Text -- The Song of Songs 1:2-4 (NET)

The Desire for Love

1:2 The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine. 1:3 The fragrance of your colognes is delightful; your name is like the finest perfume. No wonder the young women adore you! 1:4 Draw me after you; let us hurry! May the king bring me into his bedroom chambers! The Maidens to the Lover: We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. The Beloved to Her Lover: How rightly the young women adore you!

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Sos 1:2

The beginning is abrupt; but is suitable to, and usual in writing of this nature, wherein things are not related in an historical and exquisite order, but that which was first done is brought in, as it were accidentally, after many other passages: as we see in Homer, and Virgil, and others. These are the words of the spouse, wherein she breathes forth her passionate love to the bridegroom, whom she does not name; because it was needless, as being so well known to the persons, to whom she speaks, and being the only person who was continually in her thoughts. By kisses, the usual tokens of love and good - will, she means the communications of his love and favour, his graces and comforts breathed into her from the Spirit of Christ.

Wesley: Sos 1:2

This sudden change of the person is frequent, in pathetic discourses. First she speaks of him as absent, but speedily grows into more acquaintance with him, and by ardent desire and faith, embraces him as present.

Wesley: Sos 1:2

Than the most delicious meat or drink, or than all sensible delights, one kind being put for all.

Wesley: Sos 1:3

Because of those excellent gifts and graces of God's Spirit wherewith thou art replenished.

Wesley: Sos 1:3

Thy report, the very mention of thee, and all those things by which thou makest thyself known to men, thy word, particularly thine offers of pardon and salvation to sinners; and all thy works, especially that great work of redemption is most acceptable, and refreshing.

Wesley: Sos 1:3

called the companions of the bride, Psa 45:14, particular believers, who are called virgins, 2Co 11:2; Rev 14:4, who have their senses exercised to perceive this sweetness and fulness of Christ.

Wesley: Sos 1:4

By thy grace and holy spirit.

Wesley: Sos 1:4

Both I, thy spouse, and the virgins, my companions. And this change of numbers teaches us that the spouse is one great body, consisting of many members.

Wesley: Sos 1:4

Will follow thee readily, chearfully, and swiftly.

Wesley: Sos 1:4

Christ, the king of his church, hath answered my prayer.

Wesley: Sos 1:4

Where I may freely converse with him, and enjoy him. He hath taken me into intimate communion with himself.

Wesley: Sos 1:4

This shall be the matter of our thoughts and discourses.

JFB: Sos 1:2

Abruptly. She names him not, as is natural to one whose heart is full of some much desired friend: so Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre (Joh 20:15), as if everyone must know whom she means, the one chief object of her desire (Psa 73:25; Mat 13:44-46; Phi 3:7-8).

JFB: Sos 1:2

The token of peace from the Prince of Peace (Luk 15:20); "our Peace" (Psa 85:10; Col 1:21; Eph 2:14).

JFB: Sos 1:2

Marking the tenderest affection. For a king to permit his hands, or even garment, to be kissed, was counted a great honor; but that he should himself kiss another with his mouth is the greatest honor. God had in times past spoken by the mouth of His prophets, who had declared the Church's betrothal; the bride now longs for contact with the mouth of the Bridegroom Himself (Job 23:12; Luk 4:22; Heb 1:1-2). True of the Church before the first advent, longing for "the hope of Israel," "the desire of all nations"; also the awakened soul longing for the kiss of reconciliation; and further, the kiss that is the token of the marriage contract (Hos 2:19-20), and of friendship (1Sa 20:41; Joh 14:21; Joh 15:15).

JFB: Sos 1:2

Hebrew, "loves," namely, tokens of love, loving blandishments.

JFB: Sos 1:2

Which makes glad "the heavy heart" of one ready to perish, so that he "remembers his misery no more" (Pro 31:6-7). So, in a "better" sense, Christ's love (Hab 3:17-18). He gives the same praise to the bride's love, with the emphatic addition, "How much" (Son 4:10). Wine was created by His first miracle (Joh 2:1-11), and was the pledge given of His love at the last supper. The spiritual wine is His blood and His spirit, the "new" and better wine of the kingdom (Mat 26:29), which we can never drink to "excess," as the other (Eph 5:18; compare Psa 23:5; Isa 55:1).

JFB: Sos 1:3

Rather, "As regards the savor of thy ointments, it is good" [MAURER]. In Son 4:10-11, the Bridegroom reciprocates the praise of the bride in the same terms.

JFB: Sos 1:3

Christ's character and office as the "Anointed" (Isa 9:6; Isa 61:1), as "the savor of ointments" are the graces that surround His person (Psa 45:7-8). Ecc 7:1, in its fullest sense, applies to Him. The holy anointing oil of the high priest, which it was death for anyone else to make (so Act 4:12), implies the exclusive preciousness of Messiah's name (Exo 30:23-28, Exo 30:31-38). So Mary brake the box of precious ointment over Him, appropriately (Mar 14:5), the broken box typifying His body, which, when broken, diffused all grace: compounded of various spices, &c. (Col 1:19; Col 2:9); of sweet odor (Eph 5:2).

JFB: Sos 1:3

(Isa 53:12; Rom 5:5).

JFB: Sos 1:3

Because of the manifestation of God's character in Christ (1Jo 4:9, 1Jo 4:19). So the penitent woman (Luk 7:37-38, Luk 7:47).

JFB: Sos 1:3

The pure in heart (2Co 11:2; Rev 14:4). The same Hebrew is translated, "thy hidden ones" (Psa 83:3). The "ointment" of the Spirit "poured forth" produces the "love of Christ" (Rom 5:5).

JFB: Sos 1:4

(1) The cry of ancient Israel for Messiah, for example, Simeon, Anna, &c. (2) The cry of an awakened soul for the drawing of the Spirit, after it has got a glimpse of Christ's loveliness and its own helplessness.

JFB: Sos 1:4

The Father draws (Joh 6:44). The Son draws (Jer 31:3; Hos 11:4; Joh 12:32). "Draw" here, and "Tell" (Son 1:7), reverently qualify the word "kiss" (Son 1:2).

JFB: Sos 1:4

No believer desires to go to heaven alone. We are converted as individuals; we follow Christ as joined in a communion of saints (Joh 1:41, Joh 1:45). Individuality and community meet in the bride.

JFB: Sos 1:4

Her earnestness kindles as she prays (Isa 40:31; Psa 119:32, Psa 119:60).

JFB: Sos 1:4

Not before (Joh 10:4).

JFB: Sos 1:4

(Psa 45:14-15; Joh 10:16). He is the anointed Priest (Son 1:3); King (Son 1:4).

JFB: Sos 1:4

Her prayer is answered even beyond her desires. Not only is she permitted to run after Him, but is brought into the inmost pavilion, where Eastern kings admitted none but the most intimate friends (Est 4:11; Est 5:2; Psa 27:5). The erection of the temple of Solomon was the first bringing of the bride into permanent, instead of migratory, chambers of the King. Christ's body on earth was the next (Joh 2:21), whereby believers are brought within the veil (Eph 2:6; Heb 10:19-20). Entrance into the closet for prayer is the first step. The earnest of the future bringing into heaven (Joh 14:3). His chambers are the bride's also (Isa 26:20). There are various chambers, plural (Joh 14:2).

JFB: Sos 1:4

Inward and outward rejoicing.

JFB: Sos 1:4

(Isa 61:10; Phi 4:1, Phi 4:4). Not in our spiritual frames (Psa 30:6-7).

JFB: Sos 1:4

Rather, "commemorate with praises" (Isa 63:7). The mere remembrance of spiritual joys is better than the present enjoyment of carnal ones (Psa 4:6-7).

JFB: Sos 1:4

Rather, "uprightly," "sincerely" (Psa 58:1; Rom 12:9); so Nathanael (Joh 1:47); Peter (Joh 21:17); or "deservedly" [MAURER].

Clarke: Sos 1:2

Let him kiss me, etc. - She speaks of the bridegroom in the third person, to testify her own modesty, and to show him the greater respect

Clarke: Sos 1:2

Thy love is better than wine - The versions in general translate דדיך dodeyca , thy breasts; and they are said to represent, spiritually, the Old and New Testaments.

Clarke: Sos 1:3

Thy name is as ointment poured forth - Ointments and perfumes were, and still are, in great request among the Asiatics. They occur constantly in their entertainments. Thy name is as refreshing to my heart, as the best perfumes diffused through a chamber are to the senses of the guests

Clarke: Sos 1:3

Therefore do the virgins love thee - She means herself; but uses this periphrasis through modesty.

Clarke: Sos 1:4

Draw me - Let me have the full assurance of thy affection

Clarke: Sos 1:4

We will run after thee - Speaking in the plural through modesty, while still herself is meant

Clarke: Sos 1:4

The king hath brought me - My spouse is a potentate, a mighty king, no ordinary person

Clarke: Sos 1:4

Into his chambers - He has favored me with his utmost confidence

Clarke: Sos 1:4

The upright love thee - The most perfect and accomplished find thee worthy of their highest esteem.

TSK: Sos 1:2

him : Son 5:16, Son 8:1; Gen 27:26, Gen 27:27, Gen 29:11, Gen 45:15; Psa 2:12; Luk 15:20; Act 21:7; 1Pe 5:14

thy love : Heb. thy loves, Son 1:4, Son 2:4, Son 4:10, Son 7:6, Son 7:9, Son 7:12, Son 8:2; Psa 36:7, Psa 63:3-5; Isa 25:6, Isa 55:1, Isa 55:2; Mat 26:26

TSK: Sos 1:3

the savour : Son 3:6, Son 4:10, Son 5:5, Son 5:13; Exo 30:23-28; Psa 45:7, Psa 45:8, Psa 133:2; Pro 27:9; Ecc 7:1; Isa 61:3; Joh 12:3; 2Co 2:14-16; Phi 4:18

thy name : Exo 33:12, Exo 33:19, Exo 34:5-7; Psa 89:15, Psa 89:16; Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7; Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6; Mat 1:21-23; Phi 2:9, Phi 2:10

the virgins : Son 6:8; Psa 45:14; Mat 25:1; 2Co 11:2; Rev 14:4

TSK: Sos 1:4

Draw : Jer 31:3; Hos 11:4; Joh 6:44, Joh 12:32; Phi 2:12, Phi 2:13

we will : Psa 119:32, Psa 119:60; Heb 12:1

the king : Son 2:3-5, Son 3:4; Psa 45:14, Psa 45:15; Mat 25:10; Joh 14:2, Joh 14:3; Eph 2:6

we will be : Psa 98:4-9, Psa 149:2; Isa 25:8, Isa 45:25, Isa 61:3; Zep 3:14; Zec 9:9; Luk 2:10; Phi 3:3, Phi 4:4; 1Pe 1:8

remember : Son 1:2; Psa 42:4, Psa 48:9, Psa 63:5, Psa 103:1, Psa 103:2, Psa 111:4; Isa 63:7; Luk 22:19; 1Co 11:23-26

the upright love thee : or, they love thee uprightly, Son 1:3; Joh 21:15-17; Eph 6:24

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Sos 1:2-4

the prologue. - The Song commences with two stanzas in praise of the king (now absent) by a chorus of virgins belonging to the royal household. Expositors, Jewish and Christian, interpret the whole as spoken by the Church of the heavenly Bridegroom.

Son 1:2

Let him kiss me - Christian expositors have regarded this as a prayer of the Church under the old covenant for closer communion with the Godhead through the Incarnation. Thus, Gregory: "Every precept of Christ received by the Church is as one of His kisses."

Thy love - Better as margin, i. e., thy endearments or tokens of affection are more desired than any other delights.

Son 1:3

Because ... - Better, For fragrance are thine ointments good, making with the clause that follows two steps of a climax: "thy perfumes are good, thy name the best of all perfumes.""Ointments"here are unguents or fragrant oils largely used for anointing at entertainments (compare Psa 23:5; Luk 7:46; Joh 12:3).

Thy name ... poured forth - As unguents are the sweeter for diffusion, so the king’ s name the wider it is known.

Son 1:4

The king hath brought me - Made me a member of his household. This is true of every member of the chorus as well as of the bride.

The upright love thee - Better as in the margin: uprightly do they (i. e., "the virgins"of Son 1:3) love thee. Compare the use of the same word in Psa 58:1; Pro 23:31.

Poole: Sos 1:2

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth The beginning of this book is abrupt, and may seem disorderly; but is very suitable to and usual in writings of this nature, wherein things are not related in an historical and exquisite order, but that which was first done is brought in as it were accidentally after many other passages; as we see in Homer, and Virgil, and in the Greek and Latin comedians. These are the words of the spouse, as all acknowledge, wherein she breatheth forth her passionate love to the Bridegroom, whom she doth not name, but only intimate by the pronoun relative him, which is here put without and for the antecedent, as Psa 87:1 114:2 Joh 20:15 ; which manner of expression she useth, because it was needless to name him, as being so well known to the person or persons to whom site speaks, and being the only person who was continually in her thoughts and speeches. By kisses , which were the usual tokens of love and good will, she means nothing else but the communications and manifestations of his love and favour to her, as the following clause explains this; his graces and comforts breathed into her from the mouth and Spirit of Christ.

Thy love: this sudden change of the person is frequent, especially in such pathetical discourses. First she speaks of him as absent, and at a distance, but speedily grows into more acquaintance with him, and by ardent desire in faith embraceth him as present.

Than wine than the most delicious meats or drinks, or than all sensual delights, this one kind being synecdochically put for all the rest, as it is Est 5:6 Job 1:13 Pro 9:2 Ecc 2:3 .

Poole: Sos 1:3

Because of the savour of thy good ointments because of those excellent gifts and graces of God’ s Spirit wherewith thou art replenished, and which flow from thee upon thy members,

Thy name either,

1. Thou thyself;

names being oft put for persons, as Act 1:15 Rev 3:4 . Or rather,

2. Thy fame or report, the very mention of thee, and all those things by which thou makest thyself known to men, thy word, and particularly thine offers and promises of pardon and salvation made to sinners, and all thy works, both ordinary and miraculous, especially that great work of redemption.

Is as ointment poured forth most lovely, and acceptable, and refreshing.

The virgins called the companions of the bride, Psa 45:14 , particular believers, who are called virgins, 2Co 11:2 Rev 14:4 , who have their senses exercised to perceive this sweetness and fulness of Christ.

Poole: Sos 1:4

Draw me by thy grace and Holy Spirit effectually inclining my heart to come unto thee, as this phrase implies, Jer 31:3 Hos 11:4 Joh 6:44,45 . As thou hast outwardly called and invited me, so do thou inwardly move me, who am naturally averse and backward to follow thee.

We both I thy spouse, and the virgins my companions. And this change of numbers teaches us that the spouse in this book is one great body, consisting of many members, of whom therefore he speaks sometimes in the singular, and sometimes in the plural number.

Will run after thee will follow thee readily, and cheerfully, and swiftly; which is opposed to her former sluggishness and listlessness. We will not receive thy grace in vain, but will improve it, and co-operate with it, and stir up all our strength to serve and obey thee.

The king Christ, my Husband and Lord, the King of his church, as he is oft called, the King of kings, &c.

Hath brought me Heb. hath caused me to come , by drawing me as I desired. He hath answered my prayer.

Into his chambers where I may most freely and familiarly converse with him, and enjoy him. He hath taken me into intimate communion with himself. These

chambers seem to note either,

1. Those heavenly mansions into which believers are sometimes said to be brought, even in this life, as Eph 2:6 , because they have a lively faith, and a well-grounded hope and assurance, and some comfortable foretastes of that blessed state. Or rather,

2. Those places and conditions upon earth in which they enjoy the special favour and fellowship of God in Christ, as the public assemblies, in which Christ is in a peculiar manner present, Mat 18:20 , where his word and ordinances are dispensed, and where he poureth forth his Spirit and blessings, and speaks great peace, and gives forth his loves unto his people. Yea, even the private closets wherein believers enjoy much of Christ, by prayer, and praise, and reading, and meditation, are such chambers also; for it is not the place, but the state, or privilege, which is here signified, and which is considerable.

In thee or, for thee ; in or for thy love and favour to us, which is the principal cause of our joy.

Remember or commemorate , or celebrate . This shall be the matter of our thoughts and discourses.

The upright those chaste and sincere virgins mentioned Son 1:3 , who are here opposed to hypocritical professors.

PBC: Sos 1:2

Wine is an intoxicating liquid, but the Shulamite describes His love as being much better than wine.

PBC: Sos 1:3

Ointment is a healing substance derived from the oil of different plants, and it gives off a most sweet odor. His ointments are savory, meaning that they are good to smell, but most of all, they are an effective healing agent. The Shulamite regards even the hearing of his name as the pouring of ointments. The virgins (attendants to the bride) love him because of the savour of His ointments. Is it not true that we love Him because He first loved us? His ointments (denoting the grace that he gives) are the very reason that we yearn for Him.

