Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Song of Solomon 1:1

Clarke's Commentary

THE SONG OF SOLOMON

-Year from the Creation of the World, according to Archbishop Usher, 2990.

-Year from the Flood of Noah, according to the common Hebrew text, 1334.

-Year before the birth of Christ, 1010. -Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 1014.

CHAPTER I

The bride's love to her spouse, 1-5.

She confesses her unworthiness; desires to be directed to the

flock, 6, 7;

and she is directed to the shepherds' tents, 8.

The bridegroom describes his bride, and shows how he will

provide for her, and how comfortably they are accommodated,

9-17.

NOTES ON CHAP. I

Verse Song of Solomon 1:1. The song of songs — A song of peculiar excellence. See the Introduction. The rabbins consider this superior to all songs. TEN songs, says the Targum, have been sung; but this excels them all.

1. The first was sung by Adam when his sin was pardoned.

2. The second was sung by Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea.

3. The third was sung by the Israelites when they drank of the rock in the wilderness.

4. The fourth was sung by Moses when summoned to depart from this world.

5. The fifth was sung by Joshua when the sun and moon stood still.

6. The sixth was sung by Deborah and Barak after the defeat of Sisera.

7. The seventh was sung by Hannah when the Lord promised her a son.

8. The eighth was sung by David for all the mercies given him by God.

9. The ninth is the present, sung in the spirit of prophecy by Solomon.

10. The tenth is that which shall be sung by the children of Israel when restored from their captivities. See the Targum.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

1:1-2:7 OPENING EXCHANGES OF PRAISE

The girl longs for her lover (1:1-7)

After an introductory note (1:1), the collection opens with a poem spoken by the girl in praise of her absent lover. At times she imagines she is speaking to him, at times she thinks about him, but always she longs for his love and attention. She thinks that all girls must love such a handsome young man. To her he is king, and she imagines the coming wedding day when he takes her into his room, praises her beauty and makes love to her (2-4).
Aware that men have a liking for lighter skinned girls such as those of Jerusalem, the girl makes excuses for her dark skin. She is a farm girl who has worked in the sun, and she compares the colour of her skin to that of black goat-hair tents. Yet she knows that her lover makes a better comparison when he likens her to the beautiful curtains of Solomon’s palace. The reason for her dark skin is that her hard-hearted brothers have made her look after the family vineyards, with the result that she has not had time to look after the ‘vineyard’ of her own appearance (5-6).
The girl wishes she knew where her lover was feeding his sheep. Then she could go straight to him without having to wander from flock to flock looking for him (7).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.”

It is stated in 1 Kings 4:32 that Solomon wrote a thousand and five songs; yet only one of them is found in the Bible; and through the ages there have often been questions as to whether or not this one really belongs in the Canon. Most of the interpretations (especially the allegorical explanations) are clearly designed to justify the presence of this book in the Bible; and the utter inability of the scholars of two thousand years to reach an even approximate agreement on what the book teaches leaves the question unanswered.

The only reason that this writer accepts the Song of Solomon’s place in the Holy Bible is that God Himself commissioned Israel to be the trustees of “the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2); and there can be no doubt that the unchallenged opinion of ancient Israel placed it there (in the Canon). Could Israel have made a mistake in this instance? Even if they did (and we do not charge that they did) make a mistake in this matter, it is of no consequence in reference to their major assignment of recognizing, receiving and advocating the worldwide acceptance of the Messiah in his First Advent. In the person of the holy Apostles of Christ and the righteous remnant of the apostate Israel, they gloriously achieved that assignment.

Nevertheless, the vast majority of Israel was blind in their loving adoration of Solomon; and they considered his evil kingdom a type of the Kingdom of God that the Messiah would organize when he came. They desired nothing, either in heaven or on earth, any more than the restoration of that reprobate kingdom of Solomon; and the only reason they crucified Christ came from their recognition that Jesus Christ would never restore anything like Solomon’s kingdom. There is a possibility, although we do not see it as a fact, that Israel might have included in the Bible one of Solomon’s 1,005 songs merely because of their infatuation. We cannot answer this question, nor can we deny the existence of it.

As we explore what the text says, the reader must make up his own mind.

