SOS

THE SONG OF SONGS

The Song of Songs is a joyous, poetic celebration of love, romance, beauty and sexual intimacy. As poetry, it seductively draws the reader into its world of longing and desire. Its metaphors and images are often somewhat extravagant and strange to western ears, and need to be handled with taste and delicacy. The Song has virtually no plot or storyline; its poetic genre allows it to be cyclical, repetitive and somewhat rambling. The Song bombards our hearts and minds, stimulates our imaginations and desires, and often leaves us gasping for breath, longing wistfully for the fulfilment of our private dreams. After such an assault upon our senses of sight, sound, scent, taste and touch, we need, having wallowed in the Song's luxuriousness, to reflect more calmly on its implications. Its teaching is oblique and indirect, and fleshes out, in metaphorical language, that which is more formally stated, explicitly or implicitly, elsewhere in Scripture. It is a living visual aid adorning the doctrine of the goodness of creation.
Before we explore this further, it is necessary to mention another hermeneutical approach, which sees the Song as exhibiting types or allegories of the spiritual realm. The behaviour of the two lovers is used to illustrate the relationship between either Yahweh and Israel, or God and his church, or Jesus Christ and the individual believer. In the last case, the Song becomes a manual for advanced spirituality or the higher life. Some of the themes that are often interpreted allegorically are: seeking and finding; the desire for intimacy; the happiness of uninterrupted communion; the raptures and ecstasies of consummation; hindrances to fellowship; the threats of external and internal assaults; maintaining intimacy; holding fast; slowness in responding; restoration after rupture; the power of praise; the sins that spoil. Whilst the NT never quotes or alludes to the Song, it is nevertheless true that the OT uses the love and loyalty of the lover–beloved relationship as an illustration of the relationship between God and his people. The parable of Hosea's marriage to Gomer acts as a prophetic symbol of how Yahweh deals in love and discipline with his fickle and adulterous people Israel. The parable of the foundling child in Ezekiel 16, describing how Yahweh entered into a marriage covenant with her, is used to portray the long salvation history of Israel. Jeremiah 31:32 speaks of Israel's breaking the covenant with Yahweh 'though I was a husband to them' (NIV). A well-known passage in the NT, Ephesians 5:22–27, speaks of the church as the bride of Christ; and the book of Revelation (Rev. 19:7–9) looks forward to the consummation of all things under the metaphor of the marriage supper of the Lamb, in which the church is again the bride of Christ. Thus there is some biblical justification for a moderate typological approach. But the danger of this hermeneutic is that of thinking that the relationship between the believer and God is highly emotional or even erotic. It is far safer to look for spiritual stimulus, encouragement and rebuke concerning the spiritual life in the straightforward and explicit admonitions of the NT. The typological approach also almost inevitably leads to excessive allegorization, which has a long history in the church, beginning from the early fathers. It has included the interpretation of 'a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain' (4:12) as the virgin Mary; of 'the little foxes that ruin the vineyards' (2:15) as the little sins that spoil the church; of 'your navel' (7:2) as the baptismal font or the cup of communion, etc.
But why has it been thought necessary to reinterpret the explicit references in the Song to lovemaking, caressing, kissing, beauty, breasts and passion? The western church has been influenced by a Greek philosophical worldview in which the spiritual realm is on a higher moral plane, eternal and substantial, while the created order is on a lower level, impermanent, subject to corruption and under judgment. In popular religion the body's functions have been regarded as second-rate, and the body itself as the prison-house of the soul, from which the soul needs to be liberated to soar unshackled into the immediate presence of God. But this dichotomy is not biblical. It has led some in the Christian church to exalt the doctrine of salvation at the expense of the doctrine of creation.
The Song is often classified under the OT genre of wisdom literature (see Wisdom books). The characteristics of this (even though they are not always very explicit) are as follows: a strong doctrine of the sovereign providence of the unseen God; a strong doctrine of creation; and an emphasis on human initiative in and responsibility for achieving šālôm, the good life (see Peace). There is no explicit mention of God in the Song (perhaps one or two rather obscure allusions), but it is never 'secular'. Its worldview is entirely Hebraic: human life is an integrated whole, lived under the rule of a creator God, who superintends the whole order of creation, upon which he has pronounced the verdict, 'It was very good' (Gen. 1:31). The ancient Hebrews had a wholehearted attitude to life, embracing with enthusiasm all that the created order had to offer, and uninhibited by false ideological presuppositions.
We will briefly explore a number of distinctive themes that occur throughout the Song, and their treatment in the wider biblical corpus: physical attraction; joys and tensions; erotic arousal; betrothal and marriage; sexual consummation.
That the lovers are physically attracted to each other hardly needs saying. The articulation of this deep, mutual appreciation cements their relationship. They find delight in praising each other's physical attributes. Nowhere else in the Bible is metaphor used so extravagantly. But these similes need to be handled sensitively; our modern translations often lead us astray. For example, in 7:1, 'Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman's hands', the point is not that the woman's rounded thighs glitter and sparkle, but that they are exquisitely smooth, well-rounded and proportioned as if shaped by a skilful craftsman. Elsewhere in the Bible, description of physical beauty is severely restrained, leaving much to the imagination. David is 'ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features' (1 Sam. 16:12). Rachel is beautiful (Gen. 29:17). Abigail has a beautiful countenance (1 Sam. 25:3). Some verses in the Bible seem at first sight to deny the value of beauty; e.g. 'charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised' (Prov. 31:30). The point here is that beauty is ephemeral; to be a God-fearing woman is far more important than being preoccupied by external appearances. Similarly Peter's admonition (1 Pet. 3:3–4) warns against an obsession with fashion at the expense of cultivating 'the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit'.
