The Hebrew title is Shir Hashirim, "Song of Songs," meaning "the finest song." Because 1:1 mentions Solomon, English Bibles have often included his name in the title. Canticles is Latin for "Songs."
Key Text: 6:3
"I am my love's and my love is mine; he feeds among the lilies."
Key Term: "Love"
Song of Songs is a book of romantic love poetry. The lovers—bride and groom—refer to each other passionately. The bride calls him "love," a term found more than 20 times; the groom calls her "my love."
One-Sentence Summary
A bride and groom (or wife and husband) celebrate with exuberant passion God's wonderful gift of the love they share by describing the intimate dimensions of their love—physical, emotional, and spiritual.
"Daughters of Jerusalem, I am dark like the tents of Kedar, yet lovely like the curtains of Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has gazed on me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they have made me a keeper of the vineyards" (Sg 1:5–6).
Author and Date of Writing
Probably Solomon, Perhaps Near the Beginning of His Reign, Around 965 bc
The author wrote the most exquisite romantic poetry in the Bible, and the perspective of a young couple captivated with each other is transparent. The inscription (1:1) as well as Jewish and Christian tradition identified the author as Solomon. According to 1 Kings 4:32 Solomon's "songs numbered 1,005." Many believe that the pure and passionate words of love described in this book were necessarily written early in his life—before he was married to so many women (1 Kg 11:1–8).
Some scholars have argued that the title is a dedication to Solomon (rather than a statement of authorship) and find it hard to imagine that a polygamous king wrote such a beautiful celebration of monogamous love. Although their arguments for later anonymous authorship have merit, there is no reason that a young Solomon could not have written the song in its entirety. For more on authorship and date of composition, see The Reliability of Song of Songs below.
First Audience and Destination
Israelites Living in Their Own Land
The first hearers were the Israelite people who admired both the proverbs and the songs of their great King Solomon (1 Kg 4:32).
Occasion
Scholars have a variety of opinions about what prompted the composition of this book. Two major suggestions follow. Some believe the book describes an ideal romance and was composed for a royal occasion, such as a state wedding. In this view, the bride and groom were not individuals but "Every-Bride" and "Every-Groom," depicting the possibilities of human romance with all its challenges and glories. Others have argued that this is Solomon's poem about an actual, historical romance and marriage between an unnamed girl (called the "Shulammite," 6:13) and her beloved (either Solomon himself or an unnamed lover). The former view of the occasion appears preferable.
Purpose
Many parts of Scripture address human sexuality, and a number of divine commands regulate marriage, adultery, divorce, and sexual immorality. Other than this book, however, little is noted in Scripture about whether a man and woman should enjoy or merely endure romance. In the tradition of ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature, Song of Songs explores one of the "big issues" of life. It definitively answers the question, Should a husband and wife enjoy the amorous dimension of their relationship? The answer is, Yes indeed! Although people often abuse or distort erotic love, it is a wondrous and normal part of marriage to be savored as God's gift. Strikingly, the dominant speaker is the wife, whose delight in the intimacies she enjoys demonstrates that the biblical view of sex is neither negative nor repressed. It is not claiming too much to call this book "The Bible's Romance Manual for Marriage." God's people should enjoy the Song of Songs today in light of its original purpose.
"Like an apricot tree among the trees of the forest, so is my love among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade and his fruit is sweet to my taste" (Sg 2:3).
First Pass
Song of Songs is a love song with three roles—a man, a woman, and a chorus of women. In the Song that begins at 1:2, the groom, the bride, and the chorus each take turns singing their parts, but they do not follow a consistent sequence. At times it is difficult to tell who is singing a given line of lyrics.
In the past many called for an allegorical interpretation of the Song because they felt that a simple love song had no place in the Bible and that, unless it was allegorized, no theological message could be found in it. This concern, however, is misguided. Song of Songs conveys important meaning without being turned into something it is not.
First, as the Bible is meant to serve as a guide in every aspect of life, so the Song deals with one universal aspect of human life—love, marriage, and sexuality. People need direction and teaching in the matter of how to nurture love for a spouse just as they need guidance in every other matter. The Song teaches that this love relationship is to be both physical and verbal. Again and again the two lovers speak of their desire for and joy in each other. For many couples the inability to express love is a profound problem.
Second, although the Song teaches by example and not by decree, its message is clear. The love the couple shared was exclusive and binding (7:10). By implication this ideal portrait excludes extramarital sex as well as all perversions and abuses of sexuality, such as promiscuity and homosexuality.
Third, Song of Songs celebrates love between man and woman as something that is valid and beautiful even in a fallen and sinful world. In this way Song of Songs testifies in a significant way to the grace of God. Although we are sinners, God tells us that the love relationship is a thing to be cherished and enjoyed. If the Bible said nothing in this area beyond prohibitions and warnings, we might suppose that all sexuality is innately evil and is to be suppressed entirely except for procreation. But because the Song is in the Bible, we understand that it is not sexuality but the misuse and abuse of sex that is wrong. In the Song we see that genuine love between man and woman, and the physical affection that follows, is a good and tender thing.
