The Song of Songs in Jewish and Christian Liaterature

The Song of Songs
in Jewish & Christian Literature

International Symposium, Athens 19.10.2016
Edited by: S. Despotis – K. Kefalea
ATHENS 2019
“The Song of Songs in Jewish and Christian Literature”
Symposium in Athens, Greece, 19. 10. 2016
Edited by: Professor Dr. Sotirios Despotis
Associate Professor Kyriaki (Kirki) Kefalea
Dr. Panagiotis Stamatopoulos
ISBN 978-618-84068-1-0
(αρχικές σέλιδές τόμόυ)
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Preface
This volume contains the proceedings of the Symposium “The Song of Songs in Jewish and
Christian Literature”, which took place in Athens on October 10, 2016. Dr. A. Akridas took the
initiative of organizing this gathering of both upcoming and renowned scholars and it was with
great pride that the Faculty of Social Theology and the Study of Religion of the National and
Kapodistrian University of Athens placed it under its auspices.
The research presented is of high caliber and reflects the Song of Song’s importance and
influence on a diachronic scope, as it commences with articles discussing its origins and
similarities to other Near and Middle Eastern texts and follows its unique journey in Judaism,
Christianity, and Modern Greek literature. To offer the reader the experience of the dynamics
of juxtaposing the various interdisciplinary topics, we retained the original order in which the
papers were presented, following the program of the Symposium; we strongly believe that this
will facilitate the readers in contextualizing the important journey of an ancient text from its
inception to its reception in the 20th century and each speaker’s contribution. The Symposium’s
original program can be found on page 7.
As the articles represent many scientific disciplines, we made the editorial decision to minimize
the use of abbreviations and present the majority of them in their full form, so as to aid readers
in identifying sources they might be unfamiliar with. It is our hope that this interdisciplinary
approach motivates more scholars in a productive dialogue across the fields of humanities.
After all, biblical texts are interconnected islands in a sea of texts that have shaped Western
civilization; to limit hermeneutical approaches to a specific timeframe is to negate their very
core and aim, which is to be experienced in Synagogues, Churches, and, most importantly,
everyday life.
Professor Dr. Sotirios Despotis

Dr. Panagiotis Stamatopoulos
THE PROGRAM OF THE CONFERENCE
18.15: Prof. Dr. Sotirios Despotis – Dr. P. Stamatopoulos, National and Kapodistrian University
of Athens, Intertextuality between two “forbidden” holy books: Song of Songs and Revelation
18.30 – 19.15: Prof. Dr. Hermann Lichtenberger, Universitat Tubingen, The Song of Songs in
Qumran
19.15 – 19.30: Dr. Anastasios Akridas, The “Body – Description”-Motif in the Song of Songs
(Song 4:1-6; 5:10-16; 7:2-10)
19.40 – 20. 00: Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Zarras, National and Kapodistrian University of
Athens, ‫( * ֶׁ֤שאָ הֲ בָ ה֙֙נ ְַפ ִׁ֔שי‬Song 1:7): Its Growth and Elaboration in Later Jewish Texts
20.00-20.15 Dr. Nikolaos Kouremenos, Some Remarks on the Coptic Version of the Song of
Songs
20.15-20.30: Prof. Dr. Kirki Kefalea, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, The Song
of Songs in Modern Greek Poetry
CONTENTS
Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Contents ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Prof. Dr. Sotirios Despotis – Dr. P. Stamatopoulos
Intertextual relationships between the Song of Songs and Revelation: The convergence of two
“forbidden” texts ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Prof. Dr. Hermann Lichtenberger
The Song of Songs in the Dead Sea Scrolls ...................................................................................................... 21
Dr. Anastasios Akridas
The “Body – Description” motif in the Song of Songs (4:1-7; 5:10-16; 7:2-10) ................................ 33
Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Zarras
‫ה֙נ ְַפ ִׁ֔שי‬
֙ ‫( שֶׁ֤אָ הֲ ָב‬Song 1:7): Its Growth and Elaboration in Later Jewish Texts ................................... 43
Prof. Dr. Kirki Kefalea
The Song of Songs in Modern Greek Poetry ................................................................................................... 51
Dr. Nikolaos Kouremenos
Some remarks on the reception of the Song of Songs in Coptic literature ......................................... 61
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Sotirios Despotis & Panagiotis Stamatopoulos
INTERTEXTUAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE SONG OF SONGS AND REVELATION: THE

CONVERGENCE OF TWO “FORBIDDEN” TEXTS
Introductory Remarks
Although the Song (Τὸ Ἆισμα τῶν Ἀισμάτων, τὸ τοῦ Σολομῶντος 1:1) 1 and Revelation
(Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ 1:1)2 were popular among the early Christians3 and have served
as inspiration and central motif in countless literary works through the centuries, at the same
time have remained absent in the official rituals and worship of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Yet Revelation, with its dramatic structural narrative and its hymns – especially in the scenes of
heavenly worship – was inspired on a Sunday4. It blesses the one who reads and those who hear
the words of this prophecy and keep1 what is written in it, because the time is near! (1:3 5 ).
Furthermore, on the basis of the aforementioned verse (1:3) and 22:20, we can conclude that it
was even narrated that specific day by an experienced lecturer before the celebration of the
Eucharist, which commemorates not only the Cross and the Resurrection, but also the Parousia
/ Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The message of this book is ἐξέλθατε ὁ λαός μου ἐξ αὐτῆς ἵνα
μὴ συγκοινωνήσητε ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐκ τῶν πληγῶν αὐτῆς ἵνα μὴ λάβητε (18:4)6.
The Song, a “sung drama” according to Origen (Prologus - Homiliae in Canticum Canticorum,
1.1), a memory of the Exodus, a revival of God’s marriage to His people who diachronically
“flirts” with “Egyptian idols”, is still heard in the Synagogue during Pesach and / or Shabbat7. If
1For a current and comprehensive overview of the Song’s reception, and especially the Shiur Qomah, see A. Akridas,
Η παράδοση Σιούρ Κομά (Shiur Qomah): Αφορμές και στοιχεία αυτής σε κείμενα της αρχαίας Εγγύς Ανατολής, στο
Άσμα Ασμάτων, σε ιουδαϊκά και χριστιανικά έργα (Athens: Ph.D. Dissertation - National and Kapodistrian University
of Athens, 2019).
2Fora verse to verse commentary on Revelation, see S. Despotis, Ἡ Ἀποκάλυψη τοῡ Ἰωάννη: Ἑρμηνευτική
Προσέγγιση στὸ Βιβλίο τῆς Προφητείας - τόμ. Α΄ (Ἀθήνα: Ἀθως, 2005) and S. Despotis, Ἡ Ἀποκάλυψη τοῡ
Ἰωάννη: Tὸ βιβλίο τῆς Προφητείας - Λειτουργική καὶ Συγχρονική Ἑρμηνευτική Προσέγγιση - τόμ. Β΄ (Ἀθήνα:
Ἀθως, 2007), 328-334.
3Justin the Martyr (Dialogus cum Tryphone has many references to the book of Revelation. See ch. 81) attests
to Revelation’s widespread use and the treatises on the Song by Ecclesiastical writers and Fathers of the
Church (Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, allusions in Philokalia) indicate a profound interest. E. Scarvelis-
Constantinou, Andrew of Caesarea and the Apocalypse in the Ancient Church of the East. Part 1: Studies on the
Apocalypse Commentary of Andrew of Caesarea. Part 2: Translation of the Apocalypse Commentary of Andrew
of Caesarea (Quebec: Ph.D. Dissertation - Universite Laval, 2008), 51-63.
4 Rev 1:10 “έγένόμήν έν πνέυματι έν τῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ και ήκόυσα όπισω μόυ φωνήν μέγαλήν ως σαλπιγγός”.
5 Holman Christian Standard Bible. Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers.
6 Unless otherwise noted, we are using the King James Version (KJV) for the English translations. The Greek
text of the New Testament is that of E. Nestle, K. Aland et al. (eds.), Novum Testamentum Graece (Stuttgart:
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 201228) and the LXX edition is that of A. Rahlfs, & R. Hanhart (eds.) Septuaginta:
id est, Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes - Editio altera (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft,
2006). All references to PG are from J. P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus. Series Graeca (Parisiis: Garnier
Fratres, 1866).
7It is dubious whether the book was incorporated in the Synagogue’s worship in the 1st century AD. Esther is
read during the celebration of Purim, the Song at Pesach (Passover) and Ruth at the celebration of the
beginning of the harvest (Shavuot – “Πέντήκόστή”). This is how a “female” contrast to the Law is created,
although both their patterns remain the same: salvation – atonement – the quest for and finding of God, even
11
the Song is interpreted as a motivation for a new exodus, a return from “exile” and a revival of
the “honeymoon” motif, then it is quite reminiscent of the thematic thread which is permeated
through all of the eschatological drama of the Revelation (18:4), a book that commences with
the Doxology of the Ecclesia on the earth: Τῷ ἀγαπῶντι ἡμᾶς (1:5). But it should also be noted
that according to Origen, even in Synagogue, the Song, along with (a) the primeval history (Gen
1-3) and (b) the introduction (ch.1: Merkabah) and ending of Ezekiel (ch. 39-50: new Temple),
was called deuterosis and was read only when the Jew (who would begin reading the Torah with
Leviticus) would reach the prime age of 25 years8. It is striking that all these deuteroseis play a
prominent role in the Drama of Revelation9. It should be also noted that, from the time of Cyril
of Jerusalem (Catechisms III.8.16), the wedding Song is related to baptism (the end of a long
period of catechism), echoes of which may be seen in Revelation (1:5-6: και λ[o]ύσαντι ήμας έκ
των αμαρτιων ήμων έν τω αιματι αυτόυ, και έπόιήσέν ήμας βασιλέιαν, ιέρέις τω θέω και πατρι
αυτόυ).
In this study, we shall focus on the two possible allusions - echoes of the Song of Songs found in
structurally important positions of the Revelation: (a) In the conclusion of the first septet of the
Epistles which is introduced by the majestic revelation of Jesus Christ as the Son of Man (1:9
and passim). (b) At the end of Revelation (and the Christian Bible). The two echoes also appear
in the chapters framing the eschatological core of Ἀπόκαλυψις (ch. 4-21), which are
predominantly connected to the Communities that the book is addressed to. We emphasise the
word “possible”, as John does not quote (except in one instance: Rev 2: 27 = Ps 2:9) directly
books of the Holy Scripture10, despite the fact that he is well-versed in the biblical symbolic
though the Yahweh does not always intervene drastically: in his interventions, there is the fervour of love
(Song) and doubt (Qohelet).
8 According to Origen and Gregory the Nazianzus (Origen, Prologus - Commentarius in Canticum Canticorum,
1.6-8. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes, II.48). See PG 35.456-7: “Ἑβραιων μέν όυν όι σόφωτέρόι λέγόυσιν͵ ως
αρα ήν τις παλαι νόμός Ἑβραιόις͵ έν τόις μαλιστα έυ έχων και έπαινόυμένός͵ μή πασαν ήλικιαν πασῇ Γραφῇ
ένδιδόσθαι· μήδέ γαρ έιναι τόυτό λυσιτέλέστέρόν͵ ότι μήδέ πασαν έυθέως έιναι παντι λήπτήν͵ καὶ τὰ μέγιστα
ἂν τοὺς πολλοὺς κακῶσαι τῷ φαινομένῳ͵ τὴν βαθυτέραν· αλλα τας μέν απ΄ αρχής ανέισθαι πασι και έιναι
κόινας͵ ων και τό σωματικόν όυκ αδόκιμόν· τας δέ μή αλλόις ή τόις ὑπὲρ εἰκοστὸν καὶ πέμπτον γέγόνόσιν
έτός πιστέυέσθαι͵ όσαι δι΄ έυτέλόυς τόυ ένδυματός τὸ μυστικὸν κάλλος περικαλύπτουσιν͵ αθλόν φιλόπόνιας
και λαμπρόυ βιόυ͵ μόνόις τόις κέκαθαρμένόις τόν νόυν υπαστραπτόν και φανταζόμένόν͵ ως μόνής
δυναμένής τής ήλικιας ταυτής υπέρ τό σωμα γένέσθαι͵ καὶ ἀναβῆναι καλῶς ἐπὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ἀπὸ τοῦ γράμματος”.
For a comprehensive presentation on the reception and interpretation of the Song in the Ancient Christian
Church see M. W. Elliott, The Song of Songs and Christology in the early church 381-451 (Tubingen: Mohr
Siebeck, 2000), especially pp. 15-50. For a comprehensive discussion on deuterosis see R. Pritz, Nazarene
Jewish Christianity: from the end of the New Testament period until its disappearance in the fourth century
(Jerusalem; Leiden: Magnes Press, Hebrew University; E.J. Brill, 19923), 65-8. Deuterosis should be
understood in the context given by Bowman: “More informative is Justinian’s edict (Novella 146 (553))
banning the teaching of the deuterosis, which should be understood to be the oral tradition in addition to the
Mishnah. That ban stemmed from an internal Jewish quarrel over the language to use in the reading of the
Torah. (Most likely Greek Jewry followed the Palestinian triennial cycle of Torah portions with extensive
midrashic exposition.) Apparently, there had been a migration of Hebrew literate scholars to Constantinople
who demanded that the Torah be read publicly in Hebrew” S. Bowman, "Greece, Practice of Judaism in
(Byzantine Period)", in A. J. Avery-Peck & W. S. Green (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Judaism - Vol. IV (Leiden;
Boston; Koln: Brill, 2000), 1766.
9 Revelation is often interpreted as a “rereading” of the book of Ezekiel due to their many similarities B.
Kowalski, Die Johannesoffenbarung im Kanon der Bibel. Ein neu geschriebener Ezechiel. Bibel und Kirche, 67
(2012), 78-84 . On the concept of rereading (“relecture” in French) and its origin in Jewish hermeneutical
principles see J. Fekkes, Isaiah and prophetic traditions in the book of Revelation: visionary antecedents and
their development (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994), 285.
10An exception is Rev 2:27, which is a direct quote from Ps 2:9. The text of the Psalms reads “πόιμανέις αυτόυς
έν ραβδω σιδήρα, ως σκέυός κέραμέως συντριψέις αυτόυς” (2:9), while Rev 2:27 changes the morphology of
12
language 11 . The prophet of the Apocalypse uses several biblical pre-texts and creatively
transforms them (Sättigung – Einschmelzung - Transformation 12 ) in order to convey the
significance of resistance –under pain of death– from bowing to the Beast.
Rev 3:20 // Song 5:2

At the end the first septet of the Epistles, the listener is intrigued and stimulated with the self-
depiction of Jesus, who, out of respect to the freedom of the subject (as opposed to the advocates
of Pax Romana), knocks on the door (3:20), not to disappear as the Bridegroom does in the
Wedding Song, but to dine personally with each faithful servant, thus elevating him or her to
the same level as Himself and the Father13. This scene is followed by John’s ascension to (the
one) heaven, the depiction of the heavenly Temple - Palace and the portrayal of Him who sits
on the throne, accompanied by a group of 24 Elders and 4 living creatures14. The Unnamed is
even described with gemstone glitter (4:3). With the reception of the sealed book by Jesus
Christ, who is also described as the Lamb, commences the eschatological drama.
The scene of the knocking on the door is also found at a very characteristic part of the Song: at
its core (5:2). It then follows the bridegroom’s search in Jerusalem and the descriptions of the
beauty of the protagonists, as precious materials and physical locations of beauty – “gardens of
Eden” (Song 5:8-16 and 7:1-13 respectively) 15 . We cannot assume that this intertextual
connection to the thematic core of the Song, found at the end of the Epistles in Revelation, is
the verbs, while retaining God as the subject (πόιμανέι) or implied agent of the second verb: “και πόιμανέι
αυτόυς έν ραβδω σιδήρα ως τα σκέυή τα κέραμικα συντριβέται”.
11Swete’s seminal commentary on Revelation (1906) contains an excursus that demonstrates the literary
affinity of John to the Old Testament, noting that “no writer of the Apostolic age makes larger use of his
predecessors […] it appears that of the 404 verses of the Apocalypse there are 278 which contain references
to the Jewish Scriptures”. See H.B. Swete (ed.), The Apocalypse of St John: the Greek text with introduction, notes
and indices (London; New York: Macmillan, 19062), cxxxv.
12 Cp. M. Labahn, "Die Septuaginta und die Johannesapokalypse: Moglichkeiten und Grenzen einer
Verhaltnisbestimmung im Spiegel von kreativer Intertextualitat und Textentwicklungen", in J. Frey, J. A.
Kelhoffer, & F. Toth (eds.), Die Johannesapokalypse: Kontexte, Konzepte, Rezeption (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck,
2012), 149-190, and here, 150: the author of Revelation, being bilingual and using memorization techniques,
is not quoting directly from the text, but creatively incorporates biblical motifs in his work. It is possible that
his pre-text was a Greek translation. See also L. T. Stuckenbruck & M. D. Mathews, "The Apocalypse of John, 1
Enoch, and the Question of Influence", in J. Frey, J. A. Kelhoffer, & F. Toth (Eds.), Die Johannesapokalypse:
Kontexte, Konzepte, Rezeption (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), 191-233. Another passage that emphasises
the connection to Ezekiel (Gog and Magog) is Rev 19:17-21, as well as 20:7-10. See S. Bøe, Gog and Magog:
Ezekiel 38-39 as pre-text for Revelation 19,17-21 and 20,7-10 (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001). Osborne
maintains that “John is fully cognizant of the context behind his allusions […] (he) transforms them by
applying them to the new apocalyptic situation”. See G. R. Osborne, Revelation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic,
2002), 26.
133:21 “Ο νικων δωσω αυτω καθισαι μέτ᾽ έμόυ έν τω θρόνω μόυ, ως καγω ένικήσα και έκαθισα μέτα τόυ
πατρός μόυ έν τω θρόνω αυτόυ”.
144:3 “και ό καθήμένός όμόιός όρασέι λιθω ιασπιδι και σαρδιω, και ιρις κυκλόθέν τόυ θρόνόυ όμόιός όρασέι
σμαραγδινω”.
15There might also be an allusion in Luke 12:35-38; “35Ἑστωσαν υμων αι όσφυές πέριέζωσμέναι και όι λυχνόι
καιόμένόι· 36και υμέις όμόιόι ανθρωπόις πρόσδέχόμένόις τόν κυριόν έαυτων πότέ αναλυσῇ έκ των γαμων,
ινα έλθόντός καὶ κρούσαντος εὐθέως ἀνοίξωσιν αὐτῷ. 37μακαριόι όι δόυλόι έκέινόι, όυς έλθων ό κυριός
έυρήσέι γρήγόρόυντας· αμήν λέγω υμιν ότι πέριζωσέται και ανακλινέι αυτόυς και παρέλθων διακόνήσέι
αυτόις”. This view is supported by H. Lichtenberger, Die Apokalypse (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2013), ad loc.,
and others.
13
accidental. As it has been already noted, this section commences by presenting Jesus not as a
Bridegroom, but as a Judge – Pontifex Maximus (1:13-16, ὅμοιος υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου) as well as with
the incitement of re-establishing the lost “first love” already seen in the Epistle to Ephesus (Rev
2:4, cp. Jer 2:2; Matt 24:12). For John, the author of the Revelation, the Song is the prerequisite
by which someone must experience the eschatological drama in all its fullness, so as to overturn
the effects of the “φυγέ” of the Song and to cry the “έρχόυ” which is prominent in Rev, as in it
we no longer observe the pattern of “approach – departure” which is seen throughout the Song.
Yet it should be noted that in the period that the Revelation is written, in the rabbinical
discussion on whether it should be included in the Jewish canon,16 the Song is referred to by
Rabbi Akiva as the topmost of the study of the Bible, the “holiest of holies”. Origen (who is
probably influenced by rabbinical mysticism), considers it to be the end of the mystical journey
of the soul, following the previous six hymns of the Old Testament (Origen, Prologus -
Commentarius in Canticum Canticorum, 4.5-14) and especially after the study of the first two
books of the trilogy Proverbs – Qoheleth – Song17.
Rev 22:22 // Song 8:14

