.6
PEFQS., 1909, p. 31.6
Ibid., p. 110.(For notes 7-10 sco p. 270.)
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270 THE SONG OF SONGS
The other point, which ismade by both Meekx and Schoff,2
calls rather for notice than for refutation. They claim that it
is significant that the Song belongs to the Passover liturgyof the Jews, since the Passover is a
spring festival, while the
Adonis festival was also observed in the spring.3 Schoff
observes that its incorporation in the Passover liturgy clearlyindicates that it has been brought down from the primitive
spring
festival.
Meek, however,admits
4that this
practicewasonly officially adopted in the middle ages, and this
admission robs the practice of any evidential value for the
original use and purpose of the Song. Against it may be set
tho statement of Theodore of Mopsuestia6
that neither
Jews nor Christians had ever read the book in public. As
Schmidt observes,6 we canhardly suppose that Ecclesiastcs
7 Notes on the Hettrew Text of the Books of Samuel, 2nd cd., 1913, p. vii.
Altorienlalische Texte zum Alien Testament, 2nd ed., 1927, p. 444.9 Le iscrizione anlico-el>raiche palestincsi, 1934, p. 5.
10 So Dalman, PEFQS., 1909, p. 119 :"
Ziirnir can, neither hero nor in
Cant, ii, 12, mean tho first pruning of vino, which is dono in March, but
tho second pruning in June or July." It should perhaps bo noted that
Vulliaud, Le Cantique des Cantiques d'apres la tradition juive, 1925, pp.38 if.,
defends tho meaning cutting for T^t , but explains it in connection
with tho law of Lev. xix, 23 ff. (cf. Mishnah, Orlah). In this ho follows
tho interpretation of tho Cabbalists. Tho Targum also found the meaning
cutting in tho word, but interpreted it of tho cutting off of tho Egyptian
first-born?NBD X^DU qittp Jltf.1AJSL., loc. cit., p. 4, and Symposium, p. 49.
*Ibid., p. 80.
3It should, however, bo observed that Lagrange (Etudes sur les Religions
8imitiques, 1905, pp. 305 f.) and Baudissin (Adonis und Esmun, 1911,
pp. 121-133) maintain that tho Adonis rites wore eelobrated in the summer
and not in tho spring. Cf. Jastrow (Religion of Babylonia and Assryia, 1898,
p. 547):"
Tho Tammuz festival was celebrated just before the summer
solstice set in."4
AJSL., loc. cit., p. 4 n. Cf. Cassuto, GSAI, N.S., i, 1925-8, p. 109 :"
Ma occorrerebbo prima dimostrare che quaest'uso risalc a un'alta antichita,
il che non sombra probabile, non trovandosi esso ricordato prima del
Massekctli S6phorim, cho apparticno, como 6 noto, all'epoca gaonaica."6 "
Undo neo Judaois, ncc nobis publica lectio unquam cantici canti
corum facta est" (Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio,
ix, 1703, col. 227 ; cf. Migno, PO., lxvi, 1804, col. 700).8
J ACS., loc. cit., p. 150.,
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THE SONG OF SONGS 271
was written as avintage hymn, or Ruth as a Pentecostal
story, and we are therefore scarcely bound to suppose that
the Songwas written for a
spring festival.
It should, however, be added that Wittekindt1 repeats
the argument of Meek, but disputes his admission that our
evidence for the reading of the book at Passover is only late.
He discounts the statement of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and
finds
significance
in the fact thatHippolytus expoundedCt. iii, 1-4 at Easter, and that the Targum expounds part of
the Song in relation to the first Passover and the Exodus
from Egypt. That this interpretation cannot naturally be
got out of the Song itself is held to point to the fact that
behind the Targum lies the already existing custom of reading
the book at Passover, and Wittekindt therefore concludes
that this practice may go back to the beginning of the Christianera. A very slight study of the history of the interpretationof the Song should suffice to show that innumerable meanings
which cannot naturally be got out of the Song have been
read into it, and that they arc evidence for nothing whatever
but the fancy of the interpreters, while for Hippolytus,choice of Easter for the exposition of Ct. iii, 1-4, we need
look no further than the nature of the interpretation givento the Song in the Early Church.2 Moreover, even if it were
proved conclusively that the Song was read at Passover as
early as the beginning of the Christian era, it would not
establish any community of origin between Passover and the
Song. For as Diirr 3points out, Passover was kept at the full
moon, whereas Wittekindt4 finds the origin of the Song in
the wedding of the Sun god and the Moon goddess that was
celebrated at the spring new moon. Whenever the readingof the Song of Songs at Passover began, its choice for reading
1Op. cit., p. 199 f.
