“In the glorious temple of revelation, a place which the Lord our God has chosen to cause his name to dwell there, even in brighter glory than in the temple of the material world, does this book stand, like one of the apartments in the temple on Mount Zion, small indeed, but exquisitely finished, the walls and ceiling of something richer than cedar, richer than bright ivory overlaid with sapphires, and filled with specimens of truth brought down from heaven by the Holy Spirit, and here deposited for the comfort and delight of those who love the habitation of God’s house, and the place where his glory dwelleth.”
—George Burrowes
The title “the Song of Songs” is a Hebrew idiom meaning The Most Exquisite Song. The Jewish Midrash calls it “the most praiseworthy, most excellent, most highly treasured among the songs.” This song, also called Canticles, is generally considered the hardest book in the Bible to understand. Franz Delitzsch wrote, “The Song is the most obscure book in the Old Testament.”1 It is not hard to enjoy it if you appreciate poetry, love, and nature, but what is it and what does it mean?
Scholars are divided as to whether it is an anthology of unrelated love lyrics, a little drama, or a “unified dramatic lyric dialogue of love.”2 In the light of repeated refrains and the flow of the story, plus the too great brevity of the work to be a real “play,” the last named is the best choice.
But still, how is one to interpret the book? Here the imagination of readers throughout the ages has had a field day. While certain Jews and Christians have prudishly avoided the book as “sensual,” some of the most devout saints throughout history have reveled in its pages.
Jewish tradition has it that Solomon wrote the Song in his youth, Proverbs in his prime, and Ecclesiastes after he had grown weary of this world. This view has much to commend it. Since the author praises marital fidelity, it has been suggested that Solomon dedicated the book to the first of his many wives, before he got entangled in polygamy and concubinage. The present commentary, however, takes quite a different view.
Seven verses in the Song refer to Solomon by name (1:1, 5; 3:7, 9, 11; 8:11, 12). The first one probably ascribed authorship to him (though it could also be translated “The Song of Songs which is about Solomon”). The allusions to nature fit in with Solomon’s interests (1 Kgs. 4:33). Also, references to royal horses, chariots, and the palanquin tend to support Solomonic authorship. The geographical references suggest that the places were all in one united kingdom, which was true chiefly during Solomon’s reign.
Thus, there is every reason to accept the traditional view of authorship, and contrary arguments are not convincing.
King Solomon probably wrote this loveliest of his 1,005 songs (1 Kgs. 4:32) some time during his forty year reign (971–931 B.C.). The tradition that he was still young and not yet jaded with too many women is logical and attractive.
The usual Christian interpretation given to this book is that it represents the love of Christ for His church. This interpretation is followed in the chapter headings in many editions of the Bible. According to this view Solomon is a type of Christ and the Shulamite a type of the church. However, the careful student of Scripture will realize that this cannot be the primary interpretation of the book since the church was a secret hidden in God from the foundation of the world and not revealed until the apostles and prophets of the NT (Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:9). Few Christians will deny that in this song we have a very beautiful picture of the love of Christ for the church, but this is an application and not the interpretation. The primary interpretation of the book must be concerned with Jehovah and the nation of Israel.
A second interpretation sees this book as a protest against marital infidelity. Solomon, with his many wives, seeks to woo a young Shulamite maiden. But she has a shepherd-lover to whom she is faithful and true. She does not yield to the blandishments of Solomon. Every time he flatters her, she begins to speak about her own lover. At the close of the book, she is seen united with her shepherd-lover and resting in his love. Those who accept this interpretation point out that most references to Solomon have the city and palace as background whereas references to the shepherd picture him appropriately in a rural setting. This sharp contrast between the city and the country reinforces the idea that there are two male characters in the drama, not just one. This interpretation is not popular because it puts Solomon in an unfavorable light.3 However, it is true that he was a polygamist, whereas God’s order for His people was monogamy. The nation of Israel, of course, had been unfaithful to Jehovah, running after other lovers. In this song, they read of the beauty of faithful love.
