Song of Solomon explained OBJECTIVELY?

Question

I'm looking for a literal interpretation of the Songs of Solomon, not a church website/ biased interpretation. Much appreciated :)

I'm looking for a literal interpretation of the Songs of Solomon, not a church website/ biased interpretation. Much appreciated :)

In regard to this 'fish' person...
I myself am Christian, and I KNOW and fully appreciate the christian interpretation of the Song of Solomon, I just wanted to know both sides of the same coin.
Yeah, you're such a good Christian, aren't you- you insulted one of your own.

Answer 1

"The Song of Solomon or Song of Songs (Hebrew title שיר השירים, Shir ha-Shirim) is a book of the Hebrew Bible—Tanakh or Old Testament—one of the five megillot. It is also sometimes called by its title in the Vulgate, Canticum Canticorum, the "Canticle of Canticles." The title is later than the text [1]. The book consists of a cycle of poems about erotic love, largely in the form of a dialogue between a bridegroom and a bride. The Song of Solomon is not quoted by New Testament writers.

The text, read without allegory as a celebration of sexual love, appears to alternate between addressing a male object of affection and a female one. Some scholars suggest that the poems may be a series of antiphonal remarks and responses between a male and female pair, possibly created by one author rather than reflecting a genuine series of exchanged poems. Other scholars suggest that it is a collection of originally more independent poetry.

The name of the book comes from the first verse, "The Song of songs, which is of (or for) Solomon." Some believe the title "song of songs" attests to the greatness of the book. Rabbi Akiba declared, "Heaven forbid that any man in Israel ever disputed that the Song of Songs is holy. For the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy and the Song of Songs is holy of holies. (Mishnah Yadayim 3:5). Similarly, Martin Luther called it "das Hohelied," meaning, "the high song." [2]

Some people translate the second clause of the title as "which is of Solomon," meaning that the book is authored by Solomon. According to Jewish tradition, Solomon wrote three Biblical books, corresponding to three states in a man's life: Song of Songs, which expresses the lustful vigor of youth; Proverbs, which expresses the wisdom of maturity; and Ecclesiastes, which expresses the cynicism of old age. Others translate the second clause as "which is for Solomon," meaning that the book is dedicated to Solomon. Some read the book as contrasting the nobility of monogamous love with the debased nature of promiscuous love, and suggest that the book is actually a veiled criticism of Solomon, who is said to have had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.

Although the book never mentions God by name, an allegorical interpretation justified its inclusion in the Biblical canon.[citation needed] According to Jewish tradition in the Midrash and the Targum, it is an allegory of God's love for the Children of Israel. In Christian tradition that began with Origen, it is allegory for the relationship of Christ and the Church or Christ and the individual believer (see the Sermons on the Song of Songs by Bernard of Clairvaux). This type of allegorical interpretation was applied later to even passing details in parables of Jesus. It is also heavily used in Sufi poetry.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest denomination in Joseph Smith restorationism, does not recognize the Song of Solomon as authoritative [3], although it is included in the Church's canon and printed in Church-published copies of the Bible.

Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) of 2006 refers to the Song of Songs in both its literal and allegorical meaning, stating that erotic love (eros) and self-donating love (agape) is shown there as the two halves of true love, which is both giving and receiving.

Black Madonnas illustrate a line in the Song of Songs 1:5: "I am black, but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem ..." This is inscribed in Latin on some: Nigra sum sed formosa. It is clear that the inscription was there from the beginning.

(Compare Ps. 45; Isa. 54:4-6; 62:4, 5; Jer. 2:2; 3:1, 20; Ezek. 16; Hos. 2:16, 19, 20. Compare also Matt. 9:15; John 3:29; Eph. 5:23, 27, 29; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2, 9; 22:17.)"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_Solomon

Answer 2

The occasion for its writing was a unique one. The great king Solomon, glorious in wisdom, mighty in power, and dazzling in the luster of his material wealth, which evoked the admiration even of the queen of Sheba, could not impress a simple country girl with whom he fell in love. Because of the constancy of her love for a shepherd boy, the king lost out.

The book, therefore, could rightly be called The Song of Solomon’s Frustrated Love. Jehovah God inspired him to compose this song for the benefit of Bible readers of the ages to follow. He wrote it in Jerusalem. Perhaps this was about 1020 B.C.E., some years after the temple had been completed.

By the time he wrote the song, Solomon had “sixty queens and eighty concubines,” compared with “seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines” at the end of his reign.

Moreover, its powerful portrayal of the exquisite quality of mutual love, such as exists, in a spiritual sense, between Christ and his “bride,” marks The Song of Solomon for its unique place in the Bible canon.

Answer 3

It's traditionally been understood (albeit most sermons are pretty quiet about it) to refer to the male lover using his hand to touch his partner's body ... some think it means putting his fingers into her vagina, some think it means stroking her clitoris. The Hebrew Bible is VASTLY less prudish than any of the English translations of it, as scholars have known for centuries. This is just one of the passages where that frank quality of the Hebrew text comes a little closer to the surface for readers of the English bible. The really bizarre thing is that anyone should find this kind of reference offensive. Who created human bodies to be able to give and receive pleasure this way? To the pure, all things are pure. And to those for whom these things are dirty, they betray their own hearts.

Answer 4

The two main interpretations I know of are these:

He was writing them to his love, the Queen of Sheba, who is said to have been the great love of his life.

He is writing about the relationship of G-d with Israel.

Answer 5

It is simply a love poem. It is attributed to King David about Sheba but that is probably not so. THere are lessons to be lerarned from it in a spiritual context. This is how God loves/persues us and how we should love/persue God.

Answer 6

Read it and use your half-blind intelect to figure it out. Without the church, you cannot understand Solomon.

Answer 7

It's a love poem. It's about love between a man and woman.

Answer 8

There's one here:

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/sofs/1.html

Answer 9

its the biggest love letter ever written i think

Answer 10

try the message bible