The Beauty of Covenant Love and Holy Desire.

Song of Solomon 1 opens with the language of desire, affection, and longing within covenant love, portraying love as precious, attractive, and deeply personal. The chapter presents both delight and humility: the bride speaks openly of love, yet also of her own lowliness, social burden, and longing to be near the one she loves. The chapter does not treat love as cheap passion, but as something weighty, relational, and honorable. It also shows the beauty of mutual esteem, as both voices speak with tenderness and value toward one another. Its message points to the dignity of rightly ordered love, the desire for nearness, and the beauty of belonging without shame.

Song of Solomon 1:1 – 1:17

  1 The song of songs, which [is] Solomon’s.
  2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love [is] better than wine.
  3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name [is as] ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
  4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
  5 I [am] black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
  6 Look not upon me, because I [am] black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; [but] mine own vineyard have I not kept.
  7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest [thy flock] to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
  8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.
  9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.
  10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows [of jewels], thy neck with chains [of gold].
  11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.
  12 While the king [sitteth] at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
  13 A bundle of myrrh [is] my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
  14 My beloved [is] unto me [as] a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En–gedi.
  15 Behold, thou [art] fair, my love; behold, thou [art] fair; thou [hast] doves’ eyes.
  16 Behold, thou [art] fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed [is] green.
  17 The beams of our house [are] cedar, [and] our rafters of fir.