“How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! … Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon… Your breasts are like two fawns…”
If you’re blushing, you aren’t the only one. I am a self-declared romantic, but studying the Book of Song of Songs is not something I want to do.
But, here’s the thing: The Bible—all 66 books—is one story with a middle, beginning, and end. And that story is about the fall of man from paradise, his redemption, and being brought back to the new and better paradise for all eternity.
So, to say Song of Songs is simply about a human marriage doesn’t fall in line with this Bigger Picture.
Other sources may say differently, that you can indeed improve a human institution of marriage by studying this book. If you’re looking for a study like that, look somewhere else. I’m not going to be touching on that. (No pun intended.)
But in this study I have a different angle…
The falling away of humans from God’s infinite love, human redemption, and being brought back to the new and better relationship with Christ for all eternity.
In other words, I see the Song of Songs as the Bible in a poetic, beautifully visual representation of what the Bible is all about. And that’s what this Bible study is today.
Disclaimer: I am not a scholar and all of these opinions are only from what God has taught me personally from my own study. Please, do not accept these words as true interpretation, but as simply inspiration—although I pray that you may be inspired by the love of your God and Savior as well!
Introduction and Big Picture
In my NIV Bible, some stanzas have different “voices.” Three, specifically. “She, (or Beloved)” “He (or Lover)” and “Friends.” It’s a sort like a skit.
There are three parts to this drama:
First, the wedding, where Lover and Beloved desire each other and get married.
Second, the separation.
Third, the reunion, and final, solid commitment, and life together.
I’ve found two solid themes in this short book: The idea of coming away together and the garden, including the motifs of the fragrance of perfume, the incense of spices, and the choice fruits.
Quartet ready? Are the wedding flowers in place? Then, let’s do this!
Chapter 1-4: The Wedding
The first chapter begins with this absolutely lovely gushing of the Beloved toward her Lover. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is more delightful than wine.” She goes on to say that he is a desirable fragrance, and no wonder all the other young woman adore him. Then she pleads, “Take me away!” (v4), her desire to be with him.
She then asks the Friends where to find him, who everyone adores.
Here, is the irresistible pull of every romance, the hunt to find the “one she loves.” It is the “search” for love that is most tantalizing.
In the romance between humans and their Creator, apparently the draw to find this infinite, eternal, steadfast love is just as thrilling to uncover!
And the Lover is absolutely enamored by the Beloved. He declares, “I liken you, my darling, to a mare… Your cheeks are beautiful…” And even wants to make her even more beautiful with “earrings of gold, studded with silver,” of great worth. He truly loves her!
Like a song, the Beloved and Lover expound on their love for each other. She mentions her perfume (perhaps, as in the love that spirals out from her) and his spice of myrrh and henna blossoms that she keeps close (which, I imagine, have strong aromas). He mentions her beauty… And so on, as new lovers getting to know each other, desiring each other, adoring each other.
Chapter 2 brings up a beautiful analogy, this “lily of the valleys.” This search among the lilies will come up again. The Lover compares his Beloved to a “lily among thorns” (v2). In his eyes, there is no comparison between his Beloved and all other beautiful blossoms! “Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.” Ah, sweet love, when the husband-to-be declares that she is his one-and-only, there is none other like her.
And this is the perfect representation of God’s perfect love for humans. Not the fickle love of humans that fade with the circumstance, God’s love is agape love, never ending, never growing weaker. His love is passionate—but also life-giving.
Love without giving life is merely fuzzy feelings and selfish. God’s love is perfect because He completely upholds the sacred image of His creation and continues to love even when they are disfigured and stray from him.
“For God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)
True love continues to love even when the worst comes. This is God’s love for His creation.
This is the love we start to see in the Lover…
Of course, everything is roses and sunshine here. Of course he and she are happy. Most engaged couples are, the thrill of being together, the hope, the promise… It’s nearly too much to contain!
But we cannot know the depth of the Lover’s love until it is tested…
For now, though, there is complete bliss.
Ah! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if life could always be balmy and sunshine? New and fresh and full of euphoria? Never tired, never worn out. No work to head to, no bills to pay… When there is only the Lover and the Beloved. Nothing to get in their way, nothing to distract them from this moment in time.
The second chapter continues in this blissful fashion. The Beloved declares, “His banner over me be love” (2:4).
Embedded in this beautiful prose is this mysterious phrase: “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” This sounds like a warning, to wait for love and not rush into a relationship. A little teasing, perhaps, since obviously every girl around her is fawning at the moment!
And the theme again, as the Beloved cries, “Come with me” (2:10) and again, “Arise, come, my darling’ my beautiful one, come with me” (2:13).
But, really, must she ask? Seems like he’s already willing!
The Lover replies, “Show me your face, let me hear your voice…” Again, this lovely sense that he’s truly done for. He can’t get enough of her.
And really, he can’t.
