SONG OF SOLOMON
The Hebrew name for the book is “The Song of
Songs,” meaning that it is the best of all songs,
presumably the best of out of the 1005 songs the
Solomon wrote (1 Kgs. 4:32).
There are three main divisions in this book:
1.Before the marriage
2.The marriage itself
3.After the marriage.
Though this is a short book (only 117 verses), it
has a large number of uncommon words. It
contains 470 different Hebrew words (which is
unusually high for this size of book). Of those
words, 47 are unique to the book itself, 51 words
occur in other parts of the Old Testament five
times or less, 45 words occur between six and ten
times, and an additional 27 words occur between
eleven and twenty times. This leaves about 300
common words in the Song of Solomon. What
compounds this problem is that there are only
eighteen verses which include words that are all
familiar to Hebrew experts.
Lloyd Carr notes concerning this point:
In other words, more than one third of the words
in the Song occur so infrequently that there is
little context from which accurate meanings can
be deduced, and two thirds of the verses of the
Song have uncommon words.
Hence, many of the proposals made in the various
translations and commentaries are, at best,
educated guesses; particularly in the case of
those words which are unique to the Song, they
may well be incorrect (Carr, The Song of
Solomon, IVP, p. 41).
Some of the speakers you will see in this song, is
the Bride sometimes called the Beloved or the
Shulammite, The king also called her Beloved,
and a chorus of palace ladies called, Daughters of
Jerusalem and there are a few other people that
are referred to as well.
Song of Solomon 6:8 There are sixty queens And
eighty concubines, And virgins without number.
Proverbs 5:18 Let your fountain be blessed, And
rejoice with the wife of your youth. 19 As a loving
deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy
you at all times; And always be enraptured with
her love.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 Live joyfully with the wife whom
you love all the days of your vain life which He
has given you under the sun,
•The very first verse claims that he wrote it. Song
of Solomon 1:1 The song of songs, which is
Solomon's.
•The writer had an extensive knowledge and love
for nature as used in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
•The writer had an accurate knowledge of the
different places in Israel, which a king would
certainly know well.
•There are couple references to the king and that
the king was Solomon (Song. 1:12; 3:6-11).
•This is the only book of the Bible entirely made
up of speeches, composed mostly of monologues
with practically no dialogue.
•There is a continued appreciation of the beauties
of nature. Vines, vineyards, gardens, and
orchards are mentioned at least twenty times in
the book.
•The name of God is never mentioned in the book.
1. Some view it as drama. Origen (250 A.D.) was
the first to suggest this view and some
commentators think this might be the correct
view.
1.Has definite beginning, middle and end;
2.Has logical progression to the story;
3.Clearly develops a theme and/or characters;
4.Provides technical information for the director,
such as who is speaking and various stage
directions
1.The text of the Song of Solomon must be
radically changed to fit the criteria of a drama.
“Considerable experience in theatrical
productions and direction has persuaded me
that the Song, as it now stands, is unactable. It
would be virtually impossible to stage
effectively without major rewriting, and it lacks
the dramatic impact to hold an audience” (Carr,
The Song of Solomon, IVP, p. 34).
2. The style of drama is unknown to Hebrew
literature.
A second more popular way that people approach
this book is that it is allegory or an extended
metaphor used to teach deeper spiritual message.
After all the O.T. does call Israel God’s wife (Jer.
3:1; Ezek. 16; 31).
After all the church is called the bride of Christ
(Mt. 9:15; Jn. 3:29; Eph. 5:23).
1. It strains the text. The book is too physically intimate to
assume that it depicts Christ and the church’s
relationship. Even though Eph. 5:23ff talks about “the
bride of Christ” this book is simply too much on the
intimate side to mean this in my opinion.
2. The book is never alluded to in the New Testament let
alone applied to the church. It just seems logical if it
was talking about the relationship of Jesus and His
church that at least one inspired writer would have
referred to it as being such.
3. Works that are allegorical usually give some indication
or hint that they are allegories (cf. G. Lloyd Carr, The
Song of Solomon, IVP, p. 23) but The Song of Solomon
gives no indication that an allegory is being made.
The third approach to this book is the literal
didactic moral view.
Walter notes:
“The book then was intended as a commentary on
Genesis 2:24 and a manual on the blessing and
reward of intimate married love once Yahweh had
lit the flame and given the capability of
enjoyment” (Walter C. Kaiser,Toward an Old
Testament Theology, Zondervan, 1978, p. 180).
