Song of Solomon 1:1; 2:7; 3:5; 8:4

The Song of Solomon is a book in Scripture that unfolds the drama of the Bride’s faithfulness to her Shepherd-lover in the midst of a world seeking to captivate her by power, force, and seduction. We learn from it primarily what it is to be the Church in the world, not of it.

One pastor wrote this in relation to the Song,

In C . S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader there is a conversational exchange between the children Eustace and Lucy who have just landed on a remote island and met Ramandu, a dazzling personage of wisdom. Lucy has just asked Ramandu about himself

“"I am a star at rest, my daughter," answered Ramandu. . . . "In our world," said Eustace, "a star is a huge ball of flaming gas." "Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of."

Likewise the Song. It is made of liturgical fragments …wedding songs, love songs …, a rustic drama recounting the affairs of a youth with a country maiden… these, though, are not what the Song is, but only what it is made of.

What Is the Song of Solomon?

So, “What is Song of Solomon” is the question. One must know that question before he can give an adequate answer, for many people go through life trying to find answers to life but they don’t even have the right questions! Here we have the question: “What is Song of Solomon?” This is what we must begin with and answer!

The Song of Solomon is a book in Scripture that unfolds the drama of the Bride’s faithfulness to her Shepherd-lover in the midst of a world seeking to captivate her by power, force, and seduction.

If you require a simple answer, the Song is an exposition of salvation; an exposition of the love and grace of God! We are redeemed from an adulterous relationship with the world to a whole relationship with God; so now we love Christ by grace alone through faith alone.

How Is the Bride Faithful to the End?

Another question that is begged of this book is “How is the bride so faithful to her Shepherd?” The answer is that the bride is so faithful to her Shepherd due to her Shepherd alone. The answer throughout the book is how great the Shepherd is—and this puzzles the world completely! The world cannot understand what would make someone so faithful over and against the ease of committing adultery with the world. The astounding answer is that the bride’s Shepherd has been made much more alluring to her than all the world. The devil could take her up to the highest point in the world and offer it all to her, but she will choose her Shepherd-lover over all—this is a work of God in her. Like the bride in this song, the church needs to be worshiping with a great song, wanting a good shepherd, and waiting for a guaranteed success.

Donald Grey Barnhouse said that

love that goes upward is worship; that that goes outward is affection; and love that stoops down is grace.

I read that recently and it actually helps with our text. Let us first consider upward love of Christ—worship; then outward love of Christ—affection; and finally downward love of Christ—grace. We first see that the maiden or bride is…

Worshipping With the Greatest Song!

The Song is about a great salvation! Greatness is defined by dependence. Something being great involves its level of dependence on God. So, a salvation that is great is completely dependent on God—that’s the only thing that makes this salvation great. Nothing in man makes this salvation great, but all that is in God makes this salvation great! It is the salvation of God, meaning God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father planned it. God the Son performed it. God the Spirit applied it.

The first verse reads, “Song of songs,” which is like saying negatively “Vanity of Vanities” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) but more positively, “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). “Song of Songs” (v.1) simply means the greatest, best, supreme or Song of all songs. The subject of this Song makes it great. It is a subject so great that to neglect it is ignorant of life itself. This is what the apostle says in Hebrews 2:3,

How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard.

To neglect this subject is to to be lost in the world, enslaved to sin, and spiritually dead! To neglect the salvation that God has wrought is to neglect something more valuable than food and water—it is of supreme importance.

The Song of Solomon came to be read at the Passover Feast by the Jews commemorating the salvation that God worked to bring Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land. We do not know how this became the tradition, but it simply became associated with the Feast of Passover. Moses sang a song in Exodus 15 concerning this salvation. Adam sounds as if he sang a song when he saw his wife for the first time:

This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.

Christ’s bride would be to him such a song to the world to proclaim the salvation he has wrought to the end! Unlike Adam, Jesus will not leave his bride unprotected, but will do so in the most fundamental way, by making her love for him indestructible. The Salvation that God has wrought in Christ is more powerful than the rescue out of Egypt because it is based on better promises, but most importantly an adequate Savior and keeper of the covenant. So, let’s be like this bride who worships with a great song! Furthermore, let’s be like this bride who…

Wants Her Good Shepherd With Affection

The Church is rescued from the world by a Good Shepherd. In contrast, it was Adam who first broke the covenant with God (Genesis 3; Hosea 6:7), but many followed. Israel is set forth as covenant breakers in spite of the salvation that God had wrought for them out of Egyptian slavery.

