To Bear, to Teach: The Mother Image in the Song of Songs

TO BEAR, TO TEACH: THE MOTHER IMAGE IN THE SONG OF SONGS Benjamin Segal The Song of Songs has become the focus of much attention in the feminist study of the Bible. For almost a generation, there has been a growing recognition of its atypically non-patriarchal and non-androcentric approach to love and relations between the sexes.1 Thus, Marcia Falk calls it a "text that offers a thoroughly non-sexist view of heterosexual love"2; Phyllis Trible concludes that "there is no male dominance, no female subordination , and no stereotyping of either sex"3; and Francis Landy asserts that "the dominance and the initiative of the Beloved [the woman] are the poem's most astonishing characteristics."4 It is all the more important, therefore, to explore carefully the related topics of marriage and motherhood in the Song. We shall here explore the "mother" image in the Song of Songs. Because this study bases itself on the import of word repetition and an assumption that the Song is the work of a single author, I shall begin by noting the background to these assumptions. Following an overview of the main subject of the Song, I shall indicate the technical emphasis which the Song places on motherhood and discuss some previous interpretations of this emphasis and their shortcomings. The heart of our concern will be two unique features of the poem: first, the basic statement that the woman speaker makes about motherhood, and second, the themes that the Song is willing to associate with the mother image. I will conclude by discussing some possible implications of these themes. The Framework The dominant modern approach to the Song, until recently, has been to see it as an anthology of short poems and fragments, but that tendency has Nashim:A Journal ofJewish Women'sStudies and GenderIssues, no. 3. © 200043 Benjamin Segal changed in the last few decades. An increasing number of researchers appreciate the Song's unity. Over two generation ago, H.H. Rowley wrote, "I am not able to distribute the poem amongst several authors," and proceeded to cite other scholars who had come to the same conclusion.5 Many have suggested that the form of the repetition patterns distributed among subsections is a clear indication of unity,6 as are the repeated words, phrases, formulae, themes and/or motifs.7 Scholars who have reached this conclusion often feel they have, in addition, a "sense of the whole." As one scholar put it, "Through the careful selection and structuring of images, metaphors and motifs, the author of the Song has created a unique expression on the subject of love."8 Others note that there exists a "loose narrative framework" and point to consistent character portrayal as well.9 I accept the single authorship of the Song of Songs and interpret accordingly. If there is unity, then one can legitimately search for characteristic techniques of the poet. In a 1957 article, R. Kessler summarized: "It almost looks as if somebody would have sprinkled repetitions throughout the Song in a planned way."10 His comment has merited subsequent intense exploration. But beyond their structural importance,11 do these repetitions serve another purpose? The use of repetition as a clue to the meaning of the biblical text is one of the earliest exegetical techniques, dominating early religious commentary, particularly (but not exclusively) in the Jewish homiletic and heuristic literature known as midrash. Thus, the use of the word "deceive" in Gen. 29:25, in Jacob's complaint to Laban for giving him Leah instead of Rachel in marriage, is taken by the midrash as a literary indication that the exchange was justified, because Jacob had "deceived" his father in taking Esau's blessing (Gen. 27:35).12 Elsewhere, Judah asks his father to "see if you recognize" (Gen. 37:32) the bloody coat of Joseph. According to midrash, he gets his just deserts when Tamar uses the same words to indicate that he is the father of her son (Gen. 38:25).13 Perhaps the early move toward allegorical interpretation of the Song in Jewish circles prevented later detailed exploration of its many repetitions. Sensitivity to numbers of repetitions as a pattern has occupied...