THE MOST EXCELLENT OF SONGS
This is the third and final book written by Solomon, although it is really a love song and not a book. We are told that Solomon composed an amazing 1005 songs (1 Kings 4v32) and we know two of them can be found in the Psalms. Verse 1 calls this book “the Song of Songs” which means the most excellent of songs and, in one translation of the Bible, I saw it called the greatest song.
Some scholars have doubted its authority and would remove it from the Bible but, the fact remains, the book has survived the passing of time and is accepted by both Jews and Christians. The Jews, I am told, take it to express God’s love for His people and if you look at older commentaries there is much emphasis on its allegorical nature, the love between us and Jesus. Some recent commentaries, though, talk about its primary purpose being to celebrate a faithful God-given sexual relationship between a man and a woman.

WHAT IS THE STORY?
The one thing absolutely clear to me is that the story of the book is almost impossible to understand fully. Some words are spoken by a lover, some by his beloved, some by Solomon and, then, even groups like the daughters of Jerusalem and the girls’ brothers have their say. For a start, as you read the song, it is not always clear what the story line is and who is speaking at the time. When you compare different Bible translations or commentaries you find that you are not the only one with a problem.
Let us start with verses 2-4 where we find the beloved talking about her lover. Clearly, the two are already quite intimate in a physical sense and her language is beautiful and poetic, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine.” “Love”, I am told, literally means “lovemaking”. Then she says, “the king has brought me into his chambers.” This could mean that the beloved is one of many ladies around King Solomon and the king her lover. Others argue that Solomon did want her, as a bride, and had brought her into his entourage, yet, she was still faithful to her shepherd lover who, in verse 4, she wants him to come and rescue her, “Draw me after you, let us make haste”. The rest of the song can, either, continue with her relationship to King Solomon or, rather, describe her faithfulness to her original shepherd lover.
Verse 5 could well be a conversation with ladies in the king’s harem (daughters of Jerusalem) yet some Bible versions call them friends. It appears that she had been forced by her brothers to work the vineyards (v6) and that gave her a very dark tan. This was possibly to protect her virtue, while young, and keep her away from the attentions of her shepherd lover. This version of the story goes on to explain how the beloved rejected the flatteries and wealth of Solomon to remain faithful to her one true love and in many ways, this makes the most sense because how could Solomon be a shepherd. Some parts talk about Solomon in a different, slightly distant, way by using words like “the king” in 1v4 and in 3v9 “King Solomon made himself a palanquin,” a kind of travelling couch. Putting aside the story for a while, what can we learn from the Song of Solomon?

A CELEBRATION OF LOVE
Surely, it celebrates the beautiful love that two lovers can experience within a committed relationship. Some of the language does have an Eastern feel about it which does not mean an awful lot to the Western mind; eg verse 9 comparing his beloved to a “mare among Pharoah’s chariots”. Some parts are overtly sexual, like verse 13, “my beloved is to me a bag of myrrh that lies between my breasts”. Others contain words of great beauty like v15, “ah, you are beautiful, your eyes are doves, ah you are beautiful, my beloved, truly lovely.” It may also be possible to read the song at a deeper sexual level, like 4v16 which says “let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits”. The garden could well be just a garden but, perhaps more likely, a symbol of her body. For these reasons, it was not recommended that Jewish boys read this book at young an age because of the danger of lustful thoughts!
In chapter 2v1 the beloved calls herself “a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys”. In other words, just one of many wild flowers. To which the lover replies that she is special, “a lily among brambles” (v2).

THE DESPERATION OF TRUE LOVE
One thing that is striking is the increasing desperation and passion of the lovers:
“with great delight I sat in his shadow.” (v3)
“For I am faint with love” (v5) or earlier versions use the words “sick of love”
-a feeling that, nowadays, we might describe as being “love-sick.”
“Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away” (v10).
“Let me see your face, let me hear your voice” (v14).
And they have great oneness together- “My beloved is mine and I am his” (v16).
The desperation was such, that when lying on her bed at night, she had a compulsion to find her lover and, so, went out into the city searching for him. She asked the watchmen, “have you seen him whom my soul loves?” (3v3) and when she had found him she “held him, and would not let him go” (v4).

A PURE LOVE
In the second part of chapter 3 you see Solomon’s procession which some see as their marriage ceremony. Others feel that Solomon is coming to persuade the Shulammite to be his bride. In chapter 4, once more, the loving words continue, some similar to those before but, increasingly, passionate;  v7 “you are altogether beautiful my love, there is no flaw in you”. In verse 12 we find the complimentary remarks about her, “a garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed” (v12). This implies that she is pure and committed to her lover who is, then, encouraged to come into her garden and eat its choicest fruits (v16). To which the lover responds with great affection (5v1).
Chapter 5 tells of an occasion when the beloved was separated from her lover and appears to be discussing this with the daughters of Jerusalem. She dreamt that her lover was knocking on the door but when she got up to answer he was not there. The ladies were fascinated by their relationship and asked her what was so special about her lover. She explained why her lover was her only choice, that he was “distinguished among ten thousand” (v10), had marvellous physical attributes and was “altogether desirable” (v16).  Although separated from him at the moment (6v2), she emphasises “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (v3).

REJECTING A RICH KINGS LIFESTYLE
Chapter 6 from verse 4 could be Solomon trying to convince the girl to stay but she replies that it had never really been her intent to meet him (v11,12). She had innocently met him in a nut garden and had no designs on him. As she tries to leave, the ladies call out for her to return (v13) and in chapter 7 Solomon, again, attempts to flatter her into staying. Her reply is, “I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me” (v10) and what she really wanted was for her beloved to come to her and go into the fields for a romp of love.

LOVE REUNITED
In chapter 8 v 5 it is good to see the lovers reunited and she is seen “leaning upon her beloved.” What follows are words expressing their intensity of passion (v 6,7) and those classic, well-known, words “many waters cannot quench love” (v7).
Her brothers (v8) plan to give her a good dowry because they are pleased that she kept herself pure. The later part of the chapter could imply that Solomon had his own vineyard and was entitled to everything from it but her vineyard (her body) was her very own and hers, alone, to give (v12). In the very last verse (v14) all she wants is for her lover to hurry up and take her to himself.

WE SHOULD NOT BE PRUDISH
So what can we learn from the Song of Solomon. At a very obvious level, it tells us that sexual love and affection is not wrong; in fact, it should be honoured within a pure and committed loving marriage relationship.

SHOULD OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD BE MORE INTIMATE
Should we take this further as Jews and Christians have done, historically, to make it an allegory of the mutual relationship between Christ and the church who He loves. Certainly not in a sexual sense but, yes, in a general way and I do not see why not. New Testament parables talk about the bridegroom, Jesus, coming for his bride and passages, like Ephesians 6, encourage husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. My personal belief is that God created the marriage relationship to be a timeless symbol of how he wants us to love him intimately.
Besides, the first part of the Old Testament shows how God wanted his presence to be in the middle of his people and that relationship was so important to Him. Those who followed other gods he called prostitutes.

Perhaps, we need to increase intimacy and passion in our love for Him for maybe we are, often, too cold in our emotions. There is a special relationship with Christ for those who are desperate and are willing to leave other ties and cleave to Him. Our loving Saviour has proved He is passionate about us, why not ask Him to light the fire of of love in you?