Song of Solomon
Book Outhne
Key theme: The wonders of true love
Key verses: ;
I. Anticipation: The Courtship ()
A. True love is like a banquet ()
B. True love is like an adventure in the country ()
C. True love brings dreams of the one you love ()
II. Consummation: The Wedding ()
A. Claiming the bride ()
B. Extolling her beauty ()
C. Consummating the marriage ()
III. Celebration: The Marriage ()
A. The quest for her husband ()
B. The beauty of her husband ()
C. Their meeting in the garden ()
D. Their expression of mutual love ()
E. Their pledge of unending love ()
Book Overview
Jewish tradition and most evangelical scholarship both assign this book to King Solomon although some students believe an anonymous author wrote the book but assumed the persona of Solomon. This seems strange when the young maid of Shulam does most of the speaking. The book is about love and marriage, and during the week of a Jewish marriage celebration, the bride and groom are treated like a king and queen.
Unlike modern novels, the Song of Songs doesn’t present an obvious story line, but it seems to have a definite plot, which we discover as we read the book carefully. The cast of characters is small: King Solomon; the maid of Shulam (Hebrew, shulammith, a feminine form of the name Solomon—shelomoh) who becomes his wife; the young woman’s brothers (, ; , ); and “the young women of Jerusalem,” who function as a background chorus. The bride does most of the speaking in the book.
Whatever Solomon was, had, or did, Jesus far surpassed him, for He is indeed “greater than Solomon” (). Solomon was known for his great wisdom (; ), but Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God (), and in Him all of God’s wisdom dwells (). Solomon was also known for his wealth (), but in Jesus Christ there are “unsearchable riches” (; see ). Solomon disobeyed God and married many wives, but Jesus obeyed the Father and died on the cross that He might have a spotless bride for all eternity (; , .). The relationship described between Solomon and the young woman can picture to us the love between Christ and His bride—when Jesus returns and takes His people to heaven, the bride will become His wife. Solomon built a temple that was ultimately destroyed, but Jesus is building His temple, the church (), and she will glorify Him forever (.).
“Be Transformed”
This book has a great deal to teach us about God’s gift to men and women of the pleasures of love and sex. But it also presents the divine standards God has set for marriage, illustrating the joyful privileges, sensuous freedom, and serious obligations husbands and wives have toward God and each other (see ; ; ). The Jews called the Song of Solomon “the Most Holy Place” of Scripture and wouldn’t allow it to be read by the young and immature. In today’s world, with the emphasis on the sensual pleasures of indiscriminate lust and not on the pure pleasures of sex in marriage, our young people could use a good course based on the Song of Solomon.
All nature is God’s gift to us and should be used for His glory, including human nature and the wonderful gift of sexuality. When a husband and wife have a beautiful and holy relationship, their whole world becomes beautiful and holy. Without dodging reality or defiling God’s gifts, the Song of Solomon deals quite frankly with human sexuality and shows how it can be sanctified and used for God’s glory. The book is a collection of metaphors and similes and uses these literary devices and others to picture the wonder and glory of divine and human love. Marriages of all ages can find refreshment and food for thought and action in the chapters of the Song of Solomon.
The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
The Banquet
The Shulamite
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
For your love is better than wine.
3Because of the fragrance of your good ointments,
Your name is ointment poured forth;
Therefore the virgins love you.
Draw me away!
The Daughters of Jerusalem
We will run after you.
The Shulamite
The king has brought me into his chambers.
The Daughters of Jerusalem
We will be glad and rejoice in you.
We will remember your love more than wine.
The Shulamite
Rightly do they love you.
I am dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
Like the tents of Kedar,
Like the curtains of Solomon.
6Do not look upon me, because I am dark,
Because the sun has tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me the keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I have not kept.
(To Her Beloved)
7Tell me, O you whom I love,
Where you feed your flock,
Where you make it rest at noon.
For why should I be as one who veils herself
By the flocks of your companions?
The Beloved
8If you do not know, O fairest among women,
Follow in the footsteps of the flock,
And feed your little goats
Beside the shepherds’ tents.
I have compared you, my love,
To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
Your neck with chains of gold.
The Daughters of Jerusalem
We will make you ornaments of gold
With studs of silver.
The Shulamite
12While the king is at his table,
My spikenard sends forth its fragrance.
A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me,
That lies all night between my breasts.
14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blooms
In the vineyards of En Gedi.
