(Part 1 of 3)
Song of Songs is a strange book. If you haven’t read it yet, you’ll probably be surprised that this type of language is even in the Bible. Read just a few lines, and you’ll quickly realize that this is a book of poetry… but not just any poetry; love poetry. Steamy love poetry. Do I have your attention yet?
Few other places in the Bible describe the human body so openly – and sexually – as all eight chapters of Song of Songs, and certainly no other book discusses the physical longing for sexual intimacy1, 2 quite like this.
2 Intimacy: Noun. Being close physically and emotionally to someone. This word is going to come up several times in our discussion.
1 You are going to see lots footnotes on this page (and throughout this entire website, for that matter). Some of them will prevent me from plagiarizing by telling you who I am quoting (including the book, author, and page number – you will have to scroll to the very bottom of this page to see them, below the comment section on page 3), others will give you definitions for words that aren’t very common outside of church these days (these will be put in bold font), and still others will provide witty or helpful notes. If you want to read more about any particular idea, the book(s) mentioned in these footnotes are a good place to start!
If you casually read through all of Song of Songs (give it a try; it is only eight chapters and it is easy reading) you get the vague sense that the book is trying to tell a story, but there are a lot of characters and they move in quick succession from being in Solomon’s palace to in a vineyard to leaping over hills.
Honestly, with just one read-through it is a little difficult to keep pace with what is actually happening. But if you do read it, a few things will stand out really clearly: there is a woman longing to be with her shepherd-lover; King Solomon shows up several times; a shepherd also shows up as well (is he Solomon?); and there is a lot of poetry comparing the human body to animals, plants, and geography. But who are the other women in the story? Is it taking place in Solomon’s harem?3 Is the shepherd-lover Solomon, or someone else? Is this one continuous story, or is it a rather random collection of love poems? Or should we not be thinking about sex at all; is the heavy use of imagery meant to point to a greater story?
3 Harem: Noun. A house where the wives, concubines (see definition below, in footnote #7), and virgin daughters of a wealthy man live, kept away from other men to ensure that no other men have sex with them.
If you have gotten this far and still haven’t read Song of Songs for yourself, I recommend taking 30 minutes and reading (or listening) to the whole book all the way through. We’re about to analyze it together, and you will probably enjoy this study more if you’ve read it.
When I’m reading a whole book at once, I like to listen using the Bible app while cleaning my room or driving. Give it a try!
If you haven’t ever read an entire book of the Bible all at once, here is my main tip: don’t focus on understanding every verse; instead, look for repeated themes and patterns. Ask questions like, “What is this book about? What does this book teach about who God is and what He cares about?” If something is confusing, make a note and then keep going. This type of Bible reading will give us context that we couldn’t get by just reading a few verses or a single chapter.
While Song of Songs is clearly a book of poetry, Commentators4 actually disagree on the main message of Song of Songs. Because of that, before we actually jump into a passage of this book ourselves, we are going to examine the two main opposing views on what Song of Songs is about.
4 Commentators: Noun. People who do lots of research on a topic and then write books (called commentaries) that provide explanations, opinions, and helpful insight. Commentaries on the Bible can help decipher what a verse might mean, tell you if there are any difficulties translating certain words into English, or summarize what was happening in history that might affect the meaning. They are typically written by people who have done a ton of research on the topic, which is awesome! However, commentaries are not always 100% right – they are written by humans after all – so it is a good idea to open a few different commentaries and see where they disagree before you arrive at your own conclusion. Remember: A good commentary will use the Bible to back up its interpretation.
