Day 199: Song of Solomon 1-4

(This fifth and final book that made up the poetic section of the Old Testament was also written by the same author of the previous two books: Solomon. We have seen Solomon did not keep God's commandment and remove the high places (2 Kings 23)...even though he concluded the previous book by stating he knew fearing God and doing His commandments was the whole duty of man. Solomon knew what to say, however, Solomon did not feel it enough to do it.

The Book of Ecclesiastes was the fourth of the five books that made up the poetic section of the Old Testament. Clearly, Solomon's thought process changed between the Book of Proverbs (the third book of the poetic section) and the Book of Ecclesiastes. The previous book was written near the end of his life. We will see there was an event that occurred between the time of the previous two books that may have led to this change in Solomon's thought process.)

(The theme of the Song of Solomon, also known as Canticles which meant "song of songs" in Latin, was literally the love of Solomon for a Shulamite woman (Song of Solomon 6:13). The figurative meaning was debatable. Most Jews believed the bride represented Israel and the groom represented God. Most Christians believed the bride represented the Church and the groom represented Christ. In fact, early church history claimed that because of the explicit content of this book, Jewish males were not allowed to read this until they were thirty years old. Remember, this was a song. In songs, the story location and focus can change in one verse and in this Song, it often did...)

Song of Solomon 1
¹ The Song of songs, which is Solomon's.

(The phrase "song of songs" told the reader this was the most excellent of songs. Similar to Christ being described as the King of kings, Lord of lords, etc. Solomon was introduced as the author, however, the first speaker was a Shulamite woman...)

² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; For thy love is better than wine.
³ Thine oils have a goodly fragrance; Thy name is as oil poured forth; Therefore do the virgins love thee.

(The bride referred to the man to whom she was betrothed: a shepherd. We have seen the Law stated that virgins could be betrothed without having completed (consummated) the Marriage Covenant, for example: Deuteronomy 22:23-24. The bride was promised in Marriage to a groom.)

⁴ Draw me; we will run after thee: The king hath brought me into his chambers; We will be glad and rejoice in thee; We will make mention of thy love more than of wine: Rightly do they love thee.

(The king was Solomon. While Solomon was visiting the northern part of the kingdom, he saw this Shulamite woman and wanted her to marry him even though she was already betrothed/engaged. The bride was calling to her groom to rescue her from Solomon. Next, the bride answered the scorn of the ladies of Solomon's court...)

⁵ I am black, but comely, Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon.

("Black" and "comely" means that she had dark skin and she was beautiful.)

⁶ Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, Because the sun hath scorched me. My mother's sons were incensed against me; They made me keeper of the vineyards; But mine own vineyard have I not kept.

("Swarthy" is the same word as "black." She did not want to be looked upon because of her beauty. She did not want the "blackness" or the "comeliness" to be the cause people focused on. Her "vineyard" represented her "husbandry": who God created her to be. She felt unworthy and unkept. She desired a true husbandman. A man that would "keep her vineyard"....who would work her land by nourishing and cherishing her.)

(Next, the bride asked her groom, who was a shepherd, where he could be found...)

⁷ Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, Where thou makest it to rest at noon: For why should I be as one that is veiled Beside the flocks of thy companions?

(The court ladies responded...)

⁸ If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.

(There response was sarcastic: if you do not know where your shepherd is, take "your flock" to the tents of the shepherds. Next, Solomon spoke...)

⁹ I have compared thee, O my love, To a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.

(This verse has been used to prove that the bride was literally Solomon's Egyptian wife: 1 Kings 3:1.)

¹⁰ Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair, Thy neck with strings of jewels.
¹¹ We will make thee plaits of gold With studs of silver.

(Solomon was promising to give her jewels, gold, and silver if she would become his wife. Next, the bride spoke while she was with her groom (the shepherd)...)

¹² While the king sat at his table, My spikenard sent forth its fragrance.
¹³ My beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh, That lieth betwixt my breasts.
¹⁴ My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna-flowers In the vineyards of En-gedi.

(The groom had come to visit his bride while Solomon sat at his table. The groom spoke...)

¹⁵ Behold, thou art fair, my love; Behold thou art fair; Thine eyes are as doves.

(It was believed that the doves mentioned here had large and beautiful eyes. The bride replied...)

¹⁶ Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: Also our couch is green.

(The couch or bed being green symbolized the fruit of their union.)

¹⁷ The beams of our house are cedars, And our rafters are firs.

(Cedars were the support of their house. Cedar was pleasing to the eye and smell as well as being a hard wood that was never eaten by worms. This would have been a pleasing yet strong support. Their rafters or roof was made of fir. This also was a durable and fragrant wood. The bride continued to speak...)




Song of Solomon 2
¹ I am a rose of Sharon, A lily of the valleys.

(Sharon was in North Palestine, between Mount Tabor and Lake Tiberias (1 Chronicles 5:16). The word Sharon meant "a plain." One thought here was that she was using this as a symbol of her humility. Next, the groom spoke...)

² As a lily among thorns, So is my love among the daughters.

(The groom saw her as outgrowing her surroundings like a lily outgrew the thorns. The bride spoke...)

³ As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

(She saw her man as a tree that produced fruit among wild trees...wild men. She appreciated the fruit of his life.)

⁴ He brought me to the banqueting-house, And his banner over me was love.

(He provided protection with a banner of love.)

⁵ Stay ye me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am sick from love.

