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Megillot: Biblica Hebraica
Megillot: Biblica Hebraica
Megillot (the Scrolls)
The five books known as the Megillot or Scrolls are grouped together
as a unit in modern Hebrew Bibles according to the order of the
annual religious festivals on which they are read in the synagogues of
the Ashkenazim (central and eastern European Jews and their
descendants). They did not originally form a unit and were found
scattered in the Bible in their supposed historical position. In the so-
called Leningrad Codex of the year 1008 CE, on which the third and
subsequent editions of Biblica Hebraica edited by Rudolf Kittel are
based, the five are grouped together but in a historical order.
Nevertheless, their appearance usually follows the order of the
liturgical calendar:
The five books have little in common apart from their roles in the
liturgy. Although the Song of Solomon and Lamentations are poetic in
form and Ruth and Esther are stories of heroines, the contrast in the
moods and purposes of both pairs sharply distinguishes the
books. Ecclesiastes is a product of the Hebrew wisdom movement and
exhibits the most pessimistic tone of any book in the Hebrew Bible.
Song of Solomon