Near the beginning of 1 Chronicles, Yahweh stirs up the spirit of Pul of Assyria to invade and conquer Israel (5:26). Near the end, He stirs up the spirit of Cyrus of Persia to issue a decree sending the exiles home (2 Chronicles 36:22). Israel’s intervening history is framed by those two . . . . Continue Reading »
Keel interprets the “seal” on the heart of the lover as the woman herself (“set me as a seal”) and connects this to ANE beliefs about death-warding and life-giving amulets. The bride is the one who stands between death and chaos and her lover. That’s a stretch, . . . . Continue Reading »
Jenson commends Jonathan Edwards’ answer to the question about the point of creation. Reflecting on the fact that the bride is a bringer of “peace” or “completion” to her lover, he asks: “Can God make a whole with creatures, a whole that somehow satisfies . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert Jenson notes in his comments on the Song of Songs 8:1-2 that the lovers long for public recognition of their love. The bride wants to be able to kiss her lover in the street like a brother. Jensonn contrasts this to the contemporary claim that sex is a purely private matter . . . . Continue Reading »
Richard Davidson’s structural analysis of the Song is particularly helpful in showing the coherence of the last section of the Song, often viewed as a collection of disconnected fragments. 8:5-14 matches 1:2-2:7 in that both are arranged in seven speeches, alternating between female and . . . . Continue Reading »
Gordon Johnston’s aforementioned article reviews and evaluates a number of structural analyses of the Song. He doesn’t find any of the following persuasive, but they provide some helpful pointers to the shape of the Song. The Targum and many Jewish commentators see the Song as an . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 2006 Vetus Testamentum article, Hector Patmore takes aim at Michael Fox’s claims about strong parallels between the Song of Songs and Egyptian love lyrics. He points out that even Fox recognizes significant differences: Egyptian love poems are monologues not dialogs (reminds me of . . . . Continue Reading »
All three-character versions play with smoke and mirrors to create the illusion of a love triangle. Nowhere does the Song have a poem in which more than two main characters appear or speak. The only direct mention of a shepherd figure occurs in 1:7–8, but this is hardly adequate to create a . . . . Continue Reading »
In the current issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion , Richard Pitt of Vanderbilt examines the coping mechanisms used by black gay men within congregations that oppose homosexuality. His abstract summarizes: “Using interviews with black gay Christian men, I uncover a . . . . Continue Reading »
James Jordan has handled the problems surrounding Jesus’ “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40) not by pushing Jesus’ death back from Friday to mid-week but by reinterpreting what “heart of the earth” means. Earth often . . . . Continue Reading »
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