Song of Songs Introduction

Similarly, Christian scholars such as Hippolytus, Origen, and Jerome argued that the Song of Songs depicts the love of Christ for his church. The church thus sought to interpret the text in a way that would deflect or eliminate the focus on natural desires, transforming the message through allegory to extol celibacy as the ultimate expression of holiness and purity. Origen argued that the Song illustrates the union of the earthly and physical with the divine and spiritual. The allegorical interpretation helped to give rise to the mysticism of monks and celibate scholars of the twelfth century. Later, Luther attempted to revise this view somewhat by proposing that the Song figuratively describes Solomon’s monarchical rule over Israel. Other early attempts to correct an allegorical approach met with resistance in Jewish and Christian circles.

What are we to make of this interpretive approach? Allegory relies on extensive symbolism, and only those privy to the code language of the book can understand the theological meaning of the imagery. Yet the book itself reveals no deliberate attempt by the author to create an allegory, and the terminology contained in the text is not specific enough to warrant allegorical interpretation. The often inscrutable figures of speech open many sections of the book to the uncontrolled imagination of the reader, who may be unfamiliar with euphemistic phrases and the culture of ancient Palestine.

Typological approach. The second approach finds correspondence between The Lord’s intimate relationship with Israel (as in the book of Hosea) and the marriage analogy. It also finds affinities with New Testament texts that portray the church as the bride of Christ (Eph 5). This approach recognizes the legitimate interpretation of the work in its original context as a series of love poems celebrating matrimony while maintaining the propriety of the marriage metaphor and the application of conjugal imagery in describing the relationship between God and his people

Literal approach. A strictly literal interpretation to the Song became prominent under historical criticism in the late nineteenth century and remains the predominant view in contemporary times. A number of literary studies produced on the Song understand the book as a celebration of a blissful, healthy marriage, adopting a positive attitude toward human sexuality within the confines of the nuptial relationship blessed by God. Robert Lowth, Bishop of London and Oxford professor, proposed that the Song describes an actual wedding feast of Solomon. A comparison with ancient Near Eastern documents reveals several wedding compositions, which compel some commentators to suggest the Song belongs to a well-established genre of matrimonial poems.

The apologist who seeks to interpret the Song in light of its theological significance and contributions to the biblical text must address the problem of conflicting interpretation strategies as the reader encounters unusual imagery and distinctive language. The writer frequently used rare words that occur only once in the Song. Furthermore, almost all scholars disagree concerning the structural divisions of the Song. Any accurate interpretation of the text must take into consideration stylistic features common in biblical Hebrew poetry, such as parallelism, brevity, and wordplay.