1. Why the Song of Solomon? What does it mean? Does it have to mean anything? Whose interpretation of the book shall we use?

This book is among the most difficult of all Scriptures for me to interpret. That thought alone has led me to believe often that the book doesn’t need to be interpreted. What if there is no hidden meaning at all? What if it is a poem for lovers to enjoy and relate to in some way. Here God seems to be letting us know of the way he favors (heterosexual) romance, that there is nothing dirty or hidden about it.

If we are to search for deeper meaning, to whom shall we go? There are so many people with so many ideas about the book. Some want us to know that this is more like a drama than a simple poem, with choristers and the like introducing each section. Others see Jesus clearly as Solomon, while the Bride of Christ is pictured, they say, by his beautiful love interest.

I personally have trouble tracing all the intimate details of physical love through the relationship of Jesus and His Church. That Jesus loves His Church is without question, but I fail to believe that this book is the go-to literature for a proof of such love. It’s just too earthy!

The song is Solomon’s. He loves a woman. Love is good. Women who love men are good. Men who love women are good. Spring is intoxicating. There is some pain in romantic love, but the pursuit goes on.

Let’s keep it simple. Young folks marrying a Christian, enjoy. Older Christians remembering that special time, think back with delight. And if you can see the love of Jesus in all of this, so much the better, but don’t force a text to be something it is not when what it is, is beautiful enough!

2. Song of Solomon 1:5. Is she really just sun-burned?

If the text is pointing to the daughter of Pharaoh, it could well be that this Egyptian had the darkest of skin. Others point to her low birth (if she is merely “the Shulamite” as they claim) and therefore much time spent in the fields, literally being made dark by the sun, as in verse 6. She complains in that verse that because of cruel brothers who forced too much outdoor work on her, she was unable to care for her own needs, as perhaps, her complexion.

3. Song of Solomon 1:7-8. What is the meaning of the question in 7 and its answer in 8?

She wants to know where the love of her life – Solomon – is. She wants to stop wondering around looking for him, even being mistaken for a low-class woman as she seeks him out in the fields. Her reputation seems to be at stake as she goes after this wonderful man. Some have seen the church’s willingness to suffer shame for the cause of their own lover.

Solomon seems simply to be telling his love where they can meet. No need to wonder aimlessly. Here are specific directions as to where I can be found, while you are taking care of your own responsibilities. Yes, there are “lessons” here, but still best to allow the love song to be a love song, and be careful not to make applications that the Holy Spirit never made.

4. Song of Solomon 1:9-10. Could this be the daughter of Pharaoh referenced in I Kings 7:8?

As suggested above, the text surely seems to point in the direction of Egypt. Solomon contracted many marriages as the condition of peace and good relationships with surrounding nations. Yes, that is what he did, for better or worse. But it is not out of the way to suggest that some of these women, maybe only a very few, he loved intensely. Such seems to be the case here. Was this his first wife, and therefore is the book entered into the canon as a model of chaste and accepted love? One hopes so, but there is no proof of that in the text itself.