In the year 1572, an intellectual Spainard and Augustine monk by the name of Fray Luis de León was arrested by the Spanish Inquisition and imprisoned for 4 years.
His crime?
Translating into Spanish the Song of Solomon, an erotic poetry book ascribed to King Solomon and his lover. The Song of Solomon, also called the Song of Songs or the Canticle of Canticles, is now considered part of both Jewish and Christian Bibles.
In modern times, Christianity has often shunned this book of the Bible due to its sexual nature. Some prudish theologians have even attempted to spiritualize-away the Song of Solomon’s romance and love and eroticism, portraying it only as “Christ’s love for the Church”. This is more than a small stretch. By all means, physical love and sex are the real theme of this book; all the spiritualizing in the world can’t stifle this reality.
This past week, as a collector of classic Messianic Jewish music, I was pleasantly surprised to get my hands on an un-spiritualized Song of Solomon put to acoustic music on Avner & Rachel Boskey’s 1993 album, Old & New.
Their Song of Solomon medley intertwines beautiful Hebrew and English lyrics together as Avner Boskey sings the part of Lover, Solomon, and Avner's wife Rachel sings the part of Beloved, Solomon’s lover.
For your enjoyment, fine blog readers, the Song of Solomon put to Hebrew and English song by Messianic Jewish couple Avner & Rachel Boskey: