READ IT! - Introduction to Song of Songs 6-8

Readings for this week

Monday: Song of Songs 6
Tuesday: Song of Songs 7
Wednesday: Song of Songs 8
Thursday: Daniel 1
Friday: Daniel 2
Saturday: Daniel 3
Sunday: Daniel 4

Introduction to Song of Songs 6-8

Chapters 6-7 

The woman asks the daughters of Jerusalem to help her find her lover, and she describes his physical good looks, saying, “You are beautiful, my love. Fair as the moon, awesome as an army with banners.” 

Eventually, she admits her lover is in his garden, safe from harm, and committed to her as she is to him. 

The man then describes his lover, who visits him, saying, “Your thighs are like jewels, your breasts like the fruit of a palm.” 

The woman describes a rendezvous they have shared. (The last part is unclear and was possibly edited or censored at some point a long time ago.) 

The people praise the beauty of the woman. The images are the same as those used elsewhere in the poem, but with an unusually dense use of place-names, e.g., pools of Hebron, gate of Bath-rabbim, tower of Damascus, etc. The man states his intention to enjoy the fruits of the woman's garden. The woman invites him to meet her in the fields, saying, “May your kisses be like wine! Beloved, let us go into the fields.” 

Chapter 8 

In the appendix, the woman once more warns the daughters of Jerusalem against waking love until it is ready. 

The woman compares love to death and sheol: love is as relentless and jealous as these two and cannot be quenched by any force. She summons her lover, using the language used before: he should come "like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountain of spices." 

She says, “Solomon had a vineyard, but mine is my own. Make haste, my beloved!”