The poem is supposed to describe the bond of love between the two, from the lirst uiouieiit of mutual burning passion ^1~2^, and mutual seeking and Ilndinjj (^^-S^J, down to the reahzation of the desire for love in the marriajre union (3tt-5i); and then, a(t«r a passing estrangi-inent, the mutual return (62-6^), tile praise of the cnanus and beauty of the bride now raised to be queen (61*'-S^), and the confiniiing of the love covenant ij> tht home of the Shulammite (!;'■'■'). Delitzsch, however, finos in the whole poem a deeper idea expressed. He says (Cornm,^ p. 6): 'the Shuiamniite is a historical person . , ". a country maiden of lowly rank, who by her physical beauty and purity of soul awakened in Solomon a love which elevated him above the wantonness of polyL^amy, and gave him a personal experi- ence of the Paradise idea of marriage as this is expressed in Gn 223f- with reference to the first created woman. It is this personal experience that he celebrates, at the same time ideal- izing it in the manner of poets by stripping off the husk of all that is accidental, and presenting the kernel and essence. . . . The Song is a protest against polygamy, although only to the extent that one could expect from the Mosaic standpoint.' He finds in the Song a reflexion of the /-t'-yct fiurri.piov of Eph 532. But he claims for it, not only a historical and ethical but also a tyT>ico-mystical significance. Solomon is to him a type of Christ, and accordingly he sees in the love relations between Solomon and the Shulammite * the mysteries of the love of Christ and His people shadowed forth ' (p. 5), remarking at the same time that the typical exegesis must bear in mind that t>Te and antiti-pe do not exactly coincide, and the miintiral that 'the heavenly stomps itself, indeed, upon the earthly, and yet is poles asunder from it.'^Von Orelli differ* from Delitzsch only in so far as he holds the subject of the Song to be ' not marriage as a permanent bond and condition, t)ut betrothed love winch finds simply its climax and goal in the marriage union ' {I.e. p. 252). Accordingly in Si^Sl, upon his view, there cannot be already an allusion to the marriage union, as Delitzsch holds. In his t.vTiical view of the Song Orelli is otherwise essentially at one with DeUtzsch {I.e. p. 24'J>.
Apart from the fact that such exegesis as the above is dominated by considerations supposed to be involved in the history of revelation, there are serious objections to the view that there are only two principal persons in the Song, and to the idenlifj'ing of the sliephero with the king. Above all, it is bard lo comprehend how the Shulammite, even after lier marriage has taken place, should continue to treat and to address the king as sheplierd, and should even inquire (1*) where he pastures his flocks. To discover 'an essential feature of tlie spiritual beauty ' of the Song in the circumstance 'that the ideal virgin loves him, not as king, but loves in him the shepherd, and longs to share with him the innocent simplicity of her former manner of life, a desire to which he joyfully yields,' is possible, hideed, but in the highest degree unnatural, and may be regarded rather as an outcome of a mystical deepening of the sense of the Song than as the result of a sober interpretation of the actual words of the text.
Far more support has been accorded, and rightly BO, we consider, to the view represented above all by Ewald. According to it, besides Solomon, the kmg who is courting the love of the Shulammite, we must distinguish a .shepherd who was the real object of her passion, and the beloved of her heart.
The fascinatingly beautiful Shulammite is supposed to have been met by the king on the occasion of a tour of his in the north of his kingdom (OH^-), and placed in his harem. The king seeks by enticing flattering speeches to win her love, but from the very first nieetiiig (ch. 1) she gives him to understand to whom her heart belongs. While tiie king then presses her with ever renewed words of love ami admiration, the emotion of love thus stirred within her pours itself forth in words addressed to her lover far away. Nay, in the intensity of her feelings, she imagines she sees him come from afar to her prison, she hears his words meant for her (2^^"- J""'- .'»-"■), and In a dream seeks for him by night in the streets (SUf b'^f). Even the prospect of becoming the favourite xvifo of the splendid monarch cannot shake her fidelity to her absent lover, and even when the king Imagines he has gained bis point she remains firm, and refuses to ent^'rtain tlic idea ot allowing any one to enjoy her love but the object of her heart's affections (SQ-f)**). A last attempt of Solomon to win her heart fails (chs. a. 7). finally, the king magiianimouslv gives her back her liberty, and in her home in union with tier beloved shepherd she finds the consummation of her bappiness. Ob
492
SONG OF SONGS
SONG OF SONGS
this view, the Sontr reaches its ideal goal in the impassioned eulo^ium on true, pure love in ^^^■.*