Preliminary Thoughts on Ecclesiastes 2008 March 21^st for April 15^th

“Vanity! Vanity!” says the preacher.

These are words dad quoted often, in and out of the pulpit. The Bible version I am now using renders the same opening words of this book:

“’Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher.

Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

Ecclesiastes is another type of wisdom literature from Proverbs that we recently completed. It is not so much for the youth but for a higher class of more educated people. It deals with darker, thornier issues. It points out in various ways that nothing in creation has any meaning of value apart from God. It also has other advice.

As we move further into this poetry and later into the prophets, we get further and further away from parts of the Bible with which I have prior familiarity, excepting a few famous verses here and there.

Ecclesiastes 1 2008 March 22^nd for April 16^th

The author refers to himself as “son of David, king in Jerusalem.” Most scholars are sure this means Solomon, Solomon’s son Rehoboam being the only other possibility (that is, both son of David and king in Jerusalem). Rehoboam is not known as much of an author. This author refers to himself as “Teacher.”

The Teacher says that everything is meaningless. People labor, generations come and go, the wind blows one way then the other, seasons come and go. So what? It is all meaningless.

The sun rises and sets, then rises again. “All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.”

Everything is wearisome. You can never see it all or hear it all. It doesn’t matter anyway. “Meaningless” is the summary of “it all.” There is never anything new. Everything around has been here for ages. (There is some debate as to whether this can be said today. In a sense, people today are just as they have been through all of recorded history at least, but their good and evil qualities are amplified by devices that are, in some sense, “new.”)

No one remembers the “men of old.” What’s more, people who aren’t even born yet will not be remembered by those who come after them.

The Teacher here, the king of Jerusalem, had devoted his life to the study of wisdom.

“What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.”

(I agree with the first statement from direct experience, but the second merely shows no concept of negative numbers. True enough, though, things that are “absent” or don’t even exist cannot be counted. Perhaps our nation’s economy would be better off without the negative numbers.)

The Teacher here had acquired more wisdom and knowledge than any of his predecessors, probably more than anyone who had ever come before him in the world. He had similarly studied madness and folly. All of these things, even wisdom itself, so extolled in the book of Proverbs, if merely “a chasing after the wind.”

“For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”

…wise words indeed.

Ecclesiastes 2 2008 March 22^nd for April 17^th

The Teacher decided to see if pleasures were worthwhile. As king of Jerusalem he was in a position to try anything he wanted. He tried laughter, wine, folly (within restraints of wisdom), houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, reservoirs, slaves, herds and flocks, silver and gold, men and women singers, and a large harem (700 wives and 300 concubines).

He did not deny himself anything desired and he enjoyed the fruits of his work, but in the final analysis it was all meaningless.

Then he tried out wisdom and folly. But, “What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?” In the end he realized that the end fate of the fool was exactly the same as his own – death.

(Apparently for something to have “meaning” it should not have been done before. Like, perhaps walking around on the moon.)

What’s worse, all the works he had done, all the things he had built, would only accrue to his successor, someone who had not worked for all those things. And who knows whether that successor would be wise or foolish?

“So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” It doesn’t matter how skillfully or slothfully he works, it all comes to nothing. It doesn’t matter how much he worries or frets. “All his days his work is pain and grief, even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.”

You can’t do any better than to eat and drink and enjoy your work and this is a gift from God. Even so, “to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.”

All of that is meaningless too.

I like the word “meaningless” better than the older translation “vanity.” I understand the feeling of great labors being ultimately meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 3 2008 March 22^nd for April 18^th

This chapter begins with the most famous passage from Ecclesiastes.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

“a time to be born and a time to die,

“a time to plant and a time to uproot,

“a time to kill and a time to heal,

“a time to tear down and a time to build,

“a time to weep and a time to laugh,

“a time to mourn and a time to dance,

“a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

“a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

“a time to search and a time to give up,

“a time to keep and a time to throw away,

“a time to tear and a time to mend,

“a time to be silent and a time to speak,

“a time to love and a time to hate,

“a time for war and a time for peace.”

We then return to the former laments. What use is toil? Everything is beautiful in its time. Men have a concept of eternity but cannot fathom it.

“I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.”

There is nothing new, but here was something that the Teacher witnessed. There was wickedness in both the place of judgment and the place of justice. God will bring judgment.