The Beloved
15Behold, you are fair, my love!
Behold, you are fair!
You have dove’s eyes.
The Shulamite
16Behold, you are handsome, my beloved!
Yes, pleasant!
Also our bed is green.
17The beams of our houses are cedar,
And our rafters of fir.
I am the rose of Sharon,
And the lily of the valleys.
The Beloved
2Like a lily among thorns,
So is my love among the daughters.
The Shulamite
Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down in his shade with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
The Shulamite to the Daughters of Jerusalem
4He brought me to the banqueting house,
And his banner over me was love.
5Sustain me with cakes of raisins,
Refresh me with apples,
For I am lovesick.
6His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
7I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
The Beloved’s Request
The Shulamite
The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.
9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Behold, he stands behind our wall;
He is looking through the windows,
Gazing through the lattice.
My beloved spoke, and said to me:
“Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.
11For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
12The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth her green figs,
And the vines with the tender grapes
Give a good smell.
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away!
“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret places of the cliff,
Let me see your face,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your face is lovely.”
Her Brothers
Catch us the foxes,
The little foxes that spoil the vines,
For our vines have tender grapes.
The Shulamite
16My beloved is mine, and I am his.
He feeds his flock among the lilies.
(To Her Beloved)
17Until the day breaks
And the shadows flee away,
Turn, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle
Or a young stag
Upon the mountains of Bether.
A Troubled Night
The Shulamite
By night on my bed I sought the one I love;
I sought him, but I did not find him.
2“I will rise now,” I said,
“And go about the city;
In the streets and in the squares
I will seek the one I love.”
I sought him, but I did not find him.
3The watchmen who go about the city found me;
I said,
“Have you seen the one I love?”
4Scarcely had I passed by them,
When I found the one I love.
I held him and would not let him go,
Until I had brought him to the house of my mother,
And into the chamber of her who conceived me.
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
The Coming of Solomon
The Shulamite
Who is this coming out of the wilderness
Like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all the merchant’s fragrant powders?
7Behold, it is Solomon’s couch,
With sixty valiant men around it,
Of the valiant of Israel.
8They all hold swords,
Being expert in war.
Every man has his sword on his thigh
Because of fear in the night.
9Of the wood of Lebanon
Solomon the King
Made himself a palanquin:
10He made its pillars of silver,
Its support of gold,
Its seat of purple,
Its interior paved with love
By the daughters of Jerusalem.
11Go forth, O daughters of Zion,
And see King Solomon with the crown
With which his mother crowned him
On the day of his wedding,
The day of the gladness of his heart.
The Bridegroom Praises the Bride
The Beloved
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.
2Your 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.
3Your lips are like a strand of scarlet,
And your mouth is lovely.
Your temples behind your veil
Are like a piece of pomegranate.
4Your neck is like the tower of David,
Built for an armory,
On which hang a thousand bucklers,
All shields of mighty men.
5Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle,
Which feed among the lilies.
6Until the day breaks
And the shadows flee away,
I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh
And to the hill of frankincense.
7You are all fair, my love,
And there is no spot in you.
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.
9You 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.
10How 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!
11Your 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.
A garden enclosed
Is my sister, my spouse,
A spring shut up,
A fountain sealed.
13Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
With pleasant fruits,
Fragrant henna with spikenard,
14Spikenard and saffron,
Calamus and cinnamon,
With all trees of frankincense,
Myrrh and aloes,
With all the chief spices—
A fountain of gardens,
A well of living waters,
And streams from Lebanon.
The Shulamite
Awake, O north wind,
And come, O south!
Blow upon my garden,
That its spices may flow out.
Let my beloved come to his garden
And eat its pleasant fruits.
The Beloved
I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
(To His Friends)
Eat, O friends!
Drink, yes, drink deeply,
O beloved ones!
The Shulamite’s Troubled Evening
The Shulamite
I sleep, but my heart is awake;
It is the voice of my beloved!
He knocks, saying,
“Open for me, my sister, my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is covered with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night.”
3I have taken off my robe;
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet;
How can I defile them?
4My beloved put his hand
By the latch of the door,
And my heart yearned for him.
5I arose to open for my beloved,
And my hands dripped with myrrh,
My fingers with liquid myrrh,
On the handles of the lock.
I opened for my beloved,
But my beloved had turned away and was gone.
My heart leaped up when he spoke.
I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7The watchmen who went about the city found me.
