“O Love, in (Your) Delights”
The Song of Songs 7:7-10a in the Light of the Ancient Near East (ANE)’s Background
Keywords:
Song of Songs, ANE, royal ideology, love traditions, wisdom
Abstract
The interpretation of the Song of Songs has a long history. The traditional Jewish and early Christian interpreters apply the allegory method to find a “spiritual” meaning. For example, they try to understand the Groom as the Lord and the Bride as Israel. Furthermore, early Christian tradition interprets the Groom as Jesus and the Bride as the Church. Nevertheless, in this article, we try to read the Song of Songs in other perspective by understanding it in the light of Ancient Near East (ANE)’s background. We will focus on the exegesis
and general analysis on Song 7:7-10a. This passage is a part of a big section of Song 6:4-7:11 (“New Songs of the Beloved Man”). Song 7:7-10a is an admiration-movement. We try to propose a new general structure of Song 7:7-10a and its meaning in the light of ANE’s background on royal ideology, temple, wisdom, promised land and love traditions.
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Barnstone, Willis. Sappho. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1965.
Behrens, Hermann. Enlil and Ninlil. Studia Phol, Series Maior 8. Rome:
Biblical Institute Press, 1978.
Bloch, Ariel – Bloch, Chana. The Song of Songs: A New Translation with an
Introduction and Commentary. Berkeley – Los Angeles – London: University
of California Press, 1995.
Botterweck, G. Johannes, et al. (eds). Theological Dictionary of The Old Testament
(Vol. XI). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000.
Brenner, Athalya. “The Food of Love: Gendered Food and Food Imagery
in the Song of Songs”, Semeia86 (1999): 101-112.
Bresciani, Edda. Letteratura e poesiadell’AnticoEgitto:I Millenni. Torino:
Einaudi, 1990.
Colombo, Dalmazio.CanticodeiCantici, NVB. Roma: Ed. Paoline, 1975.
Delitzsch, Franz. Proverb, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes (transl. by M. G.
EASTON). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978.
Elliot, MaryTimothea. The Literary Unity of the Canticle. EHS 23. Theology.
Vol. 137. Frankfurt – Bern – New York – Paris: Peter Lang, 1989.
Fox, Michael V.The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs.
London: SPCK, 1985.
Gibson, J. C. L. Canaanite Myths and Legends. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clarke
Ltd, 2nd Revised Edition, 1978.
Ginsberg, H. L. “The Legend of King Keret: A Canaanite Epic of the
Bronze Age.”In Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.
Supplementary Studies Nos. 2-3. Jerusalem – Baghdad – New Haven:
American Schools of Oriental Research, 1946.
Gordis, Robert. The Song of Songs and Lamentations: A Study, Modern Translation
and Commentary. New York: KTAV, 1974.
Graetz, Heinrich. Schir Ha-Scirimoder das salomonische Hohelied. Wien:
Wilhelm Braumuller,1871.
Hallo, W. W. – Younger, K. L. The Context of Scripture. Leiden – New
York: Brill, 1997.
James, Edwin Oliver. The Tree of Life: An Archaeological Study. Leiden:
Brill, 1966.
Joüon, Paul. Le Cantique de Cantiques: Commentaire philologique et exégétique.
Paris: Gabriel Beauchesne, 1909.
Keel, Othmar. Das Hohelied. ZBK. AT 18. Zürich: TheologischerVerlag, 1986.
142 Studia Philosophica et Theologica, Vol. 19 No. 2, Oktober 2019
Keel, Othmar. The Song of Songs: A Continental Commentary (transl. by F.
J. Gaiser). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 1994.
Kingsmill, Edmee. The Song of Songs and the Eros of God: A Study in Biblical
Intertextuality. Oxford: OUP Oxford, 2009.
Kramer, Samuel N. Enki and Nin+ursag: A Sumerian “Paradise” Myth.
Supplementary Studies no. 1. New Haven: American Schools of Oriental
Research, 1945.
Krinetzki, Günter, Kommentarzum Hohenlied: Bildsprache und theologische
Botschaft, BET 16. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1981.
Kronholm, T. “‘ânag”. in TDOT (Vol. XI). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
2000.
Mathieu, Bernard. La poésieamoureuse de l’ Égypte Ancienne: Recherche sur
un genre littéraire au Nouvel Empire. Cairo: Institut Français d’
Archéologie Orientale,1996.
Munro, J. M. Spikenard and Saffron: A Study in the Poetic Language of the
Song of Songs. JSOT 203. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1995.
Murphy, Roland E. The Song of Songs: A Commentary on the Book of Canticles
or the Song of Songs. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1990.
Nissinen, M. – URO, R. (eds.). Sacred Marriages: The Divine-Human Sexual
Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity. Winona Lake, IN:
Eisenbrauns, 2008.
Pope, Marvin H. Song of Songs: A New Translation with Introduction and
Commentary. New Haven – London: Yale University Press, 2008.
Pritchard, James B. (ed.). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to The Old
Testament. Princeton: Princeton University Press,3rd Revised Edition,
1969.
Ravasi, Gianfranco. Il Canticodei Cantici: Commento e Attualizzazione. Bologna:
Dehoniane, 1992.
Robert, A. – Tournay, R.; avec le concours de Feulliet, A. Le Cantique des
Cantiques: Traductionet Commentaire. EtB. Paris: l’Institut français d’
Archéologie de Beyrouth, 1963.
Salvaneschi, Enrica. Canticodei Cantici: Interpretatio Iudica. Genova: Il
Melangolo, 1982.
Simpson, William Kelly. (ed.). The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology
of Stories, Instructions, and Poetry. New Haven – London: Yale
University Press, 1973.
Stoop, P.W. T. – van Paridon. The Song of Songs: A Philological Analysis of the
Hebrew Book ANES, Supplement 17. Louvain – Paris –
Dudley, MA: Peeters Publishers, 2005.
Nikolas Kristiyanto, “O Love, In (Your) Delights” 143
White, J. B. A Study of the Language of Love in the Song of Songs and
Ancient Egyptian Poetry. SBLDS 38. Missoula, MT: Scholars Press,
1978.
Widengren, Geo. The King and the Tree of Life in Ancient Near Eastern Religion:
King and Saviour IV. Uppsala: Lundequist, 1951.