The literal words here are erotic; of that, there is not any doubt.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The “Song of songs,” i. e., the best or most excellent of songs.

Which is Solomon’s - literally, “to” or “for Solomon,” i. e., belonging to Solomon as its author or concerning him as its subject. In a title or inscription, the former interpretation is to be preferred.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Tonight we want to look at the Song of Songs which is Solomon's. By the title it indicates that Solomon felt that this was the finest of the one thousand and five songs that he wrote. This is the excellency of the songs that he has written. Of the thousand and five songs, this one is it as far as Solomon is concerned.

In Ecclesiastes, we had a theme: vanity of vanities. In this we have, song of songs. The vanity or the emptiness of the world apart from God. The emptiness of the world in achievement, any achievement that is apart from God. Now he speaks of the song of songs which is Solomon's and the song of songs is a song of love.

Now there are some people who consider the Song of Solomon no more than just an erotic, oriental love song and feel that it has no place in the scriptures. But others have found tremendous inspiration in the Song of Solomon by looking at a spiritual allegory, seeing it as a spiritual allegory. Now to the Jews, it became a spiritual allegory of God's special relationship to the nation Israel. As God is seen in the figure of Solomon the king, and Israel as the favorite choice wife, and as they express their love of each other, so God's expressions of His love for Israel and Israel's expressions of their love for God.

And of course, through a lot of the prophets we find the same theme as God addresses Israel as His wife. And God tells of His love, His deep love for His people. And the espousals of the youth. "When you first discover Me. Where is that love that we had in the beginning?" God said. "Why have you turned away from the love? Who has drawn you away?" And as Israel turned their hearts from God and began to worship Molech and Mammon and Baal and some of the gods of the Canaanites, God spoke out against it as having forsaken Me, your first love, the true love. And you've taken up with these other paramours that are going to leave you desolate. And so to the Jew it became a beautiful spiritual picture of the relationship of the nation Israel, the special relationship the nation Israel experienced with God.

To the church, because the church is often seen in the New Testament as the bride of Christ, it became a picture to the church of the bride of the church, her relationship to Jesus Christ, her bridegroom, her coming King who we look forward to. And so the spiritual allegories are then made applicable to Christ and His love for the church and the church's response to His love.

John Gill, one of the great Puritan preachers, preached to his congregation a hundred and twenty-two sermons out of the Song of Solomon. So for those that are looking for sermon material, seeking to find it in the spiritual allegories, there's just a lot of material here. He preached a hundred and twenty-two sermons out of this book. Bernard of Clairvaux preached sixty-two sermons to his congregation just out of chapter 1. So the book is filled with imagery and possible allegorical applications.

Now, I am not one who really goes into the mystic allegorical applications of the scripture. Though I do see here many beautiful allegories, and you can take the text and spiritualize upon them, that just hasn't been my method of ministry of taking a text and seeking to spiritualize the text. Because different people can see different things in an allegory. And even in the Song of Solomon, there have been various interpretations of the Song of Solomon.

The basic interpretation of the Song of Solomon is that this is a young Shulamite girl that Solomon has fallen deeply in love with. And she is in love with him. And he addresses himself to her declaring his love and declaring her beauty, and she responding to him. While the daughters of Jerusalem are there asking questions of the young girl concerning her love for him, asking Solomon of his love for her, and so the... Actually, again, it's a song, so you see it's set up in a dramatic kind of an opera. You have Solomon standing there singing in his rich baritone voice of his love for his bride. And she with her high soprano answering him and singing, "Come, my beloved into my garden and drink. Taste of its fruits," and so forth. And then you have the chorus over here, the women's chorus, the female chorus. And they every once in a while sing in, "Tell us of thy beloved. Where is he grazing his flocks and so forth at this time?" And they are interjecting.

Now there is another interpretation of the Song of Solomon, basic overall interpretation. And this one is followed in the Amplified Bible and suggested in the Amplified Bible. And that is, that here is the same beautiful young Shulamite girl that Solomon has fallen madly in love with. And he is seeking to make her a part of his harem, for Solomon had a harem second to none. And he is seeking by his wealth, by his grandeur, by all of the gifts and the wealth to cause her to become a part of his vast harem. Seeking to woo her and to seduce her. And she is brought in with the other virgins and she is telling them, they wonder why she isn't responding to his love and she is telling them that she has a true love, a shepherd. And she doesn't respond really to Solomon's love because her heart is after another, her shepherd lover who she longs for, who she seeks after.