They struck me, they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls
Took my veil away from me.
8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
That you tell him I am lovesick!
The Daughters of Jerusalem
9What is your beloved
More than another beloved,
O fairest among women?
What is your beloved
More than another beloved,
That you so charge us?
The Shulamite
My beloved is white and ruddy,
Chief among ten thousand.
His head is like the finest gold;
His locks are wavy,
And black as a raven.
12His eyes are like doves
By the rivers of waters,
Washed with milk,
And fitly set.
13His cheeks are like a bed of spices,
Banks of scented herbs.
His lips are lilies,
Dripping liquid myrrh.
14His hands are rods of gold
Set with beryl.
His body is carved ivory
Inlaid with sapphires.
15His legs are pillars of marble
Set on bases of fine gold.
His countenance is like Lebanon,
Excellent as the cedars.
16His mouth is most sweet,
Yes, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved,
And this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem!
The Daughters of Jerusalem
Where has your beloved gone,
O fairest among women?
Where has your beloved turned aside,
That we may seek him with you?
The Shulamite
2My beloved has gone to his garden,
To the beds of spices,
To feed his flock in the gardens,
And to gather lilies.
3I am my beloved’s,
And my beloved is mine.
He feeds his flock among the lilies.
Praise of the Shulamite’s Beauty
The Beloved
O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,
Lovely as Jerusalem,
Awesome as an army with banners!
5Turn your eyes away from me,
For they have overcome me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
Going down from Gilead.
6Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
Which have come up from the washing;
Every one bears twins,
And none is barren among them.
7Like a piece of pomegranate
Are your temples behind your veil.
There are sixty queens
And eighty concubines,
And virgins without number.
9My dove, my perfect one,
Is the only one,
The only one of her mother,
The favorite of the one who bore her.
The daughters saw her
And called her blessed,
The queens and the concubines,
And they praised her.
Who is she who looks forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
Awesome as an army with banners?
The Shulamite
11I went down to the garden of nuts
To see the verdure of the valley,
To see whether the vine had budded
And the pomegranates had bloomed.
12Before I was even aware,
My soul had made me
As the chariots of my noble people.
The Beloved and His Friends
13Return, return, O Shulamite;
Return, return, that we may look upon you!
The Shulamite
What would you see in the Shulamite—
As it were, the dance of the two camps?
Expressions of Praise
The Beloved
1How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O prince’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
The work of the hands of a skillful workman.
Your navel is a rounded goblet;
It lacks no blended beverage.
Your waist is a heap of wheat
Set about with lilies.
3Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is like an ivory tower,
Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
Which looks toward Damascus.
5Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,
And the hair of your head is like purple;
A king is held captive by your tresses.
How fair and how pleasant you are,
O love, with your delights!
7This stature of yours is like a palm tree,
And your breasts like its clusters.
8I said, “I will go up to the palm tree,
I will take hold of its branches.”
Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
The fragrance of your breath like apples,
9And the roof of your mouth like the best wine.
The Shulamite
The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved,
Moving gently the lips of sleepers.
I am my beloved’s,
And his desire is toward me.
Come, my beloved,
Let us go forth to the field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
12Let us get up early to the vineyards;
Let us see if the vine has budded,
Whether the grape blossoms are open,
And the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
The mandrakes give off a fragrance,
And at our gates are pleasant fruits,
All manner, new and old,
Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.
Oh, that you were like my brother,
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I should find you outside,
I would kiss you;
I would not be despised.
2I would lead you and bring you
Into the house of my mother,
She who used to instruct me.
I would cause you to drink of spiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.
(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)
3His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
4I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
Love Renewed in Lebanon
A Relative
Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
I awakened you under the apple tree.
There your mother brought you forth;
There she who bore you brought you forth.
The Shulamite to Her Beloved
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy as cruel as the grave;
Its flames are flames of fire,
A most vehement flame.
7Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.
The Shulamite’s Brothers
We have a little sister,
And she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she is spoken for?
9If she is a wall,
We will build upon her
A battlement of silver;
And if she is a door,
We will enclose her
With boards of cedar.
The Shulamite
10I am a wall,
And my breasts like towers;
Then I became in his eyes
As one who found peace.
11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;
He leased the vineyard to keepers;
Everyone was to bring for its fruit
A thousand silver coins.
(To Solomon)
12My own vineyard is before me.
You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,
And those who tend its fruit two hundred.
