Chapter 5

My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening (5:4). Song of Songs 5:2–8 is among the most enigmatic and controversial texts in the entire book. A principal issue here is whether this text actually describes the sexual union of the man and woman, or whether his departure suggests that they did not have a union. The line “My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening” looks like a euphemism for sexual intercourse. The term “hand” is used in both the Bible and other ancient Near Eastern literature to refer to the male sexual member. It has this significance in Isaiah 57:8, 10 as well as in the Qumran Manual of Discipline (1QS 7:13). “Hand” also has this significance in Sumerian,24 Ugaritic,25 and Egyptian texts. In the Egyptian Papyrus Harris 500, after the woman declares that she is like a garden for her beloved, she sings, “Pleasant is the canal within it, / which your hand scooped out.” Here, her body is a garden, the “canal” is her genitals, and his “hand” is his sexual member. The similarity to the language of the Song of Songs is striking.

But if sexual union has taken place, what is the meaning of the departure of the man and molestation of the woman by the guards of the city? The departure (like everything else in this passage) is not to be taken literally. The man’s disappearance is probably the woman’s perspective on the event, that the man has been abrupt in his termination of the union and has not given her the kind of intimacy she desires. The violence of the guards suggests the violence of the loss of virginity. In biblical language, a city can be called a “virgin,” meaning that it is securely protected (e.g., Isa. 47:1). The guardians of a city are its protectors, and here they represent the woman’s virginity.

His lips are like lilies (5:13). The Hebrew word translated “lilies” here probably refers specifically to the lotus (which is a variety of lily), and the Hebrew word is probably borrowed from Egyptian.26 Egyptian and Phoenician art regularly portray the lotus in artwork, and a lotus pattern is routinely used for the capitals of Egyptian stone pillars. In Solomon’s temple complex, the column capitals and the great metal “sea” undoubtedly had a lotus pattern (1 Kings 7:19–26). The Egyptians considered the lotus a symbol of life, and they made a bread from the cluster at the center of the flower. Homer famously sings of the magical power of the lotus in his account of the land of the lotus-eaters (Odyssey 9).27 In describing his lips as lotuses, she associates him with an object of awe and beauty, and she likely means that his kisses are enchanting and invigorating.

An ivory panel from a box depicts an Amarna princess picking lotus flowers and grapes.

Werner Forman Archive/The Louvre