2 Cf. Cyril of Alexandria's view that iii, 1, refers to the women who
sought Jesus on tho Resurrection morning (cf. Migne, PC, lxix, 1864,
col. 1285).3
OLZ., xxxi, 1928, col. 115.4
Op. cit., pp. 187 f., 191 f.
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272 THE SONG OF SONGS
at that festival was natural, since the Song is full of the
springtime, and since the spring is not merely the season of
Adonis, but the time of love all the world over.
The case for the Adonis-Tammuz liturgy theory, therefore,
does not seem to be adequately supported, and we need not
yet regard the Song of Songs as the liturgy of a pagan cult
that was abhorred of the prophets. At the same time, itmaybe freely allowed that many of the allusions in the Song may
genuinely refer to elements of the Adonis-Tammuz cult,1
whether found in the practice of the poet's contemporaries,or
inherited in speech frgm an earlier age.2In my view the poems are no more than they appear to
be, songs which express, albeit with a boldness of physical
imagery which is alien to the manner of our age, the devoted
love oftwo
lovers. I do not hold, with Toy,3 that their unityismerely
aunity of emotion, but believe them to be the work
of asingle author. This is, of course, in no sense a new view,4
but it appears to me to be still the most probable solution
of the ever-fascinating riddle of the Song. Its songs were
not written to serve any cult, whether of Adonis or of Yahweh,
but to express the warm emotions of youthful hearts. And,
1Cf. Jcrcmias, ATLOE., 4th cd., 1930, p. 070, where Ct. iv, 8, is held
to bo an allusion to tho Tammuz. legend. Cf. Bcrtholet,"
Zur Stello Holies
Lied, iv, 8," in Baudissin Festschrift (BZA ]V., xxxiii), 1918, pp. 47-53.
Cf. Eissfeldt, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 1934, pp. 533 f.:"
Indcs
bleibt bei genauerer Nachpriifung dicscr Thcoric (i.e. Wittckindt's) nichts
wciter iibrig als die freilich schr beachtcnswcrtc und audi sonst bedcutsamo
Wahr8cheinlichkcit, dass in Israel, wio andcrswo in dor Welt, die Spracho
der Liebendcn durch die mythisch-kultischc Diktion, insofcrn sic das
Vorhaltnis von Gott und Gottin zum Gcgcnstand hat, bccinflusst wordenist, wio auch umgokchrt der Mythus bei der crotischen Pocsie Anleihcn
gomacht hat." Cf. also Durr, OLZ., xxxi, 1928, col. 115:"
Es diirfte
sicher sein, doss mancho Ziigo der Ischtar auch auf die oricntalischc Liebes
pocsie eingewirkt haben."3 Jewish Encyclopaedia, xi, p. 407a.4 It connects with tho view advanced by Herder, Lieder der Licbe, 1778,
pp. 89-100; Rouss, Die Geschichte der Heiligen Schrifte Allen Testaments,
1881, p. 223, and many other writers. Cf. the quite recent work of
H. Wheeler Robinson, The Old Testament: its Making and Meaning1937, pp. 101 f.
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THE SONG OF SONGS 273
therefore, quite naturally, since Adonis-Tammuz rites were
deeply imbedded in the popular superstition and speech,1
they are adorned with allusions to those rites, just as our own
lyrical poetry is adorned with innumerable allusions to the
mythology of Venus and Cupid.