PBC: Sos 1:4

" Draw me"

The Shulamite gives a heartfelt request in Draw me. This reminds us that God the Father draws his children to Christ, and that none can come to Christ unless that happens. What follows is a running to Him after being drawn. The Shulamite and the virgins affirm that they will remember His love more than wine. Wine was a very important commodity in that day, since it took much labor to acquire.

" we will remember thy love more than wine"

They are speaking as to his love being much better than wine when they say, we will remember thy love more than wine.

Haydock: Sos 1:2

Ointments. The bosom used to be perfumed. (Atheneus xv. 5., and xv. 14.) ---

Thy name. Thou thyself. The preaching of the gospel produced a wonderful change in the world, 2 Corinthians ii. 15. (Calmet) ---

The Church honours the name of Jesus on the second Sunday after the Epiphany. (A. Butler, p. 130.) (Haydock) ---

Thee. The martyrs and Christian virgins are inflamed with divine love.

Haydock: Sos 1:3-4

To, &c., is in the Septuagint; but not in Hebrew or Complutensian. (Calmet) ---

Grace must draw, and then people will run, John vi. 44., and xii. 32., and Philippians iii. 12. (St. Ambrose) (Bossuet) ---

Rooms. Where there is abundance of wine and ointments. The extraordinary favours of heaven are not granted to all, Matthew xiii. 11. (Calmet) ---

Righteous. The apostles, and faithful souls, (Haydock) and all who form a right judgment of things, (Menochius) having their thoughts, works, and actions composed. (Tirinus) ---

Black. Or brown, ver. 5. (Haydock) ---

The Egyptians were of a less fair complexion, and she had been exposed to the sun, ver. 5. (Calmet) ---

The synagogue gloried in her advantages; but the Gentiles being chosen by Christ, obtain the palm. (Theodoret) ---

Though outwardly afflicted, the Church is inwardly fair. (Worthington) ---

Cedar. Or of the Arabs, who dwelt in tents, made of black goat's hair. (Calmet) ---

The tents of the eastern kings were equal in magnificence to our palaces. (Bernier, Valle, &c.)

Gill: Sos 1:2

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,.... That is, Solomon; Christ, the antitype of Solomon, the church's beloved; or it is a relative without an antecedent, which was only in her own mind, "let him"; him, whom her thoughts were so much employed about; her affections were so strongly after; and whose image was as it were before her, present to her mind: and "the kisses of his mouth", she desires, intend some fresh manifestations and discoveries of his love to her; by some precious word of promise from his mouth, applied to her; and by an open espousal of her, and the consummation of marriage with her. It may be rendered, "with one of the kisses of his mouth" ⁿ; kisses with the ancients were very rare, and used but once when persons were espoused, and as a token of that; and then they were reckoned as husband and wife ^o: on which account, it may be, it is here desired; since it was after this we hear of the spouse being brought into the nuptial chamber, and of the keeping of the nuptial feast, Son 1:4;

for thy love is better than wine; or "loves" ^p; which may denote the abundance of it; the many blessings of grace which flow from it; and the various ways in which it is expressed; as well as the high esteem the church had of it. This is said to be "better than wine"; for the antiquity of it, it being from everlasting; and for the purity of it, being free from all dregs of dissimulation and deceit on the part of Christ, and from all merit, motives, and conditions, on the part of the church; for its plenty, being shed plenteously in the hearts of believers, and who may drink abundantly of it; and for its freeness and cheapness, being to be had without money and without price; and it is preferable to wine for the effects of it; which not only revives and cheers heavy hearts, but quickens dead sinners, and comforts distressed saints; and of which they may drink plentifully, without hurt, yea, to great advantage.

Gill: Sos 1:3

Because of the savour of thy good ointments,.... It was usual for lovers to anoint themselves, their hair, garments, &c. to commend themselves to each other; and it was common to commend each other's ointments, and the grateful smell of them ^q none being like them, or so agreeable as theirs: by these ointments may be meant the grace of Christ, the fulness of it, the oil of gladness with which he is anointed above his fellows, and without measure; and which so greatly recommends him to his church and people, Psa 45:7;

thy name is as ointment poured forth; which emits the greater odour for its being poured forth out of the box. The very names of lovers are dear to one another, sweeter than nectar itself ^r; the very mention of them gives an inexpressible pleasure. This may respect not merely the fame of Christ spread abroad in the world through the ministry of the word; nor the Gospel only, which is his name, Act 9:15; and is like a box of ointment broke open, which diffuses the savour of his knowledge everywhere; but some precious name of his, as Immanuel, God with us; Jesus, a Saviour; but more particularly his name Messiah, which signifies anointed, the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King of his church;

therefore do the virgins love thee: for the preciousness of his person, the fulness of grace in him, and the truths of his Gospel: and which love shows itself in a desire of his presence, and communion with him; in a regard to his word and worship, to his truths and ordinances; and to his people, to conversation and communion with them. By these virgins are meant either congregational churches that strictly adhere to Christ, and to his pure worship; or particular believers, for their inviolate attachment to him; for the singleness and sincerity of their love to him; for their uncorruptness in the doctrine of faith; for the truth and spirituality of their worship; for the purity of their lives and conversations; for their beauty and comeliness through Christ; for their colourful and costly attire, being clothed with his righteousness; and for their modest behaviour, having the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.

Gill: Sos 1:4

Draw me,.... With the cords of love, for what draw lovers to each other more strongly? under the influence of that they cannot bear to be without each other's company. Aben Ezra takes these words to be spoken by the virgins, who everyone of them said this, promising upon it to follow after the drawer; but they are rather the request of the church, desirous of nearer and more intimate communion with Christ; for this is not to be understood of drawing at first conversion, as the fruit of love, and under the influence of grace, Jer 31:3; but of being brought nearer to Christ, and to enjoy more of him;

we will run after thee; the church and the virgins, she and her companions, or particular believers; everyone of them in their respective stations would act with more rigour upon such drawings; would run in a way of duty, follow Christ, and walk in his steps; and as they had him for an example, and according to his word, and in the ways of his commandments: or "that we may run after thee" ^s; intimating that there is no running without drawing; no following Christ, at least no running after him with alacrity and cheerfulness, without being drawn by his love, and influenced by his grace;

the King hath brought me into his chambers: the blessing she sought after, and was so solicitous for in the preceding verses; namely, to have the marriage consummated, to be owned by Christ as his spouse and bride, by taking her home, and introducing her into the nuptial chamber; by putting her into the enjoyment of himself, and the possession of his substance: and this being done by him as King of saints, yea, of the world, showed great condescension on his part, and great honour bestowed on her; since by this act, as he was King, she was declared queen!

we will be glad and rejoice in thee: she and her bridesmaids, the virgins that attended her; that is, "when he should introduce" her into his chambers, as some ^t render the words; then they should express their joy and gladness on that occasion; and that in the greatness, glory, and fitness of his person; in the fulness of grace in him; in the blessings of grace from him; in what he has done for, and is to his church and people; in the offices he bears, and in the relations he stands in to them; and particularly that of a husband, now declared;

we will remember thy love more than wine: which, upon the introduction of the bride to the bridegroom, might be plentifully drank; of the preferableness of Christ's love to wine; see Gill on Son 1:2; it may design more particularly the love of Christ, expressed at this time of solemnizing the marriage between him and his church in an open manner, Hos 2:19; and which would never be forgotten: Christ's love is remembered when thought of and meditated upon; when faith is exercised on it, and the desires of the soul are drawn after it, and the affections set upon it; and when it is often spoken of to others, being uppermost in the mind; saints under the Gospel dispensation have an ordinance for this purpose, to, commemorate the love of Christ;

the upright love thee; or "uprightnesses" ^u; men of upright hearts and conversations, who have right spirits renewed in them; or Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; who have the truth of grace in them, walk uprightly according to the rule of God's word, and the Gospel of Christ; and do all they do sincerely, from a principle of love, and with a view to the glory of God; such love Christ superlatively, sincerely, fervently, and constantly; and "love him rightly", or "most uprightly", as some ^w render the phrase.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Sos 1:2

¹ tn The introductory headings that identify the speakers of the poems throughout the Song do not appear in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity. These notations should not be misinterpreted as suggesting that the Song be interpreted as a drama. Throughout the Song, the notation “The Lover” refers to the young man, while “the Beloved” refers to the young woman. Since the Song of Songs appears to be a collection of individual love songs, the individual love poems within the collection might not have originally referred to the same young man and young woman in each case. Just as the Book of Proverbs contains proverbs composed by Solomon (10:1-22:16; 25:1-29:27) as well as proverbs composed by other wise men (22:17-24:34; 30:1-31:9), so the Song of Songs may contain love poems composed by Solomon or written about Solomon as well as love poems composed by or written about other young couples in love. Nevertheless, the final canonical form of this collection presents a unified picture of idyllic love between one man and one woman in each case. The young man in several of the individual love poems is explicitly identified as Solomon (1:5; 3:7; 8:11-12), King Solomon (3:9, 11) or the king (1:4; 7:6). Some statements in the Song are consistent with a royal figure such as Solomon: references to Tirzah and Jerusalem (6:4) and to multiple queens and concubines (6:8). It is not so clear, however, whether Solomon is the young man in every individual poem. Nor is it clear that the same young woman is in view in each love poem. In several poems the young woman is a country maiden working in a vineyard (1:5-6; 8:11-12); however, the young woman in another poem is addressed as “O prince’s daughter” (7:2). The historian notes, “Solomon loved many women, especially the daughter of Pharaoh” (1 Kgs 11:1). So it would be surprising if the Song devoted itself to only one of Solomon’s many liaisons. The Song may simply be a collection of love poems written at various moments in Solomon’s illustrious career as a lover of many women. It may also include love poems written about other young lovers that were collected into the final form of the book that presents a portrait of idyllic love of young lovers.

² tn Heb “May he kiss me….” The shift from 3rd person masculine singular forms (“he” and “his”) in 1:2a to 2nd person masculine singular forms (“your”) in 1:2b-4 has led some to suggest that the Beloved addresses the Friends in 1:2a and then her Lover in 1:2b-4. A better solution is that the shift from the 3rd person masculine singular to 2nd person masculine singular forms is an example of heterosis of person: a poetic device in which the grammatical person shifts from line to line (M. H. Pope, Song of Songs [AB], 297). The third person is put for the second person (e.g, Gen 49:4; Deut 32:15; Ps 23:2-5; Isa 1:29; 42:20; 54:1; Jer 22:24; Amos 4:1; Micah 7:19; Lam 3:1; Song 4:2; 6:6) (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 524-25). Similar shifts occur in ancient Near Eastern love literature (cf. S. N. Kramer, The Sacred Marriage Rite, 92, 99). Most translations render 1:2 literally and preserve the shifts from 3rd person masculine singular to 2nd person masculine singular forms (KJV, AV, NASB, NIV); others render 1:2 with 2nd person masculine singular forms throughout (RSV, NJPS).

³ tn Heb “May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” The phrase יִשָּׁקֵנִי מִנְּשִׁיקוֹת (yishshaqeni minnÿshiqot, “kiss me with kisses”) is a cognate accusative construction used for emphasis.

⁴ tc The MT vocalizes consonantal דדיך as דֹּדֶיךָ (dodekha, “your loves”; mpl noun from דּוֹד, dod, “love” + 2nd person masculine singular suffix). The LXX and Vulgate reflect the vocalization דַּדֶּיךָ (daddekha, “your breasts”; mpl noun from דַּד, dad, “breast” + 2nd person masculine singular suffix). This alternate tradition was well known; it was followed by Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235) in his exposition of Canticles 1:2 and by Rabbi Yohanan of Tiberias (3rd century a.d.) as recorded in the Jewish midrashim on Canticles Rabbah 1:2.2. However, the MT vocalization is preferred. In terms of external evidence, the MT vocalization tradition is generally more reliable. In terms of internal evidence, the LXX form דַּדֶּיךָ (daddekha, “your [male!] breasts”) is a bit shocking, to say the least. On the other, the plural form דּוֹדִים (dodim, “loves”) is used in the Song to refer to multiple expressions of love or multiple acts of lovemaking (e.g., 1:4; 4:10; 5:1; 7:13 [ET 12]).

tn Although it may be understood in the general sense meaning “love” (Song 1:4), the term דּוֹד (dod) normally means “lovemaking” (Prov 7:18; Song 4:10; 7:12[13]; Ezek 16:8; 23:17). The plural form דֹּדֶיךָ (dodekha, lit. “your lovemakings”) is probably not a plural of number but an abstract plural (so BDB 187 s.v. דּוֹד 3).

⁵ tn Heb “better than.” With the comparison of lovemaking to wine, the idea is probably “more intoxicating than wine” or “more delightful than wine.”

⁶ tn The young woman compares his lovemaking to the intoxicating effects of wine. A man is to be “intoxicated” with the love of his wife (Prov 5:20). Wine makes the heart glad (Deut 14:26; Judg 9:13; Ps 104:15) and revives the spirit (2 Sam 16:1-2; Prov 31:4-7). It is viewed as a gift from God, given to enable man to enjoy life (Eccl 2:24-25; 5:18). The ancient Egyptian love poems use the imagery of wine and intoxication to describe the overwhelming effects of sexual love. For example, an ancient Egyptian love song reads: “I embrace her and her arms open wide; I am like a man in Punt, like someone overwhelmed with drugs. I kiss her and her lips open; and I am drunk without beer” (ANET 467-69).

NET Notes: Sos 1:3

¹ tn The preposition לְ (lÿ) of לְרֵיחַ (lÿrekha) has been understood in three ways: (a) dative of reference: “with respect to fragrance [your perfumes are pleasing]” (see GKC 430 §133.d); (b) asseverative or emphatic: “indeed the fragrance [of your perfumes is pleasing]” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 50-51, §283); or (c) comparative: “[your lovemaking is better than wine], indeed better the scent [of precious ointments]” (W. F. Albright, “Archaic Survivals in the Text of Canticles,” Hebrew and Semitic Studies, 2, n. 4).

² tn Heb “the scent of your oils.” The term שֶׁמֶן (shemen, “cologne”) refers to perfumes or colognes (Eccl 7:1; 10:1; Song 4:10). In Israel bodily oils were expensive (1 Kgs 17:12ff; 2 Kgs 2:4ff). Possession of oils and perfumes was a sign of prosperity and luxury (Deut 32:8; 33:24; Job 29:6; Prov 21:17; Ezek 16:13, 20). Wearing cologne was associated with joy (Ps 45:8; Eccl 9:8; Isa 61:3) because they were worn on festive occasions (Prov 27:9).

³ sn The term טוֹבִים (tovim, “pleasing”) refers to what is pleasant to the olfactory senses (BDB 373 s.v. II טוֹב 1.c) (e.g., Jer 6:20).

⁴ sn The term שְׁמֶךָ (shÿmekha, “your name”) may be a metonymy of association for her lover. In Hebrew idiom, the name often represents the person (e.g., 1 Sam 25:25).

⁵ tn The meaning of the phrase שֶׁמֶן תּוּרַק (shemen turaq) is difficult to determine; several options have been proposed: (1) Traditionally, the term תּוּרַק is taken as a verb (Hophal imperfect 3rd person feminine singular from רִיק, riq, “to pour out”) which functions as an attributive adjective modifying the noun שֶׁמֶן (“oil, perfume”): “poured out oil.” The phrase is taken this way by LXX ἒλαιον ἐκχεομενον (“oil poured out”) which seems to reflect a Hebrew Vorlage of a passive verb functioning adjectivally. Accordingly, the phrase is traditionally translated “ointment/oil poured forth/poured out” (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NIV, RSV, NRSV, NJB), “purified oil” (NASB) or “spreading perfume” (NAB, CEV). However, this is syntactically awkward because: (a) the noun שֶׁמֶן (“oil”) is masculine (BDB 1032 s.v. שֶׁמֶן) but the verb תּוּרַק (“poured out”) is feminine (3rd person feminine singular); and (b) this would demand heterosis of the verb for an adjective function. (2) Aquila, who is known for his woodenly literal translation technique, reads ἒλαιον ἐκκενωθὲν (elaion ekkenwqen, “oil poured out”) which reflects a passive participle functioning adjectivally, perhaps מוּרָק (muraq; Hophal participle ms from רִיק “to pour out”). This involves simple orthographic confusion between ת and מ. This might be reflected in Qumran because Baillet’s restoration of 6QCant reads מרקחת מורקה (cited in BHS apparatus “c-c”) which would be vocalized מִרְקַחַת מוּרקָה (mirqakhat murqah, “perfumed poured out”). However, Baillet’s restoration is questioned by some scholars. (3) The BHS editors suggest emending MT תּוּרַק (turaq) to the noun תַּמְרוּק (tamruq, “purification”), used for oil of purification (e.g., Esth 2:3, 9, 12): תַּמְרוּק שֶׁמֶן (shemen tamruq) would mean “oil of purification” or “purified oil.” (4) A simpler solution is to take תּוּרַק as a previously unrecognized noun that is related to the Ugaritic noun trq which refers to high grade cosmetic oil (UT 145.20; 19.371). This approach is adopted by one other translation: “Your name is like finest oil” (NJPS).

