Read
Love Is Better than Wine
1 This is Solomon's
most beautiful song.
She Speaks:
2Kiss me tenderly!
Your love is better than wine,
3and you smell so sweet.
All the young women adore you;
the very mention of your name
is like spreading perfume.
* 4Hurry, my king! Let's hurry.
Take me to your home.
The Young Women Speak:
We are happy for you!
And we praise your love
even more than wine.
She Speaks:
Young women of Jerusalem,
it is only right
that you should adore him.
5My skin is dark and beautiful,
like a tent in the desert
or like Solomon's curtains.
6Don't stare at me
just because the sun
has darkened my skin.
My brothers were angry with me;
they made me work in the vineyard,
and so I neglected
my complexion.
7My darling, I love you!
Where do you feed your sheep
and let them rest at noon?
Don't let the other shepherds
think badly of me.
I'm not one of those women
who shamelessly follow
after shepherds.
He Speaks:
8My dearest, if you don't know,
just follow the path
of the sheep.
Then feed your young goats
near the shepherds' tents.
9You move as gracefully
as the pony that leads
the chariot of the king.
10Earrings add to your beauty,
and you wear a necklace
of precious stones.
11Let's make you some jewelry
of gold, woven with silver.
She Speaks:
12My king, while you
were on your couch,
my aroma was a magic charm.
13My darling, you are perfume
between my breasts;
14you are flower blossoms
from the gardens of En-Gedi.
He Speaks:
15My darling, you are lovely,
so very lovely—
your eyes are those of a dove.
She Speaks:
16My love, you are handsome,
truly handsome—
the fresh green grass
will be our wedding bed
17in the shade of cedar
and cypress trees.
Reflect
First question: What are your feelings about coming to the Song of Solomon? Second (related) question: What is a book so unapologetically all about sex doing in the Bible?
From the beginning of the Christian era, the Song of Solomon has been read as an allegory of Christ and the church and is commonly read this way still today. However, a number of similar texts, clearly not allegorical, have been discovered in various other parts of the ancient Near East, which point to a literal understanding.
A literal reading is made easier by today’s culture in which very little is taboo. So I recommend you read this in the first instance at face value. Obviously, for devotional reading, how we apply the Song to ourselves depends on our individual circumstances, and I will take this into account in the reflections for the rest of this week.
Some people see this book as an anthology of as many as 23 love poems. Don’t think of them as necessarily written by Solomon. After all, he had a thousand women in his life, and their influence on him was not exactly godly (1 Kings 11:1-3). The meaning of the Hebrew in 1:1 is obscure, however clear it looks in English. Perhaps Solomon put together the anthology.
You may need to learn some new reading techniques.
Read this book as poetry, not prose. Read it for the impression given by the whole, rather than trying to analyze it. Some parts of the Song of Solomon don’t stand up to logical analysis, but are more like a dream. One good way to approach the Song is to see it as a collage of colours, shapes, and fragrances. Read with your feelings.
Don’t look for a plot. The themes in the book intertwine. For that reason I will look at the main themes for the rest of the readings this week, rather than trying to tailor these notes to each day’s passage.
(One detail in today’s reading I can’t resist commenting on: in ancient times no one tried to get a tan! People who had “dark skins” (vv 5-7) were peasants who were forced to work under the sun. If you wanted to be beautiful you stayed inside. “She” is a peasant girl.)
Respond
Return to the two questions in the first paragraph. Come to God with your feelings. Make your own list of “unadulterated pleasures,” from sex to music to food and drink, and thank him for all the things he has given us richly to enjoy.
Annabel Robinson
Annabel was born in Kew, near London, England. She committed her life to Jesus Christ at a Scripture Union camp when she was 16, and immediately found joy and peace. At Oxford she was active in the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, where she met her husband, Reid. They emigrated to Canada in 1965, where she taught Classics at the University of Regina until 2007. She has two children, Heather in Oslo and Alasdair in Calgary.