Who wrote Song of Solomon, and when?
Attributed to Solomon. Traditionally the 900s BC.
The heading attributes the Song to Solomon, and he is named several times inside it. Tradition has read this as authorship, placing the book in the 900s BC, and 1 Kings 4 says Solomon composed over a thousand songs. The Hebrew heading could also mean a song for Solomon, or about him, or in his style, and scholars are divided. Some accept Solomon's authorship, some think the poems were collected over a long period and reached their present form after the exile, and some date the whole work late. Nothing in the book depends on settling the question. The Song stands in the Hebrew Bible among the Writings and has been read at Passover in Jewish tradition since ancient times.
Who was Song of Solomon written to?
Israel, celebrating married love as part of God’s good creation; read at Passover in Jewish tradition.
The Song was first heard by Israel, a people whose Scriptures begin with a man and a woman in a garden and who saw married love as part of God's good creation. It is not a manual or a sermon; it is poetry to be sung, with a woman's voice leading, a man answering, and a chorus of the daughters of Jerusalem joining in. In Jewish tradition it is read at Passover, the festival of God's rescue and covenant love. Christians received it as Scripture too and have read it in the church for two thousand years. Its audience today is anyone who has loved and longed, married couples wanting to honour desire rightly, and anyone who wants to understand how deeply God loves his people.
What was happening at the time?
The Song is a collection of love poems between a woman (the Shulamite) and her beloved, with a chorus of the daughters of Jerusalem. It never mentions God directly. Jews and Christians have long read it also as a picture of God’s love for his people and Christ’s love for the church, while its first meaning is the beauty of human love within marriage.
Why was Song of Solomon written?
To honour love, longing and faithfulness as gifts of God, and to picture the covenant love between God and his people.
The Song sets out to honour love, longing, beauty and faithfulness as gifts of God, and to do so without embarrassment. Its first meaning is human love between a bride and her beloved, celebrated within commitment and marked by both passion and patience; three times the woman warns not to awaken love before its time. Beyond that, both Jews and Christians have long read it as a picture of God's covenant love for his people, and Christians of Christ's love for the church. Christians differ over how far to press that second reading, but most hold both together. In the wider story of the Bible, the Song echoes the garden of Eden and looks ahead to the wedding of the Lamb in Revelation, where the love story of God and his people is completed.
How to read Song of Solomon today
Read the Song as poetry, slowly and preferably aloud, and use a translation that marks who is speaking, since the voices change without warning. Watch the images: gardens, vineyards, spring, deer and fragrant spices, most of which meant something in the ancient world that a footnote can help with. Notice the refrain about not awakening love until it pleases, which appears in chapters 2, 3 and 8, and the great statement about love being as strong as death in chapter 8. Do not force every detail into an allegory, and do not strip out the spiritual reading either; let the human love be real first. If the frank imagery surprises you, remember that God put this book in the Bible. As you read, pray with thanks for love you have received, human and divine, and for faithfulness in your own relationships.
The key verse in Song of Solomon
Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love All the wealth of his house, It would be utterly despised.
Passages worth knowing in Song of Solomon
- Song of Solomon 1–2
Longing and delight
I am my beloved’s and he is mine.
- Song of Solomon 2:7
Do not awaken love
A refrain about patience until the right time.
- Song of Solomon 4
The wedding
The beloved praises his bride: you are altogether beautiful.
- Song of Solomon 5
Seeking and missing
Love includes absence and search.
- Song of Solomon 8:6-7
Love as strong as death
Many waters cannot quench love.
The main themes of Song of Solomon
- Married love
- Desire and restraint
- Beauty
- Faithfulness
- God’s love for his people
An outline of Song of Solomon
| Section | Chapters |
|---|---|
| Courtship | 1–3 |
| Wedding | 4–5 |
| Maturing love | 6–8 |