Skip to main content

Is the Song of Songs Ironic?

We once again meet our refrain warning the daughters of Jerusalem. If you've read my comments closely you should be able to determine two opinions that I have. One is that the couple is not married in any of the scenes discussed so far. The second is that I believe they have been sexually active in some way shape or form.[1] While we should not assume that Israelite culture was anywhere near as "conservative" as the legal portions of the Torah might suggest, it would be surprising to find a work in the Old Testament unabashedly extolling sexual love between two unmarried people. And allegorical interpretation wouldn't solve that problem. Even if it did, most scholars hold that allegorical interpretation arose because of the Song was in the canon, not the other way around. How did it get there?


Perhaps the Song is ironic. Perhaps the Song is a warning against what it seems to be celebrating. Specifically, it could be a well crafted warning to women to be careful not to fall in love before the appropriate time. Several factors lead me to this possible identification. First, the Song was associated with Solomon, which means that it was associated with the ancient Israelite wisdom tradition. This implies a clear didactic concern. When we scan the song for signals as to this concern, we run across one sentence that repeats. 'I adjure you daughters of Jerusalem...do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!' This is the overt moral message of the song. Each occurrence of this refrain follows a section describing intimate activity or that has strong sexual overtones. Second the woman's behavior in the song is sometimes outrageous. For example, her wandering out at night in search of her beloved is extreme behavior. By portraying her as being wild and throwing caution and social mores to the wind it warns others to guard themselves or they may be transformed into a wild woman (and perhaps this explains the bizarre scene in chapter 5 where she gets beaten by the guards). This also, in my opinion, explains the female-centric voice of the poem.


Who would have interest[2] in this type of text? Older, elite, male, religious leaders would certainly be one group. They would have a strong interest in seeing their daughters remain chaste. It also would cause the text to cohere with portions of the legal code about premarital sex, even in terms of their strong focus on the activity of the woman.[3]


I certainly don't think it's an open and shut case, but I would want to submit it for further thought. I know I'm swimming against the tide with this suggestion, but I just don't see how the Song could get canonized otherwise, if it is a poem about premarital sexual love.  


----------------------
[1] A point held by most commentators, including at least one conservative scholar - Tremper Longman.
[2] Interest is not being used as a loaded term here. Some of those interests that drove the canonization of the Song were probably positive, and some probably negative.
[2] Premarital sex isn't a major topic in either the Old or New Testament, so I don't want this sentence to be understood as suggesting that the Bible focuses on the topic a lot. It doesn't. It's not even in the discussion with issues like generosity and the just treatment of the socially disadvantaged. In fact, outside of a couple of texts in the law it'd be hard to find texts that give clear condemnation. The case must be inferred.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

More Calvinist than Calvin?

I'm working on a paper on the topic of divine sovereignty and human freedom. Occasionally on this topic (or the subtopic of election) you will hear people through out the barb at strong Calvinists that they're 'being more Calvinist than Calvin.' After having read Calvin carefully on the issue I don't think that there's any validity to that charge. I don't see a material difference here between Calvin and say John Piper. Here are several quotes from the Institutes to prove my point. 'All events are governed by God's secret plan.' I.xvi.2 'Governing heaven and earth by his providence, he also so regulates all things that nothing takes place without his deliberation.' I.xvi.3 'Nothing happens except what is knowingly and willingly decreed by him.' I.xvi.3 Calvin explicitly rejects a limited providence, 'one that by a general motion revolves and drives the system of the universe, with its several parts, but which does not specifc

Galatians 2:11-14: The circumcision group

11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? (TNIV) There's an important issue that we need to wrestle with in this passage, and it's the question of whether or not the people from James and the circumcision group are the same group. I am not inclined to think that they are. The ensuing discussion is drawn from Longenecker's commentary pp 73-5

Paul's Argument in Galatians 3:6-14

6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham mi