The authorship of the Book of Lamentations is unknown. The earliest collection of the poems included in the book was called "Lamentations" without assigning any name to them. Later, they were called "The Lamentations of Jeremiah," which is the title given to them in various editions of the Old Testament. The Greek translation states in the preface to the book, "And it came to pass, after Israel was led into captivity and Jerusalem laid waste, that Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem." Nothing in the Book of Jeremiah indicates that Jeremiah is the author of these poems, and we may be quite certain that they were produced by other persons. Because later generations regarded Jeremiah as an inspired author, attributing these poems to him gave to them an added prestige, which is probably the reason why it was done.
Song of Songs was attributed to King Solomon probably because his name is mentioned several times in the songs, or poems. Because the songs describe the wedding feast of a king and his bride, it was assumed that the chief participants in the wedding were King Solomon and a Shulamite maiden. Interpreted literally, these songs would scarcely have been included in the Old Testament. But it was possible to interpret them allegorically and find their meaning in the relationship between Yahweh and his people. As the Hebrew people understood the songs, Yahweh was the bridegroom and Israel was the bride. In later generations, Christians interpreted the same songs as representing the union between Jesus Christ and his church. We have no reason for thinking that King Solomon or any single poet is the author of these songs. They are a group of folk songs, some of which may have been in existence for a long time before they were edited and arranged in their present form, which was probably sometime during the third century B.C.
