Song of Songs

Yair Zakovitch is the Emeritus Father Takeji Otsuki Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

• IntroductionChapter One: On Love and Beauty—The Complex Relations between the Song of Songs and Biblical NarrativeChapter Two: “Keep your thousand, Solomon!” (Song of Songs 8:12). A History of the Tradition of Solomon’s Thousand WivesChapter Three: Song of Songs — Riddle of RiddlesChapter Four: Thrice Asked “Who is she” in Song of SongsChapter Five: A Poetic Portrait: Song of Songs 6:4-10Chapter Six: Real or Imagined? A Woman’s Dream in Song of Songs 5:2–6:3Chapter Seven: “A Woman of Valor (??? ???)” Prov. 31:10-31 – A Conservative’s Response to Song of SongsChapter Eight: When Did the Allegorical Interpretation of the Song Begin?Index

Zakovitch raises a range of exciting questions about the Song. This volume differs from many other studies on the Song, which focus one-sidedly on the dependence of the Song on other biblical texts. It is impressive how many connections between the Song and other parts of the Hebrew Bible Zakovitch discovers... Zakovitch has long and intensively examined the Song but also many other biblical texts. Some things that he only hints at in his 2004 commentary are developed in detail in the individual chapters. This is especially true for questions concerning the emergence of the Song, its intertextuality, and its ambiguity as a poetic text. For this reason alone, it is enriching to read this volume."