[FoolofaTook]

Originally Posted by LaBelle

Somehow less creepy than the Cats movie cats.

Theology. The Song of Songs is a return to Eden. It presents an inspired reflection and elucidation of the divine ideal for human sexual love within the context of courtship and marriage. This theology of sexuality may be summarized under ten subheadings.
1. Creation Order. Underlying the entire Song is the same high doctrine of creation which is found in Genesis 1–2. Sexuality is assumed to be a creation ordinance, given by God for humans to enjoy (see comments on Song 8:6). At the same time, sexuality and divinity are radically separated; sexuality belongs to the creation order, not the divine realm.
2. Heterosexual Marital Form. In the Song of Songs, consistent with the divine pattern in Genesis 2:18–23, we find a heterosexual love relationship described in the context of courtship and marriage.
3. Monogamy. In harmony with the monogamy set forth as the divine pattern for marriage in Genesis 2:23, the marriage relationship depicted in the Song is a monogamous one (see, e.g., 1:7; 2:2, 3, 16; 5:1, 10; 6:3; 7:10; 8:6–7). The historical record also implies a monogamous marital relationship between Solomon and the wife of his youth (1 Kin. 3:1; 7:8; 9:16). According to this historical record, Solomon was married early in his reign to Pharaoh’s daughter, and some twenty years later he brought her to the palace he had built for her in Jerusalem. No other wives or palaces for them are mentioned during this time period. This seems to imply that Pharaoh’s daughter (who became a faithful follower of the true God, Song 8:6; cf. PK 53) was Solomon’s sole wife during the time when he composed this Song in the early years of his reign. The biblical record indicates that Solomon remained faithful to God during this twenty-year period (1 Kin. 9:1–5; cf. 3:3–15). Ellen White writes that “for many years he [Solomon] walked uprightly, his life marked with strict obedience to God’s commands” (PK 27).
Some have pointed to the record that Solomon reigned for forty years and that his son Rehoboam took over the throne at the age of forty-one (1 Kin. 11:42–43; 14:21), implying that Rehoboam was born the year before Solomon became king. From such data it is inferred that Solomon had other wives before the Shulamite and was therefore polygamous at the time when the Song was written. But the LXX records in 1 Kings 12:24a (in an extended section not found in the MT) that Rehoboam was sixteen years of age when he began to reign (not forty-one), and that he reigned twelve years. The LXX may well preserve the correct chronological data, since this data makes more sense of the statement in 1 Kings 12:8 that Rehoboam “consulted the young men who had grown up with him.” The Hebrew term used for the “young men” means “boy,” “(male) child,” “youth.” If those who grew up with him were called “boys/youths,” then Rehoboam himself was a “boy/youth” when he became king, and this would not easily apply to a forty-one-year-old. But if Rehoboam was only sixteen when he ascended to Solomon’s throne, there is ample chronological space for the twenty-plus years of Solomon’s monogamous marriage to the Shulamite before he married Rehoboam’s mother, and she gave birth to Rehoboam. As an alternate interpretation, one may note that according to 1 Kings 14:21 Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, an Ammonitess. It is possible that Naamah had already given birth to Rehoboam by an Ammonite father before her political marriage to Solomon, and Solomon simply adopted Rehoboam as his own (eldest) son (a practice hinted at from about this very time in Ps. 2:7). David’s bloodline in this case was to be passed on through Rehoboam’s wife Maachah (the granddaughter of Absalom, David’s son), who gave birth to Rehoboam’s successor, Abijam (1 Kin. 15:1, 2; 2 Chr. 11:21).
Although later in life (after he composed the Song of Songs) Solomon fell into polygamy (1 Kin. 11:1–8), the later dark history of Solomon must not detract from the reality depicted in the narrative frame of the Sublime Song. The Song has a happy, monogamous literary ending.
4. Equality within the Love Relationship. In parallel with Genesis 1–2, the lovers in the Song are presented as full equals in every way. The keynote of egalitarianism in mutual love is struck in Song of Songs 2:16: “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” The Song of Songs begins and closes with the woman speaking; she carries the majority of the dialogue; she initiates most of the meetings and is just as active in the love-making as the husband; she is just as eloquent about the beauty of her lover as he is about her; she is gainfully employed as is he. In short, throughout the Song the woman is fully the equal of the man.
5. Wholeness. The concept of wholeness in sexuality is highlighted in the Song of Songs by one of its key themes—the presence and/or absence of the lovers with/from each other (3:1–5; 5:2–8). Wholeness in the Song includes the holistic view of the human person as a sexual being. Sexuality in the Song is not just the sex act; it involves the whole inseparable human being: physical, sensual, emotional, and spiritual. Physical attraction includes the whole body—not just the sexual organs (5:10–16; 7:1–9)—and the expressions of praise often refer to inner (character) qualities of the one praised and not just physical beauty.
