The Song of Solomon

At least one pro homosexual apologist has presumed to assert that the Song of Solomon sanctions premarital sex, and that reliance upon allegory is needed to covers that up. However, It is easily seen, even without the allegorical application, that “Song” is not about premarital sex, but is a poetic story of a man and his spouse (which is what he is called), and of the wonder of heterosexual relations which God gives clear evident honors to when sanctioned in marriage, but is nowhere provided for homosexual unions, which in contrast are only explicitly forbidden and condemned. The following is my analysis of this unique book of the Bible.

Song is written like a theatrical play, with the characters speaking in turn, about a romance and a royal wedding and martial love and relations between Solomon (who counted heterosexual courtship and romance among one of the most wondrous things: Prov. 30:19), and a Shulamite maiden. It likely is a literal story, but also may be considered a poem in which the allegorical application is that of Christ and His bride, the church (Eph. 5:23-32). While no evident allusion to this story is made in the New Testament, the church is explicitly called the bride of Christ, Eph. 5:25-32) and like the story of Joseph, who in certain ways typified Christ, though no New Testament manifest allusion is made to him, so there are elements in Song which may be seen as typological of the spiritual union between Christ and His church, as well as spiritual examples and principles that apply to the believers life. That our (my) beauty and longing for her husband is not as the Shulamite, should work conviction and repentance unto greater consecration in this area.

I see Song chapter one as being mostly about the longing of the bride for her husband to be, and expressing martial desire not yet fulfilled (cf. Mt. 5:6; Jn. 3:21; 4:13-15; Acts 13:42). In chapter two the bride expresses what the bridegroom is to her, and about the wedding feast and consummation (cf. 1 Cor. 6:17; 2:9,10; Eph. 4:14-21), of how he "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." (2:4), and a night of marital relations which made her feel weak. Later he calls her to follow him (cf. Mt. 4:19; Jn. 10:27). In chapter 3 she tells us that her beloved was missing, and that she earnestly sought him (cf. Ps. 42:1,2; Heb. 11:6), and that having found him whom her soul loved, “I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me." This is not a description of unmarried relations, but of married, as the culture (and it's morals) reveals, just as Isaac brought Rebekah “into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her" (Gen 24:67). The text goes on to describe Solomon's royal bed, and (v. 11) how his mother had “crowned him in the day of his espousals” (chăthûnnâh — from H2859; a wedding).

In most of chapter 4 the groom describes the beauty of object of his love, calling her my “spouse” in vs. 10+12 (cf. Eph. 5:27). Chapter 5 tells of the bride hearing her husband at the door and calling her to open (cf. Rv. 3:20; Jn. 10:3; 21:4-6 ), but she is not ready and when she opens he is gone (cf. Is. 45:15; Rv. 1:9; 14:12). When she goes searching she is beaten by authorities who scorn her attraction to her beloved (cf. Jn. 16:33; Act 5:40). She responds by extolling her spouses beauty (cf. Acts 16:23-25; 1 Pt. 1:8). In chapter 6 others (daughters of Jerusalem) inquire about the bridegroom (Jn. 12:21, 22), and she tells them where he may be found, and testifies of her security in his love (cf. Acts 4: 1:12; 1 Pt. 3:5) . The bridegroom responds with praise for her, his “undefiled” (v. 9) (cf. 1 Thes. 5:23, 24), then a call is given for her, the Shulamite (feminine of Solomon) to return. In chapter 7 the bridegroom extols the beauty of his beloved (cf. Eph. 5:27; Rv. 21:1,2,9ff), and she in turn expresses her great delight in him, and her desire to get away and commune with him (cf. Ps. 27:4), and to engage in love relations, which would result in conception (cf. Mt. 28:19). In chapter 8 she continues to express her yearning for him, like as she has done before, and her longing for uninterrupted intimate relations to bless him in her earnest thankful love. He responds (vs. 7-5) by affirming she was chosen for him, and appeals to her to make sure her heart is fully committed to him, as such love endures all things, though hell fire attack it (cf. 1 Cor. 13:7; cf. 2 Pt. 1:10). The daughters (it seems), now make intercession for their little sister, who then speaks of the grace she came to realize in response (vs. 8-10; cf. Eph. 3:6; Rm. 15:9). The book nears it's closing with subject of the vineyard of Solomon, which the bride is in charge of (1 Pt. 5:1, 2), and the request that she hear his voice (cf. Jn. 5:24; 10:27; Mk. 13:35-37; 1 Ths. 4:16). And finally that he come quickly (cf. Rv. 22:20). "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church"(Eph 5:32).