You can’t inform the entire story of the Bible with out speaking about marriage. To start with, God created a person and a girl and put them in a covenant relationship with one another (Gen 2:21–25). And on the finish, 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 Previous Testomony is stuffed with guarantees and patterns that will likely be fulfilled (Luke 24:27, 45–47; Col 2:17), and the New Testomony is primarily about this success.
Nonetheless, some sections of Scripture, at the least at first, don’t appear to play a job within the story. One instance of those sections is the Track of Songs.
How does the Track of Songs match into the general story of Scripture? Its fashion is poetic, its language is provocative, and its imagery is stuffed with animals, vegetation, and issues that have interaction your senses. The mixture of those options makes it tough for readers to know what’s happening within the Track.
Possibly you’ve considered the Track as a form of standalone doc that appears disconnected from what precedes and follows it. Possibly its content material has appeared so in contrast to different sections of Scripture that you simply’ve not contemplated any inter-biblical relationship between it and the themes and tales of Israel’s life. Possibly its romantic and sensual tones have, in your thoughts, excluded it from taking part in any significant canonical position. And possibly its numerous and unusual interpretations throughout historical past have numbed your instincts to learn the Track as something apart from a lyric about intimacy within the lifetime of a married couple.
On this article, I intention to steer you that the Track of Songs not solely matches into the canonical circulation of Scripture, but additionally contributes to the christological hope that the biblical authors nurture and advance. To do that, we are going to:
- Think about the authorship of the Track and why that issues
- Discover ethical functions to the viewers
- Replicate on marriage as a parable of one thing higher than human love
- Spotlight connections between the Track and the historical past of Israel
- Be a part of the creator in celebrating the unquenchable nature of the couple’s covenant love
Taken collectively, as a cumulative case, these parts tune the reader’s ear to the facility of the Track’s messianic music.
Written by the son of David
The earliest place within the Track of Songs that connects us to Israel’s story is the primary verse. We learn that the Track of Songs “is Solomon’s” (Track 1:1). King Solomon dominated for forty years over the land of Israel, from roughly 970 to 930 BC. Throughout his peaceable and affluent reign, he “spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs had been 1,005” (1 Kgs 4:32 ESV).
The proverbial and lyrical output of Solomon was staggering. The guide of Proverbs comprises a lot of this king’s sensible sayings (e.g., Prov 1–9), and the Track of Songs is seemingly one among his many compositions that match within the music class. Certainly, calling this doc the “Track of Songs” makes use of a superlative to spotlight the significance of this composition. Simply because the tabernacle had a “Holy of Holies” to designate a very powerful and sacred room, the phrase “Track of Songs” attracts consideration to the guide’s significance and worth.
Solomon was a king who shepherded his individuals with reality. His Track esteemed the goodness and pleasure of marriage.
By recognizing the authorship of the Track, we’re higher geared up to interpret it as a chunk of knowledge from Israel’s king. Since Israel’s king was like a nationwide shepherd (for the notion of kings as shepherds, see, for instance, Jer 23:1–8), the eight chapters of the Track are Solomon’s musical effort to nourish his individuals’s imaginations and hearts with magnificence and delight. The king was the pinnacle of the covenant individuals, and, particularly, the Track of Songs, just like the guide of Proverbs, was helpful for the covenant lifetime of the Israelites, as a result of the Israelites wanted to know tips on how to stroll correctly within the worry of the Lord. Solomon was a king who shepherded his individuals with reality. His Track esteemed the goodness and pleasure of marriage, and exhorted the single to stay with chastity and self-control.
However Solomon was additionally the fast successor of David. King David had obtained covenant guarantees about how a descendant would reign on the throne without end (2 Sam 7:12–13). So David’s successor was naturally of curiosity to the biblical authors and the covenant individuals as a pointer to the Better Son who would come. And though Solomon was not the Messiah, he was the primary descendant of David to rule. He thus started the sample of Davidic descendants that will result in the Messiah (Matt 1:6–16).
Discover top-ranked commentaries on the Track of Solomon utilizing our best commentaries locator.