A third interpretation sees the Shulamite maiden as a type of the believing remnant of the nation of Israel in a coming day. Solomon is a type of the Lord Jesus. The song pictures the loving fellowship which will be enjoyed by the remnant when they look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as one mourning for an only son. The fact that Solomon was a polygamist does not bar him from being a type of the Lord. The type is imperfect; the Antitype is perfect.
A fourth view, very popular today, is to see the book as an encouragement to true love and purity within the bonds of matrimony. In light of the world’s exploitations of sex without married love, this is a viable option, fitting in well with Genesis 1:27 and 2:20–24.
At any rate, no matter which view one holds, the Song of Songs has been widely, and we believe rightly, used by believing couples on their wedding night and to enhance their marriage.
OUTLINE
COMMENTARY
The song of songs is introduced as Solomon’s; it could also mean “concerning Solomon.”
1:2–4 The Shulamite is longing for the kisses of her shepherd-lover; then, imagining that he is present, she tells him that his love is better than wine. Comparing his virtues to fragrant ointment, she sees this as the reason why he is loved by the other virgins, but she longs for him to come and claim her as his own. The daughters of Jerusalem will try in vain to follow. King Solomon has brought the Shulamite into his chambers, presumably to add her to his harem, but it was quite against her own will. When the daughters of Jerusalem adopt her sentiments concerning her beloved as their own, she comments that their appreciation of him is justified.
1:5, 6 Unlike the pale court ladies, the rustic Shulamite has spent much time in the sun as a keeper of the vineyards. Hence she is tanned and dark, but4 lovely.
1:7, 8 Her thoughts wander to her lover. She wonders where he is feeding his flock, where he is making it rest at noon. And she can’t understand why she can’t be with him instead of being a veiled woman in the presence of others, who were, to her, less worthy men.
The daughters of Jerusalem5 sarcastically suggest that she could find him by following the footsteps of the flock.
1:9, 10 Solomon now begins his courtship of the Shulamite. She reminds him of a caparisoned prize filly among Pharaoh’s chariots. He sees her cheeks adorned with choice ornaments and her neck draped with chains of gold.
1:11 Using the editorial we,6 he offers to enrich her with golden ornaments and studs of silver.
1:12–14 The Shulamite is unaffected by the king’s flattering words and luring offers. She can think only of her lover. While the king sits at his table, she has her own source of fragrance—a little sachet of myrrh that she keeps next to herself as a memento of her shepherd. He is as fragrant to her as a cluster of henna blooms in the vineyards of En Gedi.
1:15 Again Solomon tries to woo her, this time extolling her beauty and comparing her eyes to those of a dove.
1:16, 17 But the Shulamite switches the conversation in her own mind, at least, by telling her lover how handsome he is. She pictures the great outdoors as their house, the grass as their bed, and the overhanging cedar and fir branches as their roof. The setting of their romance is uniformly pastoral, not a palace.
2:1 The maiden continues by protesting her own plainness and unworthiness. When she likens herself to the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys,7 she is not thinking of the cultivated flowers we call “roses” and “lilies” but probably of the common, wild scarlet anemones, or perhaps the crocus.8
2:2 Solomon must have heard her protestations of mediocrity because he tells her that she is very special. Compared to other virgins, she is like a lily among thorns.
2:3 Switching again to rural scenes, she sees her beloved as a cultivated apple tree among the wild trees of the woods. To be with him had always been delightful, and fellowship with him was ever so sweet.
2:4–6 Just to be with him was like being in a banqueting house; always overhead was his banner of love. Overcome with thoughts of him she calls for cakes of raisins and apples to refresh and strengthen her. It is as if he were actually with her, holding and embracing her.
Turning to the daughters of Jerusalem,9 the Shulamite strikes the keynote of the book. There is a time for love. It should not be aroused by carnal means (as the king was trying to do). She charges them by the graceful gazelles that they should not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. In other words, “love is not a thing to be bought or forced or pretended, but a thing to come spontaneously, to be given freely and sincerely.”10 If Israel had followed this simple rule, it would not have been unfaithful to Jehovah.
