Mitch Chase
You cannot tell the whole story of the Bible without talking about marriage. In the beginning, God created a man and a woman and put them in a covenant relationship with each other (Gen 2:21–25). And at the end, the Lord Jesus is the groom who returns in glory for his redeemed bride, the church.
The Bible’s narratives carry its story from creation to consummation. The Old Testament is full of promises and patterns that will be fulfilled (Luke 24:27, 45–47; Col 2:17), and the New Testament is primarily about this fulfillment.
However, some sections of Scripture, at least at first, don’t seem to play a role in the story. One example of these sections is the Song of Songs.
How does the Song of Songs fit into the overall story of Scripture? Its style is poetic, its language is provocative, and its imagery is full of animals, plants, and things that engage your senses. The combination of these features makes it difficult for readers to understand what’s going on in the Song.
Maybe you’ve viewed the Song as a kind of standalone document that seems disconnected from what precedes and follows it. Maybe its content has seemed so unlike other sections of Scripture that you’ve not pondered any inter-biblical relationship between it and the themes and stories of Israel’s life. Maybe its romantic and sensual tones have, in your mind, excluded it from playing any meaningful canonical role. And maybe its various and strange interpretations across history have numbed your instincts to read the Song as anything other than a lyric about intimacy in the life of a married couple.
In this article, I aim to persuade you that the Song of Songs not only fits into the canonical flow of Scripture, but also contributes to the christological hope that the biblical authors nurture and advance. To do this, we will:
- Consider the authorship of the Song and why that matters
- Notice moral applications to the audience
- Reflect on marriage as a parable of something greater than human love
- Highlight connections between the Song and the history of Israel
- Join the author in celebrating the unquenchable nature of the couple’s covenant love
Taken together, as a cumulative case, these elements tune the reader’s ear to the power of the Song’s messianic music.
Written by the son of David
The earliest place in the Song of Songs that connects us to Israel’s story is the first verse. We read that the Song of Songs “is Solomon’s” (Song 1:1). King Solomon ruled for forty years over the land of Israel, from approximately 970 to 930 BC. During his peaceful and prosperous reign, he “spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005” (1 Kgs 4:32 ESV).
The proverbial and lyrical output of Solomon was staggering. The book of Proverbs contains many of this king’s wise sayings (e.g., Prov 1–9), and the Song of Songs is apparently one of his many compositions that fit in the song category. Indeed, calling this document the “Song of Songs” uses a superlative to highlight the importance of this composition. Just as the tabernacle had a “Holy of Holies” to designate the most important and sacred room, the phrase “Song of Songs” draws attention to the book’s significance and value.
Solomon was a king who shepherded his people with truth. His Song esteemed the goodness and joy of marriage.
By recognizing the authorship of the Song, we are better equipped to interpret it as a piece of wisdom from Israel’s king. Since Israel’s king was like a national shepherd (for the notion of kings as shepherds, see, for example, Jer 23:1–8), the eight chapters of the Song are Solomon’s musical effort to nourish his people’s imaginations and hearts with beauty and delight. The king was the head of the covenant people, and, in particular, the Song of Songs, like the book of Proverbs, was useful for the covenant life of the Israelites, because the Israelites needed to know how to walk wisely in the fear of the Lord. Solomon was a king who shepherded his people with truth. His Song esteemed the goodness and joy of marriage, and exhorted the unmarried to live with chastity and self-control.
But Solomon was also the immediate successor of David. King David had received covenant promises about how a descendant would reign on the throne forever (2 Sam 7:12–13). So David’s successor was naturally of interest to the biblical authors and the covenant people as a pointer to the Greater Son who would come. And although Solomon was not the Messiah, he was the first descendant of David to rule. He thus began the pattern of Davidic descendants that would lead to the Messiah (Matt 1:6–16).
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(Not) awakening love
One way that the Song of Songs fits in Scripture is by directing the covenant people into covenant faithfulness. And by guiding us into wise living, the Song serves to prepare the way for new covenant glories and our life in Christ.
The author of the Song describes the couple’s love with language of delight and desire. He associates the longing for intimacy with exciting urgency (Song 1:4; 4:16), overwhelming desire (2:5), and intoxicating aromas (4:14; 7:8–9, 13). Truly, the goodness of God’s design for marriage is on full display.
The couple’s words toward one another convey attentiveness, devotion, and exclusivity. She stands out to him like a lily among brambles (2:2). He stands out to her like an apple tree in a forest of trees (2:3). She announces, “My beloved is mine, and I am his” (2:16 ESV). This conviction of belonging enriches the relationship because it denotes peace, security, and covenant love.
Other voices celebrate the awakening of the couple’s love. “We will exult and rejoice in you” (Song 1:4 ESV), says a chorus of voices. In the context of the couple’s consummation, voices exhort them, “Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!” (5:1 ESV). Such remarks confirm that the man and woman’s intimacy is not immoral. This husband and wife are rightly delighting in marital intimacy, and the third-party voices cheer on this pursuit.
