Song of Songs Presentation

Double listening is vital if we are ever
to communicate the gospel,
to speak God’s Word
to God’s world
with a necessary combination of
faithfulness and sensitivity…
John R W Stott
…Not of course that we listen
to the Word and the world
with an equal degree of respect.
We listen to God to believe and obey.
We listen to the world
rather in order to understand
and feel its predicament.
To make
whole-life discipleship
central
in the UK church
John R W Stott
!"#$%%"&''"()*+,-"(.-.(/.0
Make a difference
wherever you are
SENSE
SENSE
(Terry Hall/Ian Broudie)
(Terry Hall/Ian Broudie)
I’m flying high on something
beautiful and aimless
it’s got A name
but I prefer to call it nameless
it comes and goes
and leaves me on A bed of splinters
feels like I’m living in A town
closed down for winter
The taste of love
the more you get the more you want
and all because
the only reason is just because
it all makes sense
when you’re near, it all makes sense
SENSE
SENSE
(Terry Hall/Ian Broudie)
(Terry Hall/Ian Broudie)
I’m standing high on tip toes
looking over fences
waiting for somebody like you
to kiss me senseless
I’ve had a belly full of faces
drawn in sadness
I want to jump deep
into tides of loving madness
The taste of love
the more you get the more you want
and all because
the only reason is just because
it all makes sense
when you’re near, it all makes sense
Song of Songs 5:10-16
Song of Songs 5:10-16
My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
outstanding among ten thousand.
His head is purest gold;
his hair is wavy
and black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves
by the water streams,
washed in milk,
mounted like jewels.
His cheeks are like beds of spice
yielding perfume.
His lips are like lilies
dripping with myrrh.
His arms are rods of gold
set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
decorated with lapis lazuli.
His legs are pillars of marble
set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as its cedars.
His mouth is sweetness itself;
he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, this is my friend,
daughters of Jerusalem.
Song of Songs 7:9-13
May the wine go straight to my beloved,
flowing gently over lips and teeth
I belong to my beloved,
and his desire is for me.
Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
let us spend the night in the villages.
Let us go early to the vineyards
to see if the vines have budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
and if the pomegranates are in bloom –
there I will give you my love.
The mandrakes send out their fragrance,
and at our door is every delicacy,
both new and old,
that I have stored up for you, my beloved.
Approaching
the Song of Songs
EXERCISE
Read Song of Songs 5:10-16
and 7:9-13. What do these
verses say about the kind of
person this woman was?
Approaching
the Song of Songs
Allegorical
Origen
Origen
♥ Bridegroom (Christ)
Origen
Origen
♥ Bridegroom (Christ)
♥ Bridegroom (Christ)
♥ Bride (the Church)
♥ Bride (the Church)
♥ Friends of the bridegroom
(the angels, the prophets,
or the patriarchs)
Origen
Origen
♥ Bridegroom (Christ)
‘I advise and counsel everyone who is
not yet rid of the vexations of flesh and
blood and has not ceased to feel the
passions of this bodily nature, to refrain
from reading the book and the things
that will be said about it.’
♥ Bride (the Church)
♥ Friends of the bridegroom
(the angels, the prophets,
or the patriarchs)
♥ Friends of the bride
(the souls of believers)
Bernard of Clairvaux
‘Here love speaks everywhere! If anyone desires
to grasp these writings, let him love! For anyone
who does not love it is vain to listen to this song
of love, or to read it, for a cold heart cannot catch
fire from its eloquence. The one who does not
know Greek cannot understand Greek, nor can
one ignorant of Latin understand another
speaking Latin... So too, the language of love will
be meaningless jangle, like sounding brass or
tinkling cymbal, to anyone who does not love.’
Approaching
the Song of Songs
Allegorical
EXERCISE
What are some of the weaknesses
of allegorical approaches to the
Song of Songs?
Song of Songs 1:15
Song of Songs 1:13
How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.
My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
resting between my breasts.
Song of Songs 1:13
My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
resting between my breasts.
♥ Faith and hope?
♥ Old Testament and New Testament?
