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OBSERVE:
The Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs, is unique among all the Biblical literature. From a literal perspective, there is absolutely nothing “religious” or “spiritual” about it. It is, from beginning to end, a sensuous, highly metaphorical love-poem that celebrates the courtship of a young man and a young woman.
Although the Song is attributed to Solomon, and his name appears seven times within the poem, the voice of the Song is sometimes that of a young woman, or even a girl not yet of marriageable age, and sometimes that of a young man.
This doesn’t suggest that Solomon isn’t the author of the Song. Solomon was renowned for his wisdom and literary accomplishments. He was said to have composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five (1 Kings 4:32).
But what was this Song about? Well, quite frankly, Solomon was also famous for his (ahem) many wives and concubines! Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines (1 Kings 11:3). Without seeming disrespectful or irreverent, I think it may be safely assumed that Solomon was well familiar with romantic love!
So, this section is related from the point of view of a young woman who describes her lover in highly metaphorical language. He is agile and swift leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. He is like a gazelle or a young stag.
And what is he doing? Peering in the windows at the young woman, and beckoning her to come away with him.
This is a time for courtship — the winter is over and spring has come. As the poet Tennyson once wrote “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.”
In this Song, the lush imagery of nature is evocative of beauty and romance: the flowers are in bloom, the song of the turtledove is heard, and the fig trees and grapevines are fragrant and ripening.
Like all of these signs of spring, their courtship is in the early bloom of romance, and they long to run to the hills together amidst the flowers and the birds.
APPLY:
How does one apply this lush, sensual poem to one’s life?
This question has posed a dilemma for the rabbis in the synagogues prior to the Christian era, for the early church fathers, and for Christians in the present.
Attempts have been made to allegorize or “spiritualize” this poem. The rabbis interpreted the figure of the woman to be Israel, and her beloved was the Lord. The early church fathers and others described the woman as the church, the bride of Christ; or the individual soul in its mystical quest for union with God.
However, there may be one simple interpretation that we may also make: that this really is a love poem, celebrating the romantic, erotic love of a man and a woman. After all, we are to be reminded that God himself has enshrined the love of man and woman in creation itself.
The image of God as reflected in human beings requires both genders: So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).
And when God declares that all creation is “good” he refers also to the good gift of being made male and female. In Genesis 2:24, this creation theology concerning sexuality is reaffirmed: Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
And Jesus cites this very passage when he speaks of the inviolability of marriage: “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matthew 19:4-6).
By the way, this passage, quoted by Jesus, is the answer to those who wonder about the polygamy of Solomon and others in the Old Testament. Monogamy appears to have been the original will of God for marriage, as cited in Genesis and by Jesus. Polygamy in the Bible was invariably driven by lust or political expediency and usually resulted in misery.
The celebration of romantic and , yes, erotic love between one man and one woman in the covenant of marriage is a deep part of the Biblical understanding of human nature and relationships.
RESPOND:
It has been said that there was a rabbinic tradition that no unmarried person should read the Song of Solomon, and certainly not before they were thirty years old!
For those who have prurient imaginations, this poem may seem titillating and provocative.
However, for a couple who are in love and recognize that their relationship is a covenant entered into in the sight of God, the Song of Solomon can be a beautiful celebration of God’s good gift of sexuality.
I do remember, though, that in my own marriage this passage was actually the source of some laughter. When I began to read the Song of Solomon aloud to my young bride, I read from a passage that included this description: Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, overlooking Damascus (Song of Solomon 7:4).
When I came to that last line about the nose like a tower of Lebanon my wife burst into laughter. Her family is somewhat famous for their noses!
Romantic love may include beautiful poetry; but in my experience it also includes laughter!
Lord, I thank you for the good gifts of creation. May I enjoy the gift of romantic love with my wife in covenant fidelity with you and with her. Amen!
PHOTOS: "Book of Love" by Jonathan Thorne is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.
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