An Overview of Song of Solomon

Memory Verse: Song of Solomon 8:7, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: …”

 KEY VERSES: SONG OF SOLOMON 2:4 “He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love.”

SONG OF SOLOMON 6:3   “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.”

DATE: 1000 B. C.

PURPOSE:    In contrast to the Book of Ecclesiastes that shows the empti­ness and vanity of all the world has to offer, Song of Solomon shows the height and fullness that is offered in a spiritual rela­tionship to the Lord. Here we have the day and night of it all. We come from the Wilderness Journeys into the Land of Caanan.

THEME: “The Love That Should Exist between Christ and His Own.”

Of course, this is a type. The lovers in the Song of Solomon represent the Lord Jesus Christ and His Bride, the New Testament church. The groom or the shepherd boy, represents Christ; the bride represents all believers.

WRITTEN:     The Book, Song of Solomon, was written to express the inner­most feelings of God for His people.

When one considers the tremendous truth found in Ephesians Chapter Five, the union of husband and wife as an earthly illustration of the heavenly rela­tionship between Christ and His church, then the Song of Solo­mon takes on new meaning. The love relationship between and husband and wife is portrayed in this book. It records the intimate thoughts of each spouse and their public praise of each other. The ideal marriage is when husband and wife are exotic lovers and best friends (5:16) and this is accomplished with the following words: forever, righteousness, judgment, loving kindness, mercies, faithfulness, and thou shout know the Lord (Hosea 2:19-20). God established the institution of marriage for the holy purposes of companionship, comfort, completeness, enjoyment, fruitfulness, security, protection, instruction, and doctrine (Ephesians 5:30-32). An ideal and loving marital relationship is one of the greatest examples that parents can provide for their children.

This Book is probably censored more and read less than any other Book. Only to an unspiritual mind is the book considered indecent. This book pictures the intimate love between the Lord Jesus Christ and His Bride, the church of the New Testament. Because of this intimate language, the Jews would not allow anyone under the age of 21 to read it.

1. THE TWO INTERPRETATIONS OF THE SONG OF SOLOMON
2. This is dialogue between Solomon and one of his wives. They say that when the bride speaks, it is the girl speaking; when the groom speaks, it is Solomon speaking. When you read with this interpretation it makes several parts of the book very confusing.
3. The “shepherd’s theory.” This theory teaches that the girl mentioned here was a Shunammite girl, that she was very poor, and that she came from the shepherds’ country. She had a lover, or a fiancé, who was a shepherd in the hills. She was to marry him, and she was deeply in love with him. It is supposed, according to this theory, that Solomon saw the girl and that he had desire to add her to his harem. She was a very lovely girl, and Solomon was infatuated by her. He sought to bring her to the palace to love him. He brought her before himself, but she refused his offers. He offered her money, but she was faithful to her sweetheart in the hills. He offered her a part of the throne, but she was faithful to the young man she loved who was a shepherd boy. Though she was away from him, she nevertheless loved him and was faithful to him. Solomon offered her garments, wardrobe, fame, and all that would accompany the kingdom. She, however, would rather have her boy in the hills than all the riches of Solomon and the benefits derived from those riches. She didn’t want to be one of many in the harem of Solomon but she wanted to be the one and only of her shepherd boy.

An insightful interpretation of the book: Solomon represents the world and what it has to offer. The shepherd boy in the hills represents the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. The young lady represents the bride of Christ, or God’s people. The world has much to offer. It offers us pleasure, but we are to be faithful to Jesus. It offers us fame, but we are to be faithful to Jesus. It offers us temporal happiness, but we are to be faithful to Jesus. Though we are separated from Him, as was the young lady to her shepherd boy, we are to be faithful to Him, as was the young lady to her shepherd boy.

1. THE FELLOWSHIP BETWEEN THE BRIDE AND THE BRIDEGROOM

There is no place in all the Bible where the fellowship between Christ and His church is typified so beautifully as it is in the Song of Solomon. When the bride speaks, it is a symbol of prayer and the prayer life that we should enjoy with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then when the bridegroom speaks to the bride, this pictures God speaking to us. Of course, God speaks to us through the Bible.

III.       THE BRIDE WITNESSING FOR THE BRIDEGROOM

Here is a beautiful picture of witnessing and soul winning in Song of Solomon 5:6 – 6:1.

