1. Imagery of Song of Solomon 1
The Use of Imagery in Song of Solomon
Andrew Thompson
Bible 212T-Old Testament II
Bethel College

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Abstract
The following paper delves into the imagery of Song of Solomon. The images
and depictions in this ancient poetic book are often misinterpreted, or
misunderstood by modern readers. The paper will start out with an introduction to
the Song of Solomon (authorship, style, place in Old Testament canon), followed by a
discussion of important images and in the book and their meanings. The paper will
finish with a nod to use of Song of Solomon in modern life and ministry. Often in this
report, the language and descriptions describing the nature of the Song of Solomon
is frank. While the subject matter is handled maturely, it’s also dealt with honestly.

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The Song of Solomon (which is also known by the opening of the book itself,
which reads “The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.”) is book of great beauty. With
that great beauty, however, often comes quite a bit of misunderstanding on the part
of western Christians. From personal experience, I can attest that the Song of
Solomon is often greeted as “the sex book.” When I’ve taught marriage enrichment
courses over the years, the reaction by those somewhat familiar with the book is
one of snickering and knowing looks about the subject matter. Couples who haven’t
been introduced to Song of Solomon seem confused by the fuss.
As a freshman at a small, Midwestern, bible college twenty years ago, I didn’t
understand any more about the Song of Solomon than some of the couples I lead
now. My resident assistant told me that if I really wanted to get ahead with women I
needed to read this book. After doing as he said, I commented to a friend that I was
more confused than ever. The point of these anecdotes is that the Song of Solomon
need not be confusing, or rife with giggling. This is a song of mature love between a
man and a woman. A deep and abiding love that respects and cherishes the partner
and doesn’t give way to the instant gratification often mistaken for love.
Authorship: The Song of Solomon is attributed to King Solomon, son of David, who
ruled Israel between 971 and 931 BC (Carr, 1984), but this has been disagreed on
variously (Leston, 2010). There is a school of thought attesting that the book was
written for Solomon and not by him. Of all of the sources I’ve been able to bring
together regarding Song of Solomon, the best set of arguments against Solomon’s

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authorship come from the English Standard Version of the bible’s introduction to
Song of Solomon. The arguments made by the ESV are:
1. The language is ambiguous, meaning either that the book could have been
written for, or about Solomon.
2. The subject of the Song of Solomon (the Shulammite “country” girl) doesn’t
match the expected description of Pharaoh’s daughter, whom history records
the King was married to.
3. This book of loyal love doesn’t mirror what we know of Solomon and his
great harem.
4. Finally, the book mentions Solomon in way that sees him as a distant figure.
Even, the ESV acknowledges, however, that the book was written with Solomon’s
oversight and during the time of his reign.
Style: The Song of Solomon is that of poetry. Each verse is a brief stanza
offered by one lover to another. The poetic style used in Song of Solomon is
generally acknowledged to be allegorical, or symbolic representation (Chapter 4,
Verse 1, is an example, when the author compares his love’s hair to a to a flock of
goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead). Author Richard Davidson shows that
there have been two ways of looking at this allegory, however. Through much of
Christian history, theologians concentrated on this allegorical style only in terms
of its relationship to God. The body and mind were to be controlled in terms of
sexuality and the purpose of Song of Solomon was poetic allegory in

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reference to God. Only more recently, Davidson notes, has there been a
movement toward the literal interpretation of Song of Solomon. German author
Johann G. Herder, Davidson notes, called the book “a natural expression of
human love” and called for it to be interpreted as “human love poetry.”
(Davidson, 2007).
Place of the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament Canon: Song of
Solomon, according to Davidson, was debated for inclusion in the Old Testament.
G. Lloyd Carr also speaks of this in his commentary on the book. The reason for
this was that, again it the nature of the allegorical nature (allegory showing
relationship between God and humanity vs. literal interpretation). Rabbi Akiba
settled the matter, basing its inclusion on the belief that the material in Song of
Solomon was allegory comparing the relationship of the lovers to relationship
with God. Davidson notes the rabbinic tradition dictating that though the book
was included, it should not be read until one reached age 30.
The imagery of the Song of Solomon: The Garden/Paradise. There is a
natural motif to the Song of Solomon. These are songs of pastures, mountains, pines,
wilderness, streams, gardens, vineyards, and fruit (among many other images of
God’s creation). Are these merely flowery language, or do they harken back to God’s
plan for man and woman in the Garden of Eden? Davidson believes that the book is
almost a return to that ideal God created in Eden (607). BibleStudyTools.com notes
in their piece on the theology of Song of Solomon that the book mirrors Genesis
2:23-25. “Then the man said,

