Lessons Learned from Song of Solomon

A look at what I learned and struggled with during this reading of Song of Solomon.

Love Is Just Complicated

Introduction

Ultimately, Song of Solomon is about love and marriage, both literally and spiritually. Knowing that, the details proved to be more complex than I expected. Reading Song of Solomon was like reading an assignment for AP Lit; sometimes I would read a passage multiple times and still not be able to put my finger on exactly what was being said. Or, in some cases, I would have an inkling about what it meant, but I wasn't sure why it was relevant. Of course, like most of the literature I read in my English classes, there are many nuances and tidbits that can be mined out of Song of Solomon—I'm afraid I've missed many of them on this read through.

For this book, I spent a lot of time reading Bible commentaries to get understand even the flow of the story, which tells me I should revisit it in the near future... While I think commentaries are excellent study tools and can help us see new angles in the text, I don't like relying on commentaries to understand the basic principles of the book. They should be supplemental not used the way we used Sparks Notes in high school.
Top

Who is Speaking?

One of the harder things to keep straight was who was narrating the song at each point. Sometimes it was the woman, other times the man, but on occasion it was the daughters of Jerusalem! I think beings actively aware of who is speaking and to whom they are speaking is the starting point for understanding the book.

The Marriage Aspect

As a Christian, it's really easy to sum this book up as the love between Christ and the Church. Like the Feast Days, this message was a shadow pointing up to Christ, but the fact that God had Solomon write this so many years before Christ or even heavy Messianic prophecy—such as in Daniel or Isaiah—was given, leads me to believe there's more to it than just that. Readers from Solomon's day were expected to get something from the text as well. Therefore, we should also consider what is being said about Earthly marriages. Marriage is one of two practices God created before the fall. A perfect world would still have had marriage, so it stands to reason that God would want us to cherish it! The other books of the Bible gloss over marriage and love in favor of other key details of the narrative. Song of Solomon takes us back to this gift God has given us so that we can understand it more and truly appreciate it.

Revisit

Because it was difficult for me to put all the pieces together in Song of Solomon (there's so much figurative language!), I don't have much to say outside of the general premise of the book. Once I finish my read through, or perhaps even before then if the Spirit moves me, I will revisit this book for another read through. Hopefully on that pass, I will feel more connected to and understand the text at a deeper level.