(Not) awakening love
A technique that the Track of Songs matches in Scripture is by directing the covenant individuals into covenant faithfulness. And by guiding us into sensible residing, the Track serves to arrange the best way for brand new covenant glories and our life in Christ.
The creator of the Track describes the couple’s love with language of pleasure and need. He associates the eager for intimacy with thrilling urgency (Track 1:4; 4:16), overwhelming need (2:5), and intoxicating aromas (4:14; 7:8–9, 13). Actually, the goodness of God’s design for marriage is on full show.
The couple’s phrases towards each other convey attentiveness, devotion, and exclusivity. She stands out to him like a lily amongst brambles (2:2). He stands out to her like an apple tree in a forest of bushes (2:3). She pronounces, “My beloved is mine, and I’m his” (2:16 ESV). This conviction of belonging enriches the connection as a result of it denotes peace, safety, and covenant love.
Different voices have fun the awakening of the couple’s love. “We are going to exult and rejoice in you” (Track 1:4 ESV), says a refrain of voices. Within the context of the couple’s consummation, voices exhort them, “Eat, buddies, drink, and be drunk with love!” (5:1 ESV). Such remarks verify that the person and lady’s intimacy isn’t immoral. This husband and spouse are rightly delighting in marital intimacy, and the third-party voices cheer on this pursuit.
Solomon’s Track tells of sturdy covenant love, and this covenant is marked by delights that recall the glories of Eden’s backyard.
At a number of factors in Solomon’s Track, the bride urges self-control to the single. She says, “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the sphere, that you simply not fire up or awaken love till it pleases” (Track 2:7 ESV). This identical counsel is given in related kinds in 3:5 and eight:4. Awakening love—most particularly, sexual intimacy—is for the wedding covenant. Such is God’s designed context for intercourse, and the violation of God’s design can be to awaken love earlier than “it pleases.”
Solomon’s Track tells of sturdy covenant love, and this covenant is marked by delights that recall the glories of Eden’s backyard. The couple are bare and unashamed (Track 4:1–5:1). Their love thrives in vibrant settings (Track 2:12–13; 6:2, 11; 7:11–13). The truth is, their phrases painting each other as a form of paradise to take pleasure in. To her, he’s “a cluster of henna blossoms within the vineyards of Engedi” (1:14 ESV). To him, she is a “backyard” and “a fountain” (4:12, 15; 5:1 ESV).
So sturdy is the couple’s love that the lady says, “Set me as a seal upon your coronary heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is powerful as loss of life, jealousy is fierce because the grave” (Track 8:6). The power of the grave was apparent, as a result of nobody might keep away from it. Loss of life was a fierce client of image-bearers below the solar. However now, behold the facility of steadfast covenant love! This love rivals loss of life’s energy. This devotion, this jealousy, is fierce sufficient to get the grave’s consideration. This love is so sturdy that it’s like flashes of fireplace that can’t be quenched, flames that can’t be drowned by floodwaters (8:6–7).
We marvel on the couple’s devotion and love. Their lovely imagery, sensual tones, and unashamed need are transferring to learn. We would even discover ourselves eager for the form of edenic peace and love they’ve. Would possibly the biblical creator intend for his or her wishes to immediate and direct our hearts towards one thing increased, deeper, and lasting?
A covenant parable
Think about these phrases about “my beloved” and “his winery”:
Let me sing for my beloved my love music regarding his winery: My beloved had a winery on a really fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with alternative vines; he constructed a watchtower within the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he appeared for it to yield grapes, but it surely yielded wild grapes. (ESV)
Whereas the Track of Songs consists of references to fruit and vineyards and titles (e.g., “my beloved”), the passage you simply learn is not from the Track of Songs. But it surely feels like it will be! It’s truly from Isaiah 5:1–2. And the essential factor to note about Isaiah 5:1–2 is the interpretation the passage offers: “For the winery of the Lord of hosts is the home of Israel, and the boys of Judah are his nice planting” (5:7 ESV).