2:8–14 Now the maiden recalls a past visit of her beloved. He came leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills in his haste to reach her. He had all the grace of a gazelle or a young stag. Soon he was standing behind the wall, looking through the windows, gazing through the lattice. She heard his voice, calling to her to leave with him. The dark night of winter was past and the rain was over. All the signs of spring were appearing—the flowers, the turtledove, the fig tree with green figs, and the vines with … tender grapes. He urged her to “Rise up, … and come away.” Perhaps there was a delay, because he then asked her to come to the window, so he could see her face and hear her voice. Up to now she was hidden from him like a dove, in the clefts of the rock, or in the covert of a cliff.
2:15 Any possibility of leaving was lost when her brothers appeared and ordered her and her companions (the command is plural in the original)11 to catch … the little foxes that were ruining the vines at the crucial time when they were bearing tender grapes.12
2:16, 17 This is a great disappointment, but she is consoled by the fact that she and her shepherd-lover belong to each other. So she said to him, in effect, “Come back again sometime in the cool of the evening, when the shadows have flown away. Return with the speed of a young stag over the mountains of Bether (or Separation, i.e., the mountains that separate us).”
Now the maiden is recalling a dream in which she had a rendezvous with her beloved. One night she was looking for him, but when she couldn’t find him, she went into the city, searched the streets and squares, and even asked the watchmen. Then almost immediately she found him, embraced him, and took him to her family home.
She interrupts long enough to repeat her charge to the daughters of Jerusalem—don’t stir up … love until it pleases.
The scene changes. We now watch the colorful and grandiose arrival of Solomon’s procession at Jerusalem. The question implied is, “Who could resist the romantic overtures of such a glorious king?” The implied answer, of course, is “The Shulamite can.” She is faithful to her own lover, and deaf to all other voices.
The spectators along the parade route are awed by the king’s arrival, with the attendant clouds of myrrh and frankincense. They see the couch or palanquin of Solomon, guarded by sixty fully armed soldiers. Inside are the magnificent pillars of silver, the support of gold, the seat of purple upholstery, and the carpeting woven lovingly by the daughters of Jerusalem. Zion’s citizens are summoned to greet King Solomon, wearing the crown given to him by his mother … on the day of his wedding.
4:1–5 There is a difference of opinion among those who hold the three-character view of the Song of Songs as to whether the speaker in these verses is Solomon or the shepherd. We shall assume that it is the much-married Solomon who has just returned to Jerusalem and is making another attempt to captivate the Shulamite.
He launches into a detailed description of her beauty. Her eyes, looking out from behind a veil, remind him of doves’ eyes. The rippled sheen of her hair resembles a flock of goats moving together down the side of Mount Gilead in the sunshine. Her gleaming white teeth make him think of ewes, newly sheared and freshly washed. The teeth are like twin lambs in that every upper has a corresponding lower; not one is missing. Her lips are like a strand of scarlet, and the symmetry of her mouth is perfect. Her temples behind the veil are contoured like a piece of pomegranate. Her neck, like the tower of David, speaks of strength and dignity. Her two breasts, like twin fawns, suggest delicate and tender beauty.
4:6 The Shulamite interrupts13 to let Solomon know that she is impervious to his flattery, and that she is looking forward to reunion with her beloved. When the day cools and the shadows vanish, she will go … to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense, that is, to her shepherd-lover.
4:7–15 Now the shepherd appears14 and urges his fiancée to come with him from Lebanon, at the same time praising her for her beauty, love, lips, the fragrance of her garments, meaning her life, and her chastity. He likens her to a well-watered garden, bearing the choicest fruits and the most fragrant … spices.
4:16 In poetic language, she tells him to come to the garden and claim it as his own.
5:1a Now the shepherd responds to the Shulamite’s invitation of 4:16, saying that he is coming to the garden to gather his spices, to eat honeycomb, and to drink wine and milk.
5:1b The latter part of verse 1 seems to be an anonymous encouragement from interested spectators to these two ardent lovers.15
5:2–7 Now the maiden describes a dream in which she heard him knocking at the door, calling for her to open. He was wet with the dew of the evening. When she hesitated to open to him because she had already bathed and retired for the night, he withdrew his hand from the door. Finally she got up and went to the door. Her hands became perfumed with the liquid myrrh which he had left on the handles of the lock. But he had … gone. She looked for him, called for him, but … could not find him. The city watchmen—misunderstanding her character—struck her and took off her veil.
