Song of Songs, Chapter Three, verse six: Who [is] this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
A good question—who is this? I mean, yes, it’s Solomon, as we will see in a minute, but we just dissolved from one scene to a totally different one.
Chapter Three, verse seven: Behold his bed, which [is] Solomon's; threescore valiant men [are] about it, of the valiant of Israel.
Thus answering the question him and what army?
Chapter Three, verse eight: They all hold swords, [being] expert in war: every man [hath] his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.
To be expert in war is to be lamad, to be trained—but also to be a teacher. It’s the same word. It does rather nicely imply that to really know something, you have to be able to teach it to somebody else (and is a nice counter to the American line about those who can’t do teaching), but I’ll also add that when in Isaiah 2:4 the nations beat their swords into pruning hooks and no longer raise up sword one against the other, nor study war no more, it’s also fair to read that as not teaching war, either.
Chapter Three, verse nine: King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.
Good for him. Good choice of wood, there. Nice buggy.
Chapter Three, verse ten: He made the pillars thereof [of] silver, the bottom thereof [of] gold, the covering of it [of] purple, the midst thereof being paved [with] love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.
But does it have eisenglass curtains you can pull right down?
Chapter Three, verse eleven: Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
So, there’s one imposed narrative that goes something like this: A shepherd appears and woos Our Heroine, and she falls for him. Then he goes away, and the next day King Solomon comes to visit the village and claims the maiden for his bride. She refuses him, out of loyalty to the shepherd hunk ... but then it turns out that the hunk was actually the King in disguise! She marries him and they live happily ever after, for a while anyway. How this could possibly fit in with what we know about King Solomon from Kings, I have no idea. It’s a fun story, though.
Honestly, do these six verses seem like they are from the same text as the five that preceded them? Not to me, they don’t.
I will say that if we assume a tradition of treating the Bride and Groom as a King and Queen at their wedding, it makes sense for wedding songs (and I am further assuming this is a wedding song) to use Solomon imagery, and then perhaps for random bits of Solomon imagery to wander into the text. I’ll add—I happen to know that in our own time Wedding DJs have been known to introduce the Bride and Groom by saying Are you ready to rrrrrrrrrummmmblllllllllllle!!!!!!!!!!!! as if it were a sporting event, so it’s not entirely inconceivable to me that the ancient Israelite wedding emcee would say Who [is] this that cometh out of the willlllllllllllderrrrrrrrrnessssss!!!!!!!!!!!! as the groom enters the village clearing. Different times, different customs.
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.
So, ok. This is the first bit I can actually see as being Written By Solomon. I mean, if you were a king, and you wanted to include some Stuff About You in the Very Important Book, and you were also, you know, Solomon, isn’t this the way you’d do it? Appropriate some pr0n, and then throw in some stuff about how big your sword was. Also, the swords of your threescore valiant men. Because, you know, verility.
peace
Matt
Isinglass? Too mathematical, not poetical enough, otherwise…
—