WWUTT 1759 Introduction to Song of Songs (Song of Songs 1:1)

Introduction to Song of Songs and Why It Matters for Everyone

The Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon. What do you know about it? Well, you probably know it's a very intimate book. It's also one of the most debated over books in the entire Bible. But it doesn't have to be that complicated.

When We Understand the Text.

This is When We Understand the Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. Yes, being Thursday, we're doing our Old Testament study, and we just finished up Ecclesiastes. So what do we have left in the order? Today we begin a study in the last of the wisdom books, Song of Songs.

Notice I called it Song of Songs, not Song of Solomon. I'll explain why here in just a moment. But first, a disclaimer. Let me get the obvious out of the way. You know that this is a very intimate book.

We are talking about a man and a woman here who desire one another. They get married, and then they consummate that marriage. And so their desire, and even that consummation, is described in Song of Songs, using very poetic language.

But as I'm going to be doing exposition here and explaining what these metaphors mean, then this is going to be a rather mature subject matter. You may not want to have your little children in the room or listening to this program before you listen to it first.

Now I'm going to be very tasteful in the way that I handle this subject matter. It's not going to be full of a lot of crass jokes and sexual innuendo. Some preachers teach Song of Songs that way. And I think they do it that way because they're uncomfortable with what it is they're reading and expositing here.

But sex is a gift that God has given to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife. And the couple in this story, in this poem, they're very careful with the way that they talk about these things and even in the ways that they deal with each other.

The woman says on a couple of occasions, do not awaken love until the proper time. And the way that you read the man, describe his woman, even her body. He's very careful, very gentle in the way that he approaches even this description of her.

So because these things are handled very delicately, we're going to do the same as we go through Song of Songs together. Now let me add one other disclaimer before we continue. This is not just for married couples.

Because as we start Song of Songs, we have the man and the woman who are not married to one another. They desire one another. In fact, what you're going to see over the course of these eight chapters is they're kind of constantly back and forth looking for each other.

She goes looking for him. He goes looking for her. And even when we get to the very end, that's the way the poem ends at the end of chapter eight with him and her looking for one another. They go running off together, looking for each other again.

And so even after we get married, still longing for one another, still searching for each other and never able to come to the end of knowing one another like there. You know, those of you who have been married for a long time, I'm sure you can say there are things that you still discover about your spouse every day.

So the poem kind of has that nature to it as well. But we begin with a man and a woman who are not married. So this is even for singles that you could listen to this and glean something from it. Now, let's say you're a single person.

You don't think you will ever get married. Well, I would still say to you, there there is something in this for you as well. At the end of the book in chapter eight, let me go ahead and turn there. Now I'm reading from the Legacy Standard Version, by the way, I'm going to stick with the LSB in chapter eight, verse eight.

There is there's a statement here that's made by what we would basically consider to be the wedding party or the others, how they're somehow described these persons who are accompanying the woman and keeping her chaste until the proper time.

So in verse eight, it says, we have a little sister and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? OK, so you're talking about a girl who's not yet ready to be married, hence the description of her not having breasts.

So in verse nine, if she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver. But if she is a door, we will barricade her with planks of cedar. What's being described there? So if it is not intended for her to get married, then we are going to make her a battlement of silver.

We're going to keep her chaste. We're going to keep her pure so that no one can breach her walls. That's the description there. But if she is a door, if it is intended for her to be married, then we will barricade her with planks of cedar, not allowing her door to be opened until the right time, not allowing love to be awakened until it is meant to be.

And again, that's a continuing theme. We'll see come up over the course of Song of Songs. So because we have that statement there in chapter eight, that's why I say to you, even if you are a single, even if you don't think you'll ever get married, don't just tune out this study.

There is still something for you to hear in this. Also, it's the word of God. So it's applicable to everyone, whether you are young and anticipating getting married, whether you've been married a long time or whether you never will get married.

This is a book for everyone because it is the word of God. The Lord's name does come up in this book. It's not until chapter eight, but it is the covenant name of God, meaning this is the name that Israel knows him by and calls upon the name of the Lord.

They call him Yahweh. This is the people that God is in covenant with. And so as this man and this woman, this shepherd and this shepherdess, as we'll come to know them as they desire to enter into a covenant with one another, because that's what marriage is.

It is a covenant union. So they give honor to the one who gives the covenants, the one who is over the covenants, the one who is given love and even this wonderful gift of marriage as a picture of the way that Christ loves his church.

So this is in song of songs written ultimately in honor of the Lord. For that reason, since this is the word of the Lord, this is something for everybody to read and understand and come to enjoy and appreciate.