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“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”[a]
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife,
and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and
were not ashamed.” (ESV). These (the protagonists of Song of Solomon) are people
experiencing the purity of sexual love as God designed it, even though they are fallen
by sin.
The garden is more than just a place in Song of Solomon. The lovers are
coming to a restful place among the delights of one another’s physical being. (Carr
159)
The use of animal imagery: animals form powerful imagery in the Song of
Solomon. We remember the comparison of the man (the Shepherd) to a gazelle, but
there are so many other animal images in the book. She remembers him comparing
her to a dove (5:3). Several times the Shepherd compares his lover’s breasts to twin
fawns, offspring of a gazelle (4:5 and 7:3). This isn’t merely comparison of physical
attributes to the known animal kingdom in an agrarian culture. Rather, the man is
praising his bride’s appearance and she is doing likewise. He’s praising the aspects
of her that remind him of nature. He’s not content to praise her bosom, but is

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compelled to compare it the grace and beauty of a swift animal like the gazelle.
Chapter 5, verse 11 offers what would seem to be a strange paradox. The
Shulammite compares her lover’s hair to that of a raven and then compares his eyes
to those of a dove. It wouldn’t seem to be a confused comparison between that of a
carrion bird that eats what it finds and scavenges death and the bird of peace coaxed
out from the rocks each spring. The female lover though is deftly showing that her
lover represents the strong, survivalist bird and at the same time the bird of peace
and gentleness.
Marriage: David Hubbard in the Preacher’s Commentary on the Old
Testament Volume 16 repeatedly reminds readers of the Song of Solomon that the
bible is about marriage. He calls the book a wedding song in the middle of the bible.
The Song of Solomon differs from any other book in the Old Testament because it
doesn’t shun the sexual relationship between bride and groom, but celebrates it.
Hubbard reminds the reader (using Karl Barth’s concept of “eros without shame")
that this is a joyous wedding song with no attachment of sin, disease, pregnancy or
parenthood. (Hubbard, 1991, 265-267).
Former Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll talks about the marriage and the
imagery in Song of Solomon in his book Real Marriage. He calls on the married
couple to share in the unashamed vision of married love that the Song of Solomon

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brings to the forefront. Driscoll explains the Dance of the Mahanaim, or the Dance of
the Two Armies. The origins of this come from Jacob naming of the camp at Jabesh-
Gilead as “God’s Camp.” Driscoll writes that this dance, originally to honor God, is
part of the marriage ritual detailed in Song of Solomon 6:13. In marriage, the woman
is to be unafraid and unashamed to be naked before her husband, whom God
created as a visual creature (Driscoll, 2012, 171).
Intimate Imagery: One of the areas keyed on not only by Driscoll, but also
by Davidson, is that of Chapter 7 verse 2. In this case a navel is not a navel, but
Shulammite’s vulva. This is a poetic euphemism that has been left alone over the
centuries, in the attempt not to treat the Song of Solomon literally. Carr points this
out, as well. There is a beautiful progression when admiring the bride, from the
beauty of her feet on upward to the head (Davidson, 612-613. Carr, 171-172). This
imagery comes in Chapter 7 when the book is bubbling with anticipation and
longing.
The role of Song of Solomon in modern ministry should be celebratory, but
used within the context of marriage. In marriage ministry when this book (or any
sensitive material, for that matter) is approached, it’s with the caution that God
designed this kind of intimacy for married couples. Questions arise when this is
stated about why this is so. Modern, sexually liberated couples I’ve met can’t fathom

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a reason why sexual relationships should be limited to two monogamous, married
individuals. John C. Thomas, writing for Focus on the Family, had the following to
say about the difference between the freedom of expression offered in marriage and
the world’s distortion of this expression:
“I ask these young, unmarried singles, does the community — your friends, family,
church — celebrate your private, sexual liaisons? When it appears that a pregnancy
might result, is there rejoicing? No, of course not. Why not? The timing is wrong. The
context is wrong. A private affair is being forced out into the public and is clouded
by shame. You've "aroused love before its time." There will be pain, disappointment
and sadness. Compare that to the tone of Solomon's Song. The couples' sexual life in
the Song of Solomon takes place within the context of a lifelong commitment of
marriage, and the community rejoices. It will produce grandbabies, nieces, nephews,
more members of the little platoon of the family. The couples' sex life is ultimately a
social benefit. That, I say to my young single friends, is a picture of sex in the proper
context.” (John C. Thomas, Solomon’s Line on Premarital Sex, focusonthefamily.com)
In the context of married couples then, the book is one of joy and mutual
giving. I return to Hubbard’s commentary on the Song of Solomon. He regards the
book as God’s redemption of married love. The poet has returned sexuality from the
lurid and unspoken to its proper place in the bedroom of married, lifelong, loyal
partners.
The Song of Solomon is a joyous moment in scripture before the poets give
way to the prophets. The next book in the modern canonical arrangement of the Old
Testament is Isaiah. In Isaiah’s prophecy, sex returns to the lurid place of
prostitution and sin. In Isaiah 3:16-26, God puts forth a different picture of Judah’s
sexual behavior. Instead of walking in the confidence of love and fidelity, the women
have prostituted themselves. God warns the people that he will reduce them from

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that vision of loveliness depicted a few chapters earlier in Song of Solomon to bald
and covered in scabs. Granted this fall doesn’t happen all at once, but Solomon leads
to it by his patronage of foreign gods and hundreds of concubines.
In the end, it can be said that Song of Solomon is not only a song, but as
Hubbard describes it “the best subject,” (268). The author manages over eight
chapters to perfectly capture the love between a man and woman. Though it might
seem an infatuated love, the book illustrates a couple committing to their life
together. Of all the images portrayed in Song of Solomon, the best image is that of a
man and woman joined in marriage for their lifetime. The words of the book speak
the most truth regarding this:
“Set a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
The very flame of the Lord.
Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
All the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised. (Song of Solomon 8: 6-7)

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References
Arthur, Kay & DeLacy, Peter (2010). Walking with God in Every Season:
Ecclesiastes/Song of Songs/Lamentations, Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House
Publishers.
Bullock, C. Hassell (1988), An Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books,
Chicago, Illinois, Moody Press.
Carr, G. Lloyd (2009), Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: The Song of Solomon,
Downers Grove, Illinois, Inter-Varsity Press.
Davidson, Richard M (2008), Flame of Yahweh: Sexuality in the Old Testament,
Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publshers.
Driscoll Mark & Grace (2012), Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship & Life
Together, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee.
Hubbard, David A & Ogilvie, Lloyd J. (1991), The Preacher’s Commentary Old
Testament Volume 16: Ecclesiastes/Song of Solomon, Nashville, Tennessee, Thomas
Nelson.
Imagery of Song of Solomon 12
References (continued)

12. Leston, Stephen (2010), Layman’s Bible Commentary: Psalms thru Song of Songs,
Urichsville, Ohio, Barbour Publishing.
Longman, Tremper III, Song of Solomon, Theology of, Bible Study Tools, retrieved
from http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-
dictionary/song-of-solomon-theology-of.html
NavPress, (2014) A Life Changing Encounter with God’s Word from the Book of Song
of Solomon, Colorado Springs, Colorado, NavPress.
.Thomas, John C. (2006), Solomon’s Line on Premarital Sex, Focus on the Family,
retrieved from: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/preparing-for-
marriage/why-wait-for-sex/solomons-line-on-premarital-sex