SONG%20OF%20SOLOMON

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SONG OF SOLOMON
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The Hebrew name for the book is The Song of
Songs, meaning that it is the best of all songs,
presumably the best of out of the 1005 songs the
Solomon wrote (1 Kgs. 432).
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• There are three main divisions in this book
• Before the marriage
• The marriage itself
• After the marriage.

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Though this is a short book (only 117 verses), it
has a large number of uncommon words. It contains
470 different Hebrew words (which is unusually
high for this size of book). Of those words, 47
are unique to the book itself, 51 words occur in
other parts of the Old Testament five times or
less, 45 words occur between six and ten times,
and an additional 27 words occur between eleven
and twenty times. This leaves about 300 common
words in the Song of Solomon. What compounds this
problem is that there are only eighteen verses
which include words that are all familiar to
Hebrew experts.
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Lloyd Carr notes concerning this point In other
words, more than one third of the words in the
Song occur so infrequently that there is little
context from which accurate meanings can be
deduced, and two thirds of the verses of the Song
have uncommon words. Hence, many of the proposals
made in the various translations and commentaries
are, at best, educated guesses particularly in
the case of those words which are unique to the
Song, they may well be incorrect (Carr, The Song
of Solomon, IVP, p. 41).
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Some of the speakers you will see in this song,
is the Bride sometimes called the Beloved or the
Shulammite, The king also called her Beloved, and
a chorus of palace ladies called, Daughters of
Jerusalem and there are a few other people that
are referred to as well.
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Song of Solomon 68 There are sixty queens And
eighty concubines, And virgins without number.
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Proverbs 518 Let your fountain be blessed, And
rejoice with the wife of your youth. 19 As a
loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts
satisfy you at all times And always be
enraptured with her love. Ecclesiastes 99 Live
joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days
of your vain life which He has given you under
the sun,
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• The very first verse claims that he wrote it.
  Song of Solomon 11 The song of songs, which is
  Solomon's.
• The writer had an extensive knowledge and love
  for nature as used in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
• The writer had an accurate knowledge of the
  different places in Israel, which a king would
  certainly know well.
• There are couple references to the king and that
  the king was Solomon (Song. 112 36-11).

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• This is the only book of the Bible entirely made
  up of speeches, composed mostly of monologues
  with practically no dialogue.
• There is a continued appreciation of the beauties
  of nature. Vines, vineyards, gardens, and
  orchards are mentioned at least twenty times in
  the book.
• The name of God is never mentioned in the book.

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1. Some view it as drama. Origen (250 A.D.) was
the first to suggest this view and some
commentators think this might be the correct
view.
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1. Has definite beginning, middle and end
2. Has logical progression to the story
3. Clearly develops a theme and/or characters
4. Provides technical information for the director,
   such as who is speaking and various stage
   directions

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• The text of the Song of Solomon must be radically
  changed to fit the criteria of a drama.
• Considerable experience in theatrical
  productions and direction has persuaded me that
  the Song, as it now stands, is unactable. It
  would be virtually impossible to stage
  effectively without major rewriting, and it lacks
  the dramatic impact to hold an audience (Carr,
  The Song of Solomon, IVP, p. 34).

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2. The style of drama is unknown to Hebrew
literature.
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A second more popular way that people approach
this book is that it is allegory or an extended
metaphor used to teach deeper spiritual message.
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After all the O.T. does call Israel Gods wife
(Jer. 31 Ezek. 16 31).
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After all the church is called the bride of
Christ (Mt. 915 Jn. 329 Eph. 523).
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1. It strains the text. The book is too physically
   intimate to assume that it depicts Christ and the
   churchs relationship. Even though Eph. 523ff
   talks about the bride of Christ this book is
   simply too much on the intimate side to mean this
   in my opinion.
2. The book is never alluded to in the New Testament
   let alone applied to the church. It just seems
   logical if it was talking about the relationship
   of Jesus and His church that at least one
   inspired writer would have referred to it as
   being such.
3. Works that are allegorical usually give some
   indication or hint that they are allegories (cf.
   G. Lloyd Carr, The Song of Solomon, IVP, p. 23)
   but The Song of Solomon gives no indication that
   an allegory is being made.

