Getting Started in Song of Solomon
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Song of Solomon is one of the most beautiful books in the Bible, and that may be why it is also one of the easiest books to mishandle.
Some avoid it. Some apologize for it. Some turn it into a marriage retreat. Some turn it into a codebook where every garden, tooth, lock of hair, and pomegranate secretly means something else that’s too awkward to speak out loud. Some preach it with nervous jokes because the text makes them uncomfortable. None of that will do.
Song of Solomon is Scripture. It is holy. It is poetry. It is about love. It is about more than human love. It celebrates covenant love between a man and woman, but it does so inside the larger story of Scripture, where gardens, bridegrooms, brides, longing, delight, absence, presence, covenant belonging, and love stronger than death all move toward Christ and his beloved bride, the church.
That means preachers and teachers need to approach the Song with both courage and restraint. Courage, because God put this book in the Bible, and we should not act embarrassed that the Holy Spirit knows what marriage is. Restraint, because this is not the place for crude humor, speculative allegory, or pulpit weirdness dressed up as boldness.
Getting started in Song of Solomon requires more than asking, “How do I preach this without getting fired?” A better question is this: How does this holy poem teach us to see love as God designed it, love as sin distorts it, and love as Christ redeems and fulfills it?
Before You Preach It, Decide How You Are Going to Read It
Preachers need to know how they are reading Song of Solomon before they try to preach it. Otherwise, the sermon will wander between marriage advice, romantic poetry, allegory, and awkward gospel application.
Christians have generally read the Song in several ways.
The Marital Love Reading
This approach reads Song of Solomon as a celebration of love between a man and a woman. There is much to commend here. The book really does speak of human love, beauty, desire, longing, pursuit, delight, and covenant belonging.
This reading matters because Christians should not be embarrassed by embodied love. God created man and woman. God created marriage. God created desire. God declared his creation good.
The Song helps correct both prudishness and paganism. Prudishness treats the body and desire as if they were embarrassing problems. Paganism treats the body and desire as appetites to be consumed. The Song gives us something better. It gives us desire ordered by love, delight, exclusivity, patience, and belonging.
Still, the marital love reading is not enough by itself. Song of Solomon is not less than a celebration of human love, but inside the whole canon of Scripture, it is more.
The Allegorical Reading
Many Christians throughout church history have read Song of Solomon as an allegory of God and Israel, or Christ and the church. Their instinct was not entirely wrong. They knew the whole Bible points to Christ. They knew Scripture often uses marriage language for God’s covenant relationship with his people. They knew the church is the bride of Christ.
The danger is that allegory can easily become untethered from the Text. Once every detail becomes a secret spiritual symbol, the preacher is no longer expounding the Song. He is touring the congregation through his imagination, and some imaginations should not be given a microphone. We can appreciate the Christward instinct of allegorical readings while rejecting uncontrolled symbolic guessing.
The Typological and Canonical Reading
The best way forward is a typological and canonical reading.
Typology allows us to read the Song as real poetry about real human love while also recognizing that this love participates in a larger biblical pattern fulfilled in Christ. Canonical reading means we read the Song as part of the whole Bible, not as an isolated poem floating somewhere between Proverbs and Isaiah.
This approach honors the plain sense of the text and the Christ-centered unity of Scripture.
The Song really does present the bride and bridegroom's love. The Bible really does move from a wedding in the first garden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Human marriage really does point beyond itself. Christ really does love his bride. The church really is being prepared for her Bridegroom.
So the preacher does not need to choose between human love and Christ’s love. He needs to show how the first was designed by God to point toward the second.
Start With the Song Before You Run to Ephesians 5
Ephesians 5 matters. Revelation 19 matters. Revelation 21 matters. Hosea, Isaiah, Genesis, and the rest of the canon matter. But the preacher should not run to those passages before doing the work inside Song of Solomon.
Start with the Song.
Identify who is speaking. Is it the woman, the man, or the daughters of Jerusalem? Track the movement. Is there longing, delight, pursuit, absence, tension, praise, waiting, or union? Notice the images. Gardens, vineyards, fragrance, animals, spices, mountains, cities, watchmen, brothers, mothers, seals, fire, and water all matter. Watch the repeated refrains. Pay attention to the emotional force of the poem.
Do the textual work first. Then trace the canonical connections.
The problem with jumping too quickly to Ephesians 5 (or any other text, for that matter) is that Christ can feel imported rather than revealed. The sermon becomes: “Here is a love poem. Marriage is like Christ and the church. Behold, a gospel connection.” That may be true, but it can feel like Jesus was stapled to the end of the sermon. We can do better.
