Reading Song Of Songs As Wisdom Literature: An Interpretive Approach .
Reading Song of Songs as wisdom literature:An interpretive approach integrating sexuality and spiritualitySubmitted in fulfilment of the requirements in respect of the Master’s degreeMagister Theologiaein the Department of Old Testamentin the Faculty of Theologyat the University of the Free State.June 2014Supervisor:Prof. S.D. SnymanStudent:Marlene Oosthuizen
DeclarationI, Marlene Oosthuizen, declare that the dissertation that I herewith submit for the Master’s degree at the University ofthe Free State , is my independent work and that I have not previously submitted it for aqualification at another institution of higher education, that I am aware that the copyright is vested in the University of the Free State, that all royalties as regards intellectual property that was developed during the courseof and/or in connection with the study at the University of the Free State, will accrue tothe University. In the event of a written agreement between the University and thestudent, the written agreement must be submitted in lieu of the declaration by thestudent, and that I am aware that the research may only be published with the dean’s approval.DedicationTo my fellow pilgrims travelling with me on the complicated road of life:Thank you for guiding me, inspiring me, and encouraging me to live life with passion.To my Beloved and my lover:Thank you for helping me to become fully human.
TABLE OF CONTENTSABBREVIATIONS . 1CHAPTER ONE . 3INTRODUCTION1.1PROBLEM STATEMENT . 51.2THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK . 51.2.1 Hypothesis . 51.2.2 Main themes . 61.2.2.1Song of Songs . 61.2.2.2Wisdom . 7a) Wisdom literature . 7b) Wisdom . 81.2.2.3Sexuality . 8a) Sex . 8b) Sexuality . 9c) Eros. 9d) Sexuality in the Ancient Near East . 91.2.2.4Spirituality . 101.2.2.5Integrating sexuality and spirituality . 101.3METHODOLOGY AND LITERATURE REVIEW .121.4VALUE OF THE RESEARCH .141.5OUTLINE OF THIS RESEARCH .15CHAPTER TWO. 16LOVING GOD OR MAKING LOVE?2.1INTRODUCTION .162.2THE DUALISTIC SACRED/SECULAR ROOTS OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION .172.3SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATIONS .192.3.1 The basis for spiritual interpretations . 192.3.2 Jewish spiritual interpretations . 202.3.3 Christian spiritual interpretations . 24i
2.4SEXUAL INTERPRETATIONS .282.4.1 New possibilities . 30a) Drama . 30b) Wedding Songs . 31c) Dream theory . 31d) Mythological-Cultic theory . 322.4.2 Human love poems . 35a) Song for marriage and chastity . 36b) A love song with many gods . 36c) Carnal and sexual allegory . 37d) Feminist and gay liberation readings . 38e) Innerbiblical reading . 392.5CONCLUSION .40CHAPTER THREE . 42THE WAY OF WISDOM3.1INTRODUCTION .423.2TOWARDS BUILDING A MODEL FOR DEFINING WISDOM .423.2.1.The perspectives of James Crenshaw . 423.2.1.1Four markers identifying wisdom literature . 42a) A literary corpus . 42b) Similar Texts in Egypt and Mesopotamia . 43c) Attitude . 44d) Thematic coherence . 443.2.1.2The premise of ancient wisdom . 45a) Propriety/order . 45b) The fear of the Lord . 46c) Authority . 463.2.1.3Definition . 46a) Search . 47b) Reason . 47c) Well-being . 47d) Reality . 473.2.1.4Other important themes . 48a) The sages . 48b) The Solomonic Tradition . 48c) Scepticism . 49d) Revelation . 503.2.1.5Common identifiers in Crenshaw’s approach . 523.2.2 Mining for more: input of other wisdom scholars on the identified wisdom characteristics . 533.2.2.1General characteristics . 53a) Similar texts in the Ancient Near East . 53b)Sages . 53ii
3.2.2.2Literary characteristics . 54a) Form . 54b) Vocabulary . 55c) Rhetoric . 57d) Metaphors . 58i)Metaphors in the cosmological tradition. 58ii) Metaphors in the anthropological tradition . 59iii) Metaphors of reality . 603.2.2.3Characteristics of content . 60a) Connection to the Solomonic tradition . 60b) Subject-matter . 60c) Cosmology . 61d) Anthropology . 63e) Scepticism and critique . 633.3A MODEL FOR DEFINING WISDOM .633.4CONCLUSION .65CHAPTER 4 . 66THE WAY OF A MAN WITH A MAIDEN4.1INTRODUCTION .664.2TESTING SONG OF SONGS AGAINST THE QUESTIONS OF THE WISDOM MODEL .664.2.1 General characteristics . 664.2.1.1Are there any comparable international works? . 66a) Sumerian love literature . 66b) Ugaritic, Akkadian and other cuneiform texts . 67c) Egyptian love poetry . 674.2.2 Literary characteristics . 684.2.2.1Form . 68a) Are there any traditional wisdom forms in Song of Songs? . 684.2.2.2Vocabulary . 69a) Are there any distinctly sapiential words in Song of Songs? . 694.2.2.3Rhetoric. 70a) Are there signs of skilful argumentation in Song of Songs? . 70b) Did the author of Song of Song make use of rhetorical devices? . 734.2.2.4Metaphors . 74a) Are there any of the metaphors, as identified by Perdue, present in Song of Songs? . 74i)Metaphors in the cosmological tradition. 75ii) Metaphors in the anthropological tradition . 75iii) Metaphors of reality . 764.2.3 Content . 764.2.3.1Solomonic tradition . 76a) Did the author use the Solomonic tradition in Song of Songs? . 76iii