God’s covenant relationship with Israel supplies the rationale for this language in Isaiah 5:1–2. In Exodus 24, the Lord entered right into a covenant with Israel at Sinai. A technique the Bible depicts their relationship is with marital phrases. God was the “husband” within the covenant (Jer 2:2; 31:32). The Israelites had been the company spouse (Hos 2:1–5). Although God had redeemed the Israelites and made them his personal, they departed from their covenant obligations and selected the methods of idolatry and immorality (Ezek 16:8–22). They had been spiritually untrue, like an adulterous partner who forsook the covenant (Hos 1:2–3; 2:2).
The establishment of marriage serves as a parable of a higher and lasting union—the union between Christ and his church.
Earthly marriage exists as a parable of God’s covenant relationship together with his individuals. Not solely is that this reality evident within the Previous Testomony, the New Testomony teaches it, as effectively. Framing the matter christologically, Paul says the marital union’s “thriller is profound, and I’m saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Eph 5:32 ESV). The Lord Jesus is the bridegroom who got here for his bride, the church (John 3:29; Eph 5:23, 25). He’s the Final Adam (1 Cor 15:45), and his church is the company Eve.
The covenant between Christ and his individuals, nevertheless, isn’t the Sinai covenant of the Previous Testomony. A brand new covenant exists due to Christ’s good and sacrificial work upon the cross (Luke 22:19–20). For the reason that Previous Testomony prepares the best way for and factors towards Christ and the brand new covenant realities he would deliver, we shouldn’t be stunned that the establishment of marriage serves as a parable of a higher and lasting union—the union between Christ and his church.
This perception is essential for understanding how the Track of Songs matches into the biblical story. Seeing the marital union within the Track as typological of Christ and his church is according to how marital language is used elsewhere within the Previous Testomony to talk of God’s relationship together with his individuals. The truth is, whenever you peruse commentaries on the Track of Songs, you notice that the dominant interpretation of the Track all through church historical past sees the couple’s covenant love as pointing boldly towards the unbreakable union between the Lord and his new covenant individuals.
Connections to Israel’s story
Along with the hyperlink between a wedding covenant and the Christ–church union, we see different connections within the Track of Songs to Israel’s tales and Scriptures. Solomon writes with an consciousness of earlier biblical revelation, and this leads to a sequence of “contact factors” between his Track and earlier revelation.
As a result of the Track is in contact with higher themes and tales of the Previous Testomony, and since the New Testomony authors see the Previous Testomony as anticipating the particular person and work of Christ, we are able to see the next hyperlinks as strengthening the case that we must learn the Track’s lyrics in a canonical mild and never as a standalone doc unrelated to prior or subsequent revelation.
Let’s briefly stroll by means of the Track and determine 5 such connections.
1. The position of the wilderness
Track of Songs 3:6 describes columns of smoke within the wilderness as Solomon arrives for his marriage ceremony (3:6–11); 8:5 refers back to the couple “developing from the wilderness” (ESV), the place the lady is leaning on her beloved.
The Israelites traveled by means of wilderness between Egypt and Sinai, after which between Sinai and the promised land. Wilderness journeying, in different phrases, was integral to their expertise as God’s individuals. The exodus was the redemptive occasion that set these wilderness journeys in movement. Jewish custom appears to verify these connections as a result of it employs the Track for studying in the course of the annual Passover feast.
2. The item carried by means of the wilderness
In Track of Songs 3:7, Solomon’s arrival for his marriage ceremony is accompanied by pomp and circumstance—sixty mighty males who’re armed and who’re transporting the king (3:7–8). His uplifted standing alerts his significance. His carriage is product of wooden, silver, and gold (3:9–10).
This scene of the uplifted king, and the weather which comprise the carriage, echo the transportation of the tabernacle and, particularly, the ark of the covenant. The creator is displaying us that to be able to perceive what’s happening within the Track, we’d like assist from outdoors the Track that may inform its imagery and actions. The bigger context of biblical revelation is that this context.
3. The imagery for the kisses
The husband tells his spouse, “Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are below your tongue” (Track 4:11 ESV). Her mouth flows with milk and honey, just like the promised land the Lord described to Moses (Exod 3:8).