Solomon’s Song tells of strong covenant love, and this covenant is marked by delights that recall the glories of Eden’s garden.
At several points in Solomon’s Song, the bride urges self-control to the unmarried. She says, “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases” (Song 2:7 ESV). This same counsel is given in similar forms in 3:5 and 8:4. Awakening love—most specifically, sexual intimacy—is for the marriage covenant. Such is God’s designed context for sex, and the violation of God’s design would be to awaken love before “it pleases.”
Solomon’s Song tells of strong covenant love, and this covenant is marked by delights that recall the glories of Eden’s garden. The couple are naked and unashamed (Song 4:1–5:1). Their love thrives in vibrant settings (Song 2:12–13; 6:2, 11; 7:11–13). In fact, their words portray one another as a kind of paradise to enjoy. To her, he is “a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Engedi” (1:14 ESV). To him, she is a “garden” and “a fountain” (4:12, 15; 5:1 ESV).
So strong is the couple’s love that the woman says, “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave” (Song 8:6). The strength of the grave was obvious, because no one could avoid it. Death was a fierce consumer of image-bearers under the sun. But now, behold the power of steadfast covenant love! This love rivals death’s power. This devotion, this jealousy, is fierce enough to get the grave’s attention. This love is so strong that it’s like flashes of fire that cannot be quenched, flames that cannot be drowned by floodwaters (8:6–7).
We marvel at the couple’s devotion and love. Their beautiful imagery, sensual tones, and unashamed desire are moving to read. We might even find ourselves longing for the kind of edenic peace and love they have. Might the biblical author intend for their desires to prompt and direct our hearts toward something higher, deeper, and lasting?
A covenant parable
Consider these words about “my beloved” and “his vineyard”:
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. (ESV)
While the Song of Songs includes references to fruit and vineyards and titles (e.g., “my beloved”), the passage you just read is not from the Song of Songs. But it sounds like it would be! It’s actually from Isaiah 5:1–2. And the important thing to notice about Isaiah 5:1–2 is the interpretation the passage gives: “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting” (5:7 ESV).
God’s covenant relationship with Israel provides the reason for this language in Isaiah 5:1–2. In Exodus 24, the Lord entered into a covenant with Israel at Sinai. One way the Bible depicts their relationship is with marital terms. God was the “husband” in the covenant (Jer 2:2; 31:32). The Israelites were the corporate wife (Hos 2:1–5). Though God had redeemed the Israelites and made them his own, they departed from their covenant obligations and chose the ways of idolatry and immorality (Ezek 16:8–22). They were spiritually unfaithful, like an adulterous spouse who forsook the covenant (Hos 1:2–3; 2:2).
The institution of marriage serves as a parable of a greater and lasting union—the union between Christ and his church.
Earthly marriage exists as a parable of God’s covenant relationship with his people. Not only is this truth evident in the Old Testament, the New Testament teaches it, as well. Framing the matter christologically, Paul says the marital union’s “mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Eph 5:32 ESV). The Lord Jesus is the bridegroom who came for his bride, the church (John 3:29; Eph 5:23, 25). He is the Last Adam (1 Cor 15:45), and his church is the corporate Eve.
The covenant between Christ and his people, however, is not the Sinai covenant of the Old Testament. A new covenant exists because of Christ’s perfect and sacrificial work upon the cross (Luke 22:19–20). Since the Old Testament prepares the way for and points toward Christ and the new covenant realities he would bring, we should not be surprised that the institution of marriage serves as a parable of a greater and lasting union—the union between Christ and his church.
This insight is crucial for understanding how the Song of Songs fits into the biblical story. Seeing the marital union in the Song as typological of Christ and his church is consistent with how marital language is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to speak of God’s relationship with his people. In fact, when you peruse commentaries on the Song of Songs, you realize that the dominant interpretation of the Song throughout church history sees the couple’s covenant love as pointing boldly toward the unbreakable union between the Lord and his new covenant people.
Connections to Israel’s story
In addition to the link between a marriage covenant and the Christ–church union, we see other connections in the Song of Songs to Israel’s stories and Scriptures. Solomon writes with an awareness of earlier biblical revelation, and this results in a series of “contact points” between his Song and earlier revelation.
Because the Song is in touch with greater themes and stories of the Old Testament, and because the New Testament authors see the Old Testament as anticipating the person and work of Christ, we can see the following links as strengthening the case that we ought to read the Song’s lyrics in a canonical light and not as a standalone document unrelated to prior or subsequent revelation.
Let’s briefly walk through the Song and identify five such connections.
1. The role of the wilderness
Song of Songs 3:6 describes columns of smoke in the wilderness as Solomon arrives for his wedding (3:6–11); 8:5 refers to the couple “coming up from the wilderness” (ESV), where the woman is leaning on her beloved.
