Page:The Song of Songs (1857).djvu/13

This book is called שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים, which is literally translated by the Septuagint, ᾄσμα ᾀσμάτων, by the Vulgate, Canticum Canticorum, and by the English Version, Song of Songs; and, according to a Hebrew mode for expressing the superlative degree by repeating the same noun in the genitive, denotes the finest, the most beautiful, or the most excellent Song. Compare עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים, servant of servants, i.e. most abject servant (Gen. ix. 25); קֹדֶשׁ קָדָשִׁים, holy of holies, i.e. most holy (Exod. xxix. 37; Numb. iii. 32; Deut. x. 14; Eccl. i. 2; Hos. x. 15; Jer. vi. 28; Gesenius, Grammar, § 119, 2; Ewald, Lehrbuch, § 313, c). Medrash Yalkut renders it שִׁיר הַמְּשׁוּבַּח וְהַמְּעוּלֶה בַּשִּׁירִים, a song more celebrated and sublime than all songs; as Rashi, Ibn Ezra Rashbam, Luther, and many others. The opinion of Kleuker, &c., that this interpretation of the Rabbins is more owing to their preconceived notion of the sublime contents of the book than to the real meaning of these words, is refuted by Rashbam himself, who, having explained this phrase by "most excellent song," refers not to the contents of the book for its corroboration, but adduces similar constructions of the superlative from other passages of the Bible, viz., הַאֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהִי, and אֲדוֹנֵי הַאֲדוֹנִים (Deut. x. 17). Other explanations, such as a song of songs, i.e. a song from the songs of Solomon (Kimchi), or a collection of songs (Kleuker), or a chain of songs, or string of strings, comparing שִׁירֹ with the Chaldee שִׁיר, שׁוּרָה, Greek σειρὰ, chain (Velthusen, Paulus, Good, &c.), are contrary to the Hebrew usage of the word שִׁירֹ, and the construction of שִֹיר הַשִּׁירִים. More recent comment-