At the end of Revelation, when the Wedding has already been announced and the New Jerusalem
–which has elements of Eden–, is descending upon the mountain. Only then do we see the
“return” of the listeners through dialogue to the reality of the earthly Synaxis (22:8-21). In
conjunction with the reference to water, we hear the Bride and the Spirit cry out “Come, [Jesus]”
(Rev 22:17). Simultaneously, all those who have given in to fornication and lust (most probably
the Nicolaites) are ostracised 18 . This invitation may be in opposition to the “Make haste”
(“Φυγέ”) of the Bride - Shulamite with which the Song is concluded (8:14); another allusion
could be Eden and the implication to a female-city (cf. Table 2). Therefore, at the end of
Revelation, after listening to the Book19, the Church has been purified and has adorned herself
to welcome the Lord. He was the one who, at the end of the 1st septet of the Epistles, had
“knocked the door”, not only of the Ecclesia of the naked and blind anti-bride (Laodicea), but of
all the Churches20.
One initial conclusion: the intertextual connections are discerned in two key points of the
Revelation: (a) the end of the introductory septet of the Epistles and (b) the Epilogue. If the
listener experiences the dramatic content of the text, especially the triumph of the Lamb over
16L. Zhang, "The Letter or the Spirit: The Song of Songs, Allegoresis, and the Book of Poetry", Comparative
Literature 39/3 (1987), 193-217. See also Mishna, Eduyot 5:3. Tos. Yad. 2:14.
17Origen parallelises this trilogy to the three branches of learning which the Greeks called Ethics, Physics and
Enoptics (Prologus - Commentarius in Canticum Canticorum 3.17).
18Cp. 1Cor 16:22: “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha”, as well as the
Lord’s prayer (Matt 6:10 // Luke 11:2d).
19Rev 1:3 “Μακαριός ό αναγινωσκων και οἱ ἀκούοντες τοὺς λόγους τής πρόφήτέιας και τήρόυντές τα έν αυτῇ
γέγραμμένα, ό γαρ καιρός έγγυς”.
20T. Lechner, "Rhetorik und Ritual. Platonische Mysterienanalogien im Protreptikos des Clemens von
Alexandrien", in F. R. Prostmeier (ed.), Frühchristentum und Kultur (Freiburg; Basel; Wien: Herder,
2007), 183-221. Clement of Alexandria transforms a dissuasive rhetorical speech to an exhortation, by
employing the same methods that Plato uses in his dialogues. The aforementioned methods are connected
by Lechner to the experience of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The philosopher guides his readers to a deeper
understanding of the truth: catharsis / elenchus of false doctrines, initiation to the orthodox doctrines and
so on. In Revelation, the listener / reader will answer to the eschatological tribunal, after experiencing and
abiding by the narrative; Rev 22:7 “και ιδόυ έρχόμαι ταχυ. Mακαριός ό τήρων τόυς λόγόυς τής πρόφήτέιας
τόυ βιβλιόυ τόυτόυ”.
14
the Beast, then he will finally empirically experience the satisfaction of the longing of the Song,
which remained incomplete -at least, explicitly- at its finale, as it seeks the communion with the
Bridegroom (φύγε, αδέλφιδέ μόυ, Song 8:14).
The fact that the allusions to the Song are found in strategic parts of a text which has the
characteristics of a drama (Revelation), may indicate that the author purposefully desires that
the listeners understand the Song through its transformations in Rev. We would argue that the
Song may have been popular in gatherings of not only affluent Jews but also of members of the
Churches specifically mentioned in Revelation. These members had been swayed by the
Nicolaites (who were opposed by John), a group where female prophets, such Jezebel of
Thyatira (2:20), had a prominent position. The appealing parts of the Song to the
aforementioned group were:
(a) the affluence of the Bride in the present time; this affluence in Revelation, however, is an
element of the Whore, the Eternal City / Rome21, whose ending is indeed reminiscent to that of
Jezebel in 2 Kings / 4 Kingdoms.
(b) The autonomy of the Bride, who is projected as the Throne (Yahweh’s Merkabah)22, since
she won’t obey to the age-old tradition that wants brides to be bought and sold, as well as used
as a means of fertilisation – always within the constraints of marriage. This classic “sin” is no
longer categorised as such23.
(c) The “de-moralisation, de-sanctification”, which is found in the Song 24 . The Shulamite,
herself, does not hesitate to create a parody using stereotypical biblical expressions25.
(d) In general, the Song is a perfect fit to feasts and may have been heard in gatherings of the
Nicolaites as an alternate reading to the popular platonic works Symposium and Phaedrus26. Let
it be noted that the decorations of wealthy Roman manors in Asia Minor had intense heavenly
and bucolic decorations; in the first century AD we observe a trend that dictates the return to
nature27.
21On Revelation as a polemic to the political establishment, see D. A. deSilva, “The Revelation to John: A Case
Study in Apocalyptic Propaganda and the Maintenance of Sectarian Identity”, Sociological Analysis, 53/4
(1992), 375-395, esp. pp. 379-81.
22M. C. Pate, Interpreting Revelation and Other Apocalyptic Literature: An Exegetical Handbook (Grand Rapids:
Kregel, 2016), 38-9.
23 Ricoeur, “Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα”, 376.
24 Lacocque, “Η Σόυλαμιτισσα”, 331.
25A. Brenner, "Paradox and Parody in the Song of Solomon: Towards a Comic Reading of the Most Sublime
Song", in A. Brenner & Y. T. Radday (eds.), On humour and the comic in the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield: Almond,
1990), 251-276. It should be noted that Brenner’s approach is heavily influenced by postmodern
hermeneutics, especially feminist rereadings.
26If the Song is read in conjunction with Qoheleth -which is also traditionally attributed to Solomon- it seems
to provide the answer to the questions on how one should seize the moment and should not focus on an
uncertain and unknown future. The very concept of study is considered a burden and a pain (Qoh 1:18)!
27U. Wulf – Rheidt, “Οι έλλήνιστικές και ρωμαικές όικιές τής Πέργαμόυ”, Ἀρχαιολογία 114 (2010), 28-37. This
specific issue of the journal is dedicated to habitats in the Late Hellenistic and Roman periods and contains
useful information and insights on this turn to nature, which is also evident in the bucolic poetry of Virgil, the
sculpted plants that adorn the altar of Ara Pacis, and the epistles of Pliny the Younger. See also Μ. Ζαρμακόυπή,
“Ο Ἀρχιτέκτόνικός Σχέδιασμός των ρωμαικων Ἑπαυλέων γυρω από τόν Κόλπό τής Ναπόλής”, Ἀρχαιολογία
114 (2010), 50-58.
15
If the Song was popular among Nicolaites and in the Johannine cycle, the author of Revelation
rereads it to perform transformations: There are more subversions of the Song’s motifs in
Revelation, which cause surprise to the listener, similar to the Aristotelian definition of
“πέριπέτέια” as a course of unexpected plot twists28. They astound and stimulate the audience
into repentance.
(a) Firstly, the woman is not the protagonist; it is Jesus Christ, who speaks through the prophet
John and the rest of the prophets who belong in his circle. At the beginning of the epistles, Christ,
ό ἀγαπῶν ἡμᾶς (1:5b), is presented antithetically to Solomon, he is “ό Παλαιός των Ημέρων” of
Daniel, a Judge, not a Bridegroom. He shocks John, who lays down for dead, and expels the
author’s fear with the touch of His right hand (1:17).
(b) The woman, even though she is not described in a derogatory manner (cp. the Song’s
“μέλαινα”, 1:5) at first –since she has a constant relationship of love and friendship with the
Lord– at the end of the 1st septet (in the face of the angel of the Church of Laodicea) she appears
to be neither cold nor hot (Rev 3:15)29. Instead she is lukewarm, about to be rejected (3:16). It
has already been noted that, in the first Epistle, the seemingly charitable Church of Ephesus has
already lost its initial love (2:4). It is deliberate that in the pinnacle of the septet of the Epistles,
the Church and the Angel possess all the negative qualities for a Shulamite, be it poverty,
nakedness or blindness30. It should also be noted that, in the final Epistle, the sender, Jesus,
presents and refers to Himself as the one and true authoritative Wisdom (“ή αρχή τής κτισέως
τόυ Θέόυ”, Rev 3:14 / Prov 3:19 and 8:22), which has been identified by early interpreters as
the female protagonist of the Song31.
(c) The heavenly choir of the 24 elders has the opposing characteristics (be they clothing or
sight) from those of the Church of Laodicea32; the choir has undergone sorrow and martyrdom,
much like the people in ch. 7. On the other hand, the woman’s clothing with bright purple (19:8
“τα δικαιωματα των αγιων”), is described only at the end and only when she has left Heaven
(12:1) to find refuge in the desert (12:6).
28Aristotle, De Arte Poetica, 1452a: “Ἑστι δέ πέριπέτέια μέν ή έις τό έναντιόν των πραττόμένων μέταβόλή
καθαπέρ έιρήται͵ και τόυτό δέ ωσπέρ λέγόμέν κατα τό έικός ή αναγκαιόν”. In regards to the use of περιπέτεια,
see the introductory remarks of S. Magginas, Ἅπαντα Ἀριστοτέλους (Ἀθήνα: Ἑκδόσέις Ὠφέλιμόυ Βιβλιόυ,
1979), 322-376, esp. pp. 325, 348-350, 371-376. In 1456a, “πέριπέτέια” is combined to the wondrous in its
paradoxical sense; that, which is not expected: “έν δέ ταις πέριπέτέιαις και έν τόις απλόις πραγμασι
στόχαζόνται ων βόυλόνται θαυμαστως· τραγικόν γαρ τόυτό και φιλανθρωπόν. έστιν δέ τόυτό͵ όταν ό σόφός
μέν μέτα πόνήριας δ΄ έξαπατήθῇ”.
29 3:15-16 “όιδα σόυ τα έργα ότι όυτέ ψυχρός έι όυτέ ζέστός. όφέλόν ψυχρός ής ή ζέστός. όυτως ότι χλιαρός
έι και όυτέ ζέστός όυτέ ψυχρός, μέλλω σέ έμέσαι έκ τόυ στόματός μόυ”.
30Rev 3:17-20: “17ότι λέγέις ότι “πλόυσιός έιμι και πέπλόυτήκα και όυδέν χρέιαν έχω” (Hos 12:9, cp. Sir 11:18-
9), και όυκ όιδας ότι συ έι ό ταλαιπωρός και έλέέινός και πτωχός και τυφλός και γυμνός, 18συμβόυλέυω σόι
αγόρασαι παρ᾽ έμόυ χρυσιόν πέπυρωμένόν έκ πυρός ινα πλόυτήσῇς, και ιματια λέυκα ινα πέριβαλῇ και μή
φανέρωθῇ ή αισχυνή τής γυμνότήτός σόυ, και κόλλ[ό]υριόν έγχρισαι τόυς όφθαλμόυς σόυ ινα βλέπῇς. 19έγω
όσόυς έαν φιλω έλέγχω και παιδέυω· ζήλέυέ όυν και μέτανόήσόν (cp. Prov 3:11). 20Ἰδόυ έστήκα έπι τήν
θυραν και κρόυω· έαν τις ακόυσῇ τής φωνής μόυ και ανόιξῇ τήν θυραν, [και] έισέλέυσόμαι πρός αυτόν και
δέιπνήσω μέτ᾽ αυτόυ και αυτός μέτ᾽ έμόυ”.
31Lacocque, “Η Σόυλαμιτισσα”, 325. For a brief history of the various Judaic and Christian interpretations of
the Song, as well as contemporary hermeneutical approaches, see D. A. Garrett & P. R. House, Song of Songs -
Lamentations (Nashville: T. Nelson, 2004), 59-97.
32Rev 3:18 “συμβόυλέυω σόι αγόρασαι παρ᾿ έμόυ χρυσιόν πέπυρωμένόν έκ πυρός ινα πλόυτήσῇς, και ιματια
λέυκα ινα πέριβαλῇ και μή φανέρωθῇ ή αισχυνή τής γυμνότητός σόυ, και κόλλ[ό]υριόν έγχρισαι τόυς
όφθαλμόυς σόυ ινα βλέπῃς”.
16
(d) In the Song, there is a sort of vagueness in its succinct and short series of scenes, and the
motif of “sleep–arousal” prevails (such as the “distance-approach-distance” motif without
completion33), while in Revelation, the motif of “life-death” is prevalent, along with a constant
call to vigilance. However, we should not exclude the possibility of a similar call in the Song; its
scenes are not as dramatic or direct – in contrast to Rev (cp. 18:4). Bucolic scenes are only set
in Heaven (the four animals), where the Son of Man is presented triumphantly as a sacrificial
Lamb and not like a gazelle, a dear or a rod of gold (Song 5:10-16, 7:1-9). The awakening and
the struggle are necessitated by the archetypical beasts, which appear in Revelation’s structural
and narrative core34.
Conclusion
If the above is true, i.e. the allusions / echoes35 of the Song in Revelation, then the former is used
by John with many subversions so as to stimulate, especially in the Nicolaites, an awakening
and a struggle of martyrdom, as the wedding with the Bridegroom will be complete only once
the Lord has appeared. Before John, Paul stresses in 2 Cor that in the present time, where the
“already-not yet” is experienced, we have engagement gifts, μνήστρα (which in Judaism are
kiddushim, “sanctifications”)36 and not a marriage, while the Bride is under the influence of
satanic forces. The love of the Song must go all the way until death, for the sake of the
Bridegroom and his martyrdom, in order to save the entire world. Obviously, this is how John
interprets the true end of the Song: “6θές μέ ως σφραγιδα έπι τήν καρδιαν σόυ ως σφραγιδα
έπι τόν βραχιόνα σόυ ότι κραταια ως θανατός αγαπή/ σκλήρός ως αδής ζήλός πέριπτέρα αυτής
πέριπτέρα πυρός φλόγές αυτής 7υδωρ πόλυ όυ δυνήσέται σβέσαι τήν αγαπήν και πόταμόι όυ
συγκλυσόυσιν αυτήν έαν δω ανήρ τόν παντα βιόν αυτόυ έν τῇ αγαπῇ έξόυδένωσέι
έξόυδένωσόυσιν αυτόν” (Song 8:6-7). As it is strenuously noted in the platonic Symposium, true
love is proven through the sacrifice and heroic gestures of the lovers, which are seen in
Revelation on the faces of the victorious 144.000, those bearing the stamp, those who follow the
Lamb wherever He may lead (Rev 14:4).
33 Ricoeur, “Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα”, 348-9.

34The author connects this specific wedding song not to Qoheleth but to the Prophets (and specifically Ezekiel,
where there are predominantly “indecent” scenes of the whore-wife in chapter 16) and, only towards the end,
to Gen 2-3.
35J. Paulien, "Elusive Allusions: The Problematic Use of the Old Testament in Revelation", Biblical Research 33
(1988), 37-53.
36S. Despotis, Ἡ Ἀποκάλυψη τοῡ Ἰωάννη: Tὸ βιβλίο τῆς Προφητείας - Λειτουργική καὶ Συγχρονική Ἑρμηνευτική
Προσέγγιση - τόμ. Β.
17
1. Table 1: Possible References to the Old Testament
New Testament Parallels to the Song of Songs
Rev 3:20 5:2 Nestle25
John 20:18 Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386
Allusions
Rev 12:1 Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386
Echoes
John 3:29 (friend of the Bridegroom) Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386
John 13:2 Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386
John 7:38 (rivers of living water will flow 4:15 Nestle26

from within them)
3:6 Nestle28
Matt 2: 11 (gifts of the Magi)
2:7 Nestle28
Luke 23:28 (daughters of Jerusalem)
3:5, 10 Nestle28
18
2. Table 2: Intertextual Thematic Threads and Motifs
Song Revelation
Worship, Dialogue, Movement, Songs, Septet Worship, Dialogue, Movement, Songs, Septet
Cp. Mary in the spring garden where the Lord, The text is introduced with the Revelation of
anointed with myrrh (Man, King, High Priest), He who is coming, the giving of grace from
appears as a gardener to cause her the faithful witness, and the reply of the
transformation, but not her touch. cleansed faithful.
Animals Animals
Time Time and Sunday (Easter?)

Spring and Worship Memory of the Resurrection – Garden –
“Touch me not”
Wedding = Passover
4*7
(Sabbath = Exodus)
Space Space
Horizontal Vertical (the heavens)
Jerusalem, Garden Patmus, Asia Minor, Rome (exodus – New
Jerusalem)
Initiative by woman (“I” of woman) Initiative by Jesus (cp. “I” of John, and “we”
of the 144.000)
Senses: hearing and smell Senses: revelation (sight) and hearing

The “black” bride seeks the Bridegroom / The bride (Church / Queen) is already
Solomon and confirms that his name is like cleansed by the blood of He who comes, cp.
myrrh. “ό μαρτυς, ό πιστός…”
Song 1:1-4 Rev 1:5-6

ασμα ασματων ό έστιν τῷ Σαλωμων 2 Τω αγαπωντι ήμας και λ(ό)υσαντι ήμας έκ
φιλησάτω με ἀπὸ φιλημάτων στόματος των αμαρτιων ήμων έν τω αιματι αυτόυ, και
αὐτοῦ ότι αγαθόι μαστόι σόυ ὑπὲρ οἶνον 3 έπόιήσέν ήμας βασιλέιαν, ιέρέις τω θέω και
και όσμή μυρων σόυ υπέρ παντα τα πατρι αυτόυ, αυτω ή δόξα και τό κρατός έις
αρωματα “μυρόν έκκένωθέν” όνόμα σόυ δια τόυς αιωνας [των αιωνων]· αμήν. 7 Ἰδόυ
τόυτό νέανιδές ήγαπήσαν σέ 4 έιλκυσαν σέ έρχέται μέτα των νέφέλων, και όψέται αυτόν
όπισω σόυ έις όσμήν μυρων σόυ δραμόυμέν πας όφθαλμός και όιτινές αυτόν
έισήνέγκέν μέ ό βασιλέυς έις τό ταμιέιόν έξέκέντήσαν, και κόψόνται έπ᾽ αυτόν πασαι
αυτόυ αγαλλιασωμέθα και έυφρανθωμέν έν αι φυλαι τής γής. Ναι, 8 αμήν. Ἑγω έιμι τό
σόι αγαπήσόμέν μαστόυς σόυ υπέρ όινόν αλφα και τό ω, λέγέι κυριός ό θέός, ό ων και
έυθυτής ήγαπήσέν σέ ό ήν και ό έρχόμένός, ό παντόκρατωρ.
19
Bridegroom: coming in peace, expected Bridegroom: with war elements, present;
His voice causes death and not attraction.
Death and life are intertwined (cp. ch. 19).
The Lamb.
Epilogue Epilogue37 (the dogs must be taken away)

Song 8:14 Rev 22:20
Φυγέ, αδέλφιδέ μόυ, και όμόιωθήτι τῇ Λέγέι ό μαρτυρων ταυτα· Ναι· έρχόμαι ταχυ.
δόρκαδι ή τω νέβρω των έλαφων έπι όρή Ἀμήν· έρχόυ, κυριέ Ἰήσόυ
αρωματων
φυγέ έρχόυ (and feast) < cleansing
37See Rev 22:16-21; “Ἑγω Ἰήσόυς έπέμψα τόν αγγέλόν μόυ μαρτυρήσαι υμιν ταυτα έπι ταις έκκλήσιαις. έγω
έιμι ή ριζα και τό γένός Δαυιδ, ό αστήρ ό λαμπρός ό πρωινός. Και τό πνέυμα και ή νυμφή λέγόυσιν· έρχόυ.
και ό ακόυων έιπατω· έρχόυ. και ό διψων έρχέσθω, ό θέλων λαβέτω υδωρ ζωής δωρέαν. Μαρτυρω έγω παντι
τω ακόυόντι τόυς λόγόυς τής πρόφήτέιας τόυ βιβλιόυ τόυτόυ· έαν τις έπιθῇ έπʼ αυτα, έπιθήσέι ό θέός έπʼ
αυτόν τας πλήγας τας γέγραμμένας έν τω βιβλιω τόυτω, και έαν τις αφέλῇ από των λόγων τόυ βιβλιόυ τής
πρόφήτέιας ταυτής, αφέλέι ό θέός τό μέρός αυτόυ από τόυ ξυλόυ τής ζωής και έκ τής πόλέως τής αγιας των
γέγραμμένων έν τω βιβλιω τόυτω. Λέγέι ό μαρτυρων ταυτα· ναι, έρχόμαι ταχυ. Ἀμήν, έρχόυ κυριέ Ἰήσόυ. Η
χαρις τόυ κυριόυ Ἰήσόυ μέτα παντων”.
20
Hermann Lichtenberger
THE SONG OF SONGS IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS1
1. The Song of Songs in the Texts from the Dead Sea

1.1 “Biblical” Status and Canonicity
1.1.1 The Hebrew Text
In respect to form and content it may come as a surprise that in the “library” from the Dead Sea
four manuscripts of the Song of Songs are preserved. Traditionally the community from the
Dead Sea (“Qumran Community”, “Qumrangemeinde”, “Qumran-Essener”, “Essener”) is looked
at as a pious Jewish sect living in purity and celibacy. Therefore, nobody would expect them to
read and copy erotic love songs. But this traditional view has changed, both concerning the so
called “library” and the community as owner and/or user of it. Only few of the about thousand
manuscripts are authored by the pious community we bring in connection with the texts. This
is of course self-evident in case of the “Biblical” texts which are earlier than the community of
the Dead Sea, it is also true for most of the so-called Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha and most
of the hitherto unknown texts. Here a distinction is necessary: few texts are authored by the
community, much more were copied. The last group of texts is characterized by certain traits
among which an extensive plene-writing is prominent. None of the four Song of Songs
manuscripts in the Dead Sea Scrolls share these characteristics.
Talking about “Biblical” texts we have to take in consideration that all manuscripts from the
Dead Sea are older than a “Canon” of “Biblical” books. “Bible” seems to be an integrative aspect
of the Jewish-Christian tradition. But if we take a closer look at the religions and denominations,
we realize that the Bible of Jews is different from the Bible of Christians. And in Christianity
Catholics and Orthodox use a Bible different from that of Protestants. “What is Bible” is at the
centre of religious identity.
We must go first of all a step back: Already in antiquity “Bible” in Judaism is not as clearly
defined as we should expect. The “Bible” of the Jewish Septuagint – what was it like? We do not
exactly know. What was the “Bible” of the community of the Dead Sea Scrolls? We have some
important indirect information on this question (number of manuscripts of a certain book, like
Isaiah or Psalms or the frequency of quotations with introductory formula), but there is no list
of “Biblical” books. Even if there was such a list including the Psalter we would not know, which
sort of Psalter was deemed as “canonical” by the community of the Dead Sea (the Psalter of the
Masoretic Text, or that of 11QPsa or of any other edition represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls)2.
As we will see concerning the Song of Songs manuscripts it is anachronistic to call them
“Biblical” manuscripts, because there is no “Bible”, but texts which later on became “Bible”, and
among them the Song of Songs. But it was not the Qumran version(s) which became canonical.
4QCant a and b not only differ in many details of single words from the Masoretic Text and the
Septuagint, but most conspicuously in extend. 4QCanta is about 30% shorter than MT, 4QCantb
about 20% 3. In other words: the “biblical” Song of Songs is not the same as in the versions
preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
1 I cordially thank Marietta Hammerle for help with the manuscript.

