Song of Songs 8, As Strong as Death

Chapter 7 ends with a statement of love-making between the couple, in a private place in the country. Then the Song of Songs ends with a chapter of three short, disconnected poems.

Song of Songs 8:1-2, I only you were my brother

If only you were to me like a brother, 

who was nursed at my mother's breasts! 

Then, if I found you outside, 

I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. 

The woman wishes her dear friend were a brother! Why? So that she could kiss him in the street without society's prohibitions! She wants to be publicly affectionate with him in ways that the public does not accept. (This may be a hint that the couple are not yet married. Or it could simply represent society's prohibition against any affection. Some cultures do not expect even married couples to be affectionate in public.)

Song of Songs 8:2, I would bring you home

 I would lead you 

and bring you to my mother's house-- 

she who has taught me. 

I would give you spiced wine to drink, 

the nectar of my pomegranates.

If her lover were her brother, why she could take him home to her mother's house, to the one who taught her about life and love, and there shower him with treats and affection!  (Speaking as a man -- in this type of situation my thoughts would not be all the "brotherly". The woman may wish that she could give him sisterly affection but I suspect the man is be happy to be lover, not brother!)

As Alter points out, throughout this book, the woman is often the speaker, the initiator of affection.

Song of Songs 8:3-4, Embrace

His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me.  

Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: 

Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

The poem ends with one more statement of erotic embraces.The statement of caresses by her lover, followed by a call to the daughters of Jerusalem, suggests a conclusion to this first short poem.

Song of Songs 8:5a, Coming up from the desert

Who is this coming up from the desert 

leaning on her lover?

At the beginning of a second short poem, the narrator introduces the woman as coming out of the desert with her lover, affectionately leaning against him.

Now the woman will speak:

Song of Songs 8:5b-7, Under the quince tree

Under the apple tree I roused you; 

there your mother conceived you, 

there she who was in labor gave you birth.  

Earlier, in 2:5 it was the woman who was faint with love and needed to be aroused by this fruit. Here she awakes him under a similar fruit tree. As before (3:4), a connection is made between the couple's embraces and the very place where a set of parents had sex and conceived a child. In this case, it is the woman invokes the man's parents. (It is possible that such a place might be viewed as "fertile" -- "your mother got pregnant here, maybe I can too!")

Song of Songs 8:5b-6, Seal me

Place me like a seal over your heart, 

like a seal on your arm; 

for love is as strong as death, 

its jealousy unyielding as the grave. 

It burns like blazing fire, 

like a mighty flame.

The woman seeks a "seal" with a lover, to be sealed over his heart and sealed on his arm. (Thus, in our culture, my wedding band represents this seal.) This statement of commitment is followed by a strong pair of lines, synthetic parallelism, that love is as strong as death and jealousy as strong as Sheol. Love and Jealousy (together) are a mighty fire. Here "jealousy" is the legitimate possessiveness of two people sealed together. He is hers alone (forsaking all others) and she is his alone (forsaking all others.)

Song of Songs 8:7, Many waters cannot quench love

Many waters cannot quench love; 

rivers cannot wash it away.

 If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, 

it would be utterly scorned.

Love defeats all other riches.

Song of Songs 8:8-9, A young sister

We have a young sister, 

and her breasts are not yet grown. 

What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for?   

If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. 

If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

This is surely a new poem, a new story. Davidson views the rest of this chapter as a series of curtain calls, with various individuals speaking out about love. Here the woman's brothers reappear (from 1:6) to speak protectively about their sister. In the culture of the ANE, in the absence of a father, the girl's brothers are responsible for the young girl's chastity and, most likely, for arranging her marriage. The brothers are going to wall her in so that no one comes near.

Song of Songs 8:10, My breasts are towers!

I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. 

Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.

Both Alter and Davidson see this verse as the woman's response to her protective brothers. Her breasts have indeed grown and yes, she is now a full adult, not a young girl. Indeed, she has man who views her both with desire and contentment.

Song of Songs 8:11-12, Solomon's vineyard

Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; 

he let out his vineyard to tenants. 

Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver.  

But my own vineyard is mine to give;

 the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon,

 and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

As a response to the brothers, the woman speaks of Solomon's precious vineyard, worth a thousand shekels of silver. He can rent it out and make even more money. But the woman has her own vineyard. And it is priceless! (See verse 7, above.)

Davidson says that the word translated here as a place name, Baal Hamon, literally means "lord of a crowd" or (suggests Davidson) "husband of a crowd." If so, is there a dig at the rich king who has a crowd of wives and concubines but has no true understanding of love?

Song of Songs 8:13, From the gardens, speak!

You who dwell in the gardens 

with friends in attendance, 

let me hear your voice!

The man speaks out, calling for the woman. As Alter points out, the woman is both in a (literal) garden and is, herself, a (metaphorical) garden.

Song of Songs 8:14, Come away!

Come away, my lover, 

and be like a gazelle or like a young stag 

on the spice-laden mountains.

As in 2:17,  the woman issues an invitation to her lover, an invitation to "come away" to the "spice-laden mountains." 

And so our song ends ends, in two quick tricolons, a man calls to hear her voice and the woman responds with one final invitation. She invites the young man, an energetic young stag, to go away with her, to enjoy what she seeks to offer him.