The person’s phrases affiliate the lady with the glory of Canaan. His bride is like that blessed land described with phrases like “milk” and “honey,” thrilling those that are to inherit it. By studying the language of the Track in a bigger biblical context of God’s redemptive acts and guarantees, the imagery’s energy is even stronger than if we learn the Track as an remoted writing.
4. The backyard language
In Track of Songs 4:12, the husband describes his bride as a locked backyard and a sealed fountain. In 4:15 she’s a backyard fountain of residing water. She invitations him to this backyard—to her (5:1). She is not locked, not sealed.
The love and union of the couple in Solomon’s Track are like a return to Eden. Their marriage is an image of humanity’s restoration to paradise.
The notion of a garden remembers Eden in Genesis 2–3, the place God locations his image-bearers in a sacred house. However in Genesis 3:22–24, God exiles the couple who had transgressed his command, and the backyard was sealed. The love and union of the couple in Solomon’s Track are like a return to Eden, a reentry right into a sacred house that had as soon as been locked from additional entry. Their marriage is an image of humanity’s restoration to paradise. Since marriage is a parable of the Christ–church union, the edenic echoes in Solomon’s Track stir the hope which the New Testomony authors say is summed up within the Messiah. The Lord Jesus is the king who ushers his bride to paradise—a backyard metropolis, a brand new Jerusalem.
5. The declare about need
In Track of Songs 7:10, the spouse says, “I’m my beloved’s, and his need is for me” (ESV). The Hebrew time period for “need” right here is utilized in just one different Previous Testomony guide—Genesis (particularly Gen 3:16 and 4:7). In Genesis 3:16, when God pronounced judgments upon the couple who had sinned, Eve heard these phrases: “Your need shall be opposite to your husband” (ESV). This may very well be translated, “Your need shall be on your husband” (NRSV, RSV, NKJV).
Worded this fashion, this language of judgment meets its reversal in Track of Songs 7:10. “Your need shall be on your husband” turns into “His need is for me.” The context of Genesis 3:16 is one among judgment and consequence; the context of Track of Songs 7:10 is one among blessing and safety. In Solomon’s Track, we see a return to Eden and listen to in regards to the reversal of the curse! The curse meets its demise within the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. He’s the king who workout routines dominion over sin and loss of life.
Solomon’s Track presents different echoes of Israel’s tales and Scriptures along with the 5 connections above. However these 5 work to construct a cumulative case that the richest studying of the Track of Songs will occur as we hear its lyrics alongside the messages of different biblical authors.
Unquenchable love
Close to the top of the Track of Songs, the creator—by means of the lady’s voice—exalts the steadfastness and power of covenant love (Track 8:6–7). This excellent news isn’t about mere human love in an earthly sense. We all know that human love can fail. Spouses sin in opposition to each other, and generally marriages finish. The Bible’s story, nevertheless, is about divine love that pursues sinners, and this pursuit establishes a brand new covenant that rivals loss of life and may by no means be quenched.
The gospel consists of the excellent news of an unquenchable love towards his individuals. His mercy offers us residing water and restores our communion with God. He has, so to talk, taken us by means of the locked door of Eden. We’re reconciled, safe, and cherished. We’re the moment-by-moment recipients of divine benevolence. Christ is the beloved of his church, and his church is the delight of his coronary heart.
Our reflections on the Track of Songs point out that the guide is layered. There’s a compelling depiction of God’s good design for marriage and intimacy, however the Track means greater than this. A canonical studying turns up the amount of the Track in order that we are able to hear every part that has been current in these lyrics all alongside. The glory of Eden is there. The delight of the promised land is there. The journey by means of the wilderness is there. The ability of covenant love is there. The enjoyment of intimate fellowship is there. The safety of union with Christ is there.
The disciple of Jesus says, “I’m my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Track 6:3).
Associated books Mitch Chase recommends
- Tim Chester, Assembly Christ within the Backyard: A Devotional of Traditional Writings on the Track of Songs (Christian Focus, 2023).
- James M. Hamilton Jr, “The Messianic Music of the Track of Songs: A Non-Allegorical Interpretation,” 331-345 in WTJ 68 (2006)
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