2 See H. Lichtenberger, “What is Bible? – A Response”, in: K. Finsterbusch, A. Lange, What is Bible?
(Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology 67; Leuven, Paris, Walpole, MA: Peeters, 2012), 157- 170.
3 For 4QCantc and 6QCant no evidence is available; 4QCantc is too fragmentary, 6QCant ends in Song 1:7.
21
Let us first have a look at the “Biblical” manuscripts in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In the “Biblical” manuscripts in the Dead Sea Scrolls4 there are three groups in term of numbers:
1. Prominent group: Pentateuch 72; Pss 39; Isa 22 + 5 Pesharim;
2. Middle group: Dodekapropheton 9; Dan 8; Ezek 7; Jer 6; Job 4hebr. + 2aram.;
3. Slight evidence group: 1/2 Sam 4; Ruth 4; Lam 4; Song 4; Prov 3 respectively. 4; Josh 3; 1/2
Kgs 3; QKoh 2; Ezra-Neh 1; 1/2 Chr. 1; Esther no certain evidence.
Among the books which later became “Bible”, Song belongs to the group of slight evidence. But
that’s not the whole story: We do not know how many manuscripts were lost by natural or
deliberate destruction. We only know: a lot.
Also, the number of manuscripts of texts which later were not part of the Biblical canon cautions
us to draw consequences for canonicity: Jubilees 16; Enoch 11; Tob 4aram. +1hebr.; Ben Sira
2+1Masada; Serech hay-yahad 11; Sabbath Songs 10+1Masada; Damascus Document 8; War
Scroll 7; Hodayot 6.
At least Ben Sira was in a similar way controversial like Song concerning its “canonical” status.
As we know Enoch had in certain circles authority (see Jud 14 with quotation from 1 En 1:9; 1
Pet 3:19 – 1 En 9:10?).
Is the number of quotations and allusions an indicator for canonical range?
According to Nestle-Aland5, in the New Testament there are five quotations and allusions to
Song. Song 2:7: Luke 23:28; Song 3:5-10: Luke 23:28; Song 3:6: Matt 2:11; Song 4:15: John 7:38;
Song 5:2: Rev 3:20), in the 27th edition there were only two (Song 4:15: John 7:38; Song 5:2: Rev
3:20). This is an astonishing fact not only in relation to the other “Biblical” books, but also to
“extra-Biblical” texts. Among the “Biblical” books according to Nestle-Aland28 only Esther (4)
und Obadiah (1) have less quotations and allusions in the New Testament.
1.1.2 The Translations

There is a sort of common sense that Song has gained its authoritative or “canonical” range by
means of allegorical interpretation. In my opinion, this is not valid because the allegorical
interpretations of Jewish and Christian interpreters attest to the authoritative, even canonical
range of Cant. More important is the fact that neither the Hebrew text nor the Greek and Latin
versions propagate an allegorical interpretation. In some instances, they are even more literal
as in the case of Song 1:2 and 7:13 (LXX and Vulgate; see below), and are close to the Hebrew
text. This is also true for the Vulgate which by Jerome was prepared ex hebraica veritate
(Vulgate)6. The Greek translation (LXX) may have come into existence about 100 BC7, the work
of Jerome of Song dates to 398 AD. The text of the Vetus Latina is first quoted by Tertullian 8.
Septuagint translates a “Vorlage”, which is close to the Masoretic Text. 6QCant testifies to this:
Song 1:2 “your ‫ דדיך‬is better than wine” is not the only possible lecture. The Hebrew consonants
4Numbers according to A. Lange, Handbuch der Textfunde vom Toten Meer, Bd. 1: Die Handschriften biblischer
Bücher von Qumran und den anderen Fundorten (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009).
5 E. Nestle, K. Aland et al., Novum Testamentum Graece (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 201228).
6 E. Schulz-Flugel, “Canticum Canticorum”, Vetus Latina 10/3, Lieferung 1 (Freiburg: Herder, 1992), 12f.
7 M.H. Pope, Song of Songs (The Anchor Bible 7C; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977) 20.
8 Schulz-Flugel, Canticum, 12: Tertullian quotes Song 4:8 in TE Marc 4,11.
22
‫ דדיך‬MT dodäkha “your love” could also be read as dadaykh “your breasts”, read also by LXX (and
Vulgate) in Song 1:2.4; 4:10 and similarly in Song 7:13 (LXX reads daday ‫“ דדי‬my breasts” against
the Masoretic Text doday “my love”).
According to the Biblia Patristica9 Philo never cites from the 5 Megillot Song, only Qohelet (2)
and Esther (1).
In Josephus in all probability the four texts, containing “Hymns to God and precepts for the
conduct of human life”, include Psalms, Proverbs, Qohelet and Song (cAp I,40). The Targum
“could hardly be called a translation”10, it is Haggadah, “spanning the history of Israel from the
Exodus to the messianic age to come”.11 This is a witness for the Jewish tradition of allegorical
interpretation. Since Origen the Christian allegorical method had been established. Perhaps the
“adorned bride” in Rev 21:2 is a reference to Song.
1.2 The Manuscripts from the Dead Sea 12

Four manuscripts were found at the Dead Sea with a text of Cant. Three manuscripts from cave
413, one from cave 614. All the manuscripts are of small size similar to the other manuscripts of
the Megillot.15
4Q106 4QCanta: six fragments, five identified: 3:4-5.7-4:7; 6:11-7:7; three columns; early
Herodian book script. The most striking character of the manuscript is the omission of 4:9
through 6:10.
4Q107 4QCantb: three fragments: 2:9-17; 3:1-2.5.9-11; 4:1-3.8-11.14-16; 5:1; four columns;
early Herodian book script; overlap with 4QCanta: 3:5.10-11; 4:1-3. Omission of 3:6-816 and 4:4-
717. Manuscript ended presumably in 5:1. The last letter (final mem) in IV,3,14 is much larger
in size than the final mem in line 9 and all the other letters.
4Q108 4QCantc: one tiny fragment: 3:7-8; Herodian book-script.
6Q6 6QCant: one fragment: 1:1-7; two columns; late Herodian (middle first century CE).
9 E. Junod, Biblia Patristica Supplément: Philon d’Alexandrie (Paris: CNRS, 1982).

10 Pope, Song, 21.
11 Pope, Song, 21.
12 See Lange, Handbuch, 477-481.
13 E. Tov in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 16 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 195-219.
14 M. Baillet in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 3 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962), 112-114.
15Already observed by Baillet, Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 3, 113 with reference to 2Q18 (Rutha). See
Tov, Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 16, 197.
16 (6) “What is that coming from the wilderness, like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and
frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant? (7) Look, it is the litter of Solomon! Around it a
sixty mighty men of the mighty men of Israel, (8) all equipped with swords and expert in war, each with his
sword at his thigh because of alarms by night” (RSV).
17(4) “Your neck is like the tower of David, built in courses; on it hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields
of warriors. (5) Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among lilies. (6) Until the
day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hasten to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. (7)
You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you” (RSV).
23
The four manuscripts range from about 50 BC to 50 AD. They are quite different in character.
4QCanta: Beside the large omission the text (108 extant words) reads 12 times against MT, 11
times against LXX. The manuscript represents a specific type of text18.
4QCantb: Beside the two omissions the text (166 extant words) reads 21 times against MT and
24 times against LXX. A careless scribe has produced scribal errors; an influence of Aramaic is
evident. Scribal marks; the manuscript represents a specific type of text19.
6QCant: The text (40 extant words) reads 5 times against MT, once with Vulgate, once with LXX.
Most likely the manuscript represents a specific type of text20.
4QCantc: 3 words only; no typology discernable21.
1.3 The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of the Text of Song
Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls our knowledge of the text of Song had been based
on the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, Vetus Latina/Vulgate and Peshitta. In spite of all
differences of the translations, the extent (scil. the number of stichoi) of the text seemed to be
the same. Yet now, in 4QCant a and b we find two shorter versions, which differ also among
themselves: 4QCanta with the omission of 4:9-6:10, 4QCantb with two short omissions of 3:6-8
and 4:4-7 and the presumable end in 5:1. In the two manuscripts there is no coincidence in the
omissions except for 5:2 following, if 5:1 is the end of the manuscriptb. That is to say that still
in early Herodian times manuscripts were copied with a different number of stichoi in relation
to the pre-Masoretic text underlying the Greek and other translations which gained dominance
as the “canonic” version.
Remarkable is the small size of all the Song-manuscripts (4QCanta 9,3cm; 4QCantb 9,9cm;
4QCantc ?; 6QCant 8,2cm) which is in correspondence to all Megillot-manuscripts from the Dead
Sea.22 The reasons are not clear, perhaps already a liturgical use can be assumed.
The omissions are in spite of the careless writer of 4QCantb not due to scribal negligence, but
they represent different text types.
Song is not a coherent composition but rather a collection of love songs and fragments those.
As it is repetitive verses or larger literary units could be removed without disturbing the
composition. The reasons for the omissions are not yet evident. For 4QCantb Tov supposes that
it had been prepared for personal use.23 The many scribal errors and Aramaisms may indicate
the private character of the manuscript. Relevant is the omission of units with martial language.
In both manuscripts 4QCanta and b the “Beschreibungslied” of the male lover (Song 5:11-16) is
lacking; in manuscripta because of the gap between 4:9 and 6:10, in manuscriptb because of the
presumed end of the manuscript in Song 5:1 24 . Are there reasons for the omission of the
“Beschreibungslied” of the male lover? Of course, there may be various reasons for the omission
18 Lange, Handbuch, 447f.

19 Lange, Handbuch, 478f.
20 Lange, Handbuch, 479.
21 Lange, Handbuch, 479.
22 Measures according to Lange, Handbuch, 477-481.
23 E. Tov, “Excerpted and Abbreviated Biblical Texts from Qumran”, Revue de Qumrân 16 (1995), 581-600, 600.
4QCantc and 6QCant are not relevant for the question because 4QCantc preserves only fragments of three
24
words from Song 3:7-8 and 6QCant is limited to Song 1:1-7.
24
of chapter 5, and the “Beschreibungslied” of the male may only be one of many. We simply must
take into account that there could also have been technical reasons for the shortening of the
composition such as space problems.
1.4 The male “Beschreibungslied” in Song 5:10-16

I quote 5:10-16 according to the translation of the Revised Standard Version:
(10) “My beloved is all radiant and ruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand.
(11) His head is finest gold;
his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
(12) His eyes are like doves
beside springs of water,
bathed in milk,
fitly set.
(13) His cheeks are like beds of spices,
yielding fragrance.
His lips are lilies,
distilling liquid myrrh.
(14) His arms are rounded gold,
set with jewels.
His body is ivory work,
encrusted with sapphires.
(15) His legs are alabaster columns,
set upon bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
(16) His speech is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.”
“Das Beschreibungslied (waṣf) fur den Mann verrat die Herkunft der Gattung aus der kultischen
Beschreibungshymne durch seine statuarische Darstellungsweise: der Jungling erscheint wie
eine Gotterstatue”25. Akkadian and Egyptian examples are well known – Anastasios Akridas has
25H.-P. Muller, “Das Hohelied”, in: H.-P. Muller/O. Kaiser/J.A. Loader, Das Hohelied/Klagelieder/Das Buch Ester
(Das Alte Testament Deutsch 16/2; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992 4), 1-90, 59. “The
25
collected them in the first chapters of his dissertation26. The reference to gold and precious
stones is dominant in the description of the mythic king of Tyrus in Ezek 28:13:
“You were in Eden, the garden of God;

Every precious stone was your covering,
Carnelian, chrysolit, and moonstone,
Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald;
And worked in gold were your settings
And engravings” (RSV).27
With some hesitation, I offer the suggestion that the “theomorphic” character of the
“Beschreibungslied” of the male was one of the reasons to skip chapter 5 of Song in the 4QCanta
and b manuscripts. The male “Beschreibungslied” of Jacob in JA 22:7 has close parallels to the
male in Song 5:10-16. Jacob is described there with attributes of angels and giants. The earlier
examples illustrate that there is also in Jewish texts a vivid tradition describing supernatural,
godly beings. Texts from Dan and Revelation which I will quote in the end of my presentation
will support this suggestion.
Similarity of content in 4:1-3 and 6:5-7 in 4QCanta may have been the reason for exclusion of
6:5-7. On the other hand, the juxtaposition of 3:7-4:7 and 6:11-7:7 in4QCanta can be explained
by the correspondence of identical motifs: “pomegranate (4:3; 6:11), breasts, twins (4:5=7:4),
neck (4:4;7:5), eyes (4:1; 7:5), and tower (4:4; 7:5).28
2. The Song in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Early Jewish Literature
2.1 Quotations and allusions
Quotations and allusions of Song in Second Temple Literature are very rare. The list of
Lange/Weigold 29 only notes six references 30 , none in the Dead Sea Scrolls. As the Book of
Jubilees is represented in 16 copies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and as it shares striking traits e.g. in
purity and calendar, with texts of the community from the Dead Sea we may incorporate these
allusions to the “Wirkungsgeschichte” of Song in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Song 4:8 – Jub 8:21
Libanon; mountain/top Amana; Song 4:9.10.12 – Jub 27:14 “my sister”; these are at best
allusions, some sort of “Wirkungsgeschichte” is not recognizable.
Beschreibungslied for the male reveals its origin in the cultic description-hymn of a god by its statuesque
character: the young man appears as the statue of a god”.
26 See his contribution in this Symposium.
27 See Muller, Hohelied, 59.
28 Tov, DJD 16, 203.
29A. Lange/M. Weigold, Biblical Quotations and Allusions in Second Temple Jewish Literature (Journal of
Ancient Judaism. Supplements 5; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011), 184.
30Song 4:4 – Eupolemos 3 (Eusebius, praep.ev. 9.34.20); Song 4:8 – Jub 8:21; Song 4:9.10.12 – Jub 27:14; Song
4:11par – Prov 5:3; Song 4:15 – Apoc. Mos. 29:6; Song 8:7par – Prov 6:31.
26
In search for allusions in poetic texts 1QHa should be examined at first hand. Gert Jeremias31
gives to 1QHa XVI,15 (8:14 Suk) the allusion to Song 8:7, but it is only in vocabulary, not in
content. Song 8:7: “neither can floods drown it” (scil. love) – 1QHa XVI,15 (8:14 Suk) Jeremias:
“sich ergießende(.) Flusse(.).” M. Delcor32 in his commentary to the Hodayot refers 1QHa XVI,7
(8:6 Suk) to Song 4:12, and 1QHa XVI,5 (8:4 Suk) to Song 4:1533 again only in vocabulary. M.
Mansoor34 quotes 1QHa XI,12 (3:11 Suk) in relation to Song 2:4 (p. 114); 1QHa XVII,30 (9:30
Suk) to Song 3:4 (p. 161); 1QHa XVI,18 (8:17 Suk) to Song 5:12 (p. 155); 1QHa XV,24 (7:21 Suk)
to Song 8:1 (p. 151); 1QHa XI,10 (3:9 Suk) to Song 8:6 (p. 113f). The allusions are in vocabulary,
not in content.
As in the War Scroll (1QM and 4QM manuscripts) we find on the one hand poetic texts, on the
other “technical” descriptions of luxurious weapons with precious decorations the expectation
is reasonable that there might be some reference. In the commentary by Y. Yadin35 reference is
made in 1QM 10:10 ‫ מלומדי חוק‬to Song 3:8 (p. 306) ‫ מלחמה֙מלמדי‬the references to Song 3:8; 4:4;
5:14.15; 8:6; 8:10 which are in 1QM are only in terminology, not in content. In the commentary
by B. Jongeling36 reference is made in 1QM 10:12 to Song 2:14 (p. 252); in 1QM 6:2 to Song 4:4
(p. 173); in 1QM 9 to Song 5:14 (p. 234); in 1QM 13:12 to Song 7:11 (p. 300). The overall
impression is that Song played a role only in vocabulary, not in content in the texts of the Dead
Sea. Apparently a rather late date for authoritative recognition of Song was the reason for a
seldom use of Song in religious contexts.
This is fundamentally different from the influence of the “Beschreibungslieder” for which two
remarkable examples are extant: in a text from the Dead Sea (1QGenApc 20:2-8) and in JA 20:7,
a text from Jewish-Hellenistic origin. To be sure not only Song may have influenced these
“Beschreibungslieder”, because they are well known already in Ancient Near East and in Greece.
2.2 The “Beschreibungslieder” in 1QGenApoc 20:2-8 and JA 22:7

The closest parallel to the “Beschreibungs”- or “Bewunderungslieder” in Song is the
Beschreibungslied of Sara in 1QGenApoc 20:2-8:
2.2.1 “Beschreibungslied” of a woman in 1QGenApoc 20:2-8

(2) [“… …] how splen[did] and beautiful the form of her face, and how
(3) [… …] and how soft the hair of her head; how lovely are her eyes and how pleasant is her
nose and all the radiance
(4) of her face [ ]; how lovely is her breast and how beautiful is all her whiteness! Her arms,
how beautiful! And her hands, how
31G. Jeremias, Der Lehrer der Gerechtigkeit (Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments 2, Gottingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1963), 251, n. 13.
32 M. Delcor, Les Hymnes de Qumran (Hodayot), Autour de la Bible (Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1962), 201.
33 Delcor, Hymnes, 199.
34 M. Mansoor, The Thanksgiving Hymns (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 3; Leiden: Brill, 1961).
35Y. Yadin, The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1962).
36 B. Jongeling, Le Rouleau de la guerre (Studia Semitica Neerlandica 4; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1962).
27
(5) perfect! And (how) [attract]tive all the appearance of her hands! How lovely (are) her palms,
and how long and dainty all the fingers of her hands. Her feet,
(6) how beautiful! How perfect are her legs! There are no virgins or brides who enter a bridal
chamber more beautiful than she. Indeed, her beauty
(7) surpasses that of all women; her beauty is high above all of them. Yet with all this beauty
there is much wisdom in her; and whatever she has
(8) is lovely!”37
The description starts with the head and goes down to the feet like in Song 4:1-5 (to the
breasts); 6:5-7 (head); reverse order beginning with the feet in 7:1-10 (the dancer). The
addition “yet with all this beauty there is much wisdom in her” has no close correspondence in
Song (5:16?).
2.2.2 “Beschreibungslied” of a male in Joseph and Aseneth 22:7

“And Aseneth saw him and was amazed at his beauty, because Jacob was exceedingly beautiful
to look at, and his old age (was) like the youth of a handsome (young) man,
and his head was all white as snow,
and the hairs of his head were all exceedingly close and thick like (those) of an Ethiopian,
and his beard (was) white reaching down to his breast,
and his eyes (were) flashing and darting (flashes of) lightning,
and his sinews and his shoulders and his arms were like (those) of an angel,
and his thighs and his calves and his feet like (those) of a giant.”38
Here traits of epiphany (“his eyes [were] flashing and darting [flashes of] lightning, angels and
giants”) are united to represent a “godly”, supernatural being. The same type is found in the
vision Daniel describes King Nebukadnezar in Dan 2:31-33:
(31) “You were looking, O king, and lo! There was a great statue. This statue was huge, its
brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening.
(32) The head of that statue was of fine gold,
its chest and arms of silver,
its middle and thighs of bronze,
its legs of iron,
its feet partly of iron and partly of clay” (RSV).
37Translation according to J.A. Fitzmyer, The Genesis Apocryphon of Qumran Cave I (Biblica et Orientalia 18;
Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1966), 55.
38Translation according to C. Burchard, “Joseph and Aseneth”, in J.H. Charlesworth (ed.), Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha II (New York: Doubleday, 1983), 238.
28
3. The Description of Supernatural Beings in Revelation follows the same Tradition
3.1 The vision of Christ in Rev 1:12-16:
(12) “Then I turned to see the voice that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden
lampstands,
(13) and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like a Son of Man,
clothed with a long robe
and with a golden sash across his chest.
(14) His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow;
his eyes were like a flame of fire,
(15) his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace,
and his voice was like the sound of many waters.
(16) In his right hand he held seven stars,
And from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword,
and his face was like the sun shining with full force” (RSV with corrections).
3.2 The vision of God in Rev 4:2-6

(2) “At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne,
with one seated on the throne!
(3) And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian,
and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald.
(4) Around the throne are twenty-four thrones,
and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders,
dressed in white robes,
with golden crowns on their heads.
(5) Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning,
and rumblings and peals of thunder,
and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches,
which are the seven spirits of God;
(6) and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
Around the throne, and on each side of the throne,
are four living creatures,
full of eyes in front and behind” (RSV).
3.3 The vision of the angel in Rev 10:1-3a

(1) “And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven,
wrapped in a cloud,
29
with a rainbow over his head;
his face was like the sun,
and his legs like pillars of fire.
(2) He held a little scroll in his hand.
Setting his right foot on the sea
and his left foot on the land,
(3) he gave a great shout (…)” (RSV).
The vision of the Woman and the Dragon in Rev 12:1-4
(1) “A great portent appeared in heaven:

a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
(2) She was pregnant
and was crying out in birth pangs,
in the agony of giving birth” (RSV).
(3) Then another portent appeared in heaven:

a great red dragon,
with seven heads
and ten horns,
and seven diadems on his heads.
(4) His tail swept down a third if the stars of heaven
and threw them on earth” (RSV).
3.4 The vision of Christ as warrior in Rev 19:11-16

(11) “Then I saw the heaven opened,
and there was a white horse!
Its rider is called Faithful and True,
and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
(12) His eyes are like a flame of fire,
and on his head are many diadems;
and he has a name inscribed
that no one knows but himself.
(13) He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood,
30
And his name is called The Word of God.
(14) And the armies of heaven,
wearing fine linen, white and pure,
were following him on white horses.
(15) From his mouth comes a sharp sword
with which to strike down the nations,
and he will rule them with a rod of iron;
he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
(16) On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed,
‘King of kings and Lord of lords’” (RSV).
It is obvious that the “Beschreibungslieder” which describe a male not only have their origin in
the cultic language of Near Eastern religions – as those for women have –, but they also
transport theomorphic elements into the religious world of Early Jewish and Early Christian
literature. This fact may have been the reason for omitting 5:2ff in the 4QCant manuscriptsa und
b. The situation is different for the female “Beschreibungslieder”. Their religious origin is the
same as that of the male “Beschreibungslieder”, but in the female ones an erotic orientation was
established which was less dangerous than the theomorphic one.
4. Summary
The four manuscripts of the Song of Songs in the Dead Sea Scrolls give evidence for the
transmission of Song in the time from about 50 BC to 50 AD. Two of the manuscripts (4QCant a
and b) are considerably shortened versions of the longer (Pre-)Masoretic Text and the
translations in Greek (LXX) and Latin (Vetus Latina and Vulgate). In manuscriptb we encounter
two short omissions and presumably an end in 5:1. In manuscripta a long omission runs from
4:8 to 6:10. The two other manuscripts are either too fragmentary (4QCantc) or end in 1:7
(6QCant). The scribes of the manuscripts 4QCanta and b have shortened their “Vorlage”
independently from each other. That these manuscripts do not represent more original shorter
versions of Song is obvious from the fact that they contain no additional or different text or even
single stichoi in relation to the Masoretic Text. The reasons for the production of shorter texts
by means of omission are not clear. They may have been of technical, poetical or theological
nature: technically in respect to the small format of the manuscripts; poetically in regard to the
loose poetic structure and the repetitions; theologically in view of offensive formulations in the
“Beschreibungslied” of the male lover in 5:10-16 with the theomorphic allusions. The text of
Song had no major influence on the other literature of the Second Temple Period, but Song
shares with Early Jewish and Christian literature the “Beschreibungslied”, which is deeply
rooted in the religious world of Ancient Near East. The fact that in the time between 50 BC and
50 AD shorter versions of Song were copied and used which later became canonic in a longer
version makes evident that the text of the Song of Songs was not yet a “holy” text, which couldn’t
be changed any more. But this is not a singular phenomenon with Cant. 11QPs a and b
demonstrate the multiple versions of Psalters about 50 AD, and the phenomenon of diversity is
characteristic of other “Biblical” books in this time, too.
The Dead Sea manuscripts of the Song of Songs contribute in an unexpected way to our
understanding of its text (textual criticism) and poetic structure (literary criticism). But we are
happy that not the Dead Sea Scrolls’ version(s) but the pre-Masoretic one found its way into the
31
canon. If the versions of 4QCanta or b would have become canonical we would not read in our
Bible: “for love is strong as death” (Song 8,6): ‫כי עזה כמות אהבה‬.
32
Anastasios Akridas
THE “BODY – DESCRIPTION” MOTIF IN THE SONG OF SONGS (4:1-7; 5:10-16; 7:2-10)
The Song of Songs is a genuine child of the Love Poetry of the Ancient Near East. This child
though, grew up, shaped its own biblical character and unique manifold identity and found its
way to the Canon of the Old Testament, being the most beautiful but also the most controversial
of all its texts, but also the greatest love poem of all times. In its lines, we read passionate
moments from the story of two enigmatic lovers, the Shulamite and her Beloved bridegroom.
Uppermost points of this erotic story are the descriptions of the body of the couple. These
passages express the admiration and the lust of each lover to the other, and they constitute the
outcome of an independent motif in the literature of the Ancient Near East, regarding the body
and the description of its parts. In the next paragraphs the extra biblical context will be
examined, out of which the “Body – Description” motif emerges, and its usage by the editor of
the Song of Songs, defining it meaning and function within the Biblical text.
1. The description of the Shulamite in the Song of Songs (Song 4:1-7; 7:2-10)
1.1 The female body description in the literature of the Ancient Near East
P. Chester Beatty I, Group A (Egypt, 1200 – ca. 1150 BCE)

