Now, take a look at this song for yourselves, read it from your copy of Scriptures. After considering my take on it, does it still read the same familiar way to you? Is it about the love between a husband and his wife; or a story of sexual gratification? Honestly, if I had to read this aloud in mixed company, I would be embarrassed. The Word of Yahweh Elohim should not be an embarrassment to anyone!
For further review, I have entered The Song of Songs from my copy of the Tanakh. I omitted some duplicate verses and (my comments/additions and quotes are in parenthesis). I considered removing my comments, but left them to help you see where I'm coming from.
(The woman speaks first):
Give me the kisses of your mouth. For your love is more delightful than wine. (youthful infatuation; feeling giddy) Your ointments yield a sweet fragrance, your name is like finest oil - That is why maidens love you (No wonder all the young girls desire you, but I'm the lucky one) Draw me after you, let us run! Bring me to your chambers (take me to bed). Let us delight and rejoice in your love, savoring it more than wine- Like new wine they love you.
I am dark skinned and comely (good looking), O you daughters of Jerusalem (compared to the gals living in Jerusalem). Dark like the tents of Kedar, beautiful like the pavilions of Solomon. Don't stare at me. I am swarthy (my complexion is dark and tanned) because the sun has gazed upon me. My mother's sons argued with me and made me guard the vineyards; my own vineyard I did not guard. (She left it to go after Solomon)
(The man speaks to his darling):
Tell me, you whom I love so well, where do you pasture your sheep and where do you rest them at noon? (So I can find you later) Let me not be as one who strays beside the flocks of your fellows (I don't want to go the wrong way and my intentions become obvious to others). If you do not know, O fairest of women, go follow the tracks of the sheep, and graze your kids by the tents of the shepherds. (if you don't know where you're going to be, go this way and I will find you)
I have likened you my darling to a mare in Pharaoh's chariots. Your cheeks are comely with plaited wreaths, your neck with strings of jewels. We will add wreaths of
gold to your spangles of
silver.
(Deuteronomy 29:15 ~ You know very well that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we passed through the midst of various other nations; and you have seen the detestable things and the fetishes of wood and stone, silver and gold, that they keep. Perchance there is among you some man or woman, or some clan or tribe, whose heart is even now turning away from YHWH our Elohim to go and worship the gods of those nations....)
(The woman speaks of her beloved):
While the king was on his couch, my nard* gave forth its fragrance. My beloved to me is a bag of myrrh lodged between my breasts; a spray of henna blooms from the vineyards of En-gedi**
(Solomon): Ah, you are fair my darling, with your dove-like eyes!
(The woman): And you my beloved are handsome, beautiful indeed! Our couch (bed) is in a bower; cedars are the beams of our house, cypresses the rafters. I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
(Solomon): A lily among thorns, so is my darling among maidens.
(Woman): Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the youths. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my mouth. He brought me to the banquet room and his banner of love was over me (meaning of Hebrew uncertain). Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. His left hand was under my head, his right arm embraced me. I adjure you, you maidens of Jerusalem, by gazelles or by hinds of the field (idiom: by no means) Do not wake or rouse love until it please! (leave us alone, we're not done yet).
Do you hear that my beloved? There he comes leaping over mountains, bounding over hills - You my beloved are like a gazelle, a young stag. There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the window, peering through the lattice. (who is this 'he', this peeping tom - a young stag? another lover?)
(Solomon): Arise, my darling, my fair one, come away! Winter is past, the rains are over and gone, the blossoms have appeared in the land, the time of pruning has come. The song of the turtledove is heard in our land. Green figs form on the fig tree, the vines in blossom give off fragrance. Arise my darling; my fair one come away! My dove in the cranny of the rocks, hidden by the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is comely.
Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards for ours is in blossom.
(Woman): My beloved is mine and I am his who browses among the lilies. When the day declines and the shadows lengthen, set out, my beloved, swift as a gazelle or a young stag, for the hill of spices. (They had a season together and now she's by herself, on her own couch)...
Upon my couch at night (in a dream) I sought the one I love, I searched and did not find him. I must get up now and roam the town, through the streets and through the squares; I must seek the one I love... but I did not find him. I met the watchmen who patrol the town and asked if they had seen the one I love. Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one I love. I held fast to him and would not let go until I brought him to my mother's house, to the chamber (bed) of her who conceived me I adjure you maidens of Jerusalem, (by no means); do not wake or rouse love until it please!
Who is she that comes up from the desert like columns of smoke, clouds of myrrh and frankincense, of all the powders of the merchant? (are the warriors wondering who this is as she approaches the heavily guarded king?) There is Solomon's couch, encircled by sixty warriors of the warriors of Israel, all of them trained in warfare, skilled in battle, each with a sword on thigh because of terror by night. King Solomon made himself a palaquin of wood from Lebanon (a means of transportation, usually for one person, an enclosed litter with poles, carried on the shoulders of 4 to 6 men). He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple wool. Within, it was decked with love by the maidens of Jerusalem.
