Song of Solomon 1:1 - Sermon Bible Commentary

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Song of Song of Solomon 1

I. Though written very possibly by Solomon with reference to the daughter of Pharaoh, this Song seems evidently to have had a deep symbolical meaning from the very beginning. All things in Scripture are for Christ's sake from the beginning of the world. The forms which, floating by, cast their shadows on the elder world were shades of that greater Figure which was to absorb the attention of mankind and of the Church for ever and ever. Such is the power which underlies the Song of Solomon. The Church has ever in her days of earnestness and special devotion used the Song of Solomon. It has been the thermometer of her condition; when and where her energy and love were strong, then and there the Song of songs became the mode and form of her expression.

II. The Song of Solomon is peculiarly suited to form a manual of devotion for those who, as penitents or saints, are seeking after Jesus, (1) Its images are the images natural to the earnest-minded. (2) Its expressions of penitence, humility, and self-condemnation make it beautifully fitted to the life of those who "mourn after a godly sort," and to become a manual of expression for the returning sinner. (3) The yearnings of love are among the most striking parts of the Song. The language is that of the deepest affection; and no expressions seem so natural a channel through which the stream of love may flow as those we find here. (4) The Song is typical of the acts of our Lord's life. His passion and resurrection are unmistakably shadowed forth in it; so much so, that the natural illustration of the Song would be the scenes of the Gospel.

E. Monro, Practical Sermons,vol. iii., p. 355.

References: Song of Solomon 1:2. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning,p. 92. Ibid., Evening by Evening,p. 8; J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Song of Songs,p. 5.Song of Solomon 1:3. J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,2nd series, p. 235; A. Fletcher, Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. xi., p. 317.

Related Commentaries of Song of Solomon 1:1

Song of Solomon 1:1-17

1 The song of songs, which is Solomon's.

2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.

3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the uprighta love thee.

5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.

9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.

10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.

11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.

12 While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.

13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.

14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphireb in the vineyards of Engedi.

15 Behold, thou art fair, my love;c behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.

16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.

17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our raftersd of fir.