📖 Biblical Definition
The Song of Solomon (also titled Canticles or Song of Songs) is the Old Testament love-poem of Solomon — explicitly named in the opening verse as "The song of songs, which is Solomon’s" (1:1). It is one of his 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32) and the greatest of them (the Hebrew superlative "song of songs" parallels "holy of holies" and "vanity of vanities"). Written as a dialogue between a bridegroom and his bride, with watchmen and a chorus of daughters of Jerusalem, the book has been read across church history both literally (as a celebration of marital love within covenant) and allegorically (as the relationship between Christ and His church). Both readings have warrant; the literal grounds the allegorical.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
SONG, n.
expand to see more
1. In general, that which is sung or uttered with musical modulations of voice. 2. Song of Solomon — an inspired allegorical and matrimonial poem in the Old Testament.
📖 Key Scripture
Song of Solomon 1:2 — "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine."
Song of Solomon 2:16 — "My beloved is mine, and I am his."
Song of Solomon 8:6 — "Set me as a seal upon thine heart... for love is strong as death."
Song of Solomon 8:7 — "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Two errors: prudish allegorizing that erases the body; modern eroticism that erases the covenant.
expand to see more
The Song of Solomon survives both extremes by refusing to choose between them. The poem is unmistakably about married love — the bride and bridegroom delight in each other's bodies in language frank enough to embarrass Victorian commentators. It is also unmistakably theological — the New Testament repeatedly applies bridal imagery to Christ and the Church (Eph 5, Rev 19). Both readings hold.
Modern Christianity often loses one or the other. Prudish traditions erase the body and reduce Solomon's Song to a coded sermon on Christ's love for the soul. Modern eroticism strips the covenant and extracts only the sex. Solomon writes both: covenanted, exclusive, embodied, jealous love — in marriage and in Christ. Read the Song; it heals two wounds at once.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew Shir HaShirim.
expand to see more
H7892 — shir — song
H8010 — Shlomo — Solomon; peace
Usage
"The Song refuses both prudery and licentiousness; covenanted love is its only category."
"Both readings hold — embodied marriage and the love of Christ for His Bride."
"Many waters cannot quench love — that is true of marriage and of the Lord."