I would like to start off by saying that I have never done anything like this before. This book deals with intimate relationships; I have never been in an intimate dating/marriage relationship before. I have no formal training in reading let alone leading a discussion about the bible. That being said, let’s do this thing!
The Song Of Solomon Chapter 1
The Song of Songs, which is Solomons. The Bride Confesses Her Love2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his
mouth!
For your love is better then wine;
3 Your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
4 Drew me after you; Let us run.
The king has brought me into his
chambers.
OthersWe will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than
wine;
rightly do they love you.
She5 I am very dark but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kadar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard I have not kept!
7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you pasture your flock,
where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils
herself
beside the flocks of you companions?
I’m going to stop here because I think the way the book opens is amazing! It sets up what is to come, a poem of undying love. If we look at verse 2 we see that physical touch is a longing desire of the hart. I believe that is was not something that was executable in that time to have any physical “connection” before marriage. The Bride is longing for a relation ship with the man that is more then looks and words there is something else that she is longing for. As we continue we see that she dose not actually want to “kiss” him she merely is saying that he is all that she wants to “kiss”, she is in essence saying that she is devoted to him.
As we read verses 3-4 we see that the Bride is doting upon Solomon, she is affirming him in his purity. She is also calling upon him to call after her, for the to “run”. I would compare this to the jitters that one has on there wedding day. The Bride and Groom want nothing more then to be married but at the same time want nothing more then to stand at the alter and be wed. The part of the others I would read as people affirming what the Bride is saying. They are saying, “rightly do they love you” you are what she is saying you are. It’s like getting an approval from your friend for your relationship with your boyfriend/girlfriend; they are in a sense rejoicing with the Bride.
Verses 5-7 I think is a sort of confession. “I am very dark, but lovely” This is the Bride saying I am not perfect but I can act as though I am. I am not without blemish, “My mothers son’s were angry with me they made me keeper of the vineyards”. I would read this as a form of “character building” as my Dad would say. They do not want for the Bride to become proud of “beautiful”. Not that being beautiful is bad but to be beautiful is to be a statue for people to gaze at. She was then sent to the Vineyard to work, to “get her hands dirty” if you will. Almost as if to say that she has learned that there is more to life then be beautiful. This summer while in Bulgaria I saw many vineyards and they are beautiful but they need much tending and work to keep them up. They have to be pruned; the soil needs to be cared for. It is a job that takes many men many long hours. There are many aspects of tending to gardens that I don’t know about. I am not a gardener but I do know that it takes a lot of work to keep a garden let alone a fragile vineyard.
She then proceeds to ask where Solomon keeps his flock asking, “Why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of you companions?” Why would she ask this? I think it is saying that she dose not want to sit by while Solomon is out tending the flock. She dose not wan to hid behind a veil and watch. She wants to be a part of his life. Be it sitting in the field tending the flock or among company of companions she longs to be part of his life. She dose not want to become a figure or statue. A “Desperate house wife” if you will, someone that is there but has no clue what is going on in the life of her husband. I think this explicitly shows the inner longing of every married woman. To be at perfect union with her spouse, I think this is a beautiful picture that is painted here and in the beginning. When Adam and Eve were in the garden before the fall. They became one flesh they had perfect union with one another. This is something that I cannot further elaborate on. I am not a woman nor am I married. So I will end with this. This is only the intro of what is one of the most explicitly beautiful poems I have ever read. It is the most pure description of love I have ever seen. I paints an amazing image of what marriage is to be.
Earlier I mentioned physical “connection”. All I meant by that was that there is this assumed “connection” that happens when you meet your “true love”. I am not saying that true love dose not exist, all I meant is that our culture puts too much emphasis on physical attraction/connections. Sex is not a sacred thing that is to be kept for the beautiful union of a husband and wife. It has been degraded to a means of telling if you like someone. But that is for another time.