5:8 In her sorrow she charges the daughters of Jerusalem to tell him, if they should somehow see him, that she still loves him as much as ever.
5:9 Her constant enthusiasm for a mere shepherd arouses the interest of the daughters of Jerusalem. They can’t understand why anyone should refuse the love of a Solomon for some obscure country lad, so they ask her what is so special about her beloved.
5:10–16 This gives her just the opportunity she wants to extol his physical attractiveness as “chief among ten thousand.” Using a wealth of poetic metaphors and similes, she raves about his complexion, head, locks, eyes, cheeks, lips, hands, body, legs, countenance, and mouth. In short, her beloved and her friend is altogether lovely.16
6:1 By this time the daughters of Jerusalem really want to see this paragon of male beauty. They ask where they might seek him with her.17
6:2, 3 The maiden’s answer is purposely vague and evasive—he “has gone to his garden.” Why should she tell them? She belongs to him, he belongs to her, and that’s the way she intends it to remain!
Solomon appears again and tries to woo her. Using middle-eastern imagery, he raves over her facial beauty; much of what he says is a repeat of 4:1–3. In his mind, she surpassed sixty queens, eighty concubines, and numberless virgins. Not only was she her mother’s favorite, but the queens, concubines, and maidens all praised her, saying, “Who is she who looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?”
6:11, 12 The Shulamite deflects Solomon’s overtures with an obscure explanation, perhaps of how the king’s chariot came by while she was in the field checking the fruit and garden of nuts. The king’s subsequent interest in taking her to the palace in Jerusalem was nothing that she had planned or even desired.
6:13 As she starts to leave, either Solomon and the daughters of Jerusalem or his friends call her back for another look at her beauty. But she asks why they would want to look on anyone as ordinary as she. The last line in the verse is difficult. The two camps (Heb. Mahanaim) that the Shulamite speaks of may well be a dance in which two groups of dancers weave in and out with one another.
7:1–9a Solomon continues his fulsome praise by giving a full-length portrait of her physical charms, comparing her to famous places in his far-flung realm: Heshbon, Bath Rabbim, Damascus, and Mount Carmel. Then he sees her as a stately palm tree, and would like to embrace her. When he does, her breasts would be like clusters of fruit, her breath like apples, and her kisses like the best wine.
7:9b–10 The maiden finishes the sentence by letting him know that her wine is not for him but for her beloved. She belongs to her lover and not to the king. Even as she said it, she knew that the shepherd was longing for her.
7:11–13 Now the shepherd-lover has arrived in Jerusalem and she is free to go to the field and the villages with him. She anticipates walking in the field with him, going out at daybreak to the vineyards to check the vine … and the pomegranates. In that rural setting where the mandrakes are fragrant, she will give him her love and all kinds of pleasant fruits which she has stored up for him.
8:1, 2 The Shulamite is still speaking. If the shepherd were only her brother, she could kiss him and not be reproached. She would take him to her mother’s house and serve him the choicest spiced wine made of pomegranate.
In an aside to the daughters of Jerusalem, the Shulamite sees herself in his arms, then charges them for the last time not to stir up love until it pleases.
8:5a In her home village, the local people see her returning from Jerusalem and ask who it is, coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved.
8:5b Then as the lovers approach, the shepherd points out familiar places—under the apple tree where their romance began, and then also her birthplace.
8:6, 7 The Shulamite suggests renewing their vows. In words of great beauty that have been widely quoted, she affirms that there is no rival for her love. It is as strong as death, unquenchable, and beyond price.
8:8, 9 Years ago, when planning the young Shulamite’s future, her brothers had made this decision. If she proved to be chaste, pure, and faithful, they would give her a silver dowry. If, however, she was promiscuous and accessible as a door, they would hide her away in seclusion.
