The Song of Solomon, Chapter by Chapter

We want to take you through the Song of Solomon chapter by chapter. If you have read our study on Ecclesiastes you know it showed us that life under the sun without God is empty. The Song of Solomon shows us something God made that is good. The love between a husband and a wife. We will tell you what each chapter is about and how it fits into the message of the book. And how it points us to the one God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.

Some people are surprised this book is in the Bible. It does not mention the law or the temple or sacrifices. It is a love song. A man and a woman longing for each other. Getting married. Struggling. Coming back together. But God put it in his word for a reason. God made marriage. He made love between a man and his wife. And he wants us to know that it is good and holy. The Song also gives us a picture of something greater. The love of Christ for his bride the church.

There are three things we want you to take away from this study. The Song of Solomon is about love in marriage as God designed it. It is about waiting for love until the right time. “Stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please” (2:7). And it points us to Jesus Christ. The Bridegroom who loves his bride with a love that is “strong as death” (8:6). We will explain these points as we go through the book. But we want you to keep them in mind as we begin.

“The song of songs, which is Solomon’s” (1:1). Song of songs is the Hebrew way of saying the best song. Like holy of holies. We saw in our 1 Kings study that Solomon wrote 1005 songs (1 Kings 4:32). This is the best of them.¹ The book is also called Canticles. The Jews read it every year at Passover.²

People have read this book in different ways.³ Some read it only as a love poem about a man and a woman. Many Jewish teachers read it as a picture of God’s love for Israel. Many Christians read it as a picture of Christ’s love for the church. We believe it is first a real love song about marriage. And that marriage itself is a picture of Christ and the church. Paul said that about marriage. “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32). So we will read it both ways. What it says about marriage. And what it shows us about Christ.

There are three voices in the Song. The bride. The groom. And the daughters of Jerusalem who speak like a choir.⁴ The KJV does not mark who is talking. But in Hebrew the words show whether a man or a woman is speaking. We will tell you who is speaking as we go. One line is repeated 3 times. “I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem … that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please” (2:7; 3:5; 8:4). Do not wake up love before its time. That helps us break the book up. We will follow it like this. Longing and love (1). Rise up, my love (2). Searching and the wedding (3). The wedding (4:1–5:1). Lost and found (5:2–6:13). Love grows (7:1–8:4). And love is strong as death (8:5–14). Just like in our other studies we will be using the KJV for our scripture quotations. And we will let you know where you can find the work of the scholars we reference.

Song of Solomon 1: Thy Name Is as Ointment

The bride speaks first. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine” (v.2). She wants him. And she says why. “Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee” (v.3). His name is like perfume poured out. It fills the room. Notice it is his name she loves. Paul says God has given Jesus “a name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9). And Peter says there is “none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “Draw me, we will run after thee” (v.4). He draws her. Then she runs. Jesus said “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

Then she worries about how she looks. “I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem” (v.5). She had been working outside in the sun. “Mine own vineyard have I not kept” (v.6). She was busy taking care of everyone else and did not take care of herself. She feels unworthy. But he does not see her that way. He says “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes” (v.15). He sees her as beautiful. That is how Christ sees his church. Not because we are perfect. Because of his love.

Notice also that she calls him a shepherd. “Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon” (v.7). Whom my soul loveth. We will hear that phrase again. The king is also a shepherd. We saw in our Psalms study that the LORD is my shepherd. And Jesus said “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11).

Song of Solomon 2: His Banner Over Me Was Love

“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys” (v.1). Many people sing this about Jesus. But in the Song it is the bride talking about herself.⁵ She is saying I am just a common flower. Sharon was a plain where many wild flowers grew. He answers “As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters” (v.2). To him she stands out from everyone.

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love” (v.4). A banner showed who you belonged to. Everyone could see that she was his. And that he loved her. “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me” (v.6). Then the first time we hear the warning. “I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem … that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please” (v.7). Love is powerful. Do not wake it up before the right time. Wait for marriage. That is God’s way. And it protects the heart.

