Song Of Solomon 1 Commentary
Love
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KEY THOUGHT: Behold, you are fair, [j]my love! [Song 1:15a NKJV]
Kindly read your Bible before going through the commentary!
Song 1 NKJV
Solomon’s Love for a Shulamite Girl
1 The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
The Banquet
The [a]Shulamite
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
For [b]your love is better than wine.
3 Because of the fragrance of your good ointments,
Your name is ointment poured forth;
Therefore the virgins love you.
4 Draw me away!
The Daughters of Jerusalem
We will run after [c]you.
The Shulamite
The king has brought me into his chambers.
The Daughters of Jerusalem
We will be glad and rejoice in [d]you.
We will remember your love more than wine.
The Shulamite
Rightly do they love you.
5 I am dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
Like the tents of Kedar,
Like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not look upon me, because I am dark,
Because the sun has [e]tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me the keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I have not kept.
(To Her Beloved)
7 Tell me, O you whom I love,
Where you feed your flock,
Where you make it rest at noon.
For why should I be as one who [f]veils herself
By the flocks of your companions?
The Beloved
8 If you do not know, O fairest among women,
[g]Follow in the footsteps of the flock,
And feed your little goats
Beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 I have compared you, my love,
To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
Your neck with chains of gold.
The Daughters of Jerusalem
11 We will make [h]you ornaments of gold
With studs of silver.
The Shulamite
12 While the king is at his table,
My [i]spikenard sends forth its fragrance.
13 A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me,
That lies all night between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blooms
In the vineyards of En Gedi.
The Beloved
15 Behold, you are fair, [j]my love!
Behold, you are fair!
You have dove’s eyes.
The Shulamite
16 Behold, you are handsome, my beloved!
Yes, pleasant!
Also our [k]bed is green.
17 The beams of our houses are cedar,
And our rafters of fir.
Footnotes
a. Song of Solomon 1:2 A young woman from the town of Shulam or Shunem, Song 6:13. The speaker and audience are identified according to the number, gender, and person of the Hebrew words. Occasionally the identity is not certain.
b. Song of Solomon 1:2 Masc. sing.: the Beloved
c. Song of Solomon 1:4 Masc. sing.: the Beloved
d. Song of Solomon 1:4 Fem. sing.: the Shulamite
e. Song of Solomon 1:6 Lit. looked upon me
f. Song of Solomon 1:7 LXX, Syr., Vg. wanders
g. Song of Solomon 1:8 Lit. Go out
h. Song of Solomon 1:11 Fem. sing.: the Shulamite
i. Song of Solomon 1:12 perfume
j. Song of Solomon 1:15 my companion, friend
k. Song of Solomon 1:16 couch
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Song 1 Commentary
There is space for romance in the scripture! Be it Isaac marrying Rebekah, or Jacob with his Rachael. The Book of Songs of Solomon, or simply Songs, is written as a drama play. The man, identified as a king, and the nameless woman are the main characters. And there is also an audience.
Reading through Chapter 1 gives us the description of romantic love. It is mutual. Unlike adultery or fornication, godly love is both mutual and public. Between one man and one woman, but also a matter of public knowledge.
“We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine.” Verse 4b. It is public, and everyone rejoices. Taking from this principle, the priest or pastor will halt any marriage if one member of the public shows up with valid reasons and says no to the marriage.
The community rejoices, but it also loves the king or the groom. You should be very worried if you are the only one who thinks your man is great. What do others say about him?
Verse 6 is interesting. Our thoughts go back to Ruth. She was all beauty, but all of it behind the rags of a working woman!
It was embedded in their culture. Rebekah was at work when Abraham’s servant found her. Rachel was a shepherd. They were found in their natural environments!
Open beauty can be a result of artificial coats – designed to mislead simple men.
The man sees the beauty and makes it even better for himself. There is a place for an upgrade. The man should do it with gold and silver. The African tradition expects the man to improve his woman’s status, both physical and economic.
Verses 12 to 14 give us the picture that the woman values the person of the man first. Respect flows from there. Rule of thumb: Never marry someone you cannot respect.
She is beautiful; he is handsome. The feeling is mutual. The last verse talks of “our house”. Ownership is by both. It is a partnership. While beauty remains personal, a constant and lasting gift to the man, the life of the two persons moves in unison. They are one. It is an expansion of the concept presented in the Book of Genesis.
There was no sexual perversion. No sexual violence, the kind that attracted severe punishment, scaling up to death by stoning. Everyone was happy!
Different cultures have perpetuated the concept of the groom as the “king”, and the bride as the “queen”. At least on their wedding day. It is their day! We see the same concept here.
But references to Solomon are stronger than this cultural picture. He is divinely given wisdom by the LORD God. The author, or the compiler, seems to underline the thought that the material in this book is God’s will, a picture of God’s desired outcome.
Otherwise, Solomon is a sexual pervert by all standards. The scripture has looked at Solomon’s life and described it as vanity, a chase after the wind! He is a bad example.
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