♥ Old covenant and new covenant?
♥ The two love commandments?
Approaching
the Song of Songs
Approaching
the Song of Songs
Allegorical
Allegorical
Dramatic
Approaching
the Song of Songs
Allegorical
Dramatic
Cultic
NAVIGATING SKILLS I
You leave the house for a distant destination, claiming you
know exactly how to get there. 0
Thirty minutes later, you’re lost. -4
An hour has passed and you’re still lost. -8
You refuse to stop and ask directions. -10
And wherever you are doesn’t look so safe. -15
You finally decide to pull over and ask directions. 0
You meet the locals up close and personal. -20
She finds out you lied about having a black belt. -60
Greg Gutfeld, The Scorecard: Keeping Score in the Relationship
Game (London: Chameleon, 1998), 125.
NAVIGATING SKILLS II
A small furry animal darts into the road, and you do your
best to avoid it. +4
Approaching
the Song of Songs
A small furry animal darts into the road, and you plow right
over it. -5
Allegorical
and you cannot keep your inner satisfaction from bubbling
over. -40
Dramatic
You wait a few weeks before scrubbing the bumper. -70
Greg Gutfeld, The Scorecard: Keeping Score in the Relationship
Game (London: Chameleon, 1998), 125.
Cultic
Typological
‘Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires’ (2:7; 3:5; 8:4)
EXERCISE
What do you make of the
‘typological’ approach to Song of
Songs? What are its strengths and
weaknesses?
‘There is a spiritual application of ‘Do not arouse or
awaken love until it so desires.’ Is the physical excitement
aroused by ‘gospel’ pop music, for example, an attempt to
stir up a profession of love of Christ apart from the
working of the Holy Spirit? Or are we being warned
against any attempt to force a profession of love for Christ
that does not wait for the Spirit’s work of arousing
conviction of sin and awakening faith in the Saviour? True
love for Christ is not something that can be artificially
stimulated.’
Hugh J. Blair, ‘Preaching from the Song of Solomon’,
Reformed Theological Journal (November 1987), 56.
Approaching
the Song of Songs
Approaching
the Song of Songs
Allegorical
Allegorical
Dramatic
Dramatic
Cultic
Cultic
Typological
Typological
Natural
Natural
Sexualised
STRICKEN
(E. Stefani, T. Kanal, G. Stefani, T. Dumont)
I love you completely
I guess I’m kinda mad about you
I love you, I love you, I do
Love overcomes all of my senses
Lowers all of my defenses, yeah
And all of your faults vanish to a blind daze
Your bitterness erased by my sense of taste
And harsh words are deafened by love
STRICKEN
STRICKEN
(E. Stefani, T. Kanal, G. Stefani, T. Dumont)
(E. Stefani, T. Kanal, G. Stefani, T. Dumont)
I love you completely
I couldn’t be madder about you
I love you, I love you, I do
I love you completely
There’s nothin’ I see bad about you
I love you, I love you, I do
Love welcomes me to every new day
The stars are all falling down my way, yeah
And all of the planets are lined in the sky
The lights are shining down upon you and I
My world is stricken by love
STRICKEN
(E. Stefani, T. Kanal, G. Stefani, T. Dumont)
Kiss me over and over forever and ever my love
Kiss me all over and over forever and ever my love
The love I have for you makes me blind I can’t see
The love I have for you cuts my throat I can’t speak
The love I have for you makes me numb I can’t feel
The love I have for you makes me numb I can’t feel
But boy, oh boy, oh boy
I love you
Completely, yeah
I love you, I love you
I do do do do
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
A ‘Natural’ Reading
‘This approach interprets the Song as what
it appears naturally to be – a series of
poems which speak clearly and explicitly of
the feelings, desires, concerns, hopes and
fears of two young lovers – without any
need to allegorize or typologize or
dramatize to escape the clear erotic
elements present in the text.’
G. Lloyd Carr, The Song of Solomon, Tyndale Old Testament
Commentaries (Leicester: IVP, 1984), 34.