6. Exclusivity. As in Genesis 2:24 man is to “leave”—be free from all outside interferences in the sexual relationship—so in the Song of Songs the lovers are unfettered by parental pre-arrangements, and in love for love’s sake alone. The exclusivity of the couple’s relationship is apparent from numerous references in the Song (e.g., 2:2, 16; 6:3, 9; 7:10).
7. Permanence. As in the Genesis model (Gen. 2:24), man and woman are to “cleave” to each other in a marriage covenant, so the Song of Songs climaxes in the wedding procession, ceremony, and wedding night (3:6–5:1; see literary structure below). As in Genesis 2:24, there is revealed in the Song the fidelity, loyalty, and devotion of the partners, the steadfastness and permanence of their love (see esp. 2:16; 6:3; 8:6–7).
8. Intimacy. The Song of Songs as a whole may be considered as nothing less than “an ode to intimacy.” As in Genesis 2:24, where the “one-flesh” union follows the “cleaving,” so in the Song of Songs sexual intercourse occurs only within the context of the marriage covenant. At the time of the wedding the Shulamite is a garden “locked” or “enclosed” (4:12), which refers to her virginity. The lyrics of Solomon in the Song also seem to indicate his virginity at the time of the wedding (2:2; 6:9; 8:5). The Song moves sequentially through the entire historical scope of the relationship between Solomon and the Shulamite. There is a consistent pattern of maturing intimacy, appropriate to each stage of their relationship.
9. Sexuality and Procreation. The Song contains no reference to the procreative function of sexuality. As in the Creation account of Genesis 2, the sexual experience within marriage is not linked with the utilitarian intent to propagate children. Love-making for the sake of love, not procreation, is the message of the Song. In the Song sexual union is given value on its own, without need to justify it as a means to some superior (procreative) end.
10. The Wholesome Beauty and Joy of Sexuality. In the Song of Songs, as in Genesis 1–2, sexuality (along with the rest of God’s creation) is portrayed as “very good [beautiful],” to be celebrated and enjoyed without fear or embarrassment (cf. Gen 2:25). A plenitude of intertwining themes and motifs in the Song highlight this wholesome beauty and goodness of paradisal sexual love. Paradisal love is presented as: (1) stunningly beautiful (e.g., 1:15, 16); (2) wonderfully sensuous (e.g., 4:16; 5:1); an exuberant celebration (e.g., 3:6–11); (3) a thrilling adventure (e.g., 1:4; 2:8, 10); (4) an exquisite delight (e.g., 2:3–4); (5) marked by strong sexual desire (e.g., 5:1–6); (6) unashamed and uninhibited (e.g., 7:2, 8–9, 11–13; 8:2); (7) yet also restrained and in good taste (e.g., 2:7; 3:5; 5:8; 8:4)(8) light-hearted play (e.g., 1:7–8; 7:9); (9) romantic love (e.g., 7:10–13; 8:5–7); (10) powerfully passionate (e.g., 6:12; 7:4); and (11) an awe-inspiring mystery: (e.g., 6:4, 10).
A whole book of the Bible is devoted to celebrating the wholesome beauty and enjoyment of human sexual love. The Song of Songs in its literal sense is not merely a “secular” love song, but already fraught with deep theological significance. God reveals His love for humanity in the enjoyment and pleasure which He designed lovers to find in each other in the marriage context.
The echo of God’s names resonates in the dominant recurring refrain of the Song (see comment on 2:7), and the actual voice of God resounds from the Song’s central literary summit (see comment on 5:1). But when one moves to the Song’s thematic climax and conclusion, the great paean to love (8:6), the actual name of Yahweh makes its single explicit appearance in the book, and His flaming presence encapsulates the entire theological message of the Song: “Its [Love’s] flames are flames of fire” —the very flame of Yahweh (see note below on 8:6 regarding this translation).
Since human love is described as a gift from God, a Flame of Yahweh, the love displayed between Solomon and the Shulamite not only depicts wholesome human sexuality, but points beyond to the love of Yahweh Himself. The various characteristics and qualities of holy human love that have emerged from the Song—selfless mutuality and reciprocity, joy-of-presence, pain-of-absence, exclusivity (yet inclusiveness), intimate oneness, disinterested and enduring covenant loyalty, wholesomeness, beauty, goodness, etc.—all reflect the divine love within the very nature of God’s being. Furthermore, the Song is not only a love song about human lovers, but ultimately points (typologically) to the love relationship between God and His people. Far different from the allegorical approach, which regards the literal, historical meaning as the husk to be discarded in favor of a fanciful interpretation alien to the text, the typological approach upholds the literal sense by acknowledging what the Song already indicates—that human love typifies the divine.

In the Song of Songs, we have come to the supreme OT statement on the theology of human sexual love and the divine-human love relationship, even (as Rabbi Akiba put it), to “the Holy of Holies”!