According to the Hebrew Bible, the following five books are considered as one single book known as the “Five Scrolls”, each with a title of a feminine gender noun, placed right after Proverbs and just before Daniel: Ruth, Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther. Therefore, I plan to introduce these five books together this time.

The Song of Songs is a very unique book in the Bible. God is not mentioned anywhere. Furthermore, the book reads like a drama script written with provocative languages describing the intense love and chastity between a man and a woman in a sacred relationship of marriage.

The best way to read a script is to identify the main characters. There are three who have significant amount of dialogue in this book.  The first one is the leading female character, then the leading male. The third is the companions of the lead female, known as “daughters of Jerusalem”. The supporting cast includes: the shepherd (1:7-8), the watchmen (3:3 and 5:7), and the brothers of the lead female (1:6; 8:8-9). As a drama, Song of Songs can be broken down into:

1.   Appearance of the lead actor and actress (1:1-6)

2.   Act One:      Lead actor and lead actress being together (1:7-2:7)

3.   Act Two:      Anticipation, invitation and Imagination (2:8-3:5)       

4.   Interlude:      Contrast between lead actor and King Solomon (3:6-11)

5.   Act Three:    Longing and invitation (4:1-5:1)

6.   Act Four:      Dreaming and Searching (5:2-6:3)

7.   Act Five:      The sweet taste of love (6:4-8:4)

8.   Conclusion: Undying love (8:5-14)

Readers of this book may feel embarrassed by the unabashed descriptions of the love acts. It is not surprising for throughout the centuries, church history has shown that there have been plenty of efforts to allegorize this book so that it is read with the spiritual meaning only. In fact, as early as AD 500, a church council formally forbade any literal interpretation of the Song of Songs.  However, based on the account in Genesis 2, it was God who instituted the bonding between Adam and Eve, and placed them in the garden where their honest and chaste love towards one another knew no shame even when they were naked. It is God’s design that the two shall become one (Genesis 2:24-25). Within the sacred institution of marriage, the intense love acts between a husband and wife testify to the mutual commitment and chastity of such kind of beautiful relationship.

Was Solomon the lead actor? This is not an easy question. Some think that the man in 3:6-11was King Solomon. Others believe that it is a literary ploy to contrast the lead actor with Solomon. As to the “Shulammite” in 6:13, it has been interpreted as “Mrs. Solomon.” But there is no consensus amongst scholars. If one refers to the title “Song of Solomon” (1:1), one is on even more uncertain ground, because in Hebrew, this expression could be translated as “belonging to Solomon,” “by Solomon,” or “written for Solomon.” Fortunately, it is not a prerequisite to proper understanding of the Song of Songs, to be definitive about the author, or the lead actor being King Solomon.

(Note: There are many scholars after the work of Fee & Stuart was published who take different approaches to this book. It is wise to consult several other commentaries before firming up one’s view.)