The Literary Growth of the Song of Songs during the Hasmonean and Early-Herodian Periods

The author presents a reedition of the Qumran Canticles scrolls,

demonstrating that turn-of-the-era 4QCanta,b contain variant

recensions of Canticles, substantively shorter than the Masoretic text.

Many textual variants display earlier and more original readings,

suggesting that Canticles was finalized only around the turn of the era.

The archaeology of post-exilic Judea, Perea, and Jerusalem is brought in

dialogue with the texts. The Hasmonean Jewish kingdom, rapidly expanding

from 112 B.C.E., is suggested as historical background for the growing

collection of love songs, some toponyms only giving meaning in this

period. The capital of the new Jewish state allowed more open relations

between men and women and stimulated a land romanticism reflected in

many songs. In this milieu Jerusalem scribes collected and edited human

love songs and coloured them with allusions to biblical texts, thereby

inviting a symbolic (double) reading: both on earthly love and the

relation between God and his people.