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Psalms and Song of Songs

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of Poetry
    31 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. Lesson Two
    Poetic Structures
    22 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  3. Lesson Three
    Praise and Lament
    24 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  4. Lesson Four
    The Diversity of Psalms
    28 Activities
  5. Lesson Five
    Song of Songs
    20 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Psalms and Song of Songs Song of Songs In Front | Traditional Christian Interpretation
Lesson 5, Activity 14

In Front | Traditional Christian Interpretation

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Many early Christians read the Song of Songs through a particular interpretive lens. Look at this excerpt from Song of Songs along with commentary from two prominent Early Church leaders: 

If she is a wall,
We will build on her a battlement of silver;
But if she is a door,
We will barricade her with planks of cedar.

 

I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers;
Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.

 

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers.
Each one was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

 

My very own vineyard is at my disposal;
The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit.
Song of Songs 8:9-12 (NASB)

Ambrose of Milan (AD 340-397) suggested: 

The wall is the church and the towers are her priests, who have full power to teach both the natural and the moral science. 
(Six Days of Creation 6.8.49)

Cyril of Alexandria (AD 376-444) appeared equally convinced of another explanation:

The vineyard which . . . was given to the spiritual Solomon is surely the Church. (Fragments in the Commentary on the Song of Songs 8.11) 

Source: Old Testament IX: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Ancient Christian Commentary of Scripture, edited by J. Robert Wright, 2005, p. 367.

Both of these men were brilliant thinkers who are still respected and quoted today by theologians, but their commitment to allegorical reading of the Songs limited their commentary to opaque and symbolic explanations. This doesn’t diminish their overall contributions to Christian theology, or even to our reading of this book, but it allows us to acknowledge one approach to the Song that is incomplete.