SONG OF SOLOMON

In the original Hebrew this book was titled “Solomon’s Song of Songs,” which means it could be by him, for him, or about him. No one knows for sure.

It’s another example of wisdom literature with a big difference from the others—it appears to be erotic poetry. Those uncomfortable with that idea have tried to approach the book as an allegory of Christ’s love for the church or God’s love for Israel. But it’s difficult to explain it as anything else besides love poems between two people. It revels in physical sensuality.

The Prophets

We have surveyed books dealing with two of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible—Torah (the Law) and the Writings. The third section, the Prophets, needs a brief introduction for better understanding of what’s ahead.

The Hebrew word for prophet means “one who calls” or “is called.” These two terms explain the function of a prophet—he is someone who is called by God to proclaim His message. He was an Old Testament preacher, telling what God was going to do and exhorting people to respond with a holy lifestyle. The prophet railed against false religious practices and against social and political corruption.

The typical prophetic book had an announcement of judgment against others and/or the Jewish people, description of end-of-the-world judgment and a final Jewish kingdom, an argument as to how Israel broke its covenant with God, exhortations, and satire. We picture prophets as interested in predicting the future, but that wasn’t the case because the future depended on the present and how the people reacted to the message. They also were not caught up in strange, visionary dreams; they focused on the real world, emphasizing that God was an active worker in history.