4.3Subject matter . 77Is the theme/s of Song of Songs about living in reality? . 77Are the typical Israelite historical faith themes absent in Song of Songs? . 78Cosmology . 78Is creation an important element in Song of Songs? . 78Are there signs of God’s created order in Song of Songs? . 78Is the threat of chaos present in Song of Songs? . 79Is there any sign of a “fear of the Lord” reaction in Song of Songs? . 79Anthropology . 80Is there a search for meaning/insight/success in Song of Songs? . 80Are there signs of egocentric and self-indulgent behaviour in Song of Songs? . 81Is there an appeal to intellectual capacity for good choices in Song of Songs? . 82Is there a focus on pragmatism, moderation and restraint in Song of Songs? . 83Scepticism and critique . 83Is there any sign of scepticism or critique in Song of Songs? . 83CONCLUSION .84CHAPTER FIVE . 86LOVING GOD BY MAKING LOVE5.1REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH PROCEDURE AND FINDINGS .865.2ANSWERING THE PROBLEM QUESTIONS.875.3RELEVANCE OF RESEARCH FINDINGS .905.3.1 Song of Songs. 905.3.2 Wisdom. 905.3.3 Sexuality . 915.3.4 Spirituality. 925.3.5 Integrating sexuality and spirituality . 92BIBLIOGRAPHY . 93SUMMARY . 101OPSOMMING . 103KEY TERMS. 105iv
ABBREVIATIONSAcTActa TheologicaAcTP&BActa Patristica et ByzantinaAcTSuppActa Theologica SupplementumAJSLAmerican Journal of Semitic Languages and LiteratureBibIntBiblical InterpretationBSacBibliotheca SacraBullETHSBulletin of the Evangelical Theological SocietyBZAWBeihefte zur Zeitschrft für die alttestamentliche WissenschaftCBQCatholic Biblical QuarterlyCCChristian CenturyCurTMCurrents in Theology and MissionEvKEvangelische KommentareEphMarEphemerides MariologicaeFRLANTForschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen TestamentsGTJGrace Theological JournalHTSHarvard Theological StudiesIDSIn die SkrifligIJCSInternational Journal of Children’s SpiritualityInterpInterpretationJAARJournal of the American Academy of ReligionJfPJournal for PreachersJRASJournal of the Royal Asiatic SocietyJTSJournal of Theological StudiesJTSAJournal of Theology for Southern Africa1
ABBREVIATIONS (continued)LBSThe Library of Biblical StudiesMBModern BelievingNGTTNederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiesie TydskrifPAPSProceedings of the American Philosophical SocietyRevExpReview and ExpositorR&TReligion and TheologySemeiaSemeiaSemSemiticsSKSkrif en KerkStudBibStudia BiblicaT&STheology & SexualityV&EVerbum et EcclesiaVTVetus TestamentumZfEZeitschrift für Ethnologie2
CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION“The Song is the most obscure book of the Old Testament” (Delitzch, 1877: 1). Pope quotes thesavant Saadia as saying, “you will find great differences in interpretations of the Song of Songs.In truth, they differ because Song of Songs resembles locks to which the keys have been lost”(1977: 89). The truth of these comments is clearly visible in the history of interpretation of thisunique biblical book.For centuries the Song was interpreted spiritually1 as depicting the relationship between Godand synagogue/church/soul or Mary. Ausloos refers to this line of interpretation as a“theological-allegorical reading” and he identifies the three main trends as “ecclesiological”,“mystical”, and “mariological” (2008: 32-37). The problem with these spiritual readings lies inthe lack of consensus on the meaning. A hermeneutical key is constructed according to thecontext and ideologies of the interpreter while the literal text is ignored (Tanner, 1997: 27).Fields accurately remarks that according to the allegorical approach the Song can beinterpreted to mean anything and that it can even be used in a wide variety of religions. “Andhere is the problem: if the Song can say anything, then it says nothing” (Fields, 1980: 231).These spiritual interpretations are dramatically counterproductive. “The erotic content of theSong which celebrates the body, sexual organs and even different sexual activities, getsdiminished, or even humiliated in the light of the ‘deeper’ meaning of the words. Effectively,the Song’s lyrics are muted” (Oosthuizen, 2011: 53).With the onslaught of the Enlightenment the focus fell on the literal meaning of the text whichseemed to be nothing more than “profane love lyrics” (Ausloos, 2008: 38). The focus on theliteral meaning opened the door for various new interpretations like Jacobi’s drama theory2(Murphy, 1990: 38), Wetzstein’s wedding songs interpretation3 (Murphy, 1990: 39), Meeks’s1In this research project I prefer the term “spiritual interpretation” for the allegorical reading that refers to therelationship between God and synagogue/church/soul. In the same way I prefer the term “sexual interpretation”for the literal reading that