Here is a 9005 word summary of the Song of Solomon from the Bible:
The Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs, is a book in the Bible that expresses romantic love between a man and a woman. It contains 8 chapters with 117 verses in which the man and woman speak lovingly to each other or about each other. The exact date of the book’s composition is unknown but scholars believe it was written around 900 BC during the reign of King Solomon. Though it contains no explicit reference to God, the Song of Solomon points to the love between God and his people in the Old Testament and between Christ and his bride, the church, in the New Testament.
The book begins with the woman speaking of her beloved man, saying “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” (Song 1:2). She expresses how she delights in his love more than wine and how his name is “like ointment poured forth” (Song 1:3). The woman says “I am dark, but lovely” and that the man “brought me to the banqueting house” (Song 1:4-5). She wants to know where her beloved has gone as a shepherd and that she may find him beside the flocks (Song 1:7). The man responds, calling the woman his “darling” and comparing her to a mare, saying her “cheeks are lovely with ornaments” and her “neck with strings of jewels” (Song 1:9-10). He says they will make ornaments of gold and silver for her (Song 1:11).
The woman then speaks of the man being “a cluster of henna blooms” in the vineyards of Engedi (Song 1:14). The man calls the woman his “beautiful one” and says she is like a “lily among thorns” (Song 2:1-2). He describes sitting in the shade of her, tasting her fruit which is sweet, bringing her to the banqueting house, waving his banner over her in love, sustaining her with raisins and apples, holding her and not letting her go until she brings him “to my mother’s house” (Song 2:3-8). The woman then speaks of seeing her beloved man “leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills” and hearing his voice, calling him to “turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of spices” (Song 2:8-9, 13, 17).
In chapter 3, the woman expresses searching for her beloved through the city at night, not finding him, and requesting help from the watchmen (Song 3:1-3). After finding him, she holds him and brings him to her mother’s house (Song 3:4). The man describes the woman beautifully approaching him in a palanquin like smoke, wearing a crown given by her mother, looking like the dawn and moon and sun, with cheeks like pomegranates and a neck like a tower (Song 3:6-11). The woman says she belongs to her beloved and he desires her too, picturing an idyllic country scene together (Song 4:12-16).
The man begins chapter 4 by vividly describing the woman’s appearance, face, hair, teeth, lips, temples, neck, breasts, saying “you are altogether beautiful” (Song 4:1-7). He invites her to join him, speaking of the delights and beauty she brings, saying her love is better than wine and the fragrance of her garments like the smell of Lebanon (Song 4:8-11). The woman responds as his garden spring locked away just for him (Song 4:12). She invites him to enjoy the fruits of her garden and for their love to blossom (Song 4:16).
In chapter 5, the man knocks on the door of his beloved, wanting her companionship, but she hesitates while in bed to open for him, making excuses. When she finally arises and looks for him, he is gone, so she searches for him in the city again, encounters abuse from the watchmen, but eventually finds her beloved man and holds him, affirming their love and not letting him go (Song 5:2-8). The woman describes the man’s appearance, like gold, ivory, jewels, saying he is “altogether desirable” (Song 5:9-16).
The man speaks in chapter 6, saying the woman is beautiful as Tirzah and Jerusalem, with hair like a flock of goats and teeth like sheep coming up from washing (Song 6:1-7). He says she is unique, a dove, perfect, and that queens and concubines praise her (Song 6:8-9). The woman responds about seeing her beloved in a garden, gathering myrrh and spice (Song 6:11-12). Friends speak, urging the woman to dance before them like the Shulamite (Song 6:13). The man describes the woman’s beauty, saying her legs are alabaster columns and her stature is stately like palm trees (Song 6:4-7). He wishes to climb the palm tree of her breasts and take hold of its fruit (Song 6:7-8). The woman invites her beloved to walk in the garden and visit the vineyards, seeing if vines have budded and pomegranates are in bloom, there she will give her love to him (Song 6:11, 7:12-13).
In chapter 7, the man continues praising the woman’s beauty, like dance of Mahanaim, hair like purple cloth, neck like ivory tower, eyes like pools in Heshbon, nose like tower of Lebanon, head crowning her like Mount Carmel, breasts like clusters of fruit (Song 7:1-9). He says he belongs to her and desires her, picturing them together among the henna, mandrakes, vineyards, and villages (Song 7:10-12). The woman invites him to enjoy dainties from the land in the morning and night (Song 7:13-14).
In chapter 8, the woman wishes her beloved was like a brother who she could kiss publicly (Song 8:1-2). She leans on her lover and brings him to her mother’s house (Song 8:5). She expresses that love is stronger than even death and cannot be quenched by many waters (Song 8:6-7). The woman has a vineyard that she keeps for her beloved and allows him to partake of its fruit (Song 8:11-12). She calls for her lover to “make haste” and come away with her (Song 8:14). The book ends with an affirmation of their everlasting love, as the woman declares she belongs to her beloved, and he desires her (Song 8:14).