The gospel should arise from the Song’s own imagery, movement, and theological logic. The preacher should be able to show how the poem’s garden imagery stirs Eden and new creation, how mutual belonging echoes covenant love, how longing and absence speak to life east of Eden, how bride and bridegroom language moves toward Christ and the church, and how love strong as death finds its fullest glory in the crucified and risen Bridegroom.
Do not hook the gospel onto the end. Find the gospel pathways already running through the book.
The Song’s Gospel Grammar
Song of Solomon has its own gospel grammar. It gives us categories that the rest of Scripture fills out and Christ fulfills.
Garden Imagery
The Song is full of garden imagery. This should make the preacher think of Eden. In Genesis 1 and 2, God creates man and woman, places them in a garden, and gives them life without shame before him and one another. Then sin enters. Shame enters. Hiding enters. Blame enters. Desire is distorted. The man and woman are driven from the garden.
Song of Solomon gives us glimpses of love, beauty, delight, and unashamed belonging that remind us of Eden. It is not Eden fully restored, because the Song still includes longing, absence, searching, tension, and danger. But the fragrance of Eden is there.
The Bible’s story moves from Eden lost to a new creation secured in Christ. Song of Solomon belongs in that movement.
Bride and Bridegroom
The Song gives us the love between the bride and the bridegroom. That love is not merely private romance. In Scripture, marriage has always pointed beyond itself. God speaks of Israel as his bride. Israel’s idolatry is described as adultery. The prophets use marriage language to speak of covenant unfaithfulness and restoration. Jesus identifies himself as the Bridegroom. Paul speaks of marriage as a mystery that refers to Christ and the church. Revelation ends with the marriage supper of the Lamb and the bride adorned for her husband.
This does not erase the human lovers in the Song. It places them in the world God made and the story God is telling.
Mutual Belonging
One of the key refrains of the book is, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song 6:3). At the level of marriage, this is covenant belonging. Husband and wife are not consumers, competitors, or temporary companions negotiating benefits. They belong to one another in covenant love.
At the canonical level, this resonates with the repeated covenant promise: “I will be your God, and you shall be my people.” Christ gives himself for his bride, and the church belongs to him.
Mutual belonging is not ownership in the ugly sense. It is covenant union, self-giving love, and delighted possession. The beloved is not used. The beloved is cherished.
Longing and Absence
The Song is full of longing. The lovers seek one another. They delight in one another. They are sometimes together and sometimes apart. The bride knows the beloved, but she also longs for him.
That gives language for the Christian life. We know Christ truly, but we do not yet see him as we will. We belong to him, but we wait for the fullness of his presence. We have the Spirit as a guarantee, but we still groan. The church is loved, redeemed, and betrothed, but she still says, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
Beauty and Delight
The lovers delight in one another’s beauty. That can be awkward for modern readers who are trained either by lust or by suspicion. But the Song’s delight is not consumption. It is praise. It is wonder. It is love speaking beauty over the beloved. This matters for the gospel. Christ does not merely tolerate his bride. He loves her. He cleanses her. He beautifies her. He presents her in splendor. The church’s beauty is not self-generated. It is given, washed, sanctified, and glorified by Christ.
Love Strong as Death
Song 8 says that love is stronger than death. Many waters cannot quench love. Floods cannot drown it. At the level of human love, this is a profound statement. Love is not a flimsy sentiment. It is fierce, exclusive, costly, and enduring.
At the level of Christ and the church, it is even more glorious. Christ’s love is stronger than death because he went into death and came out victorious. He did not merely speak love over his bride. He bled for her. He bore wrath for her. He rose for her. He will return for her.
Exclusivity
The Song’s love is exclusive. The beloved is not interchangeable. “This is my beloved and this is my friend” (Song 5:16). Holy love does not browse. It does not keep options open. It does not treat persons as products. That exclusivity confronts idolatry. Spiritual adultery is not merely breaking rules. It is betraying love. The Song helps us feel why divided devotion is so ugly.
Desire Rightly Ordered
The Song celebrates desire, but not desire as god. Desire is good when ordered under God. Desire becomes destructive when detached from covenant, holiness, patience, and love. This is badly needed. Our culture has catechized people to believe desire is identity and fulfillment requires expression. Scripture gives a better word. Desire must be received as created, recognized as fallen, disciplined by wisdom, redeemed by Christ, and ordered under the supreme love of God.
A Preacher’s Workflow for Any Passage in the Song
Song of Solomon can intimidate preachers because it does not move like Romans or Mark. That is fine. Poetry is allowed to be poetry. The preacher simply needs the right tools. Here is a workflow for preparing any passage in the Song.
First, read the passage aloud several times. Poetry is meant to be heard. Listen for repetition, rhythm, image, and emotional movement.
Second, identify who is speaking. Many interpretive problems come from losing track of the voices.
