As the book begins, the young woman and young man have already met and "fallen in love."In verses 2-4a the girl voices her desire for her boyfriend's physical affection.
"It is significant to this work that the girl speaks first. This young lady is not extremely diffident. She seems to see herself as of equal stature with the male. She longs to express her love to him, and she wants him to reciprocate. There is a sense in which she is the major character in this poem. This is one of the aspects of this work that makes it unique in its day. Much more of the text comes from her mouth and mind than from his. It is more her love story than it is his, though there is no failure on his part to declare his love and admiration for her."28
Who was the Shulammite? No one knows for sure. It is possible that she may have been Abishag, the Shunammite (cf. 1 Kings 1:3-8). "Shulammite"could describe a person from Shunem (cf. Josh. 19:18; 1 Sam. 28:4).
"This would explain Solomon's rather severe reaction to the plot of Adonijah and also partially explain the women of the court listed in 6:8 without the necessity of understanding them to have been actual consorts of Solomon."29
The use of both third and second person address ("he"and "you") is a bit confusing. Is she speaking abouthim or tohim? This feature of ancient oriental poetry is common in other Near Eastern love poems that archaeologists have discovered. It was a device that ancient writers evidently employed to strengthen the emotional impact of what they wrote.30Here the girl appears to be speaking abouther love, not tohim.
1:2 The Hebrew word for "love"(dodim) in verse 2 refers to physical expressions of love.31The girl found her boyfriend's physical affection very stimulating.
1:3 His "oils"(v. 3) were the lotions he wore. Since the name of a person represented his character (cf. 2 Sam. 7:9), she meant his character, his whole person, was also as pleasing as oil to her and to other people. Her attraction was not due to physical factors alone.
1:4a We could translate the words, "The king has brought me into his chambers,"(v. 4) as, "May the king bring me into his chambers."This is an expression of longing for intimacy. Such a desire is normal and healthy (cf. Prov. 5:18-19). The king was Solomon.
1:4b The last three lines of verse 4 were evidently the words of the daughters of Jerusalem (v. 5; cf. 2:7; 3:5, 10, 17; 5:8, 11, 16; 8:4). These may have been hometown friends of the woman,32the female inhabitants of Jerusalem,33women who display the characteristics of city girls,34or the women of Solomon's harem (cf. 6:8-9).35Their words here show that they approved of the romance.
