Daughters of Zion

Who are the daughters of Zion in the Song?  Literally, they are the bride’s “bridesmaids” who sometimes verge on being the bride’s rivals.  They might also be cities of Israel.  As the capital, Jerusalem is the Bride, but the other cities that serve and honor the king are bridesmaids.

At times, it seems that there is also an Israel-and-nations thing going on.  Jerusalem is the capital not only of Israel, but in biblical reckoning it is the center of the world.  Other cities around the Eastern Mediterranean might be considered “daughters” of the mother city of Zion.

If that is the case, then the movement of Song of Songs 5:9-6:1 is the progress described in the prophets.

As many commentators have noted, the question of 5:9 sounds skeptical: What’s so special about your beloved that you seek him so desperately?  Then the bride describes her beloved (5:10-16), and the daughters respond by joining in the search: “Where turned your beloved, and we will seek him with you” (6:1).

What inspires the change?  The description of the bridegroom for sure.  Yet, it also seems that the desperation of the bride’s search has something to do with it.  She goes out into the streets late at night, forgetting propriety.  She endures the opposition and wounding of the “guards” who make their rounds through the city.  Yet she continues and calls on the daughters of Zion to join her.  Her very desperation makes the daughters think that, perhaps, the bride’s beloved is something special.

Which, allegorically, is: Israel’s desperate search for departed Yahweh is what inspires the nations to join in the search.  As all the prophets say, the return from exile is not only Israel’s return, but initiates the pilgrimage of the nations toward Zion (eg, Isaiah 2:1-4).  The Song shows that the exile has this effect because Yahweh’s departure brings Israel to her senses, she begins her frantic return, and calls on the “daughters of Zion” to join her.