Day 197, Song of Solomon 1-4

Summary

According to the most common interpretation, the Song of Solomon is a collection of love poems between a man and a woman, celebrating the sexual relationship God intended for marriage.

God established marriage, including the physical union of a husband and wife (Gen. 2:18-25), and Israelite wisdom literature treasures this aspect of marriage as the appropriate expression of human sexuality (Prov. 5:15-20).

The Song of Solomon has also been understood as an illustration of the mutual love of Christ and his church. It is possible that Solomon (tenth century B.C.) is the author (1:1).

However, this verse could mean that the Song was dedicated to Solomon or was written about him, and therefore many scholars regard the book as anonymous.

My Thoughts

When I first set out to study this book, I was really excited because of the love concept. As a result, I started copying the entire thing down, hoping for a great love story and was going to be content with just sharing the song itself.

However, as I made my way through this book, it suddenly became aware to me that I had no idea what most of it was talking about. Especially reading it in my English Standard Version (ESV) Bible.

Now, as I’m really studying it I’m going to use the New International Version (NIV) Study Bible to hopefully have it explained to me. I will be combining both versions to better understand and explain what the poems actually mean.

At one point when someone asked me what book was my favorite one so far, or which one I was excited to read; I said one of them was, “The Song of Solomon.” Their reaction made me a little nervous because they made it seem like it could be ‘kind of dirty.’

That part does not bother me at all, hell I read the “50 Shades of Grey” series. But I am really hoping that it sticks to the love and romance aspect I was anticipating from the introduction.

So if you’re new like me and this is your first time reading The Song of Solomon, I’m going to try to add as many notes and explanations as I can to better understand it.

The Bride Confesses Her Love

BELOVED/SHE
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine;
your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
Take me away with you–let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.

*Love: expressions of love–caresses, embraces, and consummation.

*Oils or perfumes: aromatic spices and gums blended in cosmetic oil.

*Your name: the very mention of the lover’s name fills the air as with a pleasant aroma.

*Virgins or maidens: probably young women of the court or of the royal city.

*King: Solomon.

*His chambers: the king’s private quarters.

FRIENDS/OTHERS
We will rejoice and delight in you;
we will praise your love more than wine.

BELOVED/SHE
How right they are to adore you!

I am very dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Kedar,
like the tent curtains of Solomon.
Do not stare at me because I am dark,
because I am darkened by the sun.
My mother’s sons were angry with me
and made me take care of the vineyards;
but my own vineyard I have neglected.
Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you graze your flock,
and where you rest your sheep at midday.
Why should I be like a veiled woman
beside the flocks of your companions?

*Dark: deeply browned by the sun; not considered desirable.

*Daughters of Jerusalem: probably the maidens from above and usually the “Others/Friends” in the sectional headings.

*Tents and tent curtains: handwoven from black goat hair.

*My own vineyard: her body. Vineyard is an apt metaphor since it yields wine, and the excitements of love are compared with those produced by wine. The beloved is also compared to a garden, yielding precious fruits for the lover.

*The lover is portrayed as a shepherd. The beloved is depicted as a shepherdess.

*Midday: a time of rest in warm climates.

*Veiled woman: prostitute. The beloved does not wish to look for her lover among the shepherd, appearing as though she were a prostitute.

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

LOVER/HE
If you do not know,
O most beautiful of women,
follow the tracks of the sheep,
and graze your young goats
by the tents of the shepherds.

I compare you, my love,
to a mare harnessed to one of the Pharaoh’s chariots.
Your cheeks are lovely with earrings,
your neck with strings of jewels.
We will make for you earrings of gold,
studded with silver.

*Beautiful: the beloved/she.

*Your young goats: the beloved is pictured as a shepherdess.

*Tents of the shepherds: the beloved is instructed to learn where the lover is by joining the shepherds in the fields.

*My love: or my darling. Used only of the beloved.

*Mare: a flattering comparison, similar to Theocritus’s praise of the beautiful Helen of Troy (Idyl, 18:30-31).

*Harnessed to one of the Pharaoh’s chariots: her beauty attracts attention the way a mare would among the Egyptian chariot stallions. According to 1 Kings 10:28, Solomon imported horses from Egypt.

BELOVED/SHE
While the king was at his table,
my perfume gave forth its fragrance.
My lover is to me a sachet of myrrh
resting between my breasts.
My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
from the vineyards of En Gedi.