O maidens of Zion, go forth and gaze upon King Solomon wearing the crown that his mother gave him on his wedding day, on his day of bliss. (was Pharaoh's daughter his first marriage? and was it Bathsheba who gave him his crown?)
(Solomon): Ah, you are fair my darling, you are fair, your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of ewes climbing up from the washing pool; all of them bear twins, and not one loses her young. Your lips are like a crimson thread, your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil gleams like a pomegranate split open. (is she blushing, sunburned or colored with henna?) Your neck is like the tower of David built to hold weapons (to adorn with jewelry) hung with a thousand shields- All the quivers of warriors. Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, browsing among the lilies. When the day comes to an end and the shadows flee I will betake me to the mount of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense. Every part of you is fair my darling, there is no blemish in you; from Lebanon come with me, from Lebanon my bride, with me! Trip down from Amana's peak, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the hills of leopards. You have captured my heart, my own, my bride, you have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one coil of your necklace. How sweet is your love, my own bride! More delightful than wine, your ointments more fragrant than any spice! Sweetness drops from your lips; honey and milk are under your tongue; the scent of your robes smell like Lebanon (Is this just loose talk from Solomon in order to fully conquer this woman?) A garden locked is my own, my bride, a fountain locked, a sealed-up spring. Your limbs are an orchard of pomegranates and of all luscious fruits, of henna and nard- nard and saffron, fragrant reed and cinnamon, with all aromatic woods, myrrh and aloes- all the choice perfumes. You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water, a rill of Lebanon.
(The woman says): Awake, o north wind, come, o south wind! Blow upon my garden (my body), that its perfume may spread. Let my beloved come to his garden and enjoy its luscious fruits!
Solomon: I have come to my garden and plucked my myrrh and spice, eaten my honey and honeycomb, drunk my wine and my milk...
Eat lovers and drink; drink deep of love
(The woman says): I was sleeping but my heart was awake. (Was she dreaming that she was his bride?) I heard my beloved knock!
(He says): Let me in my darling, my faultless dove, for my head is drenched with dew, my locks iwth the damp of night.
(She says): I had taken off my robe, was I to put it back on? I had already washed my feet, was I to get them dirty again? (has her desire for him dwindled? she's already for bed and hesitates to let him in?) My beloved took his hand off the latch and my heart was stirred for him. I rose to let him in, my hands dripped myrrh from my fingers onto the handles of the bolt. I opened the door but my beloved had turned and gone. I was faint because of what he said. I looked but could not find him. I called but he did not answer. I met the watchmen who patrol the town; they struck me, they bruised me. The guards of the walls stripped me of my mantle. I adjure you O maidens of Jerusalem! If you see the one I love tell him I am faint with love. (why would the watchmen hit her hard enough to leave bruises?)
The maidens of Jerusalem answer: How is your beloved better than another, O fairest of women, that you adjure us so? (Definition of 'adjure': to command solemnly as if under oath or penalty of a curse)
(The woman describes her beloved):
He is clear-skinned and ruddy, preeminent among ten thousand. His head is finest gold, his locks are curled and black as a raven. His eyes are like doves by watercourses, bathed in milk, set by a brimming pool. His cheeks are like beds of spices, banks of perfume, his lips are like lilies; they drip flowing myrrh. His hands are rods of gold, studded with beryl; his belly a tablet of ivory, adorned with sapphires. His legs are like marble pillars set in socket of fine gold. He is majestic as Lebanon, stately as the cedars. His mouth is delicious and all of him is a delight. Such is my beloved darling.
(The Maidens of Jerusalem say): Where has he gone? Where has your loved one turned? Let us look for him with you.
(The woman): He has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and pick lilies. I am his and he is mine; he browses among the lilies.
(Solomon): You are beautiful my darling, as beautiful as Tizrah*** and comely as Jerusalem, awesome as bannered hosts (flags/standards carried by/displayed by an army, in parade). Turn your eyes away from me, for they overwhelm me! There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and damsels without number. Only one is my dove, my perfect one, the only one of her mother, they delight of her who bore her. (Her mother only had one daughter, but more than one son). Maidens, queens and concubines see, acclaim, and praise her.
Who is she that shines through like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, radiant as the sun awesome as bannered hosts?
I went down to the nut grove to see the budding of the vale; to see if the vines had blossomed, if the pomegranates were in bloom. Before I knew it, my desire set me amid the chariots of Ammi-nadib....
Turn back O maid of Shulem! Come back that we may gaze upon you.
Why would you gaze at the Shulamite woman in the Mahanaim dance? (Possibly another example of bad dancing - dancing that results in physical desires. He wants to climb upon her, obviously sexually aroused watching her dance...)
