Cohen uses religious motifs, figures and symbols as allegories to relationships between man and woman, man and himself, and man and man.
Seems to me the song is an amalgam of the two interpretations above. In the bible. God himself equates his relationship with the Israelites as that of a married couple, and accuses them of 'cheating' on him, so to speak.
Whether Cohen uses the religious imagery as an allegory for an infidelity within a relationship, or whether that allegory in itself represents man(or a man)'s falling with God, I really can't say.
Cohen uses religious motifs, figures and symbols as allegories to relationships between man and woman, man and himself, and man and man. Seems to me the song is an amalgam of the two interpretations above. In the bible. God himself equates his relationship with the Israelites as that of a married couple, and accuses them of 'cheating' on him, so to speak. Whether Cohen uses the religious imagery as an allegory for an infidelity within a relationship, or whether that allegory in itself represents man(or a man)'s falling with God, I really can't say.