Today in God's Word—August 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
August 24, Song of Solomon 7
I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.
- Song of Solomon 7:10
Some of the figures of speech used by the woman’s suitors do not seem to be romantic or even complimentary to us. Most of us wouldn’t tell our beloved, “Your hair reminds me of a goat.” But we understand some of the other figurative expressions because we have heard them or spoken them ourselves. For instance, when we say that someone looks “delicious” or “good enough to eat” because they are attractive, we do not mean it literally. When we playfully tell a cute little child, “I could just eat you up,” we are not warning them that we are cannibals. We mean that we like the way that person looks, or we love them very much.
Expositors and commentators don’t agree about who’s speaking in the first paragraph of Chapter 7. Is the shepherd adoring and celebrating the beauty of his beloved? Is Solomon making his final appeal to the woman? Is the chorus who begged for the Shulamite woman to return at the end of Chapter 6 praising her for her beauty?
The food images would fit the way Solomon looked at, desired and satisfied his desire for women. I doubt that many women in Solomon’s harem would praise the woman’s beauty and want her to return. Other polygamous marriages and homes described in the Bible are steeped in jealousy and contempt, not praise and delight.
The woman is clearly the speaker in the last part of Chapter 7 and into Chapter 8. She has made her choice. Despite the king’s intense appeals to her, she chooses her shepherd. She is glad to proclaim that she is his. She wants him to be her companion. They will share their lives and their love.
These words strongly suggest physical intimacy between a husband and wife. But the allegorical interpreters of the Song find some fine expressions of the love the church and
individual believers ought to have for the Lord. She is pleased to say that she belongs to her husband, just as the church belongs to Christ. She is motivated by her love for him, just as the church collectively and members individually are compelled by the love of Christ to serve him. She wants to share her life, her everyday experiences with him as her companion. Christians rejoice in and depend on the promise that the Lord is with us and will never leave us or forsake us. She willingly gives herself to her husband, just as the church surrenders its will to the will of the Lord Jesus.
I understand that some students as well as their teachers struggle with the frank descriptions of the female anatomy in this book. The ancient Jews seemed to understand that the descriptions of physical intimacy were exactly what they sound like. I also understand that some people struggle with the idea that the relationship between Christ and the church can be described with words related to sexual intimacy. Not every point of an allegory has to correspond to some particular of the reality it illustrates. It’s an undeniable fact that God described his relationship with his covenant people in both Old and New Testaments as a marriage.
Whether you and I believe in the allegory model of interpreting Song of Solomon or not, it is true that these verses illustrate the kind of love, devotion and commitment we as individuals and the church as a body should have for the Lord. When our love for Jesus motivates us to serve him, we gladly surrender ourselves and our service to him. We should be delighted to live for the One who died for us.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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