Song of Solomon
About Song of Songs
 Also called the “Song of songs”
 A 22nd book of the Old Testament.
 A collection of love poetry
 A series of lyrical dialogue between a young woman and her lover
 The original Hebrew version of the book took its title from the book’s
first two words, shiyr hashiyrim, usually translated as “the song of songs.”
The repetition of the word song indicates that the writer considered this
“the greatest of all songs.”
 The title of the book eventually took on King Solomon’s name
because of the mention of his name throughout the book (1:5 ; 3:7,
9,11 ; 8:11–12)
 Solomon wrote the book during his reign as king of Israel between
971 and 931 BC
Song of Songs’ Schema
by from Kugler & al
 Introduction (1:1–6)
 Dialogue between the lovers (1:7–2:7)
 The woman recalls a visit from her lover (2:8–17)
 The woman addresses the daughters of Zion (3:1–5)
 Sighting a royal wedding procession (3:6–11)
 The man describes his lover's beauty (4:1–5:1)
 The woman addresses the daughters of Jerusalem (5:2–6:4)
 The man describes his lover, who visits him (6:5–12)
 Observers describe the woman's beauty (6:13–8:4)
 Appendix (8:5–14)
 love and longing
 adoration, satisfaction, delight, and sexual desire
 From courtship to marriage to the assurance of love ending
up to valuing marriage.
“Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor will rivers overflow it;
If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love,
It would be utterly despised.” (So 8:7)