And in the spiritual allegories to this other way of looking at the Song of Solomon, Solomon in this other allegory represents the world. The Shulamite woman, the Christian, and how the world is seeking to allure the Christian away from her love for her Shepherd, Jesus Christ. And she has this deep fervent commitment to her shepherd, even Jesus Christ, and cannot be allured by all of the wealth and the glory and the grandeur of Solomon as he seeks to seduce her and draw her into his harem and all.

And so this is another possible interpretation. But this is the problem, the basic problem of spiritualizing the text and seeing it in an allegorical sense, because as you go through the book, either one fits. But surely they are diametrically opposed to each other as far as an interpretation goes. And yet, you can see and you can read it so that either way it fits. Solomon is the one she loves and they are expressing their love for each other. Or, she is sort of rejecting the love of Solomon because of her true love for her shepherd lover.

The Song of songs, which is Solomon's ( Song of Solomon 1:1 ).

It begins with the first singer who is this young Shulamite, beautiful girl, and she sings.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savor of your good ointments [or your perfume] thy name is as ointment [or perfume] poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run after thee: the King hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee ( Song of Solomon 1:2-4 ).

Now speaking of herself, she said,

I am black, yet beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, and as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black ( Song of Solomon 1:5-6 ),

It doesn't mean that she was an Ethiopian, but she says,

because the sun hath looked upon me ( Song of Solomon 1:6 ):

She was well tanned.

my mother's children [my step brothers, actually] were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard [or my own complexion and so forth] I have not kept ( Song of Solomon 1:6 ).

I'm ruddy and tan and so forth.

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where you make your flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? ( Song of Solomon 1:7 )

So her opening declaration of having been brought into the king's chambers. Her addressing the daughters of Jerusalem concerning her own unkept condition because of being outside, keeping vineyards. Sort of a Cinderella kind of a story, the wicked sisters made her do all of the work and she wasn't able to keep up her own cosmetics and all.

Now the king responds to her.

If thou know not, O thou fairest among women ( Song of Solomon 1:8 ),

And the question is where you feed your flocks. "If you know not, O fairest among women,"

go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders ( Song of Solomon 1:8-11 )

Now these are the daughters of Jerusalem, the virgins, the chorus responds. "We will make thee borders,"

of gold with studs of silver ( Song of Solomon 1:11 ).

And the bride responds.

While the King sits at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. My beloved is to me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi ( Song of Solomon 1:12-14 ).

The camphire trees or cypress trees, and just that beautiful smell of the out of doors and trees in blossom there in Engedi.

Behold, thou art fair, [the king answers] my love; behold, thou art fair; you have doves' eyes ( Song of Solomon 1:15 ).

She responds to him.

Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green. The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir ( Song of Solomon 1:16-17 ).

So you have the opening of this love drama, the Song of Songs of Solomon.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

I. THE SUPERSCRIPTION 1:1

The writer of this book claimed to be Solomon. [Note: See Delitzsch, pp. 11-12, et al.] Solomon wrote 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32), and this book appears to be one of them (cf. Psalms 72; Psalms 127). "Which is Solomon’s" has led many interpreters to conclude that Solomon was the writer. Another interpretation follows.

""Here Solomon, as the king and symbol of wisdom and love, becomes an image for the male lover in the poem. Thus the female speaker, who dominates the poem, dedicates it to her Solomon, a figure who embodies her greatest desires for the fulfillment of love." [Note: Hess, p. 39.]

"Song of songs" means that this is a superlative song (cf. the terms "holy of holies," "vanity of vanities," or "King of kings"), not that it is one song made up of several other songs, which it is. The divine Author probably intended us to view this book as a superlative song, the best song. The lack of reference to God in the superscription does not, of course, rule out divine inspiration of the book.

