The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. Song of Solomon 1:1
My mother had some favourite poems that she loved to recite for us. I am not talking about rhyming couplets or little verses or even entire hymns; I am talking about lengthy poems that told a story or explored a subject that took her several – sometimes many – minutes to recite. There was one called the Churchwoman’s Prayer that told the tale of a religious woman’s hypocritical piety. And another called Preacher on Vacation in which an aged saint finds disappointment and a locked door on his arrival for Sunday morning services. Long poems, my mother loved them! Those of you who knew Lawrence Patterson will recall his delight at reciting lengthy poems for you. So we come to the Song of Solomon, a book of poetry, like the four books that come just before it. But this book has a greater significance than just its poetic beauty.
The poetic beauty of Song of Solomon cannot be fully appreciated unless we know the Hebrew language well. In that language, all of the poetic devices and language nuances are amazing in their unfolding. We lose much of that linguistic magnificence in the translations that we must use. The book is still a literary masterpiece in the King James Version, just not as wonderful as the original text. But we don’t read our Bibles just for the literary value, of course. We read to discover what God wants us to know about Himself. And the Song of Solomon is rich in its revelation of our Lord.
This book is a set of love poems. In one of its interpretations, it is an expression of pure marital love. But in its greatest interpretation, it is the expression of Jesus Christ and His relationship with His heavenly bride, the church. We find references to this wonderful relationship in the New Testament. For example, Ephesians 5:25: ‘Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it’. And again in Revelation 19 with its reference to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. In these we see the wonderful love of our Saviour, and His desire that we will be part of His loving bride for eternity. And that is more wonderful than any poetry. – Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/-TjcHehEYMg