Essays By Ekowa

Let me first say, I did not write this essay, but I wish I had! 

I found it on the 'Net' and I have research what this man is saying and it proves to be true. So, all you prudish people that find yourself in bondage about sex, God and religion here is your chance to free your minds. You may need a cigarette, cigar, a piece of chocolate or a cold shower after reading this! God is good all the time!   It shows you what studying can unearth! Hold onto your seats...

 Sexuality in the Song of Solomon

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The spirituality portrayed in Biblical Scriptures has many facets. One of the most often overlooked parts of the religion of the Bible is hieros gamos – sacred sexual union. Erotic love contains spiritual revelations, and is one type and shadow of our relationship with the Divine.  Both the ‘old’ and ‘new testament’ portions of the Scriptures refer to sacred sexual joining, and speak of it as a ‘mystery’. Because of this, some have classified the spiritual path outlined in the Bible as a ‘mystery religion’, which includes sacred sexuality.

"A man…will be united with his woman, [gone is most often translated as ‘woman’, and sometimes as ‘wife’] and the two will be one. This is a great mystery – and I am talking about Messiah and the Church.” [Ephesians 5:31-32]

 There are Scriptural references that portray the mystical sacred union of El and Eloah – the God and Goddess of the Bible. The Heavenly Father and Mother are joined in sacred sexual union.  Yes, there is a male and female deity shown in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles too it was just covered up.

In the epigraphic book of Sophia, we read, “The great Sophia is [the Father’s] spouse… [She is the] Begetter, Sophia [wisdom], Mother of the Universe…” [3:104] the word used in some Greek texts in reference to Eloah, the Goddess, is koinonos, which means [equal] partner.

In common use, it meant ‘spouse’, or ‘consort’, particularly in the sense of the wife of the king, or the husband of the queen. This is not precisely the same as human marriage; yet, mortal sexual union is a reflection of the hierosgamos – or sacred cosmic union of El sand Eloah. [See Heirogrammat and Moses] For more about the Goddess within the Bible, read the article: Eloah, the Hidden Goddess of Israel.

There are numerous references within the Scriptures to sacred sexuality. Human male-female sexuality is a reflection of the Heavenly Union that is oft mentioned within the Scriptures. There is mystical sexuality between Father and Mother – God and Goddess – the King and Queen of Heaven. Also, Scriptures refer to the mystical sexual union between the Son and the Bride.

The Song of Songs

This study is devoted to expounding upon how human sexuality is described within the Bible, specifically within the Song of Solomon. Physical sexuality can be an expression of worship. Examples of this sort of sexuality are portrayed within the Canticles, also known as the Song of Songs. This poetic book describes in some detail a very intimate sexual relationship between man and woman. The language is poetic, symbolic, and highly erotic. It describes kissing, oral-genital contact, manual-genital stimulation, and genital-genital intercourse.

Through the centuries, the symbolism of the book has been appreciated by relatively few. The original language partially concealed the true meaning, treating it as a mystery. In part, the original language is discrete. As the Hebrew was translated into other languages, many phrases and word meanings were deliberately obscured, because of prudishness. Within the synagogue and, more especially, the church, sexuality became repressed. Sensual references within Scripture were ‘translated’ in such a way as to obscure the original meaning. There were some, centuries ago, who argued that the Song of Solomon should not have been included in the Bible – that it was far too erotic.

You are invited to compare, line by line, the following excerpts with your own Bible. The words can be compared with definitions within a concordance or scriptural dictionary. In some instances the number of the Hebrew word as it appears in Strong’s Concordance has been included, enclosed in [brackets] for ease of reference for those wishing to pursue the subject more deeply. The sensual meanings of the following phrases are quite evident in the original Hebrew text. The context in which they are used adds to the erotic implications. The Song of Songs, in some ways, follows poetic conventions that were commonly used in other Middle Eastern literature of the time [approximately 1000 BCE].

Double entendres are both common and deliberate. It was a Semitic custom to avoid speaking directly about the genitals, whenever a euphemism could substitute. Therefore, when possible vague or indirect terms were used. One of the factors that make the poetry in the Canticles so sensual is that it includes references to our several senses. To sight, and hearing, and touch, as well as the more primal senses of smell and taste. The sensuality is also heightened because so much time is devoted to foreplay. Intercourse is included, but only after much kissing, petting, fondling, and oral-genital love.

