The Song of Solomon is an amazing book that has caused so much controversy that many have questioned whether it belongs in the Bible. Song of Songs is patently a collection of ancient Hebrew love poems celebrating the experiences of a lover and his beloved as they taste the beauty, power, agony, and joys of human sexual love.
No book in Scripture has had such varied treatment. Saadia, a medieval Jewish commentator, said that it is like “a lock for which the key has been lost.” Old Testament commentator, Pope, counters this by saying “there is no key because the door is open to all who are willing to enter.” Delitzsch, one of the best Old Testament commentators I have ever read, called it “the most obscure book in the Old Testament.”
People have approached this book in various ways:
1) Allegorical – An allegory is an extended metaphor. An allegory normally is not rooted in history or the real world but is drawn from the mind and imagination of the author. Its purpose is not to present real events related to identifiable places and persons, but rather to communicate spiritual truth of an abstract nature.
The oldest documented interpretation of the Song of Songs sees it as an allegory. This position was well established by the first century of the Christian era and has had a long and illustrious history in both Judaism and Christianity. The Jews saw in the Song of Songs a depiction of the relationship of Yahweh to his chosen people, Israel.
But nothing in the text indicates that the intention of the author was to allegorize. The result is that the meanings in the text, if it is taken as allegory, are left to the imagination of every interpreter.
2) Natural – In the first century, some Jewish readers understood the Song of Songs literally. In the 5-6 century, Jovinian, a Roman monk, proposed that the book be used to demonstrate that “virginity and celibacy were not more virtuous than a holy marriage.” Robert Lowth, an eighteenth-century Anglican bishop, suggested that the book actually tells us about the marriage feast of Solomon.
3) Dramatic – The Song was a drama. A number of writers have picked this up and elaborated it. There has been no consistency, though, in the development of this view.