Men are like animals, their fates are the same: death. They breathe in the same way. They both come from dust and return to dust. “Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

“So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?”

So, we see here that the Teacher does not know where souls go, people or animals.

Ecclesiastes 4 2008 March 25^th for April 21^st

The Teacher relates some more things that he observed happening “under the sun.”

People were oppressed and without comfort, “power was on the side of their oppressors-“ Those who were dead already were better off, but even more so were those who had not lived yet and never seen this evil.

All labor and toil comes from a man envying his neighbor. This is all “chasing after wind.”

Another meaningless situation:

“There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother,

There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.

’For whom am I toiling,’ he asked, ‘and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?’

This too is meaningless – a miserable business!

(This next is the second most famous idea from Ecclesiastes.)

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down, his friend can help him up,

But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

It is better to be young, poor, and wise than old, a king, and foolish. All the people follow the young royal successor and there were great crowds, but in the end no one was pleased with him.

“This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

Ecclesiastes 5 2008 March 26^th for April 22^nd

Don’t be quick to make vows to God, or to say anything at all in God’s presence. Be careful. Better not to make a vow than to come back later wanting out of it, angering God. “Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.”

If there are some places where the poor are oppressed, realize that officials are all eyeing each other, taking profits from the land. The king is over them all and the king also profits.

If you love money, you’ll never have enough. What use is having a lot of stuff, to look at? “The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.”

The Teacher has seen grievous evils: hoarded wealth harming its owner, or lost wealth, or lack of an heir.

“Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs.” There is nothing he does that he can take with him when he leaves.”

(Maybe that was the second most famous verse from Ecclesiastes….)

It is a good thing for people to eat and drink and work and to be satisfied in their work. This is their position in existence. The few days of life that God gives them are a blessing. God keeps them glad so they don’t worry much about the shortness of life.

Ecclesiastes 6 2008 March 27^th for April 23^rd

There is something else that is a grievous evil. God gives a man great riches and long life, but does not enable him to enjoy it. No matter how long he lives, even 2000 years, or even if he has a hundred children, it is all meaningless if he cannot enjoy it. He ends up the same place as everyone else: in the grave. The Teacher asserts that a stillborn child, one who comes and goes in darkness, whose name is never known, who never knows or sees anything, even a stillborn child is better off than this wealthy man who cannot enjoy what he has.

Everything is just to feed the appetites, which are never satisfied. What advantage is wisdom over foolishness? What good is it to know how to conduct oneself? Everything has been named already. No one can contend with a stronger man.

“The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?

“For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone?”

These area all good and instructive questions.

Ecclesiastes 7:1 - 14 2008 March 28^th for April 24^th

We continue in the vein of discussing what (if anything!) has value with an extended section of Proverbs-like poetry:

“A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.

It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting,

for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.

Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.

“Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

“The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.

Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.

“Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.”

(Indeed, I know the answer: because we remember only what we want to about the “old days” and we know that we made it through them.)

“Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun.

Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter,

but the advantage of knowledge is this; that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.

“Consider what God has done:

“Who can straighten what he has made crooked?

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider:

God has made the one as well as the other.

Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.”

(Indeed, who can straighten out what has become crooked by any means?)

Ecclesiastes 7:15 – 29 2008 March 28^th for April 25^th

The Proverbs-like poetry continues:

“In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:

“a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.”

(Quick, someone get Job on the line!)

“Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise – why destroy yourself?

Do not be overwicked and do not be a fool – why die before your time?

It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes.

“Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city.

“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

“Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you –

for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.

“All this I tested by wisdom and I said,

“’I am determined to be wise’ – but this was beyond me.

Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound – who can discover it?

So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things

And to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.

“I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare,

whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains.

The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.

“’Look,’ says the Teacher, ‘this is what I have discovered:

“’Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things – while I was still searching but not finding –

I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.

This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.’”

As I work on this about a month ahead, every day I am looking at texts from two places, today’s and about a month from today’s. Often I see surprising symmetries, different authors in different parts of the Bible saying the same thing or Paul quoting something that I am just looking at from the Old Testament or a rule declared in one text and followed in another, or a prophesy in one place fulfilled in the other.

Today we have the opposite. I am just posting “The wife of noble character” from Proverbs and wonder how our Teacher here cannot have found “one upright woman among them all.” Are “women” and “wives” different poetic creatures?

(Not that men fared much better, but “The noble man” wasn’t mentioned in Proverbs. I suppose “he” gets a lot of attention elsewhere.)