Then he comes to her. “The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains” (v.8). He calls her.

The winter is over. It is spring. Come away with me. Jesus calls his bride the same way. One day he will come for her. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout … and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). Rise up and come away.

“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines” (v.15). Little foxes ruin a vineyard. Little problems ruin a marriage if you do not deal with them. Little sins ruin a walk with God. Then she says “My beloved is mine, and I am his” (v.16). Keep that line in mind. It will change as the book goes on.

Song of Solomon 3: Whom My Soul Loveth

“By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not” (v.1). She could not sleep. She went out into the city at night to find him. She asked the watchmen. “Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?” (v.3). Then she found him. “I held him, and would not let him go” (v.4). This is the longing of a bride before the wedding. It is also a picture of a soul seeking God. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Then the warning again. Do not stir up love until the time (v.5).

Then the wedding day comes. “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense” (v.6). It is Solomon coming in his royal carriage. 60 mighty men around him (v.7). His chariot made of cedar and silver and gold and purple (vv.9–10). “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart” (v.11). The king is coming for his bride. Revelation tells us about another wedding. “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Revelation 19:7).

Song of Solomon 4: There Is No Spot in Thee

The groom tells his bride how beautiful she is. “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair” (v.1). He describes her eyes and her hair and her teeth and her lips. He uses pictures from the land. Doves. Goats on a mountain. Sheep coming up from the washing. A piece of a pomegranate. A tower. It sounds strange to us. But in their day it was beautiful poetry. Then he says this.

No spot. That is how love sees. And that is what Christ is doing for his church. Paul says Christ loved the church and gave himself for it “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). He makes her without spot.

“Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes” (v.9). Sister was a word of closeness. Spouse means bride. Then he says “A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed” (v.12). She kept herself for him. A locked garden. A sealed fountain. She was pure. She saved herself for her husband. That is what God wants for his people. In marriage and in our walk with him. Paul said “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2).

Then she invites him. “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south … Let my beloved come into his garden” (v.16). The garden that was locked is now opened. To her husband alone. At the right time. And he says “I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse” (5:1). Then a voice says “Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved” (5:1). The marriage is blessed. We will not go into the details here. The Song speaks of it with pictures. But it is clear that God blesses love in marriage. “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled” (Hebrews 13:4).

Song of Solomon 5: Open to Me

After the wedding there is trouble. “I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled” (v.2). He came to her door at night. But she did not want to get up. “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” (v.3). She made excuses. By the time she got up and opened the door “my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone” (v.6). “I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” Then the watchmen found her and hurt her (v.7).

Every marriage has moments like this. When one is close and the other is not ready. But notice the picture. Jesus said to a lukewarm church “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Do not make him wait. When he knocks open the door.

The daughters of Jerusalem ask her what is so special about him. “What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women?” (v.9). And she tells them.

She describes him from head to feet (vv.10–15). Then she sums it up. “He is altogether lovely.” Everything about him. The chiefest among ten thousand. When she thought she lost him she loved him more. When we drift from God and come back we find out how lovely he is. Notice she says “This is my beloved, and this is my friend.” He was not just her husband. He was her friend. Jesus said “I have called you friends” (John 15:15).

Song of Solomon 6: My Dove Is but One

The daughters ask where he went. “Whither is thy beloved gone?” (v.1). They want to seek him with her. She knows where he is. “My beloved is gone down into his garden” (v.2). Then she says “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” (v.3). Notice the change from chapter 2. There she said “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” She put herself first. Now she puts him first. I am his. She is growing.

The groom forgives her and praises her again. He says she is “terrible as an army with banners” (v.4). Then he says “My dove, my undefiled is but one” (v.9). There were queens and concubines and virgins without number (v.8). But to him there was only one. One bride. Paul says “There is one body, and one Spirit … One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:4–5). Christ has one bride. Then the chapter ends “Return, return, O Shulamite” (v.13). Shulamite may be a feminine form of the name Solomon.⁶ Solomon and Shulamite. Many see his name in hers.

