Love Conquers All: Song of Songs 8:6b-7a as a Reflex of the Northwest Semitic Combat Myth
Scholars have often noted YHWH's apparent absence from the Song of Songs. At best, he appears under the name Yah in the difficult and morphologically frozen term ... in Song 8:6. In this article, I go beyond ... to suggest that love plays the role of YHWH in the Song. Using Calvert Watkins'...
| Published in: | Journal of Biblical literature |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Scholar's Press
[2015]
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| In: |
Journal of Biblical literature
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Hoheslied 8,6-7
/ Northwest Semitic language
/ Mythology
/ Theomachie
/ Baal, God
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| RelBib Classification: | BC Ancient Orient; religion HB Old Testament TC Pre-Christian history ; Ancient Near East |
| Further subjects: | B
BIBLE. Song of Solomon
B NAME of God in Judaism B Jewish literature B Bible. Old Testament B Christian Literature B SEMITIC mythology B WATKINS, Calvert |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Scholars have often noted YHWH's apparent absence from the Song of Songs. At best, he appears under the name Yah in the difficult and morphologically frozen term ... in Song 8:6. In this article, I go beyond ... to suggest that love plays the role of YHWH in the Song. Using Calvert Watkins's work on inherited formulae, I argue that Song 8:6b-7a draws on the Northwest Semitic combat myth to identify love with YHWH, the victorious divine warrior. As part of this argument, I identify three inherited formulae in the Hebrew Bible, the Baal Cycle, and later Christian and Jewish literature: "Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, the twisting serpent," "rebuke Sea," and "strong as Death." Within the Song, the phrase "strong as Death" connects this passage with the Baal Cycle, while the references to ... and ... evoke scenes of mythic combat from the rest of the Hebrew Bible. This interpretation, I argue, also has mythic resonances in the adjuration refrain in Song 2:7, 3:5, and 8:4 and the phrase "sick with love" in Song 2:5 and 5:8. |
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| ISSN: | 1934-3876 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Biblical literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.15699/jbl.1342.2015.2810 |