Hosea 4:10–11 “They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the LORD to cherish whoredom, wine,1 and new wine, which take away the understanding.”

Hosea 5:4 “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD.”

Hosea 7:4 “They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.”

Jeremiah 3:2 “Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.”

Ezekiel 16:15  “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his.”

Ezekiel 34 describes the shepherds of Israel as total failures, feeding themselves and leaving the flock merely to walk through the muddy fields that they have trampled on to get their food. They did not strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the stray, seek the lost, or rule them gently (cf. Ezek. 34:4). That is what every shepherd of Israel without God was—a failure.

In Song of Solomon verse 1 we read “The song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.” Solomon was no model of covenant faithfulness or love. He was the exact opposite having acquired many horses along with many wives and concubines (1 Kings 11). He was strictly forbidden both (Deut. 7:3; 17:16–17). We know from the Song of Solomon that it is not one in favor of Solomon as we read the close of the book lamenting Solomon by name in 8:11 in contrast to the Shepherd lover in v.12.

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

Apparently we can even see perhaps the general context this was written in as Solomon had 1000 wives and 300 concubines by the time of 1 Kings 11, so it was not long before this as here is alluded 1000 wives and 200. Furthermore, Solomon is always spoken of in the third person in this Song (cf. 3:6–11) and distinguishable in character from the Bride’s true love as a Shepherd who leaps over the mountains (2:8). Solomon however appears as coming from the wilderness (Song 3:6); place of bad memory for any Israelite. Moreover, he is portrayed as King Lemuel by his mother who rebukes his practices and commends to him the true way in Proverbs 31 (see especially vv.1–8). The Bride is called to go away with her Shepherd-lover (4:8), though throughout Scripture we find this is often not without obstacles (Eg. Mark 6:31–34). The translation in v.1 “which is Solomon’s” may read more literally “concerning or to Solomon.” He is at best a portrayal of one who is like the world. And even churches can be like Solomon, however loved by God they can degenerate to worldliness instead of compelling believers to cling all the more to their beloved Shepherd Jesus Christ—whom Solomon is certainly not. Jesus is a covenant keeper, Solomon far from it. So, Jesus said in Luke 12:27,

“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

It may be said of the Song is Solomon positively, that it is the Song of the wisest of men (His Kingdom looked like the Kingdom but wasn’t; and his wisdom looked like saving wisdom, but wasn’t in the end). The Scriptures of the Old Testament are said by Paul to Timothy to make one wise for salvation, and that is the focus for us there. A Bride who is being allured by the Solomon-like power, force, and seduction but who stays faithful to her husband Christ. We may say many things about Solomon, but a good shepherd he was not. This book points us to another within the book who is—namely Christ. So, the church is a bride that wants a good shepherd not a bad one. The church like this bride worships with a great song, and wants a good shepherd. Furthermore, she is…

Waiting For a Guaranteed Success with Grace

The refrain throughout the book is the maiden’s cry against godless seduction. They are the daughters of Jerusalem in 2:7; 3:5; 8:4. Historically Solomon was responsible for acquiring many wives and concubines just like we see was the practice in 1 Kings 1:1–4 in gathering the Shunammite for David. It very well may have been this same woman whose cry we are hearing held captive against her will in Solomon’s kingdom! The good news is that she appears to eventually escape the worldly clutches of the kingdom of Babylonian Jerusalem (see Excursus below).