Song of Solomon 7: His Desire Is Toward Me

The groom praises his bride again. From her feet to her head this time. “How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!” (v.6). The love is deeper now. Then she says this.

Look at how her words changed. Chapter 2. “My beloved is mine, and I am his” (2:16). Chapter 6. “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” (6:3). Chapter 7. “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” She does not even say he is mine anymore. She is resting in his love for her. She went from having him to belonging to him. That is how love grows. And that is how we grow in Christ. At first we think about what we get from him. Then we learn that we belong to him.

There is something else.⁷ When Adam and Eve sinned God told Eve “thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Genesis 3:16). Sin broke love. It turned it into a struggle. But here the bride says “his desire is toward me.” Love as God first made it. Not ruling. Giving. Christ came to restore what sin broke. Then she says “Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field” (v.11). She invites him now. They go together.

Song of Solomon 8:1–4: The Last Charge

She wishes she could show her love in public without anyone looking down on her (8:1). She wants to bring him to her mother’s house (8:2). Then the last time we hear the warning. “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please” (8:4). Even after everything she has been through she tells the young women the same thing. Wait. Love is worth waiting for.

Song of Solomon 8:5–7: Set Me as a Seal

“Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” (8:5). In chapter 3 it was Solomon who came up out of the wilderness. Now the bride comes up. Leaning on him. That is how the church comes through this world. Leaning on her beloved. Then the bride says the most famous words in the book.

A seal was like a signature. It showed who something belonged to. Set me on your heart and your arm. Love is as strong as death. Nothing can stop death. And nothing can stop real love. “A most vehement flame.” In Hebrew this may be the only place in the Song where the name of God appears.⁸ It can be read as “the flame of Yah.” The flame of the LORD. True love comes from God. John tells us “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Many waters cannot put it out. And you cannot buy it. Not with everything you own.

Love that is stronger than death. That is the love of Christ. He went into death for his bride. And death could not hold him. Paul asked “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” And then he answered. “Neither death, nor life … nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 38–39). Many waters cannot quench it.

Song of Solomon 8:8–14: Make Haste, My Beloved

Then the brothers talk about their little sister. “If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar” (v.9). If she keeps herself pure like a wall they will honor her. If she is like a door that opens to anyone they will protect her. The bride says “I am a wall” (v.10). She kept herself. “Then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.” Then a short word about Solomon’s vineyard (vv.11–12). And the book ends with the groom asking to hear her voice. And the bride answering.

Come quickly. The book ends with the bride calling for her beloved to come. The whole Bible ends the same way. “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). The bride is still waiting. And still calling him to come.

We have gone through the Song of Solomon chapter by chapter. Here is what we can conclude. First the Song is about love in marriage as God designed it. God made it. It is good. It is to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife. The Song is honest about longing and about trouble. And it shows love growing from “my beloved is mine” to “I am my beloved’s.” In a world that has twisted love the Song reminds us what it is supposed to be.

Second the Song is about waiting. Three times the bride tells the young women “stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please” (2:7; 3:5; 8:4). She was “a garden inclosed” (4:12). She was “a wall” (8:10). She kept herself for her husband. God’s way is to wait for love until marriage. That is not because love is bad. It is because love is so powerful.

Third the Song points us to the one God and to Jesus Christ. All through the Old Testament the LORD calls himself the husband of his people. “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name” (Isaiah 54:5). “As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee” (Isaiah 62:5). In the New Testament Jesus is the Bridegroom (Mark 2:19; John 3:29). The church is his bride (Revelation 21:9). There are not two husbands. The LORD who said he was Israel’s husband is the one who came as the Bridegroom.⁹ One God. One Bridegroom. One bride. “My dove, my undefiled is but one” (6:9).

Paul said marriage is a great mystery about Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32).¹⁰ Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. To make her without spot. His love is “strong as death.” And “many waters cannot quench” it (8:6–7). The Song ends with the bride saying make haste, my beloved. The Bible ends with the bride saying “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” The books of poetry end here. The next books are the prophets. And the first of them saw the Lord high and lifted up. That is where Isaiah begins.