Song of Songs: For mature audiences only

I've always had trouble with Song of Songs, or "Song of Solomon," as we used to call it. This time, I decided to listen to the audio version (see my comments from Psalms). That was another great call.

Have you ever noticed that preachers don't use Song of Songs for regular sermon series? Have you ever studied it in a Sunday morning Bible study, other than a cursory look? Have you ever heard a 14-year-old ask questions about what he gathered from a study on Song of Songs?

There's a reason these answers are probably all "No." Song of Songs has some, shall we say, "graphic" language in it. So do Hosea, Ezekiel, and other books, but this is different.

Reading Song of Songs makes me feel kind of uncomfortable and I know I'm not the only one. If I'm not mistaken, not every church father wanted to include it in the Old Testament canon.  Over the ages, scholars tried to make the text a little more palatable by explaining it in different ways. I wrote a paper once about five different views on how to interpret the text.

Through the middle ages, everyone just assumed that it was an allegory, representing the love of Christ for His bride, the Church. Some think it was just part of the collection of writings of Solomon, and somewhat autobiographical. Some think it was poetry for weddings. Another thought is that it was intended to be a drama, loosely linking songs with a story line--not unlike Handel's Messiah or Cats by Andrew Lloyd-Weber. There are other theories, too complicated or arcane to note in this blog.

After listening to the spoken word, the "meaning" of the text was pretty clear. Max McLean, the reader, without being overly dramatic, brings out the fundamental eroticism of Song of Songs. It is definitely a poem about lusty lovers, although exactly what their circumstances are is difficult to determine. Maybe the best way to view it is as a memorable and instructive portrait of true love as God intended it. It addresses the delights and sanctity of erotic love between marriage partners and it also offers pictures of the passionate, all-consuming love of God for his people. (At least, that's what I concluded in my paper.)

One still has to wonder how it ended up in the canon. And I still don't really want to study it with my Sunday school class of single adults. (Sorry, Kehilas. You're on your own.)