After all, in Hebrews 13, for it says marriage is to be held in honor among all, not just those who are married, but marriage is to be held in honor among all. And the marriage bed is to be undefiled for the sexually immoral and the adulterers.

God will judge. So even those who are not married need to respect the marriage bed for what God intended it to be. And that was to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife in the covenant of marriage. And we see that here in the song of songs, the intimacy and the love that is described for us in very poetic language is spoken in the fear of God, in obedience to his commands and in honor of Yahweh who loves us.

Reading Song of Songs 1:1 and the Voices in the Poem

Now the rest of the study today, I'm going to dedicate to just doing an introduction to the song of songs. We're really not going to get to our exposition until next week, but let me start out here by reading chapter one and then we'll pull back and I'll talk to you about the title of this book, why I've chosen song of songs rather than song of Solomon.

We'll talk about the major characters, the themes, and a basic outline of this book as well. So let's begin here with chapter one, verse one, the song of songs, which is Solomon's. May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for your love is better than wine.

Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is like purified oil, therefore the maidens love you. Draw me after you and let us run together. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will rejoice in you and be glad.

We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you. I am black, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not look at me because I am swarthy, for the sun has burned me.

My mother's sons were angry with me. They made me caretaker of the vineyards, but I have not taken care of my own vineyard. Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where do you shepherd your flock? Where do you make it lie down at noon?

For why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions? If you yourself do not know most beautiful among women, go forth on the trail of the flock and pasture your young goats by the dwellings of the shepherds.

To a mare of mine among the chariots of Pharaoh I compare you, O my darling. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of beads. We will make for you ornaments of gold with beads of silver.

While the king was at his banqueting table, my perfume gave forth its fragrance. My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh, which lies all night between my breasts. My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Engedi.

Behold, you are beautiful, my darling, behold, you are beautiful, your eyes are like doves. Behold, you are handsome, my beloved, indeed so pleasant, indeed our couch is luxuriant. The beams of our houses are cedars, our rafters cypresses.

I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys. Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the daughters. Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the suns. In his shade I had great desire and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

He has brought me to his house of banqueting, and his banner over me is love. Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, because I am lovesick. Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me.

I call you to solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you do not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases. And that has been through chapter 2, verse 7.

That was as far as I read there. Now, we heard several different voices over the course of that. We heard her voice, we heard his voice, and then we heard the voices of the others. This unnamed company that appears to be between them.

And this company, as spoken about there in that last section that we read, verse 7. I call to you solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you do not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases.

And that very well may be the voice of the shepherd saying to the maidens, keep this woman chaste. She has a desire for this man. He has a desire for her, but they're not to consummate this desire for one another until the time is right, until they're married.

So you'll see the desire described in very sexual ways, in fact, but this is not sinful because they don't cross the line to sex until the right time, until they are married. Of course a man and a woman are going to have sexual desire for one another, even before they are married.

We probably wouldn't get married if we didn't have that. So the desire itself is not sinful if it is kept in check, if it is controlled. You have control over that. You're not losing control and burning with passion for one another.

But it just intensifies the desire for each other and that longing for the marriage bed, which this couple waits for. They are pure. They keep one another pure. And even the shepherd says to the company with the woman, make sure she stays pure until the right time.

Who Wrote Song of Songs and Why the Title Matters

And so let's come back to the very beginning here and talk about even the author of this book. Who authored the book? I'm going to say to you, we don't know. I strongly disagree with the author of this book being Solomon.

I do not think it was Solomon, and a number of scholars would agree with me. In fact, if you go to the English Standard Version Study Bible, it says there, and they provide arguments at the very beginning of the book, for why this couldn't be Solomon.

It is very unlikely, considering the man had 700 wives, so that he would describe this intimacy between himself and another woman in a way that would actually be honoring of God if he had 700 wives. That seems highly unlikely.

And the beginning of the book, the very first phrase, does not say to us that Solomon is the author. In fact, it could be interpreted that this poem was written and gifted to Solomon or written in his honor, but it is not written by his hand.

Look at the first verse again. Song of Songs, 1 -1. The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's, meaning that it could have just been given to Solomon, or it was written in his honor. Now, how about this statement, Song of Songs?

What does that mean? Well, it is as though to say that this is the greatest song that was ever written. It's a Hebrew idiom. The Jews would commonly say things like this. In fact, you've heard Paul say that he was the chief of sinners, right?

In 1 Timothy 1 -15, he says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. And he says that several times over the course of his letters, that he is like the chief of sinners.

Well, it is to say that I am the sinner of sinners. I am the greatest of sinners, but it's an idiom. He's not really saying that he's the worst sinner who had ever lived. So, just the same here in the very beginning, we have this expression of this being the Song of Songs.