Third, track the emotional movement. Is the passage moving from longing to delight, from absence to pursuit, from tension to praise, from waiting to union, or from desire to warning?
Fourth, note repeated words, images, and refrains. Pay attention to gardens, vineyards, fragrance, beauty, animals, city scenes, watchmen, brothers, mothers, seals, fire, and water.
Fifth, ask what the passage teaches about human love under God’s design. What does it show about desire, patience, covenant belonging, delight, exclusivity, or pursuit?
Sixth, ask how sin distorts what the passage celebrates. Where do shame, selfishness, lust, fear, absence, danger, or brokenness press against the beauty of the poem?
Seventh, ask how the passage fits the Bible’s movement from Eden to the new creation. How does it echo creation? How does it make us ache for restoration?
Eighth, ask how the passage points to Christ and his bride from within the passage. Do not leap out of the text. Follow the imagery and themes forward through the canon.
Ninth, apply the passage to the whole church. Married people need the Song, but they are not the only ones who do. Single Christians, widows, widowers, the divorced, the wounded, the tempted, and the lonely all need to hear what this book says about love, longing, holiness, beauty, and Christ.
That workflow will not solve every difficulty, but it will keep the preacher from turning the Song into either a romance seminar or a theological escape room.
An Example: Song 5:2-6:10
Let’s explore Song 5:2-6:10 as an example of how to preach the Song in layers without losing the text.
The Man and the Woman
The passage begins with tension. The woman sleeps, but her heart is awake. Her beloved knocks. She hesitates. She has put off her garment. She has washed her feet. She delays.
Then she rises to open, but he is gone. She seeks him and does not find him. The watchmen find her, strike her, wound her, and take her veil. The scene is painful and shameful.
Then the daughters of Jerusalem ask, “What is your beloved more than another beloved?” Her answer slows the poem down. She praises him. She describes his beauty. She says, “This is my beloved and this is my friend.”
Then the poem turns toward reunion and renewed delight. “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” The man praises her with language that echoes earlier praise. His love has not collapsed because of strain. There is tension, pursuit, praise, and restored delight.
At the human level, this speaks to love under strain. Real relationships are not all wedding songs and garden walks. There is hesitation, absence, misunderstanding, shame, pursuit, and the need for renewed praise. Love learns to seek, repent, delight, and speak beauty again.
Creator and Creation
Turn the diamond slightly.
The passage also resonates with the larger story of creation and fall. God made humanity for unashamed communion with himself and one another. Sin fractures love. Shame enters. Relationships become strained. We hide. We hesitate. We wound and are wounded.
Yet God pursues his beloved creation. The whole Bible tells the story of the Creator moving toward the people who have turned from him. He promises redemption before Adam and Eve leave the garden. He draws near to dwell with his people. He provides sacrifice. He sends prophets. He promises a new covenant. He sends his Son.
Song 5:2-6:10 gives us a poetic window into strained love and pursuing love. It reminds us that our deepest relational healing begins with the God who pursues sinners.
Savior and Beloved
Turn the diamond again.
Christ is the true Bridegroom. The church is his beloved bride. We are not lovely in ourselves. We are made lovely by his love. We are not faithful in ourselves. We are redeemed by his faithfulness. His love is not fragile, moody, or easily exhausted.
This does not mean we flatten the passage into a one-to-one allegory where every detail must represent Christ or the church. That would be careless. But the passage’s movement of longing, strain, pursuit, praise, and restored delight helps us feel something true about Christ and his beloved.
The church often grows cold. Christ does not. The church is often slow to rise. Christ remains faithful. The bride must learn again to seek, praise, and delight in the Bridegroom who loved her and gave himself for her.
Poetry works in layers, but not without limits. The layers must arise from the text and from the canon, not from the preacher’s need to appear clever before lunch.
Possible Sermon Paths
Song of Solomon can be preached in different ways depending on the church, the preacher, and the amount of time available. A longer series allows the poetry to breathe. A shorter series can still help the church gain better instincts.
A Six-Sermon Path
1. Love Awakened: Song 1:1-2:7
Main idea: God’s good design for love includes desire, delight, patience, and belonging.
Gospel connection: Holy desire awakens our deeper longing for Christ, whose love orders and purifies all lesser loves.
2. Love Seeks and Waits: Song 2:8-3:5
Main idea: Love involves longing, pursuit, and patience rather than grasping or forcing what must be received in wisdom.
Gospel connection: The church knows the beloved Christ and yet waits for the fullness of his presence.
3. Love Moves Toward Covenant Joy: Song 3:6-5:1
Main idea: Love is not merely private desire but covenant joy that moves toward union, celebration, and public belonging.
Gospel connection: Human marriage points beyond itself to the covenant joy of Christ and his bride.
4. Love Pursues Through Strain: Song 5:2-6:10
Main idea: Love under strain must learn to seek, repent, praise, and delight again.
