Connor Leadley
Hebrew Poetical and Wisdom Lit
Dr. Shelley Long
Song of Songs 1:1-11 (Rough Draft)
20 November 2014
Section I: Introduction In contemporary society, human sexuality is a major part of the way in which males and females interact with each other day to day. Within a patriarchal society, it is the males who define and control everything—especially, sex and sexuality. In this paper, I will give an analysis Song of Songs 1:1-11 to show that this poem shows the woman’s expressive perspective of erotic love that is stark both other female characters in the Hebrew Bible and to her Sitz im Leben, which leads to a liberation from a patriarchal perspective of human sexuality within contemporary culture.
Section II:
…show more content…
The superscriptions inclusion of Solomon can be interpreted in two ways, either as authorial intent, which would give authorship to Solomon, or more likely the Song of Songs is being attributed to Solomon, or Solomonic tradition. Bergant argues, “he seems to function as a symbol of wealth, a standard of comparison, or a fictitious way of according special honor to the man in Song of Songs.” As the text moves on, which will be seen later in this exegetical study, Solomon is not attributed as a noteworthy function within the poem. Therefore, the importance of the Song being attributed to Solomon is because it seems to give credibility to the work as a whole. With the distinction of Solomonic tradition it is helpful when comparing the aspect of erotic love and the active female voice to other works attributed to …show more content…
The anointing here can be indicating his anointing within kingship, which would set him aside as a “recipient of holiness and strength from his respective deity.” Another approach to the “anointing oils” is that the oils are for more of a cosmetic purpose in which he would be using for sexual arousal. She talks of perfume immediately following her reference to anointing oils, which can be helpful in interpreting the use of the anointing oils. Perfume was used as a tool for arousal to “increase attractiveness and demonstrate social and/or economic status.” In this verse the woman has engaged in a sensory discussion of scent, in which encompasses the sex imagery being presented in the