It is the greatest of songs, but that might be hyperbole. It could also be to say that this wonderful experience, this intimacy that is shared between a husband and a wife, this is such a unique experience and a wonderful, blissful experience.

Sex is very good. It's the reason why so many people want it so bad. We would not have this problem with sexual immorality in our culture if sex was not enjoyable. So, it is such an incredibly enjoyable experience on this side of heaven that it would even have the greatest song that is written about it.

This is the Song of Songs. And in fact, I would argue that the book itself, Song of Songs, is kind of an expanding upon the very first song that is ever recorded for us in the Bible. Do you know where the very first song is?

Well, surely it's got to be in the book of Genesis, right? It is right after God creates the woman and brings her to the man, and we have the very first song in the Bible. Yahweh fashioned the rib of Adam into a woman, and he brought her to the man.

And Genesis 2 .23 says,. Then the man said, This one finally is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called woman, because this one was taken out of man. And the way that's written there, if you look at it in Genesis 2, you'll see that it's kind of phrased out in your Bible the way that a poem would appear.

This was a song Adam sang when he saw his wife for the very first time. And naked, in fact, because in verse 25 it says, The man and the wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed. He sang when God gifted her to him.

That's the very first song in the Bible. And so with this intimacy in mind between a man and a woman, you have eight chapters now of that song. So not just the single verse that we had in Genesis 2, now we have eight chapters of it in Song of Songs.

So that could be one of the reasons why this song is described in just that way. But I want to come back again to saying that the author here is not Solomon. And we don't know for sure who it is, but rather that this was a book that was written in Solomon's honor, a poem that was written in his honor.

The Main Characters, Allegorical Readings, and the Book's Outline

Now, the main characters in this story, Solomon is one of those characters, but he never speaks. He doesn't have a speaking role in this book. And the man that speaks in the poem, and we heard from him a couple of times, verse 8 was the man, verse 15 was the man, chapter 2, verse 2, Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the daughters.

That was his voice there as well. But there's no indication for us that that's Solomon. Every time Solomon is spoken about, his name comes up seven times over the course of Song of Songs. But every time his name is spoken, he's like an idealized figure or a distant figure.

He's never like right there in the story. The man and the woman are a shepherd and a shepherdess or a Shulamite woman, which means she would have been from Shunam, which is in the northern part of the kingdom of Israel at the time of Solomon's reign.

Now, when Solomon was reigning, the kingdom was unified. You had the northern and the southern kingdom, which would become divided after Solomon died. But they're all one kingdom under Solomon's reign.

And Shunam was part of the north. So because you have the setting probably being in the north of Israel, it's most likely that this was written during the time of Solomon, and it was written in his honor.

So you have the shepherd, you have the shepherdess, who is a Shulamite woman, and you have Solomon himself as kind of a distant figure. And then you also have this company of others that I mentioned. Verse 11 of chapter 1, we will make for you ornaments of gold with beads of silver.

Wherever you see that pronoun, that collective pronoun, we is the others speaking or those maidens that might be with the bride to keep her pure and to keep her chaste and to keep her thinking wisely about even some of the things that she says and the desire that she expresses.

Now, Song of Songs is one of the most argued over books of the Bible as far as what's going on here. There are all different kinds of interpretations about this book. The most common and the most popular is that Song of Songs is allegorical.

The Jewish tradition would be that this is a description of God's love for Israel and Israel's love for God. Or, now as it applies to the church age, it would be a description of Christ's love for his bride, the church, and the church's love for Christ.

Now, I certainly think that you can make that kind of connection because, after all, it says in Ephesians chapter 5 that marriage is meant to be a picture of the way that Christ loves his church. But what we're reading about here in Song of Songs is very specifically the intimacy between a husband and a wife, a man and a woman who become husband and wife, and being poetry, it's described as being very ideal.

We just came out of Ecclesiastes where Solomon there in Ecclesiastes would mourn over the fact that even wisdom in the world is not perfect wisdom because it's tainted by the fallenness of our world due to man's sin.

But here in Song of Songs, everything is paradise. It's like we've gone right back into the Garden of Eden before sin ruined everything. This man and this woman, the most beautiful thing in the world is each other, and they don't even care what else is going on outside.

They just have this longing for one another. And so it's a very ideal description of the intimacy that they share. We also have that garden motif comes up here in Song of Songs. It's been present throughout the wisdom books.

Like Proverbs, for example, was all about sowing and reaping. If you sow this, you will reap this. You sow good things, you get good. If you sow bad things, you get bad. And so it is the same with our relationships.

