The bride’s navel is full of “mixed” or “spiced wine.” Her belly is like a heap of wheat among the lotuses. That is, she is the land of wheat and vineyards, she is the Eucharistic bride who never lacks bread and wine. In loving her, the bridegroom . . . . Continue Reading »
“Your belly is a heap of wheat surrounded by lotuses,” says the lover in Song of Songs 7:3. Shortly (7:7), he will change the image to say that the beloved is a palm tree that he wishes to climb to gather the clusters that are his beloved’s breasts. Much of this imagery is . . . . Continue Reading »
The Hebrew words for “navel” ( shorer ) and round ( sahar ) are each used only in Song of Songs 7:2a. That is no doubt partly for poetic reasons, since the word faintly alliterate, and both alliterate with the verb “lack” ( chasar ) in 7:2b. Possibly there is another . . . . Continue Reading »
Prior to the Song of Songs, women’s bodies are mainly described in terms of function. Eve is the “mother of the living”; wombs are for giving children; breasts are for nursing. Rules of uncleanness for women focus on childbirth and menstruation, again relating the . . . . Continue Reading »
Some conservative commentators on the Song (e.g., Christopher Mitchell) are reluctant to admit hat the Song plays off pagan mythology, poetry, and iconography. But the evidence provided by other commentators (such as Keel) is overwhelming: The Song does make use of standard ANE love lyrics . . . . Continue Reading »
The bride’s description of her lover is a description of a statue: He has a head of gold (v. 11), hands of gold adorned with beryl (v. 14), an abdomen of ivory with sapphires (v. 14), and legs of alabaster set in pedestals of gold (v. 15). This conjures up the temple and the tabernacle, . . . . Continue Reading »
Andre LaCocque ( Romance, She Wrote: A Hermeneutical Essay on Song of Songs ) offers an intriguing interpretation of Song of Songs 6:12-13, well-known as one of the most difficult sections of the Song, a passage over which other commentators frequently despair. Through a series of verbal . . . . Continue Reading »
The lover sets the banner of love over his beloved (2:4), and then the bride declares that her lover is a banner prominent among ten thousand (5:10). Both use military imagery; the banner is a military standard. But then the imagery works the other way, and the bride is bannered: as awesome . . . . Continue Reading »
Who are the daughters of Zion in the Song? Literally, they are the bride’s “bridesmaids” who sometimes verge on being the bride’s rivals. They might also be cities of Israel. As the capital, Jerusalem is the Bride, but the other cities that serve and honor . . . . Continue Reading »
The woman’s description of her lover in Song of Songs 5:6-10 draws on terminology used to describe the temple - there’s myrrh, sockets, inlays, cedars of Lebanon. More, the sequence of the description is not only head-to-foot, but also roughly follows the pattern of the temple. Head of . . . . Continue Reading »
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