Thy Strong Word — Song of Solomon 1:1-17: A Mare Among Pharaoh’s Chariots

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The Song of Solomon is a book that can make people blush. It opens at the threshold of the bridal chamber with a woman desiring to be kissed by her husband. The forward poetic language doesn’t hold back as the first chapter unfolds to reveal the God-pleasing intimacy between husband and wife. So why is this book in the Bible? For that, and for more than that. Through Solomon, God reveals something of the love He has for His Church in Christ, a bridegroom for His bride. You hear it by the end of chapter one, where a field hand with a sunburn and angry brothers is told by her bridegroom that she is the most beautiful among women, before she has changed one thing about herself.

The Rev. Jacob Hercamp, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Noblesville, IN, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 1:1-17.

To learn more about Christ Lutheran, visit clc-in.org.

The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God’s people have sung it since Solomon’s day, and Jewish congregations still read it at Passover. The Church has heard in it the voice of Christ and His bride, and Luther quoted the Song in The Freedom of a Christian to describe what happens when Christ takes a sinner as His own. Paul was working the same ground in Ephesians five, where he set marriage beside Christ and the Church and called it a great mystery.

This series works through the whole book verse by verse, from the kiss in chapter one to the seal on the heart in chapter eight. We hear what it says about the body, about desire, and about the marriage God instituted in the garden. We also ask where Christ is in it, since the Church has long heard in these songs the voice of the Bridegroom who gave His life for His bride.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org.

Song of Solomon 1:1-17

[1] The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

The Bride Confesses Her Love

She

[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 you 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.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.