The language of the songs proves that they belong to a very late period in Hebrew literature, though the type is doubtless old enough. Such popular poetry has no motive for preserving or imitating archaism, as hymn writers do, but modernizes itself from generation to generation. The wedding songs of old Israel may have been like enough to these in character, but they were in another speech.
It was a fortunate misunderstanding that has preserved them; but the accidental preservation of these few pages emphasizes the loss of almost every other vestige of Hebrew secular poetry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. General.—Smith, W. Robertson. The Old Testament in the Jewish Church. 1892.—These lectures, first published in 1881, were meant to give to laymen an account of the problems and methods of criticism. They are a remarkably lucid exposition of the subject, and may still be read with profit as a general introduction to criticism.
2. The Canon.—Ryle, H. E. The Canon of the Old Testament. 1892; 2nd ed. 1895.—A history of the growth of the Old Testament rather than a history of the canon. In that growth there were, according to the author, three stages; in the first, which began with the ratification of Deuteronomy in 621 B.C., the Law (Pentateuch) was the only recognized collection of Sacred Scripture; in the second the Law and the Prophets; and in the third the Law, the Prophets, and the "Writings." The latter part of the volume, which treats of the history of the canon in the usual meaning of the term, is a convenient but not very accurate compilation.
The article "Canon" (of the Old Testament) in the Encyclopaedia Biblica, by Karl Budde, and the article "Old Testament Canon" in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, by F. H. Woods, are concise presentations of generally accepted opinions by competent scholars.
3. Literature of the Old Testament.—Driver, S. R. Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament. 6th ed., revised, 1897. A volume of the International Theological Library, designed primarily for ministers and students of theology. The technical matter (lists of Hebrew words and the like) is, however, set off from the body of the text, and the work can therefore be used with profit by laymen for purposes of study. The synopses of the contents of Biblical books will be found helpful. The author is a scholar of conservative temper and cautious about accepting new or radical theories.
Cornill, Carl. Introduction to the Canonical Books of the Old Testament. Translated by G. H. Box. New York. 1907.—Originally one of a German series of theological handbooks, this volume is on a smaller scale than Driver's and goes less into details which are of interest only to the professional student. The author's criticism is much less conservative than Driver's and more original.