Friday, April 9, 2010

Interpreting the Song of Songs

I said  a handful of posts ago that I'd return to speak of the propriety of handling the Song of Songs allegorically as Owen does in On Communion with God.  I still intend to do that.  Here I only wish to raise a question:  What are the allusions within the Song of Songs?  That is, to which Scriptures (particularly but not exclusively in the Old Testament) does the Song of Songs allude (if any)?  Are there portions of Scripture that seem to be linked linguistically or conceptually with the greatest of all songs?  And if so, what is the subject matter and particularly the theology of those portions?  I'm wondering if this may shed light on how to handle this love poem, which I do believe must be handled in the first instance as love poetry.  This really is beyond question in my mind.  And yet, this portrait of covenant love is also doubtless functioning canonically as a pointer way beyond itself, to something more ultimate, more glorious, rooted in eternity.

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