("Stay me with raisins" refers to her looking for nourishment. The word stay meant "strengthen.")

⁶ His left hand is under my head, And his right hand doth embrace me.

(Next, the bride was separated from the groom and back in Solomon's tents speaking to the ladies of his court...)

⁷ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the roes, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, Until he please.

(In the original manuscripts, the word "my" was not present. This verse ought to read: "That ye stir not, up, nor awake love..." She told the women not to encourage her to be passionate towards Solomon.)

⁸ The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh, Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills.

(She was hugely energized by his voice, remembering the first time she met her groom (the shepherd).)

⁹ My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: Behold, he standeth behind our wall; He looketh in at the windows; He glanceth through the lattice.
¹⁰ My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

(The groom called her away.)

¹¹ For, lo, the winter is past; The rain is over and gone;
¹² The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;
¹³ The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs, And the vines are in blossom; They give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

(She presented his reason (why) he called her away. He saw the profitable season as the time for union with her, his proposal. Next, she spoke of her groom...)

¹⁴ O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, In the covert of the steep place, Let me see thy countenance, Let me hear thy voice; For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

(She called him a dove.)

¹⁵ Take us the foxes, the little foxes, That spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in blossom.

(She spoke of her brothers who hindered her time with her groom by giving her work.)

¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his: He feedeth his flock among the lilies.
¹⁷ Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart Upon the mountains of Bether.

(Despite the distractions, she had faith they were joined. "Until the day be cool" had not happened yet. According to Hebrews 11:1, faith was a belief in something that had not happened or something you couldn't see. Next, she explained what happened when she went to look for her groom at night...)




Song of Solomon 3
¹ By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
² I said, I will rise now, and go about the city; In the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
³ The watchmen that go about the city found me; To whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

(When he did not show up, she went to find him. She asked the watchman where the groom was. Later, she found him...)

⁴ It was but a little that I passed from them, When I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, Until I had brought him into my mother's house, And into the chamber of her that conceived me.

(She found him and did not want to let him go. She had stated she chose her groom over Solomon. Next, she spoke directly to the ladies of the court. Remember, this was a song and the focus of the dialogue changed often and quickly...)

⁵ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the roes, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, Until he please.

(Again, she warned the ladies not to encourage her to be passionate towards Solomon. This time it was spoken because Solomon was taking her back to Jerusalem to convince her to marry him. The rest of the verses in this chapter were spoken from the perspective of the people of Jerusalem as they witnessed Solomon's procession back to Jerusalem from Shunem.)

⁶ Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness Like pillars of smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all powders of the merchant?
⁷ Behold, it is the litter of Solomon; Threescore mighty men are about it, Of the mighty men of Israel.
⁸ They all handle the sword, and are expert in war: Every man hath his sword upon his thigh, Because of fear in the night.

(The "pillars of smoke" referred to what the white robed people in the procession looked like in the breeze, which also carried the fragrances to the observers. The word litter meant "bed." Solomon had sixty mighty men as body guards.)

⁹ King Solomon made himself a palanquin Of the wood of Lebanon.
¹⁰ He made the pillars thereof of silver, The bottom thereof of gold, the seat of it of purple, The midst thereof being paved with love, From the daughters of Jerusalem.

(The palanquin that Solomon made was a "chariot" usually made for only one person, usually a bed that was carried by others.)

¹¹ Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon, With the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him In the day of his espousals, And in the day of the gladness of his heart.

(The phrase "daughters of Zion" was only used in three other places in the Bible. Each time it was in connection with rebuking. Perhaps the women were jealous of the Shulamite that Solomon had brought back for "espousal." Next, the shepherd (groom) who followed the procession spoke about his bride...)




Song of Solomon 4
¹ Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, That lie along the side of mount Gilead.
² Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn, Which are come up from the washing, Whereof every one hath twins, And none is bereaved among them.
³ Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, And thy mouth is comely. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate Behind thy veil.
⁴ Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armory, Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, All the shields of the mighty men.
⁵ Thy two breasts are like two fawns That are twins of a roe, Which feed among the lilies.

(Next, the bride responded...)

⁶ Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, And to the hill of frankincense.

(The bride agreed to return home with her groom. The shepherd responded...)

⁷ Thou art all fair, my love; And there is no spot in thee.

(He said there was "no spot in thee." Possible comparison to Ephesians 5:25-27 (EMPHASIS ADDED):
"25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, NOT HAVING SPOT, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.")

⁸ Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, With me from Lebanon: Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions' dens, From the mountains of the leopards.

(The groom called her away.)

⁹ Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck.
¹⁰ How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride! How much better is thy love than wine! And the fragrance of thine oils than all manner of spices!

(Now the shepherd said that her love was better than wine, fragrant oils, and all spices.)

¹¹ Thy lips, O my bride, drop as the honeycomb: Honey and milk are under thy tongue; And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
¹² A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
¹³ Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants,

(He compared her to a garden and rejoiced in her fruit (effects). The word "orchard" also referenced a paradise.)

¹⁴ Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.
¹⁵ Thou art a fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And flowing streams from Lebanon.

(Next, the bride responded...)

¹⁶ Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, And eat his precious fruits.

(She accepted all that he stated. She wanted to give him the effects he desired: spices flowing out of the garden and him eating the "fruit" of the garden.)

(This post covered the first half of the Song of Solomon. Solomon had taken the Shulamite woman back to his palace in order to convince her to marry him.)

Day 200