⁶ sn The similar sounding terms שֵׁם (shem, “name”) and שֶׁמֶן (shemen, “perfume”) create a wordplay (paronomasia).

⁷ sn The term עַלְמָה (’almah, “young woman”) refers to a young woman who is of marriageable age or a newly married young woman, usually before the birth of her first child (HALOT 835-36 s.v. עַלְמָה; BDB 761 s.v. עַלְמָה) (e.g., Gen 24:43; Exod 2:8; Ps 68:26; Prov 30:19; Song 1:3; 6:8; Isa 7:14). The only other use of the term “young women” (עֲלָמוֹת) in the Song refers to the young women of Solomon’s harem (Song 6:8). The root עלם denotes the basic idea of “youthful, strong, passionate” (HALOT 835 s.v. III עלם). While the term עַלְמָה (“young woman”) may be used in reference to a young woman who is a virgin, the term itself does not explicitly denote “virgin.” The Hebrew term which explicitly denotes “virgin” is בְּתוּלָה (bÿtulah) which refers to a mature young woman without any sexual experience with men (e.g., Gen 24:16; Exod 22:15-16; Lev 21:3; Deut 22:23, 28; 32:25; Judg 12:12; 19:24; 2 Sam 13:2, 18; 1 Kgs 1:2; 2 Chr 36:17; Esth 2:2-3, 17, 19; Job 31:1; Pss 45:15; 78:63; 148:12; Isa 23:4; 62:5; Jer 2:32; 31:3; 51:22; Lam 1:4, 18; 2:10, 21; 5:11; Ezek 9:6; Joel 1:8; Amos 9:13; Zech 9:17 (HALOT 166-7 s.v. בְּתוּלָה; BDB 143 s.v. בְּתוּלָה). The related noun בְּתוּלִים (bÿtulim) means “state of virginity” (Lev 21:13; Judg 11:37-38; Ezek 23:3, 8; Sir 42:10) and “evidence of virginity” (Deut 22:14-15, 17, 20) (HALOT 167 s.v. בְּתוּלִים).

⁸ tn Heb “love.”

NET Notes: Sos 1:4

¹ sn The verb מָשַׁךְ (mashakh, “draw”) is a figurative expression (hypocatastasis) which draws an implied comparison between the physical acting of leading a person with the romantic action of leading a person in love. Elsewhere it is used figuratively of a master gently leading an animal with leather cords (Hos 11:4) and of a military victor leading his captives (Jer 31:3). The point of comparison might be that the woman wants to be the willing captive of the love of her beloved, that is, a willing prisoner of his love.

² tn The three verbs in this line are a good example of heterosis of person, that is, a shift from 2nd person masculine singular to 1st person common plural to 3rd person masculine singular forms: מָשְׁכֵנִי (mashÿkheni, “draw me!”; Qal imperative 2nd person masculine singular from מָשַׁךְ, mashakh, “to draw” + 1st person common singular suffix:), נָּרוּצָה (narutsah, “let us run!”; Qal cohortative 1st person common plural from רוּץ, ruts, “to run”), and הֱבִיאַנִי (hevi’ani, “he has brought me” or “bring me!”; Hiphil perfect 3rd person masculine singular בּוֹא, bo’, “to bring” + 1st person common singular suffix). Heterosis from second to third person occurs elsewhere in the Song in 1:2-3; 4:2; 6:6 (e.g, Gen 49:4; Deut 32:15; Ps 23:2-5; Isa 1:29; 42:20; 54:1; Jer 22:24; Amos 4:1; Micah 7:19; Lam 3:1).

³ tn Or “O king, bring me into your chambers!” The article on the noun הַמֶּלֶךְ (hammelekh, “the king”) may be taken in two ways: (1) the particularizing use of the article: “The king” (e.g., NIV: “The king has brought me into his chambers”) or (2) the vocative use of the article: “O king!” (NJPS margin: “O king, bring me into your chambers!”) (For the vocative use of the article, see GKC 405 §126.e; Joüon 2:506-7 §137.f; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §89; IBHS 247 §13.5.2c). The syntactical classification of the article is dependent upon: (1) Whether the MT reading of the 3rd person masculine singular suffix on חֲדָרָיו (khadarav, “his chambers”) is retained or whether the text is emended to the 2nd person masculine singular suffix form חַדְרֶךָ (khadrekha, “your chamber”) as reflected in Syriac (see textual note below). (2) Whether הֱבִיאַנִי (hevi’ani, Hiphil perfect 3rd person masculine singular from בּוֹא, bo’, “to bring” + 1st person common singular suffix) is classified as a perfect of past action (“The king has brought me into his chambers”) or a precative perfect (“O king, bring me into your chambers!”) (see syntactical note below). (3) Whether the consonantal form הביאני should be vocalized as הֱבִיאַנִי (hevi’ani, Hiphil perfect 3rd person masculine singular + 1st person common singular suffix) as preserved in MT or as הֲבִיאֵנִי (havi’eni, Hiphil imperative 2nd person masculine singular + 1st person common singular suffix) as reflected in Symmachus and Syriac (see textual note below).

⁴ tn Or “has brought me.” The verb הֱבִיאַנִי (hevi’ani, Hiphil perfect 3rd person masculine singular בּוֹא, bo’, “to bring” + 1st person common singular suffix) may be classified in two ways: (1) perfect of past action: “The king has brought me into his chambers” or (2) precative perfect: “May the king bring me into his chambers!” (J. S. Deere, “Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 1012). While some older grammarians denied the existence of the precative (volitional) function of the perfect in Hebrew (e.g., S. R. Driver, Tenses in Hebrew, 25-26; GKC 312-13 §106.n, n. 2), its existence is accepted in more recent grammars (e.g., IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4d; Joüon 2:365 §112.k). While the perfect of past action is the more common use of the perfect, the context suggests the more rare precative. As IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4d notes, the precative can be recognized contextually by its parallelism with the other volitive forms. The parallelism of precative הֱבִיאַנִי (“bring me!”) with the volitives in the two preceding parallel colons – מָשְׁכֵנִי (mashÿkheni, “draw me!”; Qal imperative 2nd person masculine singular from משַׁךְ, mashakh, “to draw” + 1st person common singular suffix:) and נָּרוּצָה (narutsah, “let us run!”; Qal cohortative 1st person common plural from רוּץ, ruts, “to run”) – favors the precative function of the perfect. The volitive function of consonantal הביאני is reflected in Syriac. The BHS editors suggest revocalizing MT to הֲבִיאֵנִי “bring me!” The precative function of the perfect הֱבִיאַנִי may explain the origin of this variant vocalization tradition reflected in Syriac. In terms of connotation, the precative functions as a volitive as an example of the irreal modal or optative function of the perfect (IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4d; Joüon 2:365 §112.k). In contrast to the use of the irreal perfect for situations which the speaker expresses as a wish without expectation of fulfillment (contrary-to-fact situations, hypothetical assertions, and expressions of a wish that is not expected to be realized), the precative refers to situations the speaker expresses his desire for and expects to be realized (IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4d). It is used most often in contexts of prayers to God which the speakers expect to be answered (e.g., Pss 3:8; 22:22; 31:5-6). Here, she expresses her desire that her lover consummate their love in his bedroom chambers; she expects this desire to be realized one day (e.g., 4:1-5:1). There are, however, several problems with nuancing the form as a precative: (a) this would demand emending MT חֲדָרָיו (khadarav, “his chambers”) to חַדְרֶךָ (khadrekha, “your chamber[s]”) – which is, however, reflected by Syriac Peshitta and Symmachus, and (b) it would demand nuancing the article on הַמֶּלֶךְ (hammelekh) as a vocative (“O king!”).

⁵ tc The MT reads the 3rd person masculine singular suffix on a plural noun חֲדָרָיו (khadarav, “his chambers”). This is reflected in LXX, Targums, and Vulgate. However, the 2nd person masculine singular suffix on a singular noun חַדְרֶךָ (khadrekha, “your chambers”) is reflected by Syriac Peshitta and Symmachus. See preceding note on the text-critical significance of these variant readings.

⁶ tn The term חֶדֶר (kheder, “chamber”) is used frequently in reference to a bedroom (Gen 43:30; Judg 15:1; 16:9; 2 Sam 13:10; 1 Kgs 1:15; Ps 105:30; Isa 26:20). It refers explicitly to a bedroom when used with the noun מִשְׁכָּב (mishkav, “bed”) in the expression חֶדֶר מִשְׁכָּב “bedroom chamber” (Exod 7:28; 2 Sam 4:7; 2 Kgs 6:12; Eccl 10:20). The plural form חֲדָרָיו (khadarav, “his chambers”) functions as a plural of extension rather than a plural or number; it refers to one bedroom composed of several parts rather than referring to several different bedrooms. The expression “Bring me into your chambers” is a metonymy of cause for effect, that is, her desire for lovemaking in his bedroom chambers.

⁷ sn Normally in the Song, the person/gender of the pronouns and suffixes makes the identify of the speaker or addressee clear. However, there are several places in which there is grammatical ambiguity that makes it difficult to identify either the speaker or the addressee (e.g., 6:11-13; 7:9b). This is particularly true when 1st person common plural or 3rd person common plural verbs or suffixes are present (1:3[4]; 2:15; 5:1b; 8:8-9), as is the case in the three lines of 1:3b[4b]. There are four views to the identity of the speaker(s): (1) NASB attributes all three lines to the maidens, (2) NIV attributes the first two lines to the friends and the third line to the Beloved (= woman), (3) NJPS attributes all three lines to the Beloved, speaking throughout 1:2-4, and (4) The first line could be attributed to the young man speaking to his beloved, and the last two lines attributed to the Beloved who returns praise to him. The referents of the 1st person common plural cohortatives and the 2sg suffixes have been taken as: (1) the maidens of Jerusalem, mentioned in 1:4[5] and possibly referred to as the 3rd person common plural subject of אֲהֵבוּךָ (’ahevukha, “they love you”) in 1:3b[4b], using the 1st person common plural cohortatives in reference to themselves as they address her lover: “We (= maidens) will rejoice in you (= the young man).” (2) The Beloved using 1st person common plural cohortatives in a hortatory sense as she addresses her lover: “Let us (= the couple) rejoice in you (= the young man), let us praise your lovemaking…” (3) The Beloved using the 1st person common plural cohortatives in reference to herself – there are examples in ancient Near Eastern love literature of the bride using 1st person common plural forms in reference to herself (S. N. Kramer, The Sacred Marriage Rite, 92, 99) – as she addresses the young man: “We (= I) will rejoice in you (= the young man).” Note: This problem is compounded by the ambiguity of the gender on בָּךְ (bakh, “in you”) which appears to be 2nd person feminine singular but may be 2nd person masculine singular in pause (see note below).

⁸ tn Alternately, “Let us rejoice and delight in you.” There is debate whether the cohortatives נָגִילָה (nagilah, Qal cohortative 1st person common plural from גִּיל, gil, “to exult”), וְנִשְמְחָה (vÿnishmÿkhah, Qal cohortative 1st person common plural from שָמַח, shamakh, “to rejoice”) and נַזְכִּירָה (nazkirah, Hiphil cohortative 1st person common plural from זָכַר, zakhar, “to praise”) should be classified as (1) cohortatives of resolve, expressing the resolution or determination of the speakers to adopt or accomplish a course of action: “We will rejoice…we will delight…we will praise” (e.g., KJV, NASB, NIV) or (2) hortatory cohortatives, exhorting others to join in doing something: “Let us rejoice…let us delight…let us praise” (e.g., NJPS).

⁹ tn A shift occurs in 1:4 from 1st person common singular forms to 1st person common plural forms: “Draw me (מָשְׁכֵנִי, mashÿkeni)…Let us run (נּרוּצָה, narutsah)…Bring me (הֱבִיאַנִי, hevi’ani)…We will be glad (נָגִילָה, nagilah)…We will rejoice in you (וְנִשְׁמְחָה, vÿnishmÿkhah)…We will remember (נַזְכִּירָה, nazkirah)…They love you (אֲהֵבוּךָ, ’ahevukha)….” Several translations and many commentators end the words of the Beloved at 1:4a and begin the words of the Friends in 1:4b and revert back to the words of the Beloved in 1:4c. The subject of the 1st person common plural forms may be the “young women” (עֲלָמוֹת) previously mentioned in 1:3. This is supported by the fact that in 1:3 the Beloved says, “The young women love you” (עֲלָמוֹת אֲהֵבוּךָ, ’alamot ’ahevukha) and in 1:4c she again says, “Rightly do they [the young women] love you” (מֵישָׁרִים אֲהֵבוּךָ, mesharim ’ahevukha). On the other hand, in ANE love literature the bride often uses plural pronouns to refer to herself (S. N. Kramer, The Sacred Marriage Rite, 92, 99). Some commentators suggest that the young man is addressing his beloved because בָּךְ (bakh) appears to have a 2nd person feminine singular suffix. However, the suffix on בָּךְ is in pause (after the accent) therefore, the normal 2nd person masculine singular suffix בָּךָ has reduced to shewa. The parallelism with the 2nd person masculine singular suffix on דֹדֶיךָ (dodekha, “your love”) supports the 2nd person masculine singular classification.

¹⁰ tn Alternately, “remember.” The verb נַזְכִּירָה (nazkirah, Hiphil imperfect 1st person common plural from זָכַר, zakhar) is traditionally rendered “we will remember” (KJV), but is better nuanced “we will extol” (NASB) or “we will praise” (NIV). The verb זָכַר has a wide range of meanings: “to remember, call to mind” (Gen 8:1; Deut 24:9; Judg 8:34), “to name, mention” (Jer 20:9; 23:36; 31:20; Pss 63:7; 77:4), “to summon, command” (Nah 2:6), “to swear by” (Amos 6:10; 1 Chr 16:4), and “to praise, extol” (Exod 23:13; Josh 23:7; Pss 45:18; 71:16; Isa 26:13; 48:1; 62:6). The Hiphil stem has four denotations, and “to remember” is not one of them: (1) “to take to court,” (2) “to mention,” (3) “to make known,” and (4) “to praise, profess” (HALOT 269-70 s.v. I זכר). NJPS offers a poetic nuance that plays upon the wine motif: “savoring it more than wine.”

¹¹ tn Alternately, “The righteous love you.” Scholars debate whether מֵישָׁרִים (mesharim) should be taken as a substantive (“the righteous”), abstract noun (“righteousness”), or adverb (“rightly”). The LXX’s εὐθύτης ἠγάπησεν σε (euquths hgaphsen, “righteousness loves you”) is awkward. The adverbial sense is preferred for several reasons: (1) The verb אֲהֵבוּךָ (’ahevuka, “they love you”) in 1:4c is repeated from 1:3c where it was used in reference to the maiden’s love for her lover. (2) There is no group designated as “the righteous” elsewhere in the Song. (3) To introduce an additional party into this poetic unit is unnecessary when it can be easily understood as a reference to the maidens of 1:3c.

¹² tn Heb “they love you.” The words “the young women” do not appear in the Hebrew but are supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity. The shift from the 1st person common plural subjects in the three cohortatives – נָגִילָה (nagilah, Qal cohortative 1st person common plural from גּיל, gil, “to exult”), וְנִשְׂמְחָה (vÿnishmÿkhah, Qal cohortative 1st person common plural from שָמַח, shamakh, “to rejoice”), and נַזְכִּירָה (nazkirah, Hiphil cohortative 1st person common plural from זָכַר, zakhar, “to praise”) – to the 3rd person common plural subject in the verb אֲהֵבוּךָ (’ahevukha, Qal perfect 3rd person common plural from אָהֵב, ’ahev, “to love” + 2nd person masculine singular suffix) suggests to many scholars that a shift in speakers occurs at this point: the maidens praise the young man in the first two lines, while the Beloved affirms the appropriateness of their praise in the last line (e.g., NIV). However, the shift in person might simply be another example of heterosis of person (as already seen in 1:2-4a) – this time from first person to third person. Thus, the shift in grammatical person does not necessarily indicate a shift in speakers. It is possible that the maidens are speaking throughout all three lines, and that the third line should be nuanced, “How rightly we love you!”

Geneva Bible: Sos 1:2

Let ^{( a )} him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love [is] better than wine.

^{( a )} This is spoken in the person of the Church, or of the faithful soul inflamed with the desire of Christ, whom she loves.

Geneva Bible: Sos 1:3

Because of the ^{( b )} savour of thy good ointments thy name [is as] ointment poured forth, therefore do the ^{( c )} virgins love thee.

^{( b )} The feeling of your great benefits.