The Beloved
You who dwell in the gardens,
The companions listen for your voice—
Let me hear it!
The Shulamite
14Make haste, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle
Or a young stag
On the mountains of spices.
Annotations for Song of Solomon
With no explanation of who she is or what wonderful things have happened to her, the maid of Shulam (see , ) launches into a glowing preface of the song. In a sense, this young bride is introducing herself as Solomon’s song. She is experiencing that sense of worth, beauty, and meaning that rise in any of us when we realize we are truly loved.
The woman yearns for expressions of his love (kisses, ) and confesses that his love is better than wine. The effects of wine are shallow and temporary, but the enrichment that comes from true love is deep and lasting.
The women of Jerusalem approve the woman’s choice and her decision to go with him. Four parties are involved in marriage: the bride, the groom, society, and the Lord. Other people don’t choose our mates for us, but the approval of godly friends is a great encouragement. The women express their approval of the king.
, The woman had been tanned by the hot Eastern sun as she worked for her brothers in the vineyard. She had kept their vineyards but had neglected to care for her own vineyard—herself. The tents of Kedar were made out of the hair of black goats, and she felt that she looked just like them.
Solomon would have none of her confessions of unworthiness and ugliness! He extols her beauty and calls her “my darling” (see v. ; , , ; , ; ; ). Love sees and appreciates the best in another.
Today, if a man were to compare his wife or girlfriend to a female horse (“filly”), he would probably be in trouble, but the lovely young woman knew what Solomon meant. Solomon was only saying, “You are unique—one among many, precious, and very special.”
Solomon admired the way the young woman’s beauty was enhanced by his gifts of special jewelry. The formalities of human love in their purest form parallel the love relationship between Christ and His church. Our Lord Jesus is today using His Word to beautify His bride (, ), and as we obey Him, we are preparing ourselves for the great heavenly wedding ().
The beloved wears perfume that attracts her lover; in fact, she sees him as a “bundle of myrrh” over her heart and as a cluster of beautiful flowers from the rich oasis of En Gedi. He responds by telling her she is beautiful, especially her eyes. As we see throughout the Song of Solomon, the language of intimacy doesn’t always make sense to outsiders, but it is precious to those for whom it is meant.
Here the woman lapses back into abasing herself, for she compares herself to “the rose of Sharon,” which abounds in the plain of Sharon.
The woman responds by comparing her lover to a beautiful apple tree in an orchard, under which she could sit down and find protection from the sun () and fruit for her sustenance. She calls him the “finest” tree in the orchard, so she is saying that he is one in a million.
True love is like an adventure in the country. After the banquet (vv. ), the king left the scene, and we assume that his courtiers escorted the young woman safely home. She went back to her normal life, but her eyes and ears were always open as she anticipated his return. Then it happened! One day as she was in her room, she heard his voice and saw him coming toward her like a beautiful gazelle or a noble stag, bounding across every barrier that stood between him and his beloved. He stopped at the wall that protected the house and looked at her through the lattice window.
Then the king spoke to the woman and twice invited her to “rise up” (vv. , ). This invitation will be repeated in , and the young woman herself will extend this invitation to her lover (; ).
“Come away” is a great word of the gospel of God’s grace. It is God’s loving invitation to the weary who need rest (), the sin-stained who need cleansing (), the hungry who need nourishment (), and all who thirst for the water of life (). But “come” is also His invitation to His own people: “Come and see” (); “Come to Me and drink” (, ); “Come and eat breakfast” (). In this text, the king invited his beloved to leave her home and her work and go with him to enjoy an adventure in the country.
Love is not only a banquet of delights, it is also an adventure. To thrive, love must include spontaneous expressions of affection. It was the early springtime, and the rains had stopped. The flowers were blooming, the birds were singing, and the trees and vines were sprouting. New life was abounding everywhere. But it seems that the king’s beloved would rather stay home, in the place of security, like a dove “in the clefts of the rock” on the mountainside. He wanted to hear her voice and see her face, but she preferred to stay quietly at home. To grow in their love for each other, they needed to be together and have different experiences in different places. This is how we learn more about ourselves and our potential mates. But this principle also applies to our love for the Lord. We must go with Him into new and challenging experiences that will deepen our love and strengthen our faith.