"God’s name is absent from the entire setting. But who would deny that his presence is strongly felt? From whom come such purity and passion? Whose creative touch can ignite hearts and bodies with such a capacity to bring unsullied delight to another? Who kindled the senses that savor every sight, touch, scent, taste, and sound of a loved one? Whose very character is comprised of the love that is the central subject of the Song? None of this is to allegorize either the minute details or the main sense of the book. It is about human love at its best. But behind it, above it, and through it, the Song, as part of the divinely ordered repertoire of Scripture, is a paean of praise to the Lord of creation who makes possible such exquisite love and to the Lord of redemption who demonstrated love’s fullness on a cross." [Note: Hubbard, pp. 273-74.]

Another peculiarity of the book is the absence of any identifiable theological theme. The Bible has much to say about marriage.

"But the Song of Songs is different. Here sex is for joy, for union, for relationship, for celebration. Its lyrics contain no aspirations to pregnancy, no anticipations of parenthood. The focus is not on progeny to assure the continuity of the line but on passion to express the commitment to covenant between husband and wife." [Note: Ibid., p. 268.]

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

Book Commentspar

Walking Thru The Bible

SONG OF SOLOMON

I. Title and Author. This little book of eight chapters has been title many ways. The Hebrew title is "the Song of Songs," which means the most superlative song or as we would say, "the Best of Songs." Verse 1 asserts that Solomon wrote this song among the 1005 which we wrote (1 Kings 4:32).

II. The Content of the Song. The son is a poetic representation of the sentiment of lovers, some of it quite frank in intimate admiration and desire for each other. It is plain from the spacing in the Hebrew and the change of person, number and gender of the personal pronouns and verb endings that the speakers shift from male to female and from the single male and female to a plurality of women termed in the text the "daughters of Jerusalem." But there is no scene description or stage or drama directions.

    The traditional view is that there are two lovers, Solomon and a woman of Shulam, a town seemingly in northern Palestine, and a chorus of women from Jerusalem (either court attendants or the royal harem).

III. Interpretation. There have been many different methods employed to discover the meaning and significance of the book.

    1. The Allegorical Interpretation. The Jewish attempt to make it an allegory see the story as love of God for Israel. This view seems to account for the Song as the scripture to be read at the Passover festival by later Judaism.

        A variant of this view held by some early church fathers thought the song dealt with the Christ and His love for his bride the church. This view has been widely accepted and accounts for many of the interpretative chapter headings in many versions (e.g. ch. 1-3 "The Mutual Love of Christ and His Church"). It is seen in the poetic adoptions in our songs as "Jesus, Rose of Sharon" and "the Lily of the Valley." Oddly enough however, if the interpretations were carried through correctly, the church, not Christ, would be represented by these titles.

J.W. McGarvey said of this view: "I tried hard to see something prophetic in it, but I failed, and I have never yet succeeded. I am not surprised, therefore, that all very recent interpreters have abandoned the idea that the Shulamite in some way represented the church, and Solomon the Lord Jesus. There is no sustained analogy in any part of the song to anything connected with Christ or the church."

2.    The Dramatic View. A view that originally the poem was a drama in which the settings and actions were supplied by pantomime or stage curtains. Some see the story as a love play in which Solomon’s love for a young Jewish country maiden is portrayed.

3.    The Collection View. Some think the book is not a unit but rather a collection of wedding songs such as were used at wedding festivals and as are still used today in some middle eastern countries. But the "Song of Solomon" does seem to have a plot which develops throughout and it is not likely that a collection of isolated poems would give a story like this.

4. A Modernist View. One recent modernistic view (cf. Interpreters’ Bible) has claimed the song was borrowed from pagan religious rites. This views proposes that the song was taken over by Israel and gradually lost its identity with paganism. This view has nothing but conjecture to support it.

5. A View of Pure Married Love. The Bible Commentary says "The simplest and most natural (interpretation) appears to be that which regards it as a poem of pure wedded love." Edward J. Young says, "And it reminds us, in particularly beautiful fashion, how pure and noble true love is."

