Though some critics reject King Solomon as the author and take 1:1 to mean, “which is about Solo-mon,” the internal evidence supports the traditional belief that Solomon is its author. The contents of the book agree with all that we know about the abilities and wisdom of Solomon, and there is no compelling reason not to regard him as the author.45 Solomon is mentioned seven times (1:1, 5; 3:7, 9, 11; 8:11-12), and he is identified as the groom. Verse 1 asserts that Solomon wrote this song as one of many (in fact the best of the many) songs which he wrote (1 Kings 4:32 tells us he composed 1,005 such songs). Note that the text does not simply say, “The Song of Solomon” but “The Song of Songs, which are Solomon’s.”
The Song was probably written early in Solomon’s career, about 965. At this point, Solomon had sixty queens and eighty concubines (6:8), but later in his life, he would have seven hundred queens and three thousand concubines (1 Kings 11:3).
Regarding the title of this book Ryrie writes:
This book has been titled several ways: the Hebrew title from verse 1, The Song of Songs, which means “the most superlative, or best, of songs”; the English title, also from verse 1, The Song of Solomon, which designates the author; and the Canticles, meaning simply “songs,” derived from the Latin.46
The Song of Solomon is a love song filled with metaphors and imagery designed to portray God’s view of love and marriage: the beauty of physical love between man and woman. The book which is pre-sented as a drama with several scenes, has three major player: the bride (Shulamite), the king (Solo-mon), and a chorus (daughters of Jerusalem). The purpose of the book will depend on the viewpoint taken as to the way the book should be interpreted. The following will illustrate this in the discussion of the three views presented here.
In summary, there have been three basic views on the interpretation of this Song of Solomon.
Some have regarded it only an allegory portraying fictional characters em-ployed teach the truth of God’s love for His people. Regarding this view, Archer writes:
The allegorical interpretation prevailed from ancient times until the rise of modern scho-larship. It identified Solomon with Jehovah (or else, according to the Christians, with Chr-ist) and the Shulamite as Israel (or the Church). The historicity of Solomon’s love affair is of small importance to the exponents of this theory. They tend to interpret each detail in a symbolic manner; thus Solomon’s eighty concubines, according to some, represent the eighty heresies destined to plague the Church…
It must be admitted that these passages establish at least a typical relationship between human love and marriage and the covenant relationship between God and His people. Nevertheless, the allegorical view faces certain difficulties, not the least of which is that the book seems to speak of a historical episode in Solomon’s life and accords well with
Solomon’s situation, at least in the earlier part of his reign (judging from the comparative-ly small number of his concubines).
Others regard the Song as simply a secular love song not intended to convey a spiritual lesson and expressing human love in a highly romantic way drawn from an historical event in the life of Solomon.
This view sees a combination a literal historical event portraying the beauties of physical love along with a typical portrait of God’s Love and Christ’s love for the church.
Others rightly understand the book to be an historical record of the romance of Solomon with a Shulamite woman. The “snapshots” in the book portray the joys of love in courtship and marriage and counteract both the extremes of asceticism and of lust. The rightful place of physical love, within marriage only, is clearly established and honored. Within the historical framework, some also see illustrations of the love of God (and Christ) for His people. Obviously Solomon does not furnish the best example of marital devotion, for he had many wives and concubines (140 at this time, 6:8; many more later, 1 Kings 11:3). The experiences recorded in this book may reflect the only (or virtually the only) pure romance he had.
*This combined perspective is seen in Archers explanation of the theme of Canticles:
The theme of Canticles is the love of Solomon for his Shulamite bride and her deep affection for him. This love affair is understood to typify the warm, personal relationship which God desires with His spiritual bride, composed of all redeemed believers who have given their hearts to Him. From the Christian pers-pective, this points to the mutual commitment between Christ and His church and the fullness of fellow-ship which ought to subsist between them.
Love, Church of Christ, Love Song, Wisdom of Love
❝ 7:10 “I am my beloved’s, And his desire is for me. Formatted
The book has three major player: the bride (Shulamite), the king (Solomon), and a chorus (daughters of Jerusalem).
Christ as seen in the Song of Solomon:
This book illustrates Christ’s love for the church which is seen as the bride of Christ in the New Tes-tament (cf. 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:23-25; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:9).