The “little foxes” represent those things that quietly destroy relationships. Foxes get into vineyards to feed on the grapes, and the keepers must prop up the branches so the foxes can’t reach them. The fruit of the couple’s relationship was still tender and needed to be both protected and encouraged. But she makes it clear that her hesitation doesn’t alter her relationship with her lover because they belong to each other, and she knows where he is and what he’s doing (v. ).
A person in love often dreams of his or her loved one. Here, we read that the beloved goes to bed and has a dream about her lover. After all, she had refused an invitation to spend time with him, so perhaps her conscience was bothering her. In her dream, she left the security of her home and searched, at night, for him in the city. The watchmen couldn’t help her, but she persisted and eventually found him and wouldn’t let him go. She wanted to get married, so she brought her love to her mother’s house and into the very room where she herself had been conceived. Isaac had brought his wife, Rebekah, into his mother’s tent and there consummated their marriage ().
At some point in this dream, or perhaps the next day, the woman gave her usual admonition to the daughters of Jerusalem to let God direct their lives and not run ahead of His will—even in their dreams!
The glorious procession appears on the horizon. It is Solomon being carried in his richly decorated “couch” (a palanquin—a covered seat carried by means of poles resting on the shoulders of several men), surrounded by sixty of his bravest soldiers, with a cloud of fragrant incense above him. He wears a wedding crown given to him by his mother. The bride gets excited and sings to the young women of Jerusalem, “Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon.” The bride has her attendants, the king has joy in his heart, and the time has finally come for the wedding to take place. Today’s Christians would see in this a reminder of the coming of the King of kings to claim His bride, the church.
In modern marriages, the bride is the center of attention, and “What did the bride wear?” is the big question. But the king is more concerned with his bride’s beauty than with her attire. He has claimed her for himself, and it is now their wedding night. She will lay aside her veil as a symbol that she belongs to him and she has nothing to hide.
Doves’ eyes would reflect peace and depth. The bride’s teeth are clean, even, and beautiful. Remember that ancient peoples didn’t quite understand dental hygiene, so this is an admirable trait. Healthy teeth would also affect her breath (). She has a queenly neck and a posture that exudes control, power, and stability. She is a tower of strength! The “mountain of myrrh” and “hill of frankincense” refer to her breasts, which he will enjoy all night until the dawn breaks, and she will also enjoy his expressions of love.
Consummating the marriage: Beginning in verse , six times the king calls the woman his “bride.” After the marriage is consummated, she is no longer a bride but a wife. They are enjoying a “mountaintop experience” as they share their love (v. ), and he tells her how beautiful she is. “Your love” in verse refers to her words and actions and not just her feelings. It could be translated “love-making.”
The king rejoices that his bride is a virgin—“a garden enclosed,” my treasure, my bride, a “spring shut up,” “a fountain sealed.” This is another evidence that the Lord wants both the man and the woman to stay sexually pure.
Conjugal love is pictured in terms of satisfying thirst (see ) and exploring a beautiful and fruitful garden that never grows old. The bride is the garden, and the bridegroom is like the gardener who can rest in and enjoy the fruits of his garden.
The bride prays that the winds of life will make her even more beautiful and desirable. We may not appreciate the north wind, but even it can help us mature in our love. With this lovely preparation completed, the bride is now ready, and she invites her husband to come into his garden and drink the living water and eat the nourishing fruits. He accepts her loving invitation and then says, “I have come to my garden” (). They had feasted at the beginning of their relationship (), but it was nothing like this! They now had truly tasted the fruits and enjoyed the wine, milk, honey, and fragrant spices.
The command is attributed to the young women of Jerusalem, but it has also been suggested that this may be God speaking to the couple and through them encouraging all married couples to enjoy the blessings of married love, for He created sex for pleasure as well as for procreation.
During the week following a Jewish wedding, family and friends would treat the newlyweds like royalty. Modern couples have a honeymoon and usually travel to some special place where they will be left alone. But eventually the couple has to return to life with its problems and duties, and so did Solomon and his wife.
The young woman heard her husband calling to her (note that he doesn’t call her his “bride”) and asking her to let him in. Apparently she had locked the door and gone to bed without him. But she had bathed and was comfortable in bed and didn’t want to be disturbed. Perhaps she wasn’t in the mood for romance. She didn’t respond affirmatively to his voice, but her “heart leaped up” when she saw his hand come through the opening for the door latch. The king didn’t force his way in, but surely he was disappointed when his beloved rejected him.