*King: Solomon

*At his table: reclining on his couch at the table.

*My perfume: nard, an aromatic oil extracted from the roots of a perennial herb that grows in India.

*Myrrh: an aromatic gum exuding from the bark of a balsam tree that grows in Arabia, Ethiopia and India. It was commonly used as an alluring feminine perfume. It was also used to perfume royal nuptial robes. The Magi brought myrrh to the young Jesus as a gift fit for a king. Myrrh was an ingredient in the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:23).

*Henna: a shrub of Palestine (perhaps the cypress) with tightly clustered, aromatic blossoms.

*En Gedi: an oasis watered by a spring, located on the west side of the Dead Sea. David sought refuge there from King Saul (1 Samuel 24:1).

LOVER/HE
Behold, you are beautiful, my darling.
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.

BELOVED/SHE
Behold, you are handsome, my lover.
Oh, how charming!
And our bed is verdant.
The beams of our house are cedars;
our rafters are firs.
I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.

*Verdant: the lovers lie together in the field under the trees.

*Sharon: the fertile coastal plain south of Mount Carmel.

*Lily: probably either lotus or anemone.

LOVER/HE
As a lily among the thorns
so is my love among the young women.

BELOVED/SHE
As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my lover among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
He has taken me to the banquet hall,
and his banner over me is love.
Strengthen me with raisins;
refresh me with apples,
for I am faint with love.
His left arm is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

*Apple tree: the precise nature of this fruit tree is uncertain.

*Banner: the king’s love for her is displayed for all to see, like a large military banner.

*Raisins…apples: probably metaphors for love’s caresses and embraces.

*Daughters of Jerusalem: a recurring refrain in the Song. It is always spoken by the beloved and always in context of physical intimacy with her lover.

Charge: place under oath.

Gazelles and the does: perhaps in the imaginative language of love the gazelles and does are portrayed as witnesses to the oath. This would be in harmony with the author’s frequent reference to nature.

*Until it so desires: out of the beloved’s experience of love comes wise admonition that love is not to be artificially stimulated; utter spontaneity is essential to its genuine truth and beauty.

The Bride Adores Her Beloved

BELOVED/SHE
Listen! My Lover!
Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
My lover is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Look! There he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
My lover spoke and said to me:
Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
and come with me.
See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the season of singing has come,
and the cooing of turtledoves
are heard in our land.
The fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
come with me.

*Gazelle: celebrated for its form and beauty.

*Young stag: an apt simile for youthful vigor.

*Gazing…lattice: the eager lover tries to catch sight of the beloved while she is still preparing herself for their meeting.

*The first signs of spring.

LOVER/HE
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
Catch the foxes for us,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards are in bloom.

*Vineyards: as in the above, (“my own vineyard”), probably a metaphor for the lovers’ physical beauty. Thus the desire is expressed that the lovers be kept safe from whatever (“foxes”) might mar their mutual attractiveness.

*In bloom: their attractiveness is in its prime.

BELOVED/SHE
My lover is mine, and I am his;
he browses among the lilies.
Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,
turn, my lover,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the rugged hills.

*Mine and his: they belong to each other exclusively in a relationship that allows no intrusion.

*Browses among the lilies: a metaphor for the lover’s intimate enjoyment of her charms.

The Bride’s Dream

BELOVED/SHE
On my bed by night
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him, but did not find him.
I will rise now and go about the city,
in the streets and in the squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
I looked for him, but did not find him.
The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him, and would not let him go
until I had brought him
into my mother’s house,
to the room of
the one who conceived me.
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.

*Night: This verse begins a new moment in love’s experience. Night, with its freedom from the distractions of the day, allows the heart to be filled with its own preoccupations.

*Watchmen: were stationed at the city gates and on the walls. Apparently they also patrolled the streets at night.

*Mother’s: are referred to frequently in the Song; fathers are never mentioned.

Solomon Arrives for the Wedding

BELOVED/SHE
Who is this coming up from the desert
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and incense
made from all the spices of the merchant?
Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,
escorted by sixty warriors,
the noblest of Israel,
all of them wearing swords
all experienced in battle,
each with his sword at his side,
prepared for the terrors of the night.

King Solomon made for himself the carriage
he made it of the wood from Lebanon.
He made its posts of silver,
its base of gold.
Its seat was upholstered with purple,
its interior was inlaid with love
by the daughters of Jerusalem.
Come out, you daughters of Zion,
and look at King Solomon wearing the crown,
the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
the day his heart rejoiced.