In the Song of Solomon, sometimes the woman speaks, other times the man; in other parts of the poem there is a chorus; and, in a few stanzas, the poet comments. The sexuality in the Song of Songs is balanced, meaning that the desires of the man and woman are matched, and the lovemaking is equally active. They praise one another, arouse each another, enjoy each other, and please one another.

1:2  “Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth. Your expressions of love are better than wine.”

The woman speaks the first part of this verse. The word that is translated as ‘kiss’ [5400/5401] is more commonly translated as ‘kindle’, ‘make a fire’, or ‘inflame’.

The man’s reply comprises the second portion of the verse: “your love is better than wine”. The word that is generally translated as ‘love’ also has another meaning. While most manuscripts contain the Hebrew word ‘dode’ [1730, spelled dalet-vav-dalet], some contain the variant word ‘dad’ [1717, spelled dalet-dalet], which means ‘nipple’.  

Therefore, acceptable alternate translations may be:

[She:] “Inflame me / make me burn / make me hot with your kisses.”

[He:] “Your nipples are [taste] better than / good like / more desirable than wine.

1:9 He says, “I compare you, my darling, to my mare.”

1:12  "While the king [sits] at his table / in his place, my spikenard yields / gives off its perfume".

Banqueting in the palace and by people of financial means was done in a reclining position, on a couch or propped up on pillows. The word translated as ‘table’ literally means ‘round’ or ‘that which surrounds’.

Nard, or spikenard, was a costly perfume or ointment derived from a plant that is native to India . It has a history of use as a sexual tonic, as well as a sedative.

As Origen, one of the early church fathers, pointed out – spikenard is a hairy plant that emits its scent only when it is rubbed – alluding to erotic connotations.

Spikenard is mentioned in only two places within the Bible: in the erotic passages of the Song of Solomon, and in regard to the Magdalene anointing the Messiah [implying sexual intimacy between them].

The woman is the speaker of this entire verse. In the second phrase, she makes reference to her ‘spikenard’. The allusion is to her hair-covered vulva, which produces a fragrance when rubbed – either by him or by her. When this is matched to the first phrase in the verse, this happens in response to the king being "at his table”. This can imply either that he is ‘dining’ on her, and/or that some part of him is ‘engulfed’ or ‘surrounded’ by her fur-covered mound.

Blessing

1:13  “[He is] like a sachet of myrrh lying [all night] between my breasts.”

Or… “He lies between my breasts like a sachet of myrrh.” In this case, myrrh is descriptive of the fragrant spice.

1:14  “[He is] like a bouquet of [camphire] henna flowers”

Henna is a fragrant bush that grows in the Engedi oasis, intertwined among other plants. Henna has been used for millennia as a hair dye and for mehndi [temporary body art].   The word Engedi means ‘fountain of the little goat’.

1:16-17  “The leaf-scattered ground will be our couch / bed; the cedars will be the walls of our house; the cypress trees will be our rafters.”

2:3 & 5  These verses contain the translated words “apple tree” and “apples” [8598]

Other ancient Middle Eastern [African] cultures used ‘apples’ as a euphemism for genitals [referring either to the testicles or to the head of the penis]. See Eve and the Apple.

Sometimes ‘apples’ referred to breasts. In ancient Semitic languages, the word ‘abol was a word that meant genitals, in general, and sometimes penis, specifically.

Fruit trees of all types were common symbols of fertility. “Apple” did not necessarily mean ‘apple’ – the same word was used for orange, quince, or could apply to any round fruit – including pomegranates. [Apples were not actually native to the region.]

The word for “apples” is a derivative from the Hebrew word meaning ‘fragrance’. [5301] See 7:8, in which her ‘nose’ [actually her vulva] smells like ‘apples’ to him.

2:3 “I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my mouth.”

Delight also may be translated as ‘desire’ or ‘great desire’. The word ‘shadow’ or ‘shade’ indicates a place of security or safety that may be found below or under something.  Fruit is a euphemism for genitals – in this case, his genitals.

She sits, with delight or desire, and a feeling of safety or security, with her head under or near his genitals, tasting his testicles and/or penis, considering them to be sweet in her mouth.

2:4 “He leads me into a banquet room /cellar; his banner /standard over me is love.”

This means he takes her to a private place, a special room set apart for feasting and drinking.  The word for ‘banner’ is degel [1714], which comes from the root dagal [1713]. Dagal means to raise, to flaunt, and to be conspicuous.

The word translated as ‘love’ means ‘love’ in the common sense, and also means ‘sexual desire’.

An alternate translation can be: He leads me into a room [or into a place in the cellar] that is designated for a special purpose – set apart for ‘feasting’ and ‘drinking’. His love for me is conspicuous. Or, He signals his love for me.

