I'm hoping to resurrect this thread.

Historically the Song of Songs was included in the Jewish canon because it was conjectured that the book was a love song between God and Israel allegorized in the relationship between Solomon and the Shunnamite woman. Christian scholarship took it the same way though qualifying that it was a love song sung from the Groom to the Bride.

Now I'm not sure if everyone is aware of this but it is to say the least a significant opinion among biblical scholars today that the Song of Solomon is actually a collection of love poems many of which were written by Solomon, and that it is not really a spiritual allegory between God and the Church. This is my opinion as well. You see for a time the book was kept far away from such ideas until recently when love poems of the same structure and content were found in the Middle East dating around the same time as the Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon shares in their form and content many similarities.

The Song is broken up into about 30 short poems, and there is no consistent narrative. There is certainly no consistent figurative narrative to be drawn out. It is decidedly romantic in its language and since it is romantic language between husband and wife it is undoubtably analogous to the Christ-Church romance on a certain level. But it cannot be said that the author of the book had a specific allegory in mind as there appears to have been at least a few other authors such as we see in Solomon's book Proverbs.

:wr50:

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Ian Brown
Attending Messiah's Covenant Community Church.
Student at Hunter College CUNY