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Song of Solomon 1 Bible study: Better than wine
"Behold, you are beautiful" is said to a woman in 1:15 and back to a man in 1:16: in Hebrew one word, yafeh, first feminine and then masculine. And "your love … than wine" (1:2) comes back in 1:4 in the same Hebrew words.
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“Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Song of Solomon 1:15-16, "Behold, you are beautiful" is said to my love, and then to my beloved.”
Is that in Song of Solomon 1, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
"The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s"
The chapter opens with the Song's only heading: "The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s" (1:1). In Hebrew it begins with one word twice, shir hashirim, song and songs (tap Song). The heading says only that much. The chapter names Solomon once more, "like Solomon’s curtains" (1:5), and speaks of "the king" twice (1:4, 1:12). 1 Kings says of Solomon (1 Kings 4:29), "his songs numbered one thousand five" (1 Kings 4:32), and doesn't say which songs they were. Christians read the heading in more than one way: as naming Solomon as the one who wrote the Song, or as joining the Song to him in some other way. The heading doesn't say, and these notes won't decide.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Song of Solomon 1
- How do Christians read the Song: chiefly as a poem of love between a man and a woman, or chiefly as a picture of the love of God for his people?
- "I am dark, but lovely" (1:5). What do these verses say about it?
- The chapter speaks of "the king" (1:4, 1:12) and of "my beloved" (1:14, 1:16). Are they the same man?
That was a taste
The rest of Song of Solomon 1 is waiting in Favor
- Who is speaking
- Better than wine, and again
- Tell me where you graze
- My own vineyard
- 9 questions as you read
- 11 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
דּוֹדdodsay DODE
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "beloved, love (pl.), uncle". "My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi" (1:14), and "Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved" (1:16). In 1:2 and 1:4 the Hebrew has its plural, which the WEB gives as love: "for your love is better than wine" (1:2). The Song has it 39 times, of its 61 in the Hebrew Bible. Elsewhere it is often uncle: Esther is "his uncle’s daughter" (Esther 2:7).
For your group
Song of Solomon 1 Bible study questions
- 1The honest question on how Christians read the Song sets out two main readings, and many hold both together. As you read chapter 1, which verses made you think about how the Song is to be read, and why?
- 2"Tell me … where you graze your flock" (1:7), and the reply names no place: "follow the tracks of the sheep" (1:8). What do you notice about how 1:7 and 1:8 answer each other?
- 3In 1:15 and 1:16 the same words, "Behold, you are beautiful", are said one way and then said back. Why do you think a book of the Bible gives words like these to both voices?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Song of Solomon 1 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home