    The Song of Solomon is a song about the beauty and holiness of married love. In the context of Solomon’s political marriages, the Shulamite taught him the beauty of monogamous love. The book has some great lessons for a time when we face the abuse of marriage and the perversion of sexuality in our time.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Verse Comments

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The Song of songs, which [is] Solomon's. Wrote by Solomon, king of Israel, as the "amanuensis" of the Holy Ghost; and not by Hezekiah and his men, as the Jews say k: or, "concerning Solomon" l; Christ, of whom Solomon was a type; see Song of Solomon 3:7; of his person, excellencies, love to his church, care of her, and concern for her; and of the nearness and communion he admitted her to, and indulged her with the Jews have a saying m, that wherever the word Solomon is used in this song, the Holy One is meant, the holy God, or Messiah: it is called "the Song of songs", because the most excellent, as the Holy of holies, King of kings, c. which, with the Hebrews, express a superlative this being more excellent than the one hundred and five songs, written by Solomon, or than any human composure whatever; yea, preferable to all Scriptural songs, as to subject, manner of style, and copiousness of it.

k T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 15. 1. l לשלמה "de Solomone", Cocceius. m Maimon. Yesode Hatorah, c. 6. s. 12.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 The song of songs, which is Solomon's.

      We have here the title of this book, showing, 1. The nature of it; it is a song, that it might the better answer the intention, which is to stir up the affections and to heat them, which poetry will be very instrumental to do. The subject is pleasing, and therefore fit to be treated of in a song, in singing which we may make melody with our hearts unto the Lord. It is evangelical; and gospel-times should be times of joy, for gospel-grace puts a new song into our mouths, Psalms 98:1. 2. The dignity of it; it is the song of songs, a most excellent song, not only above any human composition, or above all other songs which Solomon penned, but even above any other of the scripture-songs, as having more of Christ in it. 3. The penman of it; it is Solomon's. It is not the song of fools, as many of the songs of love are, but the song of the wisest of men; nor can any man give a better proof of his wisdom than to celebrate the love of God to mankind and to excite his own love to God and that of others with it. Solomon's songs were a thousand and five (1 Kings 4:32); those that were of other subjects are lost, but this of seraphic love remains, and will to the end of time. Solomon, like his father, was addicted to poetry, and, which way soever a man's genius lies, he should endeavor to honour God and edify the church with it. One of Solomon's names was Jedidiah--beloved of the Lord (2 Samuel 12:25); and none so fit to write of the Lord's love as he that had himself so great an interest in it; none of all the apostles wrote so much of love as he that was himself the beloved disciple and lay in Christ's bosom. Solomon, as a king, had great affairs to mind and manage, which took up much of his thoughts and time, yet he found heart and leisure for this and other religious exercises. Men of business ought to be devout men, and not to think that business will excuse them from that which is every man's great business--to keep up communion with God. It is not certain when Solomon penned this sacred song. Some think that he penned it after he recovered himself by the grace of God from his backslidings, as a further proof of his repentance, and as if by doing good to many with this song he would atone for the hurt he had perhaps done with loose, vain, amorous songs, when he loved many strange wives; now he turned his wit the right way. It is more probable that he penned it in the beginning of his time, while he kept close to God and kept up his communion with him; and perhaps he put this song, with his father's psalms, into the hands of the chief musician, for the service of the temple, not without a key to it, for the right understanding of it. Some think that it was penned upon occasion of his marriage with Pharaoh's daughter, but that is uncertain; the tower of Lebanon, which is mentioned in this book (Song of Solomon 7:4; Song of Solomon 7:4), was not built, as is supposed, till long after the marriage. We may reasonably think that when in the height of his prosperity he loved the Lord (1 Kings 3:3) he thus served him with joyfulness and gladness of heart in the abundance of all things. It may be rendered, The song of songs, which is concerning Solomon, who as the son and successor of David, on whom the covenant of royalty was entailed, as the founder of the temple, and as one that excelled in wisdom and wealth, was a type of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and yet is a greater than Solomon; this is therefore a song concerning him. It is here fitly placed after Ecclesiastes; for when by the book we are thoroughly convinced of the vanity of the creature, and its insufficiency to satisfy us and make a happiness for us, we shall be quickened to seek for happiness in the love of Christ, and that true transcendent pleasure which is to be found only in communion with God through him. The voice in the wilderness, that was to prepare Christ's way, cried, All flesh is grass.