Courtship consists of both the relaxed joys of mutual companionship and adjustment to the minor tensions and frustrations of a growing relationship. For example, the girl delights 'to sit in his shade' and to eat of his fruit (2:3). On the other hand, she is terrified of losing him and fears his loss: 'I looked for him but did not find him' (3:1). But there is also room for playful teasing: 'I have taken off my robe, must I put it on again?' (5:3); and for playing hide and seek: 'Catch for us the foxes …' (2:15). The initiatives of the girl in seeking romantic encounter and stimulating desire are far more numerous in the Song than those of the boy. This subtle disproportion may be a deliberate attempt by the author gently to challenge the pronounced patriarchalism of OT Hebrew society. (See Man and woman.)
The Song is full of metaphorical allusions to erotic arousal and lovemaking. In 1:2 the word translated 'love' (NIV) refers more specifically to physical arousal. It is used in Proverbs 7:18 for the advances of the wayward wife, and also in the allegory of the foundling child in Ezekiel 16:8: 'I saw you were old enough for love.' Kissing is with the mouth, erotic, and not the formal peck of social convention. The girl delights that her lover's 'left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me' (2:6; 8:3). The only other biblical reference to romantic fondling is in Genesis 26:8, where Abimelech sees Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. A state of undress is presupposed by the descriptions of the girl's breasts (7:3), her waist (7:2), her graceful legs (7:1) and her navel (7:2). There are also a number of possible euphemisms associated with the references to the navel, the bolt, the polished ivory.
The canonicity of the Song, as well as the sexual mores of ancient Hebrew culture, demand that the couple's relationship be understood as a marriage. There is no hint of any illicit sexual activity. However, the almost complete absence of a credible, continuous storyline makes it very difficult to discern just what is happening at any stage of the relationship. Solomon's wedding carriage is mentioned (3:7–11), but who, if anybody, is in it, and what bearing this has on the couple's romance is a matter of much debate. In the scenes of greatest intimacy (4:9–12), the girl is called (literally) 'my sister-bride', which puts the couple in the marriage bed. But it is also obvious that the girl in her courtship chafes under the constraints of the social conventions of the ancient world. She longs to be able publicly to demonstrate her affection for her betrothed (8:1), but she will have to learn to live temporarily with frustration and not 'to arouse or awaken love until it so desires' (2:7).
The intimacies and delights of love are experienced within the bond of a secure relationship: 'For love is strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave' (8:6). There must be no intruders; so in biblical terms, adultery is a most serious offence, the breaking of a bonded relationship. Love is a quality that can be neither bought nor sold (8:7); it is not a commodity for trade (8:12). 'Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away' (8:7). This constancy is the very opposite of the lust of Amnon when he raped Tamar. It is poignantly written of him, after the deed was done, that 'the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her' (2 Sam. 13:15, RSV).
The Song reaches its sexual climax in 4:16–5:1. Using the metaphor of eating fruit from a luscious garden, full sexual union is described. This delicate euphemism is used to refer to what is described in Genesis 2:24 as becoming 'one flesh'. Other biblical metaphors for intercourse include 'to know' (Gen. 4:1, 17, 25), 'to enter' (Ruth 4:13) and 'to lie with' (Gen. 19:32; 29:23, 30; 38:26; etc.).
Finally, there are a number of literary and thematic parallels between the Song and the garden of Eden story in Genesis 2. Both contain imagery of luscious vegetation and of beautiful and mouth-wateringly sweet fruit. Both refer to a garden watered by springs or wells. There is joyful complementarity and union between the man and his wife. There is nakedness and no sense of shame. The Song seems to look back on and recapture these scenes of primal innocence, and reaffirms the doctrine of the goodness of God's creation. However, there is a snake in the garden in Genesis, and the idyllic dream is shattered. A curse is pronounced, and the resulting disruption is mirrored in some of the tensions and frustrations of the Song as the lovers pursue their relationship east of Eden. And so we are led inevitably from the doctrine of creation and the fall to the necessity of the doctrine of redemption and re-creation.

Bibliography

G. L. Carr, The Song of Solomon, TOTC (Leicester and Downers Grove, 1984); M. V. Fox, The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs (Madison, 1985); T. D. Gledhill, The Message of the Song of Songs, BST (Leicester and Downers Grove, 1994); M. D. Goulder, The Song of Fourteen Songs (Sheffield, 1986); F. Landy, Paradoxes of Paradise: Identity and Difference in the Song of Songs (Sheffield, 1983); R. E. Murphy, The Song of Songs, Hermeneia (London and Minneapolis, 1990); M. H. Pope, The Song of Songs, AB (Garden City, 1977).

T. D. GLEDHILL


New dictionary of biblical theology. 2001 (T. D. Alexander & B. S. Rosner, Ed.) (electronic ed.). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

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Regards,
Ryan Chia

It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world,
as that God has a church for his mission in the world.
Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission—God's mission.

From The Mission of God by Chris Wright