Delve Into The WritingsSample

DAY 6 – SONG OF SONGS

At traditional wedding celebrations in some parts of the Middle East, the groom and bride are cast in the roles of a king and his queen. They sing to one another, and the guests sing in their honor. The festivities include love songs, along with special songs that praise the physical beauty of the bride and the handsomeness of the groom. This custom appears to have a long history. It seems to be reflected in the anthology of wedding songs that has been included in the Bible, which we know as the Song of Songs. 

The songs in this collection have been arranged in such a way as to tell the story of the courtship of a man and woman, of their marriage (described as a royal wedding) and its consummation, and of the beginning of their new life together. The collection begins with a short introduction, and then it recounts six episodes in their relationship as it develops. At the end of each episode there’s typically a reference to the “friends” of the man and woman. This may mean the guests at their wedding who are helping them celebrate. These friends seem to be singing some of the songs that tell the couple’s story, because at one point there’s an exchange between them and the bride. In several places the bride addresses a specific group of these friends as the “daughters of Jerusalem,” probably meaning her yet-to-be-married female friends. It’s not clear at every point in the collection who is speaking, but in most places we can get a good idea of who’s speaking from what they’re saying and who they’re speaking to. 

The collection bears the title “Solomon’s Song of Songs.” This can be taken to mean that Solomon, the son of David and third king of Israel, was the author of its individual songs. In this case he was likely also the person who brought them together in their present form. Since Solomon was renowned as a composer of songs, this is a good possibility. However, the phrase could also be a reference to the way that the collection, in its third main episode, refers to Solomon as the kind of glorious king the groom represents in the eyes of the bride and the wedding guests. In this case, the individual songs may have been the work of many different composers over several centuries. They would have been used repeatedly in marriage celebrations and eventually gathered together, just as the psalms were collected after years of use in worship. In either case, the collection as a whole celebrates the delights of married love and the beauty of the human body. It uses vivid imagery drawn from the natural world to show that both of these things are an integral part of the creation that God declared “very good.” 

PRAYER: Thank You, Lord, for putting Your banner of love over me. Thank You, Lord, for your everlasting love.