Or, His sexual desire for me is obvious, because part of him is rising [like a flagpole].

2:5  “Strengthen me with raisins / raisin cakes, and refresh me with apples, because I am lovesick / weak from love”

Raisin cakes and raisins were commonly associated with sexuality and fertility. In ancient Middle Eastern cultures, raisins were considered to be an aphrodisiac, and believed to enhance sexual vigor.

The phrase "sick of love”, or “lovesick", means “overcome with sexual passion”. “Apples”, of course, can be synonymous with “genitals”.

2:6  “His left hand is under my head; his right hand caresses me.”

The word for “caress” also means, "embrace", or “fondle”. He holds her with one hand, and pets her with his other.

2:9  “My lover is like a gazelle, like a young stag. See where he stands behind the wall. He looks in at the window, he peers through the opening.”

The Hebrew words ‘roe’, ‘gazelle’, and ‘stag’ were all used as euphemisms for the male sexual member, similar to the way ‘cock’ is used in English. This verse can be interpreted that the man is partially concealed behind a wall, watching her [with desire] through a window. However, it can alternatively be interpreted: Look, I can see his erection standing; it is concealed behind a wall [of fabric], and now it peeks out at me through an opening.

2:16  The woman says of her lover, "My beloved is mine, and I am his; he feeds among the lilies".

The word translated as “feed” also means to ‘graze’, as a sheep grazes on grass. The allusion here is that he grazes among her pubic hairs.

2:17  "Until the day breaks…be like a gazelle or young stag on the mountains of Bether."

She wants their lovemaking to last all night, until the morning.  The “mountains of Bether” is a poetic simile. The word bether [1336] means ‘cleft’.

 This can refer to the cleavage between her breasts, the crease between her buttocks, and/or the cleft of her vulva. ‘Mountains’ can refer to the contours of her body, in general, or to her breasts, specifically, or to her pubic mound or hillock. When we equate ‘gazelle’ or ‘stag’ specifically to his penis, she is requesting that he use his erection in a variety of places on her body. [Hidden in the cleft of a rock]

Chapter 4 is mainly comprised of the man’s description of the beauty of his woman.

“Look at you! You are beautiful, my true love.

Look at you! You are so beautiful.

Your eyes behind your veil are like doves.

Your hair is like a flock of goats moving down Mount Gilead .

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep about to be sheared, sheep that come up from the washing. All of them bear twins, and not one has lost its young. [Your teeth are white and well-matched]

Your lips are like scarlet thread; Your mouth is lovely.

Your cheeks behind your veil are like slices of pomegranate.” [4:1-3]

4:5  “Your breasts are like two fawns, like twins of a gazelle that feed among the lilies.”

The reference here is to the dorcus gazelle, which is different from the gazelle mentioned previously. This is a small, cute animal, standing about 2 feet high at the shoulder. It sprung gracefully, bouncing lightly as it moved.

In this, and other verses, “lilies” means flowers [whereas in other passages “lilies” is used to refer to pubic hair].

4:6  “Before the day-breeze rises, before the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.”

Again, the symbolism is sensual. The sweet-smelling hill he describes is her 'mons pubis'.  Myrrh is now used to symbolize her fragrant vaginal fluids.

4:10 “How beautiful are your expressions of love, my [perfect] maiden, my [spiritual] sister! How much better are your expressions of love than wine, and the fragrance of your -perfume better than spice.”

This is a similar expression used in 1:2. “Wine” is a superlative.   Again, he declares that the natural smells she produces are sweet to him.

4:11 “Your lips drip with honey, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue.”

Her kisses are sweet, and he explores her mouth deeply, tasting beneath her tongue.

4:12  He describes her again as a “garden” – a garden that contains a “spring” or “fountain”.

Her vulva is likened to a garden that contains a spring that is sealed; it is private and possessed by its owner. The moisture that she makes when aroused is for him, alone, to drink.

4:13  “Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and spikenard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes, and all the finest spices.”

“Plants” or “plantings” and “orchard” may again refer to pubic hair. Pomegranates are an ancient feminine fertility symbol. It can apply to the breasts, the vulva, or to femininity in general.

Once again he focuses on the fragrance her body makes, including spikenard again – the hairy plant that must be rubbed in order for its fragrance to be released.   She is a source of delicious sexual pleasure to him – of fruit for him to eat.

