The Song of Songs: A Philological Analysis of the Hebrew Book (Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement Series)
by P. W. Th Stoop-van Paridon
Category: Religion

Since time immemorial the Song of Songs (SofS) has been a source of amazement and inspiration. The countless translators and interpretations of this book differ strongly from each other. Does the Hebrew text indeed justify this? To answer this question, an unprejudiced philological analysis is necessary that keeps strictly to the text, which does justice to the context, and approaches the book intrinsically as rationally as possible. These methods followed by the author make clear that the SofS is a continuous story, which runs from SofS 1.2 to 8.14 with a cohesive structure, which is readily comprehensible and logical. That even applies to verses (e.g. 2.15; 6.12), which are seen by everyone as puzzling. Emendations are practically never necessary, eliminations not at all. The analysis makes plausible that SofS 1.2-8.4 is set in the harem of Solomon. The female protagonist, who has earlier lost her heart to a shepherd, is held there against her will and prepared physically and mentally for a meeting with Solomon by a personal attendant, who first appears in SofS 1.9; she does not succeed in winning her for Solomon. In the SofS a consistent use of language is employed, which means, for example, that the individual speakers are recognisable; this, together with the intrinsically cohesive structure of the work, is a strong argument for one author/editor. The use of veiled language for specific female or male parts of the body occurs more often than is recognised by others. The SofS is the story of the love, which unites two people. It is unique and faithful, and encompasses the whole of the person. Full justice is done to the related erotic-sexual aspect in a satisfying and harmonious manner.