the account was understood in terms of the Lord’s relationship with Israel. As the prophet Hosea (chs. 1–3) used his own unhappy marital situation to illustrate the spiritual fornication (idolatry) that Israel committed by turning to worship the Canaanite god Baal, so it was an easy step from there to reading the Song of Solomon in a similar fashion: the beloved is Israel, the lover is the Lord, and the Song recounts the loving relationship which ideally exists between the nation and her God. Some
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