Daily Bible Reading Saturday 1st June 2024
Song of Solomon 1
1:1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
The Bride Confesses Her Love
She1
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine;
3 your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
4 Draw me after you; let us run.
The king has brought me into his chambers.
Others
We will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.
She
5 I am very dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon 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 veils herself
beside the flocks of your companions?
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
8 If you do not know,
O most beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your young goats
beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 I compare you, my love,
to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
Others
11 We will make for you2 ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
She
12 While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
in the vineyards of Engedi.
He
15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.
She
16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
17 the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafters are pine.
Footnotes
[1] 1:2
The translators have added speaker identifications based on the gender and number of the Hebrew words
[2] 1:11The Hebrew for you is feminine singular (ESV)
Teaching by Rev. William Moody
The Song of Solomon is called the ‘Song of songs’ (v1), meaning it is the greatest of all songs. The song pictures the love between a husband and wife. The Rabbis considered it to be the holiest of all Bible books as it pictured the love between God and His people. The Scottish preacher Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843) loved to preach from this book as it pictured the love between Christ and the church.
The book begins with a call from the bride to experience the great love of the king (v2-4). How great is your desire to experience more and more of the love of Christ in your life?
The bride has self-doubts about her beauty as her skin was tanned from doing outdoor work (v5-6). In the middle east non-tanned skin was seen as beautiful. As believers there should be amazement at how the Lord loves us when we’re aware of our sin. Wonderfully Christ loves the unlovable.
The bride looks to find where she can meet with her husband who is also a shepherd (v7-8). The effort is well worth it as the husband expresses his love for her (v8-10; 15) and she responds (v12-14; 16-17).
Is your relationship with Christ very formal or do you rejoice in His great love for you which stirs up a loving response from you?