1855. This is also the view propounded by Friederich[1] and Hitzig,[2] though the latter embraces a similar theory to Harmer, that there are two women as chief speakers in the poem.
1856. In this opinion of the superiority of virtuous love to all the temptations of royalty, the Jew and the Christian, the Englishman and the German, are beginning to unite. The reviewer in the Jewish Monthly Journal of History and Science, declares himself in favour of regarding the Shulamite as resisting all the offers of Solomon and remaining faithful to her shepherd.[3] Meier, the author of a commentary mentioned above, in his History of the poetical National Literature of the Hebrews, recently published, maintains the same opinion.[4] This poem, says Dr. Davidson, "warns against impure love, encourages chastity, fidelity, and virtue, by depicting the successful issue of sincere affection amid powerful temptations. The innocent and virtuous maiden, true to her shepherd lover, resists the flatteries of a monarch, and is allowed to return to her home."[5] Umbreit, in an article upon this book, just published, states that he still adheres to the view propounded in his commentary of 1828,[6] noticed above, that it is a celebration of virtuous love over the allurements of royalty.
How mournful is the thought which irresistibly forces itself upon the mind, in reviewing this imperfect sketch of what has befallen this poem! This book, we have seen, is made to describe the most contradictory things. It contains the wanderings of the Jews, how they will ultimately "fill their stomachs with the flesh of the Leviathan and the best of wines preserved
- ↑ Cantici Canticorum poetica forma; disertatio Ernesti Fred. Friedrich. Königsberg, 1855.
- ↑ Das Hohe Lied erklärt von Ferd. Hitzig 16te Lieferung des Kurzgef. exegetischen Handbuch's zum Alten Testament. Leipzig, 1855.
- ↑ Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums, herausgegeben vom Oberrabbiner Dr. Frankel. Leipzig, 1856, p. 215, et seq.
- ↑ Geschichte der poetischen National-Literatur der Hebräer von Dr. Ernst Meier. Leipzig, 1856, p. 215, et seq.
- ↑ The Text of the Old Testament considered, &c., by Samuel Davidson, D.D. London, 1856, p. 806.
- ↑ Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche. Stuttgart, 1856, vol. vi. p. 220.
