Song of Solomon
Purpose
The Song of Solomon — also called the Song of Songs, meaning the greatest and most excellent of songs — is Scripture's most lyrical celebration of the beauty, longing, and joy of love between a man and a woman, affirming that romantic love and physical attraction within the context of covenant commitment are themselves God's good gifts rather than subjects of embarrassment or spiritualisation. The poem moves through cycles of longing and reunion, separation and discovery, with each lover lavishing praise on the other in the vivid, sensory imagery of the Palestinian landscape — vineyards and spice gardens, the mountains of Lebanon, the blossoming almond and the rising rains of spring — and the intense emotions of desire, jealousy, and delight. Jewish tradition embraced the book by understanding it as an allegory of God's passionate covenant love for Israel; Christian interpreters have historically read it as a picture of Christ's love for the church; and at its most literal the book stands as Scripture's full-throated affirmation that human love at its best — faithful, delighted, and given — is one of the most eloquent reflections of the character of the God who is himself love. The inclusion of this deeply human love poetry in the sacred canon declares that the body and its joys are not peripheral to faith but central to what it means to be made in the image of a God who creates, delights, and loves.
Author
Traditionally Solomon
Time Period
Traditionally c. 965 BC; exact date debated
Key Themes
- Love
- Marriage
- Delight
- Faithfulness
- Beauty
Outline
Opening longing and first meeting (ch. 1:1–2:7): the beloved's desire for her king; she describes herself as dark and lovely; the lover's extravagant praise of her beauty; their mutual delight under the apple tree — "his banner over me is love." The springtime invitation (ch. 2:8–17): the lover leaping on the mountains, calling her to come away into the spring; the little foxes that spoil the vineyard; "My beloved is mine and I am his." The night search (ch. 3): a dream-like scene in which the beloved searches the city streets for her lover and finds him; the king's procession with sixty warriors. The lover's extended praise (ch. 4–5:1): a long and sensory wasf (praise poem) from hair to feet; the garden of spices; the consummation of their love — "I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride." A second night of seeking (ch. 5:2–6:3): the beloved is slow to answer and he is gone; she searches again and describes him to the daughters of Jerusalem in rapturous terms. Mutual belonging and final praise (ch. 6:4–8:14): renewed description of her beauty; "I am my beloved's and his desire is for me"; the declaration that love is as strong as death; the closing invitation to come away.