Bibliography
Fox, Ancient Egyptian Love Songs, 52
No. 31
(Boy)
(A) One alone is my sister, having no peer:
more gracious than all other women.
(B) Behold her, like Sothis rising
at the beginning of a good year:
shining, precious, white of skin,
lovely of eyes when gazing.
(C) Sweet her lips when speaking:
She has no excess of words.
Long of neck, white breast,
her hair true lapis lazuli.
(D) Her arms surpass gold,
her fingers are like lotuses.
Full her derriere, narrow her waist,
her thighs carry on her beauties.
Lovely of walk when she strides on the the ground,
she has captured my heart in her embrace
33
(E) She makes the heads of all the men
turn about when seeing her
Fortunate is whoever embraces her-
he is like the foremost of lovers.
(F) Her coming forth appears
like that of her yonder- the Unique One.
Descriptions of the female body are really common in the Love Poetry of the Ancient Near East
and especially in the love songs of Ancient Egypt. This particular genre dates from the New
Kingdom's period (1550-1069 BC). These poems are ordinary love songs written only for
entertainment, the protagonists are humans of royal origin and no religious aspect is noticeable
in them. They are simply a delightful ode to sexual love between a boy and a girl1.
1.2 The female body description in the Song of Songs (Song 4:1-7; 7:2-10)
Α 4:1a ιδόυ έι καλή ή πλήσιόν μόυ ιδόυ έι καλή
Β 4:1c τρίχωμά σόυ ως αγέλαι των αιγων αι απέκαλυφθήσαν από τόυ Γαλααδ
C 4:1b ὀφθαλμοί σόυ πέριστέραι έκτός τής σιωπήσέως σόυ
D 4:2 ὀδόντες σόυ ως αγέλαι των κέκαρμένων αι ανέβήσαν από τόυ λόυτρόυ αι πασαι
διδυμέυόυσαι και ατέκνόυσα όυκ έστιν έν αυταις
4:3 ως σπαρτιόν τό κόκκινόν χείλη σόυ και ή λαλια σόυ ωραια ως λέπυρόν τής ρόας
μήλόν σόυ έκτός τής σιωπήσέως σόυ
Ε. 4:4 ως πυργός Δαυιδ τράχηλός σόυ ό ωκόδόμήμένός έις θαλπιωθ χιλιόι θυρέόι
κρέμανται έπ᾽αυτόν πασαι βόλιδές των δυνατων
F. 4:5 δυό μαστοί σόυ ως δυό νέβρόι διδυμόι δόρκαδός όι νέμόμένόι έν κρινόις
4:6 έως όυ διαπνέυσῇ ή ήμέρα και κινήθωσιν αι σκιαι πόρέυσόμαι έμαυτω πρός τό όρός τής
σμυρνής και πρός τόν βόυνόν τόυ Λιβανόυ
4:7 όλή καλή έι ή πλήσιόν μόυ και μωμός όυκ έστιν έν σόι
G. 7:2 a. τι ωραιωθήσαν διαβήματα σόυ έν υπόδήμασιν θυγατέρ Ναδαβ

b. ρυθμόι μηρῶν σόυ όμόιόι όρμισκόις
1 M. V. Fox, The Song of Song and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs (Madison, Wisconsin; University of
Wisconsin Press, 1985), 183-86. On the other hand, the Love Poetry of Mesopotamia is dealing with and
expresses through variations and developments the sacred marriage rite, that is the ritualistic union between
a goddess (most often the goddess of love and war Inanna) and the king, expressing (mainly) the theme of
fertility. The texts date from the third to the middle of the first millennium BC, and they mainly form a specific
corpus of Sumerian texts, usually called the “Dumuzi – Inanna Cycle”.
34
c. έργω χέιρων τέχνιτόυ
Η. 7:3 a ὀμφαλός σόυ κρατήρ τόρέυτός μή υστέρόυμένός
G’. 7:3b κραμα κοιλία σόυ θιμωνια σιτόυ πέφραγμένή έν κρινόις
F’. 7:4 δυό μαστοί σόυ ως δυό νέβρόι διδυμόι δόρκαδός
Ε’. 7:5a τράχηλός σόυ ως πυργός έλέφαντινός
D’. 7:5c μυκτήρ σόυ ως πυργός τόυ Λιβανόυ σκόπέυων πρόσωπόν Δαμασκόυ
C’. 7:5b όφθαλμόι σόυ ως λιμναι έν Ἑσέβων έν πυλαις θυγατρός πόλλων
Β’. 7:6a κεφαλή σόυ έπι σέ ως Καρμήλός

b και πλόκιον κεφαλῆς σόυ ως πόρφυρα
c βασιλέυς δέδέμένός έν παραδρόμαις
Α’. 7:7 τι ωραιωθής και τι ήδυνθής αγαπή έν τρυφαις σόυ
Coda
7:8 τόυτό μέγέθός σόυ ωμόιωθή τω φόινικι και όι μαστόι σόυ τόις βότρυσιν
7:9 έιπα αναβήσόμαι έν τω φόινικι κρατήσω των υψέων αυτόυ και έσόνται δή μαστόι σόυ ως βότρυές τής
αμπέλόυ και όσμή ρινός σόυ ως μήλα
7:10 και λαρυγξ σόυ ως όινός ό αγαθός πόρέυόμένός τω αδέλφιδω μόυ έις έυθυτήτα ικανόυμένός
χέιλέσιν μόυ και όδόυσιν
The description of the Shulamite is found actually in three passages in the Song of Songs, in
Song 4:1-7; 6:4-7 and 7:2-10. Though the editor copies the first half of the first passage in 6:4-
7, while the two other passages seem to form a unified entire body description, from head to
the navel, and then from feet to the head again. In those two descriptions, unparalleled in the
Old Testament2, the Shulamite is addressed by the Beloved in direct second person singular,
which, with the feminine suffix, is applied outside the Pentateuch to countries or to cities and
most often to Jerusalem3. Right from the beginning of the text thus, we have hints of what we
are going to read.
The description in the chapter 4 is ruled by metaphors from the animal and vegetable
kingdom: doves, flock of sheep and goats and young roes, color the text with vivid movement
and life, whereas pomegranates, lilies, myrrh and frankincense, are used for the Shulamite as
2The only comparable text would be the description of Sarah in the Genesis Apocryphon 1Q20, 20:1-9. But
that text is rather an admiration song and not a description one. No metaphors are used in the description of
Sarah and she is described in the third person singular.
3E. Kingsmill, The Song of Songs and the Eros of God: A Study in Biblical Intertextuality (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2009), 130.
35
an extension of the very strong garden symbolism. And exactly right after some verses (4: 12-
5:1), she is directly likened to a fenced garden and a sealed fountain.
The description in the chapter 7 is much more explicit than in chapter 4 and a lot of attention
is focused on the shape of the body: the woman's hips are round (v. 2b), her belly protrudes, if
softly (as suggested by its comparison to a heap of wheat, v. 3b), and her navel is large and deep
(v.3a). The curve shapes of the body are given place to vertical lines in the second half of the
passage, considering the shape of her neck and her nose (v.5-6), and in that way, not only her
true femininity is extolled, but also her aristocratic appearance4.
Both passages share a large geographical scope, covering the entire land of Canaan, and while
the chapter 4 understands the physical world as analogous to the human body, the description
in the chapter 7 indicates a specific area, traveling south to north, of which Jerusalem is the
center and of which in return, the center is the Temple5.
2. The description of the Beloved in the Song of Songs (Song 5:10-15)

2.2 The male body description motif in the literature of the Ancient Near East
a. The God Description Texts: A Mystical Representation of a deity
Babylonian Cult Symbols (CBS 6060 rev. 1-5, dupl. BM 47463 obv. Ii 31-5/ Late Babylonian Times,
979-539 BCE)
Bibliography
S. Langdon, PBS 10/ iv, n. 12, (1919), 341 (copy and edition)
A. Livingstone, MWE (1986), 97 (transliteration and translation)
reverse I6
1. Raisin are his eye-balls
2. A dried fig are his breasts.
3. A pomegranate are his knees.
4. An apple is his ankle bones.
5. A scone is his flesh.
b. The Göttertypentext7 (New Assyrian period, ca. 972-609 BCE)

Bibliography
4 L. Schwienhorst - Schonberger, Das Hohelied der Liebe (Freiburg, Basel, Wien: Herder, 2015), 144.
5 Ἑ. Kingsmill, The Song of Songs and the Eros of God, 130-31.
6Translation taken from A. Livingstone, Mystical and Mythological Explanatory Works of Assyrian and
Babylonian Scholars, (Oxford 1986), 97.
7The text here is cited according to the edition of F. Kocher, “Der babylonische Gottertypentext”, MIO 1 (1953),
57- 107.
36
C. Bezold, ZA 9 (1894), 114-125, K. 2148, col. 2-3 (original text, transcription and translation),
K. 7918 (original text), K. 8337 (original text), K. 8766 + K. 13806 (original text, rev. col. 2-4).
idem, ZA 9 (1894), 405-409, Rm 279 (original text), Rm 422 (original text).
R. C. Thomson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, II (1904), 146-159.
P. Jensen, KB 6,2 (1915), 2-9 (transliteration and translation of obs. III 38-59, rev. IV 1-57, rev.
V 1-12, 43-60, V 1-4, VI 13-23)
F. Kocher, MIO 1 (1953), 57-107 (edition)
M. H. Pope, Probative Pontificating in Ugaritic and Biblical Literature: Collected Essays, (ed. Mark
S. Smith; Ugaritisch-Biblische Literatur Munster: Ugarit Verlag 1994), 66-67, (translation of
Obs. I 51 - Obs. II 10)
C8.
52. The head is the head of a serpent;
53. From his nostrils mucus trickles,
54. His mouth is beslavered with water drops;
55. He wears horns like those of a see-snake;
56. His horns are twisted into
57. three curls,
58. Wild hair there is upon his cheeks.
59. The body is that of a purādu-fish full of stars,
Rev. IV
1. The base of his feet are claws,

2. The sole of his foot has no heel;
3. His name is Sassu-urinnu, He is a sea-monster, a form of Ea.
Whereas the description of the female body is a common theme in the Love Songs of the
Ancient Near East, a male body description is totally absent from this genre. It seems that it
emerges from another stream of traditions.
The “male body description” motif, occurs, among many other texts9, within a separate corpus
of ideas in the literature of the Ancient Near East, that of the God Description Texts, who date to
the Late Babylonian (979 – 539 BC) and New – Assyrian times (972 – 609 BC). These texts are
the expression of an independent tradition, concerning the mystical representation of a deity,
or with other words, the description of its divine body10. This particular literary corpus is used
8 F. Kocher, “Der babylonische Gottertypentext”, 73.

9Old Akkadian Love Incantation (MAD V 8), The Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince (VAT 10057),
Ermitage Ostracon No. 1125, A Description of Baal (RS 24.245).
10 A. Livingstone, Mystical and Mythological Explanatory Works, 98.
37
by editors as a subsequent addition into other texts11. Critical is the fact, that all those texts
share a strong ritualistic content and intend to express a vivid representation and the true
presence of the deity as a participant in the very moment that the ritual took place.
Another example of the “male body description” motif here, is the so called Göttertypentext, a
unique text among the literature of Akkad, which date in the New- Assyrian period (ca. 972-
609 BC)12. The text is an Assyrian table of six columns, where upon them are descriptions and
depictions of 26 divine statues of gods and mixed beings. But what we have in front of us are
descriptions of star – gods, or even better, statues and images of those star – gods13. All texts
share the characteristic of a downward body description, addressed to the deity in the third
person singular.
Thus, the context in which the “male body description” motif occurs within the literature of
the Ancient Near East, is clearly ritualistic, even magical and astrological in character, and it
turns to be that, it is mainly used as a way of describing divine bodies or/ and statues. But, if
this particular literary motif occurs within all of the above contexts, how did the editor of the
Song of Songs came to use this motif and what kind of function does it serve in the Biblical book?
These questions we will try to answer in the next paragraph.
2.2. The male body description motif in Song 5:10-16

5:10 αδέλφιδός μόυ (‫ּדֹודי‬
ִ֥ ) λέυκός και πυρρός έκλέλόχισμένός από μυριαδων
5:11 κέφαλή αυτόυ χρυσιόν και φαζ βόστρυχόι αυτόυ έλαται μέλανές ως κόραξ
5:12 όφθαλμόι αυτόυ ως πέριστέραι έπι πλήρωματα υδατων λέλόυσμέναι έν γαλακτι καθήμέναι
έπι πλήρωματα υδατων
5:13 σιαγόνές αυτόυ ως φιαλαι τόυ αρωματός φυόυσαι μυρέψικα χέιλή αυτόυ κρινα σταζόντα
σμυρναν πλήρή
5:14 χέιρές αυτόυ τόρέυται χρυσαι πέπλήρωμέναι θαρσις κόιλια αυτόυ πυξιόν έλέφαντινόν έπι
λιθόυ σαπφέιρόυ
5:15 κνήμαι αυτόυ στυλόι μαρμαρινόι τέθέμέλιωμένόι έπι βασέις χρυσας έιδός αυτόυ ως Λιβανός
έκλέκτός ως κέδρόι
5:16 φαρυγξ αυτόυ γλυκασμόι και όλός έπιθυμια όυτός αδέλφιδός μόυ και όυτός πλήσιόν μόυ
θυγατέρές Ἰέρόυσαλήμ
The description in Song 5:10-16 is given in response to the question of the Daughters of
Jerusalem, one verse before (Song 5:9): “What is your beloved (‫ )ּדֹוד‬more than another beloved,
11i. VAT 8917 obv. 1-18, ii. VAT 9946 rev. 9-17, iii. CBS 6060 rev. 1-5 dupl. BM 47463 obv. ii 31-5, and iv. BM
34035 41-2
12C. Bezold, “Uber keilschriftliche Beschreibungen babylonisch – assyrischer Gottentypen”, ZA 9 (1894), 115.
Kocher, “Der babylonische Gottertypentext”, 59.
13 C. Bezold, Fr. Boll, “Eine neue babylonisch – griechische Parallele”, in Aufsätze zur Kultur – und
Sprachgeshichte vornehmlich des Orients: Ernst Kuhn zum 70. Geburtstage am 7. Februar 1916 gewidmet von
Freunden und Schülern, (Munchen 1916), 228. Bezold, Boll, “Eine neue babylonisch – griechische Parallele”,
230. See also Fr. Boll, Aus der Offenbarung Johannis: Hellenistische Studien zum Weltbild der Apokalypse
(Stoixeia 1; Leibniz – Berlin: Druck und Verlag B.G. Teubner, 1914), 50-56.
38
O most beautiful among women?”. While bearing in mind that the term ‫ ּדֹוד‬differently
vocalized, is the root of the name David (‫)ּדוד‬,ָ the question here suggests that it is understood,
as at Isa. 5:1ff, where it only occurs outside the Song of Songs. In this prophetic text, well-known
as the Song of the vineyard, the term ‫ ּדֹוד‬denotes God and it is used as an epithet of YHWH. The
editor of the Song of Songs thus, intends the reader to understand the term in that particular
way14 and he prepares him for the inner meaning of the bride's reply, which is no other than
the description song of Song 5:10-16.
Morphologically, it is a vertical head-to-toes description, which is expressed by the
Shoulamite in the third-person singular. This indirect way of referring though, signifies that the
Shoulamite does not really see her Beloved, like he is absent and away from her. On the other
hand, the Beloved describes his Bride directly, in the second person singular, like she is in front
of him.
Right from the beginning of this passage (“My Beloved is radiant and ruddy”, Song 5:10), its
lines lead us from one theophanic or apocalyptic text to another15, while the colors and the
many references to the precious stones that attested to the body of the Beloved, make the
majority of the commentators to approach this description as of a statue16. Special reference is
given to Dan. 2:31-45 and the Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a great statue where the head of pure
gold parallels the gold head of the Beloved at Song 5:11. Whereas the statue in
Nebuchadnezzar's dream symbolizes the kingdoms of this world, which begin by being
majestic, symbolized by the fine gold of the head, but degenerate until the feet are no more than
an unstable mixture of clay and iron, so that the image when struck is instantly and utterly
destroyed, the image in the Song, understood as an aspect of God, remains splendid
throughout17. The bride herself points to this contrast at the conclusion of her praise when she
declares “All of him is precious” (Song 10:16a).
2.3 The function of the male body description in Song 5:10-16

Considering now the use and the function of the male body description in the Song of Songs
one could say the following: When we love someone with all our heart18, (see also Deut 6:5) we
turn to adore him and glorify him; he becomes like a God to us. It is exactly these deep feelings
that impress the description of the Beloved by the Shulamite: her Beloved is (like) a god to her.
Furthermore, in another level of interpretation and taking into consideration the extra biblical
context out which the “male body description” motif emerges, it could be argued that the editor
of the Songs of Songs uses it in order to add a clearly ritualistic tone into the whole biblical text.
It is exactly this ritualistic character of the book that seems to be acknowledged already from
the first century AD. It is Rabbi Akiba who declares that “All the Scriptures are holy, but the
Song of Songs is the holy of holies”19.
14Clearly in this direction goes the Cant. Rabbah, expanding the question: “The other nations say to Israel:
'What is thy beloved more than another beloved? What is thy God more than other deities?”. (V.9, §1).
15See for instance Gen 32:4; 1 Sam 16:12; Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4 and the usage of the term “EDOM”, Lam 4:7;
Ezek 1; Dan 2:31-45; 7:9-14; 10: 5-6. Rev 1: 14; 1 Enoch 106.
16M. H. Pope, Song of Songs (Anchor Bible 7C; Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1977), 66 – 85, L.
Schwienhorst - Schonberger, Das Hohelied der Liebe, 130-132.
17 Ἑ. Kingsmill, The Song of Songs and the Eros of God, 182- 184.
18 cf. Song 8:6.
19 mYadayim 3:5.
39
Now, especially on the passage of Song 5:10-16, it seems to be a stage in the development of a
whole stream of esoteric tradition, which indicates the anthropomorphic representation of the
deity, by giving the ecstatic description of its astral body and later on the measurement of its
enormous cosmic dimensions. This specific literary motif penetrates a bulk of magic and ritual
texts from the Ancient Near East to apocalyptic 20 , gnostic 21 and mandaic 22 , rabbinic 23 and
Christian24 texts, referring to the body as temple and image of the Cosmos25, and reaching to its
peak by ruling the Shiur Komah (= The Measurement of the Divine Body) tradition26, where the
body of Yahweh, or better the “body of his Presence” (guf haSchekinah)27 is described. The great
Gershom Scholem 28 determines the Song to be “the most esoteric aspect of the Merkavah
mysticism” and he maintains that it actually expresses a kind of idiomorphic “apophatic
theology”, where the Erhabene - in its Kantian sense - of the Godhead is defined and attested
with explicit and detailed descriptions. Yet, this exaggeration of finite esthetic tools, such as
epithets, names, letters, measurements and numbers, actually reveals the ontological weakness
of the human language before an infinite reality, that totaly surpasses it29.
3. Summary
In the Song of Songs, the two lovers express their admiration and love to each other by
describing the beauty of the body of one another. There are in total three descriptions within
the book, two for the female body (Song 4:1-7; 7: 2-10) and one for the male body (Song 5:10-
16).
The two female body descriptions, having parallels in the Love Poetry of the Ancient Near East
but not in the Bible, approaching the body of the Shulamite as the physical world, or better the
body as the Cosmos. The description though indicates a very specific area, in which Jerusalem
is the center and of which in return, the center is the Temple.
20Slavonic Enoch 13:8; 39: 3-5. Gerard P. Luttikhuizen, The Revelation of Elchasai: Investigations into the
Evidence for a Mesopotamian Jewish Apocalypse of the Second Century and its Reception by Judeo – Christian
Propagandists, (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 8; Mohr Siebeck: Tubingen 1985), 44-5, 100-01, 108-
09.
21 The Gospel of Philip in the NHC ii, 3.62:7-17.
22See K. Zarras, Η Μυστική Θεολογία των Μανδαίων: Οι Ιουδαϊκές Αφορμές [The Mystical Theology of
Mandaeans: The Jewish Elements] (Έννόια: Ἀθήνα, 2016), 135 – 218.
23bHagigah 12a; bBaba Bathra 58a; bShanhedrin 38b; Genesis Rabbah 8:1, 8:9-10, 24:2; Leviticus Rabbah
18:2; Midrash Tanhuma, Bereshit 25.
24 1 Cor 3: 16-17; 2 Cor 6:16; Rom 8:9.
25See R. Patai, Man and Temple in Ancient Jewish Myth and Ritual, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson and
Sons, 1947), 113ff.
M. S. Cohen, The Shi'ur Qomah: Liturgy and Theurgy in the Pre–Kabbalistic Jewish Mysticism, (Lanham,
26
Maryland: University Press of America, 1984).