4:15  He calls her his “garden fountain, a well of flowing water, streaming down”

This refers to the abundant moisture that arises within her vagina. The flowing water and fountain poetically refer to the wetness that originates from her arousal, and flows from within her, and may even gush from her during orgasm.

4:16 In response, this is an invitation the woman extends to the man. “Awake, north wind; come, wind of the south. Breathe over my garden, to spread its sweet smell around.”

In this phrase, “garden” is the poetic designation of her vulva. She invites his breath upon her genitals, to stimulate and arouse her, and spread the scents of her arousal into the air.  

“Let my love come into his garden; let him taste its most exquisite fruits”.

The Hebrew word that is translated as “come into” is used to describe sexual penetration, such as in Genesis 16:2. She invites him to penetrate her body with his own. She also invites him to eat the precious fruit of her body.

5:1  The man speaks again in the opening of chapter 5.  Again he refers in a possessive manner to eating and drinking his woman’s body.

“I come into my garden…I gather my myrrh and spice. I eat my honey and my honeycomb. I drink my wine and my milk.”

5:2  [He speaks] “Open to me, my true love…my perfect one. My head is wet with dew, my hair with the dewdrops of night.”

He entreats her to open herself to him. The head of his penis is dripping with arousal, and the pre-seminal fluid trickles down into his pubic hair.

5:3  “I have washed my feet”, she replies.

While “feet” literally does mean “feet”, the ancient Hebrews commonly employed “feet” as a popular euphemism for genitals. [see Ruth sitting at the feet of Boaz]

In Isaiah 7:20, “hair of the feet” means pubic hair. In the story of Ruth and Boaz, feet, likewise, is a euphemism for genitals [Ruth 3:7]. The Hebrew word for urine literally was “water of the feet”.   {This adds erotic meaning to Mary Magdalene’s act of anointing Jesus’ feet with spikenard.}

5:4  She says, “My beloved thrust his hand through the hole in the door. I trembled to the core of my being. Then I got up to open to my love. Myrrh ran off my hands, pure myrrh off my fingers on to the handle of the bolt

While it may be taken literally, this passage can easily be interpreted in erotic terms. The man thrusts his hand into her, and it made her tremble to her core with pleasure. She opened herself to him. She touches her own wetness, and covers her fingers in it. She takes hold of the ‘handle of the bolt’ – his penis.

6:13  In this verse the woman is called “Shulamite”. These love poems are attributed to Solomon. In calling her Shulamite, he means she is his ‘other half’ – the one who completes him.

Shulamite has the equivalent meaning of “Solomon-ette” – and is the female form of the name Solomon. She is his female counterpart, his companion coming from the same original Source.

7:1  He once again praises her beauty. “The curves of your thighs are like jewels.” The phrase “curves of the thighs” can indicate the buttocks.

7:2  Your navel is a goblet well rounded, with no lack of wine. Your belly a heap of wheat surrounded with lilies.

The word translated as navel here, shorer, is not the word commonly used for navel [shor]. This particular Hebrew word was used to designate the vulva, and not the navel.

Describing her vulva as a round goblet or, more particularly, as a small bowl or cup in the shape of a half moon. There is no lack of moisture within her. He has drunk from her juices like drinking wine from a rounded bowl.

The word translated as “belly” or “waist” in most Bible versions is based on the Hebrew word that also means “womb”, “pelvis”, and, by extension, “vulva”. [Until the modern scientific age, descriptions of the female anatomy were imprecise. Even doctors less than 200 years ago, did not consistently use appropriate terminology to distinguish between “pelvis”, “vulva”, and “vagina”.]

Her “belly” being surrounded with “lilies” is a reference to her pubic mound, covered with hair.

7:8  The man declares, “I will climb the palm tree, and take hold of its fruit. May your breasts be like clusters on the vine; may the fragrance of your breath be like apples.

Here is describing mounting her.  To "climb the palm tree" had a special meaning in the ancient Near East, where the artificial fertilization of the female palm tree flowers by the male palm tree flowers has been practiced from the earliest times. The male and female flowers are born on separate trees in clusters among the leaves. In order to fertilize the female tree, one must climb the male tree and get some of its flowers. One then ascends the female tree and ties among its flowers, a bunch of the pollen-bearing male flowers. Thus, to climb the palm tree is to fertilize it.

The Hebrew word translated as “take hold” can also be translated as “grasp”, “possess” or “seize”.

The word used here for “fruit” has the implication of something pointed – perhaps a description of the general shape of her breasts, or of her erect nipples.