^{( c )} They that are pure in heart and conversation.

Geneva Bible: Sos 1:4

^{( d )} Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his ^{( e )} chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

^{( d )} The faithful confess that they cannot come to Christ, unless they are drawn.

^{( e )} Meaning the secret joy that is not known to the world.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Sos 1:1-17

1 The church's love unto Christ.

5 She confesses her deformity,

7 and prays to be directed to his flock.

8 Christ directs her to the shepherd's tents;

9 and shewing his love to her,

11 gives her gracious promises.

12 The church and Christ congratulate one another.

MHCC: Sos 1:2-6

The church, or rather the believer, speaks here in the character of the spouse of the King, the Messiah. The kisses of his mouth mean those assurances of pardon with which believers are favoured, filling them with peace and joy in believing, and causing them to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost. Gracious souls take most pleasure in loving Christ, and being loved of him. Christ's love is more valuable and desirable than the best this world can give. The name of Christ is not now like ointment sealed up, but like ointment poured forth; which denotes the freeness and fulness of the setting forth of his grace by the gospel. Those whom he has redeemed and sanctified, are here the virgins that love Jesus Christ, and follow him whithersoever he goes, Rev 14:4. They entreat him to draw them by the quickening influences of his Spirit. The more clearly we discern Christ's glory, the more sensible shall we be that we are unable to follow him suitably, and at the same time be more desirous of doing it. Observe the speedy answer given to this prayer. Those who wait at Wisdom's gate, shall be led into truth and comfort. And being brought into this chamber, our griefs will vanish. We have no joy but in Christ, and for this we are indebted to him. We will remember to give thanks for thy love; it shall make more lasting impressions upon us than any thing in this world. Nor is any love acceptable to Christ but love in sincerity, Eph 6:24. The daughters of Jerusalem may mean professors not yet established in the faith. The spouse was black as the tents of the wandering Arabs, but comely as the magnificent curtains in the palaces of Solomon. The believer is black, as being defiled and sinful by nature, but comely, as renewed by Divine grace to the holy image of God. He is still deformed with remains of sin, but comely as accepted in Christ. He is often base and contemptible in the esteem of men, but excellent in the sight of God. The blackness was owing to the hard usage that had been suffered. The children of the church, her mother, but not of God, her Father, were angry with her. They had made her suffer hardships, which caused her to neglect the care of her soul. Thus, under the emblem of a poor female, made the chosen partner of a prince, we are led to consider the circumstances in which the love of Christ is accustomed to find its objects. They were wretched slaves of sin, in toil, or in sorrow, weary and heavy laden, but how great the change when the love of Christ is manifested to their souls!

Matthew Henry: Sos 1:2-6

The spouse, in this dramatic poem, is here first introduced addressing herself to the bridegroom and then to the daughters of Jerusalem.

I. To the bridegroom, not giving him any name or title, but beginning abruptly: Let him kiss me; like Mary Magdalen to the supposed gardener (Joh 20:15), If thou have borne him hence, meaning Christ, but not naming him. The heart has been before taken up with the thoughts of him, and to this relative those thoughts were the antecedent, that good matter which the heart was inditing, Psa 45:1. Those that are full of Christ themselves are ready to think that others should be so too. Two things the spouse desires, and pleases herself with the thoughts of: -

1. The bridegroom's friendship (Son 1:2): " Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, that is, be reconciled to me, and let me know that he is so; let me have the token of his favour."Thus the Old Testament church desired Christ's manifesting himself in the flesh, to be no longer under the law as a schoolmaster, under a dispensation of bondage and terror, but to receive the communications of divine grace in the gospel, in which God is reconciling the world unto himself, binding up and healing what by the law was torn and smitten; as the mother kisses the child that she has chidden. "Let him no longer send to me, but come himself, no longer speak by angels and prophets, but let me have the word of his own mouth, those gracious words (Luk 4:22), which will be to me as the kisses of the mouth, sure tokens of reconciliation, as Esau's kissing Jacob was."All gospel duty is summed up in our kissing the Son (Psa 2:12); so all gospel-grace is summed up in his kissing us, as the father of the prodigal kissed him when he returned a penitent. It is a kiss of peace. Kisses are opposed to wounds (Pro 27:6), so are the kisses of grace to the wounds of the law. Thus all true believers earnestly desire the manifestations of Christ's love to their souls; they desire no more to make them happy than the assurance of his favour, the lifting up of the light of his countenance upon them (Psa 4:6, Psa 4:7), and the knowledge of that love of his which surpasses knowledge; this is the one thing they desire, Psa 27:4. They are ready to welcome the manifestation of Christ's love to their souls by his Spirit, and to return them in the humble professions of love to him and complacency in him, above all. The fruit of his lips is peace, Isa 57:19. "Let him give me ten thousand kisses whose very fruition makes me desire him more, and, whereas all other pleasures sour and wither by using, those of the Spirit become more delightful."So bishop Reynolds. She gives several reasons for this desire. (1.) Because of the great esteem she has for his love: Thy love is better than wine. Wine makes glad the heart, revives the drooping spirits, and exhilarates them, but gracious souls take more pleasure in loving Christ and being beloved of him, in the fruits and gifts of his love and in the pledges and assurances of it, than any man ever took in the most exquisite delights of sense, and it is more reviving to them than ever the richest cordial was to one ready to faint. Note, [1.] Christ's love is in itself, and in the account of all the saints, more valuable and desirable than the best entertainments this world can give. [2.] Those only may expect the kisses of Christ's mouth, and the comfortable tokens of his favour, who prefer his love before all delights of the children of men, who would rather forego those delights than forfeit his favour, and take more pleasure in spiritual joys than in any bodily refreshments whatsoever. Observe here the change of the person: Let him kiss me; there she speaks of him as absent, or as if she were afraid to speak to him; but, in the next words, she sees him near at hand, and therefore directs her speech to him: " Thy love, thy loves "(so the word is), "I so earnestly desire, because I highly esteem it."(2.) Because of the diffuse fragrancy of his love and the fruits of it (Son 1:3): " Because of the savour of thy good ointment (the agreeableness and acceptableness of thy graces and comforts to all that rightly understand both them and themselves), thy name is as ointment poured forth, thou art so, and all that whereby thou hast made thyself known; thy very name is precious to all the saints; it is an ointment and perfume which rejoice the heart."The unfolding of Christ's name is as the opening of a box of precious ointment, which the room is filled with the odour of. The preaching of his gospel was the manifesting the savour of his knowledge in every place, 2Co 2:14. The Spirit was the oil of gladness wherewith Christ was anointed (Heb 1:9), and all true believers have that unction (1Jo 2:27), so that he is precious to them, and they to him and to one another. A good name is as precious ointment, but Christ's name is more fragrant than any other. Wisdom, like oil, makes the face to shine; but the Redeemer outshines, in beauty, all others. The name of Christ is not now like ointment sealed up, as it had been long ( Ask not after my name, for it is secret ), but like ointment poured forth, which denotes both the freeness and fulness of the communications of his grace by the gospel. (3.) Because of the general affection that all holy souls have to him: Therefore do the virgins love thee. It is Christ's love shed abroad in our hearts that draws them out in love to him; all that are pure from the corruptions of sin, that preserve the chastity of their own spirits, and are true to the vows by which they have devoted themselves to God, that not only suffer not their affections to be violated but cannot bear so much as to be solicited by the world and the flesh, those are the virgins that love Jesus Christ and follow him whithersoever he goes, Rev 14:4. And, because Christ is the darling of all the pure in heart, let him be ours, and let our desires be towards him and towards the kisses of his mouth.

2. The bridegroom's fellowship, Son 1:4. Observe here,

(1.) Her petition for divine grace: Draw me. This implies sense of distance from him, desire of union with him. "Draw me to thyself, draw me nearer, draw me home to thee."She had prayed that he would draw nigh to her (Son 1:2); in order to that, she prays that he would draw her nigh to him. " Draw me, not only with the moral suasion which there is in the fragrancy of the good ointments, not only with the attractives of that name which is as ointment poured forth, but with supernatural grace, with the cords of a man and the bands of love, "Hos 11:4. Christ has told us that none come to him but such as the Father draws, Joh 6:44. We are not only weak, and cannot come of ourselves any further than we are helped, but we are naturally backward and averse to come, and therefore must pray for those influences and operations of the Spirit, by the power of which we are unwilling made willing, Psa 110:3. " Draw me, else I move not; overpower the world and the flesh that would draw me from thee."We are not driven to Christ, but drawn in such a way as is agreeable to rational creatures.

(2.) Her promise to improve that grace: Draw me, and then we will run after thee. See how the doctrine of special and effectual grace consists with our duty, and is a powerful engagement and encouragement to it, and yet reserves all the glory of all the good that is in us to God only. Observe, [1.] The flowing forth of the soul after Christ, and its ready compliance with him, are the effect of his grace; we could not run after him if he did not draw us, 2Co 3:5; Phi 4:13. [2.] The grace which God gives us we must diligently improve. When Christ by his Spirit draws us we must with our spirits run after him. As God says, I will, and you shall (Eze 36:27), so we must say, " Thou shalt and we will; thou shalt work in us both to will and to do, and therefore we will work out our own salvation"(Phi 2:12, Phi 2:13); not only we will walk, but we will run after thee, which denotes eagerness of desire, readiness of affection, vigour of pursuit, and swiftness of motion. When thou shalt enlarge my heart then I will run the way of thy commandments (Psa 119:32); when thy right hand upholds me then my soul follows hard after thee (Psa 63:8); when with lovingkindness to us he draws us (Jer 31:3) we with lovingkindness to him must run after him, Isa 40:31. Observe the difference between the petition and the promise: "Draw me, and then we will run."When Christ pours out his Spirit upon the church in general, which is his bride, all the members of it do thence receive enlivening quickening influences, and are made to run to him with the more cheerfulness, Isa 55:5. Or, "Draw me"(says the believing soul) "and then I will not only follow thee myself as fast as I can, but will bring all mine along with me: We will run after thee, I and the virgins that love thee (Son 1:3), I and all that I have any interest in or influence upon, I and my house (Jos 24:15), I and the transgressors whom I will teach thy ways, "Psa 51:13. Those that put themselves forth, in compliance with divine grace, shall find that their zeal will provoke many, 2Co 9:2. Those that are lively will be active; when Philip was drawn to Christ he drew Nathanael; and they will be exemplary, and so will win those that would not be won by the word.

(3.) The immediate answer that was given to this prayer: The King has drawn me, has brought me into his chambers. It is not so much an answer fetched by faith from the world of Christ's grace as an answer fetched by experience from the workings of his grace. If we observe, as we ought, the returns of prayer, we may find that sometimes, while we are yet speaking, Christ hears, Isa 65:24. The bridegroom is a king; so much the more wonderful is his condescension in the invitations and entertainments that he gives us, and so much the greater reason have we to accept of them and to run after him. God is the King that has made the marriage-supper for his Son (Mat 22:2) and brings in even the poor and the maimed, and even the most shy and bashful are compelled to come in. Those that are drawn to Christ are brought, not only into his courts, into his palaces (Psa 45:15), but into his presence-chamber, where his secret is with them (Joh 14:21), and where they are safe in his pavilion, Psa 27:5; Isa 26:20. Those that wait at wisdom's gates shall be made to come (so the word is) into her chambers; they shall be led into truth and comfort.

(4.) The wonderful complacency which the spouse takes in the honour which the king put upon her. Being brought into the chamber, [1.] "We have what we would have. Our desires are crowned with unspeakable delights; all our griefs vanish, and we will be glad and rejoice. If a day in the courts, much more an hour in the chambers, is better than a thousand, than ten thousand, elsewhere."Those that are, through grace, brought into covenant and communion with God, have reason to go on their way rejoicing, as the eunuch (Act 8:39), and that joy will enlarge our hearts and be our strength, Neh 8:10. [2.] All our joy shall centre in God: " We will rejoice, not in the ointments, or the chambers, but in thee. It is God only that is our exceeding joy, Psa 43:4. We have no joy but in Christ, and which we are indebted to him for." Gaudium in Domino - Joy in the Lord, was the ancient salutation, and Salus in Domino sempiterna - Eternal salvation in the Lord. [3.] "We will retain the relish and savour of this kindness of thine and never forget it: We will remember thy loves more than wine; no only thy love itself (Son 1:2), but the very remembrance of it shall be more grateful to us than the strongest cordial to the spirits, or the most palatable liquor to the taste. We will remember to give thanks for thy love, and it shall make more durable impressions upon us than any thing in this world."

(5.) The communion which a gracious soul has with all the saints in this communion with Christ. In the chambers to which we are brought we not only meet with him, but meet with one another (1Jo 1:7); for the upright love thee; the congregation, the generation, of the upright love thee. Whatever others do, all that are Israelites indeed, and faithful to God, will love Jesus Christ. Whatever differences of apprehension and affection there may be among Christians in other things, this they are all agreed in, Jesus Christ is precious to them. The upright here are the same with the virgins, Son 1:3. All that remember his love more than wine will love him with a superlative love. Nor is any love acceptable to Christ but the love of the upright, love in sincerity, Eph 6:24.

II. To the daughters of Jerusalem, Son 1:5, Son 1:6. The church in general, being in distress, speaks to particular churches to guard them against the danger they were in of being offended at the church's sufferings, 1Th 3:3. Or the believer speaks to those that were professors at large in the church, but not of it, or to weak Christians, babes in Christ, that labour under much ignorance, infirmity, and mistake, not perfectly instructed, and yet willing to be taught in the things of God. She observed these by-standers look disdainfully upon her because of her blackness, in respect both of sins and sufferings, upon the account of which they though she had little reason to expect the kisses she wished for (Son 1:2) or to expect that they should join with her in her joys, Son 1:4. She therefore endeavors to remove this offence; she owns she is black. Guilt blackens; the heresies, scandals, and offences, that happen in the church, make her black; and the best saints have their failings. Sorrow blackens; that seems to be especially meant; the church is often in a low condition, mean, and poor, and in appearance despicable, her beauty sullied and her face foul with weeping; she is in mourning weeds, clothed with sackcloth, as the Nazarites that had become blacker than a coal, Lam 4:8. Now, to take off this offence,

1. She asserts her own comeliness notwithstanding (Son 1:5): I am black, but comely, black as the tents of Kedar, in which the shepherds lived, which were very coarse, and never whitened, weather-beaten and discoloured by long use, but comely as the curtains of Solomon, the furniture of whose rooms, no doubt, was sumptuous and rich, in proportion to the stateliness of his houses. The church is sometimes black with persecution, but comely in patience, constancy, and consolation, and never the less amiable in the eyes of Christ, black in the account of men, but comely in God's esteem, black in some that are a scandal to her, but comely in others that are sincere and are an honour to her. True believers are black in themselves, but comely in Christ, with the comeliness that he puts upon them, black outwardly, for the world knows them not, but all glorious within, Psa 45:13. St. Paul was weak, and yet strong, 2Co 12:10. And so the church is black and yet comely; a believer is a sinner and yet a saint; his own righteousnesses are as filthy rags, but he is clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness. The Chaldee Paraphrase applies it to the people of Israel's blackness when they made the golden calf and their comeliness when they repented of it.

2. She gives an account how she came to be so black. The blackness was not natural, but contracted, and was owing to the hard usage that had been given her: Look not upon me so scornfully because I am black. We must take heed with what eye we look upon the church, especially when she is in black. Thou shouldst not have looked upon the day of thy brother, the day of his affliction, Oba 1:12. Be not offended; for,

(1.) I am black by reason of my sufferings: The sun has looked upon me. She was fair and comely; whiteness was her proper colour; but she got this blackness by the burden and heat of the day, which she was forced to bear. She was sun-burnt, scorched with tribulation and persecution (Mat 13:6, Mat 13:21); and the greatest beauties, if exposed to the weather, are soonest tanned. Observe how she mitigates her troubles; she does not say, as Jacob (Gen 31:40), In the day the drought consumed me, but, The sun has looked upon me; for it becomes not God's suffering people to make the worst of their sufferings. But what was the matter? [1.] She fell under the displeasure of those of her own house: My mother's children were angry with me. She was in perils by false brethren; her foes were those of her own house (Mat 10:36), brethren by nature as men, by profession as members of the same sacred corporation, the children of the church her mother, but not of God her Father; they were angry with her. The Samaritans, who claimed kindred to the Jews, were vexed at any thing that tended to the prosperity of Jerusalem, Neh 2:10. Note, It is no new thing for the people of God to fall under the anger of their own mother's children. It was thou, a man, my equal, Psa 55:12, Psa 55:13. This makes the trouble the more irksome and grievous; from such it is taken unkindly, and the anger of such is implacable. A brother offended is hard to be won. [2.] They dealt very hardly with her: They made me the keeper of the vineyards, that is, First, "They seduced me to sin, drew me into false worships, to serve their gods, which was like dressing the vineyards, keeping the vine of Sodom; and they would not let me keep my own vineyard, serve my own God, and observe those pure worships which he gave me in charge, and which I do and ever will own for mine."These are grievances which good people complain most of in a time of persecution, that their consciences are forced, and that those who rule them with rigour say to their souls, Bow down, that we may go over, Isa 51:23. Or, Secondly, "They brought me into trouble, imposed that upon me which was toilsome, and burdensome, and very disgraceful."Keeping the vineyards was base servile work, and very laborious, Isa 61:5. Her mother's children made her the drudge of the family. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. The spouse of Christ has met with a great deal of hard usage.