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Historically
‘All you need is love’
(c. 1200 BC Egyptian-style)
Girl
My heart is not yet done with your love,
my wolf cub!
Your liquor is your lovemaking...
I am yours like the field planted with flowers
and with all sorts of fragrant plants.
Pleasant is the canal within it,
which your hand scooped out,
while we cooled ourselves in the north wind:
a lovely place for strolling about,
with your hand upon mine!
‘All you need is love’
(c. 1200 BC Egyptian-style)
‘All you need is love’
(c. 1200 BC Egyptian-style)
Girl
Boy
My body is satisfied, and my heart rejoices
in our walking about together.
To hear your voice is pomegranate wine:
I draw life from hearing it.
Could I see you with every glance,
it would be better for me
than to eat or to drink.
One alone is my sister, having no peer:
more gracious than all other women.
Behold her, like Sothis rising
at the beginning of a good year:
shining, precious, white of skin,
lovely of eyes when gazing.
Sweet her lips when speaking:
she has no excess of words.
‘All you need is love’
(c. 1200 BC Egyptian-style)
‘All you need is love’
(c. 1200 BC Egyptian-style)
Boy
Girl
Long of neck, white of breast,
her hair true lapis lazuli.
Her arms surpass gold,
her fingers are like lotuses...
She makes the heads of all men
turn about when seeing her.
My brother roils my heart with his voice,
making me take ill.
Though he is among the neighbours of my
mother’s house,
I cannot go to him.
Mother is right to command me thus:
‘Avoid seeing him!’
Yet my heart is vexed when he comes to mind,
for love of him has captured me.
He is senseless of heart –
and I am just like him!
‘All you need is love’
(c. 1200 BC Egyptian-style)
Boy
How skilled is she – my sister –
at casting the lasso,
yet she’ll draw in no cattle!
With her hair she lassos me,
with her eye she pulls me in...
Song of Songs
& ANE Love Poetry
EXERCISE
How might our interpretation of
Song of Songs be affected once
we understand it against the
background of ancient Near
Eastern love poetry?
Song of Songs
& ANE Love Poetry
Length
Song of Songs
& ANE Love Poetry
Song of Songs
& ANE Love Poetry
Length
Length
Order
Order
Movement
Song of Songs
& ANE Love Poetry
Song of Songs
& ANE Love Poetry
Length
Length
Order
Order
Movement
Movement
Male-Female Equality
Male-Female Equality
‘Search’ motif
Song of Songs
& ANE Love Poetry
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Length
Historically
Order
Movement
Male-Female Equality
‘Search’ motif
Lyric types and vocabulary
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Historically
Historically
Canonically
Canonically
The ‘Solomon’ factor
Song of Songs 1:1
Song of Songs 1:1
Solomon’s Song of Songs.
Solomon’s Song of Songs.
♥ by Solomon
♥ to Solomon
♥ of Solomon
♥ about Solomon
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Historically
Historically
Canonically
Canonically
The ‘Solomon’ factor
The ‘Solomon’ factor
The wisdom tradition
EXERCISE
How might our interpretation of
Song of Songs be affected once
we understand its place in the
Old Testament ‘Wisdom’
tradition?
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Historically
Canonically
The ‘Solomon’ factor
The wisdom tradition
Clip from ‘Love Actually’ was shown at this point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKdSvhCg3VY
Isaac’s Live Lip-Dub Proposal was shown here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_v7QrIW0zY
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Historically
Canonically
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Poetry of Song of Songs
Historically
Canonically
Literarily
Poetry of Song of Songs
Poetic Form
Song of Songs 4:12
‘You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride;
you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.’