On the one hand, we have Opinion #1 represented by our commentator friend Van Pelt (note that there are many others who agree with him) who wrote a short but fascinating chapter providing his insights into Song of Songs. He argues that “Song of Songs [is working] to describe a good marriage relationship.”5 According to Van Pelt, Song of Songs is “just that – a song” that gives God’s people wisdom like the books of Psalms and Proverbs do. It uses the viewpoint of a young woman to discuss “the topic of love and marriage.”6
Van Pelt believes there are two separate men in the book: the shepherd who is the woman’s true love, and Solomon the king who already has “sixty queens and eighty concubines,7 and virgins without number” (Song 6:8 ESV). The song poetically tells the story of a young woman, who becomes “the hero of the Song” when she rejects Solomon’s offer of wealth and comfort as a concubine in his harem (Song 8:11-12) and chooses instead to marry her true love, the shepherd.8
7 Concubine: Noun. A woman who lives with a man like a wife does (they have sex), but she doesn’t have the social status of a real wife. She is more like a servant, and her job is to satisfy the sexual desires of the man. Some men in Biblical times had a concubine or two in addition to their wife, however no one is on record for having as many as Solomon. He was infamous for having 300 concubines in addition to his 700 wives (1 Kings 11:3).
Personally, I love female heroes so I am a little biased toward this interpretation. I think it is cool. Also, the anti-Solomon teaching agrees with the rest of the Bible’s teachings on marriage (that it should be between only one man and one woman, not one man and hundreds of women). I would have loved to stop here and not bother looking at what anyone else thought about of Song of Songs. However, since it is wise to consider multiple viewpoints, we’re going to look at one alternative way of interpreting this book.
Our opposing opinion (Opinion #2) comes from Tremper Longman’s introduction to Song of Songs (and again, there are many others who agree with him).9 He interprets the book much differently than Van Pelt, arguing that Song of Songs is not one long song but several short, unrelated poems all joined together. He does not think these poems are meant to tell a story. Instead, Longman believes these poems are meant to highlight the importance and goodness of marriage, sex within marriage, and delighting in the physical body.10
Notice that Longman’s conclusion (that the body and sex are good things that should be enjoyed within marriage) also agrees with the message of the rest of the Bible. But what about the female heroine and anti-Solomon ideas? Longman completely dismissed those ideas when he decided that Song of Songs wasn’t telling an overarching story. Is Song of Songs one overarching story, or multiple unrelated poems?
Before you jump to a conclusion, there are two important points that we should notice in Longman’s argument (Opinion #2):
- First, if the song is meant to tell a story, it is awfully difficult to determine who the characters are and who is speaking throughout most of the song. Song of Songs was originally written in Hebrew (not English). The original Hebrew text does not add names to help us know when the male speaker is Solomon or the shepherd, and the poetry is so thick it is challenging to know what is happening (for example, when does marriage or sex first happen?). When you read it straight through, it does sound like a random collection of love poems.
- Second, if Van Pelt’s interpretation (Opinion #1) is correct, then some of the beautiful poetry is actually Solomon tempting the young woman to be his concubine, not a lover speaking with his bride. That context ruins the beauty of those passages.
Which message do you think best fits the book? What are some themes that stood out to you, as you read it through? After reading this book, what are some things that you think are important to God?
I read the entire book three times trying to decide which interpretation was best, and on my third read-through I noticed two main themes that are repeated throughout the book: (1) the plea to not stir up love before it is time (Song 2:7; 3:5; 8:4) and (2) several verses that are strongly anti-polygamous11 and anti-Solomon (Song 2:16; 6:3; 8:6-7, 11-12). I personally did not see a clear storyline (so I agree with Longman’s Opinion #2 there), but these two themes created a sense of movement away from Solomon’s polygamous lifestyle to one of fidelity.12 I believe this movement supports Van Pelt’s conclusion (Opinion #1) that the woman is meant to be the heroine of the song, and fidelity to one person is how marriage was designed (not Solomon’s 900+ wives).
11 Polygamous: Adj. What you call someone who has more than one wife.
12 Fidelity: Noun. Faithfulness and loyalty to one spouse. This includes sexual faithfulness (a.k.a. not cheating on them).
Basically, I ended up thinking both Opinion #1 and Opinion #2 have some good points. What do you think?
Want to analyze an actual chapter of Song of Songs together? Click here for Song of Songs Part 2!
Footnotes with Ray 