The big picture
The Song Of Solomon opens without ceremony. Desire speaks first, comparing love with wine and a beloved name with perfume poured into the air. The woman then answers the gaze directed toward her by naming both her sun-darkened appearance and her beauty, while the vineyard language hints at labour imposed by others and care withheld from her own interests. Praise becomes increasingly extravagant without becoming one-sided. Pharaoh's horses, gold, silver, myrrh, henna, doves, cedar, and fir are all recruited to describe presence, value, fragrance, and attraction. The lovers answer each other rather than leaving one person as a silent object of admiration. By the close, a green bed and tree-like rafters create a shared space in which royal splendour and natural abundance belong to the same conversation.
Central truth
Song of Solomon opens with a woman's voiced desire, affirmation of her beauty amid harsh treatment, and direct search for the beloved among the shepherds' tents. The lovers answer one another with lavish praise and images of fragrance, shelter, and delight, while the closing charge places restraint beside intense affection.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Song of Solomon 1:1: “The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.”
Slow down at the turning point
Song of Solomon 1:7: “Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the…”
Keep this word trail visible
love, fair, beloved, black, comely, flock
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Song of Solomon 1:1–8
Song of Solomon 1:1
Read the title as a key
Begin with the heading and spend a minute on it. "The song of songs" is a superlative: the song above all songs. Tell the group they are reading poetry, not a narrated account with a plot laid out in order. Voices change without notice, images do the work that explanation does elsewhere, and the Book of the Song of Solomon prints no speaker labels. Teach this first because every later misunderstanding comes from reading poetry as a report. Set one habit now: listen for who is speaking and to whom, and say so only as far as the words show it.
Song of Solomon 1:2-4
Desire spoken in the open
The first voice is a woman's, and she speaks longing without apology. Point out the switch from "him" to "thy" in 1:2; Hebrew love poetry moves between speaking about the beloved and speaking to him. Explain savour as fragrance and name as reputation or character. Then show the group voice: "we will run after thee", "we will be glad and rejoice in thee", and "the upright love thee". Others share her admiration and approve of it. Teach this second so the class hears that Scripture gives words to desire and calls it good, before any embarrassment can set the tone for the whole book.
Song of Solomon 1:5-6
Dark and lovely, and the reason why
Read the two verses together, because 1:6 explains 1:5. She is dark from the sun, and she is in the sun because her mother's children were angry and put her to work in their vineyards. Explain Kedar as a desert people whose tents were woven of black goat hair, and set those tents beside the fine curtains of Solomon. Both pictures describe her. Name the injustice plainly: she was overworked by her own family. Then mark the line "mine own vineyard have I not kept", which most readers take as her own person, and tell the class it will return in 8:12.
Song of Solomon 1:7-8
A question with a place in it
Here the phrase "whom my soul loveth" appears for the first time; it will return in chapter 3, so make the group listen for it. Her question is practical: where does he feed the flock and where does he rest at noon. She will not wander among the companions' flocks like someone lost or of doubtful reputation. The answer in 1:8 sends her along the tracks of the flock to the shepherds' tents. Explain kids as young goats. Teach this movement last in the text because it ends the opening with action: she does not wait to be found, she asks and goes.
Song of Solomon 1:1-8
Name the readings once, then teach the text
Because this is the first lesson in the book, give the group the map of how it has been read. Many read it as a celebration of love between a husband and wife, a gift God made in Genesis 2. Jewish tradition has long read it also as the love between God and Israel and reads it at Passover. Many Christians from the early church onward have read it also as the love between Christ and his church, with Ephesians 5:25-32 in view. Present these as readings traditions hold, side by side. Then return to the plain words, since every reading has to begin there.
Song of Solomon 1:9–2:7
Song of Solomon 1:9-11
Praise in the language of the court
Start with the comparison that makes modern readers laugh, and use the laughter. Explain that Pharaoh's chariot horses were the pride of Egypt, chosen for beauty, decked in ornaments, admired by everyone who watched them pass. Then read 1:10-11, where the ornaments become hers: rows of jewels, chains of gold, borders of gold with studs of silver. Teach this first because it trains the group in how the whole Song speaks. The poem compares one quality, splendour here, and never means the listener to picture the whole object. Once the class sees that, the harder images later will not derail them.
