Bible Commentaries
Song of Solomon

The Song Of Solomon

The Song of Solomon, or the "Song of Songs," as it is called in the opening verse, is a prophetic poem, which sets forth in an allegorical or mystical manner the relation between Christ, the one Bridegroom of our souls, to His Church, the bride. An allegory is a narrative describing real or supposed facts for the purpose of presenting certain higher truths or principles than the narrative in itself, taken literally, could have taught; it is "a figurative sentence or discourse, in which the principal subject is described by another subject resembling it in its properties and circumstances. The real subject is thus kept out of view or barely indicated, and we are left to collect the intentions of the speaker or writer from the resemblance of the secondary to the primary subject. " The Song of Solomon depicts, under the allegory of the bridal love of Solomon and Shulamite, the mutual love of the Lord and His Church. The representation of Christ as the Bridegroom and the Church as the bride is a favorite allegory, or picture, in the Bible. Cf Psalms 45; Hosea 2:19-20; Matthew 9:15; John 3:29; Ephesians 5:25-29. The poem shows a beautiful progression of thought, the heart of the believer declaring: 1) Jesus is mine, He belongs to me. 2) I am Christ's, I belong to Him. 3) In spite of all obstacles our union of love will be established throughout eternity. If we follow the outline of the book strictly, we may distinguish two divisions, each with three sections: the eager longing of the lovers, 1:2-2:7; the mutual seeking and finding, Song of Solomon 2:8 to Song of Solomon 3:5; the meeting, 3:6-5:1; the separation and the second meeting, 5:2-6:9; the mutual praise of the lovers, 6:10-8:4; the eternal covenant of loyalty, 8:5-14.

In studying this book, which presents difficulties in more than one respect, it should be noted that whoever does not understand God's revealed plan of salvation and has not experienced the love of Christ nor love to Christ in his heart, to him this book will remain a sealed book, and he will probably become guilty of the error made by the majority of modern critics, who find in the Song of Solomon nothing but a collection of Oriental love songs.