If you sow into your marriage good things, then you'll have a great marriage. But if you sow bad things into your marriage, then you'll have a pretty rough relationship. But we see here in Song of Songs, everything is very ideal.

Now, there's even disagreement. We're going to read about disagreement between this man and this woman as we go through this book, but still a very ideal picture of the love that they share with one another.

So anyway, the most common way that this book is read is you have the allegorical view, either between God and Israel or Christ and his church. There's another view that these are just a collection of poems, so there's not really a clear story going on here.

It's just intimate chatter between one another. Maybe it was various love poems that had been compiled together to make one particular book. There's also this view that there are three main characters in this story.

So not just the man and the woman, but there's the man and the woman and Solomon. And Solomon wants the woman, but she wants the shepherd. She actually doesn't even want to go with the king. She has this love and affinity for this shepherd.

But that's probably not the way that we're meant to understand Song of Songs. That's a relatively young view. I think it's only a couple of hundred years old. So it's not consistently the way that Song of Songs has been understood throughout church history.

It also makes it difficult to differentiate between the main shepherd and Solomon. Like, at what point is the shepherd speaking, and at what point is Solomon speaking? So again, I dismiss that view. I don't think that's necessarily the way that we should understand this.

There is a clear storyline here with the shepherd wanting the shepherdess. They go through a courtship period. They get married, and then there's the consummation of their marriage. And then there's even the intimacy that they enjoy with one another as a married couple.

There's disagreement even on that particular view with how, then, you break down the passage, how you outline it. The English Standard Version outlines the book this way. It begins with the lovers yearning for each other.

That's in Chapter 1 through Chapter 2. Then you have the dream of the shepherdess, which actually goes from Chapter 3 to the beginning of Chapter 6. Then you have the lovers yearning for one another again, Chapters 6, 7, and 8.

And then you finally have the marriage at the end of Song of Songs. I don't like that outline because I don't think that we wait until the very end to get married. Then it has that very, like, Disney happily ever after thing, but we don't see the ever after.

I think we do see that. I think you have the longing for one another, the marriage, the consummation, and then even still the searching for one another in marriage, which is the way the book ends. So I think the outline in the MacArthur Study Bible is the better outline.

So it looks like this. At the beginning of Song of Songs, we have a courtship period, which is Chapters 1 through about the beginning of Chapter 3. Then we have the wedding or the cleaving to one another, which is Chapters 3 through 5.

And then we have the marriage itself, which is Chapters 5 through 8. So you'll have the consummation of that marriage. Then there's even a disagreement with one another. There's a restoration. And then there's the growing in grace toward each other, which is what we have in Chapter 8.

So the wedding is not in Chapter 8. It's where we get to see the couple continue to grow in their affection and maturity in this covenant that they have with each other. Now, while I do agree with MacArthur's outline of Song of Songs, I don't agree with him in that he thinks the main guy in this poem is Solomon.

And I don't think that it is. Again, I would make the argument that this is a poor shepherd and a poor shepherdess. And though she looks at him like he would be as great as Solomon, we actually see her kind of make a rejection of Solomon in Chapter 8.

We'll talk about that when we get there. A rejection of Solomon himself. This is the man she wants. And she'll see him as great as Solomon, but not Solomon himself. I think one of the biggest confusions regarding this particular book is the very title of it.

We call it Song of Solomon or Song of Songs. But those are the very first three words, the very first four words that we have in this book is or are the Song of Songs. So that's the title of the book, not Song of Solomon, written in Solomon's honor or gifted to Solomon to be included among his books of wisdom.

But not actually written by or about Solomon himself. So there's our introduction to the book that went way longer than I intended to. I usually don't go quite that long in an introduction to a book. But we're going to stop right there and we're going to come back to our study and actually do our exposition of Song of Songs next week.

Prayer for Purity, Marriage, and Love in Christ

Let's finish with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this rich book. And I pray that we would glean from it some valuable and precious things because you gave it to us. It is your word. This is Holy Spirit inspired.

And so may it guide us in our understanding of intimacy, even our understanding of purity and how we are to care for and love one another and respect each other. Especially when it comes to the covenant of marriage and the wonderful gift of sex that you've given to be enjoyed between a husband and wife within that covenant.

Help us to keep the marriage bed pure and undefiled. And doing all of this in honor of God, our king, in worship unto you. For as it says in Romans 12, 1, we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices unto the Lord.

And so may our presentation of that be even in sexual purity unto Yahweh who gave us this wonderful gift of love. Your love poured into our hearts. May we love one another as you have loved us through your son, Jesus Christ.

It's in his name that we pray.

Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .tt .com.