Sunday, October 27, 2024

An Introduction to the Song of Songs**


I led a Bible study on this book at Mt. Pleasant Community Church (Mt. Pleasant, Michigan) which began in January 2001.

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My main sources are Robert Alter, Robert Davidson (Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, The Daily Bible Study Series, published by Westminster John Knox Press, 1986) and ... 

Davidson, p.95, "To treat such language as an allegory of God and Israel, or of Christ and the Church, is to rob it of its poetry and passion."

p. 96 "[I]t is always a dangerous game to give an allegorical interpreyation to something that is not intended as an allegory." Indeed, I will add that the attitude I saw in churches as a college student in the 1970s tended to suggest that sex was bad, invented by Hugh Hefner and that one should feel guilty for sexual thoughts. This has done a disservice to dating and married Christians. The church pendulum seems to vibrate back an dforth between fear of the power of sex and attempts to push it aside.

p. 99 "The distinction that we tend to make between the sacred and the secular, the religious and the non-religious, would have been quite meaningless to the wise men of Israel."

p.119 "[I]t is sad to destroy such a delightful poem in the interests of such false and forced interpretations of scripture. Does our faith really need this kind of support?"

Both Alter and Davidson see hints to sexual arousal in the description of the woman's hands and fingers "flowing with myrrh", in the man's desire to open the latch and her desire (next verse) to "open" to him. Davidson remarks on various attempts to hide the sexuality of this passage (and others) says
"It is strange how certain older commentators, aware of this meaning, tend to dismiss it as 'obscene'. This is to read our perverted sense of values into the biblical text, instead of allowing the text to speak to us frankly of sexuality as one of God's good gifts to man and woman."
I heartedly agree. As I mention in my introduction to this book, the attitude I absorbed in my youth (high school and college) was that sex was bad, promoted by Hugh Hefner and was to be ignored or suppressed. But since God created human sexuality, it should be Christians who are open and transparent about the beauty of sex and the strength of sexual desire!

Unlike the attitude of the ANE, the emphasis in this book is not on sex and fertility, on the importance of the couple (possibly in an arranged marriage) producing children, but is on intimacy (including private sexual intimacy.) The poem promotes the friendship and mutual worship of the couple, as they make vows to each other. Their bonding is not arranged by parents (as was customary in the ANE) but is indeed true romantic (and ultimately erotic) love.

Throughout the book there is play between an outer (literal) world of nature and an inner, metaphorical world, where the the body is described in nature images. The most explicit example occurs in Songs of Songs 7:7-9, where the man tells his lover,

Your stature is like that of the palm, and your breasts like clusters of fruit.  I said, "I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit." May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples and your mouth like the best wine.

There are many other places where these allusions occur, gentle hints of sexual arousal without being as explicit.

See also page 157 of Davidson, in his conclusions.


Throughout these poems, the lovers appear to be common people. She is tanned from working in the sun; he is described as a shepherd. Yet they playfully describe each other as royalty, happy with their own banquets of love.

The book does not state that the couple are married. Indeed, there are suggestions that the couple slip away to meet in secret and at one point the girl looks forward to the day their relationship can be made public. At one point the man addresses his lover as "my sister, my bride", but (as Davidson points out), neither "sister" nor "bride" comes across as literal. She is his "sister" (ie., close companion) and "bride" (committed lover) but both are terms of endearment.

some words are rare


ANE = Ancient Near East, the surrounding culture of the Old Testament.

Assignment for next time:

Read the entire book through, in your Bible.  What do you think?  Is it an allegory about God and believers?  Is it a story of Solomon and a Shulamite woman?  A lovers' triangle?  A series of stories?
            
Those who are married: take time this week to read chapters 1 & 2 out loud with your lover. 


In the New Testament, the ultimate union of God and the Church is called The Wedding Feast:
Matt 22: 1-3 … "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a wedding banquet…"
Matt 25: 1 …  "The Kingdom of Heaven is like ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom…"
Mark 2: 19-20  Jesus explains that his disciples don't fast because the bridegroom's attendants are happy while the groom is still with them.
Rev 19:9  "Blessed are those invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb"
Rev 21: 2-4, 21:9  The New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, is "prepared as a beautiful bride, dressed for her husband";  the New Jerusalem is the bride and God the groom.
Rev 3:20 -- probably indirectly quoting Song of Solomon 5:2.
Ephesian 5:21-33 -- is marriage a metaphor for the union of God and His people?  Or is it the other way around?

Song of Solomon Notes (originally from January 28, 2001 at Mt. Pleasant Community Church)

Various bible passages on marriage:
Gen 2:24 -- its purpose("one flesh")
Judges 14:10-13 -- Samson's wedding feast was a week long.

Marriage as a metaphor for the relationship between God and His people (Israel, or the Church):
In many places, worshiping another God was called "whoring", ie. adultery.  In the Old Testament, Israel is compared with an unfaithful wife.

Jeremiah 3:1
Ezekiel, chapter 16
The book of Hosea

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