Word Song

THE SONg OF

SONgs
The Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) is, despite the singular title, a
collection of songs. “Song of Songs” is a superlative in Hebrew, like
“vanity of vanilies” for “the most absurd,” and “holy of holies” for “the
most holy.” In the standard hebrew Bible the Song takes up ten and a half
pages, compared with nineteen pages for Qoheleth and fifty-four for
Proverbs.
The songs are not poems about lovers but poems by lovers, a man
and a woman, or, given the likely age of lhe pair (mid or lale leens), two
very young adults. The speakers can be identified as male or female by the
feminine and masculine second-person singular verb and suffix forms and
by the feminine and masculine forms of adjectives. The Hebrew of 2:10,
for example, “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away,” is
addressed by the man lo the woman, for il has feminine singular markers.
Though the Song must be read as the lyric poetry that it is, it comes
from another time and place and requires careful study to appreciate its
slyle, conventions, and subject maller. The important
The Song contains no allusion to any dalable historical everl. It is ascribed
to King Solomon (1:1) on the basis of the occurrence of his name in 1:5; 4:7;
8:11-12, but thesc are foils against which the lovers are portrayed. According lo 1
Kings 5:12 (EV 4:52), Solomon was a composer of songs, and according lo 1
Kings 11 he was a great lover,including many foreign women and a royal
princess from Egypl. The royal references do nol imply Solomon was the author,
for il is conventional for lovers to give each other royal titles as in 1:4, 12;
7:6;and 6:8, 9. The mention in 6:4 of Tirzah, the capital of the northern kingdom
in the tenth lo ninth centuries, is no indication of date, but simply a balance in the
same verse to Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom; it plays on the
triliteral root “to please.”
The only reliable crilerion for dating is the language, which resembles
Mishnaic Hebrew in some of its vocabulary, constructions, and syntactical
usages. The most striking late Hebrew usage is the consistent use of the relalive
particle šé instead of the aser of classical biblical Hebrew. The language shows
the work to be postexilic, composed probably between the fourth and second
centuries B.C.E. As Michael Fox especially has shown, there is an extraordinarily
close relationship ofthe Song lo Egyptian love lyrics of the nineleenth and early
twenlielh dynaslies (ca. 1305-ca. 1150).Common themes and word usage suggest
the Song grew from the much earlier Egyplian models, though we cannot fill in
the thou-sand-year gap between the Egyplian love lyrics and the Song.'
The Song gives no information about its origin or the conlext in which it
was performed. It may have been part of lhe entertainment provided at a banquet.
Banqueters are a suitable audience, as Fox notes, for the Song “is full of fun,
erotic allusions, sensual word-paintings of the lovers and their worlds, and hearl-
warming sentiments.”. Some scholars suggest a marriage celebration on the basis
of the wedding procession mentioned in 3:6-11, but the Song does not indicate
this. Whatever the conlext, it was one marked by joyous receptivity to the lyrics
oftwo lovers boldlly seeking and happily finding each other.
How did love lyrics composed for public performance find their way inlo
the canon of sacred writings? Some suggest that the Song
was simply part of the enterlainment of the banquels that were common
during religious holidays in Judaism. It became “sacred”simply by being
associated wilh the religious festivals. Only later,when it had become a
text of the festivals, did it receive a religious interprelation.5 The
explanation may be correct as far as it goes,but it leaves unexplained why
the Song was taken into the canon of sacred scripture. Whatever the
details, the Song must have been recognized as beautiful in itselfand
Lherefore an apl expression of the relation of Yahweh and Israel as lovers.
GENRE AND COMPARABLE LITERATURE
The genre of the Song is love poetry, lyrical utlerances of a man and a
woman lo each other and at times wilh others. The best way of treating the
forms and conventions of the love poetry is lo read the Song with a knowledge
of its conventions. Its nearest nonbibli-cal analogues are the Egyptian jove
songs of the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties, which have been published in
Fox's Song of Songs.4 Two excerpls follow, which show some of the
melaphors and conventions found in the Song.
(Woman)
(A) The voice of the dove speaks. It says:
“Day has dawned-
when are you going (homc)?”
(B)Stop it,bird!
you're teasing(?) me.
I found my brother in his bedroom,
and my heart was exceedingly joyful.
(C)We say (to each other):
“I will never be far away.
(My) hand will be with (your) hand,
as I stroll aboul.
Iwith(you),
in every plcasant placc.”
(D) He regards me as the best of the beautiful,
and has nol wounded my hcart.
THE LITERARY STRUCTURE
A central question is whether the Song is a single poem with a
relativelysmall number ofparts, or a collection ofpoems. If the first option
is taken, is the unity sequential (a drama) or schematic (an artistic
arrangement)? Scholarly estimates of the units in the Song range from five
to filly! Those who agree on one of the two options may not agree on the
demarcalion of units.
What is the best way to speak of literary structure in the lace of such
diverse opinion? Given the purpose of this series, to help readers into the
world of the text rather than survey scholarly opinion, the outline given here
is by design shorter than most (only twelve units) and will form the basis of
comments in the next section. Il makes usc of a “she and he” approach on
the basis of Hebrew markers. The titles highlight the main themes and can
facililate an inilial reading.
1. 1:2-4. She: The kisses of his mouth
2. 1:5-8.She: Search on a sunnyafternoon. Chorus or he: v. 8
160
THE SONG OF SONGS
3. 1:9-2:7. Duet. He: 9-11, 15, 2:2. She: 12-14, 16-17,2:1,3-7
4. 2:8-17. The surprise of spring. (Monologue of the woman,ciling the man
in vv. 10-15.) She: 2:8-9, 16-17; He: 10-15
5. 3:1-5.The night in the city.She
6. 3:6-11. Chorus: The sedan chair of Solomon
7. 4:1-5:1. The song of the body. He: 4:1-15, 5:1.She:4:16
8. 5:2-6:3. The night of absence. She: 5:2-8, 10-17, 6:2-3.Chorus: 5:9,6:1
9.6:4-7:10. The new song of the body. He: 6:4-12, 7:2-10.Chorus: 7:1.
10. 7:11-8:4.In the vineyard.She
11. 8:5-7. Place me as a seal. She: 5b-7.Chorus: 8a
12. 8:8-14.Wall and vine. Chorus: 8:8-9. She: 10, 14. He: 11-13.

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