Also notice Carr said about this:
“A frequent Old Testament term for the sexual
union of a man and a woman is the verb ‘know’
(e.g., Gen. 4:1, etc.). It is worthy to note that the
most intimate knowledge of another person is not
on the basis of intellectual exchange or the
discussion of theological ideas, but in the
intimate, sexual union of male and female. In this
light it should not be considered obscene that at
least one book of the Bible be dedicated to the
celebration of one of the central realities of our
creature hood. The song does celebrate the
dignity and purity of human love. This is a fact
that has not always been sufficiently stressed.
The Song, therefore, is didactic and moral in its
purpose. It comes to us in this world of sin, where
lust and passion are on every hand, where fierce
temptations assail us and try to turn us aside
from the God- given standard of marriage. And it
reminds us, in particularly
beautiful fashion, how pure and noble true love
is.” (Carr, The Song of Solomon, IVP, p. 34).
1 Corinthians 7:1 Now concerning the things of which
you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a
woman. 2 Nevertheless, because of sexual
immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let
each woman have her own husband. 3 Let the
husband render to his wife the affection due her, and
likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife
does not have authority over her own body, but the
husband does. And likewise the husband does not
have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for
a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and
prayer; and come together again so that Satan does
not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honorable among all,
and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and
adulterers God will judge.
Song of Solomon 8:4 I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem, Do not stir up nor awaken love Until it
pleases.
Chapter 1 The Bride’s love for the King. Mostly
words of her own devotion, with brief replies by
the King and Chorus.
Chapter 2 The Bride’s delight in the King’s love.
Mostly her own words spoken to herself about the
King’s embraces.
Chapter 3: 1-5 The Bride’s dream of her lover’s
disappearance, and her joy of finding him again.
Chapter 3: 6-11 The Bridal procession. Greetings,
in the palace garden, of the nuptial chariot, and
by the palace ladies.
Chapter 4 The King adores his bride. She replies,
inviting him to her garden of martial delights.
Chapter 5 Another dream of her lover’s
disappearance, following their nuptial union; and
her devotion to him.
Chapter 6 The Shulammite is recognized by the
king and the 140 beauties of the palace as being
the loveliest among them.
Chapter 7 Their mutual devotion, told each to the
other in a profusion of spring-song metaphors.
Chapter 8 The love unquenchable, and their union
indissoluble; words partly from bride and partly
from the chorus.
Song of Solomon 4:1 Behold, you are fair, my
love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove's eyes
behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats,
Going down from Mount Gilead. 2 Your teeth are
like a flock of shorn sheep Which have come up
from the washing, Every one of which bears
twins, And none is barren among them. 3 Your
lips are like a strand of scarlet, And your mouth is
lovely. Your temples behind your veil Are like a
piece of pomegranate. 4 Your neck is like the
tower of David, Built for an armory, On which
hang a thousand bucklers, All shields of mighty
men. 5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle, Which feed among the lilies.
6 Until the day breaks And the shadows flee
away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh
And to the hill of frankincense. 7 You are all fair,
my love, And there is no spot in you. 8 Come with
me from Lebanon, my spouse, With me from
Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, From the
top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions' dens,
From the mountains of the leopards. 9 You have
ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse; You
have ravished my heart With one look of your
eyes, With one link of your necklace. 10 How fair
is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much
better than wine is your love, And the scent of
your perfumes Than all spices!
11 Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the
honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your
tongue; And the fragrance of your garments Is
like the fragrance of Lebanon. 12 A garden
enclosed Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut
up, A fountain sealed. 13 Your plants are an
orchard of pomegranates With pleasant fruits,
Fragrant henna with spikenard, 14 Spikenard
and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, With all
trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, With all
the chief spices -- 15 A fountain of gardens, A
well of living waters, And streams from Lebanon.
Song of Solomon 5:10 My beloved is white and
ruddy, Chief among ten thousand. 11 His head is
like the finest gold; His locks are wavy, And black
as a raven. 12 His eyes are like doves By the
rivers of waters, Washed with milk, And fitly set.
13 His cheeks are like a bed of spices, Banks of
scented herbs. His lips are lilies, Dripping liquid
myrrh. 14 His hands are rods of gold Set with
beryl. His body is carved ivory Inlaid with
sapphires. 15 His legs are pillars of marble Set on
bases of fine gold. His countenance is like
Lebanon, Excellent as the cedars. 16 His mouth is
most sweet, Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is
my beloved, And this is my friend, O daughters of
Jerusalem!