Ecclesiastes 8 2008 March 31^st for April 28^th

The poetry of advanced wisdom concludes:

“Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things?

Wisdom brightens a man’s face and changes its hard appearance.

“Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

“Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.”

(Right, make things convenient for the king, that is, the Teacher.)

“Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?

No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death.

As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

Of all that the Teacher saw, it was all meaningless. Some came and went from the holy place to be praised. Some lorded their status over others. Sometimes criminal sentences were not carried out quickly leading people to scheme all sorts of other illegal things. This was all meaningless.

“There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.”

“No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.”

And, before we reason that things are any different in our advanced age, consider this. All that our technological advancement has done is to model things and learn to control nature. We can model the universe, we can model social patterns, we even attempt to model and contain the weather, but we do not understand any of its meaning. Indeed, today, we are so busy with modeling and control, and with our hubris in thinking that this all makes us superior, advanced, and beyond the need of God, that we spend less time, perhaps no time at all considering meaning and essence.

So, indeed: eat, drink, and enjoy your work!

Ecclesiastes 9:1 - 12 2008 April 1^st for 29^th

The righteous and the wise, their work is in God’s hand but no one knows whether love or hate is in their future. “All share a common destiny – the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.”

It doesn’t matter what your heart is full of. You will end up dead. “[E]ven a live dog is better off than a dead lion!”

“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing.

they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.

Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished;

never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.”

So – take a shower, shine your shoes, you have no time to lose;

you are young men; you should be living!

Eat, dress well, drink. “Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun.”

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning now knowledge nor wisdom.

“I have seen something else under the sun:

“The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong,

nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the earned;

but time and chance happen to them all.”

Look at that! Chance is mentioned in the Bible. Is everything not in God’s directive and deterministic hand? Does God play dice with the universe? Does he make errors?

“Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:

“As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare.

so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.”

If you weren’t depressed today, you should be now!

Ecclesiastes 9:13 – 10:20 2008 April 2^nd for 30^th

Here is another folly that happened. A small city was under siege to a strong king. A wise but poor man saved the city, but nobody appreciated it. “So I said, ‘Wisdom is better than strength. But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.’”

The text then breaks into a string of proverbs:

“The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

“As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.

Even as he walks along the road, the fool lacks sense and shows everyone how stupid he is.

If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great errors to rest.

“There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler;

Fools are put in many high positions, while the rich occupy the low ones.

I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.

“Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.

“If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened,

more strength is needed but skill will bring success.

“If a snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.

“Words from a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips.

At the beginning his words are folly; at the end they are wicked madness – and the fool multiplies words.

“No one knows what is coming – who can tell him what will happen after him.

“A fool’s work wearies him; he does not know the way to town.

“Woe to you, O land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning.

Blessed are you, O land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time – for strength and not for drunkenness.

“If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.

“A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.

“Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom.

Because a bird of the air may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.”

[One week break.]

Ecclesiastes 11 2008 April 3^rd for May 8^th

The long string of proverbs continues:

“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.

Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

“If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth.

Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie.

Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,

so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”

(Even though we do, now, understand some of these things at some level, we are still vastly distant from understanding the ways of God, the Maker.)

“Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle,

for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

“Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all.

But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is meaningless.”

(In other words, once you are dead, there is no more meaning.)

“Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.

Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see,

but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.

So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.”

Ecclesiastes 12 2008 April 5^th for May 9^th

The proverbs conclude. I find them rather profound.

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,

before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’ –

before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;

when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop,

when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim;

when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades;

when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint;

when men are afraid of heights and the dangers in the streets;

when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred.

Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.

“Remember him – before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken;

before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well,

and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

“’Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Everything is meaningless!’

“Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

“The words of the wise are like goads, their collected saying like a firmly embedded nails – given by one Shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.

“Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

So ends the book of Ecclesiastes, with a word to the scholar – “much study wearies the body” and a word of faith: fear and obey God, the final judge. This is the only thing that is not meaningless.

Concluding Thoughts on Ecclesiastes 2008 April 8^th for May 12^th

The story is told about Billy Graham that he was once preaching in the rotunda of the nation’s capital. While members of Congress stood and listened, Graham pointed to the paintings of the founders and patriots on the walls and ceiling and asked the question,

“What do all these people have in common?”

The answer? “They are all dead! And that is your ultimate destiny too!”