27 K. Zarras, Η Μυστική Θεολογία των Μανδαίων, 110-116.
28 G. Scholem, “Shi’ur Komah”, EJ 14: 1417-1418.
29 K. Zarras, Η Μυστική Θεολογία των Μανδαίων, 114-115.
40
On the other hand, the “male body description” motif, emerges not from the Love Poetry
genre, but out of extra biblical traditions, which are ritualistic, even magical and astrological in
character. There the “male body description” motif is used as a way of describing divine bodies
or/ and statues. The editor of the Song of Songs is a bearer of these particular traditions and he
uses them in order to attest to the ‫ּדֹוד‬, a statuesque shape, which, in the first place, impresses
the deep love and glorification, expressed by the Shulamite. The whole book receives also a
clearly ritualistic tone and atmosphere, while it seems that the Song 5,10-16 is an elaboration
stage of esoteric traditions regarding the anthropomorphic representation of the deity.
41
Konstantinos Th. Zarras
‫ה֙נ ְַפ ִׁ֔שי‬

֙ ָ‫( שֶׁ֤אָ הֲב‬SONG 1:7): ITS GROWTH AND ELABORATION IN LATER JEWISH TEXTS
Since the times of the ancient Greeks with their numerous hymns and praises to Art and the
Muses, it was solemnly believed that true poetry came from the gods. Thus, poetry was a “divine
revelation”1. It was through the interaction of two distinct entities, Eros and the Soul, which
inspiration came forth and inflated the sails of poets and lovers throughout History; for a lover
is always a poet and a poet cannot be but only in love 2. Perhaps there is no greater hymn or
song on love than the Song of Songs, a composition that is read today with the same fervor like
the day it was written, thousands of years ago.
This brief presentation aims not in conquering the vast empire of the poet, but only to pay some
attention to some of its aspects; namely, only in the treatment of a single expression in the Song
of Songs that came to mean so much to so many through the ages. The expression “you whom
my soul loves” played a prominent role in the development of certain trends in mystical
Christianity3 and Judaism (not my cup of tea right now) and is still under study and scrutiny.
Both, Judaism and Christianity found in the Song a vast treasure house full of mystical symbols.
For Song of Songs has turned out to be a most polyvalent and polysemous text, susceptible to
various readings and interpretations. Yet, more importantly, “In the Jewish exegetical context,
interpretation of the Song of Songs is one of the chief ways through which individuals and
generations expressed their relationship with the loving God”4. Here the Song of Songs becomes
a metaphor concerning the sacred bond and marriage between God and His holy community,
Israel. In such a way, it constitutes the attempt of the faithful –here, the Rabbis-5 to describe his
relationship with his Creator in the form of a dialogue, a love story between a human being and
the supernal, indescribable reality that encompasses everything6. For often in the midrashic
context “erotic language is religious” and “religious language is erotic”7.
1 J. D. Baildam, Paradisal Love: Johann Gottfried Herder and the Song of Songs (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic
Press, 1999), 178. Also, see D. M. Carr, “Ancient Sexuality and Divine Eros: Rereading the Bible through the
Lens of the Song of Songs,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review 54 (2000), 1-18.
2For the Near Eastern and especially Arabic poetic traditions that may have influenced the Song, see Sc. B.
Noegel, G. A. Rendsburg, Solomon’s vineyard: literary and linguistic studies in the Song of Songs (Atlanta, GA:
Society of Biblical Literature, 2009), 129 ff.
3See P. J. Griffiths, Song of Songs (Brazos Press: Grand Rapids MI, 2011), 183: “when a person’s soul responds
to the Lord, whether with joy or anguish, she (or he) acknowledges and represents herself (or himself) as a
creature. The paradigmatic instance of this usage, for Christians, is Mary’s response to Elizabeth’s hymn of
praise (“blessed are you among women”) at the visitation: “My soul [anima] proclaims the Lord’s greatness,
and my spirit [spiritus] exults in God my savior” (Luke 1:46-47).”
4A. Green, “Intradivine Romance: The Song of Songs in Zohar”, in P. S. Hawkins, L. Cushing Stahlberg (eds.),
Scrolls of love: reading Ruth and the Song of Songs (New York: Fordham University Press, 2006), 215.
5J. A. Kates, “Entering the Holy of Holies: Rabbinic Midrash and the Language of Intimacy”, in P. S. Hawkins, L.
Cushing Stahlberg (eds.), Scrolls of love: reading Ruth and the Song of Songs, 213.
6 In 1 John 4:8 it is clearly stated that “God is love” (ό θέός αγαπή έστιν).
7 J. A. Kates, “Entering the Holy of Holies”, 213.
43
Now, diving into the text, in Song 1:7 there is a woman speaking to a man8 and it is here that
appears for the first time the expression, ‫הבָ ה ֙נ ְַפ ִׁ֔שי‬
ֲ ָ‫שא‬
ֶׁ֤֙ “you whom my soul loves”. The very
same expression is used in 3:1–4 (4 times) again under the passionate circumstances of a quest.
For in the Song of Songs we read about a quest9, a yearning for union and love, for to find the
“beloved one of my soul”. This expression evinces a heavy load of absence, of inner pain and
loss. It expresses the inmost longing for oneness and completion. Its actual meaning is: “He
whom I desire with all my being”10 or “him in whom my whole being exults”. This phrase occurs
five times in the Song of Songs (1:7; 3:1, 2, 3, 4), while the Hebrew term nefesh (“soul”) occurs
six times (the sixth in 5:6). There we see the verb ʾāhēv (= ‘to love’) for a third time (1:3, 4, 7)11,
while the term for ‘love’ (= ahava) is met with three times in the Prologue (2:4, 5, 7) and another
three times in the Epilogue (8:6–7)12. The same expression can be found in 1 Sam 20:17 about
the friendly love between David and Jonathan, where the two resemble a lot to the famous
friendship of Damon and Phidias or to the one between Achilles and Patroclus. Then, this
beloved man is described either as a king (Solomon, 1:4, 12) or as a shepherd (1:7), while the
woman in love is shown as a “keeper of the vineyards” (1:5–6), as a shepherdess (1:8) or as a
princess (3:6–11; 7:2).
Although in many translations the Hebrew nefesh is rendered as ‘soul’13, we have to note that
this is not the most suitable. To the Western mind, soul is an immaterial part of the human
entity that many a time is taken to be even contrary to the physical body. Therefore, in light of
its many uses in the OT, a better translation would be someone’s “whole being” or his/her
“inner being”14. A clear indication of this may be found in the commandment for the Shema,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your whole-being and with all
your might” (Deut 6:5; all emphasis is mine)15. The expression nafshi (“my whole being” or “my
soul” in 1:7; 3:1–4; 5:6; 6:12) is replaced now and then in the Song of Songs with others, like
libbi, ‘my heart’, (5:2) and karmi, ‘my vineyard’ (1:6).
Like we mentioned before, the whole enterprise in the Song of Songs is woven around a most
meaningful quest; it is clear that somehow there came to be an initial separation and then the
need for some kind of journey that would bring about the longed-for union. The pains of Ulysses
came to mind many a time. The term used for ‘to seek’ is biqesh, found in Deut 4:29, where we
read, “From [a foreign land] you will seek (biqesh) the LORD your God, and you will find him if
8G. Barbiero, Song of Songs: A close reading (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 64. For Hunt (P. Hunt, Poetry in the Song of
songs: a literary analysis [New York: Peter Lang, 2008], 88), the ‘image’ depicted in this verse is ‘visual’.
9See Song 2:9, 14; 3:1–4; 4:8; 5:2–6; 8:1–2, 13. Also, see E. Kingsmill, The Song of Songs and the Eros of God:
A Study in Biblical Intertextuality (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 211 ff.
10 G. Barbiero, Song of Songs, 65.
11 Again, see the analysis in G. Barbiero, Song of Songs, 65 ff.
12For Sc. B. Noegel and G. A. Rendsburg (Solomon’s vineyard: literary and linguistic studies in the Song of Songs,
192, n. 14), the noun ahavah also means ‘alliance.’
13It should be noted that in the Zohar (I:224b and III:70b) nefesh refers to a lower part of the soul, the vital
or animal soul, that remains on earth after death.
14See Sc. B. Noegel, G. A. Rendsburg, Solomon’s vineyard: literary and linguistic studies in the Song of Songs,
190.
15See the commandment that Jesus Christ declared as the ‘first’ (Mark 12:29, ‘πρωτή’), "You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (see Deut 6:5; Mark 12:28-
30). Notice the intrinsic connection of the ‘soul’ with ‘love’ and ‘God’.
44
you search after him with all your heart and whole being”16 (see also Jer 29:13). The same term
is used for the oracular inquiry, too (Exod 33:7).
As is evinced in later Rabbinic texts, the quest for the “beloved one” rises now to the dimensions
of the Godhead Himself. But in the Song of Songs the name of God appears only once and in the
way of a circumlocution or an abbreviation. In 8:6 we read about the “flame of Yah”
(‫)שַ ְלהֶ֥ב ְתיָ ָֽה‬17. Yet, though the MT is clear, some of the other versions were confused about this
expression. Of course, this is a composite word made by šalhebet (‘flame’) and yah, a well-
known abbreviation for the holy Name of God in the OT, the Tetragrammaton, also found in the
well-known “halleluyah”18. Needless to say, this ‘flame of YH’ brings in mind the revelation at
the feet of the mount Sinai, when Moses saw a bush aflame, yet not burned (Ex 3:2) 19. It has
been maintained that here lies the key for understanding the whole poem and perhaps –I would
add- of the transference of the whole dromenon to the sphere divine. It is precisely because here
love is a “flame of Yah” that the Song is invested with “numinous characteristics” while “the two
lovers assume a theomorphic character. To experience love is to experience God”20.
But personifications are not unknown in the OT. In a similar way, hokhmah (= ‘sophia’) in
Proverbs (8:1, 12, 22, also without an article) is personified in a high and glorious female figure
and sometimes the two personifications have been connected and even juxtaposed.21 In Song
of Songs the woman is identified with the land of Israel and the numerous references to the
beauty of this land (flowers, fruits) and at the same time the metaphors that connect her to
Jerusalem and Tirzah, Carmel and Gilead, bring the Song close to Sirach (24), where Wisdom is
making her tabernacle in the land of Israel22. Even the ‘body’23 of the ‘lover’ has been linked to
the mystical traditions concerning the Shiur Qomah. 24 Among other things, the powerful
metaphor of the garden (Song 4:12-5:1), a clear image of the garden of Eden25. wherefrom the
16 Deut 4:29, ‫ּ֙ובכָל־נַפְ ֶֽׁשָך׃‬

ְ ֶ֖‫ָל־לבָ ְבָך‬
ְ ‫ּנּו֙בכ‬
ְ ‫֙כי֙ת ְד ְר ִׁ֔ש‬
ִּ֣ ‫ָ֑את‬
ָ ‫יָךּ֙ומ ָצ‬
ָ ‫ֹלה‬
ֶ֖ ֱ‫ּוב ַק ְש ִ֥תם֙מ ָ ָּׁ֛שם֙את־יְהוָ ִ֥ה֙א‬
17 G. Barbiero, Song of Songs, 436, n. 7: “Thus MT šalhebetya. Along with numerous manuscripts, Ben
Naphthali’s reading actually separates the two words šalhebet-ya. The ancient versions have understood
differently: LXX has phloges autēs (‘its flames’), reading šalhăbōtehā, in parallelism with rešāpehā; similarly,
Vg atque flammarum, and the Syriac wšlhbt’, ‘the flames’.”
18 G. Barbiero, Song of Songs, 39 and 464, where in note 133: “R. Tournay, the spelling -ya may have its origin
in Aramaic influence (cf. Robert – Tournay [1963], p. 453), which would confirm the Hellenistic dating of the
poem.”
19G. Barbiero (Song of Songs, 466) calls attention to the fiery and the jealous character of God in Exodus, “For
YHWH your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God” (cf. also Isa 33:14).”
21 Seewhat G. Garbini (Cantico dei cantici [Biblica 2; Brescia: Paideia, 1992]) has to say in G. Barbiero (Song
of Songs, 456, n. 92), “The author wanted a female figure to substitute for Wisdom [. . .], which someone
considered almost an hypostasis of Yahweh” (Garbini, 269)”.
23It is highly probable that similar traditions were connected or even gave birth to those concerning the ‘body’
of Adakas Ziwa or Adam Kasia, the ‘secret Adam’ of the Mandaeans. See the relevant chapter and material in
my Η μυστική θεολογία των Μανδαίων: Οι ιουδαϊκές αφορμές [The mystical theology of the Mandaeans: The
Jewish elements] (Ἀθήνα: Έννόια, 2014).
24See E. Kingsmill, The Song of Songs and the Eros of God: A Study in Biblical Intertextuality, 185 ff. Also, G. G.
Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah, The Jewish Publication Society and Princeton University Press, Princeton,
N.Y., 1987, 18-24.
25 G.Barbiero, Song of Songs, 506. Also, E. Kingsmill, The Song of Songs and the Eros of God: A Study in Biblical
Intertextuality, 155 ff. Still, Fel. Waldman, “Edenic Paradise and Paradisal Eden: Moshe Idel’s Reading of the
Talmudic Legend of the Four Sages Who Entered the Pardes”, Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies
45
water of life flows, gave birth to another story, the “story of the four” that entered ‘pardes’ in
the Tosefta and the Talmud26. The mashal that is interpreted there with Song 1:4 (“the king has
brought me into his chambers”)27 has been connected to the early Jewish mystics (like R. Akiva,
a leading figure in this “story” and α great scholar) and to the heavenly heikhalot28. Although a
metaphor for the four rabbinic exegetic methods, pardes (PaRDeS)29 poses as a destination and
a place at the same time, while the “king” here is none other than God who invites the worthy
mystic into his “chambers”. From this point of view, it is no coincidence that in the Mishnah30
and in the halakhic debate whether the Song of Songs “renders the hands unclean”31 (actually,
whether it is holy or not), R. Akiva insisted that the Song of Songs should make it into the list of
holy books32. His temple comparisons, where the Torah is likened to the temple of Jerusalem
and the Song of Songs to its Holy of Holies, are quite tale-telling. A couple of elements should
not evade our attention in his locution. First, the Song of Songs is “given” to Israel, and the very
same language is utilized by the Rabbis concerning the revelation of the Torah on Sinai; and
second, the phrase “song of songs” in his evaluation is rendered in an analogous way to the
“Holy of Holies” –Song of Songs, Holy of Holies33.
Given the most interesting presentation of the Qumranic Song of Songs (ms 4Q106) by Professor
Lichtenberger I would like add here only a few intriguing thoughts 34. The Qumranites had no
temple or sanctuary and they send no offerings to the temple of Jerusalem. In several scrolls,
the mystics that resided at the north-western shore of the Dead Sea referred to their community
as the Yaḥad (union, ένωσις, κόινωνια, όμιλός). Last, but not least, in the Songs for the Sabbath
Sacrifice and especially in the so-called Angelic Liturgy there is implied a heavily internalized
ritual where men and angels were elevated high in the heavenly temple, praising God in unison,
as one; in my mind, the idea of the Yaḥad might well have been born out of this image of mystical
communion between devoted men and angels –yet, not with God. The Christian doctrine of the
18/6 (2007), 79-87. For other approaches on the ‘paradise’ and the ‘garden,’ see Fr. Landy, Paradoxes of
Paradise: Identity and difference in the Song of Songs (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011), 172 ff.
26See its presentation in my Η Αρχαία Ιουδαϊκή Μυστική Παράδοση του Θρόνου [The Ancient Jewish Mystical
Tradition of the Throne] (Θέσσαλόνική: Τυπόφιλια, 2000).
27See the comments in J. Cheryl Exum, Song of songs: A commentary (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John
Knox Press, 2005), 92. Also, M. Fishbane, Song of Songs, The JPS Bible Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish
Publication Society, 2015).
28Given the dire outcome of that story, where only one ‘enters in peace’ and ‘exits in peace,’ there is a strong
connection between love and death in the Song, too (“Love is fierce as death,” Song 8:6, TNK).
29Peshat is for the literal meaning, derash for its midrashic and religious dimension, remez for the allegorical
sense, and sod for the mystical and hidden one. All the initial letters of the four methods form the term PaRDeS,
meaning both their combined use and its successful outcome, that is, entry into paradise. For the ‘garden’ of
the ‘lovers’ in the Song of Songs, see P. Hunt, Poetry in the Song of songs: a literary analysis (New York: Peter
Lang, 2008), 103-139.
30 mYadayim 3:5.
31 H. Danby (ed. and trans.), The Mishnah (Oxford: Oxford University, 1974), 781.
32See J. A. Kates, “Entering the Holy of Holies: Rabbinic Midrash and the Language of Intimacy”, in P. S.
Hawkins, L. Cushing Stahlberg (eds.), Scrolls of love: reading Ruth and the Song of Songs, 201. Also, see A.
Bentzen, “Remarks on the Canonisation of the Song of Solomon”, in F. Hvidberg (ed.), Studia Orientalia Johanni
Pedersen Dicata (Copenhagen: Einar Munksgaard, 1953), 41-47.
33 J. A. Kates, “Entering the Holy of Holies”, 201.
34See also Sc. B. Noegel, G. A. Rendsburg, Solomon’s vineyard: literary and linguistic studies in the Song of Songs,
57 ff.
46
Church as a koinwnia not made by hands might be an evolution of the same idea35. After all,
Jesus Christ is the nymphios, the “bridegroom” in the NT and the supernal “beloved One” of later
Christian mystics. As is very well documented, the mystical union with him was their utmost
goal. Thus, according to Origen in his commentary to the Song of Songs36, Christ and ecclesia
were the lover and beloved of the Song, a bridegroom and his bride, his theonymphe, eternally
one and eternally longing for each other37.
It is in the Mekilta to Exodus 38 that R. Akiba speaks of the beauty of God and answers a
hypothetical question of the nations addressed to Israel, “'What is your beloved more than
another beloved … (Song 5:9), [what is he] ‘that you die for Him, and that you are slain for Him?’”
Here the theme of love and death in the Song (1:3) is related to the Psalm (44:23), where it is
stated, “For your sake we are slain all the day.” To this the Israelites reply with another verse
from the Song (2:16), where it is stated, “My beloved is mine, and I am His”. Therefore, God
belongs only to Israel and to nobody else. Undoubtedly, this is nuptial language, where the
community of Israel stands like a bride or like a wife to God who is her heavenly companion
and bridegroom.
In an interesting turn, Midrash Rabbah, in its commentary to the Song of Songs 1:7, R. Judah
applied this verse to Moses and involved the people of Israel, “the nation that my soul loves,
nation for which I have offered my life”39. More interestingly, after only a few lines “the one
whom my soul loves” is linked closely to the death of Moses and the appointment of “shepherds”
in order to guide them40. Here the prophets are “compared to women” and this is interpreted
as though the prophet is a woman who has to ask from her “husband” –that is, God, “the Father
in Heaven”- all that her “household” –the nation of Israel- needs for her wellbeing. The
expression “by night on my bed” (Song 3:1) is explained as both the neglecting of the Torah and
as the slavery in Egypt41. This period here is called “the night”. Again, Moses is “him whom my
soul loves”42 and the Hebrews in the land of the Pharaoh are the community that is depicted as
a woman who desperately needs a deliverer. Another explanation is offered later on, this time
applying the expression “him whom my soul loves” to the prophet Daniel, while the “watchmen”
now are the “Chaldaeans” that mistreated the Jews43. Of course, the “night” here applies to the
Babylonian exile.
35See my “Η Yahad (‫ )יחד‬ως αγιόπόιήμένός και αλήθινός Ἰσραήλ: Στόιχέια μυστικής ιέρόπραξιας και ή
Παρόυσια τόυ Θέόυ σέ χέιρόγραφα τόυ Κόυμραν” [“Yahad (‫ )יחד‬as a sanctified and true Israel: Elements of
mystic hieropraxy and the Presence of God in Qumran texts”], in Synthesis, Thessaloniki 2017 (forthcoming).
36See J. C. King, Origen on the Song of Songs as the Spirit of Scripture: The Bridegroom’s Perfect Marriage-Song,
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), esp. 88, 110-112.
37These ideas were even more cultivated in the centuries to come. See the material in R. Alfred Norris, The
Song of Songs: Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentators (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans,
2003).
Mekilta to Exodus, Shirata, Beshallah § 3. Cf. C. G. Montefiore, H. Loewe, A Rabbinic Anthology (London:
38
Macmillan, 1938), 101-102, §263.

39Song Rabbah I:43 (Midrash Rabbah [London: Soncino, 1983]). Also, see the relevant material in J. Neusner,
A Theological Commentary to the Midrash: Song of Songs Rabbah (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of
America, 2001).
40 Song Rabbah I:44.
41 Song Rabbah III:2.
42 Song Rabbah III:3-5.
43Song Rabbah III:6.
47
Now, the Zohar teems with references to the Shir haShirim and some of them relate to the
“beloved one” in 1:7 and 3:1-4. For this very enigmatic text, the Song of Songs is an all-inclusive
song (325), given as a blessing from above, it is where the secret of the “holy complete
Merkavah” is hidden (328), it was inspired by the “Patriarchs” (323)44 and sung by Solomon
(324). Of course, here everything and everyone is connected or attributed to the various sefirot
on the kabbalistic Tree of Life. It should be noted that the sefirot are attributes or aspects of the
Godhead that near to be separate entities, although indispensable members of the living
organism called ‘Tree of Life’ (Etz haHayyim). The “Holy One” is connected to the middle sefirah
Tiferet and He is fed by the “Supernal Mother” (that is, sefirah Binah), while the “Assembly of
Israel” is called the Shekinah45 –actually, the lower Shekinah46. The union between the “Holy
One” and the “Shekinah” presents all the characteristics of a hieros gamos (holy marriage). The
Zohar uses this particular verse from the Song when it refers to the exile of the Shekinah/Israel
and applies the expression “you whom my soul loves” to the “Holy One” that acts through
sefirah Tiferet. Exile, then, brought a break to the union of the two and as a result the constant
flow of blessings and nourishment that came from above ceased. Now the Bride, Israel,
Shekinah, is counseled to follow in the steps of the “patriarchs,” for they are the true “holy
Chariot on high”, that is, the Merkavah of the mystics, and the ways of the tzaddikim, the
righteous, in order to return to the previous state of sacred union47.
In another instance, again in the Zohar, another Rabbi, Eleazar, is said to expound on the same
expression from the Song of Songs, now in 3:1, presenting once more “him whom my soul loves”
as the sefirah Tiferet and the “Assembly of Israel” as the poor ‘damsel in distress’. Yet, here one
more very intriguing element shows up; the quest for her “beloved one” is fruitless so far
because she lies in a foreign and “unclean land”, while their union can only take place in “His
palace.”48 Of course, this last comment points directly to the “story of the four”49 that entered
pardes and the mashal there, linking to Song of Songs 1:4, “The king has brought me to his
chambers (‫( ”)ח ֲָד ָ ָ֗ריו‬TNK). Now, as is known, R. Akiva was a famous Torah scholar and a highly
revered mystic, while among his pupils was R. Shimon bar Yohai, the presumed author of the
Zohar, the main medieval kabbalistic work. According to the same paragraph in the Zohar, the
union of the “beloved one” (“Him”) with the “Assembly of Israel” (the young woman) brought
forth “large numbers of tzaddikim” and “blessings” for the whole world. Thus, here the union
of the two has a cosmic or universal significance, betraying again elements of hieros gamos
(sacred marriage) 50 and of devekut, the highest form of clinging to the Godhead in mystical
44The ‘patriarchs’ are the sefiroth Hesed, Gevurah, Tiferet and together they all form the holy throne/chariot
(merkavah) of God; see Zohar 328 (or I:99a, 154b, 229a).
45 Elsewhere in the Zohar (I:1a. III:74a and 286b) and in the base of Shir haShirim 2:2 the Community of Israel
is called the “lily,” corresponding to the sefirah Malkut.
46 Zohar III:17a-17b.
49 Tosefta Hagigah 2:3-4.
50 See G. Barbiero, Song of Songs, 506, where he finds “notable affinities with the Mesopotamian poems of
sacred marriage … there is a greater closeness to the Egyptian love songs of the Ramesside epoch”. Also, see
M. Nissinen, “Love Lyrics of Nabu and Tashmetu: An Assyrian Song of Songs?”, in M. Dietrich and I. Kottsieper
(eds.), ‘Und Mose schrieb dieses Lied auf’: Studien zum Alten Testament und zum Alten Orient: Festschrift für
Oswald Loretz zur Vollendung seines 70. Lebensjahres mit Beiträgen von Freunden, Schülern und Kollegen
(Munster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1998) 585-634. Still, B. Alster, “Sumerian Love Songs” Revue d'Assyriologie et d '
Archéologie Orientale 79 (1985), 127-159. J. S. Cooper, “New Cuneiform Parallels to the Song of Songs”, Journal
of Biblical Literature 90 (1971), 157-162.
48
Judaism. This is shown more lucidly in yet another instance in the Zohar, where the speaker in
Song 1:7 is the moon addressing her request to the sun. Elsewhere in the Zohar, the feminine
principle is called a “garden”, again on the grounds of the Song of Songs (4:12). In the Zohar
Hadash and in the Midrash Shir haShirim, after enumerating the duties of the faithful in order
to reach wisdom and “to understand the mystery of his Master” and the “mysteries of the world
above”, a warning is addressed to all those who “go to that world” (the celestial world of the
sefirot) “without knowledge” (i.e., of the mystical kind). The verse from Song 1:7 is used here
as to mean the dialogue of the soul where she asks for the revelation of “the secrets of supernal
wisdom, how you shepherd and guide the celestial world. Teach me the secrets of wisdom that
I have not yet learned or acquired …, so that I may not be ashamed at those supernal levels
which I am to enter, for I have not yet understood them”51. Here the link with the “story of the
four” that entered pardes lies clearly in the background. More clearly, the “beloved one of my
soul” is here a revealer of mystical wisdom that may elevate one to the ladder of the sefiroth on
the Tree of Life and to the eternal bliss of the Godhead. Similarly, Maimonides in his Mishneh
Torah, explicitly states that the Song is but a parable for the “all-consuming love of the soul for
God”52.
Finally, in his Megillat Amraphel, R. Abraham Eliezer ben Halevi (ca. 1538-1600), a Spanish
kabbalist that lived in Constantinople and ended up in Safed after the expulsion from Spain in
1492, delves with the death of martyrs and their ways to face an agonizing fate at stake. Among
its many interesting points, one of which is the visualization of the Name of God during the
torment for eliminating physical pain and facilitating his heavenly ascent, a technique used
before by Issac of Accre (c. 1270-1350) in his Me’irat ‘Einayim, is again the identification of the
“beloved one” with God53. R. Abraham interprets the Song of Songs as the dialogue between the
soul of the righteous martyr and the Father, the “Beloved One,” who is about to receive him. Of
course, Megillat Amraphel draws heavily from the mystical Midrash haNe’elam (Zohar I:125b),
where the divine Throne -as the “Mother of Souls”- has a dialogue with the ascending soul, and
from R. Yitzhaq ibn Sahula’s (13th cent.) commentary on the Song of Songs54. Unfortunately, the
time is not enough to expand. Suffice it to say that all these views on the Song of Songs, one way
or another, rest upon the Talmudic teaching concerning the deaths of Moses, Aaron and the
righteous. According to bBaba Bathra 17a55, they passed away when God took their souls with
a kiss. It is no wonder then that Jewish mystics, in their striving to sanctify the Name and to
make their lives an offering to their Celestial “Beloved One,” all their actions a living poem, saw
in the verse of Song 1:2, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth”56, the ideal exodus from
a life of persecution and strife. Then, perhaps, when Thomas S. Eliot wrote that “Genuine poetry
can communicate before it is understood”, some of its verses might have played a truly mystical
tone in him.
51 Zohar Hadash, Midrash Shir haShirim 70d.

