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Song of Songs 8:11-12 Who is this really about?

Happy New Year,

As we finish wisdom literature and move on to prophetic, I hope you have been challenged by this unique style and the perspective of God that it brings.  It is certainly humbling to have truth that is hard to understand.  I think the prophetic will continue this process.

Blessings,

Jeff

Now that we are at the end of the book, I finally read the intro notes from the ESV study Bible.  "As noted above, perhaps no book in the biblical canon has had a greater diversity of interpretative strategies." Each of these strategies have difficulties.  The line taken by the ESV comments is that Solomon is not the husband of the Shulammite.  The couple are the unnamed shepherd and shepherdess. In her dream, Solomon is something like an idealized knight is shining armor.  It seems to me that this is most reasonable method.  This relatively poor couple are the "proper expression of human sexuality", not Solomon and his harem.  In this method, the marriage of the couple is consummated in chapter 8.  These two verses are a contrast between the value of Solomon's physical vineyards and the Shulamite's vineyard.  

To me, one of the benefits of this strategy  is that wealth and power are not the prerequisites for "proper expression of human sexuality".  The physical trappings of a royal litter and vineyards are not required for a fulfilling marriage.  In fact, it is the "common people" who best demonstrate the "one man - one woman - one lifetime" model.

So whichever way you understand this intriguing book, give some consideration to the other strategies.

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