An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 135: Innuendo Bingo (Songs 6-8)

Songs 6-8
Innuendo Bingo.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Songs 6

“Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.”

This chapter switches between the point of view of the male and female characters in the poem – the man has gone into the garden and the woman seeks him, then the man again speaks of the woman’s attributes in similes that don’t seem that flattering (teeth like sheep again). I can’t really say much more about this passage, it’s pretty much the same as what has gone before. I wonder what the meaning of “my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib” means? Evidently it was once an analogy that didn’t need explaining, now I keep reading it as “cask of Amontillado”. Also the reference to “Shulamite” is obscure in meaning. .

Songs 7

“How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.”

Thighs don’t have joints, they’re what you get between two joints, hip and knee. But never mind. Some more lavish similes on the physicality of the female character, with plenty of attention to her thighs, navel and breasts. Now, I can kinda sorta see where those who want to see this as allegory can manage it a bit here, as most of the similes liken the woman’s body to landmarks in the kingdom of Israel; so it reads as much like a love poem to the kingdom as it does to the woman. The rest, calling for the lover to come and enjoy pastoral delights reminds me of Marlowe’s Passionate Shepherd to His Love: “Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves” compared to “And we will sit upon the Rocks/ Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks/ By shallow Rivers to whose falls/ Melodious birds sing Madrigals“.

Songs 8

“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.”

Things end a little weirdly for this book, talking about Solomon’s vineyards and how much they are worth, and of a “little sister who has no breasts” who is likened to a wall or a door. I think from that last part the way the “little sister” is spoken of the intent is that she should be enshrined and have the best things, but the meaning of this, as allegory or otherwise, passes me by. The female character’s desire to offer her love the “juice of my pomegranate” can’t help but remind me of the myth of Persephone; presumably we’re looking at fertility symbolism here as well, or perhaps merely the idea of luxury.

So that was the Song of Solomon, and a strange entity it is compared to other biblical books. I’d need to check back, but I’m pretty sure God doesn’t get mentioned at all. Allegory or not it’s got a very passionate, human voice to it. I really can’t get behind the idea that it’s meant to be about the Church and Christ. Even reading Matthew Henry’s commentary it feels really stretched to try to make it about that and, like Tolkien, I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations. Why not have a book that celebrates passion and physical love? It is, after all, a part of human existence.