Over the years, scholars have offered various intriguing interpretations of these love songs. While some believe that the relationship between the two lovers signifies the relationship between God and humans, others believe it symbolizes the relationship between Christ and the church. Consequently, we can speculate that in Morrison's Song of Solomon, "Song" signifies the relationship between African Americans and their African ancestors. We can also speculate that the character of Pilate, repeatedly referred to as the "singing woman," is based on the biblical character of the Shulamite woman.
Scholars also argue that the term "lovers" can be translated as "friends" or "companions." Citing a passage in one edition in which the bride expresses a desire that her lover were "as my brother," they point out that the lovers, figuratively, are siblings. They also note that Song of Songs fulfills two functions: It conveys the lovers' emotions and critiques these emotions' meaning and value. Thus we can begin to draw significant parallels between the lovers in the Bible and the friends — Guitar and Milkman — in Morrison's novel.
Readers especially familiar with 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles, which focus on the history of King Solomon and his relationship with the queen of Sheba, will discover numerous other connections between the novel and these biblical texts. For example, in the novel, Pilate is depicted as a sheltering cedar tree, the same type of tree used to build Solomon's temples. Both Sheba, the "queen of the South," and Pilate, the "queen" of Southside, challenge the wisdom of the men — Solomon and Macon, respectively — who have established themselves as rulers of their respective kingdoms. Solomon and Macon suffer from a loss of spiritual faith: Both place excessive emphasis on property and material wealth, and both are noted for their sexual philandering. In fact, although sections of the Bible and Song of Solomon focus on the exploits and accomplishments of these two men, it is the two women — Sheba and Pilate — who wield the true power. Historians note that Sheba's material wealth and power far surpassed Solomon's, just as Pilate's spiritual wealth and power exceed Macon's.
