Song of Solomon 1 Study Notes: The Woman Longs for Her Beloved
Solomon’s love song opens with a young woman longing for her beloved and telling the women of Jerusalem that working in her brothers’ vineyards under the sun has darkened her skin. She asks where he grazes his flock, and the two exchange words of praise.
General
In 1:5, whom does the woman address as she speaks about her appearance?
Answer: The daughters of Jerusalem
The woman turns to the daughters of Jerusalem, the young women of the city, and tells them that though she is dark she is still lovely, comparing herself to Kedar’s tents and to Solomon’s curtains (1:5). These women appear again and again in the Song as the listeners she speaks to. She asks them to carry a message to her beloved if they find him (5:8), and she gives them her solemn charge about waiting for love’s proper time (8:4).
- Song of Solomon 1:5 (BSB)“I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.”The woman speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem about her appearance.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.”Later she asks the same women to carry a message to her beloved.
- Song of Solomon 8:4 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.”Near the end she again addresses them with her charge about love.
Theological
To whom does the woman direct her words in 1:5 when she describes her complexion?
Answer: The daughters of Jerusalem
In 1:5 the woman addresses the daughters of Jerusalem, comparing herself to Kedar’s tents and Solomon’s curtains: dark, yet lovely. The daughters of Jerusalem function throughout the Song as a group of listeners to whom she speaks. She later charges them to bring word to her beloved if they find him (5:8), and she repeats to them her charge not to stir up love before its time (8:4).
- Song of Solomon 1:5 (BSB)“I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.”The woman speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem about her appearance.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.”Later she asks the same women to carry a message to her beloved.
- Song of Solomon 8:4 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.”Near the end she again addresses them with her charge about love.
General
Why does the woman say her skin is dark?
Answer: The sun darkened her while she kept vineyards
She asks the women not to stare at her, because the sun has darkened her (1:6). Her brothers, who were angry with her, had set her to work tending vineyards, and while she cared for theirs she neglected her own (1:6). Even so, she calls herself lovely (1:5), and her beloved later praises her beauty in the warmest terms (6:4).
- Song of Solomon 1:6 (BSB)“Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.”She explains that the sun has darkened her while she worked in her brothers’ vineyards.
- Song of Solomon 1:5 (BSB)“I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.”Just before, she tells the daughters of Jerusalem that though dark she is lovely.
- Song of Solomon 6:4 (BSB)“You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.”Her beloved later praises her as beautiful and lovely.
Theological
What reason does the woman give in 1:6 for her darkened complexion?
Answer: The sun darkened her while she kept vineyards
She explains that the sun has scorched her complexion (1:6). Her brothers, angry with her, had put her to work tending vineyards, so that she neglected the vineyard that was her own (1:6). Yet she insists she is lovely (1:5), and her beloved later extols her beauty (6:4).
- Song of Solomon 1:6 (BSB)“Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.”She explains that the sun has darkened her while she worked in her brothers’ vineyards.
- Song of Solomon 1:5 (BSB)“I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.”Just before, she tells the daughters of Jerusalem that though dark she is lovely.
- Song of Solomon 6:4 (BSB)“You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.”Her beloved later praises her as beautiful and lovely.
General
True or False: In 1:15-16 the man tells the woman she is beautiful, and she answers by praising him in return.
Answer: True
This is true. He exclaims over her beauty and compares her eyes to doves (1:15), and she answers at once that he too is handsome and delightful (1:16). Their praise is mutual: each one delights in the other. Scripture shows this kind of joy from the beginning, when the first man greeted the woman God had made for him with delight (Genesis 2:23), and Proverbs calls a wife a good gift that brings the LORD’s favor (Proverbs 18:22).
- Song of Solomon 1:15 (BSB)“How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.”The man exclaims over the woman’s beauty.
- Genesis 2:23 (BSB)“And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.””The first man greets the woman God made for him with joyful recognition.
- Proverbs 18:22 (BSB)“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.”Proverbs treats finding a wife as a good gift and a sign of the LORD’s favor.
Theological
True or False: In 1:15-16 the man’s praise of the woman’s beauty is answered by her praise of him.
Answer: True
This is true. His exclamation over her beauty, likening her eyes to doves (1:15), is met at once by her answering praise of him as handsome and delightful (1:16). The delight is reciprocal. It echoes the first man’s joyful recognition of the woman God brought to him (Genesis 2:23), and Proverbs counts a wife a good gift and a token of the LORD’s favor (Proverbs 18:22).
- Song of Solomon 1:15 (BSB)“How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.”The man exclaims over the woman’s beauty.