Song of Solomon 1:12-17
Fragrance answers fragrance
Now let the woman answer. Explain spikenard as a costly perfume, myrrh as a resin often carried in a small pouch for its scent, and camphire as henna, whose blossoms grew in the vineyards of En-gedi, an oasis by the Dead Sea. She describes her beloved as a fragrance she keeps close. Then read 1:15 and 1:16 aloud with two readers, so the group hears the same words, "Behold, thou art fair", pass from one voice to the other. Close on 1:17: our house, our beams, our rafters. The love is shared, and its home is shared.
Song of Solomon 2:1-3
From lily to shade
Read 2:1 as a modest self-description. The rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys were common flowers of the coastal plain, not rare blooms. In 2:2 the beloved takes her own image and raises it: a lily among thorns, set apart from every other young woman. In 2:3 she answers with an apple tree among the trees of the wood, and then moves from comparison to experience: she sits in his shade with great delight and tastes his fruit. Teach the step from looks to shelter. Love here is not only admiration but rest and protection.
Song of Solomon 2:4-6
A banner, a feast and an embrace
Explain the banner as a standard lifted over a tribe or company, visible to all. What is lifted over her is love, so the image is public honour, not conquest. Explain banqueting house as a house of wine, a place of celebration. Then read 2:5 slowly and explain the old words: stay means sustain, flagons were raisin cakes, sick of love means faint with it. Read 2:6 plainly and briefly; it describes an embrace and needs no commentary. Spend the time on 2:4-5, where joy and weakness meet and love supports the one who is overwhelmed.
Song of Solomon 2:7
The refrain that guards love
End the exposition here, because the Song does. After the embrace comes a solemn charge, sworn by the roes and the hinds of the field, creatures that are beautiful and easily startled. Some readers hear in these Hebrew words an echo of oath formulas that name God. Explain the charge plainly: do not stir up or awaken love until its right time. Tell the group this refrain comes back in 3:5 and 8:4, marking sections of the book. The wisdom is that desire is good and powerful, and for that reason it should not be hurried or forced.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
Song of Solomon 1:1–8
"God is not even mentioned, so this is just a love poem that slipped into the Bible."
The book celebrates a love God himself made. Genesis 2:23-25 ends with a man and woman together and "not ashamed", and this Song gives that gift its own voice. Proverbs 5:18-19 speaks the same way. Jewish and Christian readers have also heard in it the love of God for his people. And 8:6 may contain the short form of the divine name inside the word for flame. Absence of the name is not absence of God.
"'Black, but comely' means her dark skin was something she had to overcome."
Read 1:6 before deciding. She is darkened because "the sun hath looked upon me", from labour her brothers forced on her. The images in 1:5 present both her colour and her loveliness as beautiful: the tents of Kedar and the curtains of Solomon. Many translators render the joining word as "and" rather than "but". In 1:8 she is called "fairest among women". The passage gives no basis for ranking anyone by complexion.
"Solomon is the one speaking all the way through."
The heading connects the book with Solomon, but the first voice is a woman's, and the reply in 1:8 addresses her as "fairest among women". There is also a group voice in 1:4. The Bible text prints no speaker names; those in some study editions are editors' suggestions. Teach the group to say the woman seems to say, or a group answers, and keep the voices as open as the text keeps them.
"We should skip the romantic parts in church and go straight to the spiritual meaning."
The Holy Spirit chose to give these words, so the church does not need to be ashamed of them. Every reading, whether of marriage, of God and Israel, or of Christ and the church, depends on the plain sense first. If love here means nothing, it can picture nothing. Teach modestly and without detail, as the poem itself does, and let 2:7 show that the book itself pairs desire with restraint.
Song of Solomon 1:9–2:7
"Comparing her to a horse is an insult."
Read 1:9 inside its setting. The horses are Pharaoh's, the finest in the world, and 1:10-11 goes straight on to jewels and gold. In this poetry a comparison points to one quality, here splendour and the way she draws every eye. Ask the group what a modern equivalent might be, then return to the text. Nothing in 1:9-11 mocks her; it is the opening of a long exchange of admiration.
"The rose of Sharon is Jesus, so this verse is about him."
In the poem the words of 2:1 most naturally belong to the woman, and in 2:2 the beloved takes up her lily image. Hymns that call Christ the Rose of Sharon belong to the long Christian reading of the Song as the love of Christ and his church, and they may be sung gladly. Say clearly that this is a devotional reading the church has held, not something 2:1 itself states, and teach the plain sense first.
"'Till he please' means you wait until the man decides."
