Shir Hashirim
Introduction
A book that is traditionally read at Pesach is Shir HaShirim, “The Song of Songs” (meaning “the best of all possible songs”). There are several reasons why Shliach Sha'ul is correct when he interprets the book as making reference to the Moshiach and his wedding banquet with his people. In Ep 5:25-27, Shliach Sha'ul says, “Husbands, love your wives.” The Song of Songs contains love poems and refers to Ben Dovidʼs Chasunoh (wedding ceremony and celebration) in Song of Song 3:11. Sh'lomo HaMelech here, the son of Dovid, is not the ultimate Prince who brings peace. One greater than Sh'lomo is here, the Sar Shalom, the rose of Sharon, the lily of the Valley, the fairest of ten thousand. And He does have a Kehillah Bride who is faithful to his Brit Chadasha covenant with her. He is her king (1:2-4,12) and her shepherd (1:7-8). She is tahm-mah-tee “my perfect one” (5:2; 6:9).
Here is a “Banqueting Table” Prayer:
“I BELIEVED; THEREFORE HAVE I SPOKEN (Ps 116:10a).
O HASHEM, SAVE MY NEFESH (Ps 116:4).
I ADMIT I HAVE SINNED, NOT ONLY IN WHAT I HAVE DONE, BUT IN WHAT I AM, (Ps 51)
I ABHOR MYSELF (Job 42:6) AND MY IDOLS WITH G-DLY SORROW FOR MY SIN, TURNING IN TESHUVAH (Isa 44:22) TO MY MELITZ YOSHER IN HEAVEN (Job 33:23), MOSHIACH ADONEINU (Mal 3:1).
YOUR BANNER, OVER ME, HOLY MOSHIACH, IS LOVE (Song 2:4); YOU CARRIED MY SIN AWAY ON THE TREE AS THE SA'IR L'AZAZEL YOM KIPPUR SCAPEGOAT KAPPORAH TO SATISFY THE TORAH (Isa 53:11-12). YOU REMOVED MY FILTHY ROBES (Zech 4:3-5; 3:8; 6:11-12), AND SEATED ME AT YOUR BANQUETING TABLE (Song 2:4). I TRUST YOU AS HASHEM'S PESACH KORBAN FOR MY REDEMPTION (Isa 53:7; Ruth 3:12). I OPEN THE LATCH AND INVITE YOU TO COME THROUGH THE DOOR OF MY HEART AS MY GO'EL AND MOSHI'A (2Sm 22:3; Dan 3:25), AND KOHEN (Ps 110:4) AND KAPPORAH (Isa 53:8) FOREVER. IN THE NAME OF HA'AV (Jer 3:19), HABEN (Prov 30:4; 8:30), AND HARUACH HAKODESH (Ps 51:11). OMEIN.”
1
1 Shir HaShirim, which is Sh'lomoʼs.
2 Let him kiss me with the neshikot (kisses) of his mouth;
for better is dodecha (thy love) than yayin (wine).
3 Tovim is the fragrance of thy shmanim (ointments);
thy shem (name) is like shemen (ointment) poured forth;
therefore do the alamot love thee.*
4 Draw me; so will we run after thee;
the Melech hath brought me into his chadarim (chambers).
We will be glad and rejoice in thee;
we will extol dodecha (thy love) more than yayin;
uprightly have they loved thee.
5 Shechorah (black, dark, sun-blackened) am I, yet lovely,
O ye banot Yerushalayim,
like the oholim (tents) of Kedar,
like the curtains of Sh'lomo.
6 Let your eyes burn not into me because I am black,
because the shemesh hath burned its eyes into me;
bnei immi (my step-brothers) were angry with me;
they made me the keeper of the kramim (vineyards);
but mine own kerem (vineyard) have I not kept.
7 O tell me, thou whom my nefesh loveth,
where feedest thou? Where makest thou thy flock to lie down at noon?
For why should I be as one who veils herself
among the edrei chaverecha (the flocks of thy chaverim, fellow companions)?
8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among nashim,
go thy way forth by the footprints of the tzon,
and feed thy young goats
beside the mishkenot haro'im (the tents of the shepherds).
9 O my love, to a susah (mare)
among the chariots of Pharaoh do I compare thee.
10 Thy cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
thy tzavar (neck) with necklaces.
11 Ornaments of zahav will we make for thee,
studded with kesef.
12 While the Melech is at his table,
my spikenard perfume has yielded its fragrance.
13 Dodi (my beloved) is to me
a sachet of myrrh that lieth in my bosom.
14 Dodi (my beloved) is to me as a cluster of henna blooms
in the kramim (vineyards) of Ein-Gedi.
15 See, thou art yafeh (fair), my love; see, thou art fair;
thine eynayim are yonim (doves).
16 See, thou art yafeh (handsome), dodi (my beloved), yea, na'im (pleasing);
also our couch is verdant.
17 The beams of our bais are cedar,
and our rafters are cypress.
* 1:3 alamot, young unmarried virgins; pl of almah virgin; see Shir Song 6:8; Isa 7:14; Gn 24:43; Ex 2:8; Prov 30:19, where the word has this explicit or implicit meaning throughout the Tanakh; see The Translator to the Reader