52 See also Maimonides, Mishneh Torah: Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah 2:2.
53For the above mentioned, see M. Fishbane, “For your sake we are killed all day long: The Sanctification of
God in Love”, in his The Kiss of God: Spiritual and Mystical Death in Judaism (Seattle, Washington: University
of Washington Press, 1996), 53 ff.
54 M. Fishbane, “For your sake we are killed all day long”, 58-59.
55 See also Deut Rabbah II.X, where God receives the soul of Moses with a kiss.
56See that R. Johanan interpreted the verse as applying to Israel, when they went up to Mount Sinai. See E.
Wolfson, Language, Eros, Being: Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination (New York: Fordham
University Press, 2005), 345 ff.
49
Kirki Kefalea
THE SONG OF SONGS IN MODERN GREEK POETRY
The response of modern Greek literature and letters to the Song of Songs has been consistent,
powerful and, I would say, extensive. The number of people who have taken an active interest
in the poem is anything but negligible: there are at least 27 translations of it into Modern Greek,
all but three of them done from the Septuagint version, and six adaptations of it for the stage,
as well as a considerable number of interpretative works written by scholars. The impact it has
had on Greek poetic writing is striking and wide-ranging. Both major and minor poets felt and
continue to feel drawn to it.
In the course of a brief account of the relationship between these poets and the Song of Songs,
one can only speak in examples. Thus, I will talk briefly about how the Song of Songs is present
in the poetry of five outstanding poets: Solomos, Sikelianos, Papatsonis, Elytis and
Engonopoulos.
Solomos
The first Modern Greek poet in whose work the influence of the Song of Songs is not only
detectable but powerful is Dionysios Solomos (1798-1857), a poet of profound religiosity and
steadfast faith.
The sense of the sacred which permeates all Solomos’s poetry from first to last, and which is
latent even in his most realistic poems, the satires, guaranteed that the poet would not remain
indifferent to this most poetic of Biblical texts1. Its influence is extensive in the poems of his
youthful period, most of them written in Italian, which was the language of his initial poetic
development. Thirteen sonnets in his first poetic publication, the collection entitled Rime
improvvisate (1822), along with another nine sonnets written in Italian from the same period,
making twenty-two in all, take their themes from the Song of Songs2. Solomos draws attention
to this by prefacing each sonnet with a line from the Song of Songs, while the content of each of
them is defined by this heading or by other verses from the same text.
Let us look at one example from the Rime improvvisate, sonnet number 10. The following is a
literal translation into English:
Open to me, my sister…for my head is filled with dew (Song 5:2)
Open, my beloved sister, woe is me, I have lost

my way, sweet soul, open the door.
Open, the hour of dawn is distant,
the night is dark, and there is no comforting star.
1 For the intertextual relations of the poems of Solomos with the Bible, see N. Bougatsos, “The literary
Influence of the Bible on the poetical work of Dionysios Solomos”, Αθηνά 61 (1957), 17-63.
2See also the Introduction of Gerasimos Zoras in the edition of the collection: Rime improvvisate (1822),
edited and translated by G. Zoras (Modern Greek Library; Athens: Kostas and Eleni Ourani Foundation, 2000),
29-31.
51
And my wretched feet wander through
the illusions of the desert, with no companion.
Listen to the wind whistling, listen to the dog howling
on and on; all other voices are dead.
My hair is all wet with dew

which the bleak night rains down continually,
my soul quakes, and faints with fear.
Listen to the winds pounding increasingly

from all sides; and what will I do, woe is me,
if the roar of a fierce lion breaks out?3
We see how in this sonnet Solomos uses the first part of the quote from the Song of Songs at the
start of his poem, and the second part in the first line of the first tercet. The other lines of the
sonnet are not from the Song of Songs, but are, nevertheless, imbued with its atmosphere.
In his Greek poems, too, we come across echoes of the Song of Songs. The relationship of ‘The
Unknown’ with the biblical text has been noted4. The first verse of ‘The Unknown’ is as follows:
Who is this maiden

all in white clothing
coming, descending
down from the hill?
This is a reference to the repeated phrase ‘Who is this…’in the Song of Songs:
Who is this that comes up all white? (Song 8:5)
Who is this that looks forth as the morning? (Song 6:10)
Who is this that comes up from the wilderness? (Song 3:6)
It is worth noting that four of Solomos’s religious sonnets begin with the phrase ‘Who is this?’
3 D. Solomos, Rime improvvisate, 62-63.

4 L. Apostolidis, Dionysios Solomos: The poet of the Theology (Corinth, 1957), 33.
52
Sikelianos
Angelos Sikelianos (1884-1951) was a mystical poet with a profound sense of the sacred, but
his writing is also exceptionally erotic. Thus, it was to be expected that his poetry should have
absorbed and metabolised elements of the allegorical meaning of the Song of Songs, since
religious experience is frequently expressed in his poems in erotic terms, and the sense of
deification used to convey the erotic experience is often described in images similar to those of
the biblical text. For example, the poem ‘Hymn to the Morning Star’ begins with the lines:
There came a woman from the mountains, skipping

like a doe, shaking out her hair
like a young lion5
which must take their inspiration from the following verses from the Song:
The voice of my kinsman! behold, he comes leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
My kinsman is like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Baethel. (Song 2:8-9).
Of course, in Sikelianos’s poem the speaker is a man, whereas in the Song it is a woman. But the
atmosphere created by the comparison of the beloved to a deer is the same, and it permeates
the entire poem, using images similar to those in the Song.
In the poem ‘Rehearsing for Death’, the Shunnamite is she who went in to David, but she is
described in terms of the Shunnamite in the Song of Songs:
Even the Shunnamite did not lie like this

in David’s bed to warm his frozen limbs…6
The sacred ‘Garden of Love’ (in ‘The Garden’, 1936), which Sikelianos continually seeks in the
person of his beloved in his attempt to liberate himself from the ‘pollution of the earth’, so it
can ‘enclose’ him ‘with an archangelic stride’:
Oh Night, is not this the Garden of my Love?7
recalls the ‘garden enclosed’ of love (4:12) with which the figure of the bride is compared in the
Song of Songs:
5 A. Sikelianos, Lyrical Life, G.P. Savvidis (ed.), vol. 5 (Athens: Ikaros, 1968), 61.
6 A. Sikelianos, 106.
7 A. Sikelianos, Lyrical Life, G.P. Savvidis (ed.), vol. 6 (Athens: Ikaros, 1969), 128.
53
I am come into my garden, my sister, spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spices… (Song
5:1).
Papatsonis
Takis Papatsonis (1895-1976), the most important Greek religious poet of the 20th century,
established a rewarding relationship with the Song of Songs, a relationship which is detectable
or is explicit in much of his work. Possessed of a strength and faith that he derived from the
sanctity of the holy liturgy, Papatsonis combines a transcendent mysticism - nourished by the
mystics not only of the Orthodox but of the Catholic church as well (he himself observes that he
is a pre-Schismatic Christian)8 – with naturalism, which led him to represent nature in symbols.
He is, in addition, a love poet, and expresses the experience of supreme revelation in powerfully
erotic terms, in the conviction that the celebration of sensuality is a way of expressing ‘the
ecstasy of a sacred voyage’9.
The explicit references of Papatsonis to the Song of Songs appear in his collection Ekloge II, in
the first section which is actually entitled ‘To Asmatikon’ [Book of Chants/Songs] (1962). The
first poem in this section, ‘Ode to Aquarius (Fragment)’, has as its first lines a quote from the
biblical text (8:7):
‘Much water will not be able

to quench love, and rivers
shall not drown it.’
And how could it be otherwise, since
this water is the water of love?
The spirit of the Song of Songs pervades the entire poem, while the description of the sacredness
of erotic feeling is conveyed in his verse in terms and symbols that are Christian. Likewise, in
the fourth poem in this section (‘Agitation and its Calming’), the figure of the woman as liberator
emerges through a description of nature which recalls similar descriptions in the Song of Songs:
Now, beside you, how restful it is

to be. If you want me,
I’ll stay here a while, protected.
Our happiness is shared between us.
Come, my sister, let me kiss you10.
8See A. Argyriou (ed.), Takis Papatsonis (Athens: Gavriilidis, 2009), 52; N. Vayenas, “Papatsonis and the Avant-
Garde”, The Athens Review of Books 41 (June 2013), 25.
9 T.K. Papatsonis, Ekloge A’ Ursa Minor, Ekloge B’ (Athens: Ikaros, 19622), 46-47.
10 T.K. Papatsonis, 181.
54
But the most creative moment of Papatsonis’s encounter with the Song of Songs comes in his
previous collection of poems, written during the German occupation, and entitled Ursa Minor
(1944). This is a poetic synthesis depicting, as the poet explains, the vision of an Idea of Love,
which Papatsonis symbolises in the form of ‘a beautiful and courageous woman’ whom he calls
‘Exangelomene’, ‘she who comes from the angels’:
she is the peace that accompanies

the time of turmoil
she is the certainty enthroned
in the bed of a pounding fever…11
The images of the poem (especially the similes and the metaphors) and the atmosphere of his
descriptions bear such a resemblance to images from the Song of Songs that the connection with
the figure of the Biblical beloved bride is obvious. I quote some extracts which describe her:
now at last you have come

the glittering presence
leaping many-coloured
laughing and long-limbed
and a quarry that for the first time
is accessible to our touch
a tamed tigress
and also a leopard
and a lioness
to proclaim to us the wrestling match
of body with body
[…]
with one gesture you activate

the open craters
upon the threat of our black mountain
you spread out green vineyards
beside the sea
on the sulphured slopes of lava
11 T.K. Papatsonis, 138.
55
you assemble dense armies
of lemon trees from the plain
and we can’t resist the double intoxication
[…]12
Elytis
A love poet like Elytis (1911-1996) who was also deeply religious and an attentive reader of
the poetic texts in the Bible (he translated the Revelation of St John into Modern Greek)13, could
not have been untouched by the lyric quality of the Song of Songs, particularly its imagery, which
is so close to the imagery of his own explorations, influenced as these were by the teachings of
surrealism. The ascent to divinity through eros is a fundamental aspiration in Elytis, as
demonstrated in these lines from his poem ‘The Two of the World (Variation)’ (1971):
Uriel Gabriel and tonight what as I come again and go disguised as a happy man to mislead the
path of the Moon!
But she knows and from the women’s quarters of the sky she smiles sadly with a pot of basil beside
her as if she wants to say that something that is still true remains
Yes the dew and the translucence perhaps from the passing of the Gospel…14
Elytis himself, in his essay ‘The Technique of “Therefore”’ numbers the Song of Songs among his
favourite poetic texts, and the images scattered throughout various poems appear to interact
with the images of the biblical poem. In his love poems, the feeling of some of the man’s
utterances to his beloved – the tone in which he addresses the other person – is no different
from the analogous feeling in the Song of Songs, as for example in the poem ‘The Beauty in the
Garden’ (1940), the first verse of which reads as follows:
You wakened the waterdrop of the day

Upon the start of the trees’ song
Oh how lovely you are
with your joyous hair unbound
And you came with the fountain flowing
12 T.K. Papatsonis, 158-159.

13 John’s Book of Revelation, Translation into Modern Greek by Odysseas Elytis (Athens: Ypsilon/books, 1985).
14 O. Elytis, Poetry (Athens: Ikaros, 2002), 228.
56
So I could hear you living and passing by!15
This motif of ‘the beautiful girl in the garden’ made its first appearance in the Song of Songs and
went on to become a commonplace of Western lyric poetry16. The line ‘Oh how lovely you are’,
repeated with each verse, recalls the ‘Behold, thou art fair’ of the Song of Songs, which with its
reiterations (1:16, 4:1, 4:7, 6:4) functions as a kind of refrain similar to the refrain of Elytis’s
poem, whose erotic atmosphere seems to replicate the atmosphere of the biblical poem.
We also find the Song of Songs echoed in the Axion Esti (1959). The ‘Passion’ begins with lines
that reproduce images from the biblical poem:
Here then am I,
Created for the young Korai and the Aegean islands,
lover of the deer’s leaping…17
Tasos Lignadis has remarked on the similarity of these lines to the following lines of the Song
of Songs (2:8-9)18.
The voice of my kinsman! behold, he comes leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
My kinsman is like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Baethel.
Elytis rearranges the elements of the lines quoted above. The image of the bride’s beloved, who
comes leaping over the montains and hills like a roe or a young hart, is refashioned by the poet,
who depicts the narrator of the ‘Passion’ as ‘a lover of the deer’s leaping’ – so that the deer are
here the Korai for whom the narrator is ‘created’. We should note that both quotations contain
place names: ‘the mountains of Baethel’ and ‘the Aegean islands’. In addition, both contain the
indicative expression: ‘Here am I’ and ‘Behold, he comes’. In replacing the Biblical ‘he’ with ‘I’,
Elytis puts the narrator in the position of the bridegroom in the Song of Songs, imparting a tone
to his narration which is not just Biblical but prophetic (and in fact, the last section of the
‘Passion’ is entitled ‘Prophetic’)19.
Engonopoulos
15 O. Elytis, Poetry, (Athens: Ikaros, 2002), 69.

16For the motif and the symbolism of the garden, see Jean Chevalier/Alain Gheerbrant, Dictionnaire des
symbols: Mythes, reves, coutumes, gestes, forms, figures, couleurs, nombres, vol. 3 (Paris: Robert Laffont/Jupiter,
196912), 67-72; Michel Ferber, A Dictionary of Literary Symbols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1999), 82-85.
17 O. Elytis, Poetry, 134.
18T. Lignadis, The Axion Esti of Elytis: Introduction, Comments, Interpretation (Athens: Publishing House
Konstantinidi and K. Michala, 1971), 97.
19See A. Hirst, God and the Poetic Ego: The Appropriation of Biblical Poetry and Liturgical Language in the
Poetry of Palamas, Sikelianos and Elytis (Bern: Peter Lang, 2004), 348.
57
The surrealist Nikos Engonopoulos (1907-1985), poet of love and deeply versed in Greek and
the Greek-language literary tradition, both lay and ecclesiastical, had constant recourse to
ancient texts and was inevitably influenced by the Song of Songs. For this work, apart from its
eroticism (in the broad meaning of the term), contains elements which could be considered a
precursor to a fundamental feature of surrealist expression: the surrealist simile.
Given that the principal characteristic of surrealist poetry is its jarring juxtapositions and the
resulting exposure of the invisible links which bind the most disparate things together, it is the
surrealist simile and the surrealist metaphor, uniting as they do the most incongruous and
dissimilar elements, which make up the main thrust of surrealist writing. Similarly, and due
also to their allegorical meaning, a driving force of erotic expression in the Song of Songs is those
lines containing comparisons whose elements break the mould of convention. I refer to places
in the Song of Songs where the beauty of the bride is described in similes. The following is one
example (4:1-5):
…thine eyes are doves, beside thy veil: thy hair is as flocks of goats, that have appeared from
Galaad.
Thy lips are as a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: like the rind of a pomegranate is thy
cheek without thy veil.
Thy neck is as the tower of David, that was built for an armoury: a thousand shields hang upon it,
all darts of mighty men.
Thy two breasts are as two twin fauns, that feed among the lilies.
It is interesting to compare the similes in this passage with the similes in Engonopoulos’s poem
‘Eleonora’:
her hair is like cardboard

and like a fish
her two eyes are
like a dove
her mouth
is like civil war
(in Spain)
her neck is a red
horse20
The engagement of these poets with the Biblical poem was fruitful not only for love poetry, but
for Modern Greek poetry in general. This is because the verset form of the Septuagint text, which
is close to the form of free verse, and its daring surrealistic similes and metaphors, developed
into two avant-garde elements of the Greek literary tradition and stimulated the innovative
20 N. Engonopoulos, Don’t talk to the Driver; Ta kleidokymvala tis siopis (Athens: Ikaros, 19662), 45.
58
tendencies of the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries, as well as the modernists of the
inter-war period and the first post-war era during the transition of our poetry to modernism.
In my view, possibly the chief reason for the close relationship between Greek writers and the
Song of Songs is the fact that although the poem is Hebrew, it acquired a Greek identity through
the Septuagint and as such is considered a poem which belongs to the Greek literary tradition.
Furthermore, the fact that the language of the Septuagint is easily comprehensible to a Modern
Greek speaker acted not only as an incentive for it to be transcribed into Modern Greek, but
meant that even in its original form, the poem could speak directly to the educated reader.
59
Nikos Kouremenos
SOME REMARKS ON THE RECEPTION OF THE SONG OF SONGS IN COPTIC LITERATURE1
Compared to the rest of the books, which constitute the textual corpus that in the Christian
milieu has traditionally been called the Old Testament2, the Song of Songs occupies an unusual
place in the works of the Christian Literature that are preserved in Coptic. Although direct or
indirect references to almost all of the Old Testament books are quite ordinary in all the genres
of the Coptic literary production, the same does not apply to the Song of Songs, to which the
references in Coptic texts are remarkably rare. In the context of this paper, I will first focus on
the Coptic (Sahidic) version of the Song of Songs to briefly present the most important witnesses
of its manuscript tradition. Then, I will focus on two unique, at least for my knowledge 3, works
of Coptic literature, which include direct references to this specific biblical text. The first is a
hermeneutical homily dated to the 5th century, which is attributed to the abbot of the White
Monastery Shenute and the second an extensive and metrical religious poem dated between
the 10th and the 11th centuries. The purpose of this paper is twofold and consists, on the one
hand, of comparing the biblical verses used in the two aforementioned Coptic texts with the
Coptic and the Greek versions of the Song of Songs, so as to present a critical textual approach
and, on the other hand, to examine the interpretative principles, according to which these
specific verses were used.
1. Coptic version the Song of Songs

