In this setting there is no male dominance, no female subordination, and no stereotyping of
either sex. Specifically, the portrayal of the woman defies the connotations of "second sex." She works,
keeping vineyards and pasturing flocks. Throughout the Song she is independent, fully the equal of the
man. Although at times he approaches her, more often she initiates their meetings. Her movements are
bold and open: at night in the streets and squares she seeks the one whom her nephesh[2] loves (3:14). No secrecy hides her yearnings. Moreover, she dares to describe
love with revealing metaphors:
My lover put his hand to the latch,
and my womb trembled within me. (5:4)
Never is this woman called a wife, nor is she required to bear children. In fact, to the issues of marriage
and procreation the Song does not speak. Love for the sake of love is its message, and the portrayal of the
female delineates this message best.
Though love is fulfilled when the woman and the man close the circle of intimacy to all but
themselves, my imagination posits a postlude to the poetry. In this fantasy “the cherubim and the flaming
sword” appear to guard the entrance to the garden of the Song (cf. Gen. 3:24). They keep out those who
lust, moralize, legislate, or exploit. They also turn away literalists. But at all times they welcome lovers
to romp and roam in the joys of eroticism:
Arise, my love my fair one,
and come away;
[1]Phyllis Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1978), p. 163ff.
[2]life/soul.
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