The shorter form is, in fact, the elder, being Old Canaanitish or Phoenician, אשׁ, which is a lengthened form of שׁ, and afterwards became אֲשֶׁר.
Jeremiah, who uses the longer form in his prophecies and the shorter in Lamentations. Some have argued against the authenticity of the title on the ground that the longer form of the relative, אֲשֶׁר, is used in it, whereas in the book itself the shorter form, שְׁ, is found, but no dependence, can be placed on that argument regarded by itself, for the same writer employs both forms, as e.g. It has been remarked by Delitzsch that the absence of any description of Solomon as "King of Israel" or "son of David," as in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, confirms the view that Solomon himself was the sole author. If the meaning were "referring to," another preposition ( עַל) would have been employed. It must have come either from the wise king himself, or from some one of his contemporaries or immediate successors. This is the opinion of the majority of critics. But the unity which is clearly to be traced through the book to the end makes it probable that the title is meant to ascribe the work to the authorship of Solomon. If it be a collection of separate songs strung together, as some think) by mere resemblance in style and subject, then the words, "which is Solomon's" ( לְִשל מו אֲשֶׁר) apply to the first song alone.
The title may be regarded as applied to the whole book, or to the first portion of it giving the name to the whole. The reference may be to the excellence of the literary form, but probably that which suggested the title was the supreme beauty of the love which prompted the songs. Luther expresses the same idea in the title he attaches to it, 'Das Hohelied,' that is, the chief or finest of songs. If the performance of the words were chiefly in view, the word would have been מִוְמור, carmen, "lyric poem," "hymn," or "ode." The Greek Ασμα ἀσμάτων, and the Latin of the Vulgate, Canticum canticorum, accord with the Hebrew in representing the work as taking a high place either in the esteem of the Church or, on account of the subject, in the esteem of the writer. It is well altered in the Revised Version to 'The Song of Songs.' The word "song" ( שִׁיר) does not necessarily convey the meaning. This is certainly the title of the book which follows, although in our present Hebrew Bible it is the first verse of the book preceded by the shorter form, 'The Song of Songs.' The Septuagint has simply the title Ασμα, So that our English title in the Authorized Version, 'The Song of Solomon,' has no ancient authority. The Song of Songs of Solomon, son of David, King of Israel, which is Song of Songs, and called in Hebrew, Song of Songs
This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonderful than any other.
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