Song of Songs 1:1-7
The Beloved (or She) begins our trip through this book in Song 1:1-4 speaking to her Lover—his love is intoxicating, like wine, like perfume. Here he is a king, a typical trope in wedding songs of Semitic cultures, which will be woven through the rest of the Song.
The friends or maidens who attend her chime in with praises for her lover.
In Song 1:5-6 she describes herself as “dark,” which is not considered as desirable, because she was forced to work out in the sun by her family. What do we know of her then? Is it a metaphor for our own shortcomings before our King? (How appropriate that yesterday was Christ the King Sunday!)
In Song 1:7 she begins searching for her King, wanting to find him, and asks, “Why should I be like a veiled woman (a prostitute) …?,” walking the streets looking for a lover. She asks that he reveal himself to her.
Personally, I see this section as a metaphor for my own search for God, my own sense of unworthiness inhibiting me at times, my prayer that he make himself known to me, especially in those times when I say, “Where are you, Lord?”
Note: The Song is certainly a celebration of God’s gift of human love, but one NIV introduction to it mentions that, while it has sometimes been seen as an “allegory of the love relationship between God and Israel, … or between Christ and the soul” this is not nearly the only way to interpret it and is not even encouraged as such.
Sorry this got so long! I’ll be more brief next time.
The king is a shepherd? This is interesting! As we read on we will see many connections to the woman’s beloved as the king. Carol even mentions that in her second sentence today. However, verse 7 suggests that he is a shepherd: Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions? As I read this verse the woman wants to be alone with her Beloved, maybe bringing him lunch (at noon) some place where he is out pasturing his sheep. The second half of the verse even strengthens this shepherd role for her Beloved, in that the woman does not want to be with him in the mixed company of other shepherds where she would have to veil her face. So is the Beloved a king or a shepherd – or both? If both, then Song of Songs truly does point to Jesus, the King of all Creation (as we learned yesterday) who is also the Good Shepherd. So let’s watch, folks – king or shepherd?