(2.) "My sufferings are such as I have deserved; for my own vineyard have I not kept. How unrighteous soever my brethren are in persecuting me, God is righteous in permitting them to do so. I am justly made a slavish keeper of men's vineyards, because I have been a careless keeper of the vineyards God has entrusted me with."Slothful servants of God are justly made to serve their enemies, that they may know his service, and the service of the kings of the countries, 2Ch 12:8; Deu 28:47, Deu 28:48; Eze 20:23, Eze 20:24. "Think not the worse of the ways of God for my sufferings, for I smart for my own folly."Note, When God's people are oppressed and persecuted it becomes them to acknowledge their own sin to be the procuring cause of their troubles, especially their carelessness in keeping their vineyards, so that it has been like the field of the slothful.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 1:2

From these words with which as a solo the first strophe begins:

Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth,

We at once perceive that she who here speaks is only one of many among whom Solomon's kisses are distributed; for min is partitive, as e.g. , Exo 16:27 (cf. Jer 48:32 and Isa 16:9), with the underlying phrase נשׁיקה נשׁק , osculum osculari = figere , jungere , dare . Nashak properly means to join to each other and to join together, particularly mouth to mouth. פּיהוּ is the parallel form of פּיו , and is found in prose as well as in poetry; it is here preferred for the sake of the rhythm. Böttcher prefers, with Hitzig, ישׁקני ("let him give me to drink"); but "to give to drink with kisses"is an expression unsupported.

In line 2 the expression changes into an address:

For better is thy love than wine.

Instead of "thy love,"the lxx render "thy breasts,"for they had before them the word written defectively as in the traditional text, and read דּדּיך . Even granting that the dual dadayim or dadiym could be used in the sense of the Greek μαστοί (Rev 1:13),

(Note: Vid ., my Handsch. Funde , Heft 2 (1862).)

of the breasts of a man (for which Isa 32:12, Targ., furnishes no sufficient authority); yet in the mouth of a woman it were unseemly, and also is itself absurd as the language of praise. But, on the other hand, that דּדיך is not the true reading ("for more lovely - thus he says to me - are,"etc.), R. Ismael rightly says, in reply to R. Akiba, Aboda zara 29 b , and refers to שׁמניך following (Son 1:3), which requires the mas. for דדיך . Rightly the Gr. Venet. οἱ σοὶ ἔρωτες , for דּודים is related to אהבח , almost as ἔρως to ἀγάπη , steplang7 Minne to steplang7 Liebe . It is a plur. like חיּים , which, although a pluraletantum , is yet connected with the plur. of the pred. The verbal stem דוד is an abbreviated reduplicative stem (Ewald, §118. 1); the root דו appears to signify "to move by thrusts or pushes"( vid ., under Psa 42:5); of a fluid, "to cause to boil up,"to which the word דּוּד , a kitchen-pot, is referred.

(Note: Yet it is a question whether דד , to love, and דד , the breast (Arab. thady , with a verb thadiyi , to be thoroughly wet), are not after their nearest origin such words of feeling, caressing, prattling, as the Arab. dad , sport (also dadad , the only Arab. word which consists of the same three letters); cf. Fr. dada , hobby-horse.)

It is the very same verbal stem from which דּיד (David), the beloved, and the name of the foundress of Carthage, דּידה ( = דּידון ) Minna , is derived. The adj. tov appears here and at 3 a twice in its nearest primary meaning, denoting that which is pleasant to the taste and (thus particularly in Arab.) to the smell.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 1:3

This comparison suaves prae vino , as well as that which in line 3 of the pentastich, Son 1:3,

To smell thy ointments are sweet

shows that when this song is sung wine is presented and perfumes are sprinkled; but the love of the host is, for those who sing, more excellent than all. It is maintained that ריח signifies fragrance emitted, and not smell. Hence Hengst., Hahn, Hölem., and Zöck. explain: in odour thy ointments are sweet. Now the words can certainly, after Jos 22:10; Job 32:4; 1Ki 10:23, mean "sweet in (of) smell;"but in such cases the word with Lamed of reference naturally stands after that to which it gives the nearer reference, not as here before it. Therefore Hengst.: ad odorem unguentorem tuorum quod attinet bonus est , but such giving prominence to the subject and attraction (cf. 1Sa 2:4 ; Job 15:20) exclude one another; the accentuation correctly places לריה out of the gen. connection. Certainly this word, like the Arab. ryḥ , elsewhere signifies odor , and the Hiph . הריח (araḥ ) odorari ; but why should not ריח be also used in the sense of odoratus , since in the post-bibl. Heb. הריח חושׁ means the sense of smell, and also in Germ. "steplang7 riechen "means to emit fragrance as well as to perceive fragrance? We explain after Gen 2:9, where Lamed introduces the sense of sight, as here the sense of smell. Zöckl. and others reply that in such a case the word would have been לריח ; but the art. is wanting also at Gen 2:9 (cf. Son 3:6), and was not necessary, especially in poetry, which has the same relation to the art. as to asher , which, wherever practicable, is omitted.

Thus in line 4:

An ointment poured forth is thy name.

By "thy ointments,"line 3, spices are meant, by which the palace was perfumed; but the fragrance of which, as line 4 says, is surpassed by the fragrance of his name. שׁם (name) and שׁמן (fragrance) form a paranomasia by which the comparison is brought nearer Ecc 7:1. Both words are elsewhere mas.; but sooner than שׁם , so frequently and universally mas. (although its plur. is שׁמות , but cf. אבות ), שׁמן may be used as fem., although a parallel example is wanting (cf. devǎsh , mōr , nōphěth , kěmāh , and the like, which are constantly mas.). Ewald therefore translates שמן תורק as a proper name: "O sweet steplang7 Salbenduft "Fragrance of Ointment; and Böttcher sees in turǎk a subst. in the sense of "sprinkling"[steplang7 Spreng-Oel ]; but a name like " Rosenoel "[oil of roses] would be more appropriately formed, and a subst. form תורק is, in Heb. at least, unexampled (for neither תּוּגה nor תּוּבל , in the name Tubal-Cain, is parallel). Fürst imagines "a province in Palestine where excellent oil was got,"called Turak ; "Turkish" Rosenöl recommends itself, on the contrary, by the fact of its actual existence. Certainly less is hazarded when we regard shěměn , as here treated exceptionally, as fem.; thus, not: ut unguentum nomen tuum effunditur , which, besides, is unsuitable, since one does not empty out or pour out a name; but: unguentum quod effunditur (Hengst., Hahn, and others), an ointment which is taken out of its depository and is sprinkled far and wide, is thy name. The harsh expression שׁמן מוּרק is intentionally avoided; the old Heb. language is not φιλομέτοχος (fond of participles); and, besides, מורק sounds badly with מרק , to rub off, to wash away. Perhaps, also, יוּרק שׁמן is intentionally avoided, because of the collision of the weak sounds n and j . The name Shēm is derived from the verb shāmā , to be high, prominent, remarkable: whence also the name for the heavens ( vid ., under Psa 8:2). That attractive charm (lines 2, 3), and this glory (line 4), make him, the praised, an object of general love, line 5, Son 1:3 :

Therefore virgins love thee.

This "therefore"reminds us of Ps 45. עלמות (sing. Isa 7:14), from עלם (Arab.), ghalima , pubescere , are maidens growing to maturity. The intrans. form אהבוּך , with transitive signification, indicates a pathos. The perf. is not to be translated dilexerunt , but is to be judged of according to Gesen. §126. 3: they have acquired love to thee (= love thee), as the ἠγάπησάν σε of the Greek translators is to be understood. The singers themselves are the evidence of the existence of this love.

With these words the first pentastich of the table-song terminates. The mystical interpretation regards it as a song of praise and of loving affection which is sung to Christ the King, the fairest of the children of men, by the church which is His own. The Targum, in line first, thinks of the "mouth to mouth"[Num 12:8] in the intercourse of Moses with God. Evidence of divine love is also elsewhere thought of as a kiss: the post-bibl. Heb. calls the gentlest death the death בנשׁיקה , i.e. , by which God takes away the soul with a kiss.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 1:4

The second pentastich also begins with a solo:

4 Draw me, so will we run after thee.

All recent interpreters (except Böttcher) translate, like Luther, "Draw me after thee, so we run."Thus also the Targ., but doubtfully: Trahe nos post te et curremus post viam bonitatis tuae . But the accentuation which gives Tiphcha to משׁ requires the punctuation to be that adopted by the Peshito and the Vulg., and according to which the passage is construed by the Greeks (except, perhaps, by the Quinta): Draw me, so will we, following thee, run ( vid ., Dachselt, Biblia Accentuata , p. 983 s.). In reality, this word needs no complement: of itself it already means, one drawing towards, or to himself; the corresponding (Arab.) masak signifies, prehendere prehensumque tenere ; the root is מש , palpare , contrectare . It occurs also elsewhere, in a spiritual connection, as the expression of the gentle drawing of love towards itself (Hos 11:4; Jer 31:3); cf. ἑλκύειν , Joh 6:44; Joh 12:32. If one connects "after thee"with "draw me,"then the expression seems to denote that a certain violence is needed to bring the one who is drawn from her place; but if it is connected with "we will run,"then it defines the desire to run expressed by the cohortative, more nearly than a willing obedience or following. The whole chorus, continuing the solo, confesses that there needs only an indication of his wish, a direction given, to make those who here speak eager followers of him whom they celebrate.

In what follows, this interchange of the solo and the unisono is repeated:

4 b If the king has brought me into his chambers,

So will we exult and rejoice in thee.

We will praise thy love more than wine!

Uprightly have they loved thee.

The cohortative נרוּצה (we will run) was the a podosis imperativi ; the cohortatives here are the apodosis perfecti hypothetici . "Suppose that this has happened,"is oftener expressed by the perf. (Psa 57:7; Pro 22:29; Pro 25:16); "suppose that this happens,"by the fut. (Job 20:24; Ewald, §357 b ). חדרי are the interiora domus ; the root word hhādǎr , as the Arab. khadar shows, signifies to draw oneself back, to hide; the hhěděr of the tent is the back part, shut off by a curtain from the front space. Those who are singing are not at present in this innermost chamber. But if the king brings one of them in ( הביא , from בּוא , introire , with acc. loci ), then - they all say - we will rejoice and be glad in thee. The cohortatives are better translated by the fut. than by the conjunctive ( exultemus ); they express as frequently not what they then desire to do, but what they then are about to do, from inward impulse, with heart delight. The sequence of ideas, "exult"and "rejoice,"is not a climax descendens , but, as Psa 118:24, etc., an advance from the external to the internal, - from jubilation which can be feigned, to joy of heart which gives it truth; for שׂמח - according to its root signification: to be smoothed, unwrinkled, to be glad

(Note: Vid ., Friedr. Delitzsch's Indo-german.-sem. Studien (1873), p. 99f.)

- means to be of a joyful, bright, complaisant disposition; and גּיל , cogn. חיל , to turn (wind) oneself, to revolve, means conduct betokening delight. The prep. ב in verbs of rejoicing, denotes the object on account of which, and in which, one has joy. Then, if admitted into the closest neighbourhood of the king, they will praise his love more than wine. זכר denotes to fix, viz., in the memory; Hiph .: to bring to remembrance, frequently in the way of praise, and thus directly equivalent to celebrare , e.g. , Ps. 45:18. The wine represents the gifts of the king, in contradistinction to his person. That in inward love he gives himself to them, excels in their esteem all else he gives. For, as the closing line expresses, "uprightly they love thee,"- viz. they love thee, i.e. , from a right heart, which seeks nothing besides, and nothing with thee; and a right mind, which is pleased with thee, and with nothing but thee. Heiligstedt, Zöckler, and others translate: with right they love thee. But the pluralet . מישׁרים (from מישׁר , for which the sing. מישׁור occurs) is an ethical conception (Pro 1:3), and signifies, not: the right of the motive, but: the rightness of the word, thought, and act (Pro 23:16; Psa 17:2; Psa 58:2); thus, not: jure ; but: recte , sincere , candide . Hengst., Thrupp, and others, falsely render this word like the lxx, Aquil., Symm., Theod., Targ., Jerome, Venet., and Luther, as subject: rectitudes abstr. for concr. = those who have rectitude, the upright. Hengstenberg's assertion, that the word never occurs as in adv., is set aside by a glance at Psa 58:2; Psa 75:3; and, on the other hand, there is no passage in which it is sued as abstr. pro concr . It is here, as elsewhere, an adv. acc. for which the word בּמישׁרים might also be used.

The second pentastich closes similarly with the first, which ended with "love thee."What is there said of this king, that the virgins love him, is here more generalized; for diligunt te is equivalent to diligeris (cf. Son 8:1, Son 8:7). With these words the table-song ends. It is erotic, and yet so chaste and delicate, - it is sensuous, and yet so ethical, that here, on the threshold, we are at once surrounded as by a mystical cloudy brightness. But how is it to be explained that Solomon, who says (Pro 27:2), "Let another praise thee, and not thine own mouth,"begins this his Song of Songs with a song in praise of himself? It is explained from this, that here he celebrates an incident belonging to the happy beginning of his reign; and for him so far fallen into the past, although not to be forgotten, that what he was and what he now is are almost as two separate persons.

Constable: Sos 1:2--3:6

II. THE COURTSHIP 1:2--3:5

Perhaps the outstanding characteristic of this first major section of the book is the sexual restraint that is evident during the courtship. This restraint contrasts with the sexual intimacy that characterizes the lovers after their wedding (3:6-5:1 and 5:2-8:4). Before marriage a couple should restrain their sexual desire rather than indulging it.

Constable: Sos 1:2-11

A. The Beginning of Love 1:2-11

In the NASB, NIV, and NKJV the translators identified the speakers in the various sections of the book. This is, of course, the interpretation of the translators, not part of the inspired text.

Constable: Sos 1:2-4

1. Longing for the boyfriend 1:2-4

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 about him or to him? 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.³⁰ Here the girl appears to be speaking about her love, not to him.

1:2 The Hebrew word for "love" (dodim) in verse 2 refers to physical expressions of love.³¹ The 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,³² the female inhabitants of Jerusalem,³³ women who display the characteristics of city girls,³⁴ or the women of Solomon's harem (cf. 6:8-9).³⁵ Their words here show that they approved of the romance.

Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: Sos 1:2

SONG OF SOLOMON 1:2 —Why do so many people who claim to interpret the Bible literally, spiritualize the Song of Solomon?

PROBLEM: Evangelical Christians defend the literal interpretation of the Bible. They insist that it should be taken in its normal, historical-grammatical sense, not in some hidden, mystical, or allegorical sense. To do so in the Gospels, for example, leads to liberalism, denying the historicity of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. However, many evangelicals do not take the Song of Solomon literally, but give it an allegorical or spiritual meaning. Is this not inconsistent?

SOLUTION: There are three basic interpretations of the Song of Solomon—the literal, the allegorical, and the typical.

First, there is a literal interpretation. According to this view, it is a literal story about King Solomon and his love for his wife and her love for him, although scholars differ over just which of his 700 wives and 300 concubines ( 1 Kings 11:3 ) this might be. Some say it was “the daughter of Pharaoh” ( 1 Kings 11:1 ). Others suggest it was a lowly maiden known as the Shulamite. But all who take it literally insist that it is about the historical King Solomon and a love affair he had with a woman. They insist, then, that the book is intended to extol the beauty, purity, and sanctity of marriage.

Second, others take an allegorical interpretation of the book, shying away from the more sensuously descriptive parts of the story. They prefer to see a deeper meaning, such as Yahweh’s love for His people Israel (cf. Hosea) or, more broadly, God’s love for His people in general.

Third, many Christians opt for a typical interpretation of this canticle, seeing in it the prefiguration or type of Christ and His love for the church (cf. Eph. 5:28-32 ). This view also denies that the book should be taken in a literal sense, insisting rather on a deeper spiritual meaning.