Apparently Billy Graham was familiar with Ecclesiastes. This did not make him popular with self-important members of Congress, at least in that moment.

I picked up on some interesting phrases:

“Calmness can lay great errors to rest.”

“… money is the answer for everything.”

“Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle,

for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.”

In other words, diversify.

These are, however, not the pillars of the self deprecating Protestant work ethic into which I was trained.

I have found Ecclesiastes to be among the most satisfying of the Bible books so far. Maybe I’m just the right age for it, but the idea that everything is ultimately meaningless resonates with some of my meditations in contemplating the many endeavors and struggles of life. No one remembers even the names of all the Presidents, though they were among the most important people in the country in their times. How much less the rest of us ordinary people. Everything does seem meaningless, at least nearly. But what is so important about “meaning” anyway?

Some teach that the pursuit of meaning (making a difference) is a sin. Nonetheless, Viann and I believe in making a difference however, locally anyway.

We have the first direct reference I recall about immortality.

“The spirit returns to God who gave it.”

Interesting coming from a book that hammers home the futility and brevity of life. It doesn’t say precisely what it means for a spirit to return to God but it says that this happens at death. Elsewhere, it says mainly to enjoy life now while you have it because you’ll be dead a long time and then you’ll be doing and knowing nothing then.

This is at least a refreshing contrast to our usual teaching to defer all gratification to the next life.

Preliminary Thoughts on Song of Solomon 2008 April 8^th for May 13^th

Our friends Paul and Sue Hoiland are Wycliffe missionaries who spent much of their career in Guatemala involved in translating parts of the Bible into Sicapacanese, a local Indian dialect. Paul now works in Pennsylvania preparing translator notes for field translators worldwide. These notes are intermediate aids concerning the source language of the text. Paul chose to work on Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) as his first project. This turned out to be quite challenging.

I have a similar problem. This book, normally attributed to Solomon, is most plainly about romantic, sexual love. I wouldn’t call it a “manual” but it is the place in the Bible where this aspect of natural human existence is addressed. Somehow, this is culturally embarrassing to Protestants (and even moreso to others), so I’m not sure how I will deal with the text. On the one hand, it is poetry like Proverbs and much of Ecclesiastes was and so could be quoted verbatim. The translators here, however, have doubtless had the same problems with subtlety that Paul Hoiland has had, so passing the text straight through has its problems. On the other hand, if I get much into interpretation myself I’m likely to get in over my head.

Of course the Protestant footnotes and side features in my Bible talk about sex being confined to marriage, and joyful only therein. I don’t think the text talks about that directly; the reference that we’ll come to in chapter 2 seems weak to me. This is most likely because that was the assumption at that time and place and they didn’t need to hammer such a point as much as they would if they were writing here and now.

The notes also talk about the allegories between man and woman and God and the Jewish nation or Christ and the church, or the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. In so saying, they mention that nothing in the text really lends itself to interpretation as an allegory as opposed to its straight face value. They do say that you shouldn’t try too hard to get at the meanings or images beyond the … obvious. The footnote writers have the problem too, then.

Song of Songs 1 2008 April 9^th for May 14^th

“Solomon’s Song of Songs.”

There are three speakers throughout, the Lover, the Beloved, and “Friends.”

Beloved:

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth – for your love is more delightful than wine.

Pleasing is the fragrance of our perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you!

Take me away with you – let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers.”

Friends:
“We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine.”

And in this vein the exchange between the Beloved and the Friends continues.

The Beloved, though dark, is lovely. Dark “like the tents of Kedar; like the tent curtains of Solomon.” She has become dark working in the sun because her family made her work in the vineyards but she asks to be considered lovely anyway. She wonders where her lover rests his sheep midday. The Friends respond that she should follow the tracks of the sheep and find out. Following we have what we would call sweet nothings:

“I liken you, my darling, to a mare harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh.

Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, our neck with strings of jewels.

We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver.”

“My love is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts.

My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.”

The rapturous exchange continues, extending even to the house.

“The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are firs.”

There is probably metaphor here that is lost in the translation, or at least on my knowledge of ancient Hebrew architecture.

Song of Songs 2 2008 April 11^th for May 15^th

The love poetry continues:

Beloved:

“I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

Lover:

“Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens.”

(All the other maidens, it would appear, are “thorns.”)

Beloved:

“Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men

I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.

Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.

Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field:

Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

“Listen! My lover! Look! Here he comes,

leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.

My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall,

gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

My lover spoke and said to me, ‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me.

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.

Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.’”

Lover:

My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside,

show me your face, let me hear your voice;

for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes

that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.”

(I don’t follow the image of the little foxes.)

Beloved:

“My lover is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies.

Until the day breaks and the shadows flee,

turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle

or like a young stag on the rugged hills.”

Song of Songs 3 2008 April 12^th for May 16^th

The love poetry continues. As it is poetry and as I don’t have much comment to make about it, I will continue to quote verbatim. We are in the midst of a long soliloquy of the Beloved.

“All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him.

I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares;

I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him.

“The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. Have you seen the one my heart loves?

Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves.

I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother’s house; to the room of the one who conceived me.

Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field;

Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

“Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke,

perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant?

Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel,

all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle,

each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night.

King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of wood from Lebanon.

Its posts he made of sliver, its base of gold.

Its seat was upholstered with purple, its interior lovingly inlaid by the daughters of Jerusalem.

Come out, you daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon wearing the crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him

On the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.”

Song of Songs 4 2008 April 15^th for May 19^th

Now the lover has an extended passage:

“How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves.”

(This remark seems to refer to contemporary cosmetic style.)

“Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount “Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing.

Each has its twin; not one of them is alone.”

(Having all one’s teeth before the age of dentistry was no small feat.)

“Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely.

Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.

Your neck is like the tower of David, built with elegance;

on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors.

Your two breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.

Until the day breaks and the shadows flee,

I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense.

All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you.

“Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon.

Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon,

from the lion’s dens and the mountain haunts of the leopards.

You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart

with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.

How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!

Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like that of Lebanon.

You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.

Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, salamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices.

You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down form Lebanon.”

Beloved

“Awake, north wind, and come, south wind!

Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread abroad.

Let my lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.”

Song of Songs 5:1 - 8 2008 April 16^th for May 20^th

Lover:

“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.

I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk.”

Friends:

“Eat, O friends, and drink; drink your fill, O lovers.”

Beloved:

“I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My lover is knocking:

‘Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one.

My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of night.

I have taken off my robe – must I put it on again?

I have washed my feet – must I soil them again?

My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him.

I arose to open for my lover, and my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the lock.

I opened for my lover, but my lover had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure.

I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer.

The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city.

They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls!

O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you – if you find my lover,

what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.”

(I do not understand the seemingly cruel turn of events in this section at all.)

Song of Songs 5:8 – 16 2008 April 16^th for May 21^st

Friends:

“How is your beloved better than the others, most beautiful of women?

How is your beloved better than others, that you charge us so?”

Beloved:

“My lover is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.

His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves by the water streams,

washed in milk, mounted like jewels.

His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume.

His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.

His arms are rods of gold set with chrysolite.

His body is like polished ivory decorated with sapphires.

His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.

His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely.

This is my lover, this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”

Song of Songs 6 2008 April 21^st for May 22^nd

Friends:

“Where has your lover gone, most beautiful of women?

Which way did your lover turn, that we may look for him with you?”

Beloved:

“My lover has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices,

to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies.

I am my lover’s and my lover is mine; he browses among the lilies.”

Lover:

“You are beautiful my darling, as Tizrah, lovely as Jerusalem, majestic as troops with banners.

Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me.

Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing.

Each has its twin, not one of them is alone.

Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.

Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number;

but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her.

The maidens saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her.”

Friends:

“Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?”

Lover:

“I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley,

to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom.

Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.”

Friends:

“Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!”

Song of Songs 7 2008 April 18^th for May 23^rd

The discourse begins to get steamy:

Lover:

“Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim?

“How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince’s daughter!

Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman’s hands.

Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine.

Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies.

Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

Your neck is like an ivory tower.

Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim.

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.

Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. Your hair is like royal tapestry; the king is held captive by its tresses.

How beautiful you are and how pleasing, O love, with your delights!

Your stature is like that of the palm, and your breasts like clusters of fruit.

I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.’

May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples, and your mouth like the best wine.”

Beloved:

“May the wine go straight to my lover, flowing gently over lips and teeth.

I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me.

Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages.

Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded,

if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom – there I will give you my love.

The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy,

Both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my lover.”

(Recall that in the stories of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, mandrakes were aphrodisiacs.)

