Thoughts on The Song of Solomon

I asked for God’s guidance and he led me to quite a provocative scripture passage, chapters 1 and 2 of the Song of Songs.  Do you think the Song of Solomon is controversial?  Do you think God is giving legitimacy to passionate, erotic love between a husband and his wife?  What do you think God’s message is in this passage?  Since God created man and woman in order to bring offspring into the world it seems to me that God shows in scripture that He believes love is a beautiful and wonderful thing.  Is the Song of Solomon yet another example of that?

Song of Solomon

Cant.1

[1] The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
[2] O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!
For your love is better than wine,
[3] your anointing oils are fragrant,
your name is oil poured out;
therefore the maidens love you.
[4] Draw me after you, let us make haste.
The king has brought me into his chambers.
We will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.
[5] I am very dark, but comely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
[6] Do not gaze at me because I am swarthy,
because the sun has scorched me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me,
they made me keeper of the vineyards;
but, my own vineyard I have not kept!
[7] Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you pasture your flock,
where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who wanders
beside the flocks of your companions?
[8] If you do not know,
O fairest among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your kids
beside the shepherds’ tents.
[9] I compare you, my love,
to a mare of Pharaoh’s chariots.
[10] Your cheeks are comely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
[11] We will make you ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
[12] While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave forth its fragrance.
[13] My beloved is to me a bag of myrrh,
that lies between my breasts.
[14] My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
in the vineyards of Enge’di.
[15] Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.
[16] Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved,
truly lovely.
Our couch is green;
[17] the beams of our house are cedar,
our rafters are pine.

Cant.2

[1] I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
[2] As a lily among brambles,
so is my love among maidens.
[3] As an apple tree among the trees of the wood,
so is my beloved among young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
[4] He brought me to the banqueting house,
and his banner over me was love.
[5] Sustain me with raisins,
refresh me with apples;
for I am sick with love.
[6] O that his left hand were under my head,
and that his right hand embraced me!
[7] I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the hinds of the field,
that you stir not up nor awaken love
until it please.
[8] The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
[9] My beloved is like a gazelle,
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
looking through the lattice.
[10] My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
[11] for lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
[12] The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
[13] The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away.
[14] O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the covert of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is comely.
[15] Catch us the foxes,
the little foxes,
that spoil the vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom.”
[16] My beloved is mine and I am his,
he pastures his flock among the lilies.
[17] Until the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle,
or a young stag upon rugged mountains.