On one level, the Song of Songs, is a very
direct hymn of human love.
I would hazard a guess that few of you have
read this short book of eight chapters which appears in our Old Testament
scriptures. You may be acquainted with it in the form of the hymn “He brought
me to his banqueting house and his banner over me is love” (Junior Praise 73.
cf Song of Songs ch 2 v 4).
Because it is so short it is hard to find
tucked away between Ecclesiastes and the large book of the prophet Isaiah.
The position of a book within the Canon of the Hebrew scriptures may help us in determining how it was interpreted by the original compilers and may help us to understand more about the book. There is still disagreement about when the books of the Old Testament were finalised. Most scholars have said that it was closed formally at the Synod of Jamnia in AD90. However, a large volume written by the Reverend Roger Beckwith (a Church of England clergyman) was published in 1985 for which he was awarded a Lambeth Doctorate. Roger used to be the Warden of Latimer House, Oxford, until his recent retirement.
He preached at Aghadrumsee on Sunday evening of 3 November 2002. In his book entitled “The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church”, the results of a life times exhaustive research, he bucks the trend and says that the Canon of the Old Testament was closed before the birth of Christianity and probably as early as the mid 2nd century BC. (Beckwith p.338, 434). If this is true, then Jesus accepted the Song of Songs as a part of inspired scripture because Jesus accepted the Old Testament writings of which it was a part of its Canon.
Unlike the Samaritians who accepted only the Law, the first five books of Moses, we read in Luke 24 in his conversation with the two men on the road to Emmaus, Jesus refers to the three sections of the Hebrew bible: the law, the prophets and the writings. The Song of Songs appears in the third section: the “writings”, following on from the story of the marriage of Ruth to Boas and, introducing as it were, the wisdom book of Ecclesiastes which like the book of Proverbs is attributed to Solomon. There have been other books attributed to Solomon (e.g. Wisdom of Solomon and Psalms of Solomon) which are not in the Hebrew bible, but this particular book has been given the title using the superlative: The Song of Songs, OR “The most excellent song of Solomon” and while its position in the Canon was under scrutiny it was retained.
By giving this book this title and by
placing it just before the wisdom books of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, we can
feel safe in assuming that this book was seen by the Rabbis as more than a
secular song about love between a man and a woman. One Rabbi in fact says that
while the books in the third section of the Hebrew bible are all holy “the
Song of Songs is the most holy” (Rabbi Akiba: Beckwith 314). Furthermore, if
Childs is correct, it was said at the liturgy of the Passover.(Brevard Childs,
American OT Scholar, Introduction to the OT as Scripture p.571).
There is no doubt that the book of “the most excellent Song of
Solomon” is seen as inspired by the Rabbi’s and at the time of the
Reformation, the Reformers chose to retain it within the list of the inspired
books referred to in article 6 of our 39 articles. But how exactly are we to
understand this book which could easily be condemned for its explicitly sensuous
and erotic focus.
The Song envisages the arrival of
Solomon’s entourage for his wedding; a ceremony which spanned over seven days.
The king is introduced as the love who seeks for his bride. “The Song is
wisdom’s reflection on the joyful and mysterious nature of love between a man
and a woman within the institution of marriage” (Brevard Childs). Beckwith
points out that the Jewish mind was not as prudish as ours and they would not
have shared our embarrassment about the references to the physical body.
The Greek philospher Plato in Athens wrote a
dialogue entitled “The Symposium”, sometime around 400 years before Christ.
The scene is a dinner party attended by several men including Socrates. The love
with which the dialogue is concerned, and which is accepted as a matter of
course by all the speakers, including Socrates, is a homosexual love; it is
assumed without argument that this alone is capable of satisfying a man’s
highest and noblest aspirations, and the love of a man and a woman, when it is
mentioned at all, is spoken of as altogether inferior, a purely physical impulse
whose sole object is the procreation of children. (In the present BCP Marriage
Service the first reason given for marriage is the increase of mankind. In the
2004 BCP the first reason for marriage is the mutual support and comfort between
a husband and wife, which is a welcome change.)
It is possible that the Song of Songs “The
most excellent Song of Solomon” was compiled in Palestine at about the same
time as Plato’s Symposium was written in Greece. But in contrast to Plato’s
thoughts on homosexual love, the most excellent Song of Solomon describes the
erotic love between one man and one woman within the context of marriage as
being the highest and noblest state for a man to be in. Historically, Judaism
has seen this Song as being an analogy of the relationship between God and his
people Israel; Christianity has seen it as being an analogy of the relationship
between Christ and his church. In Ephesians St Paul certainly speaks of marriage
as representing the love between Christ and his Church. The fact that it has
been placed in the third section of the Jewish Canon and that it has been placed
in the liturgical order immediately after the marriage of Ruth may suggest that
we are to see in this book the ideal of the holy estate of matrimonial which God
has planned for us. In other words that homosexuality is not in God’s plan and
neither is extra-marital relationships between heterosexuals.
If this IS the message of the most excellent
Song of Solomon then it is one which is particularly relevant in our day, and
the brevity of the book means that it is one which should be within the
capability of all of us to read without difficulty. The writer is portraying the
beauty and purity of that which has been God-given. We can either see it in the
same way or we can bring what is good down to a lower level, turning that which
is in essence sacred into that which is profane.
While it is legitimate then to see this Song
of Songs as it stands portraying the joys of human love within the marital
state, it is also possible then to see it as representing the love between God
and man where in keeping with the general biblical emphasis, it is God seeking
after man, just as the groom is seeking after his bride.
Just as Jesus saw an analogy of the Cross in
the Brazen serpent which Moses made, so it is possible for us to see in this
song an analogy which the author did not intend.
A closing remark from a much respected Old
Testament scholar (Harold H Rowley, a Welsh Baptist) who, while admitting the
frankness with which the author speaks says this: “I do not think the Song is
undeserving of inclusion in the Canon. For there is no incongruity in such a
recognition of the essential sacredness of pure human love. The Church has
always consecrated the union of man and woman in matrimony, and taught that
marriage is a divine ordinance, and it is not unfitting that a book which
expresses the spiritual and physical emotions on which matrimony rests should be
given a place in the Canon of Scripture.” (The Servant of the Lord, p.234)
There is no getting away from the fact that
it is a complicated book, as many of the scriptures are. Even Peter found
Paul’s writings hard to understand.(2 Peter 3 v 16)
Nevertheless, the scriptures are there for
our learning and our patient reflection under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
and that is no less the case with this “MOST EXCELLENT Song of Solomon”.