Love and death

How does the theme verse of the Song (8:6) summarize the message of the Song?  Death is never mentioned earlier in the Song, and the threats to the bride do not seem mortal threats.  She is wounded in the streets, but survives the attack and finds her lover again.  Otherwise, the main threat is the threat of absence.

If we want a love poem that more literally illustrates the theme of 8:6, it would be closer to Sleeping Beauty than the Song of Songs.  8:6 is genuinely summarizes the Song if the Song is taken allegorically/typologically.  8:6 makes sense only if we recognize that the relatively minor threats to the bride in the poem actually point to more serious threats.

A lover’s absence is painful.  It is not deadly.  Suppose that lover is Yahweh, though, and everything changes.  Yahweh’s absence is death for bride Israel, and the separations that the bride suffers in the Song become cries of dereliction.

With that in mind, we can offer this typological overview of the Song, a Song of Yahweh fiery love triumphing over deadly absence:

1. 1:2-2:7: Israel in bondage, longing for Yahweh’s presence (perhaps Egypt, perhaps the oppressions of the era of the judges).

2. 2:8-17: Advent of Yahweh (Exodus, deliverance from enemies).

3. 3:1-5: Yahweh’s absence (Shiloh to Ichabod?).

4. 3:6-5:1: Solomon’s wedding day = temple dedication.  Solomon as friend of the Bridegroom, Yahweh, who enjoys a love-feast with His bride.

5. 5:2-6:3: Yahweh’s absence again (divided kingdom, exile).

6. 6:4-7:10: Yahweh restores relationship with bride (restoration).

7. 7:11-8:7: Love as strong as death, the theme of Israel’s history.