1. The bridegroom is gone – a picture of Jesus going back to Heaven. Song of Solomon 5:6. The bride is away from Him.
2. While the bridegroom is away, the bride is asked, “What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women?” Song of Solomon 5:9a. The bride is on the spot, for other young ladies were wanting to know how her beloved is different from any other beloved. Here is a picture of the world wanting to know what is so unusual about the Christian religion. Why is it so different? Why is Jesus so much greater than any other god? The world waits to see.
3. The bride witnesses to the other young ladies. Song of Solomon 5:10-16. Here is a beautiful portion of Scripture. The bride is so in love with the bridegroom that she jumps at the opportunity to brag on him. Notice the beautiful words of description she uses. Here is a picture of the way we are to describe Jesus to an unconverted world. We are to make Him as lovely as He really is, and to witness for Him and tell of His wonders.
4. The young ladies were convinced! Song of Solomon 6:1. The bride had done such a wonderful job of convincing the other girls that they wanted to seek him with her. What a tremendous job she had done of witnessing! Here is a picture of you and me as we witness to the world about the loveliness of Christ in His absence. We are to do such a good job that they, like the young ladies in the Song of Solomon, will want to come and seek Him with us.
5. BROKEN FELLOWSHIP

Compare Song of Solomon 2:6 with Song of Solomon 8:3. Here is an interesting play on words. In 2:6, the fellowship was sweet. One arm was under the head and the other arm embraced the bride. In 8:3, the same thing is mentioned except the word “should” is there. Something happened. The sweet fellowship and tender love of 2:6 is missing in 8:3. The Lord is trying to tell us that it is easy for the Christian just to drift away and for his heart to become cold. He loses that sweet fellowship and that wonderful walk he had with Christ in the early days of his salvation.

LESSONS FROM SONG OF SOLOMON

Song of Solomon 2:8-13   The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come 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 is heard in our land;

13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

This section between the paragraph marks implies the rapture of the church may occur near the time of Pentecost (Acts 2:1; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).

Song of Solomon 2:14-15   O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

The bearing of fruit is often hindered by little things (Song 5:6; Reve. 2:4-5). Confidence of experience can cause one to lose his total reliance upon God (Prov. 3:26; Phil. 3:3). Failure to be filled with the Holy Ghost hinders the work of the Christian (Eph. 5:18). Failure to pray for new converts hinders their growth (Eph. 1:15-18; Col 1:9-14). President James Madison wisely said about national freedom, “I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” In the Boyd v. United States case, (116 US 616), The Supreme Court stated, “Illegitimate and unconstitutional practices get their first footing in that way, namely, by silent approaches and slight deviations from legal modes of procedure.”

Song of Solomon 5:1-7   I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

2 I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.

5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

Spiritually, Christians can be preoccupied with their service for the Lord and fail in their walk with the Lord (Luke 10:42). Prophetically, this pictures a Jewish saint persecuted by the religious watchmen of the tribulation (Ezek. 34:1-10; John 16:2; Rev. 13:11; 16:13).

Song of Solomon 7:1-4   How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

2 Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.

3 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.

4 Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

The intimate act of marriage and it’s private setting is holy (Heb. 13:4), but perverted minds revel in fornication and it’s lust (Ezek. 16:26; 1 Cor. 6:18). The marriage act is a personal and playful event between husband and wife (Gen. 26:8). The healing and stimulating properties of herbs aid this exotic act of love and it’s sacred pleasure (7:13).

Song of Solomon 8:6-7   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.

7 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.

Jealousy reveals the wickedness of the heart of man and its insatiable desire for revenge (James 3:14-17). It is amazing what former lovers will do to each other for revenge, but godly love forgives the wrong and survives the storm (1 Cor. 13:1-7; Eph. 4:32; 1 Peter 4:8). Unforgiveness is the only sin mentioned in the model prayer (Matt. 6:14-15). An unforgiving spirit reaps its own sin through unclean spirits (Matt. 18:34-35; 2 Cor. 2:10-11; James 2:13). Forgiveness is not and emotion; it is an act of the will and obedience to God ((Luke 17:1-5). The weapon of charity is the faithful means of dealing with one’s enemies for the offenses of one’s friends (Luke 6:27-36; Rom. 12:19-21; 2 Cor. 10:3-6). Total reliance upon God for the unjust acts of others demonstrates ones sincere faith (Luke 18:1-8; Eph. 4:32).

Song of Solomon 8:12-13   My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.

The greatest earthly prayer is for our open eyes to see and open ears to hear the word of God clearly (Ps. 119:18; Prov. 8:6-9; 22:17-21; Eph. 1:15-18; Col. 1:9-11; 2 Thess. 3:1; Rev. 2:7). The greatest heavenly prayer is for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus (8:14; Rev. 22:20). When a saint loves the physical appearing of the Lord Jesus, not just the disappearing of the Saints from the troubles of the world, the crown of righteousness will be awarded (2 Tim. 4:8).

CONCLUSION

Someone has written that, in light of the teaching of the Song of Solomon, we should do the following things:

1. Make a definite dedication of ourselves to Christ.
2. Our sensitivity to the Holy Ghost is so important so we don’t offend Him in our conduct.
3. Prove our devotion by obedience to His commands.
4. Defend His Word and the cause of Christ.

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