Song of Solomon
True love: the bride’s delight in her beloved and his delight in her—a picture of Christ and His bride.
The Song of Solomon is a love poem, “the song of songs, which is Solomon’s” (1:1), the finest of the 1,005 songs he wrote. It celebrates the love between Solomon and a young woman called the Shulamite, moving through courtship, longing, separation, reunion, and wedded love. Its language is rich with images from gardens, vineyards, spices, and the countryside of Israel.
The Song teaches, first, that marital love is a good gift of God. Within the covenant of marriage, delight in one’s spouse is holy and to be celebrated. The book honors faithfulness, purity before marriage, and the strength of committed love: “many waters cannot quench love” (8:7).
The Song also carries a spiritual meaning. Jews read it as a picture of the LORD’s love for Israel, and Christians have long seen in it the love of Christ for His bride. Paul’s teaching that marriage is “a great mystery... concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32) opens the door. The believer can read the Song and hear the Lord say, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away” (2:10).
Writer: Solomon
Written: Early in Solomon’s reign, about 1014 BC.
Name: The song of songs; Solomon’s finest song
Title and authorship
The Hebrew title, Shir hashshirim, “Song of songs,” means the best of songs, as “holy of holies” means the most holy place. It is also called Canticles (from the Latin) and Solomon’s Song.
Solomon wrote the Song (1:1; 1 Kings 4:32), probably early in his reign, before his many marriages led him astray. The Jews have always ascribed it to him.
Historical background
Jerusalem, the royal court, and the countryside of northern Israel—Lebanon, Shunem, Hermon, and Sharon—about 1014 BC in the traditional chronology.
Israel, and through it every married couple and every believer who would understand the love between the Lord and His people.
Imagery of the land
The Song mentions Lebanon, Hermon, Gilead, Carmel, Sharon, En-gedi, Heshbon, and Tirzah, and draws on spices such as spikenard, myrrh, frankincense, saffron, and cinnamon. The imagery reflects Solomon’s interest in nature (1 Kings 4:33) and the luxury of his court.
Royal wedding
Chapter 3 describes Solomon’s wedding procession: a palanquin of cedar with pillars of silver, a bottom of gold, and a covering of purple, escorted by sixty valiant men with swords. Solomon wears the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his espousals (3:11).
Read at Passover
The Song is one of the five scrolls read at Jewish festivals—at Passover, the feast of Israel’s redemption and espousal to the LORD (Jeremiah 2:2).
Key passages
Song of Solomon 2:16
“My beloved is mine, and I am his.”
Song of Solomon 7:10
“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.”
Song of Solomon 8:7
“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”
Outline
1–2 · Love and delight
The bride and bridegroom express affection and rejoice in one another.
3 · Seeking and procession
A scene of searching gives way to the royal bridal procession.
4–5 · Admiration and longing
The beloved is praised; a further scene of separation and searching deepens the expression of desire.
6–7 · Mutual devotion
The poetry celebrates beauty, affection, and belonging.
8 · Love unquenchable
The final movement declares the strength and lasting value of love.
Original language
דּוֹד (dod, H1730) — “beloved”
“Beloved” or “love.” The bride uses it of the king more than thirty times. The name David is related to it.
רַעְיָה (ra’yah, H7474) — “my love”
A term of endearment, “companion” or “friend,” used by the king of the bride nine times, only in this book.
שׁוּלַמִּית (Shulammith, H7759) — “Shulamite”
Probably “woman of Shunem” (Shulem), or a feminine form related to Solomon’s own name, “the Solomoness.” Either way she belongs to the king.
Doctrinal study
Marriage and the mystery of Christ
Scripture uses marriage to describe God’s relationship to His people: the LORD as Israel’s husband (Isaiah 54:5; Hosea 2:16) and Christ as the Bridegroom of the Church (Ephesians 5:25–32; Revelation 19:7). The Song provides the language of that love.
The call to come away
“Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone” (2:10–11). The Bridegroom comes for His bride at the end of winter; the Lord will descend and catch away His Church to be with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17).
Fellowship broken and restored
In chapter 5 the beloved knocks, but the bride is slow to rise; when she opens, he is gone, and she seeks him through the city. The scene pictures the believer’s loss of fellowship through indifference and the Lord’s knock at the door of the lukewarm (Revelation 3:20).
Commentary notes
Song and Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes shows the emptiness of what the world offers; the Song shows the fullness of a personal relationship of love. The book of vanity is followed by the song of satisfaction.
The shepherd and the king
One reading sees Solomon disguised as a shepherd who wins the love of a country girl, leaves, and later returns as king to take her to his palace. Whether or not every detail fits, the picture of One who came in humility and will return in glory for His bride is precious.
Practical applications
The Song calls believers to a definite devotion to Christ, carefulness not to grieve Him, obedience as proof of love, loyalty to His cause, and a desire to see His kingdom extended.
Christ in the book
- The Beloved — “the chiefest among ten thousand... altogether lovely” (5:10, 16)
- The King who crowns and brings His bride into His banqueting house (2:4)
- The Bridegroom who calls, “Rise up... and come away” (2:10)
Applications
Historical
- The wooing and wedding of a Shulamite by King Solomon and the joys and heartaches of wedded love.
- The poem belongs to the Solomonic world and presents the Shulamite within a setting of rural labor and royal love.
- Its poetic movements do not yield a simple chapter-by-chapter historical chronology; speaker and scene changes deserve careful attention.
Doctrinal
- The intimate relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride, the Church, including the call to “come away” (2:10–13) that pictures the catching away of the saints.
- The bridegroom and bride provide a picture of Christ’s love for his church, with mutual belonging at the center.
- The invitation in 2:8–13 is a type of Christ’s call to his bride, arising from the poem’s historical description of the beloved’s arrival.
Devotional
- The love God has for the individual believer, and the devotion and love the believer should have for Him. It also reminds husbands and wives to cherish, delight in, and write love letters to one another.
- The expressions of affection illustrate the cultivation of love through words, attention, and devotion.
- The picture of longing for the beloved invites examination of the believer’s own desire for fellowship with Christ.
Answering the critics
Arguments over the Song’s canonicity go back to the first century AD; some modern readers call it a secular love poem or even indecent and unsuitable for the Bible.
Jews and Christians have always received the Song as Holy Scripture; Rabbi Akiba called it “the holy of holies” among the writings. God created marital love and is not embarrassed by it; the charge of indecency reflects the reader’s mind, not the text. The Song is chaste, poetic, and full of spiritual meaning.