Explaining the adjuration of Song of Songs 2:7 (repeated in slightly different form in 8:4), Cheryl Exum ( Song of Songs (Old Testament Library) ) helpfully points to the connection with the theme verses of the Song, 8:6-7: these are the only places “where love is spoken of in the abstract . . . . Continue Reading »
The Bride of the Song declares that she is a “lily” (shushan), and her lover agrees (Song of Songs 2:1-2). The word is used eight times in the Song (2:1, 2, 16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2, 3; 7:2), sometimes for the Bride, sometimes for her lips, sometimes for her breasts. Not surprisingly, . . . . Continue Reading »
I have commented before on the aural parallel between “fragrance” and “spirit” in Hebrew ( reach , ruach ). The theological import of that parallel is enhanced by the Song’s use of reach as the object of the verb “give” (Song of Songs 1:12; 2:13; 7:13). . . . . Continue Reading »
The NASB translates Song of Songs 1:16c as “our couch is luxuriant.” that is an unfortunate translation, because the word translated as “luxuriant” is actually “green” ( ra’anan ). The NASB translation suggests plush cushions and linen or silk sheets. The . . . . Continue Reading »
There are few agreements among scholars about the structure of the Song of Songs, but many commentators recognize that the opening section is 1:2-2:7, a series of seven alternating speeches between teh beloved and the lover. Seven! That makes one curious if there is a more-than-numerological . . . . Continue Reading »
INTRODUCTION Throughout the series of six woes (Isaiah 28-33), Isaiah’s attention has been on the doom that is coming to Judah and Israel – the drunkards of Egypt, Ariel, the rebellious sons who seek help from Egypt. The last woe is is against the “destroyer” and . . . . Continue Reading »
Edwin Friedman ( A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix ) notes that the intensity of an adulterous relationship arises from the way it creates an emotional triangle. The attraction is not the sex so much as the secrecy, which “creates an intense emotional bond by . . . . Continue Reading »
Most English translations inform us that there is a book “in the hand of” the One Enthroned in Revelation 5. That is more than the Greek says. In the Greek, the word “hand” does not appear, and the preposition ( epi ) doesn’t mean “in” but rather . . . . Continue Reading »
John uses the verb eido (see, know) seventy times in the Apocalypse. The word is translated in various ways (behold, saw, look), which obscures the Greek pattern. Seventy is the number of the nations, the seventy uses perhaps reinforce the fact that Revelation describes the bringing of the nations . . . . Continue Reading »
Toward the end of a polemic against Judah’s idolatry, which occupies every hill and mountain and leafy tree, Jeremiah makes this comment: “the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters” . . . . Continue Reading »
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