As I have said elsewhere, I do not think this view means that
the Song is unworthy of aplace in the Canon of Scripture,
as was declared by Ibn Ezra,2 and as has been maintained
1 Already, in 1919, beforo Meek propounded his theory, Dussaud had
recognized this. He wrote (Le Canlique des Canliques, 1919, p. 29) :"
L'identi
fication do Tamantc avec la naturo nous placo sur un torrain familior
au mythc, on particular au mythe d'Eschmoun-Adonis. En offot, les deux
poemes du bien-aime comportcnt non sculcment 1'idcntification du jounc
hommo au printemps et dc la jcunc filio a la nature, mais encoro la
fuito de l'amant vers la montagno ot sa poursuito par l'araante. Lo
ra}>prochcment marquo a quel point la societo israclito etait encoro im
prcgneo par les eultes naturistes ; mais il n'ya pas lieu do pousscr la com
paraison plus avant. Apres avoir ccarto ces poemes des rites nuptiaux,nous no songeons nullcmcnt a y rcconnaitro l'ccho do la liturgio des Adonies."
A. Lods (RIIR., lxxxii, 1920, p. 223) says that in this viow Dussaud**
obdit
tres ccrtaincmont a un sentiment juste ".
2 Sec tho Preface to his commentary on the Song, nMuH Jlb^n
?bibi bwto -pi bv dn \d pwn nmn D^Tian tip nvnb
Unpn "UnD TIM arOJ Sk mb^D b>Ta which may bo rendered"
Abhorred, abhorred bo the idea that tho Song of Songs is in tho
categoryof love
songs,but rather has it tho charactor of a
parablo;and
were it not for tho greatness of its exccllcnco it would not havo been
incorporated in tho corpus of sacred writings." Cf. first recension (H. J.
Mathews, Abraham ibn Ezra's Commentary on Utc Canticles after the
first recension, 1874, Hebrew part, p. 9) : ^"QnZL miVlb nb^bn nb^n
woNW nbwi nb^Dn invn ^ibi.... bwn ym bv dx "opwnDnM NDDQ TH tob Unpn nra. Cf. also Jcphct ibn Ali (InCanticum Caniicorum commentarium arabicum, ed. by J. J. L. Barges,
1884, on i, 1) :^J}
HIITJ?\e Jy -G| .U.
^
^ j* J*J?u
Mi
nvi ^ tw Ji ula jl* Uij oUi IJUJ ji-ju Ji* r>LJiaJ* n&bp
n&s 0cj Vk-w ?>?^} yr\ wan 0*j *?*nu>>*tr̂ l^unpn,
which Barges (p. 6) renders"
No cadat in mentom corum qui illius sonsum
non capiunt, sermonem hie habcri alicujus viri mcretricem amantis; nul
latcnus enim computandus est Salomon (cui salus!) inter cos, qui talcm
januam ingrcdiuntur ; verumenimvero Spiritu Sancto afflatus istud dixit
Canticum, verba nimirum dans congrcgationi Israel, et loquontes inducons
Immaculatos viae, Fortes Israel ot germen Davidicum."
JRAS. APRIL 1938. 18
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274 THE SONG OF SONGS
by along line of writers, including, quite recently, Dennefeld.1
For"
the Church hasalways
consecrated the union of man
and woman inmatrimony, and taught that marriage is a divine
ordinance and a sacrament, and it is not unfitting that a book
which expresses the spiritual and physical emotions on which
matrimony rests should be given aplace in the Canon of
Scripture ".a
At the same time, it is quite certain that its inclusion did
not rest on considerations such as these. It is probable, ashas long been maintained, that its inclusion rested on the
ascription of the work to Solomon, and on the allegorical
interpretation that was given to it, and it is interesting to
observe that one of the Chinese Classics, the Shih Ching, or.