The change of comparison from date clusters to grape clusters is descriptive of another attribute of her breasts. Grapes swell and become increasingly round and elastic as they ripen, similar to the female breasts when sexually aroused.

The phrase “fragrance of your breath” is quite horribly translated as “the smell of thy nose” in the King James Version. While the original Hebrew can be construed to mean ‘breath’, and will fit the context, many scholars translate the word ‘aph as "vulva”. He is either lauding the fragrance of her breath, or, more probably, the scent of her vulva. It smells pleasant to him, just as his fragrance smells good to her.  [2:3]

7:12  “Let us go into the field. Let’s spend the night among the henna flowers. Let’s go to the vineyards early. Let’s see if the vines have budded, if the grape blossoms have opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.”

There are at least two sensual ways in which this verse can be understood. The first is literal, meaning that he invites her to spend the night outdoors, making love in various locations – in the field, the vineyard or orchard.

The other way of interpreting this verse is that he is speaking metaphorically of arousing one another again. Waiting until their bodies, previously sated by having had sex earlier, would be renewed, and once again ready for more.

7:13  “The mandrakes give off a fragrance, and at our door are all kinds of precious fruits. I have saved new and old things for you alone, my beloved.”

Mandrakes were considered to be an aphrodisiac in the ancient world, with magical sexual powers. [Genesis 30:13-16] They were also known as mandragores, and commonly called “love plants”.

Variety and experimentation were part of their lovemaking. All sorts of ‘new and old’ erotic adventures are possible for them, including some things that they have done before, as well as others that they have not yet tried. Some may be unique to them as a couple.

 8:1-2  The language used here requires explanation. During the time when the poem was written, it was culturally unacceptable for a couple to kiss in public. Kissing between family members, regardless of gender, was acceptable in public.

What the woman is expressing is that she wishes her husband were her brother, so she could kiss him in public, without people thinking ill of her. Then, she continues by telling him that she wants to take him to her mother’s house, where they will act out erotic notions.

She wants him to be her teacher – her instructor in sexual matters. She wants him to transform her from an innocent girl to a knowing woman.  She also wants to suckle him, to nurse him – to have him suck hungrily at her breasts just as an infant sucks from his mother. This is the “spiced wine”…the “juice squeezed from [her] pomegranates.”

8:6  “Wear me as a seal over your heart, as a ring on your hand.”

She speaks, asking him to wear his love for her as jewelry – as a pendant over his heart, or as a ring on his hand.

This also implies her asking that he wear something that indicates to others that she is his. A sign of ownership; a way of marking him as her own. This may be jewelry, of course, but can as easily be her scent, or the marks she has placed on him during their lovemaking.

Finally, the invitation for him to wear her as a ring on his hand can be construed to relate to him reaching his fingers into her vagina, ‘wearing her’ as he would a glove.

8:8-9  Her brothers used to tease her as her breasts began to develop, and as she matured into womanhood.   But now she is a mature woman, and her “breasts are like towers”.

8:10  “Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.” The verse is a little ambiguous, and can alternatively be translated, “Under his eyes I have found true peace.”

In the former translation, she declares that she brings him contentment. If this is directly related to her mention of her breasts in the previous verse, she is declaring that he finds her breasts to be delightful, and he is pleased with them. Solomon also wrote that a man should find delight and satisfaction in his woman’s breasts. [Proverbs 5:19]

In the second translation option, she may be saying that, finally, in her covenant relationship with her man, she has found true satisfaction and profound peace.

8:14  The book of poetry is closed by the final sexual invitation from her. “Come away quickly, my beloved. Run like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountain of spices.”

By now, the reader is familiar with the poetic conventions, and the meanings of “gazelle” or “stag” and “mountain of spices”. In other words, she is saying, Come and take me. Hurry, make love to me!

The Song of Solomon is quite obviously a group of very erotic love poems. Some of the sexuality is quite explicit, while most is couched in more discrete similes and other poetic conventions. It also has other allegorical meanings, which were not explored in this article.

The purposes of this study are twofold. One is to point out that the Bible does not condemn sexuality, but actually promotes it. The second purpose is to mention that human sexuality can be sacramental – a ‘religious experience’, as it were. Human sexuality can be sacred sexuality – hieros gamos, and can be a reflection of the Heavenly union of El and Eloah, or of the mystical union of the Messiah and the Church.

Now that's Scripture!  The truth will set you free! I wonder if a preacher would dare preach this from the pulpit!  Ok....Wow! So, I gotta' let y'all go!

Blessings,

Ekowa

2007

'And this is for the man I love.'

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