How lovely are your feet in sandals, o daughter of nobles! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master's hand. Your navel is like a round goblet- let mixed wine not be lacking! Your belly is like heap of wheat hedged about with lilies. Your breasts like twin fawns of the gazelle, your neck like an ivory tower, your eyes like pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim, your nose like a Lebanon tower that faces toward Damascus. The head on you is like crimson (red colored) wool, the locks of your head are like purple- a king is held captive in the tresses. (Hair so black it looks purple? Had she used henna to dye her hair giving it a purple sheen?) How fair you are, how beautiful! O Love with all its rapture! Your stately form is like the palm, your breasts are like clusters. Let me climb you and take hold of your branches; let your breasts be like clusters of grapes, your breath the fragrance of apples, your mouth like choice wine.
(The woman speaks): Let love flow to my beloved as new wine gliding over the lips of sleepers. I am his and his desire is for me. Come, let us go into the open and lodge among the henna shrubs in the village. Lets go early to the vineyards and see if the vine has flowered, its blossoms opened and if the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give my love to you. The mandrakes yield their fragrance at our doors are all choice fruits; both fresh picked and long stored have I kept for you.
If only it could be as with a brother, as if you were nursed by my mother, then I could kiss you in public and no one would despise me (Does this indicate a secret love affair? they couldn't be seen being affectionate in public because they were not married? She just mentioned she wanted them to go out early and have sex in the vineyards, hiding away from prying eyes....)
Who is she who comes up from the desert, leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple tree I roused you; it was there your mother conceived you... (they had sex out in the open, under the same tree her mother got laid - is that ritualistic goddess worship or what !?)
Let me be a seal upon your heart, like the seal upon your hand. For love is fierce as death, passion is mighty as Sheol; its darts are darts of fire, a blazing flame. Vast floods cannot quench love, nor rivers drown it. If a man offered all his wealth for love, he would be laughed out of town.
Her brothers want to keep her from being spoken for and she says: My breasts are like towers, so I became in his eyes as one who finds favor. (again, nothing but physical attraction)
(Chapter 8 verse 11):
Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He had to post guards in the vineyard to protect it. A man would pay a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit. Verse 12 someone says, "I have my very own vineyard: You may have the thousand, Solomon, and 200 guards." (Is this woman shaking her fist at Solomon? He may have a thousand pieces of silver and 200 guards, but this maiden has her own vineyard, the one she left unguarded early on in this poem, and now maybe she's ready to go home, and take care of herself.)
O you who linger in the garden,
a lover is listening; let me hear your voice.
Hurry, my beloved, swift as a gazelle or your stag, to the hills of spices!
The End
It seems to represent how Solomon chose to seduce his women, and how women fawned and influenced him. Would YHWH use such a book to mirror Himself or His love for Israel? or the "church as the bride of christ"? I really don't think so. Come to think of it, even Y'shua lets us know there is no marriage in the kingdom to come. When we are gathered up at the return of Y'shua, we will be given incorruptible bodies.
Matthew 22:30 ~ For in the resurrection, neither do they marry, nor are given in marriage, but they are like angels in heaven.
I have gone over this study several times before finally posting it because, to be fair, I am giving myself the benefit of doubt ... if I've got it wrong I'd like to discover it first, but will gladly accept your chastisement ... and to be honest, I am having a very difficult time seeing this as something 'positive' or glorifying or authorized by our Father.
❁~❂~❃~❃~❂~❁
~ Remember, we read in Revelation
that the
New Jerusalem is the Bride of the Lamb.
~ For another perspective on the Shulammite woman
click here
❁~❂~❃~❃~❂~❁
Tidbits of Info:
*Plant/Spice properties: Nard is a gentle aromatic sedative related to valerian with similar properties. Saffron was used in traditional medicine as an aphrodisiac. Calamus was believed it helped memory improvement, prolongation of life span and sexual potency. Native Americans used it for headache, asthma, oral hygeine and to combat fatigue. Mandrakes, known for their narcotic effect, were used in a bargaining effort between Rachel and Leah so that Jacob would have sex with Leah that night. Cinnamon has a lot of health benefits and it just smells great. Frankincense smells wonderful too, and helps relieve stress and anxiety, reduces pain and inflammation and boost immunity. Myrrh, another sweet earthy aroma, has a purifying and cleansing effect and acts as an antibacterial.
**En Gedi is the largest oasis along the western shore of the Dead Sea. The area was allotted to the tribe of Judah, and was famous in the time of Solomon (Joshua 15:62).
***Tizrah was one of the 5 daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, descendants of Manasseh. They were the girls who banded together to face Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly and lay claim to their part of the land. (Numbers 27) They set a precedent and Yah added these instructions for future scenario: "If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughters. If he has no daughter, transfer his property to his brothers. If he has no brothers, assign his property to his father's brothers. If his father had no brothers, assign his property to his nearest relative in his own clan, and he shall inherit it."
****Henna is a natural hair colorant that produces a red-orange dye molecule, lawsone. Henna contains hennotannic acid which, when mixed with hot water, will coat the hair. It is used to paint patterns on the skin, temporarily dying it, known as henna tattoos
