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{"id":5509,"date":"2010-03-24T07:09:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-24T07:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=2509"},"modified":"2017-09-07T00:00:17","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T18:00:17","slug":"spikenard-and-saffron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2010\/03\/spikenard-and-saffron\/","title":{"rendered":"Spikenard and Saffron"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

<\/p>

Jill Munro\u2019s Spikenard and Saffron: The Imagery of the Song of Songs (Jsot Supplement Series) <\/a> $\"\"$ is superb. \u00a0Though written originally as a dissertation, Munro has cleared out the apparatus and provided an uncluttered and concise discussion of the Song\u2019s imagery. \u00a0She finds three main, overlapping zones of imagery in the Song \u2013 Courtly, Familial, Natural \u2013 and does a very neat job not only of noting the imagery, but following its development in the Song. <\/p>\n

She notes , for instance, how the bride grows in independence, splendor, and power through the Song. \u00a0She\u2019s being bullied by brothers at the beginning, but by the end she is like a royal city, and even like the sun and moon. \u00a0Through the Song, she grows too into a female counterpart of Solomon, the \u201cShulammite\u201d (7:1) and a \u201cprincely daughter\u201d (7:2). \u00a0Munro is good at noting how imagery clusters together to leave a larger impression. \u00a0The bride is inside, behind walls, behind a veil, while the lover cavorts about the mountains outside. \u00a0She wants to get him in <\/em> ; he invites her out <\/em> . \u00a0Regal imagery, she observes, has different functions with the bride and the lover. \u00a0With the man, \u201cimages of kingship are part of the language of intimacy, blending with scents, wines and oils,\u201d while when linked to the woman the imagery assumes \u201cmilitary and cosmic dimensions, expressing her lover\u2019s admiration but also underlining the qualities that maker her a redoubtable partner.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"