Annotatio CCXI

”The parables of Solomon, the son of David,” etc. — Proverbs 1:1

Dorotheus, bishop of Tyre and martyr, when in the Synopsis of divine scripture he touched briefly on the arguments of the books of Solomon, seems to have asserted that Solomon did not receive the gift of prophecy,¹ in these words: “Solomon wrote” the Proverbs, the Canticle of Canticles, and Ecclesiastes; for when he had received the grace of wisdom from God, he admonished all men to live wisely in this life; but the gift of Prophecy he did not receive: for we have already reckoned up those who received [it] by the divine bounty, that they might prophesy concerning Christ.” Athanasius, in the Synopsis, thinks otherwise, [as do] Origen, on the Canticle of Canticles, and St. Augustine, who in book 17 On the City of God, chapter 20, says: “Solomon himself is also found to have prophesied, in his books which are received into canonical authority — three [of them]: the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Canticle of Canticles,” etc. Perhaps [Dorotheus] understands that Solomon is not to be placed in the catalogue of the major or minor prophets, who are called prophets in the proper and more usual signification. For Augustine also, although in book 2 On Christian Doctrine he had numbered the books of Solomon among the prophetic [books], separated [them] from the books of the sixteen prophets, whom he said are properly called prophets.