A woman, a man, and a flock of sheep (2)

Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? Song of Songs 1:7

Last time thought how important it is to appreciate what kind of literature we are reading when we come to different parts of the Bible. If we are not to misunderstand them, the various books have to be understood in their proper light and applied in their proper context.

To illustrate this principle I picked one of the Bible’s most puzzling books, the Song of Songs, and focussed pretty much at random on the verse above, asking what sense we can make of it. What sort of book is the Song? Why has God (who is never mentioned, by the way) seen fit to give it to us in his word? Is there something wrong with us if we find it almost hopelessly obscure?

It’s probably easier to say what it isn’t than what it is. It isn’t law, like Leviticus or Deuteronomy. It isn’t history, like Kings or Chronicles or a Gospel. It isn’t a letter or a prophesy. It isn’t praise of God, like the Psalms. It isn’t visionary material – “apocalyptic” – like Ezekiel or Daniel or Revelation.

So… what is it?

Traditionally, it has been grouped with books referred to as “Wisdom” literature, along with Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. These books are largely poetic, and they do their job more by creating impressions, thoughts and questions in our minds, and by stirring our imaginations, than by straight teaching. They very often deal with down-to-earth, everyday life, and challenge us about how we grapple with these issues. Its wisdom with its sleeves rolled up, not just intellectual cleverness.

Broadly speaking, the Song has been interpreted in two main ways throughout both Jewish and Christian history.

First, allegory.

An allegory is usually a simple enough story, but one which carries a second meaning for those with eyes to see. On the face of it the Narnia stories are tales about a magic land, a lion and four children. But the lion experiences death and returns to life to win freedom and joy for Narnia and the children. So no wonder Christians have seen the stories as being really about Jesus.

Jesus himself, in some of his parables, used allegories. The sower who goes out sowing his seed is the messenger of God spreading the good news of the kingdom. The different types of toil represent the people who hear and respond in different ways.

And likewise the Song portrays the relationship between God and his people Israel, or Jesus and his church, as a love relationship between a man and a woman. There is intense joy; there is pain; there is deep longing; there is ultimate fulfilment.

Convincing? To most Bible-readers this smacks more of wishful thinking than of realistic reading. True, Jesus is described in the New Testament as a shepherd, like the main male figure in the Song; and he is also pictured as the bridegroom of his bride, the church. But once you’ve said that, that’s about it, and it certainly isn’t an interpretation that hits you between the eyes!

Second, it’s exactly what it first appears to be: a love poem, or perhaps a sequence of love poems. And the reason God has given it to us in the Bible is to remind us of the sheer beauty of love between a man and a woman – yes, even along with some of the pains and hurts that such love brings. That understanding has the merit of being natural and literal.

It is frankly erotic – the very first line, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” reminds us that sex, properly used, is good. (It was, after all, invented by God (who else!?), and should be delighted in.)

The beauty of nature is also something to be enjoyed – the fragrances and fruits, the trees and the flowers, the wonder of the human body (not least the female body). We read about gazelles and does and stags as well as sheep, and are reminded of the teeming vitality, energy and fruitfulness of the animal kingdom. This could almost be a picture of Adam and Eve before the fall!

If you are determined to find a story in these eight chapters, you won’t be the first to try; there certainly are scraps of narrative along the way, but trying to piece them together is a lost cause. (One theory is that the woman is a simple country girl longing for her childhood sweetheart while King Solomon is on the prowl, wanting to add her to his harem. Convincing?)

A vital principle of Bible-reading is to take it in the most natural sense possible, unless there is very good reason. And for my money, that means that the Song of Songs is a poem designed to fire our imaginations and to cause us to delight in both the wonders of creation and, particularly, the beauty of human love. That’ll do for me!

Father in heaven, thank you for your greatest gift of all, the gift of love. Thank you for your love for us so clearly demonstrated in Jesus. But thank you too for human love, the love of man and woman, family love, friendship love, the love of nature, and sexual love. Teach me always to love with faithfulness, sacrifice and purity. Amen.