As a prerequisite for a better understanding of the issues related to the textual transmission of
the Song of Songs, I consider as necessary to highlight the following introductory remarks.
Initially, it is worth noting that all versions of the Old Testament that are preserved in Coptic,
regardless of the dialect, derived from the Septuagint. In this sense, there is no indication of
direct link between the original Jewish text and its Coptic version4. Moreover, the lack of any
1 This paper is an elaborated version of my presentation at the Symposium “The Song of Songs in the Jewish
and Christian Literature”, which took place on October 19, 2016 in Athens. On this occasion, I would like to
express my sincere appreciation to the doctoral candidate Anastastios Akridas for his gentle gesture to
include me to the Symposium speakers. The completion of this paper greatly facilitated by the generous
support of the Center for the Study of Christianity at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and particularly its
director, Prof. Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, to whom I express my profoundest gratitude. Finally, many thanks
are due to Ms. Paraskevi Arapoglou who was kind enough to read my paper and suggest corrections to errors
and misspellings.
2For an introductory approach to the books of the Old Testament and the question of the formation of the
Canon see, indicatively W. Brueggemann, An introduction to the Old Testament: the canon and the Christian
imagination (Atlanta: Westminster John Knox, 2003), Th. Romer - J.-D. Macchi - Ch. Nihan (eds.), Introduction
à l’Ancien Testament (Geneve: Labor et Fides, 2009), E. Zenger et al. (eds.), Einleitung in das altes Testament
(Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 20087).
3 After having completed the revision of this paper, I was informed by Prof. Alberto Camplani about the
existence of a further important work in Coptic Literature, in which there are extent references to the Song of
Songs, namely the First Letter to Virgins by Athanasius of Alexandria. Cf. L. Th. Lefort (ed.), S. Athanase: Lettres
festales et pastorales en copte (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 150, Louvain: Imprimerie
Orientaliste 1955), 73-99. Although it was too late to include it in this paper, I do thank him for his kind
suggestion, hoping to include it in a future study.
4The fact that the Coptic versions of the Minor Prophets preserved in the Sahidic and the Achmimic dialects
present more similarities with the Hebrew than the Septuagint text, had previously led some scholars to the
61
critical edition of the Coptic version of the Song of Songs diminishes every effort for a thorough
examination of this specific textual tradition 5 . This relativization, however, is further
exacerbated by the fact that the critical edition of the Greek version prepared by Eva Schutz-
Flügel for the Göttingen Septuagint has not yet been published6, making premature every effort
for final conclusions regarding the Coptic version as well. Taking into consideration all of the
above, I will briefly present the most important of the witnesses of the manuscript tradition of
the Coptic version of the Song of Songs in the Sahidic dialect, based mainly on the classification
of the manuscript witnesses as presented by K. Schüssler7. The numbering of the verses of the
Song of Songs corresponds to that of the version of the Septuagint edited by A. Ralfs8.
a) sa 609
Name: Papyrus Bodmer XL
Place: Geneva, Bodmer Foundation
Material: parchment
Date: 4th-5th century
Text: Song of Songs 1:4-3:1; 4:2-8:12
Edition: Kasser R. - Luisier Ph. (2012)10
b) sa 9011
Name: Mich. Ms. 166
Place: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Library
Material: parchment
Date: c. 7th century

Text: Song of Songs 1:1-8:14
formulation of the theory of a possible revision of the biblical text on the base of the Hebrew original. The
newer research, however, has ruled out this possibility and attributes this particular “hebrewness” to the
influence of Origen’s Exapla, and in particular to the fifth column (quinta). See, P. Nagel, “Old Testament,
Coptic Translations of”, Coptic Encyclopedia 6 (1991), 1837-1838.
5This particular vacuum in the field of Coptic Studies and Biblical research in general aspires to cover the
ongoing scientific project of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen entitled The Digital Edition of the
Coptic Old Testament, which aims to record and digitalize the Old-testamentarian manuscript tradition in
Coptic as well as to produce critical editions of all the Old Testament books, with parallel translations into
English, German and Arabic. See H. Behlmer - F. Feder - U. Pietruschka (eds.), Digitale Edition der koptisch-
sahidischen Septuaginta. Fragestellungen und Herausforderungen (Halle 2015).
6 See, J.-M. Auwers, L’interprétation du Cantique des Cantiques à travers les chaînes exégétiques grecques
(Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia 56; Turnhout: Brepols, 2011), 20. Until the publication of this paper
the observations of J.-M. Auwers remain in force.
7Κ. Schussler, Biblia Coptica: Die koptischen Bibeltexte: Das sahidische Alte und Neue Testament, Band 1.1-4,
Band 2.1, Band 3.1-4, Band 4.1-4 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996-2012). For a more complete and detailed
presentation of the manuscript tradition and the editions of the Song of Songs in Coptic see, R. Kasser R. - Ph.
Luisier, “P. Bodmer LX: Cantique des Cantiques en copte saidique”, Orientalia 81 (2012), 154-157.
8 Ἀ.Ralfs (ed.), Septuaginta: id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes (Stuttgart: Deutsche
Bibelgesellschaft, 1979).
9 Schussler, Biblia Coptica 1.3, 28.
10 R. Kasser - Ph. Luisier, “P. Bodmer LX: Cantique des Cantiques en copte saidique”, 149-201.
11 Schussler, Biblia Coptica 1.3, 91-92.
62
Edition: Shier L.A. (1942)12
c) sa 7513
Name: Or. 5984
Place: London, British Library
Material: papyrus
Date: 7th century
Text: Song of Songs 1:13-17, 2:1-5.8-14.17, 3:1-4.6-11,
4:3-11.13-16, 5:1-2.5-12.14b, 6:1-12, 7:1-14, 8:1-14.
Edition: Thompson H. (1908)14
d) sa 22.815
Name: Copte 1293, foll. 140-141
Place: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale
Material: parchment
Date: 11th century
Text: Song of Songs 3:8-5:7
Edition: G. Maspero (1892)16
f) P1
Name: BN copte 1293, foll. 134-136
Place: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale
Material: parchement
Date: 11th century
Text: Song of Songs 1:1-7, 4:16-5:15, 5:15-17,
6:1-12, 7:1.2.4-13, 8:1-7
g) P2
Name: BN copte 1311, foll. 76-78r.
Place: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale
Material: parchment
Date: 10th - 11th centuries
Text: Song of Songs 4:1-6; 8:7-14.
12L.A. Shier, Coptic Texts in the University of Michigan Collection (Ann Arbor, London: The University of
Michigan press, 1942), 125-155.
H. Thompson, The Coptic (Sahidic) Version of Certain Books of the Old Testament from a Papyrus in the British
14
Museum (London: Oxford University Press, 1908).

G. Maspero, “Fragments de manuscripts coptes-thebains de l’ancien testament”, Mémoires publiés par les
16
membres de la mission archéologique française au Caire 6 (1892) 200-203.

17 G. Maspero, “Fragments de manuscripts coptes-thebains de l’ancien testament”, 197-200, 203-206.
18 G. Maspero, “Fragments de manuscripts coptes-thebains de l’ancien testament”, 200-201, 206-207.
63
According to the aforementioned list, it is clear that the earliest witness of the Coptic version of
the Song of Songs in the Sahidic dialect is manuscript sa 60 of the Bodmer Collection, held in
Geneva and dated to the 4th and 5th centuries19. The manuscript sa 90 of Michigan University's
collection, dated back to the 7th century is also of considerable significance, as it preserves the
whole text of Song of Songs. Manuscript sa 75 held at the British Library in London is also dated
back to the same period. Finally, an important part of the biblical text is preserved in the
fragments of the Coptic collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, namely witnesses sa
22.8, P1 and P2.
2. The reception of the Song of Songs in Coptic literature

As noted at the beginning of this paper, the two unique works, at least to my knowledge, in
Coptic literature, in which there is a direct reference to the Song of Songs are a homily attributed
to Archimandrite Shenute of the 5th century and a religious poem of 10th/11th century.
2.1 As I sat upon a mountain

Shenute (342-452)20 was a central figure and reformer of Egyptian monasticism and the abbot
of White Monastery, close to the city of Atripe in Upper Egypt. In his extensive literary
production21, mainly consisting of homilies and letters, he had the opportunity to express, in an
aggressive manner, his opposition to the dissemination of heretical doctrines and the idolatrous
practices exercised by the inhabitants of Upper Egypt, while, at the same time, in his monastic
rules he expressed his own views on issues related to monastic life and spirituality. The homily
that will be discussed onwards is known with its initial phrase As I sat upon a mountain22 and
19This manuscript, due to its place of origin and date, is temporally and spatially the closest witness of the
Song of Songs in Coptic to the Shenute, and therefore, it will be preferred for the comparison with the biblical
quotations of his homily without, however, excluding the use of other witnesses, where necessary.
20The Life of Shenute was written, shortly after his death, by his disciple and successor to the leadership of
the White Monastery, Archimandrite Besa. For the text of his Life, which is preserved in the Bohairic dialect,
see βλ. I. Leipoldt - E. W. Crum (eds.), Sinuthii archimandritae vita et opera omnia, vol. I: Sinuthii vita bohairice
(Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 41; Paris: Gabalda 1906), with a Latin translation prepared
by Η. Wiesmann. For an English translation, see D. N. Bell (ed.), Besa: The life of Shenute: introduction,
translation and notes (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1983). For Shenute and his role on the
development of Coptic monasticism see indicatively: C. Schroeder, Monastic Bodies: Discipline and Salvation
in Shenoute of Atripe (Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007), R. Krawiec, Shenoute and the
Women of the White Monastery: Egyptian monasticism in late antiquity (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2002), J. Leipoldt, Schenute von Atripe und di Entstehung des national ägyptischen Christentum (Leipzig: J. C.
Hinrichs, 1903).
21For the study of Shenute’s literary production, fundamental is the collective presentation by Stephen
Emmel, see S. Emmel, Shenoute Literary Corpus, vol. I-II (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 599-
560; Leuven: Peeters, 2004). From the rich bibliography on the editions and commentaries of Shenutian texts
see indicatively: H.-J. Cristea, Schenute von Atripe: Contra Origenistas (Studien und Texte zu Antike und
Christentum 60; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011), D. Brakke - A. Crislip, Selected Discourses of Shenoute the
Great: Community, Theology and Social Conflict in Late Antique Egypt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2015), B. Layton, Canons of our Fathers: Monastic Rules of Shenute (Oxford Early Christian Studies; Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2014).
22 In the first edition, the homily in entitled Ad Philosophum gentilem, in consonance with an internal witness
of the text, according to which the reason for the composition of the homily was the visit of a gentile
philosopher to the abbot of the White Monastery. See Ἰ. Leipoldt - E.W. Crum (eds.), Sinuthii archimandritae
vita et opera omnia, vol. III: Sinuthii opera (Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1908), 22-34 (Coptic text), 44-62 (Latin
64
is, essentially, a homily on the nature of the Church, which is characterized by a completely
ecclesiological interpretation of the Bible, while, concurrently, a large part is dedicated to the
Song of Songs23.
2.1.1 The Church as dove

According to the allegorical hermeneutical approach of Shenoute to the Song of Songs, the young
girl of the biblical text should be identified with the Church, which is also likened by the
Egyptian abbot to a dove:
ⲛⲓⲙ ⲧⲉ ⲧⲁⲓ̈ ⲉⲧⲉⲣⲉⲡⲉⲧϣⲁϫⲉ ϩⲛ̄ ⲥⲟⲗⲟⲙⲱⲛ ϫⲱ Who is this about whom the one who speaks
ⲙ̄ⲙⲟⲥ ⲉⲣⲟⲥ ϫⲉ ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ in Solomon says my companion, my beautiful
ⲉⲧⲛⲉⲥⲱⲥ ⲉⲓⲙⲏⲧⲉⲓ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲉⲧϫⲡⲟ dove except from the Church that bear her
ⲛ̄ⲛⲉⲥϣⲏⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲓⲁⲛⲟⲥ ⲉⲩⲉⲓⲛⲉ ⲙ̄ⲙⲟⲥ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲥ Christian children in her likeness? It also
ⲟⲛ ⲧⲉⲧⲟⲩϫⲱ ⲙ̄ⲙⲟⲥ ⲉⲣⲟⲥ ϫⲉ ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ about her that is said, my companion, my
ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ ⲉⲧϫⲏⲕ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲟⲩⲉⲓ ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲟⲧⲥ̄ perfect dove; the only one of her mother,
outstanding to her that bore her and also rise,
ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲥⲙⲁⲁⲩ ⲉⲥⲥⲟⲧⲡ̄ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲟⲧⲥ̄ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲛⲧⲁⲥϫⲡⲟⲥ ⲉⲓⲧⲁ
come, you who are beside me, my good dove,
ⲟⲛ ϫⲉ ⲧⲱⲟⲩⲛ ⲁⲙⲏ ⲧⲉⲧϩⲓⲧⲟⲩⲱⲓ̈ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ and come, you, my dove, in the cleft of the rock
ⲉⲧⲛⲁⲛⲟⲩⲥ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲉⲓ̈ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ ϩⲙ̄ beside the outer wall.
ⲡⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲛ̄ⲧⲡⲉⲧⲣⲁ ϩⲓⲧⲟⲩⲱϥ ⲙ̄ⲡⲥⲟⲃⲧ̄ ⲉⲧϩⲓⲃⲟⲗ·
The author in the aforementioned extract24 recites verbatim verses 2:10, 5:2, 6:9 and 2:13-14
of the Song of Songs. In the following table the version of the Septuagint verses are listed, as
well as the version quoted by Shenoute and the Coptic version of the Song of Songs, each of them
accompanied by an English translation25.
Song of Songs 2:10
LXX ή πλήσιόν μόυ, καλή μόυ, πέριστέρα μόυ

: my mate, my faire one, my dove
Shenoute ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ ⲉⲧⲛⲉⲥⲱⲥ

: my companion, my beautiful dove
translation). Emmel, however, established the title of the homily according to its initial phrase. See S. Emmel,
Shenoute’s Literary Corpus, vol. II, 613. For an English translation of the homily, see D. Brakke - A. Crislip,
Selected Discourses of Shenoute the Great: Community, Theology and Social Conflict in Late Antique Egypt, 39-
53.
23For the ecclesiological approach of the homily, see D. W. Johnson, “As I Sat on a Mountain: Shenoute’s
Theology of the Church”, Coptica 9 (2010) 59-66.
24 Ἰ. Leipoldt - E.W. Crum (eds.), Sinuthii archimandritae vita et opera omnia, vol. III: Sinuthii opera, 52.
25 Similar tables will be found below for the rest of the biblical quotations of the homily. The English
translation of the Septuagint follows the text of A. Pietersma - B. G. Wright (eds.), New English Translation of
the Septuagint (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
65
Coptic Song of ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲙⲡⲉ ⲉⲧⲛⲉⲥⲱⲥ (sa 60)
Songs
: my companion, my beautiful dove
Song of Songs 5:2
LXX ή πλήσιόν μόυ, πέριστέρα μόυ, τέλέια μόυ

: my mate, my dove, my perfect one
Shenoute ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ ⲉⲧϫⲏⲕ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ

: my companion, my perfect dove
Coptic Song of ⲧⲁϣⲉⲗⲉⲉⲧ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲟⲡⲉ ⲉⲧϫⲏⲕ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ (P1)

Songs
: my bride, my perfect dove
Song of Songs 6:9
LXX μια έστι τῇ μήτρι αυτής, έκλέκτή έστι τῇ τέκόυσῇ αυτήν

: the only one of her mother, outstanding to her that bore her
Shenoute ⲟⲩⲉⲓ ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲟⲧⲥ̄ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲥⲙⲁⲁⲩ ⲉⲥⲥⲟⲧⲡ̄ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲟⲧⲥ̄ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲛⲧⲁⲥϫⲡⲟⲥ

Coptic Song of ⲟⲩⲉⲓⲉ ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲟⲧⲥ̄ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲥⲙⲁⲁⲩ ⲉⲥⲥⲟⲧⲡ̄̄̅ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲟⲧⲥ̄ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲛⲧⲁⲥϫⲡⲟⲥ (sa 60)
Songs
Song of Songs 2:13-14
LXX αναστα, έλθέ, ή πλήσιόν μόυ, καλή μόυ, πέριστέρα μόυ, και έλθέ, συ πέριστέρα
μόυ, έν σκέπῇ τής πέτρας, έχόμένα τόυ πρότέιχισματός
: arise, come, my mate, my fair one, my dove and come, my dove, in the rock’s
shelter near the outer wall
Shenoute ⲧⲱⲟⲩⲛ ⲁⲙⲏ ⲧⲉⲧϩⲓⲧⲟⲩⲱⲓ̈ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ ⲉⲧⲛⲁⲛⲟⲩⲥ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲉⲓ̈ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ

ϩⲙ̄ ⲡⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲛ̄ⲧⲡⲉⲧⲣⲁ ϩⲓⲧⲟⲩⲱϥ ⲙ̄ⲡⲥⲟⲃⲧ̄ ⲉⲧϩⲓⲃⲟⲗ·
: rise, come, you who are besides me, my good dove, and come, you, my dove, in
the cleft of the rock beside the outer wall
Coptic Song of ⲧⲱⲟⲩⲛ ⲁⲙⲏ ⲧⲉⲧϩⲓⲧⲟⲩⲱⲉⲓ̈ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲙⲡⲉ ⲉⲧⲛⲁⲛⲟⲩⲥ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲉⲓ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟ ⲧⲁϭⲣⲟⲙⲡⲉ ϩⲙ̄
Songs ⲡⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲛ̄ⲧⲡⲉⲧⲣⲁ ϩⲓⲧⲟⲩⲱϥ ⲙ̄ⲡⲥⲟⲃⲧ̄ ⲉⲧϩⲓⲃⲟⲗ (sa 60)
66
: rise, come, you who are besides me, my good dove, and come, you, my dove, in
the cleft of the rock beside the outer wall
Comparing the above-mentioned quotations with each other, the coincidence of the quotes
from the Shenoute’s homily to the Coptic version of the Song of Songs and particularly to the
earliest and closest to the Shenoute manuscript witness, namely the sa 60, becomes evident. It
is worth noting, however, the slight differentiation, which refers to verse 5:2, as it is preserved
in the witness P1, where the word ϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ (companion) is replaced by the word ϣⲉⲗⲉⲉⲧ
(bride)26.
2.1.2 The beauty of the Church

In the second extract, which follows, from Shenoute’s homily 27 the beauty of the Church is
described in a graphic way:
ⲡⲉⲥⲥⲟⲛ ⲏ ⲡⲉⲥϣⲃⲏⲣ ⲟ ⲙⲙ̄ⲛ̄ⲧⲣⲉ ⲙ̄ⲡⲉⲥⲥⲁ ⲙⲛ̄ Her brother and her companion are witnesses of
her beauty and her glory and her comeliness and
ⲡⲉⲥⲉⲟⲟⲩ ⲙⲛ̄ ⲡⲉⲥⲁⲛⲁⲓ ⲙⲛ̄ ⲧⲉⲥϭⲟⲙ· ϫⲉ ⲛⲁⲛⲟⲩ
her power: my companion is good like good will,
ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ ⲙ̄ⲡⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲛⲉⲥⲱ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ beautiful like Jerusalem, fearsome like the powers
ⲛ̄ⲑⲓⲉⲗⲏ︦ⲙ︦ ⲉⲣⲉϯ ϩⲟⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ ⲛ̄ⲛ̄ϭⲟⲙ ⲉⲧⲁϩⲉⲣⲁⲧⲟⲩ at attention. And also behold, my companion, you
ⲁⲩⲱ ⲟⲛ ϫⲉ ⲉⲓⲥ ϩⲏⲏⲧⲉ ⲛⲉⲥⲱ ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ ⲉⲓⲥ are beautiful, behold you are beautiful. Your eyes
ϩⲏⲏⲧⲉ ⲛⲉⲥⲱ ⲛ̄ⲟⲩⲃⲁⲗ ϩⲉⲛⲃⲁⲗ ⲛ̄ϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ ⲛⲉ are eyes of doves, which are the prophets and the
apostles who are filled with the Holy Spirit.
ⲉⲧⲉⲛⲁⲓ̈ ⲛⲉ ⲛⲉⲡⲣⲟⲫⲏⲧⲏⲥ ⲙⲛ̄ ⲛ̄ⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲟⲗⲟⲥ
ⲉⲧⲙⲉϩ ⲙⲡ̄̅ⲙ̄̅ⲁ̄̅ ⲉϥⲟⲩⲁⲁⲃ·
The verses of the Song of Songs that are hermeneutically deployed by Shenοute in the
aforementioned extract are 6:4 and 1:15.
Song of Songs 6:4
LXX καλή έῖ, ή̔ πλήσιόν μόυ, ὡς έὐδόκια, ὡραια ὡς Ἰέρόυσαλήμ, θαμβός ὡς τέταγμέναι
: you are beautiful as Goodwill my mate, comely as Jerusalem, being awesome like
armies arrayed
Shenoute ⲛⲁⲛⲟⲩ ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ ⲙ̄ⲡⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲛⲉⲥⲱ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ ⲛ̄ⲑⲓⲉⲗⲏ︦ⲙ︦ ⲉⲣⲉϯ ϩⲟⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ
ⲛ̄ⲛ̄ϭⲟⲙ ⲉⲧⲁϩⲉⲣⲁⲧⲟⲩ
: my companion is good like good will, beautiful like Jerusalem, fearsome like the
powers at attention
26Cf. G. Maspero, “Fragments de manuscripts coptes-thebains de l’ancien testament”, 202. Even in this case,
however, the witness sa 60 is in accordance with the quotation of the verse, as it is preserved in Shenoute’s
homily. Cf. R. Kasser- Ph. Luisier, “P. Bodmer LX: Cantique des Cantiques en copte saidique”, 172.
27 Ἰ. Leipoldt - E.W. Crum (eds.), Sinuthii archimandritae vita et opera omnia, vol. III: Sinuthii opera, 52.
67
Coptic Song of ⲛⲁⲛⲟⲩ ⲧⲏⲣⲉ ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ ⲙ̄ⲡⲟⲩⲱϣ· ⲛⲉⲥⲱ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ ⲛ̄ⲑⲓⲗⲏ̄̅ⲙ̄̅· ⲉ̇ⲣϯ ϩⲟⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲛ̄ϭⲟⲙ
Songs ⲉⲧⲁϩⲉⲣⲁⲧⲟⲩ (P1)
: my companion is very good like good will, beautiful like Jerusalem, fearsome like
the powers at attention
Song of Songs 1:15
LXX ιδόυ έῖ καλή, ή̔ πλήσιόν μόυ, ἰδόυ έῖ καλή, ό̓φθαλμόι σόυ πέριστέραι
: look, you are beautiful, my mate; look, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves
Shenoute ⲉⲓⲥ ϩⲏⲏⲧⲉ ⲛⲉⲥⲱ ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ ⲉⲓⲥ ϩⲏⲏⲧⲉ ⲛⲉⲥⲱ ⲛ̄ⲟⲩⲃⲁⲗ ϩⲉⲛⲃⲁⲗ ⲛ̄ϭⲣⲟⲟⲙⲡⲉ ⲛⲉ
: behold, my companion, you are beautiful, behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are
eyes of doves
Coptic Song ⲉⲓⲥ ϩⲏⲏⲧⲉ ⲛⲉⲥⲱ ⲧⲁϣⲃⲉⲉⲣⲉ ⲉⲓⲥ ϩⲏⲏⲧⲉ ⲛⲉⲥⲱ ⲛⲟⲩⲃⲁⲗ ϩⲛ̄ⲃⲁⲗ ⲛⲉ ⲛ̄ϭⲣⲟⲙⲡⲉ (sa
of Songs 60)
: behold, my companion, you are beautiful, behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are
eyes of doves
In this case, also, there is a relative similarity between the verses of Shenoute’s homily and the
established Coptic version of the Song of Songs. What is remarkable, however, seems to be the
differentiation of both Coptic versions with the biblical text of the Septuagint in verse 1:15,
since the eyes of the young girl do not liken to doves but to eyes of doves28. The hermeneutical
approach of Shenoute to 1:15 seems to be based on the earlier Alexandrian allegorical tradition,
as the latter is expressed at least by Origen in his Commentary on the Song of Songs29.
2.1.3 The two breasts as the Old and the New Testament
Finally, the extract of the homily, in which the likening of the breast of the Song of Songs’ young
girl to the Old and the New Testament is contained follows30:
ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲟⲩ ⲟⲛ ⲛⲉⲧϥ̄ϫⲱ ⲙ̄ⲙⲟⲥ ⲉⲣⲟⲟⲩ ϫⲉ Also, it is about them that he says your two
ⲉⲣⲉⲧⲟⲩⲉⲕⲓⲃⲉ ⲥⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲟ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ ⲙ̄ⲙⲁⲥ ⲥⲛⲁⲩ breasts are like twin gazelle fawns. They are
ⲛ̄ϩⲁⲧⲣⲉⲉⲩ ⲛ̄ϭⲁϩⲥⲉ· ⲛⲁⲓ̈ ⲟⲛ ⲛⲉ ⲉⲧⲥ̄ϫⲱ ⲙ̄ⲙⲟⲥ also these about which she herself says, my
brother is a bag of myrrh to me between my
28R. Kasser- Ph. Luisier, “P. Bodmer LX: Cantique des Cantiques en copte saidique”, 162. Cf. also H. Thompson,
The Coptic (Sahidic) Version of Certain Books of the Old Testament from a Papyrus in the British Museum, 44.
29 Origen, Commentarium in Canticum Canticorum, 3,1,4: Quod autem oculi eius comparatur columbis, ob hoc
profecto quia Scripturas divinas non iam secundum litteram, sed secundum spiritum intelligat, et adspiciat in
iis spiritalia mysteria; columba enim indicium est Spiritus sancti. Spiritali ergo sensu intelligere legem et
prophetas, hos est oculos columbae habere. Cf. L. Bresard - H. Crouzel (eds.), Origène: Commentaire sur le
Cantique des Cantiques, II (Sources Chretiennes 376; Paris: Editions du Cerf 1992), 494.
30 Ἰ. Leipoldt - E.W. Crum (eds.), Sinuthii archimandritae vita et opera omnia, vol. III: Sinuthii opera, 52-53.
68
ⲉⲣⲟⲟⲩ ϩⲱⲱⲥ ϫⲉ ⲟⲩⲙⲁⲓⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲥⲧⲁⲕⲧⲏ ⲡⲉ breasts. He himself says about her, we will love
ⲡⲁⲥⲟⲛ ⲛⲁⲓ̈ ⲉϥϩⲛ̄ⲧⲙⲏⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲛⲁⲉⲕⲓⲃⲉ· ϥϫⲱ ϩⲱⲱϥ̄ your breast more than wine, which is the Old
ⲙ̄ⲙⲟⲥ ⲉⲣⲟⲥ ϫⲉ ⲧⲛ̄ⲛⲁⲙⲉⲣⲉⲛⲟⲩⲉⲕⲓⲃⲉ ⲛ̄ϩⲟⲩⲟ and the New Testaments. filled with the
words of God.
ⲉⲡⲏⲣⲡ̄ ⲉⲧⲉⲧⲡⲁⲗⲁⲓⲁ ⲧⲉ ⲙⲛ̄ ⲧⲕⲁⲓⲛⲏ ⲉⲧⲙⲉϩ
ⲛ̄ⲗⲟⲅⲟⲥ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ
In the aforementioned extract, Shenoute in the process of his hermeneutical approach deploys
the verses of the Song of Songs that referred to the breast of the young girl and particularly to
4:5, 1:13 and 1:4.
Song 4:5
LXX δυό μαστόι σόυ ὡς δυό νέβρόι διδυμόι δόρκαδός

