Saturday, July 23, 2011

Song of Solomon

Read the Song of Solomon today. If you ask me, it's a bit of a letdown after the awesome Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. I don't really understand who's narrating half the time because it seems there's a female and a male narrator who keep switching off, talking about how much they love each other. You'd think there'd be some amazing verses full of gorgeous poetry, but nothing really stood out for me. It's only eight chapters long, though, so at least it doesn't drag like some of the earlier books that go on forever with the whole lineage of Jehosawhathisface thrown in for good measure.

Solomon is one of the less understood books in the Bible. Nobody knows who penned this one. According to Wikipedia it may have been Solomon himself, or some other person or people. Which pretty much means it could have been anyone. Whether it's literally a man and a woman talking, or whether it's supposed to be God and the people of Isreal (Jewish tradition) or Christ and the Church (Christian tradition), or something else entirely, also seems to remain a mystery.

I guess this is where people start arguing about the real meaning of the Bible, when you get to parts like this. Actually, I think it must be really interesting to be a biblical scholar and get to delve into the mysteries of this ancient text. Next is Isaiah. It's another longer one, so I hope it's as good as Proverbs. Not holding my breath though. I don't think I've heard any songs based on this book.

**NEXT: Isaiah

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