Second Saturday after Pentecost
Saturday is Bible Study Day. My goal in these Saturday Bible studies is to look at verses that are not typically studied in church. The verse for today is Song of Solomon 1:5,
"I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem."
The Song of Solomon, more properly called "The Song of Songs," is a romantic, sexual love poem, set in ancient Greek dramatic form. The speaking parts are a man, a woman, and a chorus. The characters are not given names, but tradition from earliest times has identified the man as King Solomon of Israel and the woman as the Queen of Sheba. Sheba is another name for Ethiopia. The woman is sub- Sahara African. The man is Semitic Jewish. The two are equal. Their love for each other is blessed.
The Song of Songs had a difficult time getting into the canon for two reasons. First, it never mentions God. Second, it's thinly veiled metaphors for sexual acts were offensive to many of the rabbis. It got into the canon largely on the basis of its attribution to King Solomon and the rabbis ability to allegorize it. To them the love of the man and the woman was the love of God for the Jewish people.
Christians later did essentially the same thing. The love of the man and the woman was the love of Christ for the Church. In the 11th century St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote over 120 sermons on this allegorized Song of Songs.
In 1 Kings 9 we read of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to the courts of Solomon. Although the story is clearly told from an Israelite viewpoint, the Queen and her empire are seen as equals to Solomon and his Kingdom. She has heard of Solomon's great wisdom and has come to see for herself. She brings and grand and royal retinue with her, many camels, much gold, gems, and spices. The 1 Kings account says nothing about a romance between the two, but a couple of statements in the account were later taken as implying such an affair. Verses 4-6 say that when The Queen of Sheba had seen the wealth and heard the wisdom of King Solomon, "there was no more spirit in her." She gave him 120 talents of gold, an enormous amount, as well a precious stones and spices. In verse 13 we read, "King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba every desire that she expressed." That's as close as we come to romance.
Scholars are virtually 100% agreed that Solomon did not write this book. The Hebrew vocabulary and grammar reflect a much later time, probably third or fourth century BC. I am convinced that the unnamed man and woman do represent the Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. I am also convinced that the author was a woman. It would take a full-scale study for me to demonstrate that more clearly, but read the book for yourself.
One of the problems in reading the Song of Songs is that there are no stage directions. It is not clearly indicated when the woman is speaking, when the man is speaking, and when the chorus is speaking. Most of the time it's easy to figure out, but occasionally it can be confusing. For anyone who is interested, just email me and I'll send you my stage directions.
The book's first words show the intent of the entire, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Hard for me to see Christ and the Church in that beginning.
See the sexual imagery in the following verses as the woman, the man, and the chorus talk about her "garden:"
The woman speaks:
Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my garden, that its fragrance may be wafted abroad.
Let my beloved come to his garden,
and eat its choicest fruits.
The man speaks:
I come to my garden, my sister, my bride;
I gather my myrrh and my spice
I eat my honeycomb with my honey,
I drink my wine with my milk.
The chorus speaks:
Eat, friends drink, and be drunk with love.
The woman speaks:
I slept, but my heart was awake
Listen! my beloved is knocking.
The man speaks:
Open to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my perfect one.
for my head is wet with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night.
I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on again?
I had bathed my feet
how could I soil them?
The woman speaks:
My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,
and my inmost being yearned for him.
I arose to open to my beloved
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh
upon the handles of the bolt.
I opened to my beloved.
--Song of Solomon 4:16-5:6
Why would the Holy Spirit inspire such a book to make it into the Bible? I think it is God's blessing upon the sexual relationship.
People frequently ask about the use of the word sister. The implication is not the literal, but the word expresses the closeness of the man to his beloved.
The Song of Songs is one of the greatest love poems ever written. Its influence on later love poetry is profound. For example read e.e. cummings' poem, puella mea.
O, there is so much more, more than I have time or space for. Just one more example: "For love is strong as death, and passion fierce as the grave."(8:6). This is the first instance in all of literature of the "love-death" theme. Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, and so many more came after.
A final note: the poetry is beautiful, in either the original Hebrew or in English. Just say out loud the sound of the title in Hebrew: The Song of Songs which is Solomon's--Shir ha-Shirim asher l'schelomo.
Faithfully,
Christian
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