Thoughts on the Old Testament
Act VI: The Maturity of Love
Memories of the past joys combined with concern for the next generations characterize this section. A testament to marriage’s enduring quality occurs in 8.6-7. These verses are testament to the fact that sexual pleasure often extends into the seventies and eighties.
Act V: The Marriage Deepens
The simple beauty of a farm girl has been transformed to the majesty of a queen as Solomon describes her appearance in terms of jewels and ivory. Their relationship has deepened but there is a sense of comfortableness combined with passion in the use of words such as gentle, to the countryside, like a brother, etc.
Act IV: After the Honeymoon
This portion presents an “agony-ecstasy” contrast as the couple settles into a marriage routine. There is still plenty of passion, but tempered against the reality of the difficulties of life: absence, the joy of his return, routine, unpleasant treatment from others, etc. The summary statement, however, is 6.3a, “I am my lover’s and he is mine.”
An interesting commentary is a playful custom of “hide and seek” presented in .:2-6, where the husband knocks at the door and calls to his wife. He then unlatches the door and places a bouquet inside. Quickly, he runs to hide. As the new wife comes to the door, she panics at his absence and races out to find him. Normally, he would be ready to jump from his den to surprise her. On this night, it is likely that he had been drawn away, after all he is the king, thus leaving her unprotected when found by the watchmen. Finally, she discovers him again in 6.2-3.
Act III: The Consummation of Marriage
The loving tender intimacy of marriage is presented in poetic language. “My sister, my bride” presents the maiden both as friend or family to be cared for parallel to lover in a sexual context. “Garden” refers to this intimate relationship.
Act II: The Procession
This is the scene of the maiden coming to Jerusalem in Solomon’s carriage. This part of the story has a “Cinderella” flavor. The farm girl is being lavished with wealth and is presented to the residents of Jerusalem. She is a bit overwhelmed with all the pomp and circumstance.
Act I: The Courtship
Solomon owns a vineyard in the land of Ephraim which he placed under the care of family consisting of a mother, two brothers, an older daughter (a Shulamite, who is the heroine), and her younger sister. The Shulamite works in the vineyards and cares for flocks. She is the epitome of Proverbs 31. Although she is beautiful, she had little time for personal care and has become quite tanned by the sun.
Some have proposed this beautiful young woman is none other than Abishag. Abishag was a beautiful young woman who spent her youth working in the fields and vineyards. From our studies of 1 Kings 1, we remember she was chosen to lie beside the elderly King David to keep him warm and to be his nursemaid as he lay dying. The text is clear that her virginity was not taken away by the elderly King David (1 Kings 1:4). Her ministry to him was completely a matter of physical care, not sexual pleasure.
She came from an area called Shunam, which is thought to be in Galilee. It seems as though Solomon, who was part of the household at that time, became deeply attached to her. When his brother Adonijah tried to get his mother’s approval for taking Abishag to be his wife, Solomon was enraged that he was attempting to use Abishag to usurp the throne. He then had Benaiah, his executioner, kill Adonijah (1 Kings 2:21-25).
Abishag was not a lady of the courts, but she was a country girl (much like Esther). She worked in the fields under the hot sun, was not used to expensive clothes, and the extravagances of nobility. She was beautiful in character, charm, and looks.
One day, a handsome young man visits the vineyard and wins the heart of the young maiden. He leaves, but promises to return some day. She dreams of the young man, not knowing he is Solomon.
I would normally take time to discuss each chapter of the book in detail. However, this book does not lend itself to this process. It is a single unit expressing love for the opposite sex. It does have a myriad of metaphors, oriental symbolism, and many interpretation problems. For the purpose of these posts, I will use lecture notes from my class on marriage setting the book in six themes. The notes are adapted and taken from One Plus One (Endemano, Rice, Gibbs & Berry, 1996).
I will attempt to provide a brief explanation of the book and its possible interpretations. Some see it as an allegory because they do not believe that God would include such a sexual oriented story in the Bible. With this perspective, sex seems bad even within the context of marriage where God applauds the act (Hebrews 13.4). The most common allegorical interpretation is that Christ is the bridegroom and the church is the bride which follows New Testament symbolism. This is acceptable except for the question, what did those before Christ do with the book?
Some view it as typology, which is similar to allegorical but with added thought that the story itself is real with a real bridegroom and bride. This view, like the allegorical, holds that the only real meaning is found in finding the spiritual meaning behind everything. The danger of course is found as the reader reads too much into each element of the story.
Others view the story as literal, which takes the book as it is written. There was and actual couple whose story is told in these eight chapters. Like any good story it uses metaphors and symbolism along with euphemisms to relay the story.
Some combine the views giving the story an actual historical setting that prefigures the love Christ will display to His bride, the church.