refers to the relationship between a woman and a man. These alternative terms betterinform us on the research problem. Furthermore, Ausloos also identifies certain literal readings that refer to thesexual relationship between a woman and a man as allegorical. He refers to this literal reading as “erotic allegoric”where interpreters “see human genitalia or sexual acts behind every word” (Ausloos, 2008: 39).2Jacobi, J. F. 1772. Das durch eine leichte und ungekünstelte Erklärung von seinen Vorwürfen gerettete Hohe Lied;nebst einem Beweise, dass selbiges für die Zeiten Salomons und seiner Nachfolger sehr lehrreich und heilsam, undeines heiligen Dichters würdig gewesen: Celle.3Wetzstein, J. G. 1873. ‘Die Syrische Dreshtafel’, ZfE, no.5, pp. 270-302.3
cultic rituals4 (Murphy, 1990: 39-40), and women’s liberation perspectives like that of PhyllisTrible5 (Pope, 1977: 205).The interpretation that has been gaining more subscribers is the focus on human love poems.In 1992 Murphy noted, “There is an almost unanimous consensus among modern scholars thatthe literal historical meaning of the Song has to do with secular love” (1992: 153). The fact thatmore scholars agree on the plain content of the Song, did not bring an end to the vexinginterpretive questions. Scholarly opinion still pendulums between secular, even pornographicpoems (Boer, 1998: 151-182), or erotic love within marriage (Tanner, 1997: 23-46), and eventhe celebration of chastity (Lotter and Steyn, 2006: 70-89). Sexual interpretations did not bridgethe gap between sexuality and spirituality. It seems that interpreters still construct their ownhermeneutical keys – this time to reflect their sexual ideologies. “Where spiritualinterpretations muted the Song’s music, sexual interpretations blasted the volume to maximumresulting in sound distortion that makes it impossible to hear the words or enjoy the music”(Oosthuizen, 2011: 88).These polarised and mutually exclusive readings of Song of Songs are a symptom of a seriousproblem in society. According to Carr (2003: 5), “these opposing readings reflect a much deeperseparation between sexuality and spirituality, mind and body, which runs through the heart ofWestern culture, particularly Western Christian Culture”.Nelson identifies two major dualisms that feed the sexual-spiritual alienation. Spiritual dualismrooted in the body-spirit dichotomy of the Hellenistic era, and sexual dualism was alreadypresent in the Old Testament subordination of women in public and private life (Nelson, 1978:45-46). According to Morris (2001: 162), these dichotomies, which are a defining characteristicof our Western Culture, have been influencing philosophies and religions for the past threethousand years.Our challenge is to bridge this sexual-spiritual divide. As Nelson states, “we need to movebeyond the traditional confines of ‘sexual ethics’ into sexual theology which takes seriously thehuman sexual experience in our time and place as an arena for God’s continuing self-disclosureat the same time that it takes seriously the implications of Christian faith for our sexual lives”(1978: 16).An interpretive approach for reading Song of Songs that can possibly aid us in unlocking at leastsome of the Song’s mysteries, is reading it as wisdom literature. Wisdom literature is thestepchild of the Old Testament canon and has been marginalised in academic research until1970 (Perdue, 2007a: 1). While there has been a resurgence of interest in wisdom literature,most studies completely ignore Song of Songs6. This is not a strange phenomenon; the fact that4Meek, T. J. 1922-23. ‘Canticles and the Tammuz Parallels to the Song of Songs’, AJSL, no. 39. pp.1-14.5Trible, P. 1978. God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality. Philadelphia: Fortress.6Examples of prominent contemporary studies in wisdom literature that ignore Song of Songs are Perdue (2007a),Crenshaw (2010) and Bartholomew & O’Dowd (2011).4
Song of Song is devoid of covenant and salvation content makes it difficult to classify, and theerotic tones make it easy to ignore as Biblical Wisdom, or easy to view as Murphy did - nothingmore than “secular love” (1992: 153). Interestingly enough, scholars who do read Song of Songsas wisdom literature seem to bring more value to the table. Bergant notes that “in the wisdomtradition the experience of life is the great teacher. In the Song of Songs, fearless and undividedlove is the greatest experience of life” (1997: 140). Dell also points out many interesting linksbetween Song of Songs, wisdom motifs, and female configurations in Proverbs, and concludesthat although she is hesitant to classify the Song as wisdom literature, she would l
Reading Song of Songs as wisdom literature: An interpretive approach integrating sexuality and spirituality Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements in respect of the Master's degree
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