Song of Solomon 1

1. THE Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth:

For thy love is better than wine.

3. Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; Thy name is as ointment poured forth; Therefore do the virgins love thee.

4. Draw me; we will run after thee: The king hath brought me into his chambers:

We will be glad and rejoice in thee,

We will make mention of thy love more than of wine:

Rightly do they love thee.

5. I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon.

6. Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, Because the sun hath scorched me. My mother’s sons were incensed against me, They made me keeper of the vineyards; But mine own vineyard have I not kept.

7. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, where thou makest it to rest at noon: For why should I be as one that is veiled Beside the flocks of thy companions?

1. THIS is certainly the title of the book which follows, although in our present Hebrew Bible it is the first verse of the book, preceded by the shorter form, “The Song of Songs.”

Which is Solomon’s. The unity which is clearly to be traced through the book to the end makes it probable that the title is meant to ascribe the work to the authorship of Solomon. This is the opinion of the majority of critics. It must have come either from the wise king himself or from some one of his contemporaries or immediate successors. It has been remarked by Delitzsch that the absence of any description of Solomon as “king of Israel” or “son of David,” as in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, confirms the view that Solomon himself was the sole author. Redford.

The poem is entitled “Song of Songs,” par excellence, as in the parallel expressions—heaven

8. If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, And feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.

9. I have compared thee, O my love, To a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.

10. Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair, Thy neck with strings of jewels.

11. We will make thee plaits of gold With studs of silver.

12. While the king sat at his table, My spikenard sent forth its fragrance.

13. My beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh, That lieth betwixt my breasts.

14. My beloved is unto me as a cluster of hennaflowers In the vineyards of En-gedi.

15. Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are as doves.

16. Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: Also our couch is green.

17. The beams of our house are cedars, And our rafters are firs.

of heavens, King of kings, Holy of holies. It is a superlative song, in which everything is at its best. Gardens, fountains, flowers, fruits, spices, love, beauty, marriage, the joy of spring, the song of birds, these are in many songs; but in this there is a profusion of excellence—a garden of nuts, an orchard of pomegranates, beds of spices, a mountain of myrrh, a hill of frankincense, flowers the most admired, beauty the most perfect, the beloved altogether lovely, the bride all fair and undefiled, the love strong as death, the marriage a royal marriage; everything choice and incomparable. D. F.

The Bride in the King’s Chambers. Chaps. 1:2; 2:7.

2-4. The Prologue. The Song commences with two stanzas recited in praise of the king

(now absent) by a chorus of virgins belonging to the royal household (henceforth companions and attendants of the bride), to whose sentiments of admiration and love they give expression before she speaks herself. The alternate use of singular and plural (“me,” “we,” “the virgins”) shows that we have here the song of a chorus, not of the bride speaking in her own person. Each stanza ends with the refrain, “they love thee.” Expositors, Jewish and Christian, interpret the whole as spoken by the Church of the heavenly bridegroom. T. L. K.

2. Wine and the fragrance of sweet spices filled the highest ideal of things delightful. We need not wonder, therefore, that the charms of the beloved one were set forth in such terms in a nuptial song. Translating them into the language of the Christian heart, we might put it thus: “Oh, for some manifestations of my Saviour’s presence and love! His work meets every want of my nature and of my case as a lost soul. His name, therefore, embodies every excellence; His favor is more to me than all the universe beside. Give me the witness of His love, and take away all else you will, yet I am more than blessed.”

4. “Draw me; so will we run after thee.” It will be seen that this is prayer. Considered as prayer, it implies conscious weakness and a sense of dependence for help. Now the thing to be noted is that this is precisely Christian experience. Every really Christian heart cries out to God, saying, Draw me more and more into a deeper, purer love; apply to my soul the strong attractions of Thine own love, by the power of Thine own Divine Spirit; then I may safely promise that I will run after Thee. H. C.

There is one point on the very face of the text which it is important to notice. We may come to God collectively, but we are drawn to God each one individually. Draw me; we will run after Thee. Notice how this effectual drawing will begin to show itself in those who have been, indeed, the subjects of it. Obedience to an impulse of God will be instant. A “drawing” never takes effect to-morrow. Real religion is always in the present tense. It is Abraham’s “Here am I!” It is Isaiah’s “Send me!” It is Christ’s “Lo, I come!” The man who is really drawn so loves the drawing that he always wants to be drawn more and more. He finds that it is so pleasant. He is always trying to get nearer. Therefore he is a man of much prayer, because he is nearer at such times. He wants oneness, closeness, and identity with Christ. J. Vaughan.

Into his chambers. Made me a member of his household. This is true of every member of the chorus as well as of the bride. T. L. K.—Make mention of thy love. When the soul is inflamed with the love of God, that affection will be active and discover itself in all it does or suffers in the service of God. Bates.—Love cares not what it is nor what it does, so that it may but advance the Lord Jesus. It makes the soul willing to be a footstool for Christ; to be anything, to be nothing, that Christ may be all in all. T. Brooks.

