The Beautiful Song of Songs . . .
Introduction to the Song of Songs Series
Have you ever studied Song of Songs? Until recently, I used to think you could not do much with this symbolic poetry even if it did allegorize Christ and the church. It was simply tucked away in the library of my mind as “a romantic poem illustrating how passionately Jesus loves us.”
But as I prepared to speak at a women’s retreat this spring, I allowed myself to step into the garden with Solomon and his Shulamite bride, and to my surprise, my heavenly bridegroom came to life like never before.
WHO WROTE THE BOOK?
Traditionally, scholars have attributed Song of Songs to Solomon. He writes the poems from the viewpoint of a Shulamite shepherdess (who tends flocks of goats and sheep and owns a vineyard). He is the king, the bridegroom, to whom she refers in Song of Songs 3:11 when she says, “Come out, and look, you daughters of Zion. Look on King Solomon wearing a crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.” Presumably his wedding is also her wedding.
Now perhaps you’re protesting, “Solomon had many wives and concubines. One thousand, in fact! What could he possibly know about true love?” That was my first reaction too! But when you read this book, it sure sounds like the author is writing from experience. I’d like to think (and some scholars and commentators agree) that the Shulamite was possibly Solomon’s first wife, his first love—when he was very young and crowned king.
Song of Songs is about two newlyweds crazy in love. It is also an allegory of the relationship between Christ and his bride. This book elevates passionate love over mere duty, and we need this reminder. Jesus did not wholeheartedly, passionately woo us to gain a “dutiful wife”—one who believes all the right things, says all the right things, and does all the right things but whose heart is lukewarm. No, he desires a bride who is ardently in love with him as well. One who is so “head over heels” that she can’t spend enough time with him, can’t say enough good things about him, can’t do enough for him. One who makes her life all about him above all else.
THE GREATEST OF ALL SONGS
1 Kings 4:32 says that Solomon “spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.” Many see Song of Songs as his best work.
I like what the BibleProject (by Tim Mackie and Jon Collins) has to say:
[In Song of Songs] there are powerful echoes of the Garden of Eden and the idyllic scene of the first married couple in Genesis. . . . The images of the man and woman naked and vulnerable yet unified and completely safe with each other (Gen. 2:23-25) resonate in the background. . . . It’s as if, through these poems, we’re witnessing the love of a couple whose relationship is untainted by selfishness and sin.
So the Song of Songs holds out hope. Even though our relationships are often distorted by selfishness, love is a transcendent gift that’s meant to point us to something greater, the gift of God’s love that will one day permeate and transform his beloved world.
This beautiful hope is what the “Greatest of All Songs” is about.
As we go through this series celebrating the love of our Heavenly Bridegroom, I invite you to listen to this “song” for new melodies that may speak to you as never before. Our First Love is walking the gardens of our lives closer to us than we know.