Wisdom Features in the Song of Songs

Chapter 5 Wisdom Features in the Song of Songs

The diversity of the wisdom literature leads one to expect a multiplicity of liter- ary conventions and genres. Job has been described as philosophical dialogue or lament, Qoheleth as confession, and Proverbs as aphorism and instruction collections.1 Yet all are interested in “wisdom” and display form and content typical of ane advice literature. Since we see multiple genres among the biblical wisdom books we cannot say that the Song’s genre, as love poetry, excludes it from the corpus. We must look at the pervasiveness of wisdom forms and themes and whether they are determinate for the focus, subject matter, and structure of the text in question, to determine the relationship between the Song of Songs and wisdom. Let us return to Weeks’s idea of a graph with “formal” and “thematic” axes. If we assign coordinates to a book under consideration, like the Song of Songs, as well as the generally accepted wisdom books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job, then this should show us where the Song would fall in relation to the area where the wisdom books cluster. Again, “however thematically similar, [a] text will never be wisdom literature without the right form to place it near that zone, and however formally similar, a different theme will still pull it to one edge.”2 Let us now look at what coordinates the Song would have on this type of graph by surveying its formal and thematic wisdom features.

1 Forms

As discussed in the previous chapter, along the “formal” axis of this graph we would place proverbs and instructions, as the primary forms in ane advice literature, as well as didactic poems, allegory/fable, hymn/prayer, lists, Stre- itgespräch or dialogue and autobiographical confession/didactic narrative poetry.3 We will now look at how many of these forms are found in the Song of Songs.

1 Crenshaw, “Wisdom,” 47. cf. Fox, “Theses,” 83; Dell, “Boundaries,” 148, 156. 2 Weeks, Introduction, 143. 3 These categories are based on frequent forms found in ane wisdom literature. Instructions have been added to Crenshaw’s (“Wisdom,” 47) list of forms, as they are a primary form in ane wisdom literature. Riddles have been omitted, as they do not occur in pure form in the biblical wisdom books. One could argue that the Song examines the riddle of love (and

1.1 The Mashal of Songs 8:6–7 As discussed, there were two central forms in advice literature in the ane grounded in different kinds of authority; the first was the proverb or mashal.4 Proverbs expressed common truths, were used to draw parallels between situ- ations and derived their authority from their generally accepted currency. The efficacy of a proverb depended on what it communicated but also the way that it communicated it, so that it acquired popularity and circulation by em- bodying common experience and a memorable choice of words.5 Using the standard form of two-line parallelism, proverbs either observe or reflect on an experience, or are didactic advocating a principle, belief or standard of behaviour.6 As Dell notes, their content is often characterized by “analogies between nature and human experience in an attempt not only to further understanding but also to master life by noting regular patterns.”7 The proverbial saying or mashal in Songs 8:6–7 expresses a common experience with memorable words. Those who have been in love truly know that love is as strong as death, jealousy as unyielding as the grave and that it burns like an unquenchable mighty flame. It derives its effectiveness from what it communicates as well as the way that it communicates it. It exhibits the char- acteristics that Eissfeldt argued define the mashal: metrical form and rhythmic structure, parallelismus membrorum (in this case, synonymous parallelism), consonantal and vocalic assonance, a terse and vivid style and general truth made clear with images and examples.8 It is openly didactic, promoting the value of mutual exclusive commitment because of the risk one is taking in unleashing these emotions. It illustrates one of the most common but impor- tant experiences in human relationships, drawing analogies between nature and the experience of humans in love, in an attempt to help readers further understand, and therefore master love by noting a regular pattern: those who awaken love encounter powerful forces of emotion. The mashal in 8:6–7 teaches a general truth about love, which the entire book displays through the actions of its characters. It is the climax or “summa”

there is precedent for this in Prov 30:18–19), just as Job investigates the riddle of suffering and Qohelet the riddle of human existence (see Michael Sadgrove, “The Song of Songs as Wisdom Literature” StudBib [1978]: 247). Yet, this is a thematic interpretation of “riddle.” It does not occur as a form in the biblical wisdom books. Von Rad (Wisdom, 35–50) notes the following forms are characteristic of didactic poetry: long didactic poems, fable and allegory, numeri- cal sayings or lists, dialogue, autobiographical stylization, didactic narrative, and prayers. 4 Weeks, Introduction, 3–4. 5 Weeks, Introduction, 4. 6 Murphy, Tree, 7–8. 7 Dell, Get Wisdom, 15. 8 Eissfeldt, Maschal, 48–52; Tromp, “Wisdom,” 92.