Poetry of Song of Songs
Poetry of Song of Songs
Poetic Form
Poetic Form
Poetic Imagery
Poetry of Song of Songs
Poetry of Song of Songs
Poetic Form
Poetic Form
Poetic Imagery
Poetic Imagery
Pastoral poetry
Pastoral poetry
Royal poetry
Interpreting
the Song of Songs
Historically
Canonically
Literarily
Theologically
THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
(Space)
(Space)
A thousand thundering thrills await me
Facing insurmountable odds gratefully
The female of the species is more deadly than the male
Shock shock horror horror
Shock shock horror
I’ll shout myself hoarse for your supernatural force
The female of the species is more deadly than the male
Oh she deals in witchcraft
And one kiss and I’m zapped
Oh how can heaven hold a place for me
When a girl like you has cast a spell on me
Oh how can heaven hold a place for me
When a girl like you has cast a spell on me
THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
(Space)
(Space)
Frankenstein and Dracula have nothing on you
Jekyll and Hyde join the back of the queue
The female of the species is more deadly than the male
Oh she wants to conquer the world completely
But first she’ll conquer me discreetly
The female of the species is more deadly than the male
Oh she deals in witchcraft
And one kiss and I’m zapped
Oh how can heaven hold a place for me
When a girl like you has cast a spell on me
Oh how can heaven hold a place for me
When a girl like you has cast a spell on me
Oh how can heaven hold a place for me
When a girl like you has cast a spell on me
Oh how can heaven hold a place for me
When a girl like you has cast a spell on me
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
The Two Horizons
Text
Reader
The Two Horizons
Text
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
Reader
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
From a feminist perspective
Phyllis Trible
The Song of Songs Woman...
‘In this setting, there is no male dominance, no female subordination,
and no stereotyping of either sex. Specifically, the portrayal of the
woman defies the connotations of ‘second sex’. She works, keeping
vineyards and pasturing flocks. Throughout the Song she is
independent, fully the equal of the man. Although at times he
approaches her, more often she initiates their meetings. Her
movements are bold and open: at night in the streets and squares of
the city she seeks the one whom her nephesh loves. No secrecy hides
her yearnings. Moreover, she dares to describe love with revealing
metaphors. Never is this woman called a wife, nor is she required to
bear children. In fact, to the issues of marriage and procreation the
Song does not speak. Love for the sake of love is its message, and the
portrayal of the female delineates this message best.’
Phyllis Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, Overtures to Biblical Theology
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978), 161-62.
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
From a feminist perspective
Phyllis Trible
Phyllis Trible
Athalya Brenner
Athalya Brenner
Carey Ellen Walsh
A woman’s voice...
A woman’s voice...
‘The Song offers no peaceful, rustic musings on love.
Rather, it writhes for eight enjoyable, unnerving
chapters on a woman’s yearning and lust. It offers,
minimally, a counter-balance to the other, terse biblical
descriptions of sex and, maximally, a dissonant voice
of the canon: that of a woman in command of and in
pleasure of her own sexuality. It is shocking, especially
in contrast to the other biblical texts about women
and sex.’
‘The Song offers no peaceful, rustic musings on love.
Rather, it writhes for eight enjoyable, unnerving
chapters on a woman’s yearning and lust. It offers,
minimally, a counter-balance to the other, terse biblical
descriptions of sex and, maximally, a dissonant voice
of the canon: that of a woman in command of and in
pleasure of her own sexuality. It is shocking, especially
in contrast to the other biblical texts about women
and sex.’
Carey Ellen Walsh, ‘A Startling Voice: Woman’s Desire in
the Song of Songs’, Biblical Theology Bulletin 28, 4
(1998), 129.
Carey Ellen Walsh, ‘A Startling Voice: Woman’s Desire in
the Song of Songs’, Biblical Theology Bulletin 28, 4
(1998), 129.
A woman’s voice...
‘This book is basically a dialogue between lovers,
talking back and forth of their desire – an extended
flirtation, requiring two voices. Hence, a woman’s
desire is evident, even dominant in the book.’
Carey Ellen Walsh, ‘A Startling Voice: Woman’s Desire in
the Song of Songs’, Biblical Theology Bulletin 28, 4
(1998), 129-30.
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
Phyllis Trible
Athalya Brenner
Carey Ellen Walsh
Some Reflections
EXERCISE
How do you intuitively react to the
feminist readings of Song of Songs? What
factors might lead you to react the way
you do? How far do they do justice to the
material in Song of Songs? And how
would you formulate a response to the
readings?
