READ IT! - Introduction to Song of Songs 1-5

Introduction to Song of Songs 1-5

The book is sometimes called "The Song of Solomon" because Solomon is mentioned in it, however, the main man in the poem is probably not Solomon since he talks about his devotion towards this one woman over any kind of interest over other beautiful women... which doesn't sound like Solomon, the man with 700 wives and 300 concubines, at all. 

It’s about sex… 

Is it okay for Christians to talk about sex? Why did God create us as sexual beings? Why are many Christians afraid or embarrassed to talk about sex? Is it harmful not to talk about sex? Should we embrace our sexuality? If so, how can that be done appropriately? 

Three Hebrew words for love… 

Raya = Friendship 

"You're beautiful from head to toe, my dear raya, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless." 

Ahava = Deep affection and commitment 

"Ahava is as strong as death; many rivers cannot quench ahava." 

Dod = Physical and sexual passion 

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your dod is more delightful than wine." 

Chapter 1 

The introduction calls the poem "the song of songs", a construction commonly used in Scriptural Hebrew to show something as the greatest and most beautiful of its class (as in Holy of Holies). 

The poem proper begins with the woman's expression of desire for her lover and her self-description to the "daughters of Jerusalem": she insists on her sun-born blackness, likening it to the "tents of Kedar" (nomads) and the "curtains of Solomon." 

A dialogue between the lovers follows: the woman asks the man to meet; he replies with a lightly teasing tone. The two compete in offering flattering compliments ("my beloved is to me as a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En Gedi", "an apple tree among the trees of the wood", "a lily among brambles", while the bed they share is like a forest canopy). 

The section closes with the woman telling the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up love such as hers until it is ready. 

Chapter 2 

The woman recalls a visit from her lover in the springtime. She uses imagery from a shepherd's life, and she says of her lover that "he pastures his flock among the lilies." 

He says, “She is a lily among thorns.” 

She says, “He is an apple tree in the wood. Here he comes, leaping on the mountains. My beloved is mine and I am his.” 

Chapter 3 

The woman again addresses the daughters of Jerusalem, describing her fervent and ultimately successful search for her lover through the night-time streets of the city. When she finds him, she takes him almost by force into the chamber in which her mother conceived her. She reveals that this is a dream, seen on her "bed at night" and ends by again warning the daughters of Jerusalem "not to stir up love until it is ready." 

The next section reports a royal wedding procession. Solomon is mentioned by name, and the daughters of Jerusalem are invited to come out and see the spectacle. She says, “Behold, O daughters of Zion, the carriage of King Solomon!” 

Chapter 4 

The man describes his beloved: Her hair is like a flock of goats, her teeth like shorn ewes, and so on from face to breasts. Place-names feature heavily: her neck is like the Tower of David, her smell like the scent of Lebanon. He hastens to summon his beloved, saying that he is ravished by even a single glance. The section becomes a "garden poem", in which he describes her as a "locked garden" (usually taken to mean that she is chaste). The woman invites the man to enter the garden and taste the fruits. The man accepts the invitation, and a third party tells them to eat, drink, "and be drunk with love." 

Chapter 5 

The woman tells the daughters of Jerusalem of another dream. She was in her chamber when her lover knocked. She was slow to open, and when she did, he was gone. She searched through the streets again, but this time she failed to find him and the watchmen, who had helped her before, now beat her.