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"Let him kiss me with
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What is the Song of Songs? |
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Along with the book of Psalms and the Gospel of John, the Song of Songs is known to be one of the biblical books most commented upon within the Christian tradition. A reason for that, is the different levels of interpretation that the text offers. Very early, a tension was felt between the literal and secular meaning of the Song and its place among the sacred books of the Scriptures. When the rabbis met, between 90 and 105 ad., in order to settle the canon of the Hebrew Bible, they had to reaffirm the sacred character of the Song of Songs against an overwhelmingly secular use of this book (e.g. during wedding banquets). It is true that this biblical text contains no reference to God (the word “God” appears only once, in verse 8:6, but as a superlative fixed expression and not as a person). It is also true that its content is the celebration, in dialogues or monologues, of human love between a man and a woman, including its sexual and erotic dimension. But as far back as we can go in the past, we witness also allegorical interpretations of the Song of Songs. The lovers are regarded as bride and groom, and the groom is Yahweh and the bride Israel or, later, the groom is Christ and the bride the Church or the individual soul, or the groom is God and the bride Mary. These allegorical interpretations surely favored the acceptance of the book within the canon of Scriptures which now forms the context within which the Song of Songs is to be read. Moreover, the text, even considered literally, invites the reader to disclose meanings beyond the literal one. The title itself points to that. The formula “Song of Songs” follows the grammatical pattern used by Hebrew grammar to express a superlative. This Song is therefore the Song par excellence. The characters intervening in the Song are not identified or particularized. All their descriptions are metaphoric. True, the woman is called “Shulamit” (verse 7:1). But that name is, in Hebrew, the feminine counterpart of “Solomon”, who is the male character and to whom also the book is ascribed (verse 1:1). Now, Solomon is also the great king known for his outstanding wisdom, who is said to have composed 1005 songs or canticles (1Kings 5,10-12), and to have authored several books of the Bible’s wisdom books: Proverbs, Qohelet or Ecclesiastes, Wisdom of Solomon. The reader is thus invited to read the Song of Songs within the context of biblical wisdom literature too. The love celebrated in this book must now also be considered as one of the primeval forces that determine creation and human life. The man, Solomon, is therefore emblematic. So is the woman. We have usually read verse 1:5—where the woman introduces herself—as follows: “I am black, but lovely” as if the woman were lovely in spite of her blackness. However, we should rather read, according with the Hebrew text: “I am black and lovely”. The blackness of the woman recalls the ancient iconography of black goddesses because black, the color of meteorites fallen from heaven, was seen as the color of the Unknown. It is therefore not an impediment to beauty, but an indication that this beauty has something to do with the mystery and with the divine. The characters are ideal figures. The way to a plurality of interpretations remains open. by Fr. Rossier
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