were as familiar with Koheleth as the young men of Alexandria,
and Simeon, according to the Talmudic story[1]
(Bereshith Rabba, c. 91), quoted Eccles. vii. 12a with a prefix
((
Hebrew characters) 'as it is written') proper to a Biblical quotation. From
another Talmudic narrative (Baba bathra, 4a) it would seem
that Koheleth was cited in the time of Herod the Great as
of equal authority with the Pentateuch, and from a third
(Shabbath, 30b) that St. Paul's teacher, Gamaliel, permitted
quotations from our book equally with those from canonical
Scriptures. Like the Song of Songs, however, it called forth
a lively opposition from severe judges. The schools of
Hillel and Shammai were divided on the merits of these
books. At first the Shammaites, who were adverse to them,
carried a majority of the votes of the Jewish doctors. But
when, after the destruction of Jerusalem, Jewish learning
reorganised itself at Jamnia (4-1/2 leagues south of Jaffa), the
opposite view (viz. that the Song and Koheleth 'defile the
hands'—i.e. are holy Scriptures) was again brought forward
in a synod held about A.D. 90, and finally sanctioned in a
second synod held A.D. 118. The arguments urged on
both sides were such as belong to an uncritical age. No
attempt was made to penetrate into the spirit and object of
Koheleth, but test passages were singled out. The heretically
sounding words in xi. 9a were at first held by some to be
decisive against the claim of canonicity, but—we are told—when
the 'wise men' took the close of the verse into consideration
('but know that for all this God will bring thee into
the judgment'), they exclaimed (Hebrew characters), 'Solomon has
spoken appropriately.'[2]
This first synod or sanhedrin of Jamnia has played an important part in recent arguments. According to Krochmal, Grätz, and Renan, one object of the Jewish doctors was to decide whether the Song and Koheleth ought to be admitted into the Canon. It seems, however, to have been satisfactorily
