Texts in Conversation
In the Song of Solomon, milk and honey are used as images of love and pleasure, similar to Sumerian poems like the Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi, where milk represents fertility and desire. This similarity shows how the poet used familiar ancient Near Eastern traditions about romance and sexuality.
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The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi
Inanna Prefers the Farmer
Ancient Near East
Inanna sang: “Make your milk sweet and thick, my bridegroom. My shepherd, I will drink your fresh milk. Wild bull Dumuzi, make your milk sweet and thick. I will drink your fresh milk. Let the milk of the goat flow in my sheepfold. Fill my holy churn with honey cheese. Lord Dumuzi, I will drink your fresh milk. My husband, I will guard my sheepfold for you. I will watch over your house of life, the storehouse, the shining quivering place which delights Sumer—the house which decides the fates of the land, the house which gives the breath of life to the people. I, the queen of the palace, will watch over your house.”
Date: 1900 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Song of Solomon 5:1
Song of Songs
Hebrew Bible
1 The Lover to His Beloved: I have entered my garden, O my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk! The Poet to the Couple: Eat, friends, and drink! Drink freely, O lovers! 2 The Beloved about Her Lover: I was asleep, but my mind was dreaming. Listen! My lover is knocking at the door! The Lover to His Beloved: “Open for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one! My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” 3 The Beloved to Her Lover:“I have already taken off my robe—must I put it on again? I have already washed my feet—must I soil them again?”
Date: 3rd Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The subtext is clear: the land flowing with milk and honey has been defiled; both products have become harbingers, not of promise and life, but of betrayal and death; fruitfulness gives way to corruption, nightmare comes in place of dream ... moreover, he may be making an oblique reference to Canaanite cultic practice. Driver relates that the Phoenicians honoured standing stones with libations of milk and honey. Milk and honey are among the gifts that the Sumerian deity Enlil offers for his bride Ninlil and they feature together as erotic metaphors in the important Sumerian composition ‘The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi’. The goddess Inanna-Ishtar sings of Dumuzi-Tammuz, her shepherd-king suitor ... They figure too as erotic metaphors in Song of Solomon 4:11 and 5:1 ..."
Baker, Robin
Hollow Men, Strange Women: Riddles, Codes, and Otherness in the Book of Judges
(p. 24) Brill, 2016
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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