Whatever application this love story may have to God’s relation to His people, or Christ’s love for His church, it seems better to insist on a literal interpretation of this book for the following two basic reasons. First, it is inconsistent to allegorize this story and insist on taking the Gospels and other parts of Scripture literally. Second, taking it literally does not contradict any other teaching of Scripture. Rather, it complements it in many ways. God instituted marriage ( Gen. 2:23-24 ). God created sex and gave it to humans to enjoy within the bonds of marriage ( Gen. 1:27 ; Prov. 5:17-19 ). Paul declared that sex should be exercised within a monogamous marriage ( 1 Cor. 7:1-5 ). Timothy was informed that sex within marriage should not be forbidden ( 1 Tim. 4:1-4 ) and that God “gives us richly all things to enjoy” ( 1 Tim. 6:17 ). The Song of Solomon is a beautiful example of a real romance between two actual people that extols the biblical view of sex and marriage.

Since a literal marriage does, according to Paul, exemplify the love of Christ for His bride, the church, there is no reason we cannot take this literal love story as a picture of God’s love. However, to claim the story is not literally true, or that it is a type orprediction of Christ’s love for the church goes beyond the meaning of the text.   

Introduction / Outline

JFB: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

The Song of Solomon, called in the Vulgate and Septuagint, "The Song of Songs," from the opening words. This title denotes its superior excellence, according to the Hebrew idiom; so holy of holies, equivalent to "most holy" (Exo 29:37); the heaven of heavens, equivalent to the highest heavens (Deu 10:14). It is one of the five volumes (megilloth) placed immediately after the Pentateuch in manuscripts of the Jewish Scriptures. It is also fourth of the Hagiographa (Cetubim, writings) or the third division of the Old Testament, the other two being the Law and the Prophets. The Jewish enumeration of the Cetubim is Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra (including Nehemiah), and Chronicles. Its canonicity is certain; it is found in all Hebrew manuscripts of Scripture; also in the Greek Septuagint; in the catalogues of MELITO, bishop of Sardis, A.D. 170 (EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 4.26), and of others of the ancient Church.

ORIGEN and JEROME tell us that the Jews forbade it to be read by any until he was thirty years old. It certainly needs a degree of spiritual maturity to enter aright into the holy mystery of love which it allegorically sets forth. To such as have attained this maturity, of whatever age they be, the Song of Songs is one of the most edifying of the sacred writings. ROSENMULLER justly says, The sudden transitions of the bride from the court to the grove are inexplicable, on the supposition that it describes merely human love. Had it been the latter, it would have been positively objectionable, and never would have been inserted in the holy canon. The allusion to "Pharaoh's chariots" (Son 1:9) has been made a ground for conjecturing that the love of Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter is the subject of the Song. But this passage alludes to a remarkable event in the history of the Old Testament Church, the deliverance from the hosts and chariots of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. (However, see on Son 1:9). The other allusions are quite opposed to the notion; the bride is represented at times as a shepherdess (Son 1:7), "an abomination to the Egyptians" (Gen 46:34); so also Son 1:6; Son 3:4; Son 4:8; Son 5:7 are at variance with it. The Christian fathers, ORIGEN and THEODORET, compared the teachings of Solomon to a ladder with three steps; Ecclesiastes, natural (the nature of sensible things, vain); Proverbs, moral; Canticles, mystical (figuring the union of Christ and the Church). The Jews compared Proverbs to the outer court of Solomon's temple, Ecclesiastes to the holy place, and Canticles to the holy of holies. Understood allegorically, the Song is cleared of all difficulty. "Shulamith" (Son 6:13), the bride, is thus an appropriate name, Daughter of Peace being the feminine of Solomon, equivalent to the Prince of Peace. She by turns is a vinedresser, shepherdess, midnight inquirer, and prince's consort and daughter, and He a suppliant drenched with night dews, and a king in His palace, in harmony with the various relations of the Church and Christ. As Ecclesiastes sets forth the vanity of love of the creature, Canticles sets forth the fullness of the love which joins believers and the Saviour. The entire economy of salvation, says HARRIS, aims at restoring to the world the lost spirit of love. God is love, and Christ is the embodiment of the love of God. As the other books of Scripture present severally their own aspects of divine truth, so Canticles furnishes the believer with language of holy love, wherewith his heart can commune with his Lord; and it portrays the intensity of Christ's love to him; the affection of love was created in man to be a transcript of the divine love, and the Song clothes the latter in words; were it not for this, we should be at a loss for language, having the divine warrant, wherewith to express, without presumption, the fervor of the love between Christ and us. The image of a bride, a bridegroom, and a marriage, to represent this spiritual union, has the sanction of Scripture throughout; nay, the spiritual union was the original fact in the mind of God, of which marriage is the transcript (Isa 54:5; Isa 62:5; Jer 3:1, &c.; Eze. 16:1-63; Eze. 23:1-49; Mat 9:15; Mat 22:2; Mat 25:1, &c.; Joh 3:29; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:23-32, where Paul does not go from the marriage relation to the union of Christ and the Church as if the former were the first; but comes down from the latter as the first and best recognized fact on which the relation of marriage is based; Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2; Rev 22:17). Above all, the Song seems to correspond to, and form a trilogy with, Psalms 45 and 72, which contain the same imagery; just as Psalm 37 answers to Proverbs, and the Psalms 39 and 73 to Job. Love to Christ is the strongest, as it is the purest, of human passions, and therefore needs the strongest language to express it: to the pure in heart the phraseology, drawn from the rich imagery of Oriental poetry, will not only appear not indelicate or exaggerated, but even below the reality. A single emblem is a type; the actual rites, incidents, and persons of the Old Testament were appointed types of truths afterwards to be revealed. But the allegory is a continued metaphor, in which the circumstances are palpably often purely imagery, while the thing signified is altogether real. The clue to the meaning of the Song is not to be looked for in the allegory itself, but in other parts of Scripture. "It lies in the casket of revelation an exquisite gem, engraved with emblematical characters, with nothing literal thereon to break the consistency of their beauty" [BURROWES]. This accounts for the name of God not occurring in it. Whereas in the parable the writer narrates, in the allegory he never does so. The Song throughout consists of immediate addresses either of Christ to the soul, or of the soul to Christ. "The experimental knowledge of Christ's loveliness and the believer's love is the best commentary on the whole of this allegorical Song" [LEIGHTON]. Like the curiously wrought Oriental lamps, which do not reveal the beauty of their transparent emblems until lighted up within, so the types and allegories of Scripture, "the lantern to our path" [Psa 119:105], need the inner light of the Holy Spirit of Jesus to reveal their significance. The details of the allegory are not to be too minutely pressed. In the Song, with an Oriental profusion of imagery, numbers of lovely, sensible objects are aggregated not strictly congruous, but portraying jointly by their very diversity the thousand various and seemingly opposite beauties which meet together in Christ.

The unity of subject throughout, and the recurrence of the same expressions (Son 2:6-7; Son 3:5; Son 8:3-4; Son 2:16; Son 6:3; Son 7:10; Son 3:6; Son 6:10; Son 8:5), prove the unity of the poem, in opposition to those who make it consist of a number of separate erotic songs. The sudden transitions (for example, from the midnight knocking at a humble cottage to a glorious description of the King) accord with the alternations in the believer's experience. However various the divisions assigned be, most commentators have observed four breaks (whatever more they have imagined), followed by four abrupt beginnings (Son 2:7; Son 3:5; Son 5:1; Son 8:4). Thus there result five parts, all alike ending in full repose and refreshment. We read (1Ki 4:32) that Solomon's songs were "a thousand and five." The odd number five added over the complete thousand makes it not unlikely that the "five" refers to the Song of songs, consisting of five parts.

It answers to the idyllic poetry of other nations. The Jews explain it of the union of Jehovah and ancient Israel; the allusions to the temple and the wilderness accord with this; some Christians of Christ and the Church; others of Christ and the individual believer. All these are true; for the Church is one in all ages, the ancient typifying the modern Church, and its history answering to that of each individual soul in it. Jesus "sees all, as if that all were one, loves one, as if that one were all." "The time suited the manner of this revelation; because types and allegories belonged to the old dispensation, which reached its ripeness under Solomon, when the temple was built" [MOODY STUART]. "The daughter of Zion at that time was openly married to Jehovah"; for it is thenceforth that the prophets, in reproving Israel's subsequent sin, speak of it as a breach of her marriage covenant. The songs heretofore sung by her were the preparatory hymns of her childhood; "the last and crowning 'Song of Songs' was prepared for the now mature maiden against the day of her marriage to the King of kings" [ORIGEN]. Solomon was peculiarly fitted to clothe this holy mystery with the lovely natural imagery with which the Song abounds; for "he spake of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall" (1Ki 4:33). A higher qualification was his knowledge of the eternal Wisdom or Word of God (Pro. 8:1-36), the heavenly bridegroom. David, his father, had prepared the way, in Psalms 45 and 72; the son perfected the allegory. It seems to have been written in early life, long before his declension; for after it a song of holy gladness would hardly be appropriate. It was the song of his first love, in the kindness of his youthful espousals to Jehovah. Like other inspired books, its sense is not to be restricted to that local and temporary one in which the writer may have understood it; it extends to all ages, and shadows forth everlasting truth (1Pe 1:11-12; 2Pe 1:20-21).

"Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine, and the configurations of their glorie,

Seeing not only how each verse doth shine, but all the constellations of the storie."--HERBERT.

Three notes of time occur [MOODY STUART]: (1) The Jewish Church speaks of the Gentile Church (Son 8:8) towards the end; (2) Christ speaks to the apostles (Son 5:1) in the middle; (3) The Church speaks of the coming of Christ (Son 1:2) at the beginning. Thus we have, in direct order, Christ about to come, and the cry for the advent; Christ finishing His work on earth, and the last supper; Christ ascended, and the call of the Gentiles. In another aspect we have: (1) In the individual soul the longing for the manifestation of Christ to it, and the various alternations in its experience (Son 1:2, Son 1:4; Son 2:8; Son 3:1, Son 3:4, Son 3:6-7) of His manifestation; (2) The abundant enjoyment of His sensible consolations, which is soon withdrawn through the bride's carelessness (Son 5:1-3, &c.), and her longings after Him, and reconciliation (Son 5:8-16; Son 6:3, &c.; Son 7:1, &c.); (3) Effects of Christ's manifestation on the believer; namely, assurance, labors of love, anxiety for the salvation of the impenitent, eagerness for the Lord's second coming (Son 7:10, Son 7:12; Son 8:8-10, Son 8:14).

TSK: The Song of Songs 1 (Chapter Introduction)

Son 1:1, The church’s love unto Christ; Son 1:5, She confesses her deformity, Son 1:7, and prays to be directed to his flock; Son 1:8, Christ directs her to the shepherd’s tents; Son 1:9, and shewing his love to her, Son 1:11, gives her gracious promises; Son 1:12, The church and Christ congratulate one another.

Poole: The Song of Songs 1 (Chapter Introduction)

SONG OF SOLOMON

Before I come to the explication of this book, some things must be premised concerning it.

1. That it was of Divine inspiration is so clear and certain, that, as Jewish writers note, none ever questioned it, although some doubted of some other of Solomon’ s writings. And the same arguments which prove the divinity of other books are found here, such as the quality of the penman, who was confessedly a man inspired by God; the excellency and usefulness of the matter; the sacred and sublime majesty of the style, and the singular efficacy of it upon the heats of sober and serious persons, who read it with due preparation; and those other characters which are commonly known, and therefore it is needless here to enumerate.

2. The form of this book is dramatical, wherein several parts or parcels of it are uttered by or in the name of several persons, which are chiefly four, the bridegroom and the bride, and the friends or companions of the one and of the other. Nor is it declared what or when each of them speak, but that is secretly couched, and is left to the observation of the prudent reader, as is usual in writings of this nature.

3. The design of the book in general is to describe the passionate loves and happy marriage of two persons, and their mutual satisfaction therein, and the blessed fruits and effects thereof. But then it is not to be understood carnally, concerning Solomon and Pharaoh’ s daughter, as some have fancied, although the occasion of this love and marriage may be taken from that, or rather he makes an allusion to that; but spiritually, concerning God, or Christ, and his church and people. This is sufficiently evident from the descriptions of this bridegroom and bride, which are such as could not with any decency be used or meant concerning Solomon and Pharaoh’ s daughter, as when he is brought in like a country shepherd, Son 1:7 , and is called his bride’ s brother, Son 5:2 , and when he gives such high and excessive commendations to himself, as we shall see, and when she is made the keeper of vineyards and of sheep , Son 1:6,8 , and is said to be smitten and abused by the watchmen, Son 5:7 , and said to be terrible as an army , Son 6:4 , and to be like Pharaoh’ s horses, and to have a head like Carmel, a nose like a tower, eyes like fishpools, teeth like a flock of sheep , &c., Son 7:4,5 . And there are many such-like expressions and descriptions, which being applied to them, are absurd and monstrous. Hence it follows that this book is to be understood mystically or allegorically, concerning that spiritual love and marriage which is between God, or Christ, and his church, or every believing soul. And this will be more than probable to any man who shall consider the following particulars.

1. That the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament are full of mystical and allegorical passages; which being known and confessed, it is needless to prove.

2. That the doctrine of Christ, or the Messias, and of his being the Head, and Husband, and Saviour of God’ s church or people, was well known, at least to the prophets, and the wise and pious Israelites, in the time of the Old Testament; whereof we have many manifest and unquestionable evidences, not only in the New Testament, but in the writings of Moses, in the Books of Psalms and Proverbs, and in the prophets, as hath been noted in part, and will, God assisting, be further observed in the proper places.

3. That God compares himself to a bridegroom, and his church to a bride, Isa 62:5 , and calls and owns himself the Husband of his people, Isa 54:5 Hos 2:16,19,20 . In which places, by comparing these. with many other texts of Scripture, by God, or the Lord, is meant Christ, the second person in the Godhead, who then was to come down, and since did come from heaven to earth, for the consummation of that eternal project of marriage between God and his people; which also is fully confirmed by the writings of the New Testament which were designed for the explication of the Old, in which Christ is expressly declared to be the Bridegroom or Husband of his church, an Mat 9:15 22:2 Joh 3:29 2Co 11:2 Eph 5:23 Rev 19:7 21:2 22:17 4 . That Ps 45 , which is a kind of abridgement: of this book, although it had its rise from or alludes to the marriage between Solomon and Pharaoh’ s daughter, was written concerning the Messias, as all interpreters, both Christian and Jewish, agree, and concerning the mystical marriage between Christ and his church; of which see my notes upon that Psalm. From these considerations, and many others which might be suggested, and which will offer themselves to our thoughts from several passages of it, it is sufficiently manliest, that the main scope and business of this book is to describe the mutual love, union, and communion which is between Christ and his church in the various conditions to which it is liable in this world, as in the state of weakness, and desertion, and persecution from foolish shepherds, and the like, Son 1:6,7 3:1-4 5:2,7 , &c. Moreover it is to be considered, that Solomon doth here vary his speech, sometimes speaking of the church in general, as one person or body; and sometimes of the particular members of it, or of several believers, both of such as really and sincerely are so, or such as profess to be so, and of their various dispositions and conditions. And hence comes the difference of persons here mentioned, the mother or spouse, and the children or daughters of Jerusalem, sixty queens, and eighty concubines; some that are strangers to the bridegroom, and some that are well acquainted with him, &c. These things being premised will give great light to the several passages of this book.

SONG OF SOLOMON CHAPTER 1

A description of the earnest longing of the church after Christ, Son 1:1-4 . A confession of her deformity; prayeth for direction. Son 1:5-7 . Christ’ s direction and command, Son 1:8 . He showeth his love to her both for her strength and comeliness, Son 1:9,10 , and giveth her gracious promises, Son 1:11 . The church’ s commendation of Christ both for the sweetness of fellowship with him, and the excellency of ordinances, Son 1:12-17 .

The song of songs the most excellent of all songs, whether composed by profane or sacred authors, by Solomon or by any other. So this Hebrew phrase is understood in other cases, as the holy of holies signifies the most holy; and the highest King is called King of kings ; and there are multitudes of such instances, as hath been oft observed. And so this might well be called, whether you consider the author of it, who was a great prince, and the wisest of all mortal men, the two Adams only excepted; or the subject of it, which is not Solomon, but a greater than Solomon , even Christ, and his marriage with the church, as hath been noted; or the matter of it, which is most lofty and mysterious, containing in it the greatest and noblest of all the mysteries contained either in the Old or the New Testament; most pious and pathetical, breathing forth the hottest flames of love between Christ and his people; most sweet, and comfortable, and useful to all that read it with serious and Christian eyes. Nor is it the worse because profane and wanton wits abuse it, and endeavour to fasten their absurd and filthy senses upon some passages in it. The truth is, this book requires a sober and pious, not a lascivious and foolish readier; for which reason some of the ancient Hebrews advised young men to forbear the reading of it, till they were thirty years old.

Which is Solomon’ s which was composed by Solomon; but whether before his fall, or after his repentance, is not easy to determine, nor necessity to be known.

