Texts in Conversation
Song of Songs 3 describes the search for the one whom the speaker’s soul loves. The Apocalypse of Abraham echoes this language in a song addressed to God, turning the longing for a beloved into Abraham’s response to the God he has sought.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Song of Solomon 3:1
Song of Songs
Hebrew Bible
1 The Beloved about Her Lover: All night long on my bed I longed for my lover. I longed for him, but he never appeared. 2 “I will arise and look all around throughout the town, and throughout the streets and squares; I will search for my beloved.” I searched for him, but I did not find him. 3 The night watchmen found me—the ones who guard the city walls. “Have you seen my beloved?” 4 Scarcely had I passed them by when I found my beloved! I held onto him tightly and would not let him go until I brought him to my mother’s house, to the bedroom chamber of the one who conceived me. 5 The Beloved to the Maidens: I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields: “Do not awaken or arouse love until it pleases!”
Apocalypse of Abraham 17:14
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
8 Eternal, mighty. Holy, El, God only — Supreme! 9 You who are self-originated, incorruptible, spotless, Uncreate, immaculate, immortal, 10 Self-complete, self-illuminating; Without father, without mother, unbegotten, 11 Exalted, fiery One! 12 Lover of men, benevolent, bountiful, jealous over me and very compassionate; 13 Eli, that is, My God-Eternal, mighty holy Sabaoth, very glorious. El, El, El, El, Jaoel! 14 You are He whom my soul has loved! Eternal Protector, 15 shining like fire, Whose voice is like the thunder, Whose look is like the lightning, all-seeing, 16 Who receives the prayers of such as honour You! [And turns away from the requests of such as embarrass with the embarrassment of their provocations, 17 Who dissolves the confusions of the world which arise from the ungodly and righteous in the corruptible age, renewing the age of the righteous!]
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Notes and References
“... 17:14. You are he whom my soul has loved, the Guardian Cf. “he whom my soul has loved” in Song
of Sol. 1:7; 3:1–4. The prototext might also have contained “You are he whom I have loved, the
guardian of my soul.” Cf. Ps. 97:10; also Ps. 25:20, 86:2, etc. ...”
Kulik, Alexander
"Apocalypse of Abraham" in Louis H. Feldman, James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman (eds.) Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture
(p. 1467) The Jewish Publication Society, 2013
* 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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