Excursus: Probable Storyline Behind the Book

The Shunammite woman in 1 Kings 1:1–4 is likely the very woman of Song of Solomon. This is the standard reference to 6:13 at least since the 1600’s as well as the identification given in the Jewish Encyclopedia. She was in the king’s chamber (David’s) and yet the king did not know her. However she became an object of dispute at another time between Solomon and his brother Adonijah (1 Kings 1:13–25). Later a Shunammite woman is found, wealthy, helping Elisha (2 Kings 4). This could be the same woman because Kings is not written chronologically but in messages arranged in order to prepare exiles to return. Or this woman could be related or the writer could have the historical woman in mind for the wisdom poem of Song of Solomon. She is given a son as a reward, and the son dies, and she sees him raised to life! She appears one more time where she is protected from famine by being led to move, and upon her return home to her land, finds it occupied. She appeals to the king and it is restored. God saw this Shunammite and it is like reading the history of this woman only to find a love letter tucked in its pages called “The Song of Solomon.” Perhaps Solomon wrote the song about this woman as an act of repentance? But more likely it was written by Ezra who also is believed to have compiled 1 & 2 Kings while in exile so that the exiles knew their history so as to return home different; different in that they would worship the Lord rightly with a great song, wanting a great shepherd, waiting for a guaranteed success. He used Solomon as the bad example and set forth a song about true love that is about something greater than just two lovers separated from each other because of a powerful, forceful and seducing king. It is about the church conquering the captivity of the world. Solomon is the world if you would, and the Bride the Church, and the Lord is the Shepherd-lover.

What made this bride so great was not that she was untainted or unstained by this world before Christ. She was in fact taken captive by this world, and harassed. The “daughters of Jerusalem” are certainly not held in a positive light by the maiden. They are stirring up a love to happen unnaturally. One translates:

Daughters of Jerusalem! I plead with you—do you not know the gazelles and the hinds of the plain country? I plead with you, Never try to arouse or excite a beloved! till the love come naturally (Seerveld, the greatest song, p.25).

The mention of gazelles or the does of the field is telling. The gazelle is is known for a ritualistic mating that is timed in order to make sure they can have their young flourish. One article said,

Many refer to the gazelle mating behavior as ritualized. Gazelles will typically mate during the rainy season so that their offspring have plenty of water to drink. When gazelles are ready to mate, the male lowers and stretches his head and neck. He'll then follow the female closely and march. (https://www.squawmountainranch.com/gazelle-mating-behavior/)

Moreover, the gazelle calls its mate out from the woods or wilderness in the same way that the bride in chapter 1 is called out from indoors to the field in 2:8–9. Her beloved is a gazelle whose presence and voice is naturally alluring to her, not King Solomon who comes in power, force and seduction to make her love him. The bride repeats this phrase in 3:5 where in opposition to the powerful king coming up from the wilderness (3:6–4:7) the shepherd lover calls her away (4:8ff). And lastly she utters this phrase in 8:4 a final time before the closing scene of her with her shepherd lover, her true beloved and  the definition of love is there further defined.

The church will most certainly overcome the godless seduction of this world. The seducers whether they be in the church or without will leave one day and the church will have unceasing communion with her lover forever. This communion is had throughout and increasingly until that final day. We will be wise to listen to this Wisdom Song for our Christian lives. For we learn within this great book that there is hope for those whose love is for Christ alone! Far from even this bride remaining pure and lacking any abuse, she is both one who like Adam did not keep her garden (1:6) and one who was abused in body and soul by men (5:7).

In the Book of Ruth we read about a woman who thought all hope was lost, Naomi. She even wanted to change her name. But not too long in her despair did a redeemer come and shine favor on Ruth and made both Ruth and Naomi part of a glad company proving that the Redeemer’s great love is guaranteed in success. Naomi upon seeing the measure of barley brought back to her came from calling herself bitter to uttering these certain words in Ruth 3:18,

Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.

Song of Solomon is like six measures of grain depositing in the hands of a hopeless woman the security that she will not long be without redemption! But God has given us a greater guarantee—His Spirit! The matter was settled and the Redeemer faced the false one at the gates and secured his bride.

Conclusion: The Contrast Stated

In contrast to the world’s wisdom that sings of themselves, the bride sings a song of her beloved in worship! In contrast to the world’s wisdom that wants bad things and bad things now, godly wisdom wants the good shepherd no matter how long and how much it takes to get to him. In contrast to the world’s wisdom that leaves things to chance and luck, the bride trusts God’s kingdom will overcome the kingdoms of this world in time. What makes the bride in the song great is her subject of adoration, longing, and security is Christ alone! What makes this Song great is Christ alone! What makes a church great is her adoration, longing, and love for Christ alone!