Song of Songs as political satire and emotional refuge: Subverting Solomon’s gilded regime

Abstract

This article proposes a viable reading of Song of Songs as historicized allegory and political satire. In this view, the Song co-opts royal imagery from Solomon’s past golden age to elevate the consummate value of an ordinary ‘country’ couple’s exuberant, mutual love as a model for flourishing, postexilic life. Put another way, this love ‘anthem’ extols ‘emotional refuge’ from exploitative monarchical rule, domestic or foreign. The argument is grounded in close analysis of Song 1-3 and 8.11-12 interlaced with biblical legal, historical, and prophetic critiques of Solomonic pride and greed, and informed by theoretical frameworks on politics, music, and emotion.