Twice the Song of Songs uses the phrase “breath of the day” to describe daybreak (2:17; 4:6). Literally, this perhaps refers to the breezes of dawn (cf. Song of Songs 4:16). More theologically, though, the coming of daybreak means new life and breath for the world. As the . . . . Continue Reading »
The bride’s neck is a “tower” (4:4), and her temples are like a “slice” of pomegranate (4:3). There is only one other place in the Old Testament where those two words occur together - the story of Abimelech’s death in Judges 9, where a woman pushes a . . . . Continue Reading »
The woman of the Song of Songs is too overwhelmed with passion and longing for her man that she gets up from bed and roams around looking for him, until she can “arrest” him and bring him back home (3:1-5). As Keel points out, her actions are not unlike the adulteress of Proverbs . . . . Continue Reading »
Doves, Keel argues from comparative ancient evidence, are messengers of love. ”Your eyes are doves,” thus, means that the eyes send inviting messages. Which sparks out in all kinds of directions: The dove is the Spirit, messenger of the Father’s love for His Son, and for us; . . . . Continue Reading »
Love, Andreas Capellanus assures us, improves the lover in every way - it makes him stronger, smarter, more virtuous, better looking. And this isn’t just a conceit of the courtly lover tradition. It’s biblical. The lover in the Song leaps tall mountains in a single bound, just so . . . . Continue Reading »
The Shunamite calls herself a lotus; her lover agrees: She is like a “lotus among the thorns” (Song of Songs 2:2) Thorns and thistles grow up from the earth and make it difficult for Adam to produce his bread. Thorns means that he eats only by the sweat of his nose. And . . . . Continue Reading »
Othmar Keel argues that the Shunamite of the Song of Songs (2:1) identifies herself not with a “modest little flower” but as the “lotus of the plains.” With this, she confidently compares herself with “one of the favorite symbols in the region stretching from . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah 35 shares a number of fairly rare terms with Song of Songs 2. Both refer to the crocus or rose (Isaiah 35:1; Song of Songs 2:1). Both have people leaping (Isaiah 35:6; Song of Songs 2:8) and in both the leaping person is compared to a stag (Isaiah 35:6; Song of Songs 2:9). . . . . Continue Reading »
“Voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes!” says the excited bride in the Song of Songs 2:8. As the older commentators noted, this is redemptive history in a nutshell: First the voice, then the Lover in flesh. So long as the prophets speak, Israel knows that the Lover is . . . . Continue Reading »
The first verses of Song of Songs 2 repeatedly return to military imagery. The fact that there is a “battle standard” (2:4; cf. Numbers 1:52; 2:2, 3, 10, 17, 18, etc.) over the “house of wine” suggests that the feast is a victory feast as much as a love feast. . . . . Continue Reading »
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