2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness… Proverbs 30:5 reminds us that every word of God is flawless so if 2 Timothy 3:16 says ALL scripture is God breathed and useful then that is certainly true. ALL Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
2 Peter 3:18 reminds us that we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We cannot do this if we are not willing to read and study the whole of Scripture, especially those passages that we are uncomfortable with. There is an Old Testament book sandwiched between Ecclesiastes and Isaiah that many have never been real comfortable with but there must be something in it that can help us grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That book is the Song of Solomon.
Song of Solomon takes its title from the first verse of the book, which mentions who the song comes from. Song of Solomon 1:1 NASB The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. The NIV translation is a bit shorter saying simply: Solomon’s Song of Songs. The original Hebrew version of the book took its title from the book’s first two words, shiyr hashiyrim, usually translated as “the song of songs.” This latter title remained in Greek and Latin Bible translations in later centuries. The repetition of the word song indicates that the writer considered this the greatest of all songs. We find a similar construction in other famous biblical phrases: Lord of Lords, King of Kings, and Holy of Holies, to name a few.
The title of the book eventually took on King Solomon’s name because of the mention of his name throughout the book (1:5; 3:7, 9, 11; 8:11–12). This title change also supports the traditional view of Solomon as the author of the book. While numerous critics in the last two centuries have disputed Solomon’s authorship, the internal evidence seems to support it, not only because of the appearances of Solomon’s name but because of evidence of his royal advantage (3:6–11) and his numerous wives and concubines (6:8).
The popular belief (especially in our day) is that Song of Solomon is about the earthly marriage relationship between husband and wife and there is certainly marriage wisdom that can be found throughout the book. But there is way more to this short book tucked away between Ecclesiastes and Isaiah, than just love poems and marriage wisdom. Prior to the 19th century the dominant belief was that Song of Solomon was about Christ and His love for the church, His bride.
Many believe Solomon’s Song is nothing more than an ancient love-song, and some (me included) have been afraid to preach from it because of its highly poetic character. Most preachers don’t preach it, not because it’s complicated or hard to understand, but because it’s so fused with the spirit of love. But it is ultimately about the love that God has for His people. According to a famous story in the Talmud, the 2nd century rabbi Aqiva, when asked whether the Song of Solomon belonged in the Bible, replied “all the writings are holy, but the Song of Solomon is the Holy of Holies.” Later, a famous Christian Theologian, Origen of Alexandria, who lived from 185-254, forbade any Christian under the age of 30 from studying the book, since such a person would likely see it as mere love poetry. Ancient and medieval readers understood the book in four main ways: as an allegory of God’s love for Israel; as an allegory of Christ’s love for the church (His bride); as an allegory of the Holy Spirit’s love for the soul; or as some combination of options one through three. Most early Christian scholars did not view Song of Solomon as a mere love poem relating solely to romantic, physical love between a man and woman.
The Song of Solomon is a love story with a hidden message, a deeper message, one that is relevant to all Christians. The Song of Songs certainly is about marriage. However, since marriage is a window into the relationship between Christ and the church, the Song of Songs is about the gospel, too. To truly get the most out of this book one must address both the nuts and bolts of marriage and the profound mystery of Christ’s unfailing love for His bride, the church. The Song of Songs is an explicit but tasteful love song designed to point singles to patience, spouses to each other, and everyone to Christ. This coming Sunday we will take a closer look at the Song of Solomon or Song of Songs and see what we can learn from this little book tucked away between Ecclesiastes and Isaiah.
Praying everyone has a blessed week.
In Christ,
Gary T.