: your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle
Shenoute ⲉⲣⲉⲧⲟⲩⲉⲕⲓⲃⲉ ⲥⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲟ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ ⲙ̄ⲙⲁⲥ ⲥⲛⲁⲩ ⲛ̄ϩⲁⲧⲣⲉⲉⲩ ⲛ̄ϭⲁϩⲥⲉ

: your two breasts are like twin gazelle fawns
Coptic Song of ⲉⲣⲉⲧⲟⲩⲕιⲃⲉ ⲥⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲟ̄ ⲛ̄ⲑⲉ ⲙ̄ⲙⲁⲥ ⲥⲛⲁⲩ ⲛ̄ϩⲁⲧⲣⲉⲉⲩ ⲛ̄ϭⲁϩⲥⲉ (sa 60)
Songs : your two breasts are like twin gazelle fawns
Song 1:13
LXX ἀπόδέσμός τή͂ς στακτή͂ς ἀδέλφιδός μόυ έ̓μόι ἀνα μέσόν τῶν μαστῶν μόυ
αὐλισθήσέται·
: my brotherkin is to me a bag of myrrh, he shall spend the night between my breasts
Shenoute ⲟⲩⲙⲁⲓⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲥⲧⲁⲕⲧⲏ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲁⲥⲟⲛ ⲛⲁⲓ̈ ⲉϥϩⲛ̄ⲧⲙⲏⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲛⲁⲉⲕⲓⲃⲉ

: my brother is a bag of myrrh to me between my breasts
Coptic Song of ⲟⲩⲙⲁⲉⲓⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲥⲧⲁⲕⲧⲏ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲁⲥⲟⲛ ⲉϥⲛⲁϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄ⲧⲙⲏⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲛⲁⲕⲓⲃⲉ ⲛⲁⲓ (sa
Songs 60)
: my brother is a bag of the myrrh that will be between my breast for me
Song 1:4
LXX ἀγαπήσόμέν μαστόυς σόυ ὑπέρ όῖνόν

: we will love your breast beyond wine
Shenoute ⲧⲛ̄ⲛⲁⲙⲉⲣⲉⲛⲟⲩⲉⲕⲓⲃⲉ ⲛ̄ϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲉⲡⲏⲣⲡ̄

: we will love your breast more than wine
69
Coptic Song of ⲧⲛ̄ⲛⲁⲙⲉⲣⲉⲛⲟⲩⲕⲓⲃⲉ ⲛ̄ϩⲟⲟⲩ ⲉⲡⲏⲣⲡ̄ (P1)
Songs : we will love your breast more than wine
After comparing these verses, it becomes evident, even in this case, both their fidelity to the text
of the Septuagint and the closeness of verses of Shenoute’s homily to the established Coptic
version of the Song of Songs. As it can be easily observed, Shenoute follows the hermeneutical
method of allegory, according to which the young girl of the Song of Songs is identified with the
Church, which is likened to dove and whose beauty is described in the text31.
2.2 Coptic poetry of 10th - 11th centuries 32

The second work of Coptic Literature, which includes a direct reference to the Song of Songs is
a religious poem in the Sahidic dialect dated between the 10th and the 11th century33. The text
is contained in manuscript P 9287, which is preserved in the prestigious Papyri Collection of
the Ägyptisches Museum of Berlin34. This particular work has been described as a collection of
texts, which constitute, essentially, a metric re-elaboration of biblical passages excerpted from
the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs35. The aspect and the style of the text are
predominantly religious, rich in biblical and theological notions, but there is no indication that
it was intended for liturgical use. As one can easily conclude, these kinds of hymns were
products of popular religious piety and were probably chanted by believers at religious events
in parallel or after the end of the established worship practice.
In the context of this paper, I will limit myself to describing the three main features regarding
the reception of the biblical text in this specific Coptic hymn, namely i) the variation, ii) the
omission and iii) the interpretative elaboration.
2.2.1 Variation
31The identification of the Song of Songs’ bride with the Church according to the typological interpretation
has its roots in Hippolytus of Rome (170-235) and mainly in Origen, whose influence was exercised almost
to the whole following patristic hermeneutics making this identification a commonplace. Cf. J. C. King, Origen
on the Song of Songs as the Spirit of Scripture: The Bridegroom’s Perfect Marriage-Song (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2005), 5-6.
32For the Coptic poetry in general, see K. H. Kuhn, “Poetry”, Coptic Encyclopedia 6 (1991) 1985-1986, where
the pertaining bibliography is given. Cf. also R.-G. Coquin, “Langue et litterature coptes”, in M. Albert et al.
(eds.) Christianismes orientaux: Introduction a l’étude des langues et des littératures (Paris: Les Editions du
Cerf 1993), 212.
33 H. Junker, Koptische Poesie des 10. Jahrhunderts, Teil I-II (Berlin: Georg Olms, 1908-1911).
34For the description of the manuscript, see W. Beltz, “Katalog der Koptischen Handschriften der
Papyrussammlung der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin”, Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete 26
(1978), 106.
35G. Moller, “Eine neue koptische Liederhandschrift”, Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde
39 (1901), 104-113.
70
In the following excerpt, the author of the Coptic hymn deploys in his composition verse 2:8 of
the Song of Songs, without, however, quoting the biblical text according to the established Coptic
version, but in a rather peculiar variant, probably for reasons of rhythmic cohesion36.
Song 2:8
LXX φωνή αδέλφιδόυ μόυ· ιδόυ όυτός ήκέι πήδων έπι τα όρή, διαλλόμένός έπι τόυς
βόυνόυς
: my brotherkin’s voice! Look, he has come, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over
the hills
Coptic ⲧⲉⲥⲙⲏ ⲉⲙⲡⲁⲥⲟⲛ ⲧⲉ ⲧⲁⲓ̈ ⲛ̄ⲧⲁⲥⲓ ⲉⲥϯ ⲟⲩⲟⲓ̈

hymn ϩⲓⲛⲉⲛⲧⲟⲩⲓⲏ ⲉⲥⲛⲏⲩ ϩⲓϫⲛ̄ ⲛ̄ⲃⲟⲩⲛⲟⲥ ⲡⲉϫⲉ ⲧⲣ̄ⲣⲱ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ
: “This is the voice of my brother that comes,
leaping upon the mountains”, said the queen, the Chuch
Coptic ⲡⲉϩⲣⲟⲟⲩ ⲙ̄ⲡⲁⲥⲟⲛ ⲁϥⲧⲁϩⲟⲉⲓ ⲉⲓⲥ ϩⲏⲏⲧⲉ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟϥ

Song of ⲁϥⲉⲓ ⲉⲡⲉⲥⲏⲧ ϩⲓϫⲛ̄ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲩⲉⲓⲏ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲉϥϫⲓ ϥⲟϭⲥ̄ ϩⲓϫⲛ̄ ⲛ̄ⲃⲟⲩⲛⲟⲥ (sa 60)
Songs : The voice of my brother! Look, he has come, descended from the mountains, bounding
over the hills
As can be seen from the comparison of the aforementioned excerpts, the biblical quotation of
the Coptic hymn differs in content from the corresponding text of the Septuagint, since the
subject of the second sentence is the voice (ⲥⲙⲏ) and not the brother (ⲥⲟⲛ). At the same time,
the verse also differs from the established Coptic version of the Song of Songs, not only in the
content but also in vocabulary selection
2.2.2 Omission
A different form of differentiation from the text of the Septuagint and from the Coptic version
of the Song of Songs used by the composer of the Coptic hymn is the practice of omitting a part
of the biblical verse, as one can see in the following table.
Song 2:11-12
LXX ότι ιδόυ ό χέιμων παρήλθέν, ό υέτός απήλθέν, έπόρέυθή έαυτω, τα ανθή ωφθή έν
τῇ γῇ, καιρός τής τόμής έφθακέ, φωνή τής τρυγόνός ήκόυσθή έν τῇ γῇ ήμων
: For look the winter is past; the rain has left; it went on its own. The flowers have
appeared on the earth; pruning time has come; the turtledove’s voice has been heard in
our land
36For the excerpt from the Coptic hymn cf. H. Junker, Koptische Poesie des 10. Jahrhunderts, Teil II, 116. For
the Coptic version of the Song of Songs, cf. R. Kasser R. - Ph. Luisier, “P. Bodmer LX: Cantique des Cantiques en
copte saidique”, 164.
71
Coptic ⲉⲓⲥ ⲧⲉⲡⲣⲱ ⲁⲥⲟⲩⲉⲓⲛⲉ ⲁⲡⲙⲟⲩ ⲛ̄ϩⲱⲟⲩ ⲁⲛⲁⲭⲱⲣⲓ
hymn ⲛⲁϥ ⲡⲉϩⲣⲟⲟⲩ ⲉⲡϭⲉⲣⲡϣⲁⲛ ⲁⲛⲥⲱⲧⲙ̄ ⲉⲣⲟϥ ϩⲓ ⲡⲉⲛⲕⲁϩ
: For look the winter is past; the rain has left, departed;
the turtledove’s voice we have heard in our land
Coptic ⲉⲓⲥ ⲧⲉⲡⲣⲱ ⲁⲥⲟⲩⲉⲓⲛⲉ ⲡϩⲟⲩ ⲛ̄ⲡⲉ ⲁϥⲙⲟⲟϣⲉ ⲁϥⲃⲱⲕ ⲉⲡⲉϥⲙⲁ ⲛ̄ϯⲟⲩⲱ ⲁⲩⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ̄
Song of ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ϩⲙ̄ ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲡⲟⲩⲟⲉⲓϣ ⲙ̄ⲡϫⲱⲱⲗⲉ ⲁϥⲉⲓ ⲡⲉϩⲣⲟⲟⲩ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉϭⲣⲁⲙⲡϣⲁⲛ ⲁⲩⲥⲱⲧⲙ̄ ⲉⲣⲟⲥ
Songs ϩⲛ̄ ⲡⲉⲛⲕⲁϩ (sa 60)
: For look the winter is past; the rain has left; it went on its own. The flowers have
appeared on the earth; pruning time has come; the turtledove’s voice has been heard in
our land
In the aforementioned excerpt of the Coptic hymn 37, the corresponding biblical verse is not
entirely quoted but only fragmentally, since the phrase ⲛ̄̅ϯⲟⲩⲱ ⲁⲩⲟⲩⲱⲛ͞ϩ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ϩⲙ̄̅ ⲡⲕⲁϩ
ⲡⲟⲩⲟⲉⲓϣ ⲙ̄̅ⲡϫⲱⲱⲗⲉ ⲁϥⲉι :the flowers have appeared on the earth; pruning time has come is
omitted, while there are some lexical and syntactic variations, such as the use of the verb
ⲁⲛⲁⲭⲱⲣ<ⲉ>ⲓ instead of ⲙⲟⲟϣⲉ that appears in the Coptic version of the Song of Songs or the use
of a first person plural subject instead of the passive voice at the last sentence of the excerpt.
2.2.3 Omission and interpretative elaboration

The last excerpt from the Coptic hymn that I will discuss in this paper is a typical example of an
interpretative approach to the original biblical text38. In the deployment of the biblical passage,
the author of the Coptic hymn uses, again, the technique of omission, however, in this case, I
will focus my attention more on his interpretive effort.
Song 5:1
LXX έισήλθόν έις κήπόν μόυ, αδέλφή μόυ νυμφή, έτρυγήσα σμυρναν μόυ μέτα
αρωματων μόυ, έφαγόν αρτόν μόυ μέτα μέλιτός μόυ, έπιόν όινόν μόυ μέτα
γαλακτός μόυ·
: I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; Ι have gathered my myrrh with my
spices; Ι have eaten my bread with my honey; Ι have drunk my wine with my milk
Coptic hymn ϯⲛⲁ ⲃⲱⲕ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲉⲡⲁⲕⲏⲡⲟⲥ ⲉⲡⲟⲟⲩ ⲧⲁⲟⲩⲱⲙ ⲙ̄ⲡⲁⲟⲉⲓⲕ

ⲡⲁⲉⲃⲓⲱ ⲧⲁⲥⲱ ⲙ̄ⲡⲁⲏⲣⲡ ⲡⲁⲉⲣⲱⲧⲉ ⲡⲉϫⲉ ⲥⲟⲗⲟⲙⲱⲛ ⲡⲣ̄ⲣⲟ ϩⲙ̄ ⲡϫⲱ ⲛ̄ⲛϫ̄ ⲱ
ⲡⲁⲕⲏⲡⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ϯⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲁⲟⲉⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲥⲱⲙⲁ
ⲙ̄ⲡⲥⲱⲣ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲉϥⲥⲛⲟϥ ⲉⲛⲁⲗⲩⲑⲓⲛⲟ ϣⲁⲩⲕⲁ ⲛⲉⲛⲛⲟⲃⲉ ⲛⲁⲛ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ
37For the excerpt from the Coptic hymn, cf. H. Junker, Koptische Poesie des 10. Jahrhunderts, 118. For the Coptic
version of the Song of Songs, cf. R. Kasher R. - Ph. Luisier, “P. Bodmer LX: Cantique des Cantiques en copte
saidique”, 164-166.
38For the excerpt from the Coptic hymn cf. H. Junker, Koptische Poesie des 10. Jahrhunderts, Teil II, 122. For
the Coptic version of the Song of Songs, cf. R. Kasser R. - Ph. Luisier, “P. Bodmer LX: Cantique des Cantiques en
copte saidique”, 172.
72
: “I will enter to my garden, today, to eat my bread and my honey
and to drink my wine and my milk” said the king Salomon in the Song of Songs
“My garden” is the Church, “my bread” is the body
of the Savior and his real blood; forgive us for our sins
Coptic Song of ⲁⲓ̈ⲃⲱⲕ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲉⲡⲁⲕⲏⲡⲟⲥ ⲧⲁⲥⲱⲛⲉ ⲧⲁϣⲉⲗⲉⲉⲧ· ⲁⲓ̈ϫⲱⲗⲉ ⲙ̄ⲡⲁϣⲁⲗ ⲙⲛ̄
Songs ⲡⲁϣⲟⲩϩⲏⲛⲉ ⲁⲓ̈ⲟⲩⲱⲙ ⲙ̄ⲡⲁⲟⲉⲓⲕ ⲙⲛ̄ ⲡⲁⲉⲃⲓⲱ ⲁⲓ̈ⲥⲱ ⲙ̄ⲡⲁⲏⲣⲡ̄ ⲙⲛ̄ ⲡⲁⲉⲣⲱⲧⲉ
(sa 60)
: I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; Ι have gathered my myrrh with
my spice; Ι have eaten my bread with my honey; Ι have drunk my wine with my
milk
As one can easily see, the first stanza of the hymn is a re-elaboration of the biblical text, in which
the narrative time frame is shifted from the past to the future, while at the same a phrase from
the original version of the Song of Songs is omitted. The second stanza of the hymn contains the
hermeneutical approach to the preceding excerpt, according to which the garden is the Church
while the bread receives a symbolic eucharistic notion as it is related to the real, physical
presence of Christ's body and blood during the performance of the sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist.
3. Conclusions
Despite the fact that the references to the Song of Songs in Coptic literature are relatively rare,
after all of the above, it would be possible to draw the following conclusions: i) the reception of
the Song of Songs in Coptic literature is generally characterized by its fidelity to the biblical text
of the Septuagint, ii) any variations from the original or partial omissions of verses do not affect
the conceptual content of the biblical text and can be justified due to the particular nature of
the poetic composition and iii) the interpretive approach to the biblical text is based on the
allegorical method of interpretation that was widespread in Late Antique Christianity,
according to which the whole text of the Song of Songs constitute an allegory of the relationship
between Christ and the Church.
73

The Song of Songs in Jewish and Christian Liaterature

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The Song of Songs

in Jewish & Christian Literature

Edited by: S. Despotis – K. Kefalea

Professor Dr. Sotirios Despotis

INTERTEXTUAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE SONG OF SONGS AND REVELATION: THE

Rev 3:20 // Song 5:2

Rev 22:22 // Song 8:14

33 Ricoeur, “Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα”, 348-9.

New Testament Parallels to the Song of Songs

Rev 3:20 5:2 Nestle25

John 20:18 Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386

Rev 12:1 Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386

Rev 15:6 Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386

Rev 22:17 Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386

John 3:29 (friend of the Bridegroom) Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386

John 13:2 Ricoeur, Η γαμήλια μέταφόρα, 386

John 7:38 (rivers of living water will flow 4:15 Nestle26

Time Time and Sunday (Easter?)

Senses: hearing and smell Senses: revelation (sight) and hearing

Song 1:1-4 Rev 1:5-6

Epilogue Epilogue37 (the dogs must be taken away)

φυγέ έρχόυ (and feast) < cleansing

THE SONG OF SONGS IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS1

1. The Song of Songs in the Texts from the Dead Sea

1 I cordially thank Marietta Hammerle for help with the manuscript.

1.1.2 The Translations

1.2 The Manuscripts from the Dead Sea 12

9 E. Junod, Biblia Patristica Supplément: Philon d’Alexandrie (Paris: CNRS, 1982).

18 Lange, Handbuch, 447f.

words from Song 3:7-8 and 6QCant is limited to Song 1:1-7.

1.4 The male “Beschreibungslied” in Song 5:10-16

“You were in Eden, the garden of God;

2.2 The “Beschreibungslieder” in 1QGenApoc 20:2-8 and JA 22:7

2.2.1 “Beschreibungslied” of a woman in 1QGenApoc 20:2-8

2.2.2 “Beschreibungslied” of a male in Joseph and Aseneth 22:7

3.2 The vision of God in Rev 4:2-6

3.3 The vision of the angel in Rev 10:1-3a

The vision of the Woman and the Dragon in Rev 12:1-4

(1) “A great portent appeared in heaven:

(3) Then another portent appeared in heaven:

3.4 The vision of Christ as warrior in Rev 19:11-16

P. Chester Beatty I, Group A (Egypt, 1200 – ca. 1150 BCE)

C 4:1b ὀφθαλμοί σόυ πέριστέραι έκτός τής σιωπήσέως σόυ

G. 7:2 a. τι ωραιωθήσαν διαβήματα σόυ έν υπόδήμασιν θυγατέρ Ναδαβ

Η. 7:3 a ὀμφαλός σόυ κρατήρ τόρέυτός μή υστέρόυμένός

G’. 7:3b κραμα κοιλία σόυ θιμωνια σιτόυ πέφραγμένή έν κρινόις

F’. 7:4 δυό μαστοί σόυ ως δυό νέβρόι διδυμόι δόρκαδός

Ε’. 7:5a τράχηλός σόυ ως πυργός έλέφαντινός

C’. 7:5b όφθαλμόι σόυ ως λιμναι έν Ἑσέβων έν πυλαις θυγατρός πόλλων

Β’. 7:6a κεφαλή σόυ έπι σέ ως Καρμήλός

Α’. 7:7 τι ωραιωθής και τι ήδυνθής αγαπή έν τρυφαις σόυ

2. The description of the Beloved in the Song of Songs (Song 5:10-15)

b. The Göttertypentext7 (New Assyrian period, ca. 972-609 BCE)

1. The base of his feet are claws,

8 F. Kocher, “Der babylonische Gottertypentext”, 73.

2.2. The male body description motif in Song 5:10-16

2.3 The function of the male body description in Song 5:10-16

Maryland: University Press of America, 1984).

‫ה֙נ ְַפ ִׁ֔שי‬

16 Deut 4:29, ‫ּ֙ובכָל־נַפְ ֶֽׁשָך׃‬