The charge in 2:7 is about love itself not being awakened before its time, and many translations render the last words as until it please. The point is timing and readiness, not one partner's will ruling the other. The woman herself gives the charge, after praising a love that is mutual all through 1:12-2:6. Teach that the refrain protects both people, and that it gives nobody permission to push or to control.
"If the Bible has to warn us in 2:7, desire must be dangerous and bad."
The same passage celebrates delight without embarrassment: shade, fruit, a banquet and an embrace in 2:3-6. The charge follows the joy; it does not cancel it. Fire is good in a hearth and harmful when it spreads out of place, and the Song treats love in a similar way. Teach the group to hold both truths the text holds: desire is a gift, and a gift worth waiting for.
Learning objectives
- Identify the book's attribution in verse 1.
- Trace the woman's requests and descriptions.
- Explain the connection between sun, labour, and appearance.
- Distinguish her own vineyard from the vineyards assigned to her.
- Describe the practical request about the flock's midday rest.
- Separate printed speech from proposed speaker assignments.
- Identify the exchange of praise between the lovers.
- Explain the purpose of the horse and jewel images.
- Trace fragrance, shade, fruit, and banquet imagery.
- Distinguish poetic comparison from literal description.
- Locate the embrace and the concluding charge.
- Separate the passage's speakers from later devotional identifications.
Teacher preparation
- Read 1:1–8 and 8:11–12; mark recurring vineyards without fixing every occurrence as literal or metaphorical.
- Explain 'comely' as beautiful; reject a moral ranking of skin colours in 1:5.
- Mark singular and plural voices in 1:2–4; keep speaker assignments provisional.
- Read 1:6 before discussing appearance: sunlight and assigned labour are explicit.
- Avoid romantic role-play, body compliments, and personal questions; keep participation respectful and impersonal.
- Read 1:9–2:7 continuously so the chapter division does not separate the exchange of praise.
- Explain 'stay me' in 2:5 as a request for support; the woman is overwhelmed with love, not reporting hatred of it.
- Prepare cards for horses, jewels, fragrance, trees, and a banquet; do not assemble a literal portrait.
- Keep the KJV wording 'till he please' in 2:7 visible when discussing the refrain's interpretation.
- Plan an unembarrassed but restrained tone; avoid romantic role-play, body comparisons, and questions about participants' intimate lives.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Point to Song of Solomon 1:5–7: the woman describes herself, reports her family's anger and assigned labour, and asks where her beloved rests his flock. Point to Song of Solomon 1:15–16: praise is exchanged; 2:3–6 describes shade, fruit, a banquet, support, and an embrace.
Scripture-supported
Read Song of Solomon 1:6 beside 8:12: the recurring phrase about her own vineyard warrants attention to personal responsibility and self-possession. Read Song of Solomon 2:7 with 3:5 and 8:4: the repeated charge places protection or restraint alongside the poem's strong desire.
Strong inference
Infer from Song of Solomon 1:2,6–7 that she is an active participant, not silent scenery; requests, explanation, and search are voiced by her. Infer from Song of Solomon 1:13–2:4 that the sensory images convey treasured closeness and delight rather than supplying a literal portrait.
Possible or traditional reading
Present identifying the king and shepherd-beloved as the same person as one reading of Song of Solomon 1:4,7; distinguish it from an explicit identification. Present identifying the rose of Sharon in Song of Solomon 2:1 directly with Christ as a devotional reading; the passage itself does not name Christ.
Limit
State that Song of Solomon 1:5–6 gives no basis for equating dark skin with sin or assigning a precise modern ethnic category to the woman. State that Song of Solomon 1:9–2:7 gives no botanical certainty about every flower and no timetable for every relationship or permission for unwanted touch.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What does the heading attribute to Solomon, and what does it leave unstated?
What a good answer contains
The heading gives a title and a name: "The song of songs, which is Solomon's" (1:1). The phrase song of songs is the Hebrew way of saying the finest song, as holy of holies means the most holy place. The words which is Solomon's can mean by, for or concerning Solomon. A good answer notes what is missing: no list of speakers, no setting, no account of how the couple met. A weak answer makes Solomon the voice of every line.
Show teacher guidance
Use 1:1's wording; the heading names Solomon but does not assign every subsequent line to a speaker or explain the whole relationship.
