Song of Songs

Song of Songs

"While the Song insists that we are embodied beings and that the human body is beautiful, it also asserts that we are more than our bodies"

Song of Songs, one of the shortest books in the Bible, consisting of eight chapters, reflects a wealth of insight into the relationship of love, literally and figuratively. Some, like Lawrence S. Cunningham (2005), a John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, assert that although few other than the lovers of literature read this book, it constitutes a text vital for Christian spirituality to develop. "Ascribed to King Solomon, it is the third wisdom book (after Proverbs and Ecclesiastes) which bears his name. & #8230;The early church fathers… argued that Songs should be read after learning the life of virtue from Proverbs and gaining illumination from Ecclesiastes" (Cunningham, ¶ 1). Origen, one major Biblical commentary, who asserts that purgation, illumination, and union reflect three paths of the spiritual life, presents Song of Songs to dramatically reflect the concept of "union."

The concept of "union" impresses the researcher the most about Song of Songs. In the figurative sense, according to Aakanksha J. Virkar (2007), in the journal publication "Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Song of Songs," the "Song famously portrays what has been read as an allegory of Christ's relationship with the Church…." This appears apparent in the words: "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me [was] love" (Sgs 2:4). This message confirms the fact the Song of Songs fits the Bible and this it was rightly incorporated into it.

In the review of the book, Song of Songs, by Robert W. Jenson, Tod Linafelt (2007), Georgetown University, argues that although Jenson is an accomplished theologian; he presents an ill-conceived interpretation of the Song of Songs that neither convinces of helps the reader. Linafelt responded to Jenson's criticism of the Song of Songs with the following response:

The problem is that there is no "story." That is, we are not dealing here with narrative (or story), where one expects characters, action, and plot, but rather with lyric poetry, the building blocks of which are line-structure, wordplay, soundplay, metaphor, imagery, productive ambiguity, and the like. The Song of Songs arguably represents one of the very highest achievements of ancient Israelite poetry, and to ignore how it works as poetry is to ignore precisely what is most fundamental and most compelling about it (Linafelt, ¶ 3).

The researcher concurs with Linafelt and notes that one particular section that stresses the value of love simultaneously confirms the significance of Song, along with its universal appeal: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love [is] strong as death; jealousy [is] cruel as the grave: the coals thereof [are] coals of fire, [which hath a] most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if [a] man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned" (Sgs 8:6-7).

Due to its graphic renditions reflecting "love," some may be offended by the concepts presented in Song of Songs. In "Singing of sex," Anthony B. Robinson (2004), Pastor Plymouth Church (UCC) in Seattle, contends that the Song of Songs challenges Victorian sensibility, as well as a sexually repressive awareness. This book, nevertheless, also counters "the inclination toward casual sex or instant gratification that characterizes our sex-saturated society" (Robinson, ¶ 4). The Song, as the introductory quote for this essay asserts, maintains that humans are embodied beings and that the human body is, in fact, beautiful. The Song also affirms, albeit, that humans consist of more than mere bodies.

Francis Landy (2007), University of Alberta, notes in his review of "Song of Songs," by Richard S. Hess, that Hess intentionally writes with his conservative audience in mind. "He assumes a context of married love for the Song, while recognizing that this is never made explicit: 'the erotic love of the couple does not lie outside the bounds of marriage but is integral to it" (Hess, quoted in Landy, ¶ 2). Hess resists direct sexual interpretations, for instance of 5:4-5 as a euphemistic description of intercourse, pointing out that "the whole point of the passage is the failure of the couple to reach and touch each other."

Tremper Longman (2001) points out in Song of Songs that, according to the Bible, the relationship between a husband and wife reflects the most intimate of all possible human relationships. Longman considers the Song of Songs "to be a timeless celebration of human love and sexuality" (Book Overview section). As Longman unpacks Song of Songs for contemporary readers, he relates "what this ancient love poem says about the male-female relationship - and, by analogy, about God's love for his people" (Ibid). Despite its abbreviated length of only eight chapters, Song of Songs, one of the shortest books in the Bible, richly reflects insight into the relationship of love. The researcher agrees that in both the figurative, as well as the literal sense, the union so poignantly mirrored in Song of Songs surpasses all others.