Gospel connection: Christ’s faithful love restores and beautifies his bride, even when her love is weak.
5. Love Belongs and Delights: Song 6:11-8:4
Main idea: Covenant love delights in the beloved with exclusive, personal, and enduring affection.
Gospel connection: The church belongs to Christ, and Christ gives himself to his church in steadfast love.
6. Love Strong as Death: Song 8:5-14
Main idea: True love is fierce, costly, exclusive, and enduring.
Gospel connection: Christ’s love is stronger than death because he entered death, defeated it, and will bring his bride into final joy.
A Four-Sermon Overview Path
1. The Goodness of Holy Love: Song 1:1-2:7
Main idea: Song of Solomon begins by showing love as desire and delight ordered by wisdom.
Gospel connection: Created love is good, but it must be ordered under the greater love of Christ.
2. The Ache of Longing: Song 2:8-3:5
Main idea: Love seeks, waits, and longs without seizing what wisdom says must not yet be awakened.
Gospel connection: The church lives in longing for the Bridegroom who has come and will come again.
3. The Joy and Strain of Covenant Love: Song 3:6-6:10
Main idea: Covenant love moves toward union and delight, but it must also endure strain, absence, and renewed pursuit.
Gospel connection: Christ’s covenant love sustains and restores his bride through weakness and wandering.
4. Love Strong as Death: Song 6:11-8:14
Main idea: The Song ends by showing love as belonging, delight, exclusivity, and strength that cannot be quenched.
Gospel connection: The strongest human love points to the greater love of Christ, who conquers death for his bride.
Cautions for Preaching Song of Solomon
Do not be crude. The book is intimate, but it is holy. Handle it like Scripture, not like a nervous comedy routine.
Do not apologize for the book. God put it in the Bible. The preacher does not need to rescue God from embarrassment.
Do not make it only about marriage. Marriage matters here, but the Song is for the whole church. Do not make single Christians spectators. Single Christians are part of the bride of Christ. They need this book as much as married Christians do.
Do not allegorize every detail. The preacher does not need to find Christ in every tooth, goat, or cluster of henna blossoms. Stay on the line of Scripture.
Do not ignore the body. The Song celebrates embodied love. Christianity is not anti-body. The incarnation should have settled that, but apparently reminders remain necessary.
Do not idolize romance. Human love is good, but it is not ultimate. A spouse cannot carry the weight of salvation.
Do not skip Christ. If the sermon never moves toward Christ, it has not read the Song as Christian Scripture. Do not staple Christ onto the end. The gospel should arise from the Song’s own imagery, movement, and canonical connections.
Do not preach desire without holiness. Desire is not automatically holy because it is intense. Fallen desire must be redeemed and ordered by love for God.
Why the Church Needs the Song
The church needs Song of Solomon because our imaginations about love have been badly malformed. The world trains us to think of desire as entitlement, romance as salvation, sex as identity, singleness as incompleteness, marriage as personal fulfillment, and beauty as something to consume. The church sometimes reacts by becoming embarrassed, silent, shallow, or awkward.
Song of Solomon gives us a better imagination. It teaches us that love is beautiful, but not casual. Desire is good, but not sovereign. Marriage is glorious, but not ultimate. Longing is real, but not hopeless. The body matters, but it is not a god. The beloved is to be cherished, not consumed.
Most of all, the Song helps us long for Christ. The church is the bride of Christ. She has been loved before she was lovely. She has been pursued in grace. She has been cleansed by blood. She is being beautified by the Bridegroom who gave himself for her. She waits for the wedding feast, when faith becomes sight and longing gives way to full presence.
That is why Song of Solomon matters for preaching. It is not merely a difficult book to survive. It is a gift to receive.
Getting Started
To get started in Song of Solomon, begin with reverence. This is holy Scripture. Then remember that it is poetry. Read it slowly. Listen to its images. Feel its movement. Notice its repetitions.
Then read it as part of the whole Bible. The Song belongs between Eden and the new creation, between the first garden and the final wedding feast.
Then read it typologically. The man and woman are real. Their love is real. And their love points beyond itself to Christ and the church.
Then preach it with care. Give your people tools, not merely conclusions. Help them see how human love, rightly ordered, becomes a signpost. Help them see how fallen desire must be redeemed. Help them see how Christ loves his bride.
Song of Solomon is holy love poetry. It celebrates covenant love between a man and a woman while awakening our longing for Christ, the true Bridegroom, and his beloved bride, the church.
The greater Bridegroom has come. He loved his bride when she was not lovely. He gave himself for her. He cleanses her, beautifies her, and will present her in splendor. And the bride still longs for him. That is where the Song finally carries us. That is where faithful preaching should take us.