Fourth, the Song of Songs is unlike its ancient Near Eastern counterparts in one significant respect: it does not turn sexuality into a sacred ritual. In the ancient world fertility cults and religious prostitution abounded. The sexual act was thought to have religious meaning. None of this is found in Song of Songs. The romantic love between man and woman is a joy, but it is exclusively a joy of this world. In this way the Bible avoids the two pitfalls of human religion. It neither condemns sexual love as innately evil and dangerous (as do legalistic cults) nor elevates it to the status of religious act (as do sensual cults and religions). The Song of Songs, therefore, should be taken as it stands. It is a song of love and an affirmation of the value of the bond between a man and a woman. In this way it adds greatly to our appreciation of God's creation.
The Reliability of Song of Songs
Traditional scholars affirm Solomon as the author of the Song based on 1 Kings 4:29–34, dating the text to approximately 900 bc. In the Old Testament, Solomon is commonly associated with poetry, wisdom, and horticulture, further supporting the traditional view of authorship. Solomon's name occurs six times in the book.
The title probably implies that Solomon wrote it, but it could be taken to mean that it was simply part of Solomon's collection and was written perhaps by a court singer. Still, many scholars believe the Song was written late in Israelite history (500–100 bc) and therefore could not possibly have been written by Solomon or his contemporaries (961–922 bc). It is important, therefore, to see what evidence there is for dating the book. Most scholars who regard the Song as a late work do so primarily because some of the vocabulary found in it appears to be incompatible with the earlier date. For example, many argue that the Hebrew word for "orchard" in 4:13, pardes, is derived either from the Persian word pairidesa or the Greek word paradeisos (compare the English paradise). The argument is that it is difficult to see how Hebrew could have borrowed a word from either Persian or Greek as early as Solomon's day. However, the word pardes ("orchard") may come from a Sanskrit root word that is far older than either Persian or Greek. In addition, many words once asserted to be from a late Aramaic background have been found to be more ancient than originally supposed.
The poetic imagery of Song of Songs reflects an age of great prosperity. This also lends support to the belief that it was written in Solomon's day. Only then did Jerusalem possess the spices, perfumes, and luxuries mentioned in the book as well as great quantities of gold, marble, and precious jewels (Sg 5:14–15; see 1 Kg 10:14–22). Of course, one can argue that these are only similes and do not prove that the writer actually lived in an age when such things were common. But it is doubtful that a poet would use imagery described in such detail that was outside his own frame of reference and experience.
How Song of Songs Fits into God's Story
Song of Songs does not fit into the narrative of God's kingdom. It provides timeless wisdom for God's people in any era of history regarding God's plan for love between husbands and wives.
Christ in Song of Songs
Love between a husband and a wife is taken by Paul as a picture of the love Christ has for His bride, the church (Eph 5:32).
CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW ELEMENTS
Teachings About God
God is not directly named in this book. None of His usual names are found, such as God, Lord, the Lord, or the Almighty. God is affirmed indirectly as the Creator who conceived of romantic love between husband and wife, as in the account of the first man and woman coming together as one flesh (Gn 2:18–25).
Teachings About Humanity
Song of Songs celebrates the glory of wedded bliss possible for human beings, despite the many obstacles to true love. The climax of the book shows how strong and wonderful romantic love is: "Mighty waters cannot extinguish love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all his wealth for love, it would be utterly scorned" (8:7).
Teachings About Salvation
The book does not teach directly about redemption. If the love of a husband for his wife can be as rich and satisfying as the book describes, how much greater is the love of God for His beloved people (see Rv 21:9).
Genre and Literary Style
Wisdom Literature Emphasizing the Value of Romantic Love,
Written Entirely in Hebrew Poetry
Although some scholars have questioned whether this book is properly "wisdom literature," it answers one of the grand questions of life: Should a husband and wife enjoy the erotic dimension of their relationship? (See earlier discussion under Purpose.) As such, it belongs to the literary category "speculative wisdom." The poetic imagery is exquisite, lavish, and delicate, even if modern lovers do not fully appreciate the vivid metaphors from the ancient Near East (see 4:1–7; 5:10–16; 6:4–10; 7:1–10). The lines of poetry are short, and the Hebrew style is appropriate to the subject matter.
In the Hebrew canon this book was placed in the third section, the Writings or Kethubim (the other two sections are the Law and the Prophets). Among the Writings it was the first of the Five Scrolls, each of which became associated with one of the Israelite festivals and was read publicly during that festival. Song of Songs was associated with Pesach, "Passover." Although this connection seems strange, this can be understood in light of the Jewish allegorical interpretation of the book. Its deeper (and truer) meaning was said to be its declaration of God's love for Israel, of which the greatest historical evidence was the exodus at the first Passover. This view was also taken up by Christians in the medieval period but revised and seen as an allegory of Christ's love for the church. Bible scholars today generally reject such allegorical readings as a misunderstanding of the book's purpose by theologians unwilling to admire as literally true the frankly erotic elements of the book.
A PRINCIPLE TO LIVE BY
Intimate Love (Sg 1:1–11, Life Essentials Study Bible, p. 895)
Men and women who are joined in a marital union are to enjoy to the full the sexual dimension of their relationship.