2. What do kisses, wine, ointment, and a good name communicate in verses 2–3?
What a good answer contains
They say that desire is spoken openly and without shame: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine" (1:2). The ointment is fragrance, and "thy name is as ointment poured forth" (1:3) means his name, his character and reputation, is as attractive as his presence. A strong answer sees that she is drawn to the whole person, not only to how he looks. A weak answer turns wine, ointment and name into three separate doctrines.
Show teacher guidance
Recognize affectionate desire and attraction through the senses; do not assign a separate doctrine to each object.
3. How does the woman describe herself before reporting her family's anger?
What a good answer contains
She holds two things together: "I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem" (1:5). The two pictures carry both halves: "as the tents of Kedar", woven of dark goat hair, and "as the curtains of Solomon", costly and fine. Comely means lovely. A good answer keeps both words and hears her speaking with dignity to women who might look down on her. A weak answer treats her colouring as a flaw that her beauty has to overcome.
Show teacher guidance
Keep both 'black' and 'comely' in 1:5; do not make her beauty conditional on changing her complexion.
4. What explanation does verse 6 give for the sun's effect and neglected vineyard?
What a good answer contains
Verse 6 gives the cause plainly: "the sun hath looked upon me". Her mother's children were angry with her and made her keep the vineyards, so she worked outdoors in the heat, and "mine own vineyard have I not kept". The good answer names the anger, the imposed labour and the cost to herself. Her own vineyard most likely means her own person and care, a phrase that returns in 8:12. Nothing here is a confession of sin; a weak answer invents one.
Show teacher guidance
Name assigned labour and her mother's children's anger; distinguish this report from an invented confession of moral impurity.
5. What information does she want from the beloved at noon?
What a good answer contains
She wants a place and a time: "Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon" (1:7). She also gives her reason: she does not want to be "as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions", wandering among other men's flocks looking for him. A good answer hears a woman with a clear purpose who protects her own good name. A weak answer pictures her drifting aimlessly.
Show teacher guidance
Use 1:7: where he feeds and rests the flock; recognize a direct, purposeful request rather than aimless wandering.
6. How does verse 8 answer her concern without supplying a complete biography?
What a good answer contains
It gives directions rather than a biography: "go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents" (1:8). Follow the tracks and you will find the shepherds. The verse does not say who answers; some hear the beloved teasing gently, others hear the companions. A strong answer notices the address, "O thou fairest among women", which answers her worry in 1:6 about being looked upon. A weak answer supplies a speaker as if the verse named one.
Show teacher guidance
Identify flock tracks, young goats, and shepherds' tents; note the address 'fairest among women' while leaving the respondent's identity qualified.
7. What does comparing the woman to Pharaoh's horses accomplish in this exchange?
What a good answer contains
It says she is the most striking sight imaginable: "I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots" (1:9). Egypt's chariot horses were the finest and most richly harnessed in the ancient world, and 1:10-11 continues the picture with jewels, chains of gold and studs of silver. A good answer hears royal admiration in an older idiom. A weak answer hears an insult or a description of her shape, which misses how comparison works in this poetry.
Show teacher guidance
Read 1:9–11 as lavish praise alongside jewels and precious metals; resist treating an unfamiliar compliment as an insult or veterinary description.
8. How does the woman's answer make the admiration reciprocal?
What a good answer contains
She answers praise with praise. Her spikenard sends out its fragrance while the king sits at his table (1:12), and she says, "A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me" (1:13), a fragrance carried close. Then the lines mirror each other: "Behold, thou art fair, my love" (1:15) and "Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant" (1:16). A strong answer notices the echo and the shared "our" of 1:16-17. A weak answer has the man speaking and the woman only listening.
Show teacher guidance
Use 1:12–16: she describes the beloved through fragrance and declares him fair and pleasant; praise is not flowing in only one direction.
9. What changes when the imagery moves from a lily to an apple tree's shade?
What a good answer contains
The images move from distinction to shelter. She calls herself "the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys" (2:1), a wildflower of the plain. He lifts the image: "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters" (2:2). She answers with a tree, and then rest: "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste" (2:3). A good answer sees beauty become safety and delight. A weak answer forces all three verses into one voice.
Show teacher guidance
Trace 2:1–3 from distinguished beauty to shade, delight, and sweetness; avoid forcing all the lines into one speaker's mouth.
10. What does the banner over the banquet declare?
What a good answer contains
It declares love publicly: "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love" (2:4). A banner was raised over a company so everyone could see whose it was. Here what is raised over her is love itself, not a claim of ownership. Banqueting house is literally a house of wine, a place of feasting and joy. A good answer hears honour and open commitment. A weak answer makes her a captured prize under a conqueror's flag.
