Chariot of Amminadab

Andre LaCocque ( Romance, She Wrote: A Hermeneutical Essay on Song of Songs ) offers an intriguing interpretation of Song of Songs 6:12-13, well-known as one of the most difficult sections of the Song, a passage over which other commentators frequently despair.  Through a series of verbal links, LaCocque suggests that the chariot to which verse 12 refers is the chariot of the ark, and that the background is the entryn of the ark into Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6.

This makes sense of a number of details of the text.

“Chariot of Amminadab” would be linked to Abinadab, who housed the ark before David took it into the city, and the poet is punningly taking the chariot of Abinadab to be the “chariot of my noble people” ( ammi-nadib ).  Verse 13 speaks, many commentators agree, of a twisting dance, reminiscent of David’s dance before the ark.  Here, it seems, the bride joins in the dance; she is no Michal, “looking down” (cf. Song of Songs 6:10) contemptuously from a window.

Shulammite, used only here, might also fit.  LaCocque sees a link with Abishad the Shunammite, the beautiful young woman who is unable to arouse the cold, dying, impotent king.  Solomon describes a Shulammite that arouses a king, that transforms the implicit David of the poem again into a whirl of energy.

Convincing?  Maybe not, but it’s the best effort I’ve come across to make sense of the passage.