If we would grow in love for Christ, we must let our thoughts rest on His love for us, rather than on our love or on our lack of love for Him. Any contemplation of our own hearts, in their relation to our Saviour is heart-chilling, is heart-contracting; but any contemplation of our Saviour’s abounding love for us is heart-warming and heart-expanding. The practical question for each soul is not, Do you love Christ? but, Do you realize how wonderfully Christ loves you? S. S. T.

Oh my God, love is Thy great and special gift. All good is from Thee. Come down into this heart, for it cannot come up to Thee! Dwell in me by the Spirit of love, and I shall dwell by love in Thee. Through Thy grace I love Thy Word, Thy image, Thy work, and how heartily do I love to love Thee, and long to know and love Thee more. And if “all things be of Thee, and through Thee, and to Thee,” surely this love is eminently so. It means Thee, Lord. It looks to Thee; it serves Thee; for Thee it moves and seeks and sighs; in Thee it trusts; and the hope and peace and comfort which support me are in Thee. Baxter.

The Bride and the Daughters of Jerusalem. Vs. 5-8.

A rustic maiden, lately brought into the king’s chambers, makes excuse to the chorus for her rude appearance and dark complexion, while innocently acknowledging the beauty which commends her to the king. T. L. K.

5. The expressions are to be divided as is sometimes the case in Hebrew diction, “I am black as the tents of Kedar, but comely as the curtains of Solomon.” Bishop Lowth.—Volney says, the tents of the Bedouin Arabs, woven of goats or camel’s hair, are black or brown. Parkhurst.—The tents of the wild Arabs are to this day of a very dark or black color, being made of the shaggy hair of their black goats. D’Avieux.

6. Look not upon me. In wonder or scorn at my swarthy hue. It was acquired in enforced but honest toil, the sun hath scanned me (or, “glared upon me”) with his burning eye. She uses here a different word from that rendered “look” above, a word twice found in Job (20:9; 28:7), and indicating in the latter place the piercing glance of a bird of prey. My mother’s children; or, sons, a more affectionate designation than “brothers,” and implying the most intimate relationship. Children of the same mother are wont (in the polygamic East even more than with us) to be specially attached to one another. Were angry with me. Comparing 8:12, and note there, we may conjecture that this anger was but a form of jealous care for their sister’s safety. They sought by engaging her in rustic labors to preserve her from idleness and temptation, albeit with a temporary loss of outward comeliness. Mine own vineyard; literally, my vineyard which is mine. These, her first words, exhibit the bride’s candor and simplicity. She next addresses the still absent beloved one. T. L. K.

They made me. A great deal of religious and benevolent work is done evidently as unto man, and not as unto God. We neglect our own vineyards because others call us away, and we obey. We become engrossed. We become too ardent. We are keeping the vineyards of others, just, perhaps, that it may be said that we are keeping their vineyards, and that we may have the praise of the fruit of the vineyard, or that we may please those who are connected with the vineyard. The occasion of self-neglect is suggested in these words: “They made me keeper of the vineyards.” S. Martin.

Not merely made keeper; you may be put into an office, yet fail to do its duties faithfully and well. But the suggestion here plainly is, that the vineyards of others were diligently kept, while by a fatality which might be thought unparalleled, if it were not one of the commonest of things, the vineyard at home was neglected. Probably there are few who have reached middle age, and have incurred the responsibilities of domestic life, who can think of the text without some inward self-reproach. The matter is one of wide concern when we remember that every Sunday-school teacher, every visitor of the sick or the poor, every human being who is called to say a word of warning to an erring creature, or a word of encouragement to a weary one, every father and mother whose example and conversation and entire life, to its least detail, may affect the impressionable nature of their child, is called to keep the vineyard at home, if they would not have it scatter the slight seeds of mighty evil wide and far. We are all of us watched by far more eyes than we think of; and spiritual characteristics in us may reappear in those who have no intention of imitating us, but who insensibly fall into ways which they continually see. The great lesson of the text is, care for your own soul; care for the souls of your children; care for the souls of your friends; care for the souls of all you know and do not know. Every vineyard under the wide skies, where you can pull up a weed or cast one good seed, the smallest—of that vineyard God has made you keeper. So much the more diligently see that you keep your own; so much the more earnestly, as you would successfully mind the things of others, look to yourself. A. K. H. B.

7. Tell me. She seems to dread a public reception by the king, and would fain meet him alone. Whom my soul loveth. A phrase recurring several times in chap. 3:1-5. It expresses great intensity of affection. “Thou whom my soul loveth, so I call Thee; for the whole universe of rational creatures were unable to express Thy name.” Gregory of Nyssa.

8. The chorus are the speakers here. Their meaning seems to be, If thy beloved be indeed a shepherd, as thou callest him, then seek him yonder among other shepherds, but if a king, thou wilt find him here in his royal dwelling. Thus invoked, the Beloved appears and addresses the bride.

