Song of Songs 3

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Song of Songs 3
Four thousand years of Jewish history come to life in Arthur Szyk's Visual History of Israel, completed in 1948, depicting, among others, King Solomon (top right), shown holding a copy of 'Song of Songs'.
BookSong of Songs
CategoryKetuvim
Christian Bible partOld Testament
Order in the Christian part22

Song of Songs 3 (abbreviated[where?] as Song 3) is the third chapter of the Song of Songs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.[1][2] This book is one of the Five Megillot, a collection of short books, together with Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther, within the Ketuvim, the third and the last part of the Hebrew Bible.[3] Jewish tradition views Solomon as the author of this book (although this is now largely disputed), and this attribution influences the acceptance of this book as a canonical text.[3] This chapter contains a female song about her search for her lover at night and the poem describing King Solomon's procession.[4]

Text[edit]

The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 11 verses.

Textual witnesses[edit]

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century),[a] and Codex Leningradensis (1008).[6] Some fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls: 4Q106 (4QCanta); 30 BCE-30 CE; extant verses 3–5, 7–11), 4Q107 (4QCantb); 30 BCE-30 CE; extant verses 1–2, 5, 9–11), and 4Q108 (4QCantc); 30 BCE-30 CE; extant verses 7–8).[7][8][9]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).[10]

Structure[edit]

New King James Version (NKJV) groups this chapter into:

Female: Search and seizure (3:1-5)[edit]

The first part of this chapter is "a tightly constructed song" of the female protagonist, describing how she looks for her lover at night (or in a dream) in the city streets, until she finds him and brings him into her mother's house.[11] The setting of this poem progresses from the woman's bed (verse 1) to the public areas of the city (verses 2-4b) and finally to the privacy of her mother's bedroom (verses 4c-5).[12] It closes with the second appeal to the 'daughters of Jerusalem'.[11]

Verse 1[edit]

On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not.[13]

"By night" (Hebrew: בלילות, ba-lê-lō-wṯ[14]) can be read as "nightly" or "night after night":[15][16] the word "refers to more nights than one".[17] The woman had expected her lover to return "before dawn";[18] Hudson Taylor notes that she might have regretted "lightly dismiss[ing] Him, with the thought: A little later I may enjoy His love ... Poor foolish bride!"[19]

Verse 5[edit]

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.[20]

The names of God are apparently substituted with similar sounding phrases depicting 'female gazelles' (צְבָא֔וֹת, tseḇā’ōṯ) for [God of] hosts (צבאות tseḇā’ōṯ), and 'does of the field'/'wild does/female deer' (אילות השדה, ’ay-lōṯ ha-śā-ḏeh) for God Almighty (אל שדי, ’êl shaddai).[22]

Male: Marriage scene (3:6-11)[edit]

This section starts a poetic exposition of love and marriage which form the core of the book (Song 3:6-5:1).[23] Hess applies these six verses to the man,[24] whereas Fox prefers the daughter of Jerusalem as the speakers,[25] and the New King James Version assigns them to "the Shulamite" (= the woman).[26]

Solomon is the focus of this section, as his name is mentioned three times (verses 7, 9 and 11), and the suffix 'his' (-o) refers to him once in verse 7, another in verse 9 and four times in the second part of verse 11.[24] The last word of this part is 'his heart' (libbo), referring directly to the essential aspect of King Solomon and the most relevant to the whole love poem.[24] The mention of Solomon's mother in verse 11 is in line with the focus on mothers in the book, both the woman's (1:6; 3:4; 6:9; 8:1, 2) and the man's (8:5).[27]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Since 1947 the current text of Aleppo Codex is missing Song of Songs 3:11, after the word ציון ("Zion"), to the end.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Halley 1965, p. 278.
  2. ^ Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
  3. ^ a b Brenner 2007, p. 429.
  4. ^ Brenner 2007, pp. 430–431.
  5. ^ P. W. Skehan (2003), "BIBLE (TEXTS)", New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 2 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 355–362
  6. ^ Würthwein 1995, pp. 36–37.
  7. ^ Ulrich, Eugene, ed. (2010). The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants. Brill. pp. 740–742. ISBN 9789004181830. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  8. ^ Dead sea scrolls - Song of Songs.
  9. ^ Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (2008). A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 42. ISBN 9780802862419. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  10. ^ Würthwein 1995, pp. 73–74.
  11. ^ a b Brenner 2007, p. 430.
  12. ^ Longman 2001, p. 127.
  13. ^ Song 3:1 MEV
  14. ^ Hebrew Text Analysis: Song of Solomon 3:1. Biblehub
  15. ^ a b Coogan 2007, p. 962 Hebrew Bible.
  16. ^ Song of Songs 3:1: New Catholic Bible
  17. ^ Harper, A. (1902), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Song of Solomon 3, accessed 12 January 2023
  18. ^ Song 2:17: Living Bible
  19. ^ Taylor, H. (1893), Union and Communion, or Thoughts on the Song of Solomon, 1997 edition retyped by Kathy Sewell, page 15, accessed 12 January 2023
  20. ^ Song 3:5 NKJV
  21. ^ Note [a] on Song 3:5 in NKJV
  22. ^ Bergant 2001, p. 26.
  23. ^ Hess 2005, p. 36.
  24. ^ a b c Hess 2005, p. 116.
  25. ^ Fox, Song, p. 119, apud Hess 2005, p.116
  26. ^ Song 3:6 NKJV
  27. ^ Exum 2005, p. 141.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]