Week 11 lecture notes (unformatted)

Week 11
8:30 Quiz
8:45 Paper Due
8:50 Men in the Song: One or two? Positive or Negative?
Is the lover the same as the king (Solomon)? Why or why not? Which passages support your view? Which are problematic?
9:05 Possible Exam Questions
9:10 Outline of Song of Songs
A tale of fidelity to love in the face of power and coercion.
1–2: The woman, a member of the king's harem, expresses love for her lover, not for the king. The man reciprocates.
3: The woman is determined to overcome threats to her relationship with the man.
4–5: the threats are again resisted, and the depth of the relationship seems very committed.
6–7: more graphic descriptions of the relationship
8: declaration of woman's passion and resistance to other males who claim possession of her (brothers, the king).
· The woman is a more prominent character than the man; she speaks more and takes more initiative.
· She is devoted to a faithful, monogamous, intimate relationship, and refuses to be a pawn in a male game of legal contracts, money, and objectification.
· She struggles for fidelity to her lover when confronted with the king.
9:20 Passage identification in the Song of Songs
Passage
Typical Content
1:1 Title
The Song of Songs which is to Solomon
1:2–6 Introduction
Who is the girl, Solomon, the harem girls, and the guy.
1:7–8 The search for the shepherd

1:12–17 The campout

2 I and my love
I am my lover's and he is mine (also ch. 6);
he is a stag leaping the mountains
3:1–5 Dream sequence 1
The watchmen let her go; she finds him
3:6–11 The opulent scene
who is this coming up from the desert?
Solomon's bed, "carriage", crowned on his wedding.
4:1–15 You are beautiful
Your teeth are sheep (also ch. 6)
A garden locked up
5:2–8 Dream sequence 2
The watchmen beat her
5:9–16: He is handsome
His arms are rods of gold
6
I am my lovers, and he is mine (also 2, 7);
Your teeth are sheep (also 4);
She is unique
7:1 The Shullamite

7:2–10: You are beautiful

7:11–14: Let's get out!
There I will give you my love
8:1–4 If he were my brother
I would take him to Mom's
8:6–7 The power of love

8:8–12 Solomon's vineyard
Our sister;
The $1000 are yours, Solomon

9:35 Women in the Song: Subordination or Empowerment?
You have probably encountered many different ideas about what women's roles should be. Which of these ideas are supported by the Song, and which are rejected?
9:50 Break
10:05 Human sexual love as metaphor for divine love
What can we learn from the Song about God's love, or the way we should love God?
Wisdom literature recap
10:20 Lessons for Life taught by Wisdom Literature
· All Truth is God’s Truth ; The Truth is not Our Enemy
· God is not a “God of the Gaps”
· See the Big Picture; Maturity is larger self-identification.
· God ordered nature; the world is good; people are good
· Think about it: God has a Purpose, not a Plan for your life.
· Live this life without thought of reward in the afterlife
10:25 Wisdom and the New Testament
· Jesus’ teachings have similarities to Proverbs and Ecclesiastes
· The NT describes Jesus in terms used by Proverbs (Hebrews, John 1, Colossians 1:17; Acts 17:28)
· Song of Songs is without parallel in the NT
Song or Ecclesiastes Quoted in the NT: Once.
Ecc. 7:20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
Romans 3:10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
Allusions to Song and Ecclesiastes in the NT
Eccl. "vanity"
Romans 8:20
Ecc. 3:4
Matt. 11:17
Ecc. 5:1
Matt 6:7
James 1:19
Ecc. 5:7
Col. 4:1
Ecc. 5:14
1 T 6:7
Ecc 7:9
James 1:19
Ecc. 8:15
Luke 12:29
Ecc. 9:7
Acts 2:46
Ecc. 9:8
Matt 6:17
Ecc. 11:5
John 3:8
Ecc. 12:14
2 Cor. 5:10
Song 4:15
John 7:38: Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
Song 5:2
Rev 3:20: Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
10:40 The Worldview of Wisdom in the NT
The foundational theological notion of Wisdom (11)
· The person who will do well in this life is one who recognizes that someone besides himself created the world, and who observes the world around him to learn how it works and how he can live in harmony with the way God made it.
Proverbs shares a lot of theology with the all the rest of the Old Testament:
1. God is good
2. God is Creator
3. Therefore, creation is good
4. Yet creation is in disorder
5. This disorder is the result of human unfaithfulness to God
6. God loves the goodness of what he has made, so he hates anything that ruins that goodness.
7. God’s goodness is irrepressible
8. Therefore, God and Good will ultimately triumph.
This theology is shared by the New Testament, with one extension:
9. Jesus Christ is part of God’s plan to fix the disorder in the world.
a. Jesus Christ represents God’s refusal to abandon his willful creatures to their sin
b. Jesus Christ’s self-sacrificial death atones for human wrong-doing
c. Jesus Christ’s resurrection makes possible eternal life in communion with God as a member of his redeemed people
What difference can biblical wisdom make to life today?
Does wisdom consist of Rules or attitudes?
Does wisdom consist of Promises or habits?
10:45 Final Quiz
11:00 Evaluations