The Song of Songs is devoted to the love between a husband and wife. It’s so charged with passion that sometimes it makes people uncomfortable, but it also celebrates the joy of a loving marital relationship.

Sometimes the Song of Songs is compared to the relationship between God and Israel, or Christ and the church, but it wasn’t written for those purposes.

In the New Testament Paul refers to the Church as the bride of Christ, an analogy that suggests the passionate love of Jesus for the Church. It also tells the Church what kind of love and devotion Jesus deserves. But when the Song of Songs was written, no one knew the name of Jesus or anything about the Church. The Song of Songs was written to celebrate the courtship and marriage of King Solomon and his bride.

The poem is mostly written in the voice of the bride who is only identified as a Shulammite, a name for someone from Shulem. She was a country girl, used to working in the sun, which darkened her complexion, a condition that made her feel less attractive, but didn’t dampen Solomon’s ardor for her.

The poem describes five meetings during the courtship and culminates on the wedding night. Afterward the bride reflects upon how she waited for her husband throughout her girlhood and now has gladly given herself to him. She is grateful for her brothers who kept her safe and arranged her marriage.

“But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.” Song of Songs 8:12

The First Meeting, Song of Songs 1:2 – 2:7

The Shulammite became engaged to Solomon and was filled with anticipation of her marriage.

“Take me away with you – let us hurry! Let the king take me to his chambers.” Song of Songs 1:4

Her friends congratulate her and praise this new love.

“We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine.” Song of Songs 1:4

The young woman is amazed that Solomon finds her beautiful. She has been under the authority of her brothers who made her work and never gave a hint that they thought she was beautiful. Now that she has someone who loves her, she wants to be with him all of the time.

“Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday.” Song of Songs 1:7

Meanwhile, Solomon muses upon the beauty of his fiancée. He loves her beautiful face and wants to adorn it with jewels. The flirtatious narrative goes back and forth between Solomon and the young woman as they imagine what their life will be like once they are married.

The Shulammite closes the first meeting by reminding her friends that it is not yet time to think about the consummation of her love.

“Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” Song of Songs 2:7

The Second Meeting, Song of Songs 2:8 – 3:5

Solomon comes to visit his fiancée. She watches him as he comes bounding over the hills toward her and sees him peering through the lattice to catch glimpse of her. He speaks lovingly to her, and tells her that the waiting will soon be over. When she comes away with him there will be flowers, bird song, and a season of singing.

He longs to see her face.

“My dove in the cleft of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” Song of Songs 2:14

That night the girl has a dream of her beloved. She dreams that she is looking for him and when she finds him, she brings him home to her mother’s house, to the room where her mother conceived her. When she awakens, she remembers again that it is not yet time to consummate her love.

“Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” Song of Songs 3:5

The Third Meeting, Song of Songs 3:6 – 5:1

The Shulammite is invited to a procession where she sees Solomon in all of his kingly glory. He sees her in the crowd and rejoices over her beauty.

“How beautiful you are my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from the hills of Gilead . . . You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you . . . You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.” Song of Songs 4:1, 7, 9

The bride knows the effect her presence has upon her groom. She looks forward to welcoming him into her arms.

“Awake north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.” Song of Songs 4:16

The Fourth Meeting, Song of Songs 5:2 – 6:3

The young woman has another dream that her fiancé comes to find her in the night, but she is too slow to let him in and he goes away. As her desire for him grows she goes out to find him, but he is nowhere to be found. Instead night watchmen catch her wandering in the streets and punish her for being outside alone in the night.

She gives up asking her friends to help her wait for the right time for love.

“Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you – if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.” Song of Songs 5:8

The Fifth Meeting, Song of Songs 6:4 – 8:4

The period of engagement is coming to a close. Solomon and his fiancée frankly admire each other’s bodies and anticipate making love on their wedding night. The Shulammite’s friends teasingly try to hold her back from going to Solomon.

“Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!” Song of Songs 6:13

The bride wishes that Solomon could be like one of her brothers so she could kiss him without causing a scandal.

“Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you and no one would despise me.” Song of Songs 8:1

But it’s not quite time yet to enjoy the intimacy she anticipates.

“Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” Song of Songs 8:4

The Consummation of Love, Song of Songs 8:5-7

 The friends of the bride finally see her on the arm of her groom as he brings her from her home to his.

“Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?” Song of Songs 8:5

At his home, in the garden of the place where he was conceived, Solomon and his bride become one. Their love is stronger than death, blazing like a fire. Nothing compares to it.

“Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” Song of Songs 8:7

Afterward the bride reflects upon her girlhood and how carefully her brothers cared for her. While she may have chafed at their restrictions then, now she is glad because she feels that who she has become as Solomon’s bride is priceless.

Now that they are married, when Solomon calls to her she can respond.

He: “You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice”

She: “Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountain.” Song of Songs 8:13-14

This is the joy God intended for people when he created marriage. It’s an ideal that is worth knowing about, and that must be why it’s in the Bible.