- Genesis 2:23 (BSB)“And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.””The first man greets the woman God made for him with joyful recognition.
- Proverbs 18:22 (BSB)“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.”Proverbs treats finding a wife as a good gift and a sign of the LORD’s favor.
General
According to the opening verse, which king is this song connected with?
Answer: King Solomon
The book opens by naming itself the Song of Songs and linking it with Solomon (1:1), the son of David who ruled over Israel. The book of Kings records that Solomon was a gifted writer whose songs ran to more than a thousand (1 Kings 4:32). The poem that follows celebrates the love between a man and a woman, a love God Himself designed when He made the first marriage and joined husband and wife as one (Genesis 2:24). The Song has been read both as a celebration of human love and marriage and, by many Christians through the centuries, as a picture of the love between God and His people, which Paul connects with marriage when he speaks of Christ’s love for His church (Ephesians 5:31-32).
- Song of Solomon 1:1 (BSB)“This is Solomon’s Song of Songs.”The opening verse gives the book its title and links it with Solomon.
- 1 Kings 4:32 (BSB)“Solomon composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.”Kings records that Solomon wrote a great many songs as well as proverbs.
- Genesis 2:24 (BSB)“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”God’s design for marriage, in which husband and wife become one, stands behind the love the Song celebrates.
- Ephesians 5:31-32 (BSB)““For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.”Paul quotes the creation pattern of marriage and connects it with Christ’s love for His church.
Theological
With whom does the superscription in 1:1 associate the Song?
Answer: King Solomon
The superscription titles the book the Song of Songs and associates it with Solomon (1:1). Kings attests that Solomon composed songs by the thousand alongside his proverbs (1 Kings 4:32). The poem celebrates the love of a man and a woman, a love rooted in the Creator’s design for marriage, in which husband and wife become one (Genesis 2:24). The Song has been read both as a celebration of human love within marriage and, widely in church history including among Reformed writers, as a picture of the love between God and His people, a link Paul himself draws when he applies the marriage bond to Christ’s love for His church (Ephesians 5:31-32).
- Song of Solomon 1:1 (BSB)“This is Solomon’s Song of Songs.”The opening verse gives the book its title and links it with Solomon.
- 1 Kings 4:32 (BSB)“Solomon composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.”Kings records that Solomon wrote a great many songs as well as proverbs.
- Genesis 2:24 (BSB)“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”God’s design for marriage, in which husband and wife become one, stands behind the love the Song celebrates.
- Ephesians 5:31-32 (BSB)““For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.”Paul quotes the creation pattern of marriage and connects it with Christ’s love for His church.
General
In 1:7, what does the woman ask the one she loves?
Answer: Where he grazes his flock and rests it at noon
She asks him where he takes his sheep to graze and where he lets them lie down in the heat of the day, because she does not want to wander like a woman wearing a veil among the flocks of his companions (1:7). The reply tells her that if she does not know, she should trace the path the sheep have taken and pasture her young goats near where the shepherds camp (1:8). Young women in Bible times often tended flocks, as Rachel did (Genesis 29:9), and a good shepherd led his flock to pasture and rest (Psalm 23:1-2). Her question shows how much she longs to be where he is.
- Song of Solomon 1:7-8 (BSB)“Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions? If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.”She asks where he pastures his flock, and the reply tells her how to find the shepherds.
- Genesis 29:9 (BSB)“While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.”Rachel, a young woman, came with her father’s sheep because she was a shepherdess.
- Psalm 23:1-2 (BSB)“A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”A shepherd’s care is pictured as leading the flock to green pastures and quiet waters.
Theological
What does the woman want to learn from her beloved in 1:7?
Answer: Where he grazes his flock and rests it at noon
She asks where he grazes his flock and where he gives it rest at noon, unwilling to wander as a woman in a veil among his companions’ flocks (1:7). The answer directs her to trace the trail of the sheep and graze her goats close to the shepherds’ encampment (1:8). The pastoral setting reflects ordinary life in Bible times, when young women such as Rachel tended flocks (Genesis 29:9) and a shepherd’s care meant leading his sheep to pasture and rest (Psalm 23:1-2). Her question expresses her longing to be with him.
- Song of Solomon 1:7-8 (BSB)“Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions? If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.”She asks where he pastures his flock, and the reply tells her how to find the shepherds.
- Genesis 29:9 (BSB)“While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.”Rachel, a young woman, came with her father’s sheep because she was a shepherdess.
- Psalm 23:1-2 (BSB)“A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”A shepherd’s care is pictured as leading the flock to green pastures and quiet waters.