WHO IS SPEAKING IN SONG OF SONGS 8:6a?

Popular mottoes featuring “love” abound in culture. They include:

    the cute – Love is a warm puppy,

    the theological – God is love,

    the controversial – Love makes the world go round (one young woman at church got extremely mad at me when I took issue with her statement that this was literally true),

    the nonsensical – Love is never having to say you're sorry,

    etc., etc.

But perhaps the most unexpected statement comes from Song of Songs 8:6. This verse states, “Love is as strong as death.” I have already dealt in some detail with the meaning of this statement (see the post titled “Song of Songs 8:6”). But one aspect was overlooked – the speaker in this verse.

There are two places in this poetic book, which can also be read as a play, in which the identity of the speaker is in doubt. And interestingly, these are also the two places which have been identified as the literary conclusion of the Song.

In another post titled “What is the Importance of the Organization of the Song of Songs?” I proposed that the center point of the book in terms of its literary structure was located at 5:1b, a short benediction which has been variously attributed to the chorus or to God Himself. If it refers to God, then that verse has the distinction of being the only one in the book to do so.

However, there is the more common understanding (with accompanying confusion) that Song 8:6 should have that honor. For example, Pokrifka says, “Although God is mentioned only once in the book (Song 8:6b), it portrays life as redeemed from the curses of Genesis 3; it is life under divine blessing beyond the hostility of nature and male domination,” and Oswalt says that “a divine title occurs only once in Song of Songs: 'the LORD.'”

However, Oswalt continues by saying that “the reference is of almost no theological significance. Most modern versions actually take it as an adjective of intensity. Thus, the literal '[jealousy] like a flame of the LORD' is rendered with 'like a mighty flame' or something similar.”

The common confusion regarding these two candidates for the central passage in the Song involves the identity of the speaker. Verse 5:1b has been attributed to either God or to the Chorus in the book. And there are actually three candidates for the person talking in 8:6.

As to the speaker in that verse, Gledhill says “that here, the author of the poems is himself intruding into his own creation and meditating on the nature of love itself. No longer is it the particular love of our young lovers, but love in its most abstract guise...For many, this unit represents a high point in the Song. If 5:1 represents a climax in the lovers' physical relationship, then these verses represent a climax in praise of the unconquerability of love in the face of all its foes.”

Longman states: “This verse is arguably the most memorable and intense of the entire book. M. Sadgrove remarks on this verse and the next that 'this is the only place in the Song where any attempt is made to probe the meaning of the love that is its theme; everywhere else it is simply described'...the woman gives a motive for her request to the man.

Dobbs-Allsopp agrees with this attribution: “The woman desires to be bound closely and always to her lover.” R.B.Y. Scott says, “The lovers return, the maiden imploring her lover to be faithful.” NIV asigns this speaking part to “She;” TEV and The Message to “The Woman;” and The Living Bible to “The Girl.”

By contrast, The Jerusalem Bible and NEB both assign speaking parts to each verse and identify 8:6 as being said by the bridegroom. And although Pope in his Anchor Bible commentary opts for the woman to be the speaker, he mentions that there is some confusion regarding the gender of the pronouns in the passage.

This whole issue, which will probably never be settled, is but one of several that certainly set Song of Songs apart from all other books in the Bible.