Ishmael or Akiva
“Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle which feed among the lilies.” Song of Songs 4:5 NASB
Breasts – We have been investigating the perspective of two important rabbis regarding the essence of the Torah. Rabbi Akiva treats the Torah as a kind of spiritual map to deeper understanding, encouraging us to plumb the depths of God’s secrets in the text. Rabbi Ishmael viewed the Torah as human instructions, not as a hidden path into God’s transcendent nature. These men proposed two very different ways of reading the text. Their influence shapes modern Jewish approaches to the Tanakh. When Heschel writes, “The Akivan teaching on the giving of the Torah makes no distinctions based on history; it cannot differentiate between earlier and later strata. The giving of the Torah is beyond time and perhaps even transcends human space,”[1] he helps us see just how much Jewish exegesis is a product of Akiva’s thinking. In my mind, there is no better example of this perspective than the exegesis of the Song of Songs.
Take this verse in chapter four. What does it say? On the surface it appears to be nothing more than the lover’s declaration of the physical beauty of his beloved. He is enraptured by her exquisite shape. But this isn’t how the verse (and the entire poem) is treated exegetically. Notice the conversion of this physical statement into something more “spiritual.”
“Thus the fawns symbolize the spiritual Beloved, who has become part of this ‘lily of the valleys’—the seeking soul (Ibn Aqnin).”[2]
“Crucial to the ongoing beauty of Israel is the spiritual nurture of future generations. Her cultural body includes two fundamental sources of such sustenance: Torah and Tradition, as transmitted and interpreted by teachers. Moses and Aaron are exemplary: each ‘filled Israel’ from these sacred fonts. Just as breasts sustain a suckling with milk; . . these men sustained Israel with the teachings of Torah.”[3]
Apparently the poet really meant to say that Israel’s two breasts are Moses and Aaron, Torah and Tradition. Ah, if we only had the spiritual imagination to see the text properly we would never think that the woman who wrote this poetry was only occupied with physical things.
As you can imagine, Song of Songs must be replanted and harvested anew with spiritual fruit not visible to the ordinary eye. A full exegetical interpretation of this poem removes all its feigned sexual content, replacing the plain meaning of the text with religiously correct secrets. And, by the way, Christian commentators followed the same Akivan path, merely replacing characters in the Tanakh with the disciples and the Christ. Heschel’s point is well-taken. If I choose to follow Akiva, all Scripture is independent of historical considerations. I can use a passage from Isaiah to support an idea in Genesis, or a proof text from 1 John to interpret a text in Ezekiel. There is no progression in revelation. It all comes directly from God and is of one piece, without human development. Psalms is just as valid a source for Trinitarian conclusions as Galatians, or Song of Songs for the place of Torah.
You will have to decide. You can’t simply ignore the two paths set by these men. You will be on one or the other (or perhaps you thought you could just jump back and forth as the separation between them widens). Jew or Christian, you will have to decide what this book, the Bible, really is—a secret code sent from God or a record of human beings’ encounter with the divine.
Topical Index: Bible, Torah, exegesis, Song of Songs 4:5
Tomorrow is my birthday. I’ll have a nice restful Shabbat and think about all the ways God has blessed me in this last year. Thank you for joining my journey.
[1] Abraham Heschel, Heavenly Torah as Refracted through the Generations, p. 59.
[2] Michael Fishbane, The JPS Bible Commentary: Song of Songs (JPS, 2015), p. 110.
[3] Ibid.
KITCHEN NOTE: Rosanne posted a new recipe. Check it out.
