Saturday, July 10, 2021

The Book of the Song of Solomon

 The song of songs, which is Solomon's.
Song of Solomon 1:1

"This is poetry.

All scripture, we are sure, is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable
for the support and advancement of the interests of his kingdom
among men, and it is never the less so for there being found in it some things dark and hard to be understood, which those that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction. 
---The best key to this book is the 45th Psalm, which we find applied to Christ in the New Testament, and therefore this ought to be so too.  
 
Title: Several titles have been suggested for the book, all taken from the first verse: “The Song of Songs”, “the Song of Solomon”, or “Canticles”. 
--The first title is a Hebrew way of expressing the superlative: “The Most Excellent Song”; 
--the second denotes authorship
--and the third means “Songs”, being taken from the Latin translation.
 
Authorship: The first verse of the book may be taken to mean the song written by Solomon or the song about Solomon
However, the Old Testament states that Solomon composed 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32), so one might expect him to be the author. Also, internal evidence points to Solomonic authorship: the geographical locations mentioned in the book imply a unified monarchy, and some details fit well with Solomon’s reign (compare the reference to the horses in Pharaoh’s chariots at 1:9 with 1 Kings 10:28-29). 
 
--Christian commentators, in their interpretation of the Song, viewing the bridegroom as Jesus Christ and the bride as His church. 
This has been the dominant Christian view for most of church history.
Exactly when this view was first embraced by Christians is not known. 
All one can say is that evidence of it exists as early as Hippolytus (ca. A.D. 200), though only fragments of his commentary have survived. Interpretations of the details of the Song have been quite varied.
The one who is brought into the king's chambers is said to be those whom Christ had wedded and brought into His church."
 BooksOfTheBible