Song of Songs 8:1 – 7 2008 April 22^nd for May 26^th

The Beloved continues:

(This first verse seems to refer to the social custom at the time and place of this writing that it was inappropriate for married couples to show affection in public (“Public Display of Affection”) while it was acceptable for brothers.)

“If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother’s breasts!

Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house – she who has taught me.

I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.

His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me.

Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”

(This last saying seems to be needed every time it gets too steamy!)

Friends:

“Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover?”

Beloved:

“Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth.

Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm;

for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.

It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.

Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.

If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.”

(This last paragraph is more convincing support for monogamy to me than the “he is mine and I am his” verses elsewhere.)

Song of Songs 8:8 – 16 2008 April 22^nd for May 27^th

Friends:

“We have a young sister, and her breasts are not yet grown.

What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for?

If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her.

If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.”

Beloved:

“I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers.

Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.

Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; he let out his vineyard to tenants.

Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver.

But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.”

Lover:

“You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!”

Beloved:

“Come away, my lover, and be like a gazelle

or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains.”

Concluding Thoughts on Song of … Songs 2008 April 23^rd for May 28^th

Before beginning on my parting comments about “Solomon’s Song of Songs” (apparently it’s “official” name, although this is the first time I have ever seen it used) I took the unusual step of re-reading my opening remarks.

Let’s first look at some things I did not find.

I did not find allegory. Virtually anything can be read allegorically and it is a popular pass-time among literary critics and scholars to find allegory where authors have not put it. Aside from that, and the obvious citations from elsewhere (the church being referred to as “the Bride of Christ” and so forth) I do not see any obvious allegory here or any reason to think that this text addresses anything but the plain and obvious subject that it does.

I do not find strong support for the institution of marriage, although there are numerous instructions and warnings concerning exclusive faithfulness. Two notes on marriage here, however: Strong support for faithfulness and exclusivity can be taken as strong support for marriage because that would be the presumption of the culture. That being said, marriage in that culture, particularly a marriage with Solomon, is not the “one man one woman, solitary, monogamous marriage” that is supposedly the strength of our own culture and the fodder for Christian moralisms. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. It was a sign of wealth to him to be able to exceed monogamy. If this text reflects a specific relationship, it reflects only one of those thousand stories.

I do not find anything that appears to refer to anything but heterosexual relations. Again, this would be the cultural norm and assumption. As is the case many other places in the Bible, the text deals in detail with the norms and doesn’t delve into exceptions.

Here are some things I do find.

There is considerable courtship, verbal, physical, and aromatic.

The relationship between Lover, Beloved, and Friends says that physical love, though private and exclusive, is understood in the context of community.

Great pleasure and delight are taken in physical description, though the images sound strange, or even humorous to us. For example:

“Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing.”

These would have been powerful and pleasant images to these people.

The boundaries of pre-marital virginity, arousal, and exclusivity are described and clarified many times.

Readers will understand in their own humanity the feelings of physical pride and the rush of pairing depicted. They may also feel the pull to the natural countryside, gardens and trees, fragrances, connections to the place of their own conception and birth, and the imagery of fruit, desire, and satisfaction.

And, as always, there are some things I don’t understand.

The Beloved waits in anticipation. The Lover seems to be at the door then vanishes and cannot be found.

On one nocturnal journey, the Beloved eventually catches up with the Lover. On another she is injured by the night watchmen. This is not presented as an assault nor is the story completed. I have no idea what that is all about.

Song of Solomon was not as I remembered it from my first reading, as a teenager. The imagery strikes me differently today than it did then. As I thought might be the case, I found it too difficult and hazardous to paraphrase or summarize as I have in the other books. The expert English translators have struggled enough in their task of translating erotic poetry for me to do anything but damage in attempting to improve it further. Places that I understood and followed seemed obvious. Places that I did not understand, well, quoting them directly would do less damage, I reasoned.

It is good that this book is included in our Bible and the Hebrew Bible. Can we make anything of the fact that it comes to us from Solomon himself? Does that say that only in the most strong, prosperous, and peaceful times is there space in life for this level of pleasure and repose? Maybe not, Solomon was just a prolific poet and covered the most important topics: Proverbs and Ecclesiastes for wisdom, and this Song for the civilization of the elemental drive to procreation. After all, all of us here today come from a long line of people who procreated, without fail.

© 2008 Courtney B. Duncan.