MHCC: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

This book is a Divine allegory, which represents the love between Christ and his church of true believers, under figures taken from the relation and affection that subsist between a bridegroom and his espoused bride; an emblem often employed in Scripture, as describing the nearest, firmest, and most sure relation: see Psalms 45; Isa 54:5, Isa 54:6; Isa 62:5; Jer 2:2; Jer 3:1; also in Ezekiel, Hosea, and by our Lord himself, Mat 9:15; Mat 25:1; see also Rev 21:2, Rev 21:9; Eph 5:27. There is no character in the church of Christ, and no situation in which the believer is placed, but what may be traced in this book, as humble inquirers will find, on comparing it with other Scriptures, by the assistance of God the Holy Spirit, in answer to their supplications. Much, however, of the language has been misunderstood by expositors and translators. The difference between the customs and manners of Europe, and those of the East, must especially be kept in view. The little acquaintance with eastern customs possessed by most of our early expositors and translators, has in many cases prevented a correct rendering. Also, the changes in our own language, during the last two or three centuries, affect the manner in which some expressions are viewed, and they must not be judged by modern notions. But the great outlines, rightly interpreted, fully accord with the affections and experience of the sincere Christian.

MHCC: The Song of Songs 1 (Chapter Introduction)

(Son 1:1) The title.

(Son 1:2-6) The church confesses her deformity.

(Son 1:7, Son 1:8) The church beseeches Christ to lead her to the resting-place of his people.

(Son 1:9-17) Christ's commendation of the church, Her esteem for Him.

Matthew Henry: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Song of Solomon

All scripture, we are sure, is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for the support and advancement of the interests of his kingdom among men, and it is never the less so for there being found in it some things dark and hard to be understood, which those that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction. In our belief both of the divine extraction and of the spiritual exposition of this book we are confirmed by the ancient, constant, and concurring testimony both of the church of the Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God, and who never made any doubt of the authority of this book, and of the Christian church, which happily succeeds them in that trust and honour. I. It must be confessed, on the one hand, that if he who barely reads this book be asked, as the eunuch was Understandest thou what thou readest? he will have more reason than he had to say, How can I, except some man shall guide me? The books of scripture-history and prophecy are very much like one another, but this Song of Solomon's is very much unlike the songs of his father David; here is not the name of God in it; it is never quoted in the New Testament; we find not in it any expressions of natural religion or pious devotion, no, nor is it introduced by vision, or any of the marks of immediate revelation. It seems as hard as any part of scripture to be made a savour of life unto life, nay, and to those who come to the reading of it with carnal minds and corrupt affections, it is in danger of being made a savour of death unto death; it is a flower out of which they extract poison; and therefore the Jewish doctors advised their young people not to read it till they were thirty years old, lest by the abuse of that which is most pure and sacred ( horrendum dictu - horrible to say! ) the flames of lust should be kindled with fire from heaven, which is intended for the altar only. But, II. It must be confessed, on the other hand, that with the help of the many faithful guides we have for the understanding of this book it appears to be a very bright and powerful ray of heavenly light, admirable fitted to excite pious and devout affections in holy souls, to draw out their desires towards God, to increase their delight in him, and improve their acquaintance and communion with him. It is an allegory, the letter of which kills those who rest in that and look no further, but the spirit of which gives life, 2Co 3:6; Joh 6:63. It is a parable, which makes divine things more difficult to those who do not love them, but more plain and pleasant to those who do, Mat 13:14, Mat 13:16. Experienced Christians here find a counterpart of their experiences, and to them it is intelligible, while those neither understand it nor relish it who have no part nor lot in the matter. It is a song, an Epithalamium, or nuptial song, wherein, by the expressions of love between a bridegroom and his bride, are set forth and illustrated the mutual affections that pass between God and a distinguished remnant of mankind. It is a pastoral; the bride and bridegroom, for the more lively representation of humility and innocence, are brought in as a shepherd and his shepherdess. Now, 1. This song might easily be taken in a spiritual sense by the Jewish church, for whose use it was first composed, and was so taken, as appears by the Chaldee-Paraphrase and the most ancient Jewish expositors. God betrothed the people of Israel to himself; he entered into covenant with them, and it was a marriage-covenant. He had given abundant proofs of his love to them, and required of them that they should love him with all their heart and soul. Idolatry was often spoken of as spiritual adultery, and doting upon idols, to prevent which this song was penned, representing the complacency which God took in Israel and which Israel ought to take in God, and encouraging them to continue faithful to him, though he might seem sometimes to withdraw and hide himself from them, and to wait for the further manifestation of himself in the promised Messiah. 2. It may more easily be taken in a spiritual sense by the Christian church, because the condescensions and communications of divine love appear more rich and free under the gospel than they did under the law, and the communion between heaven and earth more familiar. God sometimes spoke of himself as the husband of the Jewish church (Isa 64:5, Hos 2:16, Hos 2:19), and rejoiced in it as his bride, Isa 62:4, Isa 62:5. But more frequently is Christ represented as the bridegroom of his church (Mat 25:1; Rom 7:4; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:32), and the church as the bride, the Lamb's wife, Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2, Rev 21:9. Pursuant to this metaphor Christ and the church in general, Christ and particular believers, are here discoursing with abundance of mutual esteem and endearment. The best key to this book is the 45th Psalm, which we find applied to Christ in the New Testament, and therefore this ought to be so too. It requires some pains to find out what may, probably, be the meaning of the Holy Spirit in the several parts of this book; as David's songs are many of them level to the capacity of the meanest, and there are shallows in them learned, and there are depths in it in which an elephant may swim. But, when the meaning is found out, it will be of admirable use to excite pious and devout affections in us; and the same truths which are plainly laid down in other scriptures when they are extracted out of this come to the soul with a more pleasing power. When we apply ourselves to the study of this book we must not only, with Moses and Joshua, put off our shoe from off our foot, and even forget that we have bodies, because the place where we stand is holy ground, but we must, with John, come up hither, must spread our wings, take a noble flight, and soar upwards, till by faith and holy love we enter into the holiest, for this is no other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.

Matthew Henry: The Song of Songs 1 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter, after the title of the book (Son 1:1), we have Christ and his church, Christ and a believer, expressing their esteem for each other. I. The bride, the church, speaks to the bridegroom (Son 1:2-4), to the daughters of Jerusalem (Son 1:5, Son 1:6), and then to the bridegroom (Son 1:7). II. Christ, the bridegroom, speaks in answer to the complaints and requests of his spouse (Son 1:8-11). III. The church expresses the great value she has for Christ, and the delights she takes in communion with him (Son 1:12-14). IV. Christ commends the church's beauty (Son 1:15). V. The church returns the commendation (Son 1:16, Son 1:17). Where there is a fire of true love to Christ in the heart this will be of use to blow it up into a flame.

Constable: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

In the Hebrew Bible the title of this book is "The Song of Songs." It comes from 1:1. The Septuagint and Vulgate translators adopted this title. The Latin word for song is canticum from which we get the word Canticles, another title for this book.

Some English translations have kept the title "Song of Songs" (e.g., NIV), but many have changed it to "Song of Solomon" based on 1:1 (e.g., NASB, AV, RSV, NKJV).

Writer and Date

Many references to Solomon throughout the book confirm the claim of 1:1 that Solomon wrote this book (cf. 1:4-5, 12; 3:7, 9, 11; 6:12; 7:5; 8:11-12; 1 Kings 4:33). He reigned between 971 and 931 B.C.

How could Solomon, who had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3), be the same faithful lover this book presents? He could be if he became polygamous after the events in this book took place. That seems a more likely explanation than that he was polygamous when these events occurred but just omitted reference to his other loves. Probably he wrote the book before he became polygamous. We do not know how old Solomon was when he married the second time. The history recorded in Kings and Chronicles is not in strict chronological order. The Shulammite was probably not Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings 3:1; cf. Song of Sol. 4:8).¹

Interpretation

This book has received more varied interpretations than probably any other book in the Bible.² Some writers believed it presents the reader with the "greatest hermeneutical challenge" in the Old Testament.³ One excellent exegete called it "the most obscure book of the Old Testament."⁴

"Among the books of the Bible, the Song of Solomon is one of the smallest, most difficult, yet one of the most popular with both Jews and Christians. Over the centuries hundreds of books and commentaries have been written and unnumbered sermons preached on these 117 verses."⁵

Bible students have understood the Song of Solomon as an allegory, an extended type, a drama with either two or three main characters, or a collection of wedding songs. Others have thought it is a collection of pagan fertility cult liturgies or an anthology of songs extolling love, to name only the most common interpretations.⁶

Those who interpret the book allegorically--the majority of interpreters--believe that what the writer said is only a symbolic husk for a deeper spiritual meaning that the reader must discover. Jewish interpreters took this deeper revelation to be God's love for Israel. Christian scholars have frequently seen it as Christ's love for the church. However the text itself does not indicate that we should interpret this book differently than any other Bible book.⁷

Those who view it as an extended type believe the events recorded really took place, in contrast to the allegorical interpreters, but their primary significance lies in their illustrative value.⁸ The basic teaching Christian interpreters see is Christ's love for the church. Yet again the text itself does not indicate that this book requires a different interpretation than the other books of the Bible.

A careful analysis of the text has convinced most scholars that the Song of Solomon was not a drama.⁹ We really cannot break it down into acts and scenes in any presentable order. The action is too interwoven. There is also no evidence that the Hebrews had dramas of this type in Solomon's day.¹⁰

Some interpreters believe three main characters are in view, namely, Solomon, the Shulammite girl, and her shepherd lover.¹¹ However, what some scholars have attributed to the shepherd lover can just as easily refer to Solomon. It was not uncommon in ancient Near Eastern literature to refer to kings as shepherds since they served a pastoral function in relation to their people. Furthermore many of them did own many flocks (cf. 2:7).

Probably the Song of Solomon was a single love poem that the writer designed to deal primarily with the subject of human love and marriage. This was the viewpoint of many ancient Jewish rabbis.¹² It is also the conclusion most conservative commentators have come to who have sought to interpret this book in the same way they interpret other Bible books (i.e., literally, historically, and grammatically). It is also the conclusion of some liberal scholars who have analyzed the structure of the book.¹³ Love is an important subject of special revelation, and human love in particular is a central feature of it as well (cf. Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:36-39; John 13:34-35). Consequently it should not seem incredible that God gave us this book to help us understand this subject better.¹⁴

However, it seems clear that this book also has spiritual value, specifically to clarify divine-human love.

". . . it is widely acknowledged that the Bible is a book of faith and theology, and there is no place in the canon for atheological literature. . . .

"The literal approaches of Dillow, Glickman, and others are much more faithful to the intent of the book [than other approaches]. The limitations of these strictly literal approaches are the tendency to see sexuality as a more prominent feature of the Song than is justified by the text and the propensity to overreact to the absurdities of the allegorical method to the extent of missing justifiable [spiritual] analogy."¹⁵

Evidence of unity within the book argues against its being only a collection of poems that had general similarity to one another that the writer assembled into one song.¹⁶

Purpose

Probably God's primary purpose in inspiring this book of the Bible was to give us revelation concerning the way love between a man and a woman should look.¹⁷ The characters in the book behave toward one another the way men and women in love should conduct themselves in attitudes and activities.

"Solomon was a man of many lovers, and the Song of Songs is a record of one of the relationships that stood out above all others. . . .

"The Song of Songs hearkens back to God's prototypical design in the Garden of Eden of one man and one woman, in marriage, a relationship God designed to be mutually exclusive. This book, then, presents a most relevant and urgent message for today."¹⁸

"The prospect of children is not necessary to justify sexual love in marriage. Significantly, the Song of Solomon makes no reference to procreation. It must be remembered that the book was written in a world where a high premium was placed on offspring and a woman's worth was often measured in terms of the number of her children. Sex was often seen with reference to procreation; yet there is not a trace of that here. The song is a song in praise of love for love's sake and for love's sake alone. This relationship needs no justification beyond itself."¹⁹

The love relationship between a man and a woman is an illustration of the love relationship within the Godhead and between God and Israel and between Christ and the church (cf. Hos. 3:1; Eph. 5:32). Therefore part of the purpose of this book seems to be the revelation of those more basic love relationships for application by the reader.

"The use of the marriage metaphor to describe the relationship of God to his people is almost universal in Scripture. . . .

"Human love is thus a good pedagogical device to cast light on divine love."²⁰

"In creating man--male and female--in his own image and joining them together so that they become one flesh, God makes us copies both of himself in his trinitarian unity and distinction as one God and three persons and of himself in relation to the people of his gracious election. Analogically, what is between Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and what ought to be and is and shall be between God and Israel and Christ and the Church, is also what is meant to be in the relation of man and woman and more specifically of husband and wife. Neither the intratrinitarian relationship nor the union between the heavenly bridegroom and his bride is a good copy of a bad original. Earthly marriage as it is now lived out is a bad copy of a good original."²¹

"There is something proleptic and eschatological in human passion. We deal with symbols that image eternal realities here. Little wonder that this little book is in the canon."²²

Canonicity

There have been three primary reasons that some scholars have thought this book does not deserve to be in the Bible. First, it does not contain the name of God. However, God's name may appear in 8:6. Furthermore, what makes a book theological or religious is not just the presence of the divine name. God's name does not appear in the Book of Esther either.

Second, the presence of frank language describing physical intimacies seems inappropriate in the Bible to some people. Yet the Bible presents marriage as sacred, including its physical aspects.

Third, the difficulty of interpretation has caused some readers to reject it as non-canonical. This criticism fails to recognize that finite and fallen human beings may not easily comprehend the revelations of an infinite and omniscient God.

"Like other portions of the Word of God, this book has its difficulties. But so have all the works of God. Is not the fact that they surpass our unaided powers of comprehension and research a sign-manual' of divinity? Can feeble man expect to grasp divine power, or to understand and interpret the works or the providences of the All-wise? And if not, is it surprising that His Word also needs superhuman wisdom for its interpretation? Thanks be to God, the illumination of the Holy Ghost is promised to all who seek for it: what more can we desire?"²³

Message²⁴

Contemporary culture has affected the interpretation of this book more than that of most other Bible books. For many years believers considered this book to be a revelation of God's love for the believer and the believer's love for God expressed in vivid metaphorical language. This was the predominant viewpoint for centuries during which time most people did not talk about the intimacies of human physical love publicly. With the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s there are many interpreters who now believe this book is a revelation of two human beings' love for each other primarily. Some have even suggested that it is an inspired marriage manual that God has given us to enable us to develop strong marriages.

Personally I believe God gave it to us so that we could understand the nature of love primarily. I think God wanted us to apply that understanding both in our love for our spouses and in our love for our Savior. In other words I believe the purpose is "both . . . and" rather than "either . . . or."

This book emphasizes the supremacy of love. Human life finds its highest fulfillment in the love of a man and a woman. Spiritual life finds its highest fulfillment in the love of a human being and God. Jesus Christ makes the fulfillment of love on both the human and the spiritual levels possible. He manifested God's love to us. Consequently we love Him, and we can love one another.

When Solomon originally wrote this book it was a poem about the love of two people, a man and a woman, for each other. Consequently what it reveals about love is applicable to human love. However since God revealed and inspired it as part of Scripture He also intended us to apply it to our spiritual lives, our relationship with God. That is the purpose of every other book of the Bible, and this was God's purpose in giving us this book as well. In Ephesians, Paul wrote that we should learn about Christ's love for the church from marriage (Eph. 5:32).

Let us look then at the values of this book that are primarily two.

First, the Song of Solomon is a revelation of the true nature of human love. It reveals four things about human love.

1. It reveals the foundation of love. According to this book the foundation of love is mutual satisfaction. The man and the woman in this book find perfect rest in each other. They satisfy one another in every way. Affection relates directly to this ability. We have an affection for people who satisfy some need or desire in us. We have supreme affection for one who satisfies us ultimately. That supreme affection is the basis for marriage. God intended it to be so. This book also reveals that mutual satisfaction is not only complementary, but it is also exclusive. The man and the woman in this book each saw the other as the only one for them (2:2-3). For satisfaction to be complete there must be a commitment to exclusivity. There is usually a promise to forsake all others in the wedding vows. When love is not exclusive, it is diluted (cf. 1 Tim. 3:2). The foundation of love then is mutual satisfaction that is both complementary and exclusive.

2. This book also reveals the strength of love. It is the strongest force in life (8:6-7). People will do for love what they will do for no other reason. However when mutual satisfaction breaks down, the strength of love grows weaker. If you want strong love in your marriage, commit yourselves to satisfying each other more than yourself.

3. This book also reveals how to love. It shows Solomon taking the initiative in reaching out to his loved one with intensity and protecting her. It also shows the Shulammite responding to her beloved by yielding to him and trusting in him. These are the usual actions and reactions of the male and the female in love. Sometimes there is a reversal of roles, but not usually. God intended these methods of expressing love to be instructive for us. They are applicable in both our love for our spouse and in our love for God.