, Realizing her mistake, the young woman went to the door, but when she did, she discovered that he had left. Her heart sank, for love is delicate, easily misunderstood and quickly hurt. She called, but he didn’t answer, so she went in search of him. This time the city guards didn’t cooperate with her; instead, they wounded her and took her veil. Did they think she was a prostitute out looking for business? The beloved seems to have most of her trouble in the night and not when she walks in the daytime with her king.
Perhaps if the woman had told the king this on their wedding night, assuring him of her admiration, he wouldn’t have left her temporarily or been so quick to leave before she could open the door. “Love suffers long and is kind” (), but love needs to be nourished with kind words and actions. Again, the expressions she uses to describe his attractiveness are different from those we use today, but they do convey the right message.
A head like fine gold means a valuable head; that is, the husband’s mind is worth something. A body like ivory and marble speaks of beauty and strength. The cedars of Lebanon also suggest beauty, value, and strength. The phrase “altogether lovely” says it all. Over the years, our bodies change and we get old, but the husband and wife who grow in their appreciation and evaluation of each other will never cultivate a critical attitude. “Young in heart” is the secret of a long and happy marriage.
Daylight comes, and the women of Jerusalem offer to help the woman find her husband, but she knows him well and knows where he has gone. One of the important elements in a marriage is getting to know each other so well that we can read each other’s minds and anticipate actions and words. “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me” expresses it perfectly (v. ; see ; ). Solomon is not lost to her even though they aren’t together. He is feeding his flock in the garden and she knows where to go.
The moment the king sees his wife, he welcomes her and begins to extol her virtues. He doesn’t scold her for keeping him outside the door or for walking about the city alone at night and getting bruised by the watchmen. Tirzah was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel after the nation divided. “You are fit for a king!” is what he is saying. The Jews thought that Jerusalem was the most beautiful of all cities (; ; ).
, At this time, the number of queens and concubines in Solomon’s harem was much lower than in his later years (), so this was written very early in his reign. But of all the women in his life, the maid from Shulam is his favorite as well as the favorite of her mother and the other queens in the palace. In the eyes of the young woman, Solomon is “altogether lovely” (), and in Solomon’s eyes, his wife is “my dove, my perfect one” ().
The king’s army is arriving, and the garden looks like a battlefield. But gardens are for beauty and nourishment, not for battles. Is this passage suggesting that marriage should be neither a battleground nor a playground but a garden that is carefully cultivated and thoroughly enjoyed? The first marriage took place in a perfect garden (), and marriage ought to be like a garden. The wrong kind of military language is often used with reference to marriage, that spouses “battle” each other. In contrast, the Song of Solomon sees the wife and husband like two armies marching together, each helping and defending the other (, ). Instead of batthng each other, they attack anything that will threaten their marriage.
Most of the similes in verses have been used before in the book, but a few are new. The king describes his wife’s beauty from foot (v. ) to head (vv. , ). Both food and drink are referenced in verse , describing the intimate area of her body, and this suggests that the husband is nourished by the love of his wife.
, Near Eastern fish pools were beautiful and peaceful, even though filled with life, and so are her eyes (v. ). Previously, Solomon had been so smitten by her look that he was overcome (), but now he can watch her eyes and find beauty and excitement. If today we were to compare a woman’s neck or nose to a tower, we would offend her—not so in that day. The reference isn’t to size or prominence but to proportion and fitness. Like a tower on the city wall, or even standing alone in the land, the nose was in the right setting and had its own beauty. Whereas the king had been “overcome” by her eyes (), now it’s her hair that captivates him. In his eyes, he “is held captive.”
The king introduces a fascinating new metaphor. He sees his lovely wife as a palm tree, beautiful and fruitful, and their intimate love as his climbing the tree and eating its fruits. Kissing her is like drinking wine, and he tells her so. Her reply is that she hopes the wine will flow gently over his lips and teeth and please him.
Again the woman assures her husband of their mutual love and devotion (see ; ). Sexual attraction in marriage must be a mutual experience, and the husband and wife must work at making themselves desirable.
, The bride wants to make a visit to the country, something Solomon had wanted to do before, and she had refused (). Sometimes visiting another place gives a freshness to marriage relationships, and she promises to give him her love (). A husband and wife have conjugal obligations to each other (), but they shouldn’t look upon married love as a dutiful responsibility. It is also a gift they share with each other, just as they shared the feast and the joys of visiting the garden.