Entrance of the King. Vs. 9-14.

This section consists of two stanzas of equal length (vs. 9-11 and 12-14). It is regarded (as well as that which follows, 1:15; 2:7) by the ancient commentators (both Jewish and Christian) as expressing “the love of espousals” (Jer. 2:2) between the Holy One and His Church, T. L. K.

9. This comparison will not be deemed coarse when it is considered what beautiful and delicate creatures the Eastern horses are, and how highly they are valued. It is very remarkable that a Greek poet, Theocritus, has made use of a similar comparison to a Thessalian steed to express the beauty of Helen. Bishop Percy.

9-11. Thus the king expresses his admiration of her beauty. Solomon imported his chariot horses from Egypt, models of beauty in form and of grace in motion. It is noticeable that the king himself provides for his bride the richest ornaments of gold and silver to set off her personal beauty. The corresponding spiritual facts are obvious.

12-14. The bride responds. Her admiration and affection find expression in terms borrowed from the sweet odors and lovely flowers of her native clime. In v. 13 her thought is unexceptionably pure and fine. Her beloved is a bundle of odoriferous myrrh which she binds upon her bosom to wear it permanently there, where its perfumes may regale her with perpetual delight. This bundle of myrrh was placed there for its fragrance—admirably representing the precious associations that cluster about the name and memorial of Jesus in every Christian’s heart. His very name is fragrant with all sweet odors, exhaling the breath of heaven. H. C.

The Beloved and the Bride. Chaps. 1 : 15-17; 2 : 1-7.

A dialogue ensues between the king and the bride, commencing with six responsive couplets, in which each in succession develops the thought or returns the commendations of the other (1 : 15-2 : 3). It is noteworthy that almost every term of praise and endearment here employed may be exactly paralleled by those elsewhere made use of in Scripture to describe the relations of Israel or the Church to the Heavenly Bridegroom.

15. The king speaks : Lo, thou art beautiful (the same word as in Ezek. 16 : 13, 14, 15, 25). Compare Psalms 45 : 11, “So shall the king desire thy beauty.” Outward beauty is of course the first here thought of ; but in the bride this outward fairness is accompaniment of an inward beauty indicated in the following : “Thine eyes are doves,” innocent, meek, and loving. The bride is herself called “a dove” (2 : 14 ; 6 : 9). T. L. K.—To understand the force of this expression, we must not refer it to our common doves or pigeons, but to the doves of Syria, which have large and beautiful eyes. Those who have seen the fine Eastern bird, the carrier pigeon, will require no further commentary on this verse. Sir T. Browne.—The eyes show more than any part else the inward affections of the mind ; and doves’ eyes are the emblems of simplicity, candor, sincerity, and purity. Bishop Patrick.

16. The bride replies : Lo, thou art beautiful, my beloved ; compare Isa. 5 : 1, “song of my beloved,” and 33 : 17, “thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty ;” both, perhaps, conscious references to this Song, Isaiah being the only prophet who thus speaks of the Holy One of

Israel as dōdi (“my beloved,” Vulgate), the term constantly employed by the bride throughout the Song to designate him “whom her soul loveth.”

Yea, pleasant. More than corporeally beautiful, full of moral grace and charm. So Psalms 27 : 4 and 90 : 17 speak of the pleasantness of the Lord, using the same word. “Christ is beautiful,” says Bede, “in His divinity, pleasant in His humanity ;” “beautiful in His own nature,” says Bernard, “pleasant as manifested to us in grace.” Green. Or, “flourishing.” The epithet is appropriate for a bank or natural bed of grass and flowers, on which we may imagine the bride to be seated with the king, but not for an article of furniture, an ordinary couch or bed.

17. The king replies, in reference to the last words of the bride : The beams of our houses here are cedars ; our galleries are cypresses, i.e., the tall umbrageous forest-trees shut us in, as we sit together on this grassy bed, like the roof and walls of a many-chambered house, while cypress avenues on every side seem like the long-drawn corridors of a stately palace. The words are often assigned to the bride from not observing this sense and the antiphonal character of the whole passage. T. L. K.

The reader will not fail to notice that the love portrayed in this song between the two parties is mutual and the expression of it is promptly responsive, each vying with the other in terms of endearment and in assurances of affection. So the Lord through Jeremiah (2 : 2, 3) said of Israel : “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness. Israel was holiness unto the Lord.” H. C.

In Solomon’s Song we have a representation of the highest of all earthly affections in its supreme passion and purity ; the very ideal of the reciprocal love of two human beings for each other in body, soul, and spirit. And in this we have an inspired representation of the great ideal of spiritual love—the mutual love between Christ and His Church. God’s love for His Church is early represented under the image of sponsal affection, with its beautiful weakness as well as strength. “The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” This sweet and solemn idea revived ages after its first expression, and kept clothing itself in a poetry which drew its riches from historical events. In the forty-fifth Psalm—that song upon “lilies,” of