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
Phyllis Trible
Athalya Brenner
Carey Ellen Walsh
Some Reflections
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
From a feminist perspective
Phyllis Trible
Phyllis Trible
Athalya Brenner
Athalya Brenner
Carey Ellen Walsh
Some Reflections
Carey Ellen Walsh
Some Reflections
Male fantasy
Male fantasy
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
Phyllis Trible
Athalya Brenner
Carey Ellen Walsh
Some Reflections
Male fantasy
Male thugs
Male gaze
Male thugs
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
Phyllis Trible
Athalya Brenner
Carey Ellen Walsh
Some Reflections
Male fantasy
Male thugs
Male gaze
Clip from ‘Jerry Maguire’ was shown at this point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHzK04CcfZY
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
In its biblical framework
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
In its biblical framework
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
From a feminist perspective
In its biblical framework
In its biblical framework
Love
Love
Marriage
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
In its biblical framework
Love
Marriage
Sexuality
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
Appropriating
the Song of Songs
From a feminist perspective
From a feminist perspective
In its biblical framework
In its biblical framework
Love
Marriage
Sexuality
Love
Marriage
Sexuality
Singleness
The Two Horizons
Song of Songs
London
The Two Horizons
Song of Songs
London
Clip from ‘Keeping Mum’ was shown at this point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kKHKKkA1rQ
SANDALWOOD
(Lisa Loeb)
She can’t tell me that all of the love songs
have been written,
‘cause she’s never been in love with you before.
Your skin smells lovely like sandalwood.
Your hair falls soft like animals.
I’m tryin’ to keep cool, but everyone likes you.
SANDALWOOD
SANDALWOOD
(Lisa Loeb)
(Lisa Loeb)
I want to kiss the back of your neck,
the top of the spine where your hair hits,
and gnaw on your fingertips and fall asleep,
I’ll talk you to sleep.
But I’ll be the one, I will have chosen.
I’m tryin’ to keep cool, but everyone here likes you
I’m not the only one.
Your skin smells lovely like sandalwood.
Your hair falls soft like animals,
and nothing else matters to me.
SANDALWOOD
(Lisa Loeb)
She can’t tell me that all of the love songs
have been written,
‘cause she’s never been in love with you before.
Your hand,
so hot,
burns a hole in
my hand.
I wanted to show you.
Reading
the Song of Songs
Reading
the Song of Songs
Reading
the Song of Songs
Expressions of desire (1:2-4)
Expressions of desire (1:2-4)
Affirmations of devotion (1:15-2:7)
Reading
the Song of Songs
Reading
the Song of Songs
Expressions of desire (1:2-4)
Expressions of desire (1:2-4)
Affirmations of devotion (1:15-2:7)
Affirmations of devotion (1:15-2:7)
Invitations to love (2:8-17)
Invitations to love (2:8-17)
Praises of beauty (5:10-16)
Reading
the Song of Songs
Expressions of desire (1:2-4)
Affirmations of devotion (1:15-2:7)
Invitations to love (2:8-17)
Praises of beauty (5:10-16)
Requests for security (8:6-7)
Love is...
‘The love in our Song is all-embracing. It embraces pleasure, it
embraces pain. It is passionate, yet fearful. It possesses, yet lets go. It
liberates, yet binds. It empowers, it weakens. It brings turmoil, it
brings peace. It is solemn, yet playful. It is lofty in conception, yet
earthy in expression. It is self-centred, it is totally other-centred. It
gives, it receives. It longs to give pleasure, it hopes to receive
pleasure. It is cautious and timorous, yet extravagant and brave. Such
a union of opposites, such a conflicting array of incompatibles, alone
can do justice to the immensely complex phenomenon of the love
between a man and a woman. It transcends logic, rationality,
definition and even sense. Yet this whole thing called love is there to
be experienced in all its agony and ecstasy. It is this love about which
our Song sings.’
Tom Gledhill, The Message of the Song of Songs, The Bible Speaks
Today (Leicester: IVP, 1994), 230.