Another Bible Commentary: Song of Songs/Solomon

We’ve studied Law, History, Poetry, Music, and Philosophy so far, and there’s a little more poetry before we get to the prophets. Poetry helps us understand the figurative language of the prophets. This is going to get weird, gross, and specific because the Bible gets weird, gross, and specific through the lens of how I was raised in a country founded by people too uptight for England. The Song is placed here right before the prophets to show us a functional relationship so we understand the whoredom of Israel and Judah stepping out on God. There have been commentators that take that metaphor to the extreme and re-imagine all of this Song as just an allegory about Christ and the Church with sometimes amusing mental gymnastics. God knew our Ecclesiastes 7:16 tendency toward Phariseeism, and He gave us something natural and normal to keep in the canon so we wouldn’t forget what is normal. Reader discretion is advised.

1:2-4 To set the scene, this is a girl who recently went through puberty (Song 8:8-10). This is early in Solomon’s reign, so there are only 140 other wives/concubines involved at this point (Song 6:8) who may be the “friends” or “young women of Jerusalem” that provide a chorus throughout. The dowry is still being discussed in Song 8:12, so the various premarital activities described in this book are not sex. Just to be clear, in the Bible sex is the act by which God’s Image is propagated; it involves penetration with a natural penis ( as discussed in the 1 Kings 1:4 note). Remember all of those instances of someone “knowing” their wife and a kid popping out? The issues with other “warm up” stuff we've attached to the act are human rules. Other bands open for The Rolling Stones, you can hear them at the Stones' concert, but if you left after the opener, you didn't see the Stones. Unregenerate high schoolers’ notions of “going all the way'' are accurate, and this is no surprise given Paul’s discussion of the lingering Gentile conscience in Romans 2:14-15.

1:6 Think of Victorian ladies hiding from the sun under parasols. The upper crust didn’t start tanning until it became a marker of the ability to afford leisure in contrast to factory workers who got little sun; a tan used to mean things like “agricultural labor”. Her neglected vineyard was her appearance. She recovered by Song 2:13.

1:9 Sending a mare in heat amidst enemy stallions as a distraction was an old military tactic.

2:1 “a rose of Sharon” Just “a” rose, “a” lily; one of many. He turns it into a compliment in verse 2.

2:3-6 Sitting in his shade tasting his fruit is as much a reference to pleasuring him orally as you think it is. Oral stimulation (male-to-female and female-to-male) is spoken of approvingly and poetically in the Song of Songs/Solomon even before the characters get married. They’re still haggling about the dowry in Song of Songs/Solomon 8:12.

2:7 Some spin this repeated refrain as a “True love waits” exhortation, but in context it seems to be closer to “Do not disturb” or “If the house is rockin’, don’t come knockin’”.

2:10 “beloved” is also translated as “lover”.

2:13 “beautiful one” is also translated as “fair one”.

2:15 To catch the foxes is to remove the obstacles…

2:16 …to him “browsing the lilies”...

2:17 …until the break of dawn.

3:1 He shows up in verse 6.

3:4 In that culture, a newly married couple moved into an extension of the groom’s father’s house. Referencing the “mother’s house” would have been at a time when the characters were still not married yet.

3:11 “wedding” is still betrothal here because they’re still haggling about the dowry in Song of Songs/Solomon 8:12. Being betrothed is as good as being married as far as adultery penalties go, but going “all the way” would have been problematic as seen with Joseph and the miraculously pregnant Mary.

4:4 “shields” are a necklace, perhaps.

4:5 They hide (Song 8:8-10).

4:6 He just described her from her hair to her breasts, and now he intends to hang out all night at a special fragrant mound. Oral stimulation (male-to-female and female-to-male) is spoken of approvingly and poetically in the Song of Songs/Solomon even before the characters get married. They’re still haggling about the dowry in Song of Songs/Solomon 8:12.

4:7 This is how God sees the church (Colossians 1:22).

4:9 “my sister” reflects a term of endearment, not incest.

4:11 Kissing is a greeting in the cultures in the Bible.

4:12 He is confident of her fidelity.

4:16 “Blow on my garden…come into…and taste its choice fruits” At what point do double entendres become single entendres?

5:1 Again, “sister” translates a term of endearment rather than indicating incest.

5:2 If “open to me” seems like a double entendre, it is.

5:3 There went the clothes…

5:4 Another double entendre.

5:5 Ladies, she just got out of bed naked with her fingers dripping. Self-pleasure is fine in the Bible, as we discussed at length in the Leviticus 15 notes.

5:6 “opened” Another double entendre.

5:7 After dressing again, she got stripped again wandering around outside her home. This incident demonstrates her reckless love for Solomon.

6:6 Still no missing teeth (Song 4:2).

6:8 Only 140 wives/concubines, so this is still early in his reign.

6:13 Leviticus 18 was silent on lesbianism, and I imagine some of the women got bored in big harems waiting for their turn in the rotation. The dance phrase (depending on which translation you’re reading) is still discussed; it could be a dance between two armies, or two lines of dancers, or a “camp dancer” known to entertain soldiers and shepherds analogous in role to a modern stripper. God has a few clear expectations, and we have much cultural baggage. See Matthew 21:31.

7:1 He describes her from the floor up.

7:2 The “navel” that is somehow described before the waist (described with a mound of wheat, no less) can also be translated as “vulva”. Do people think Solomon was talking about tasty bellybutton juice? A lot of guys could be treating their wives a lot better than they do.

7:7-8 Solomon said “I said” in the past that “I will” take hold of the fruit, which means he is presently fondling her breasts.

7:12 She said “I will give you my love” aka “the business” al fresco in the future after the dowry talk wraps up.

7:13 Mandrakes were considered aphrodisiacs.

8:1 Kissing is a greeting in the cultures in the Bible, and public displays of affection among family were not criticized. Basically, she wanted Solomon badly enough to want an excuse (poetic incest, no less) to make out with him right there.

8:2-3 More references to oral stimulation.

8:8 Marriage happened shortly after puberty; see Ezekiel 16:7-8. For those who insist this poem is entirely allegorical about Christ and the Church, what do you make of this verse?

8:9 They consider themselves the defenders of their sister’s virtue against her own potential promiscuity.

8:12 Here’s the dowry. Marriage follows.

Genesis introduces us to God. Genesis explains how humanity fell and how God’s people came to be chosen. We needed that to understand the Law of Moses. We needed that to understand their history. We needed that to understand the relationship with God depicted in Psalms. The poetry of Psalms and the Song let us get used to figurative language. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes further allow us insight into the Hebrew mindset and worldview. The Song is placed here right before the prophets to show us a functional relationship so we understand the whoredom of Israel and Judah stepping out on God. All of the above is needed to comprehend the Prophets. We need to understand the Prophets to understand Jesus and what He means for us (in the Gospels and the Epistles). Revelation needs all prior references to make sense. We now begin with the Major Prophets (those with longer books). Some overall themes: Many prophets delivered the same messages (albeit in different ways) to no avail. The things they harped on were in the Law the whole time along with the promised punishments. Many of the things they predicted, apart from dooms God relented from, can be seen in the books of Kings and Chronicles as well as in the history articles in your encyclopedia of choice. With all of those prophecies being fulfilled, they should have had their eyes peeled for Jesus, as there were many hints about Him as well.

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