(Here, I should note: there is probably a lot of wonderful things that I’m not searching out! But I’m going fast to catch bigger themes. By all means, read deep into these words to uncover hidden truths. The words of the Bible are shallow enough for a toddler to get his feet wet, and deep enough for a scholar to dive into!)
The Beloved tells us how “my beloved is mine and I am his” (2:16), a strong theme in the Song of Songs. Also, the perfect picture of Jesus, the ultimate lover, the bridegroom, and the church, His beloved, His bride, of the relationship humans desire with God, and God desires with His dearest creation!
In Chapter 3, there seems to be a little hiccup in the story, but all is well as the Beloved finds him again. “Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves.”
How terrifying it is to lose the one she loves! And how thrilling to find him again!!!
The “one my heart loves” sounds like commitment, like she’d never love anyone as much as him…
Ah, but human love, our condition… There is more to this story.
And like a song with a sub-theme in the melody that repeats on and off again, we hear the mysterious warning, “Do not arouse or waken love until it so desires.” (3:5)
At last! The wedding has come!
In chapter 4, we find the Beloved adoring his bride, who is veiled for her wedding day. “How beautiful you are, my darling! O, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves.”
The most beautiful and powerful unions in life is the wedding night. There are other huge events in life, for sure, but the consummation of husband and wife, two becoming one flesh, changes everything.
Sexual intercourse isn’t a typical Sunday sermon, but sex, is the most vulnerable and intimate union of husband and wife on both a physical and emotional level. Two people who are committed to each other for a lifetime is a vivid description of the union between Christ and His church.
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior… Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless…”
And then in verse 32, Apostle Paul explains that this marriage, this union between husband and wife is a profound mystery. “But I am talking about Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:22-32)
Marriage is a representation of how God (through Christ) loves us!
God holds nothing back in His love to us. He shares His own body, first by Jesus dying on the cross as our atoning sacrifice, and also to invite His Body (the Church) to participate with Him, to enjoy Him.
Can you glimpse the love of God?
How vast? How deep? So perfect and wonderful… God loves you! With an everlasting love that never gives up, never fails; always protects, always trusts (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).
Not the erotic love we humans think of, but a love that saves a life, that shares a life, that gives life. A love that is willing to surrender His own life, so that we may live forever.
Okay, back to Song of Songs…
We are here, in chapter 4, the blissful wedding.
And here is also the transition. We get a glimpse into what this commitment is about… And how the Beloved hasn’t understood the commitment she was agreeing to.
The Lover tells her, “Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon.” I’m sure there is great significance in Lebanon, but for our purposes here, I’d like to emphasize his woo to her to “come with me.” He beckons her to follow him, to join him, to stay with him.
And here, like in an orchestra, the mood shifts.
As the Beloved delights in her, he talks about her fragrance. And he tells her this startling truth, “You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.” (4:12)
He seems to say: You have not given all of yourself to me.
This is a great spiritual truth. Christ doesn’t want half of our lives. He doesn’t even want most of our passions, our fears, our dreams. When we accept Christ, we are baptized into him. That means our entire selves are submerged into Christ, leaving nothing out. There is no sin we can keep hidden (Why would we? It is death!), there is no dream we do not hand over (There isn’t a reason to. Christ will make our future better than our best dream!), and all our fears, all our talents… So that our passions can reflect Him! So that we can bear fruit for Him!
And most of all: so that Christ can live in us, strengthen us, abide with us from now and into eternity.
But first, we have to surrender all. We have to lay it all down. Give it all up. Every trophy, every crown.
And, in the case of the Beloved, her cherished garden of pomegranates and cinnamon. All of it!
Now, listen to this!
“Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Let my Lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.”
The gardens… They are separate!
Except for letting the fragrance spread, he is not welcome into hers!
Curtains close. And thus ends Act 1.
Chapters 5-6: The Separation
The Lover calls, “I have come into my garden…”
He has arrived… But where is his Beloved?
The friends seem oblivious. They tell each other to “drink your fill of love.”
Great for the friends, but the Lover is aching. He is not complete. The one he loves is not with him. Where is she? Why has she not come with him?
Through the perspective of the Beloved, we learn how their marriage is unfolding: “I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My Lover is knocking: ‘Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.’” (5:2)
Three things to note here:
(1) He comes to her and knocks on her door. He’s persistent.
(2) More than that, he still loves her. He still thinks of her as his own-and-only, “my dove, my flawless one.” She’s not flawless, obviously. She has multiple flaws! The most extreme is that she has distanced herself from her husband.
(3) Her Lover has waited for her all night and into morning.
The love of God is persistent, steadfast, and pursuing.
How does the Beloved respond to his request to “Open to me”?
Well…
“I have taken off my robe—must I put it on again? I have washed my feet—must I soil them again?”
She complains! She whines!
The energy of the blissful engagement/honeymoon period has gone from her and she can’t be bothered to open the door and join him in the garden. She doesn’t want to be with him. She wants to stay separate.
