We have a little sister, and she has no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she is spoken for? (Song 8:8)
Tucked away in our Old Testament, at the end of the reflective writings and before the prophetic books, is one of the more puzzling parts of the Bible, whose title proclaims it to be "The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's."
The title means "the loveliest song" (just as "holy of holies" means "the most holy"), and calling it "Solomon's" does not imply that Solomon wrote it, but merely that it is about him. It does not describe a specific event in Solomon's life - it is poetry, and describes a relationship that Solomon, with his many wives and concubines, could well have engaged in. But from the language, we know it was composed (or at least took its present form) well after Solomon's time.
The song takes the form of a dialogue between two lovers. One possible suggestion is that it was a drama intended to be performed at a wedding feast, so let's call the lovers bride and groom. Sometimes the groom speaks, sometimes the bride, sometimes both together. At intervals, there is a call to bridesmaids standing by: "I command you, daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!" Perhaps this chorus broke the drama up into a series of episodes.
The language is startling in its boldness and directness. The lovers' physical attractions are described in sensuous and intimate terms, involving not only sight, but also touch, hearing and voluptuous odours. It is the sort of poetry that might be read or performed at public banquets, and it is not surprising to hear that this was the case even in the second century after Christ.
So how did the book find its way into the Bible? It seems to have been a widely-read work, which the rabbis in the first and second centuries saw as an allegory. The groom's love for the bride mirrored God's love for Israel, and the bride's yearning for her lover symbolized Israel's hunger for God. It seemed quite natural for Christians to take over this imagery, seeing the church as the Bride of Christ (John 3:29, 2 Cor 11:2), or seeing the union of bride and groom as a symbol of the union of God and the Christian soul.
Some of the interpretations through the ages have been a little far-fetched. Some preachers had the idea that the book had been written originally as an allegory, rather than a love song, and that therefore each verse must have an allegorical meaning, which led to ridiculous and even tasteless interpretations.
The chapter headings in the King James Version show what sort of allegorical meaning was read into the song. They reflected the Geneva Bible of 1599, where, for example, the verse at the head of this article is explained as "The Jewish Church speaks this of the Church of the Gentiles." (In the same way, "I am black and beautiful" (1:5) was glossed: "The Church confesses her spots and sin, but has confidence in the favour of Christ.")
Although these interpretations are far-fetched, there is still a good case for reading the Song of Songs. The subject matter is love, and the Old Testament uses the same verb to describe the feelings of the two lovers and to describe God's love for us all. In an age like ours, where sensual pleasure has tended to be a goal in itself, we should remind ourselves that the imagery which we see as erotic would have been quite different to the composer of the Song: there is no distinction here between eros and agape, human and divine love. So we too should see the Song as the best depiction in human terms of God's love for us and ours for God - the best, that is, until we meet God face to face.
HD