4. Fourth, this book reveals the fruits of love. These are three.

a. In true love there is rest. There is a perfect contentment that turmoil outside or within cannot destroy. The home in which genuine love resides is a haven from the storms of life.

b. In true love there is joy. No matter what other conditions may exist (poverty, misery, etc.) real love fills the heart with song and brightens the darkest day.

c. In true love there is courage. Both individuals gain strength from their love to face circumstances boldly and to recover from their failures and go on. All three of these fruits of love are prominent in this book.

The second value of this book is that it reveals spiritual experience at its highest level.

This was the ultimate intention of the divine Author. This conclusion finds support in the fact that this was the belief of Jewish interpreters as well as Christian scholars in both Old and New Testament times. Furthermore the writers of Scripture used the example of a bride and groom, husband and wife, to describe God's relationship with His people in both Testaments (e.g., Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the bride of Christ; Eph. 5:25-32).

It is therefore important that we take these revelations concerning the nature of love and apply them to our relationship with God as well as to our relationship to our spouse.

1. The foundation of our love for God and His love for us is also mutual satisfaction. He satisfies our every need and our every want. Nevertheless He also finds satisfaction in us.

2. We see the strength of God's love for us when we look at Calvary. The strength of our love for God is the extent to which we respond to Him in obedience.

3. We see how to love in God's initiating love for us, His reaching out intensely and protectively. We express our love for Him by yielding to Him and trusting in Him.

4. The fruits of love are the same in our relationship with God as in our relationship with another human being. We enjoy rest, joy, and courage. God does too. He experiences courage in the sense of encouragement (cf. Zeph. 3:17).

Because of these revelations and emphases I would summarize the message of this book as follows. Human life and spiritual life find their greatest fulfillment in the experience of mutual love.

Love is the greatest experience in all human relationships and our spiritual relationship. Consequently God commands us to love Him and to love one another wholeheartedly (Matt. 22:37-39). We must give attention to loving. This is not how the world views love. The world thinks you fall into it and out of it; it comes and goes. The Bible says it requires continuing commitment.

This book also encourages us to view human love in the light of God's love for us and our love for Him. A person who has experienced the love of God can know best how to express and receive love on the human level. Human love is the child of divine love.

The opposite is true too. We can find help in loving God by learning from our human love. Our passion, abandonment, and fidelity to our mate on the human level should help us to practice these things in our relationship with God. I believe God created the family to help us understand our relationship with Himself. When we learn how to respond to one another, we learn how to respond to God, and vice versa.

Constable: The Song of Songs (Outline)

Outline

I. The superscription 1:1

II. The courtship 1:2-3:5

A. The beginning of love 1:2-11

1. Longing for the boyfriend 1:2-4

2. The girl's insecurity 1:5-8

3. Solomon's praise 1:9-11

B. The growth of love 1:12-3:5

1. Mutual admiration 1:12-2:7

2. Increased longing 2:8-17

3. The pain of separation 3:1-5

III. The wedding 3:6-5:1

A. The procession 3:6-11

B. The consummation 4:1-5:1

1. The bride's beauty 4:1-7

2. The groom's request 4:8

3. The bride's love 4:9-11

4. The bride's purity 4:12-15

5. The bride's surrender 4:16-5:1

IV. The maturing process 5:2-8:4

A. The problem of apathy 5:2-6:13

1. Indifference and withdrawal 5:2-8

2. Renewed affection 5:9-16

3. Steps toward reconciliation 6:1-3

4. Restoration of intimacy 6:4-13

B. Communicating affection 7:1-10

1. The wife's charms 7:1-6

2. The husband's desires 7:7-9

3. The ultimate unity 7:10

C. The wife's initiative 7:11-13

D. Increased intimacy 8:1-4

V. The conclusion 8:5-7

VI. The epilogue 8:8-14

A. The past 8:8-12

B. The present 8:13-14

Constable: The Song of Songs

Song of Solomon

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Taylor, J. Hudson. Union and Communion. Reprint ed., London: China Inland Mission, 1954.

von Rad, Gerhard. Wisdom in Israel. New York: Abingdon, 1972.

Woudstra, Sierd. "The Song of Solomon." In The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, pp. 595-604. Edited by Charles F. Pfeiffer and Everett F. Harrison. Chicago: Moody Press, 1962.

Yamauchi, Edwin M. "Cultural Aspects of Marriage in the Ancient World." Bibliotheca Sacra 135:539 (July-September 1978):241-52.

Yoder, Sanford Calvin. Poetry of the Old Testament. Scottdale, Pa: Herald Press, 1973.

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

SOLOMON'S CANTICLE OF CANTICLES.

INTRODUCTION.

This book is called the Canticle of Canticles, that is to say, the most excellent of all canticles: because it is full of high mysteries, relating to the happy union of Christ and his spouse; which is here begun by love; and is to be eternal in heaven. The spouse of Christ is the Church: more especially as to the happiest part of it, viz., perfect souls, every one of which is his beloved; but above all others, the immaculate and ever blessed Virgin mother [Mary]. (Challoner) --- The bridegroom is Christ, as God and man. His praises and those of his spouse are recorded by various speakers. Solomon has given us three works; for beginners, the more advanced, and the perfect; as the philosophers teach ethics, physics, and metaphysics. All the holy Scriptures contain spiritual food, but they are not all fit for every person, Hebrews v. 13. With what humility ought we not, therefore, to read this most perfect and mystical canticle, as the sentiments of spiritual love are expressed in the same words as that of worldlings, and we are more inclined to follow our own judgment and carnal notions! (Worthington) --- None, therefore, should dare to peruse this work, who has not mastered his passions, having his conversation in heaven. (Haydock) --- The Jews would not allow any ot read it before the age of thirty. (Origen and St. Jerome) --- Some of the fathers and commentators have even asserted that the mystical sense is the only one which pertains to this book, (Theodoret; Durham; Tirinus) and it is certainly the true and principal one, though allusion may be made to the marriage of Solomon with Pharao's daughter, (Calmet; Bossuet; Du Hamel) or with a Tyrian princess, (chap. iv. 8., and 3 Kings xiii. 5.) or with Abisag. (Rabbins) --- Grotius shews the corruption of his own heart in his impure comments, as Theodorus, of Mopsuestra, is blamed by the second Council of Const.[Constantinople?] iv. a. 68. The name of God never, indeed, occurs; as he is represented under the idea of the bridegroom, &c., and the piece is allegorical. It might be divided into seven scenes, or nights, as the marriage feast lasted so long, Genesis xxix. 22. During this time the bridegroom saw his spouse seldom, and with great reserve, (Calmet) as was the custom with the Lacedemonians. (Plut.[Plutarch?] in Lyc.) --- We might also refer all to six nights, or to the six ages of the Church, conformably to the system of De la Chetardie and Bishop Walmesley on the Apocalypse. --- I. Age. Chap i. 2., marks the ascension of Christ, and the propagation of Christianity; ver. 4, 5., persecutions; ver. 6, 7., vocation of the Gentiles; ver. 12., protection granted by Christ. II. Chap. ii. 3., peace under Constantine; ver. 11, 17., troubles excited by Arius. III. Chap. iii. 1., irruption of barbarians; ver. 4., does not overturn the Church; ver. 6., they are converted; ver. 11., and Christ is more glorified, as [in] Apocalypse xix. IV. Chap. iv. 5., the Latin and Greek Churches; ver. 8., the Chaldeans, lions, and Greeks, leopards, (Daniel) are converted; the Turks obtain dominion; ver. 12., the Greek schismatics cut off: ver. 16., the Church is persecuted, but protected. V. Chap. v. 2., Dew marks the cooling of charity, (St. Augustine) when Luther appeared; chap. vi. 3., yet the Church triumphs, particularly after the Council of Trent. VI. Chap. vi. 9., after the sounding of the sixth trumpet, the Jews are converted, and adorn the Church, in spite of antichrist's power; ver. 11., she addresses the synagogue, ver. 12. Chap. viii. 2., obtains leave to go into the house of her mother, as the apostles were of Jewish extraction; ver. 7., the constancy of the martyrs appears; (see Rondet.) ver. 8-14., the Church pants for her speedy union with her beloved. We may justly admire her authority, in preserving this and the former work of the canon, notwithstanding the internal and external evidence, and the ill use made of them by infidels, which seemed to militate against them. The Protestant Chateillon styles this "a wicked book." Several passages may, no doubt, be abused by a corrupt heart: but what is there so holy, which may not be perverted? When we meditate on this canticle, we ought to remember the admonition given by the Church in the Mass: "Let hearts be on high;" and Oh! that all might answer with truth: "We have them to the Lord!"

Gill: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO THE SONG OF SOLOMON

This book is entitled, in the Hebrew copies, "Shir Hashirim", the Song of Songs. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions call it, "the Song"; and the title of it in the Syriac version, is,

"the Wisdom of Wisdoms of the same Solomon;''

that is, the same who wrote the two preceding books. It has always been received and esteemed by the ancient Jews as a valuable part of the sacred writings, calling it "the Holy of Holies" ^a; forbidding their children to read it, because of the sublimity and mysteriousness of it, until they were at years to understand it: nor was there ever any controversy among them about the authenticity of it; but all their writers ^b, ancient and more modern, agree that it was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The ancient Christian fathers and councils have held it as a part of the holy Scriptures, and have continued it in the canon of them; and it has been received as canonical by Christians in all ages, except a very few, as Theodore of Mopsuest, condemned calling it in question by the second council at Constantinople, in 553; and Castalio, in later times, who for the same was censured and exiled by the senate at Geneva; and Mr. Whiston, in our age, whose objections to it I have attempted to answer, in my larger Commentary on this book, published in 1728, and since republished: and I am very sorry I am obliged to take notice of an objection to the antiquity of it, and to its being Solomon's, made by a learned ^c man, very lately; who observes, that the word David, from its first appearance in Ruth, where it is written דוד, without the "yod", continues to be so written through the books of Samuel, Kings, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; but appears with a "yod", דויד, in the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Zechariah; wherefore he suggests, that if it was customary to write this word without a "yod" till the captivity, and with one after it; then he thinks a strong argument may be drawn from hence against the antiquity of the Canticles, and its being made by Solomon, since this name is written with a "yod" in Son 4:4; the only place in it in which it is used: but in answer to this it must be said, that it is not fact that the word is invariably without a "yod" in the books mentioned, particularly the book of Kings: for the authors of the Masorah have observed, on 1Ki 3:14, that it is five times written in that book full, as they call it, that is, with a "yod", דויד; three of the places I have traced out, 1Ki 3:14; and have found it so written in all the printed copies I have seen; and so it is read by the eastern Jews, in Eze 37:24. This learned man is aware that it is so written, once in Hosea, and twice in Amos, books written two hundred years before the captivity; but then he observes, that in the two last places, in Bomberg's edition, it has a little circle (o) to mark it for an error, or a faulty word, though none over the word in Hosea: but it should be known, that that circle, in hundreds of places, is not used to point out anything faulty in the copy; but is only a mark referring to the margin, and what is observed there; and be it that it does point out an error, or a faulty word, the same circle is over the word in Canticles, and consequently shows it to be faulty there, and to be corrected and read without the "yod", as it was originally without it there; which observation destroys the argument from it: and so it is read in that place in the Talmud ^d without it, and in the ancient book of Zohar ^e; and indeed it seems as if it was read without the "yod" in the copies seen by the authors of the Little Masorah; since in their note on 1Ki 3:14; besides the five places in the Kings, where it is written full, or with the "yod", they say, it is so written throughout the Chronicles, the twelve minor prophets, and Ezra, which includes Nehemiah; but make no mention of Solomon's Song, which, one would think, they would have done, had it been so written there in the copies before them: so that, upon the whole, the argument, if it has any force in it, turns out for, and not against, the antiquity of Solomon's Song. This book of Canticles has plain marks of a divine original, and proofs of its being of divine inspiration: it was written by, one that was inspired of God, as appears by the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, written by him; the greatness of the matter contained in it, the dignity, sublimity, and majesty of its style, show it to be no human composure; the power and efficacy which it has had over the hearts of men, in reading it, and hearing it explained, is another evidence of its being the word of God, which is quick and powerful; the impartiality of it, the bride, who is introduced speaking in it, confessing and proclaiming her own failings and infirmities, is no inconsiderable proof of the same; to which may be added the agreement between this and other portions of Scripture, as particularly Psa 45:1; and there seem to be many allusions and references to various passages of this book in the New Testament; see Mat 9:13, &c. Joh 3:8 Col 2:17; compared with Son 1:3 Son 5:1. In what time of Solomon's life this book was written is not agreed on: some of the Jewish writers say the book of Proverbs was written first, then the Song of Songs, and last of all Ecclesiastes; others, that the Song was written first, then Proverbs, and then Ecclesiastes ^f; though their chronologer ^g says they were all written in his old age, as indeed the last book seems to be; but the Song rather seems to have been written in the middle part of his life, when in the most flourishing circumstances as to body, mind, and estate. Dr. Lightfoot ^h is of opinion it might be written in the thirtieth year of his reign, about ten years before his death, after he had built his summer house in Lebanon, to which he supposes respect is had in Son 4:8; and upon his bringing Pharaoh's daughter to the house prepared for her, 1Ki 9:24; but be this at it may, it was not a celebration of the amours between Solomon and her, since the literal sense, in many places, would be monstrous and absurd; and besides it must be written twenty years at least after that, if the house of the forest of Lebanon is referred to in the above places; nor does it set forth their amours, and the marriage between them, as typical of the inexpressible love and marriage union between Christ and his church; though there is a resemblance between natural and spiritual marriage, and the love of persons in such a relation to one another, and to which there may be an allusion in some passages. Nor is this book historical and prophetic, expressing either the state of the people of Israel, from the times of Abraham to Solomon, and so to the Messiah; in which way go many Jewish interpreters, as the Targum, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and others: nor is it to be considered as describing the state of the church: of God, whether legal, from the times of David and Solomon, and before, in and after the captivity, to the birth and death of Christ; or the Gospel church, in its beginning, progress, various changes, and consummation, as Brightman and Cotton nor as setting forth the several ages and periods of the Christian church, in agreement with the seven churches of Asia, as Cocceius, and those that follow him, Horchius, Hofman, and Heunischius; which latter, particularly, makes this distribution of them:

(1) The Ephesian church, Son 1:5; from the ascension of Christ to heaven, A. C. 33, to 370. (2) The Smyrnaean church, Son 2:1; from A. C. 371, to 707; (3) The church at Pergamos, Son 3:1; from A. C. 708, to 1045. (4) The Thyatirian church, Son 4:1, from A. C. 1046, to 1383. (5) The Sardian church, Son 5:2, from A. C. 1384, to 1721. (6) The church at Philadelphia, Son 6:9, from A. C. 1722, to 2059. (7) The Laodicean church, Son 8:1, from A. C. 2060, and onwards.

But these senses are very arbitrary, uncertain, and precarious, and limit the several parts of it to certain periods; whereas it is applicable to believers in all ages of time. The whole is figurative and allegorical; expressing, in a variety of lively metaphors, the love, union, and communion, between Christ and his church; setting forth the several different frames, cases, and circumstances of believers, in this life; so that they can be in no case and condition spiritual whatever, but there is something in this Song suitable to them; and which serves much to recommend it, and shows the excellency of it; and that it justly claims the title it bears, the Song of Songs, the most excellent. M. Bossuet ⁱ is of opinion, that whereas the nuptial feast with the Hebrews was kept seven days, this Song is to be distributed into seven parts, a part to be sung, one each day, during the celebration: The first day, Son 1:1. The second day, Son 2:7. The third day, Son 3:1. The fourth day, Son 5:2. The fifth day, Son 6:10. The sixth day, Son 7:12. The seventh day, Son 8:4. The thought is ingenious, but seems too fanciful, and without foundation.

Gill: The Song of Songs 1 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO SONG OF SOLOMON 1

In this chapter, after the general title of the book, Son 1:1, the church expresses her strong desires, and most ardent wishes, for some fresh discoveries of the love of Christ to her, and for communion with him; having tasted of his love, smelt a sweet savour in his grace, and enjoyed fellowship with him in his house, Son 1:2. She observes her blackness and uncomeliness in herself; the trials and afflictions she met with from others; and her carelessness and negligence of her own affairs, Son 1:5; and entreats her beloved to direct her where she might meet with him, feeding his flocks, and giving them rest, to which he returns a kind and gracious answer; gives her proper instructions where to find him, Son 1:7; and commends her beauty; sets forth her amiableness and loveliness, by various metaphors; and makes promises of more grace and good things to her, Son 1:9. And then she declares what a value she had for Christ, her beloved; and how precious he was unto her, like a bundle of myrrh, and a cluster of camphire, Son 1:12. Christ again praises her beauty; and particularly takes notice of her eyes, and her modest look, Son 1:15; and she returns the encomium back to him, and expresses her pleasure and satisfaction in the house he had built for her, and the furniture of it, Son 1:16.