CHAPTER XIV

THE SONG OF SONGS

There has always been much difference of opinion as to the proper interpretation of The Song of Songs, among both Jewish and Christian scholars. The subject is evidently love, but the manner of dealing with the subject is obscure. It seems evident, too, that the poem is in the form of dialogue, but who the speakers are and how the lines are distributed among them has always been a matter of controversy. An interpretation that has been given prominence in late years by the German scholar, Budde, is that the book is not a drama at all but consists of a series of lyric idyls or marriage songs. This critic explains that even to-day there is a Syrian custom of celebrating weddings by such ceremonies as are presented in this poem. The celebration lasts seven days, which are called "The King's Week," because the young groom and his bride seated on a kind of throne erected for them on a threshing floor, as a place of honor, play the parts of king and queen and receive the homage of a large company of their relatives and friends. The ceremonies consist partly of marriage songs accompanied by dances, participated in by the wedding attendants, a chorus of men and women, and the young pair themselves.

While it may be that these customs explain the song, while it is possible thus to divide it into dramatic lyrics and regard them as a suite of wedding songs, it is possible, also, and more interesting to look upon it as a drama. It is so considered in the following study. There are two views of the poem as a drama. According to one of these, the traditional view, there are but two main characters by whom the dialogue is sustained, King Solomon and a Shulamite maiden of whom he is enamored. According to the other view, there are three principal

characters, King Solomon, the Shulamite maiden, and her shepherd lover. The second view is more pleasing and gives a more satisfactory meaning to the poem.

Brief Synopsis of the Story: A beautiful Shulamite maiden, surprised by the king and his train on a royal progress in the north of Palestine, has been taken to the camp and afterwards brought to the king's palace in Jerusalem. The king hopes to persuade her to exchange her rustic home in the north for the honor and enjoyments which a court life could afford. She has, however, already pledged her heart to a young shepherd, and the admiration and blandishments which the king lavishes upon her are powerless to make her forget her lover. All the promised luxury and honors can not induce her to prove unfaithful to her vows to the humble shepherd lover. In the end she is allowed to return to her mountain home, where at the close of the poem, the lovers appear hand in hand, and express in warm and glowing words the superiority of genuine, spontaneous, innocent affection over that which may be purchased by wealth or rank.

INTERPRETATION OF THE POEM.

The drama opens in north Palestine. Solomon and his court have come up from Jerusalem and are encamped among the hills of Galilee. The officers of the king have come upon a beautiful, sunburnt peasant girl who is in charge of a vineyard. They are struck with her beauty and are sure that Solomon would be pleased to add her to his harem. We learn afterwards that she has had a hard time at her home; she is apparently living with her stepmother and her stepbrothers are harsh in their treatment of her. We learn that she has become betrothed to a peasant in the vicinity and looks upon her betrothal as sacred and binding. So her faithfulness is in no wise. disturbed by the proffered honor of entering the king's harem, an honor that was gladly accepted by Bathsheba and Esther.

In the first scene the Shulamite is presented in a mood of loneliness longing for the caresses of her absent lover

and complaining that she is detained at the royal encampment against her will. She inquires eagerly where her lover may be found, and the court ladies reply ironically that she should go forth and feed her kids by the shepherds' tents (verse 8). In the next scene Solomon seeks to win the love of the maiden but she parries his compliments by speaking of her shepherd lover and by giving reminiscences of the rural scenes from which she has been taken. In the next scene she speaks to the court ladies recounting to them an incident in her past life in which she praises the kindness and love of her betrothed:

"As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
So is my beloved among the sons.

I sat down under his shadow with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

He brought me to the banqueting-house,
And his banner over me was love."

She reminds the court ladies that love is an affection that comes spontaneously and should not be aroused artificially. She makes an impassioned plea to them to let innocent, natural love have its way. This plea is made three times in the drama and may well be taken to express its central idea:

"I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
By the roes and the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up nor awaken love
Until it please."

In the first scene of the second act (II: 8-17), the Shulamite tells of a visit which her lover paid to her in her rural home in the springtime, and of the beautiful spring song he sang to her:

"My beloved spake and said unto me,

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

For, lo, the winter is past;

The rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of the singing of birds is come,

And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

The fig tree ripeneth her green figs,

And the vines are in blossom;

They give forth their fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one, come away.

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks,
In the covert of the steep place,

Let me see thy countenance,

Let me hear thy voice;

For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely."

She reaffirms her devotion to her lover and wishes that the end of their separation may be near:

"My beloved is mine, and I am his:

He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,
Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart
Upon the mountains of Bether.”

In the second scene of this act the Shulamite narrates a dream which she has had since she has been with the royal company. She had seemed to go through the city in search of her absent lover and to her joy she found him. The dream reflects her waking feelings and the recital of it to the ladies of the chorus is the poet's method of making known her emotions. This scene closes appropriately with a repetition of the appeal to the daughters of Jerusalem:

"I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
By the roes and by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up, nor awaken love

Until it please.”

The scene now changes (act 3, sc. 1). Solomon and his court have come back to Jerusalem, bringing the beautiful Shulamite maiden with them. He will cure her of her love for the shepherd by separation; besides he will dazzle her with the grand ceremony of their entrance into Jerusalem so that she may appreciate the honor awaiting her if she yields and becomes the king's bride. In the second scene of the third act (IV:1-7), Solomon tries to win the maiden by profuse flattery.

"Behold thou art fair, my love; Behold, thou art fair;
Thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,

And thy mouth is comely.

Thou art all fair, my love;

And there is no spot in thee."

The next scene, consisting of the remaining verses of chapter four and the first verse of chapter five, presents an ideal interview between the Shulamite and her absent lover. She recites to the court ladies an imaginary invitation from her lover and her reply, followed by his grateful response. In scene four of this act she relates a dream of the past night (V: 2-8). While she slept she thought she heard the footsteps of her lover outside; he bade her open the door; she delayed; he went away; she rose up and followed him; the watchmen took her for an evil woman and wounded her. She wakes and finds that it was but a fearful dream, yet the memory of it haunts her and impels her to make a fresh avowal of her love.

“I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

If ye find my love,

That ye tell him that I am sick of love."

The first scene of the fourth act (to VI: 3) is a dialogue between the Shulamite and the daughters of Jerusalem respecting her lover. They are surprised at her persistent refusal of the king and her unfailing devotion to her absent lover, and they question her:

"What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
O thou fairest among women?

What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
That thou dost so adjure us?"

She replies in an enraptured description of her lover. The portrait is strained, perhaps to us a little crude, but we must make allowance for Oriental imagery:

"My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand.

His head is as the most fine gold;

His locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks,
Washed with milk and fitly set.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices,

As banks of sweet herbs:

His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

His hands are as rings of gold set with beryl:

His body is as ivory work overlaid with sapphires.

His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold. His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.