Book of tlie Odes, similarly contains poems for whose pre
servation wo are indebted to the allegorical interpretation
that was given to them. Thus the ode 3 :?
u & * m * u a * m tffi m * -mm m m * & mul m n w ar z. m n i$>&
u ? b m n a a Ay.m n4ii -Hi
Jl IL
is rendered by Legge
* :"Ifyou, Sir, think kindly
ofme,
1 Introduction d VAncien Testament, 1934, p. 140 :"
Cctto conception
(i.e. that the Song is a collection of lovo songs) est cxcluo par lo scul fait
quo lo Cantique so trouve dans lo canon bibliquc." Yet on the following
page he says"
I/amour naturel, donue de toute sensualitc coupable, est
le typo le plus parfait do l'amour eurnaturel." Why, then, should it bo
regarded as a thing evil in itself, and patently unworthy of a place in tho
Canon ?*
JTS., xxxviii, 1937, p. 303.8 Part i, Book vii, Ode 13.
*The Chinese Classics, with a Translation, etc., iv, part i, 1871, p. 140.
II. A. Giles (History of Chinese Literature, 1923, p. 14) gives a spirited
abridgment:? "If you will lovo mo dear, my lord,I'll pick up my skirts and cross the ford,
But if from your heart you turn mo out?
Woll, you're not the only man about,
You silly, silly, silliest lout."
Ho comments"
Native scholars arc, of course, hidebound in tho traditions
of commentators, but European students will do well to seek tho meaning
of tho Odes within tho compass of tho Odes themselves "?a comment thatcan equally bo applied to tho Song of Songs.
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THE SONG OF SONGS 275
I will hold up my lower garments, and cross the Tsin. If you
do not think ofme,
is there no otherperson (to
doso)
? You
foolish, foolish fellow ! If you, Sir, think kindly of me, I will
hold up my lower garments, and cross the Wci. If you do not
think of me, Is there no other gentleman (to do so) ? You
foolish, foolish fellow !"
To this Legge appends the com
ment :?" The Preface understands the pieceas the expression
of the wish of the people of Ch'ing that some great state would
interfere, to settle the struggle between the marquis Hwuh
(3?J)and his brother Tuh ($?). Hwuh succeeded to his father
in 700 B.C.; and that same year he was driven from the state
by his brother Tuh. In 696, Tuh had to flee, and Hwuh
recovered the earldom, but before the end of the year Tuh
was again master of a strong city in Ch'ing, which he held
till Hwuh was murdered in 694. The old school holds that
Tuh is ' the madman of all mad youths' in the fifth lines;
but how an interpretation of the other four lines, according to
the view of the Preface, was everthought of as the primary
idea intended in them, I cannot well conceive."
That allegorical interpretationsarc very ancient, indeed,
is clear from a passage in the Lun Yii, or Confucian Analects,1
where, however, the reference is to a poem which did not
secure admission to the Shih Ching :?
K iffi ? WiD -T-m lift % -7
ffl %s Elx Hv Hx '3\ &% #? Kel *6 m m m m * . iw
?o nr̂ & m m & m b,
This Legge translates 2:?" Tsze-hsia asked, saying,
'
What is1 Book iii, chap. viii.2 The Chinese Classics, with a Translation, etc., 2nd cd., i, 1893, p. 157.
Cf. W. E. Soothill's rendering of the Ode (The Analects of Confucius, 1910,
,.. 191):?"
As she artfully smiles
What dimples appear !
Her bewitching eyesShow their colours so clear.
Ground spotless and candid
For tracery splendid !
"
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276 THE SONG OF SONGS
the meaning of the passage?The pretty dimples of her artfulsmile ! The well-defined black and white of her eye ! The
plain ground for the colours % The Master said,' The business
of laying on the colours follows the preparation of the plain
ground.''Ceremonies then arc a
subsequent thing ?'
The
Master said,'It is Shang who can
bring out my meaning.
Now I canbegin to talk about the odes with him \"
We are inevitably reminded by these fantastic interpreta
tions of the strange explanations of the Song of Songs that
have been offered, and if it is to the allegorizers that we owe
the preservation of these poems, we aredeeply in their debt,
and gladly acknowledge that in the Providence of God their
follies have served a purpose. To the Tammuz theorists, too,
our debt is real for the light they have shed on some things
in the Song,even though they have failed to carry conviction
in their main thesis.
356.