*Who…desert: this verse begins a new moment in the relationship, where the reference is to the beloved.

*Desert: wilderness or uncultivated seasonal grasslands.

*Smoke: incense.

*Of the merchant: imported.

*Carriage: a richly adorned royal conveyance, a palanquin.

*Posts: supporting the canopy.

*Silver…gold: probably metals that overlay the Lebanon wood.

*Daughters of Zion: elsewhere “daughters of Jerusalem.”

*Crown: a wedding wreath.

*Mother: here the reference is to Bathsheba.

Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty

LOVER/HE
Behold, you are beautiful, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Mount Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
that have come up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
and not one of them is alone.
Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
Your neck is like the tower of David,
built with elegance;
on it hang a thousand shields,
all of them shields of warriors.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle
that graze among the lilies.
Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,
I will go away to the mountain of myrrh
and to the hill of incense.
You are altogether beautiful, my love;
there is no flaw in you.

*Eyes behind your veil: with the rest of her face concealed, the lover’s attention is focused on the beloved’s eyes.

*Flock of goats: the goats of Canaan were usually black. The lover’s hair was also black.

*Descending from Mount Gilead: the beloved’s black tresses flowing from her head remind the lover of a flock of sleek black goats streaming down one of the hills of Gilead (noted for its good pasturage.)

*Just shorn: clean and white.

*Come up from washing: still wet, like moistened teeth.

*Your lips…scarlet: perhaps the beloved painted her lips, like Egyptian women.

*Halves of a pomegranate: round and blushed with red.

*Neck: the beloved’s erect, bespangled neck is like a tower on the city wall adorned with warriors’ shields.

*Fawns: representing tender, delicate beauty, and promise rather than full growth.

*Until…shadows flee; mountain of myrrh; …hill of incense: metaphors for lovers’ intimacy.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;
come with me from Lebanon.
Descend from the peak of Amana,
from the top of Senir,
and the summit of Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountain haunts of the leopards.
You have stolen my heart,
my sister, my bride;
you have captivated my heart with
one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
How delightful is your love,
my sister, my bride!
How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!
Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
milk and honey are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments is
like that of Lebanon.

You are a garden locked up,
my sister, my bride,
you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.
Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
with choice fruits,
with henna with nard,
nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,
with every kind of incense tree,
with myrrh and aloes,
with all the finest spices.
You are a garden fountain,
a well of flowing water,
streaming down from Lebanon.

*Lebanon…Amana…Hermon: to the lover the beloved seems to have withdrawn as if to a remote mountain. Mountain peaks on the northern horizon.

*My sister: for lovers to address each other as “brother” and “sister” was common in the love poetry of ancient Near East.

*Spice: was an imported luxury item. Spices were used for fragrance in the holy anointing oil (Exodus 25:6; 30:23-25; 35:8) and for fragrant incense and perfume.

*Your lips drop sweetness: the beloved speaks to him of love. People of the ancient Near East associated sweetness with the delights of love.

*Milk and honey: perhaps reminiscent of the description of the promised land (see Exodus 3:8).

*Garden: a place of sensual delights.

*Spring…fountain: sources of refreshment; metaphors for the beloved as a sexual partner.

*Locked up…enclosed…sealed: metaphors for the beloved’s virginity–or perhaps for the fact that she keeps herself exclusively for her husband.

*Your plants: all the beloved’s features that delight the lover.

*Orchard: Hebrew pardes (from which the English word “paradise”comes), a loanword from Old Persian meaning “enclosure” or “park.”

*Saffron: a plant of the crocus family bearing purple or white flowers, parts of which, when dried, were used as a cooking spice.

*Calamus: an imported, aromatic spice cane, used also in the holy anointing oil.

*Aloes: aromatic aloes, used to perfume royal nuptial robes.

Flowing: fresh, not stagnant.

*Streaming…from Lebanon: fresh, cool, sparkling water from the snowfields on the Lebanon mountains.

BELOVED/SHE
Awake, O north wind,
and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my garden,
that its fragrance may spread abroad.
Let my lover come into his garden,
and taste its choice fruits.

*May the fragrance of my charms be wafted about to draw my lover to me so that we may enjoy love’s intimacies.

*His garden: she belongs to him and she yields herself to her lover.