8:10, 11 The maiden assures them that, now of marriageable age, she has been steadfast as a wall. Her lover knows that. She tells them of Solomon’s vineyard at Baal Hamon with its many tenants.
8:12 But she wasn’t interested. She had her own vineyard—her shepherd-lover. Solomon could keep his wealth as far as she was concerned.
8:13 In the presence of witnesses, the shepherd asks her to commit herself to him now in marriage, to say “I do.”
8:14 In figurative language, she tells her beloved to make haste to claim her as his own. And thus the book closes. It has been called
the Old Testament’s endorsement of monogamy in the face of the most glaring example of polygamy to be found in the Scriptures. It is a powerful plea to Israel of Solomon’s day to return to the God-given ideal of love and marriage.18
ENDNOTES
1. (Intro) Franz Delitzsch, “The Song of Songs,” in Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, XVI:1.
2. (Intro) Arthur Farstad, “Literary Genre of the Song of Songs,” p. 63.
3. (Intro) Clarke’s commentary (see Bibliography) presents the same view as the Believers Bible Commentary.
4. (1:5, 6) The little word translated “but” (we) can be (and more often is) translated “and.” Then a literal translation would be “black and beautiful.”
5. (1:7, 8) The translators of the NKJV take verse 8 to be the words of the Beloved, and hence not sarcastic. The Beloved and Solomon are taken as the same person rather than as rivals for the Shulamite’s love. It should be stressed that the headings in the NKJV, New Scofield, or any Bible, are editorial, and not part of the text. However, as the note at 1:1 in the NKJV points out, the Hebrew wording is clearer than the English as to gender and number of persons referred to.
6. (1:11) The NKJV takes the “we” literally as referring to the daughters of Jerusalem.
7. (2:1) In prose, poetry, and hymnody our Lord has been likened to the lily of the valley and the rose of Sharon. That comparison is still valid even if it is not the thought in this passage.
8. (2:1) Farstad, “Literary Genre,” p. 79, f.n. 6.
9. (2:7) The NKJV takes the address to the daughters to start at verse 4.
10. (2:7) W. Twyman Williams, “The Song of Solomon,” Moody Monthly, February 1947, p. 398.
11. (2:15) The plural form of “catch” may be explained by the likelihood that these lines (extremely song-like and full of rhymes in the original) are a “vine-dresser’s ditty” (Delitzsch, “Song of Songs,” p. 53). Otto Zöckler writes that “this verse is a little vintagers’ song or at least a fragment of one” and says that all the commentators of his time who are not allegorists are settled on this (“Song of Songs,” in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, V:71).
12. (2:15) Young foxes (the term includes jackals) come out in the spring and destroy the vines by burrowing passages and holes beneath the roots, thus undermining their support. See Delitzsch, “Song of Songs,” p. 54.
13. (4:6) The NKJV editors take this verse as part of the Beloved’s speech.
14. (4:7–15) The NKJV editors see no indication of a new speaker here and take these verses as part of the Beloved’s speech.
15. (5:1b) The NKJV editors agree, calling these people “His friends.”
16. (5:10–16) Based on the Christological interpretation of the book, the phrases “chief among ten thousand” and “altogether lovely” have been applied to our Lord in sermon and song. Especially in the spiritual sense, these applications are well warranted, even if not originally meant by the context.
17. (6:1) In the Christological interpretation the bride’s (= church’s) “witnessing” to the beauties of her beloved (= Christ) causes others to seek Him too.
18. (8:14) Williams, “Song,” p. 422.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bellett, J. G. Meditations upon the Canticles. London: G. Morrish, n.d.
Burrowes, George. A Commentary on the Song of Solomon. Philadelphia: William S. Alfred Martien, 1860.
Clarke, Arthur G. The Song of Songs. Kansas City, KS: Walterick Publishers, n.d.
Delitzsch, Franz. “The Song of Songs.” In Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 16. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971.
Zöckler, Otto. “The Song of Solomon.” Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. Vol. 5. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1960.
Williams, W. Twyman. “The Song of Solomon,” Moodly Monthly, February 1947.
Farstad, Arthur L. “Literary Genre of the Song of Songs.” Th.M. Thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1967.