The Israelites traveled through wilderness between Egypt and Sinai, and then between Sinai and the promised land. Wilderness journeying, in other words, was integral to their experience as God’s people. The exodus was the redemptive event that set these wilderness journeys in motion. Jewish tradition seems to confirm these connections because it employs the Song for reading during the annual Passover feast.
2. The object carried through the wilderness
In Song of Songs 3:7, Solomon’s arrival for his wedding is accompanied by pomp and circumstance—sixty mighty men who are armed and who are transporting the king (3:7–8). His uplifted status signals his importance. His carriage is made of wood, silver, and gold (3:9–10).
This scene of the uplifted king, and the elements which comprise the carriage, echo the transportation of the tabernacle and, especially, the ark of the covenant. The author is showing us that in order to understand what’s going on in the Song, we need help from outside the Song that will inform its imagery and movements. The larger context of biblical revelation is this context.
3. The imagery for the kisses
The husband tells his wife, “Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue” (Song 4:11 ESV). Her mouth flows with milk and honey, like the promised land the Lord described to Moses (Exod 3:8).
The man’s words associate the woman with the glory of Canaan. His bride is like that blessed land described with words like “milk” and “honey,” thrilling those who are to inherit it. By reading the language of the Song in a larger biblical context of God’s redemptive acts and promises, the imagery’s power is even stronger than if we read the Song as an isolated writing.
4. The garden language
In Song of Songs 4:12, the husband describes his bride as a locked garden and a sealed fountain. In 4:15 she’s a garden fountain of living water. She invites him to this garden—to her (5:1). She is no longer locked, no longer sealed.
The love and union of the couple in Solomon’s Song are like a return to Eden. Their marriage is a picture of humanity’s restoration to paradise.
The notion of a garden recalls Eden in Genesis 2–3, where God places his image-bearers in a sacred space. But in Genesis 3:22–24, God exiles the couple who had transgressed his command, and the garden was sealed. The love and union of the couple in Solomon’s Song are like a return to Eden, a reentry into a sacred space that had once been locked from further access. Their marriage is a picture of humanity’s restoration to paradise. Since marriage is a parable of the Christ–church union, the edenic echoes in Solomon’s Song stir the hope which the New Testament authors say is summed up in the Messiah. The Lord Jesus is the king who ushers his bride to paradise—a garden city, a new Jerusalem.
5. The claim about desire
In Song of Songs 7:10, the wife says, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me” (ESV). The Hebrew term for “desire” here is used in only one other Old Testament book—Genesis (specifically Gen 3:16 and 4:7). In Genesis 3:16, when God pronounced judgments upon the couple who had sinned, Eve heard these words: “Your desire shall be contrary to your husband” (ESV). This could be translated, “Your desire shall be for your husband” (NRSV, RSV, NKJV).
Worded this way, this language of judgment meets its reversal in Song of Songs 7:10. “Your desire shall be for your husband” becomes “His desire is for me.” The context of Genesis 3:16 is one of judgment and consequence; the context of Song of Songs 7:10 is one of blessing and security. In Solomon’s Song, we see a return to Eden and hear about the reversal of the curse! The curse meets its demise in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. He is the king who exercises dominion over sin and death.
Solomon’s Song presents other echoes of Israel’s stories and Scriptures in addition to the five connections above. But these five work to build a cumulative case that the richest reading of the Song of Songs will happen as we hear its lyrics alongside the messages of other biblical authors.
Unquenchable love
Near the end of the Song of Songs, the author—through the woman’s voice—exalts the steadfastness and strength of covenant love (Song 8:6–7). This good news is not about mere human love in an earthly sense. We know that human love can fail. Spouses sin against one another, and sometimes marriages end. The Bible’s story, however, is about divine love that pursues sinners, and this pursuit establishes a new covenant that rivals death and can never be quenched.
The gospel includes the good news of an unquenchable love toward his people. His mercy gives us living water and restores our communion with God. He has, so to speak, taken us through the locked door of Eden. We are reconciled, secure, and loved. We are the moment-by-moment recipients of divine benevolence. Christ is the beloved of his church, and his church is the delight of his heart.
Our reflections on the Song of Songs indicate that the book is layered. There is a compelling depiction of God’s good design for marriage and intimacy, but the Song means more than this. A canonical reading turns up the volume of the Song so that we can hear everything that has been present in those lyrics all along. The glory of Eden is there. The delight of the promised land is there. The journey through the wilderness is there. The power of covenant love is there. The joy of intimate fellowship is there. The security of union with Christ is there.
The disciple of Jesus says, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song 6:3).
Related books Mitch Chase recommends
- Tim Chester, Meeting Christ in the Garden: A Devotional of Classic Writings on the Song of Songs (Christian Focus, 2023).
- James M. Hamilton Jr, “The Messianic Music of the Song of Songs: A Non-Allegorical Interpretation,” 331-345 in WTJ 68 (2006)
Song of Songs: A Biblical-Theological, Allegorical, Christological Interpretation (Focus on the Bible | FB)
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Preaching the Word: The Song of Solomon—An Invitation to Intimacy
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