Overview: Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs)

This book, taken by some as an allegory of the believer’s relationship with God, is better understood in its plain sense as a collection of love poems that celebrate and caution concerning human love. The joyful and sometimes erotic portrayal of the relationship between a lover and his beloved reminds us that intimacy within marriage is a gift, given by the God who created human beings male and female.

However, when read in the context of the Scripture, the Song has a clear and obvious relevance to the divine-human relationship. Throughout the Bible, our relationship to God is likened to a marriage. Therefore, this book is a resource not only for our understanding of male-female relationships, but also for a more profound understanding of the intimacy and exclusivity of our relationship with God.

Song of Solomon 2

English Standard Version (ESV)

 

¹ I am a roseof Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.

He

² As a lily among brambles,
so is my love among the young women.

She

³ As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
⁴ He brought me to the banqueting house,
and his banner over me was love.
⁵ Sustain me with raisins;
refresh me with apples,
for I am sick with love.
⁶ His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
⁷ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.

The Bride Adores Her Beloved

⁸ The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
¹⁰ My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
¹¹ for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
¹² The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
¹³ The fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
¹⁴ O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
¹⁵ Catch the foxes for us,
the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom.”

¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his;
he grazes among the lilies.
¹⁷ Until the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
or a young stag on cleft mountains.

 

 

Reflection

• “His left hand is under my head” (6). Throughout the Song, the woman does not hesitate to express her hope for physical intimacy with the man and vice versa. The whole book of Song of Solomon acknowledges human yearning for intimacy – in community with others. After all, God created Eve to dispel Adam’s loneliness. And this song illustrates this yearning at its deepest and most intimate level.
• Verses 10-13 talks about the coming of spring “the winter is past; the rain is over and gone”. Springtime is the time for love. It’s a time to be outdoors in a private garden. It is a time of new growth and fertility, as well as fragrant smells. Again, the desire to be with the beloved is expressed.
• How does knowing that the Song of Songs is included in Scripture affect your view of married relationships?
• If this lover’s song were an allegory, what image of God and Israel, or Christ and the church, do you see here? Are you camped under his banner of love (v4)?

Prayer & Journaling:

Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what he wants to tell me. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in the “Spiritual Journal” book.