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The third approach to this book is the literal
didactic moral view.
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Walter notes The book then was intended as a
commentary on Genesis 224 and a manual on the
blessing and reward of intimate married love once
Yahweh had lit the flame and given the capability
of enjoyment (Walter C. Kaiser,Toward an Old
Testament Theology, Zondervan, 1978, p. 180).
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Also notice Carr said about this A frequent
Old Testament term for the sexual union of a man
and a woman is the verb know (e.g., Gen. 41,
etc.). It is worthy to note that the most
intimate knowledge of another person is not on
the basis of intellectual exchange or the
discussion of theological ideas, but in the
intimate, sexual union of male and female. In
this light it should not be considered obscene
that at least one book of the Bible be dedicated
to the celebration of one of the central
realities of our creature hood. The song does
celebrate the dignity and purity of human love.
This is a fact that has not always been
sufficiently stressed.
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The Song, therefore, is didactic and moral in its
purpose. It comes to us in this world of sin,
where lust and passion are on every hand, where
fierce temptations assail us and try to turn us
aside from the God- given standard of marriage.
And it reminds us, in particularly beautiful
fashion, how pure and noble true love is. (Carr,
The Song of Solomon, IVP, p. 34).
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1 Corinthians 71 Now concerning the things of
which you wrote to me It is good for a man not
to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, because of
sexual immorality, let each man have his own
wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3
Let the husband render to his wife the affection
due her, and likewise also the wife to her
husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over
her own body, but the husband does. And likewise
the husband does not have authority over his own
body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one
another except with consent for a time, that you
may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and
come together again so that Satan does not tempt
you because of your lack of self-control.
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Hebrews 134 Marriage is honorable among all,
and the bed undefiled but fornicators and
adulterers God will judge.
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Song of Solomon 84 I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem, Do not stir up nor awaken love Until
it pleases.
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Chapter 1 The Brides love for the King. Mostly
words of her own devotion, with brief replies by
the King and Chorus. Chapter 2 The Brides
delight in the Kings love. Mostly her own words
spoken to herself about the Kings embraces.
Chapter 3 1-5 The Brides dream of her lovers
disappearance, and her joy of finding him again.
Chapter 3 6-11 The Bridal procession.
Greetings, in the palace garden, of the nuptial
chariot, and by the palace ladies. Chapter 4 The
King adores his bride. She replies, inviting him
to her garden of martial delights.
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Chapter 5 Another dream of her lovers
disappearance, following their nuptial union and
her devotion to him. Chapter 6 The Shulammite is
recognized by the king and the 140 beauties of
the palace as being the loveliest among
them. Chapter 7 Their mutual devotion, told each
to the other in a profusion of spring-song
metaphors. Chapter 8 The love unquenchable,
and their union indissoluble words partly from
bride and partly from the chorus.
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Song of Solomon 41 Behold, you are fair, my
love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove's eyes
behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of
goats, Going down from Mount Gilead. 2 Your
teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep Which have
come up from the washing, Every one of which
bears twins, And none is barren among them. 3
Your lips are like a strand of scarlet, And your
mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil
Are like a piece of pomegranate. 4 Your neck is
like the tower of David, Built for an armory, On
which hang a thousand bucklers, All shields of
mighty men. 5 Your two breasts are like two
fawns, Twins of a gazelle, Which feed among the
lilies.
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6 Until the day breaks And the shadows flee away,
I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh And to
the hill of frankincense. 7 You are all fair, my
love, And there is no spot in you. 8 Come with
me from Lebanon, my spouse, With me from Lebanon.
Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir
and Hermon, From the lions' dens, From the
mountains of the leopards. 9 You have ravished
my heart, My sister, my spouse You have ravished
my heart With one look of your eyes, With one
link of your necklace. 10 How fair is your love,
My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine
is your love, And the scent of your perfumes Than
all spices!
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11 Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb
Honey and milk are under your tongue And the
fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance
of Lebanon. 12 A garden enclosed Is my sister,
my spouse, A spring shut up, A fountain sealed.
13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
With pleasant fruits, Fragrant henna with
spikenard, 14 Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and
cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh
and aloes, With all the chief spices -- 15 A
fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And
streams from Lebanon.
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Song of Solomon 510 My beloved is white and
ruddy, Chief among ten thousand. 11 His head is
like the finest gold His locks are wavy, And
black as a raven. 12 His eyes are like doves By
the rivers of waters, Washed with milk, And fitly
set. 13 His cheeks are like a bed of spices,
Banks of scented herbs. His lips are lilies,
Dripping liquid myrrh. 14 His hands are rods of
gold Set with beryl. His body is carved ivory
Inlaid with sapphires. 15 His legs are pillars
of marble Set on bases of fine gold. His
countenance is like Lebanon, Excellent as the
cedars. 16 His mouth is most sweet, Yes, he is
altogether lovely. This is my beloved, And this
is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!
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