Song of Songs
Title: Son of Songs or Son of Solomon
(1:1)
Date of
writing: times of
Solomon (around 1000 BC)
Structure: Dorsey, p. 200
a. 1:2 – 2:7, opening words of mutual love and desire
b. 2:8-17,
young man’s invitation to the young woman
c. 3:1-5,
young woman’s nighttime search
d. 3:6 –
5:1, their wedding day
c’. 5:2 –
7:10, young woman’s nighttime search
b’. 7:11 –
8:4, young woman’s invitation to the young man
a’. 8:5-14,
closing words of mutual love and desire
Main
themes: Usually,
when people think about the Song of Songs, they think of it as a love song.
Love – in a biblical sense – is a very important part of the book. Yet, I
believe that the main theme is unity. Throughout the whole “performance” He and
She are trying nothing else but be together. This togetherness also touches on
some other themes – emotions of people, beauty of sexual relations within the
married couple, partnership or headship of family dynamics, etc.
Also, a good
thematical starting point is the title – “song”. The book shows that the Gospel
message can be presented as a beautiful and enigmatic “opera”, where visual and
textual imagery reflect the theme(s) of the production.
An important
level that should not be neglected is eschatological yearning and consummation:
already and not ye (1:2-4; 8:13-14).
Main
Characters: He, She,
Choir, Robbers. Is “He” Solomon? Who is Shulamite?
Reflection
in other parts of the Bible:
Song of
Songs is picking up the theme of marriage started by God’s ordinance during 6th
day of creation (Gen. 1:16-30; 2:18-24).
Song of
Songs continue the chain of songs delivered by the prominent women in the
Bible. Miriam picks up the song of Moses after the Red Sea crossing (Ex. 15).
Deborah sings a song commemorating the victory of God over Canaanites (Judg.
5). Hannah sings a song glorifying God after the birth of Samuel (1 Sam.
2).
Lutheran
teaching:
On one hand
The Book of Concord does not have any references to the Son of Songs. On the
other, we build our teaching of chastity and purity of pre-marital relationship
and marriage on the ideas and images of the Song, as St. Paul does it in his
letters to Ephesians (chapter 5).
Also, a
great theologian of Lutheran Orthodoxy Johann Gerhard (15-82-1637) in his
volume of systematic theology derives a few images of the Church as a Bride of
Christ [Christi sponsa] based on the Song of Songs. To name a few (Mitchell, p.
528-530):
1. “A lily
among thorns” (2:2) means that Church is beautiful, and should be separated
from the sinful world, but is vulnerable to persecution.
2. the
Church is a “dove” (2:14; 5:2; 6:9) and has “the eyes of dove” (1:15; 4:1;
5:12) – Gerhard explains is a sincerity of spirit (Mt. 10:10) and to the
appearance of the Spirit in the form of a dove (Mt. 3:16).
3. “Awesome
as an army with banners” (6:4,10) – Gerhard uses it to express the idea of the
Church militant – the One constantly fighting with satan. Also, regardless of
the outward appearance as a disordered crowd, she is an organized by the orders
from above.
Lutheran
hymnody:
LSB 525 –
“Crown Him with many crowns”
LSB 644 –
“The Church’s one foundation”
Relevancy
of the Book:
Seeing
images of YHWH and Israel and Christ and the Church in the relationship of Him
and Her in the Book, modern reader can have a blessing from the passionate
words of the Gospel with which God reaches out to us. The blossoming vineyard
of the outreach should spread its branches covering the whole earth with the
protective shade of His love, being defendant from foxes of the outer
world.
Memory
verses:
8:7: Many
waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for
love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.