Trouble in paradise.
And that’s not all!
“My Lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening…” (He reaches for her!)
“I arose to open for my Lover…” (Well, she is sure taking her sweet time!)
“I opened for my Lover, but my Lover had left; he was gone.” (She’s too late!!!)
And we see her desire:
“My heart was awake.”
“My heart began to pound for him.”
“My heart sank at his departure.”
The desire was there (perhaps not as strong as at first), but desire is not the only element required in a relationship. She needs commitment. She needs to share her garden with him.
The Beloved looks for him, but is beaten. And the friends don’t even understand why she is bothering. “How is your Lover better than others, that you so charge us?”
And so, she reminds them—and perhaps herself—of her Lover.
This time, she isn’t calling him the “one my heart loves.” She is heartbroken and misses him terribly. Her entire song here is of what used to be. She is remembering, as a Beloved from afar…
Cue the violins.
Where is he?
In his garden, to gather lilies.
And who is she, pray tell? Back in Chapter 2, he called his Beloved “a lily among thorns.”
The Beloved seems to remember and confesses, “I am my Lover’s and my Lover is mine.” As he browses among the lilies, could it be? Her heart must be pounding wildly to think it: Could her Lover be looking for her? Still?
Does he still love her? Cherish her as he once did, although she wasn’t as committed to him?
His solo begins, “You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem…” (6:4)
He hasn’t lost his love for her! In fact, he may even love her even more!!! “Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me.” (6:5)
And the climax of his song, “But my dove, my perfect one.”
Alas, he loves her still. She is still his one-and-only.
More than that…
It appears that his love for her, this steadfast, constant, life-giving love, has transformed him into someone radiant and gorgeous! “Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?” (6:10)
What a stunning picture of God’s love for His lost creation! Dearest reader, have you ever entertained the idea the idea that your Lover, your God, your Savior, loves you just as much?! Like sheep, we have wandered away; like an unfaithful wife, we have left the Lover of our souls—but God has never stopped loving you and never will. In His hand is salvation—will you reach out and grab it?
The Lover had been in the garden looking for news buds and to see if the pomegranates are in bloom, but leaves because of his desire.
The friends beg him to come back, but he asks why they would want to gaze at him? As stunning as he is, he knows of someone more gorgeous to admire!
Chapter 7-8: The Reunion
More than ever before, the Lover compliments his bride. This time, he intends to “climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.”
And the Beloved complies. Not only does he have access to her garden, but she has made her grapes into delicious wine and offers it to him.
“May the wine go straight to my Lover, flowing gently over lips and teeth.” (7:9)
“I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.” (7:10)
But now she is with him. Now, they go together.
“Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages.” (7:11)
And not only with him, but to the gardens, where he originally invited her to go. They are together, checking on the garden together, working together… A true union!
“Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded…” (7:12)
Bearing fruit! Enjoying each other, not only their outward beauty, but also her gifts, her blessings—everything!
“There I will give you my love.” (7:12)
She has even offered what she has originally stored for herself and given it fully to her Lover.
“Both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my beloved.” (7:13)
Chapter 8 continues with her deep appreciation for her Lover, that she only wishes that they were closer than they are now!
Again, the mysterious warning, but this time from a far wiser Beloved, “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” (8:4)
And the Beloved has a request for her Lover: “Place her like a seal over you heart, like a seal on your arm, for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.” (8:6) Here, she asks for commitment, the love that is for her alone, eternal and never ceases to lose fervor. The love that he holds for no one else—the love that he has had for her since the beginning!
She gets it!
She is confident that in the love of her Lover she is protected and defended. She is the wall and the towers. In the love of her Lover, she is steadfast.
And in return, she offers her garden, her fruit.
The first melody that the song started with plays again, joyful, blissful, as the Lover replies with all the love his heart can muster, “Let me hear your voice!” (8:13)
And she responds, her voice light and content. The passion and euphoria of the start of the song has been refined into this broad and sturdy love they share, but we can just imagine the happily-ever-after as she whisks him off stage, “Come away, my beloved.” (8:14)
Your turn: Have you enjoyed this study? Which lesson reached out to you most? I’d be delighted to hear it!
Interested in learning more? The first step in having this personal relationship with your Creator and Maker is admitting you have wandered away from him (we call this separation sin) and secondly to believe that only Christ can save you, that Jesus’ death on the cross is enough to forgive your sin and His resurrection on the third day certifies your righteousness! Thirdly, confess your faith in Christ to save you! Claim this promise as your own! For God says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will saved.” Confess now (out loud, if possible!) and by this faith God has restored you as a child of God, holy and innocent, His cherished beloved! As soon as possible, tell a Christian of your decision that he or she may pray with you and guide you to know more of what your decision means. (A hearty “Welcome to the family” to you!)
Resources: The Book of Romans in the Bible. ExploreGod.com. Oh, and check out your local church!
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