Mandrakes have long been associated with sexual passion () although there’s no evidence that they work as a sexual stimulant. The young woman enjoys both fruit that is new to her and fruit that is familiar, suggesting that they are brave enough to try something new but wise enough not to abandon what they know really works.
As the young woman closes her monologue, she expresses regret that she can’t show her love to her husband spontaneously, as a sister can do to a brother. In that society at that time, for a wife to kiss her husband in public would be considered uncouth, so they had to wait until they were alone. She wanted to be a big sister to him and kiss him, take him home to her mother, and learn from her mother how to treat him.
The daughters of Jerusalem see the couple returning home from their honeymoon trip, and they note that in the royal carriage she is leaning on her husband in love. (See for a parallel picture.) As they approach the wife’s native village, they see a prominent apple tree, and the young woman reminds the king that he had been sleeping under that tree, weary from work, when first she saw him.
, Now they belong to each other and need to be true to each other. The woman asks Solomon to make her the seal on his heart and arm, for a seal speaks of ownership and protection. Their love brought them together, and their love will keep them together. The grip of death and the grave can’t be broken, and neither can the hold of love. A husband and wife aren’t envious of each other but they are jealous over one another, and that jealousy is powerful, like the very fire of God.
These verses form an appendix to the story. As the young woman returns to her girlhood home with her husband, she remembers what her brothers said about her when she was younger. They didn’t think she was ready for marriage because she hadn’t yet matured. But in spite of her brothers’ comments, she developed physically and had breasts that her husband admired (, ; , , ). The images of the wall and the door have to do with the girl’s virginity. If she were a door, a woman of easy access, then she would not be fit to be a bride, but if she kept herself pure, behind a wall, as it were, then they could give her away to the man who asked for her. The young woman boldly states that she was a wall and entered the marriage bed a pure virgin.
, The book closes with the young woman in her garden, chatting with some friends, and her husband calling to her because he wants to hear her voice. Where there is love, the husband and wife want to be together and share their ideas and feelings. Yes, other companions have their place, but nobody must replace the God-given mate. How does the beloved respond to his call? She tells him to hurry up and leave with her, because the “mountains of spices” (her breasts, , ) are awaiting his touch. Of course, her companions in the garden don’t understand this code word, so she doesn’t embarrass anybody. Husbands and wives frequently have a secret language of love that others don’t understand.
Song of Solomon 1
1:1
1:2
1:2 A young woman from the town of Shulam or Shunem (compare ). The speaker and audience are identified according to the number, gender, and person of the Hebrew words. Occasionally the identity is not certain.
1:2 Masculine singular, that is, the Beloved
1:4
1:4
1:4 ,
1:4 Masculine singular, that is, the Beloved
1:4 Feminine singular, that is, the Shulamite
1:4 Masculine singular, that is, the Beloved
1:4 Masculine singular, that is, the Beloved
1:6 ,
1:7 Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read wanders.
1:8
1:9 , , ; ,
1:9
1:10
1:11 Feminine singular, that is, the Shulamite
1:15 ;
1:16
Song of Solomon 2
2:3 ,
2:6
2:7 ;
2:9
2:14
2:14
2:15
2:16
2:17
2:17
2:17 Literally Separation
Song of Solomon 3
3:1
3:3
3:4
3:5 ;
3:6
3:9 A portable enclosed chair
Song of Solomon 4
4:1 ;
4:1
4:2
4:3
4:4
4:4
4:5
4:6
4:7
4:8
4:10 ,
4:11 ,
4:11 ,
4:15
4:16
4:16
Song of Solomon 5
5:1
5:1
5:1
5:1 ,
5:2
5:6
5:7
5:9 ;
5:12 ;
Song of Solomon 6
6:1 ;
6:2 ;
6:3 ;
6:5
6:6
6:7
6:8
6:9 ;
6:10
6:11
6:12 Hebrew Ammi Nadib
6:13 Hebrew Mahanaim
Song of Solomon 7
7:1
7:3
7:4
7:9 Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read lips and teeth.
7:10 ;
7:10
7:12
7:13
7:13
Song of Solomon 8
8:2
8:2
8:3
8:4 ;
8:5
8:6
8:6 ,
8:6 Or Sheol
8:6 Literally A flame of YAH (a poetic form of YHWH, the LORD)
8:7
8:8
8:11
8:13
8:14 ,
8:14 , ,