Show teacher guidance
Answer from 2:4: love; distinguish the image from a claim that the woman has become a military possession.
11. Why place support and an embrace after the banquet?
What a good answer contains
Because joy this great overwhelms her: "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love" (2:5). Stay means hold me up; the flagons are usually understood as cakes of raisins, food for the faint. Sick of love means faint with love, not tired of it. Then 2:6 gives the embrace that steadies her. A good answer sees care meeting weakness. A weak answer treats lovesickness as an illness to diagnose or as a feeling every believer must produce.
Show teacher guidance
Use 2:5–6 to describe overwhelming affection and care; do not convert poetic lovesickness into a diagnosis or required emotional performance.
12. What does the charge to Jerusalem's daughters add after such delight?
What a good answer contains
It adds restraint at the very height of delight: "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please" (2:7). The charge returns in 3:5 and 8:4, so it is a deliberate refrain. Most readers hear: do not stir love before its right time. A good answer holds delight and patience together. A weak answer turns the verse into a dating timetable or ignores it.
Show teacher guidance
Locate 2:7's restraint and retain its KJV wording; explain proposed readings without replacing the verse with a modern dating schedule.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Ask learners to rewrite a fictional character's description so that visible labour and appearance are not mistaken for measures of human worth.
Relationships and community
Have a group describe how listeners can take an overlooked worker's own explanation seriously rather than speaking over it.
Let the woman speak
Invite a short passage summary that includes her requests and judgments rather than describing only how others might view her.
Praise without possession
Invite a fictional exchange in which both people can speak appreciation and express boundaries without one voice overwhelming the other.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
Song of Solomon 1:1–8
45 minutes
What kind of book
Read 1:1 and explain song of songs as the finest song. Tell the group they are reading poetry with changing voices, and ask question one.
Her opening words
Read 1:2-4. Mark him and thy, and the group voice. Ask question two, then address confusion four briefly so the room relaxes.
Sun, brothers and vineyards
Read 1:5-6 together. Take questions three and four in order and deal with confusion two from the text of 1:6.
The question at noon
Read 1:7-8. Ask questions five and six. Point out the address fairest among women as the answer to 1:6.
Response and handout
Choose the application on letting the woman speak, hand out the sheet, read the key verse aloud together and close in prayer.
90 minutes
The surprise of this book
Ask why a book of love poetry might be in the Bible. Write the answers up without comment and return to them at the end.
Title and genre
Read 1:1 and 1 Kings 4:32. Ask question one and explain how poetry differs from a narrated account. Take confusion three here.
Desire in the open
Read 1:2-4. Ask question two. Read Genesis 2:23-25 beside it and work through confusions one and four.
Dark and lovely
Read 1:5-6 slowly. Ask questions three and four, explain Kedar, and take confusion two with care for anyone who has been judged by appearance.
Asking and going
Read 1:7-8. Ask questions five and six. Note whom my soul loveth and tell the group to listen for it in chapter 3.
How the book has been read
Present the marriage reading, the reading of God and Israel, and the reading of Christ and the church, side by side. Read Ephesians 5:25-32 without choosing among them.
Application
In pairs, take one of the three applications and share a sentence grounded in a verse from 1:5-8.
Back to the opening question
Return to the answers on the board, read the key verse together, point to the take-home line and pray.
Song of Solomon 1:9–2:7
45 minutes
A strange compliment
Read 1:9-11. Ask question one and handle confusion one quickly, so the group learns how comparison works in the Song.
Two voices, one echo
Read 1:12-17 with two readers taking 1:15 and 1:16. Ask question two and point out our house in 1:17.
Lily, thorns and shade
Read 2:1-3. Ask question three, then take confusion two about the rose of Sharon with a clear, kind answer.
Banner, feast and the charge
Read 2:4-7. Ask questions four, five and six, and work through confusion three on till he please.
Response and handout
Take the application on praise without possession, read the key verse together, give out the sheet and pray.
90 minutes
Compliments then and now
Ask the group for compliments that would sound odd in another century. Then read 1:9 and let them hear one from three thousand years ago.
Horses and gold
Read 1:9-11. Ask question one and take confusion one. Explain why Egyptian chariot horses were admired.
Fragrance answers fragrance
Read 1:12-17. Explain spikenard, myrrh, camphire and En-gedi. Ask question two with two readers for 1:15-16.
