Holman Old Testament Commentary Volume 14 - Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs

David Moore, Dr. Daniel L. Akin, Max Anders

• Publisher: Holman Reference
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9780805494822
• eBook ISBN: 9781433674235
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

One in a series of twenty Old Testament verse-by-verse commentary books edited by Max Anders. Includes discussion starters, teaching plan, and more. Great for lay teachers and pastors alike.

Introduction to

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Song of Songs

Although often called the Song of Solomon, the Hebrew title for the book is “Song of Songs.” This is how the Hebrew language says “The Best Song.” The book portrays the deep, genuine love between a man and a woman in marriage. The subject of the book is quite obviously sexual in nature. The intimacy and physical pleasure God intended for a man and a woman is tastefully and appealingly put on full display before us (cf. Gen. 2:15-25).

The book is a love song that clearly celebrates the joys of physical, intimate love within marriage. One of the book's distinctive messages is that sex is God's gift, his good gift, and that it should be enjoyed. The Song boldly proclaims the value and beauty of love and devotion between a man and a woman. The Song uses highly figurative and poetic language; it is easy to see its intent of exalting human love. The lovers' words portray a beautiful relationship expressed in the complete giving of themselves to each other in the marriage relationship.

Within the Song, the term lover refers to the man or groom and the term darling refers to the woman or bride. The desire of the darling for her lover is sung sweetly and beautifully. Likewise, the lover has strong feelings for his darling. This is no casual affair or brief infatuation. There is a genuine heartfelt love for each other. Separation is difficult to endure. The deepest expressions of pain and sorrow in the Song are evoked by separation. But here, separation does not end love. The message of the book is that sexual attraction is inseparably linked to the devotion of true love. The book is a scriptural song that exalts human love. Here, a sensual relationship between lifelong partners in marriage is depicted in a very positive manner. Moreover, this relationship is a marvelous and gracious gift from God.

The Song of Songs has a message that all married couples need to hear. It also has a helpful word for those anticipating marriage. The beauty of its language and thought elevate the sexual and physical relationship to a much higher level than the world does. Sexual feelings are accepted and affirmed. They are a part of God's plan for his people. In a very sensitive and winsome manner, the writer records for us several beautiful love poems that provide guidance for developing a marriage that is glorifying to God and satisfying for a man and a woman.

AUTHORSHIP

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The title of the book reads “Solomon's Song of Songs” (literally, “The Song of Songs, which is to Solomon”). The meaning of this phrase can be a song by Solomon, a song for Solomon, or a song about Solomon. Traditionally, the Song was ascribed to Solomon, but the biblical text does not demand that conclusion. Solomon is referred to seven times in the book by name (1:1,5; 3:7,9,11; 8:11-12), and he is also spoken of as the king five times (1:4,12; 3:9,11; 7:5). There can be little doubt the song is about Solomon and his “darling.” But this Song describes a quality of relationship with one woman that seems inconceivable for a man who had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 Kgs. 11:1-3), or in one who could not find one woman among a thousand (Eccl. 7:27). It may be that the book presents the one true love of Solomon's life, perhaps his first wife, or it may be an ideal presentation of love to which Solomon aspired.

If Solomon is the author of the book—and there is no compelling reason to reject the traditional view—he may have written it (1) early in life as a young man soon after he was married and before committing the sin of polygamy or (2) at the end of his life as he reflected on the ideal that God intended (and he missed). The language and style of the Song reflect the work of a single author. Indeed, the book reveals a marvelous unity and “a well-conceived layout designed both to achieve esthetic beauty and to reinforce some of the author's main themes” (Dorsey, 199).

DATE

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Accepting Solomonic authorship, the book most likely would have been written sometime during his reign as king. This would be between 971 and 931 B.C. The mention of the ancient Canaanite city Tirzah along with Jerusalem in 6:4 would support dating the book in the tenth century. Tirzah served as the capital of the Northern Kingdom for approximately fifty years after the Southern and Northern Kingdoms split following Solomon's death. It was destroyed in the ninth century. Comparing Tirzah's beauty to that of Jerusalem fits well in the time of Solomon, but it does not seem appropriate after his death and the division and rivalry that followed (Carr, 146-47).

HISTORY OF INTERPRETATION

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This book is certainly one of the more difficult books to interpret in all of the Bible. Judaism itself debated why the book should be included in the canon (cf. Mishnah Yadaim 3:5). The Jews allegorized the book as a picture of the love between the Lord and Israel. The church allegorized it as a story of the relationship between Christ and his church or Christ and the believer. Following this approach, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) delivered eighty-six sermons on the book and only reached the end of the second chapter before his death!

Some interpreters have seen in the Song the attempt by Solomon to seduce the young country girl away from her shepherd lover. Others have argued it is the marriage between Solomon and the daughter of Pharaoh. Delitzsch sees a relationship between Solomon and Shulammite in which she wins his heart away from polygamy to the highest level of conjugal love and from there to a picture of God's love for his people. Thus the book has been interpreted allegorically and typologically.

Song of Songs has been viewed as a collection of Syrian wedding songs, a collection of pagan fertility cult liturgies, an anthology of disconnected love songs, or even a drama. But it is best to interpret the book literally or naturally. There is no compelling reason not to do so, and such a reading grows naturally out of Genesis 1-2.

Further, the book involves two persons (Solomon and Shulammite), not three (Solomon, Shulammite, and the shepherd-lover). Solomon is the shepherd-lover, and Shulammite is his darling. The book narrates their courtship, wedding, and growth in marriage. The Song is a lyric poem, which demonstrates both unity and logical progression. It extols love, marriage, and physical pleasure within that covenant relationship.

The book emphasizes the supremacy of love in human relationships, especially that of husband-wife (analogous to that between God and believer). It draws attention to the beauty and purpose of physical/sexual enjoyment between a husband and wife in celebration of God-given oneness. This kind of love cannot be experienced apart from an equally passionate spiritual intimacy. The book is in the form of a dialogue, though monologue is prominent as well. This Song, indeed, is a literary masterpiece. It remains, “the Best of Songs.”

THE SONG'S PLACE IN THE CANON

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In the English Bible, the Song of Songs is located among the five books of Old Testament poetry: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. In Hebrew Bibles the Song of Songs was grouped in a different set of five made up of The Song, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. The Jews refer to these five books as the five “Megilloth,” the five small scrolls. Each was (and still is by practicing Jews) read at a different major festival celebrated in Judaism. The Song of Songs was read at Passover, Ruth at the Feast of Weeks, Lamentations at the ninth of Ab, Ecclesiastes at the Feast of Tabernac...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Editorial Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Old Testament Commentary Contributors
• New Testament Commentary Contributors
• Introduction to Ecclesiastes
• Introduction to Song of Songs
• Glossary
• Bibliography