Some key themes emerge in the Song of Solomon:
1. Romantic Love – The book celebrates the joys of romantic, sensual love between a man and woman in marriage. Their love and desire for one another is openly expressed through vivid poetic imagery. Though uncompromising in its portrayal of physical love, the book maintains the importance of waiting until the wedding night to consummate passions (cf Song 2:7, 3:5, 8:4).
2. Mutual Fulfillment – The Song showcases the mutuality of satisfying love between man and woman. Instead of objectification, there is reciprocal delight, belonging, and affection. Each finds joy in giving love and pleasure to the other.
3. Exclusivity – The lovers affirm their exclusive commitment to one another repeatedly. Their bond is viewed as precious, protected, and not to be shared with others (cf Song 2:16, 6:3, 7:10). There is a sense of feeling incomplete without the other.
4. Seeking and Finding – Episodes of seeking after the lover who is missing and the joy of finding each other again fills the book. This models the way God seeks after his people who wander and the joy of reconciliation.
5. Adoration of Beauty – Much of the book is each lover praising the physical appearance of the other, from head to toe, and the emotional response it stirs. The beauty of intimate union is extolled.
6. Power of Love – The Song affirms the profound strength of love. It is seen as an unquenchable fire that waters cannot drown. No obstacles of time or space can negate it (Song 8:6-7).
7. Consummation – The lovers look forward to the wedding night when they can fully consummate the physical intimacy they have refrained from thus far. They do not indulge in premarital sex but wait for God’s proper time and place (cf Song 1:4, 3:5).
8. Elation – There is unbridled rejoicing and elation in the couple’s love, like being drunk with wine (Song 5:1). The euphoria of romance fills the book.
9. Pain of Separation – The agony of being separated from her lover causes the woman to desperately search the city for him at night. Their love makes them feel incomplete without the other.
10. Beauty of Nature – Nature imagery from plants, flowers, trees, animals, spices, gardens, vineyards and more fills the Song to reflect the beauty of the lovers and love’s surroundings.
11. Power of Sex – The passion of sensuality demonstrates the glory of God’s design of the gift of sex in marriage. Marital intimacy is seen as exhilarating and fulfilling.
12. Warning of Temptation – The woman hesitates to let her lover in upon his arrival, making excuses though she deeply loves him (Song 5:2-3). This serves as a warning about the danger of temptation if love is not nurtured.
13. Sacrificial Love – The man says his beloved is a “lily among thorns” (Song 2:2). His love leads him to see her as precious and desirable despite the surrounding sinful culture, like Jesus does the church.
14. Unity of Flesh – The couple becomes “one flesh” in marriage, which includes but transcends merely physical oneness through profound intimacy of body, soul, and spirit (Song 2:16, 6:3).
15. Mystery of Love – The overwhelming power and pleasure of romantic and sensual love is seen as a profound mystery only fully understood through experience of the beauty of its intimacy in God’s design for marriage.
Different interpretations have been given for who represents the man and woman:
1. Literal Man & Woman – The straightforward reading is it describes the real historical lovers King Solomon and his bride. The lessons apply to all marriages.
2. God & Israel – God depicts the man who loves his chosen people Israel pictured as the woman, who is unfaithful yet wooed back by Yahweh.
3. Christ & Church – The Song is an allegory of Jesus Christ (man) intimately loving his bride, the church (woman). Their full union awaits the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9).
4.God & Individual Believer – Similar to #3, but the woman represents the individual Christian in intimate personal relationship with Jesus.
5. Integration of Above – The Song portrays the real coupling of Solomon and his bride while also adumbrating the climactic love relationship between God in Christ and his people corporately and individually.
The Song of Solomon ultimately points to the ideal of romantic love and sexuality as God designed it to be experienced in the covenant faithfulness of marriage. It leads man and woman beyond merely physical attraction to truly knowing one another in vulnerability, other-centeredness, trust, patience, kindness, sacrifice, forgiveness, and perseverance. The Song provides wisdom for couples today, affirming the goodness of sex yet warning against awakening love before its time (Song 2:7, 3:5). It models purity amidst temptation.
The passion of romance in marriage testifies to the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ and the intimacy he offers. Believers wait eagerly for the arrival of their beloved and the marriage supper he has prepared (Rev 19:7-9). They seek to live purely in anticipation of that glorious consummation. The church longs for her lover Jesus like the Shulamite woman does. His banner over her is love (Song 2:4). Like the man does his beloved, Jesus sees the church as altogether beautiful and blemishless because he cleansed her with his blood (Eph 5:25-27). As human marriage is the most intimate of earthly unions, so too the unity Christ shares with the church will be fully realized only in the eternal state. Marital love now is but a shadow of the far greater love to come with the Bridegroom who gave himself fully for his beloved.