From lily to shade
Read 2:1-3. Ask question three, then confusion two. Let the group sing or read a familiar hymn line only after the plain sense is clear.
Banner and support
Read 2:4-6. Ask questions four and five. Read Proverbs 5:18-19 as another place where Scripture blesses delight in marriage.
The refrain
Read 2:7, then 3:5 and 8:4. Ask question six and take confusions three and four together.
Application
In small groups, work one application. The friends and privacy application suits mixed groups best.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and thank God for love that is both joyful and patient.
Adapting the lesson
Song of Solomon 1:1–8
Children
Tell the children this book is a song about the love between a husband and a wife, and that God made that love as a good gift. Keep to 1:5-8. Talk about a girl made to work hard in the hot sun by her brothers, who was still called the fairest among women. Ask how God sees people who are treated unfairly. Leave the kisses and the king's chambers aside.
Youth
Start with 1:5-6, because judgment by appearance is something teenagers live with daily. Let them see a young woman who was mocked for how she looked and who answers with dignity. Then read 1:2-4 plainly, say that desire is not shameful, and preview 2:7 so they hear that the book itself counsels patience. Do not ask about anyone's relationships, and offer a written way to respond.
Adults
Give time to genre and to the history of reading: the plain marriage sense, the Jewish reading of God and Israel, and the Christian reading of Christ and the church. Let the group weigh how each grows out of the text. Include single and widowed adults deliberately, and draw the application from 1:6 on family injustice and imposed labour as much as from the love language.
One to one
Read 1:1-8 aloud together and ask which line stood out. If the person has been judged by appearance or treated harshly at home, let 1:6 be heard as the woman telling her own side and being answered with honour in 1:8. Do not probe romantic history. If the person asks why the book is in the Bible, use the exposition step on the readings.
Song of Solomon 1:9–2:7
Children
Bring a flower and a picture of a big shady tree. Read 2:2-3 and talk about how a lily stands out among thorns, and how shade feels on a hot day. Explain that this is a song about a husband and wife who love each other, and that God made such love good. Many children know the chorus about his banner; say that the words come from 2:4.
Youth
Use the old compliments in 1:9-11 to open a conversation about how people speak about each other, especially online. Then show how the Song's praise honours a person rather than ranking bodies. Give the most time to 2:7 and its repetition: desire is good, and it is wise not to rush it. Keep the discussion general and never ask about anyone's relationships.
Adults
Spend time on how ancient imagery works, using the horses, spices and plants, and on the refrain of 2:7 as a structural marker through the book. Present the reading that hears Christ and the church in 2:1-4 alongside the marriage reading, and let the group see where each starts. For married adults, 1:15-16 is a picture of mutual honour worth naming.
One to one
Read 1:9-2:7 aloud together and ask which image is the hardest to picture and which is the most beautiful. Let the conversation stay with the text. If the person is waiting, single or longing for marriage, 2:7 can be heard as wisdom rather than as a rebuke. Do not press for personal details, and let the person lead any application.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Song of Solomon 1:1–8
The passage in brief
The Song of Solomon is a love poem, the finest of songs. It opens with a woman speaking her longing for the one she loves. She tells the women of Jerusalem that she is dark and lovely, darkened by the sun because her brothers made her work in their vineyards. She asks the one she loves where he rests his flock at noon, and she is told to follow the flock's tracks to the shepherds' tents.
A verse to keep
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
Song of Solomon 1:7 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Why does the woman say she is dark in 1:6, and who caused it?
What does she ask in 1:7, and why does she want to know?
What do you think it meant to her to be called fairest among women in 1:8?
This week
This week, speak one honest word of honour to someone who is usually overlooked or judged by appearance.
Song of Solomon 1:9–2:7
The passage in brief
In this part of the Song of Solomon the two lovers praise each other. He compares her to the splendid horses of Pharaoh and to a lily among thorns. She speaks of him as fragrance, as an apple tree giving shade, and as one who brings her to a feast where his banner over her is love. Then she charges the young women of Jerusalem not to stir up love until its right time.
A verse to keep
He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
Song of Solomon 2:4 · King James Version
Questions to take home
How do the two lovers answer each other in 1:15-16?
What do you think it means that the banner over her was love?
Why might the Song warn against stirring up love before its time in 2:7?
This week
Give one person this week a specific, honouring word of praise that notices who they are, not only how they look.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
