Reading Questions 15

Required: Song of Songs, Egyptian Love Poetry (AEL), Akkadian love poems (ALL)

1. What are three ways that the Song of Songs is similar to a wisdom tale?
2. If Song of Songs is like a wisdom tale, what do you think its moral is?
3. The Egyptian love poems are from the New Kingdom period—the 1400s to 1000s BCE. What are three ways these poems remind you of the Song of Songs?
4. Do the Egyptian poems seem like they are addressing any of the wisdom questions? If so, how?
5. The Akkadian love poems are from the second and third millennium BCE. What are three ways these poems remind you of the Song of Songs?
6. Do the Akkadian poems seem like they are addressing any of the wisdom questions? If so, how?
7. What’s your initial reaction—is the Song of Songs wisdom literature, or not?