Song of Solomon---Kings

Thanks class for all the great writings and insights you have all posted for this wonderful class. This has been a tremendous experience for me as I am sure it has been for everyone in the class. Thank You Rev. Guy Williams for your insight and dedication to the Hebrew Bible and sharing it with us in such a delightful way.
Les DeMarco


Song of Solomon

Isn’t this just a love song/poem?
How does one find passion in something that is so dry?
I suppose the answers are poor translation, different culture and century, and my inability to find this to be anything more than a call to move past the animalistic desires of life and allow Love to blossom and grow. I have read this passage numerous times in my life and it does the same nothing for me now as it did then. I am not compelled to be inspired by flowery words, or romantic language. I do not find value in or partake of, cooing or wooing. The artistry of this passage is certainly lovely and probably needed by the church to romanticize the relationship of God and Man, and I am certain that someone somewhere has a built a church on just this book alone.

I can guess what it must be like to have so many wives and what turmoil that might lead the soul into. Hence the quantity of reunification with the beauty and the passion that is displayed outwardly through word (though as I mentioned—it does nothing for me). I can see where the variety of verse could lead one into believing that one man might not have written this song (and being a songwriter if find the verse far from poetic). We actually don’t even know if this isn’t biblical satire being translated as some grand poem, I mean, none of us were there nor were the scholars that interpret and translate this. At best, at the council of Nicea, they must have needed something of a romantic nature and felt this best suited the role. Definitely there is some allegory towards man’s relationship with God within, and one doesn’t have to stretch too far to make this scenario fit. We have much more romantic stuff from St. John of the Cross, or St. Francis of Assisi, than that which is contained within this Song of Solomon, but in their prose we cannot miss that it is definitely about individual relationship and adoration for the Divine. You might even think that some of it is rather sexual connotative as we could also sense in Song of Solomon. But nonetheless, it is interpretation and how one chooses to perceive these writings.
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Kings

Take me to the construction of the temple! Don’t give me the finish schedule give me the structural details of its construction. How many men did it take to achieve this grand model? What tools were used? Who was the architect? What was the foundation made of? How was it lit and who made the windows to let in the light? Only two Angels at the pillars? How was it plumbed? These things interest me. That wood doesn’t exist anymore. Where are the ruins? Do we have any pieces left to be seen anywhere? I know the temple was destroyed, but I shall build it up in three days! The direct lineage of Jesus comes from David according to biblical pointing. Yet why is there so much mention of various people in Kings? If everything is an aspect of our consciousness and we are all of and in and using the One Mind, then that which I seek I already am.
So the names clearly mean things as we have discussed through previous papers, and this isn’t just about the travels and ancestry of the Hebrew tribes. There is something intriguing about the nature of what should be historical content, and we don’t have a lot of evidence that this is so, but these names and these stories are continuing to be told.
So we have two chief players Solomon and David. Two major thrones, two major artists by right. One clearly a visionary for architecture and one for psalm and musicianship. Both grand leaders and just lords. One gives in to the passion he lives for women, and one the passion he lives for love. Yet both love God and serve its laws. A great savior is said to have come from the line of David, and that line goes way back through the patriarchs (but this is taking the biblical history as fact and then we have nothing but incest anyway). However Solomon was a great romanticizer and remained close to God and performed just actions as a ruler using wisdom and fairness as a basis for his throne. 1, 000 wives! Holy cow! I can’t imagine what that must be like. Now if it is just for the sake of variety, then the story might be told differently, but then when we read some of Solomon’s wisdom and we might read the proverbs such as, “It is better to live in a house with a leaky roof than to live with a nagging woman,” we can see where the issues begin to arise and convince Solomon of what it is he is in love with. We’ve all read the books so no need to rehash it!
I believe there is a feminine side to him that completed him and he matched each of the majesty and the mystery that men may not see in themselves, by being in relation with multiple wives or concubines. He was vain, flamboyant, and opulent in his reign. Yet justice prevailed through the wisdom of being wholly united with both aspects of himself: the feminine and the masculine.

If I were a psychologist I might go into the various archetypes that show up in these books. If was a criminologist I might investigate the polygamy and try to uncover criminal behavior from today’s standards. If I was a Mormon, I might use Solomon as an example of biblical pointing to why polygamy is of God. If I was an historian, I could pick apart the lineage and the discrepancies within the stories here. But I am none of these. I am a metaphysician that sees the metaphors and the allegories as applicable to my life and to my ministry; and what I have discovered is the ability to be wise in council, sound in judgment, humble before the Presence of God within, and obedient to the principles that I understand about the Universe. I take great pleasure in understanding my inherent Divinity and that in others, and am just as proud to serve as Solomon and David. This is what I get from these stories/books. Love for God and its creations, its laws, and its Beauty.