Who

King Solomon to the nation of Israel (perhaps also to the world, but not as likely).

Where & When

Solomon probably composed this “song” or “poem” perhaps in the middle of his life or closer to the end of his life (i.e. the book seems to attest to the fact that he has between 60 queens and 80 concubines at the time of the book’s composition; Song 6:8–9), but before Ecclesiastes. The date for the book may be between 940 BC and 931 BC. Solomon was uniquely poised in his life as the “potential” (not actual) Messiah-king to usher in the Kingdom of God and invite all the world to exclusive worship of Yahweh alone. In this way, Solomon has an opportunity to lead Israel (and the world) back to the paradise of the Garden of Eden. The ultimate blessing of Eden, besides a perfect relationship between God and man, was a perfect, monogamous relationship between man and his wife. Song of Songs features an attempt at this exclusive, pure, and perfect marriage. Sadly, the book features the Shulamith woman making more efforts at the relationship than Solomon, and the song ends on a cliff-hanger without a response from Solomon. Though this book is filled with the beauty of what this relationship could be, it is mingled with uncertainty and the implication that this was not going to work in Solomon’s day. Rather, this kind of marriage relationship will only be restored by the true Messiah when He ushers in the Millennial Kingdom and restores marriages to the purer form that they were intended to be.

Why

To portray the beauty and perfection that marriage was supposed to evoke before the Fall of sin in the Garden of Eden, to encourage Israel to live to this standard of exclusive marital union with one spouse, and to imply Solomon’s effort, but failure to accomplish it and usher in the Kingdom of God.

How

Be paying attention to these important terms that occur in this book:

  • Love
  • Beloved
  • Dearest Friend (or Girlfriend)
  • Garden
  • Desire
  • Delight

The book is also saturated with poetic terminology, such as rhyming, parallelism, symbolism, metaphor, simile, puns, etc. There are also numerous and vivid descriptions of nature with at least 22 different plants and 15 animals mentioned.

Literary Outline

The book is not only chiastic; it contains chiasms within the book’s larger chiasm. It is arguably the greatest literary piece in the Bible. As Rabbi Akiva once put it in the Mishnah, “The whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel. All the writings are holy, and the Song of Songs is the holy of holies.”

  • Song 1:1 – 2:7 Declarations of Mutual Love and Desire before the Wedding
    • Song 2:8–17 Invitation to the Countryside before the Wedding
      • Song 3:1–5 Nighttime Dream-Search before the Wedding
        • Song 3:6 – 5:1 Wedding and Wedding Night
      • Song 5:2 – 7:10 Nighttime Dream-Search after the Wedding
    • Song 7:11 – 8:4 Invitation to the Countryside after the Wedding
  • Song 8:5–14 Declarations of Mutual Love and Desire after the Wedding