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Book 22 of 39 · Wisdom & Poetry

Song of Songs

The Complete Story10:37

Overview

The Song of Songs (also called the Song of Solomon or Canticles) is a collection of love poetry. Its title, "The song of songs, which is Solomon's", means "the finest of songs", and it is linked with King Solomon, who appears in it and is said to have written 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32). Whether Solomon wrote it, or it was written about him or in his tradition, is debated; its date is uncertain. It is the only book of the Bible wholly given to the love between a man and a woman, and God's name appears at most once, in a single word near the end (8:6).

The Song is a series of poems in dialogue. The main voices are the bride (once called "the Shulamite", 6:13), her beloved (pictured both as a shepherd and as a king), and a chorus, "the daughters of Jerusalem". Its imagery comes from the land of Israel in spring: vineyards, gardens, gazelles, doves, spices, fountains and mountains. A refrain marks its divisions: "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem... that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till it please" (2:7; 3:5; 8:4).

It can be read in five movements: longing and first love (1:1–2:7); springtime and searching (2:8–3:5); the wedding procession and the garden (3:6–5:1); lost and found (5:2–8:4); and love strong as death (8:5–14).

Part 1 — Longing and First Love (1:1–2:7)

The bride's desire (1). The bride opens: "thy love is better than wine". Speaking to the daughters of Jerusalem, she explains that she is darkened by the sun: "I am black, but comely... my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept." Where do you pasture? (1). She asks her beloved, "Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon." He invites her to follow the tracks of the flock and praises her beauty, likening her to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots. Rose and lily (2). "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." He answers, "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." She replies, "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved... he brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." The first charge (2:7). The movement ends with the refrain: love must not be awakened before its time.

Part 2 — Springtime and Searching (2:8–3:5)

The call of spring (2:8–17). Her beloved comes "leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills" like a gazelle and calls through the window: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come." The fig ripens and the vines blossom. "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines." She declares, "My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies." A night search (3:1–5). At night she seeks him and cannot find him. She goes through the city streets and asks the watchmen. Just after passing them, she finds him: "I held him, and would not let him go." The refrain is repeated.

Part 3 — The Wedding and the Garden (3:6–5:1)

Solomon's procession (3:6–11). "Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense?" It is Solomon's carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, made of cedar of Lebanon with silver posts and gold. The daughters of Zion are called to see the king wearing the crown his mother gave him "in the day of his espousals". Praise of the bride (4:1–7). The bridegroom describes her beauty from head to toe in images from nature: "thou hast doves' eyes", hair like a flock of goats on Mount Gilead. "Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee." The enclosed garden (4:8–5:1). He calls her from the mountains of Lebanon. "Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse." She is "a garden inclosed... a spring shut up, a fountain sealed", full of pomegranates, spices and choice fruits. She answers, "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden... Let my beloved come into his garden." He replies, "I am come into my garden", and a voice blesses them: "Eat, O friends; drink... O beloved." This central scene celebrates the union of the wedding.

Part 4 — Lost and Found (5:2–8:4)

The knock at the door (5:2–8). "I sleep, but my heart waketh." Her beloved knocks, but she hesitates. When she opens, he has gone. She searches the city; this time the watchmen treat her harshly. She asks the daughters of Jerusalem to tell him she is "sick of love". "This is my beloved" (5:9–6:3). The daughters ask, "What is thy beloved more than another beloved?" She describes him: "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand... yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend." Asked where he has gone, she knows: "My beloved is gone down into his garden... to gather lilies. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." Fair as the moon (6:4–13). He praises her again as beautiful as Tirzah and Jerusalem, unique among queens and concubines: "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" The chorus calls, "Return, return, O Shulamite." Into the fields (7:1–8:4). He praises her grace and compares her to a palm tree. She responds, "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field... let us see if the vine flourish." She wishes they could be together openly. The final refrain follows.

Part 5 — Love Strong as Death (8:5–14)

Leaning on her beloved (8:5). "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?" The seal (8:6–7). The Song's climax: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." The last phrase may be read as "the flame of the LORD". "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned." The little sister and the vineyard (8:8–12). The brothers had wondered how to protect their young sister; she now declares she has grown and found peace in her beloved's eyes. Solomon may lease his great vineyard at Baal-hamon for a thousand pieces of silver, but she says, "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me" — her love is hers to give freely. Closing call (8:13–14). The Song ends in longing rather than conclusion: "Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices."

Key themes, and the bridge to Isaiah

  • The goodness of love. The Song celebrates human love, desire and faithfulness as part of God's good creation, echoing Genesis 2.
  • Mutual belonging. "My beloved is mine, and I am his": love is reciprocal, exclusive and freely given.
  • Love's right time. The refrain warns against awakening love before its time.
  • Love's strength. Love is "strong as death" and cannot be bought or quenched.
  • Traditional readings. Jewish tradition, following Rabbi Akiva, read the Song as an allegory of the LORD's love for Israel, and it is read at Passover. Christian interpreters such as Origen and Bernard of Clairvaux read it as the love of Christ and the church, or of God and the soul — echoing the Bible's wider picture of God as husband of his people (Hosea, Isaiah, Ephesians 5, Revelation 19). Many readers today hold the literal and spiritual readings together.

The Song closes the Old Testament's poetic and wisdom books with longing for the beloved's return. The next book, Isaiah, opens the prophets; it too speaks of God's love for his people in marriage language — "as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee" (Isaiah 62:5) — but first it must confront their unfaithfulness.