Introduction – Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon is also known as the Song of songs. It is placed together with the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Collectively, the five books belong to the category of the books of wisdom. Since we have already reflected on four of them, let’s complete our journey by taking some time to reflect on the Song of Songs. It’s opening line, “the Song of Songs which is Solomon’s” seems to attribute the authorship to Solomon. Some Students of the Bible have suggested that it is a song dedicated to Solomon rather than referring to his authorship of the book. Our journey is more of devotion so we shall not spend the time to discuss whether he did or did not write this book. Suffice to say that it’s a book describing the relationship that Solomon had with a Shulamite maiden. 

Solomon succeeded King David, his father, in 970 B.C. as the king of Israel. During his reign, Israel enjoyed a period of unprecedented peace, prosperity, and cultural development. Solomon was touted to be the wisest man to ever live. But among his fame is the infamous fact that he married many wives and had many concubines. However, we need to know that most of his marriages were politically motivated. He married for political alliances.

To understand the Song of Solomon better, we need to consider the background. In one of Solomon’s expeditions to the northern part of his kingdom, he fell in love with a beautiful maiden, a Shulamite maiden. Her brothers then gave her in marriage to Solomon. But what’s intriguing in this account is that this Shulamite maiden already had a lover, a shepherd, back in her country. So, the plot thickens as Solomon struggled to woo her to true love. The Shulamite maiden on her part was determined to remain steadfastly faithful to her beloved shepherd. Here already we are presented with the challenge on the issue of morality at the human level. Thus, without a doubt, in our journey, we need to rely heavily on the Holy Spirit to help us resolve the difficulty. 

This book features more on man’s emotion than the intellect. It is a book that graphically describes sensual love. For this reason, Jews were only allowed to read this book when they have reached a certain age. Solomon had probably learned much about true love from this maiden. Most people will seek to interpret this book allegorically. Some attempt to see it typologically. For our purpose and intent, we shall look at it devotionally. As we meditate on this book we will certainly face many challenges because of the book’s uniqueness. Bear in mind that this is a love poem. Its division is tough to define and the speakers in the dialogues are hard to identify and the structure makes the exegesis of the Song challenging. Praise God we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in our thoughts in this devotional journey. Let us hear what the Spirit of the Lord has to say to us so that we can stay in love with Jesus, the lover of our soul, even from this book.