People always talk about the Song of Solomon being explicit and graphic.
I have yet to find any such example. There is, in fact, nothing in the Song of Solomon that even so much as causes me to raise an eyebrow.
Now I do take it to be about the King (God) and the temple (Israel/Church). I mean, come on, the woman’s name is Solomonette. The King is a tree with branches that other folks come to hide under its shade. The woman has towers and wheat fields for anatomical descriptions. Sounds like geography to me.
But whatever. Let’s say it is about one man and one woman enjoying marriage. Which verse is it that is supposed to be so uncomfortable? Which verse is so “parental advisory?”
I haven’t found it yet. If you have one, please leave it in the comments. I’d like to see what bothers people.
It’s explicit and graphic if you assume it’s a kind of ideal, Adam & Eve in the garden book about the joys of marriage, including the physical aspects. Then the symbolism is read in this direction.
If, however, the book is Political Eros, with the king as Baal-Husband and the wife (daughter of Egypt?) as Bride-Kingdom, then the symbolism has other aspects. The king is described architecturally, and the bride agriculturally: Temple/Palace (same word in Heb.) and Land. King and people love one another, and above that, God and people love one another.
It is the tendency to individualism that has led evangelicals to take Job and Canticles as about individuals and domestic marriage. Both are about kings and lands and politics.
Is that not a false dichotomy? Can’t it be about both?