"The Song of Solomon"
By Michael Browder Ph.D.
February 14, 2010

I will never forget when I first really discovered the Song of Solomon. I was in high school at the time. I was going through that stage of life when I was feeling distant from the church. The world of faith seemed too stuffy, too alienated from the things that interested me. My life revolved around dating, and poetry, and love songs.

And then I heard this passage from the Bible, and the words of this song knocked me off my feet. Suddenly, I realized that God was not relegated to monasteries and rummage sales. I knew that God understood the mysteries of my heart. I felt the Lord close by. Since that day, this Canticle has been my favorite book of the Bible.

In the end, I think the refreshing, unique perspective of the Song of Solomon is why it was included in the canon of the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament. The fact that it does not specifically mention God, and the fact that it includes mature romantic themes, set many rabbis against it. But the most famous rabbi, Akiba, spoke up for it and said: “The whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel. For all the Scriptures are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies!”

So, here we have it. Right here in the middle of the Bible: a love song. Don’t get confused by the name. Sometimes it is called the Song of Solo-mon (KJV), sometimes it is called the Song of Songs (modern versions), and sometimes it is called the Canticle, or Canticle of Canticles (Latin Vulgate and Catholic Bible). What the Hebrew title says literally is “The Song of Songs of Solomon.”

We classify this book with the “Wisdom Literature” of the Old Testament,because it is associated with Solomon, who was known for both his wisdom and his romantic interests. I Kings 4:32 says that Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. Solomon is also said to have written Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. When it was asked, “How could Solomon write three such different books?” the rabbis used to answer: “When a man is young, he writes love songs (Song), when he is in his middle years, he likes to give advice (Proverbs), and when he is old, he talks about what’s wrong with everything (Ecclesiastes).”

The heart of this book is the love poetry that Solomon wrote to his sweetheart. It makes good reading on Valentines Day. To those who would claim that the book has to be later than Solomon, by comparing it to later literature,

I would point to the very similar romantic poetry of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians and Canaanites, which came much earlier.

It is clear, however, that Solomon’s is not the only voice in this song. There is also a woman’s voice. For that reason, we can say that part of this book of the Bible is absolutely authored by a woman. She is called the Shulamite. In Hebrew, this is a female form of the name Solomon. It means “Solomon’s girl” or “Mrs. Solomon.” Some scholars have suggested that this book was created to be read, or sung, on Solomon’s wedding day. It does include a chorus. It functions like the chorus in a Greek tragedy or that in a modern musical. Can it be the choir singing at a wedding?

With so many romantic and even erotic images, you ask: How did this book get into the Bible? Well, it would never have made it, if the leaders of faith had not seen it as allegory. It offers many levels of interpretation. I learned a lot about this from my professor and mentor at Duke, Roland Murphy, a Catholic priest, who wrote the best commentary yet on the Song of Songs.

The ancient Jews saw this book as an allegory of the relationship between God and his beloved Israel. Christians have seen it as the relationship between Christ and his bride, the Church. We sometimes use images from this book to refer to Christ as the “Rose of Sharon” or the “Lilly of the Valley.” Do you remember that old hymn?: “He’s the Lilly of the Valley, the bright and Morning Star. He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul!” Mystics take the book as a symbol of the love relationship between God and our soul. The mystic, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, once preached 86 sermons on the first two chapters alone. He says of this Song: “It is everywhere love that speaks. If anyone hopes to grasp the sense of what he reads, let him love. Whereas someone who does not love, will hear or read this song of love in vain.”

When you think about it, it is hard to find a way to describe the feeling, deep down inside of us, when we are on fire with love for God. Perhaps the closest feeling is that of a youth who is head over heals in love. The Song of Songs provides some excellent images to express these deep feelings of loving and intimate faith, feelings of closeness to God.

Still, I find it more than a little ironic that those who are adamant, that all the rest of the Bible should be taken very literally, suddenly, when they come to the Song of Solomon, they say, “Oh, we must take this symbolically!” To them, I reply: “When the Bible says “lips,” it really means lips!”

I think God gave us this book of the Bible to give us a positive image of what love and sex are supposed to be. We human beings are so funny. Even after thousands of years, every youth who has their first kiss, thinks,“This is so wonderful! No one has ever had this feeling before.” Talk to some of our church members who have been married 50 and 60 years: They can tell you a thing or two about it! Amen? It is God who created romance, and marriage, and even sex. These things are meant to be used in harmony with God’s will, as part of the Lord’s wonderful plan for us.

The ancient Israelites lived in a world, which like ours, was obsessed with sex. In the face of this, God’s people tried to witness to God’s values for love and marriage. Sooner or later, people asked: “OK. We know what you are against. Tell us what you are for.” And the Lord provided this wonderful Songs of Songs to give us a model of what love and married life can be like. It lifts up the values of monogamy, faithfulness, patience and tenderness. Sex is God’s gift to us. Scripture reminds us that this gift carries great responsibility. It should not be abused.

When I see the raw sexual themes which have come to permeate our society today, I think that we could learn something from the natural beauty and the soft-spokenness of the Song of Solomon.

The great writer John Milton once said that the best poetry is [quote] “simple, sensuous and passionate.” Our Canticle clearly meets these criteria. Sensuous is a word which describes it well. We smell the flowers of spring and we taste the honey. We see the woman’s beauty, we hear her beloved’s whisper, we feel their embrace. We are lifted by the man’s enthusiasm as he leaps over the mountains like a gazelle. We share the woman’s breathless excitement when she pants, “Refresh me with raisins! I am weak with love.” Here are words too delicate to offend the chaste reader, yet what romantic novelist would not envy their power?

Let me close with some of the most memorable words found in this Song:

“My beloved speaks and he says to me: ‘Arise! 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 singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.’ ‘Arise, my darling, my love. Arise and come away with me.’” (2:10-13)

Song of Solomon Seclections

Chapter 1: 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine,

3 your anointing oils are fragrant, your name is perfume poured out; therefore the girls love you.

5 I am black and beautiful…

Chapter 4: 1 How beautiful you are, my love, how very beautiful!

Your eyes are doves behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.

2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing,

all of which are twins, and not one among them is missing.

3 Your lips are like a crimson thread, and your mouth is lovely.

Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

10 How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride!

how much better is your love than wine,

and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!

11 Your lips distill nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue;

the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.

Chapter 8:6 6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,… as a seal upon your arm;

for love is strong as death,… passion fierce as the grave.

Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.

Today’s Joke:

They asked a guy, “What are you going to get your wife for Valentine’s Day?”

“A belt and a bag to go with it,” he answered.

“How elegant!” they remarked.