Song of Songs 1 Study Notes

1:8 Most beautiful of women is a term of address used twice elsewhere by the young women of Jerusalem for Shulamith (5:9; 6:1). Perhaps these other occurrences are evidence that the women of Jerusalem also speak here. If so, the reader can imagine that in 1:7 Shulamith addressed Solomon in soliloquy, similar to vv. 2b-4a. Young goats is literally “female kids” (used only here in the OT), and it invites a figurative explanation for such an unusual flock. It likely anticipates the praise of Shulamith’s long, flowing hair being like a flock of goats descending a mountain (4:1).

1:9 A mare among Pharaoh’s chariots would stir the chariots’ stallions, just as Shulamith would attract the attention of men. “Shepherds” (Hb ra‘ah, v. 8), which evidently refers to “companions” (v. 7), is a wordplay with my darling (Hb ra‘yah), Solomon’s first term of endearment for Shulamith. The name thus underscores their companionate friendship (5:16), in the imagery of shepherd and shepherdess.

1:10 Archaeological drawings show jewels decorating bridles of horses, so the imagery of jewels on the cheeks and in necklaces likely extends the metaphor of the mare.

1:11 Accented with silver is literally “with decorations of silver,” although the word for “decorations” is of uncertain meaning.

1:12-2:5 This section is in chiastic balance with 8:5-7 in the design of the Song (see outline in the Introduction): (a) he was a sachet of myrrh . . . between my breasts (1:13), and she requested to be a seal over his heart (8:6); (b) they enjoyed the “house” of nature and the “house of wine” (lit for banquet hall, 1:17; 2:4), but “all the wealth of his house” (lit) could not buy love (8:7); (c) she delighted in him, likened him to an apricot (or apple) tree (2:3), and she awakened his love under the apricot (or apple) tree (8:5); (d) she was “faint from love” (lit in 2:5), and she emerged from the wilderness “leaning on the one she loves” (8:5).

1:12 One may also translate on his couch as “in his realm,” similar to its meaning in 1Kg 6:29; 2Kg 23:5 (“surrounding”), the only other times this phrase appears in the OT.

1:13-14 Spending the night personifies the sachet of myrrh, suggesting it was like a pillow a young woman would hold pretending it was her lover. While Solomon was away and about his realm, Shulamith’s thoughts about him were as evocative as myrrh. Henna blossoms are white or red and fragrant like roses. En-gedi was an oasis in the desert, perhaps continuing the metaphor of Solomon’s protection from the sun (vv. 6-7).

1:15-2:3 Mutual praise escalates, each building upon the imagery introduced by the other: his praise of her beauty and eyes like doves (1:15) elicited like praise (1:16a) to which she added additional imagery (1:16b-17); her comparison of herself to a flower (2:1) then elicited like praise (2:2a) from him to which he added additional imagery (2:2b), which she reciprocated (like an apricot tree), but also climactically embellished (she delighted to sit in his shade, 2:3). Doves were repeatedly shown in the drawings of the day as literal “messengers of love.” The look of love in lovers’ eyes is unmistakable. Our bed is verdant (1:16) may also be translated “our resting place is in the branches’ foliage,” which is perhaps more consistent with the context and other OT usage.