Song of Songs

F. Scott Spencer is professor of New Testament and biblical interpretation at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He has also served as past president of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion and current co-chair of the Bible and Emotion group for the Society of Biblical Literature. Spencer’s longtime interest in feminist biblical interpretation is evident in the monographs Dancing Girls, “Loose” Ladies, and Women of “the Cloth”: The Women in Jesus’ Life; and Salty Wives, Spirited Mothers, and Savvy Widows: Capable Women of Purpose and Persistence in Luke’s Gospel.    Barbara E. Reid, general editor of the Wisdom Commentary series, is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies, and president emerita of Catholic Theological Union (the first woman who held the position). She has been a member of the CTU faculty since 1988 and also served as vice president and academic dean from 2009 to 2018. She holds a PhD in biblical studies from The Catholic University of America and was president of the Catholic Biblical Association in 2014–2015. Her most recent publications are Luke 1–9 and Luke 10–24, co-authored with Shelly Matthews (WCS 43A, 43B; Liturgical Press, 2021); and At the Table of Holy Wisdom: Global Hungers and Feminist Biblical Interpretation (Paulist, 2023).

• ContentsList of Abbreviations   ixList of Contributors   xiiiForeword “Tell It on the Mountain”—or, “And You Shall Tell Your Daughter [as Well]”   xvAthalya Brenner-IdanEditor’s Introduction to Wisdom Commentary: “She Is a Breath of the Power of God” (Wis 7:25)   xixBarbara E. Reid, OPAcknowledgments   xxxixAuthor’s Introduction: Playing the Song of Songs in a Feminist Key   xliSong of Songs 1:1 Heading   1Song of Songs 1:2-8 Comfortable (Mostly) in Her Own Voice and Skin   5Song of Songs 1:9–2:7 Looking at the Lovers’ Nest—and Letting It Be   25Song of Songs 2:8-17 Viewing, Cooing, and Wooing   41Song of Songs 3:1-5 Seeking and Seizing Her Lover   59Song of Songs 3:6-11 Look Who’s Coming to Town   71Song of Songs 4:1-7 Formidable Beauty and Fearful Symmetry   83Song of Songs 4:8–5:1 The Precarious Path to Paradise   99Song of Songs 5:2-8 Painful Pillow Talk   113Song of Songs 5:9–6:3 Playful Girl Talk   133Song of Songs 6:4-10 An Overwhelming Ode to Terrible Beauty   147Song of Songs 6:11-13 A Flight of Fancy and a Campy Dance   157Song of Songs 7:1-9a The Dynamic Delights of Statuesque Beauty   167Song of Songs 7:9b–8:4 Desiring Old and New, Open and Safe Spaces for Love   193Song of Songs 8:5-14 The Love Song That Never Ends   207Works Cited   233Index of Scripture References and Other Ancient Writings   243Index of Subjects   247

"Rabbi Akiba claimed that `All the world is not worth the day that the Song of Songs was given to Israel' (Yadaim 3:5). Spencer reaffirms that claim. With scholarly insight into the text, sensitivity of gender issues, and a clever yet respectful use of language, he provides a commentary faithful to the principles of this remarkable series. The contributing voices add an interesting layer to the interpretation of this poem that champions human love."Dianne Bergant, CSA, Catholic Theological Union